001e e e justce for all e e e a leave for up for stop sharing no it's not BR it's like locked in a we're gonna have to end it and go back in e e or harm than good and that it could reinforce neg negative perceptions of uh I don't know if you if you've ever listen to a poorly produced podcast it can be grading on the ears and certainly will not attract an audience but could actually reinforce negative perceptions about school department so if we're going to do it I would want to see some sort of professionality to it which tends to cost a little bit of money but time and expertise too and it can get complicated but in principle I'm always generally in favor of more communication more transparency I have
002no problem with the outlet the medium I think it's a good idea just probably needs some shaping and refinement thank you um I want what m i mean said um my concern is that since this is something that I um feel strongly about I want to make sure that it happens as opposed to you know months of planning and preparation and finding in the mode and you know the pricing or whatever or finding student group or what what not that could be dragged out for months but a newsletter at least could start and we shift to a podcast afterwards that'd be fine um but but I would still say the same Serv spread rates but um my concern is just delaying it and not making it um start because of we're f um the podcast
003even though I do like that I think would be very polish and professional if we do it the right way very informative and low barrier and all the things that we suggested which I like but is afraid that it just it yeah this is isn't related necessarily to the podcast but it sort of piggybacks a little bit on member o car's comments about a newsletter I and and I know we I think we talked about this two weeks ago but I was wondering if if maybe superintendent Robinson could just remind us is is the communic coming back is that is that something we've discussed and what's the timeline for that it is and it comes out um once a year twice a year twice a year we just had the one go out right before
004the holiday and then we have another one spring so that and that is a communication but it really comes from the school department and I think what this started u member of kirri did mention you know she brought this up initially so when we look at school committee self- evaluation um we want to make sure that if we're evaluating if the school committee is evaluating itself we want to have those aspects that are being evaluated in place so that everyone is clear on what those are so when you look at um there's um I don't have it mared but the outward uh Community the committee community relations and Communications it's on uh The Second Page Letter k so that's where this discussion was respond um it could be to your point you know is it
005is it is it enough to say twice a year in the communic there'll be a school department I mean a school committee um up as an example I think I always love the communic and I know a lot of people in the community like ITC especially folks that don't necessarily have kids in schools being able to still know what's going on and connected to the school because they have a niece or a nephew or a grand child or they just interested in the schools of a retired teacher whatever so I I think that's a yeah that of our overall communication also as a community as well um I have one more Point um in terms of the newsletter I love newsletters but I know that I always hear community members say that you know we're
006bombarded by too much information too many newsletters too too many emails and so I'm wondering if we do that that mode of communication that it's embedded into the communic OR embedded into something so it's not more information right so information overload and oftentimes if you get too many things like that people just end up you know deleting ignoring avoiding um so making sure that we're concise instead of sending out too many things and is the podcast were you also referring to communication as well in terms of I missed that part yes yes so making you know sharing what what say even what we're focusing on that monitor what's going on you high school that monitor all of those kinds of things and uh you know really trying to make sure obviously plan to much more
007eded sort of agenda within it but at this point just what do you think here it is have an idea think we can get this pretty good FL would yes and again I I I would Echo to making sure that it is of a high quality um because we want it to come sh shun um does anyone else have any other about any others this policy now uh so next up is the cellone policy J IJ review and session so I'm I'm happy to jump in here uh we had um several discussions uh with the student advisory committee um I took this as an opportunity to share with the student uh kind of how policy works at the school department um they had an opportunity to read this policy and um you know they recognize
008and acknowledge that at least at the high school it's not really uh a policy there's no there's not major issues with the policy it's more about how do we imp Implement that policy and and procedures at the school level um think come to a clear agreement they recognize that there are pros and cons to each um I will say the U consensus of the group was that um and these are just you know recommendations for everyone to consider um 3K to8 the um there's no need for for kids to have cell phones that was kind of across the board that um my understanding is for the most part that is working rather well but I can definitely Circle back around that uh with the middle level administrators particularly um at the high school level they
009were in favor of some type of um structured approach so that as they progressed through high school they earned more privileges um and I thought that was a an interesting way to go um so we can talk about you know do we want to do we want to make Chang to this policy right now what ideas do you have and I'd love to hear you know more thoughts from the committee on this this policy I'm sorry to jump back to the school committee evation um what would be the the next steps as far as structured approach so that that's an except as far as the evaluation obviously we have to vote vote that vote for evaluation but I'm jumping a little bit ahead to the um future work um future Workshop topics um the proposed
010self- evaluation was labeled and AAL so if we were to pass that evaluation you wouldn't have much to evaluate ourselves on depending on when um the self- evaluation was approved first reading second reading um as well as you know what we would decide on the communications plan so I don't I just try to get clear what the next steps would be deciding on communication plan I would imagine and then or simultaneously voting for The poliy the so I'm open for discussion on that on how we want to First happy to hear thoughts maybe it could be on next agenda where for future topic right oh absolutely but yeah because I think we are you know significantly you know almost halfway through the school year so it makes sense to get everything set up for this
011year and then it can be implemented for next year that's that was kind of my thought process so we'll add this to Future agenda I just a second are we going back to the cell phone no no don't worries okay um I want explore a little bit that that comment you made the no need to have cell phones K through 8 what does that look like in terms of a policy I guess I would say what what might that look like as a policy do you have thoughts on that you know what in other words what so right now if a sixth or seventh or eighth grader brings a cell phone to school that's that's allowed correct to keep them in their lockers is my understanding and I I apologize I haven't gotten in-depth details
012but um it is kind of a teered approach unless I don't know if we have the yeah um I'm sure it's listed in the hand books the specifics um my understanding is and again you know see there's there's discretion right because there's different situations um but in terms of in the classroom I would imagine they would get a warning and then it would be taken to the office for um measures we taken if it continues to be an issue um I know there have been some specific cases where um the child is required to drop it off in the main office if it's a pervasive issue and it's held there until the end of the school day um I think we have to be cautious with being responsible for other devices but that's a process
013that's working I don't see a major major problem with that do mind if I one more thing go I I I know that there are some school districts in Maine that are adopting a stricter policy around students having access to their cell phones during Academic School day right so they're allowed to to bring them to school but then once they come into school and they go to their home room there's there's some mechanism in place for the phone to be left in The Home Room a lot of some school have adopted a pouch um where the the students when they come into the home room if they have their cell phone it's put into a pouch it stays in this locked pouch for the entire school day at end of the school day they take
014their cell phone out pouch and they they go on they go home they go on the bus whatever it may be um other school I know Oldtown school department has they built some little Cubbies or something like that in The Home Room students come in PH wases in the cubby and it stays in the cubby in The Home Room what whatever system it may be the point is that students are not allowed to have their phone with them throughout the school de in their pocket in their backpack whatever it may be I I'm a proponent of that type of of system um there's just been a ton of research on phones being distracting to students and interfering with their academics just by them having them with them uh not necessarily using using them just having
015them on their body vibrating deing whatever it may be just distracting them just the the thought of the phone being there is distrac distracting uh to students and and interfere acade their academics so I'm in favor of a system that's a little bit more robust in in that phones are still allowed to be on schools school campuses but during the academic school day they're not and um for this you're you're suggesting from the up to ath grade or do you meet up till 12 I I don't know at this point right now I'm still sort of working through that in my own mind but I I think I think sixth seventh and eighth grade would be a really good place to start potentially if we want to that type of of model particularly if there's
016an expenditure involved or if we're going to be purchasing these pouches um you know they're not extraordinarily expensive individually but if you're talking about six through 12th grade several thousand students that's expensive so I haven't thought through all of that but I I wanted to sort of put that out there and I'd be interested in what others think about this idea and thank you I Echo a lot of the comments uh Comm member shet said one thing I just want to highlight is I think that we might have a Divergence between what's in our policy now and what reality in the schools is because our policy says that cell phones as well as tablets computers different things are not allowed it's pretty clear but you can't help but notice it when you're in a school
017even schools with younger age group kids and then I'm speaking for myself I'm hearing from teachers everywhere at the high school that it is chronic and it is constantly interrupting interrupting the school day as well as the flow of thought and the flow of Education um I I need to give this some more thought too I think we collectively do but I'm really for a blanket provision that kids can't have them with them during the school day know undoubtedly there will be many students that will be up in arms about that and handful of parents too but I feel that they will thank us years from now when they realize the wisdom of a policy because I just feel like we're going through as human species a huge science experiment about what our brains can
018handle with this level of interruption and distraction and human brains have been developing for hundreds of thousands millions of years and this is all in the great scheme of time the last split second that this has been introduced to us and we're going through this massive test that by virtually any data point in metric is not going well as soon as everybody started carrying one of these around in their pockets in the mid to late 2000s and especially when social media became so ubiquitous anxiety spiked depression spiked people's self-image especially young women sense of self-worth every metric goes the wrong direction and it's directly tied to the phones and that's to say nothing of the just the what Tim said and others the the distraction in the classroom just having the presence of a phone
019just having it on the table draws my mind and I have a fully formed frontal cortex hopefully I've been around and it's distracting just to it there and so for teenagers or even younger than teenager students their minds are just not ready for that level of distraction and it plays itself outy and other things so I'm glad you're vetting through the student group but I also am gonna say from my position as a duly elected member of the school committee I'm going to be in favor of a stronger policy and all the way through and I um I'm more with the high school students I think um there's this there's a very um clear divide between K through 8 and then High School on I think I'm the only member here who has High School
020a high school student and high school students who graduated it's very very different for high schoolers um this week for example is midterm week and so they're in and out different hours um a lot more indep P um I like to keep track of my children sometimes I can be a helicopter mom yes but I like to know where they are and how things are and it's there's a sense of safety too um whenever we've had drills we've had certain things or when there's a fight at school I get a text message you know things of that nature it's very different for high school students versus K through a there is no reason we shouldn't have a stricter um policy for k through weight and I do hear that sometimes you know children are children
021right they sneak in their cell phone so pay through it there there's no need for that a um a telephone in the main office if they need to contact their parents um I think high school students it's very different hopefully we've set that Foundation pay through away and then you know following the policy I mean this clearly states that you know students are prohibited from using it you know during class rooms um clearly states that they're prohibited in locker rooms you know areas where there is privacy so you know if high school students or I should say if if teachers and administrators are enforcing this policy for high schoolers and I don't really see this as being a problem um K throughway it's different I think it's we need a stricter policy where you know
022cell phones are placed in the locker room or in their lockers and not taken out until the end of the day for example but this does not clarify who we are referring to and I think um Dr Robinson you mentioned meeting with the the student advisory groups and there there was um you know clear uh discussion around you know this is for safety purposes correct yes and and they did Express um the group had a really great discussion when we uh approached and um they really looked at some I think uh interesting perspectives coming into it a couple of them mentioned that if they didn't have access to their cell phone it would make it much more stressful for them because of the changes in after school activities that potentially happen uh the after school
023jobs that some of the um students pull and um you know I'm I'm of the assumption that a group of 12 and it's somewhat representative I me these are um you know highly involved um High you know well achieving students so I think that they don't offer a huge why but they went out and talk with kids in between our two months of meeting to try to uh get a bit a better grasp on things from other students but they did express some concerns um a couple first at first said you know yes just band them all together and then the discussion started when you know it turned into well maybe maybe that wouldn't be what's best um and then there was also that concern of um how and I would Echo this how are
024we teaching young people to manage their lives and I understand the brain development um I definitely see that I also think um when we pair this with the U metrics that are all going in the wrong direction I think cell phone use is one aspect of that I think this could turn into a much bigger discussion through the mental health aspects uh because I think there are a multitude of factors that have contributed to the decline of um mental health and the cell phone might be one but I think we have to tease kind of all of that out um the other perception that I've heard and not only from the student group but um in other articles and things that I've read is um and this was one from the Department of Ed which
025um I can share and it talked about you know it's not necessarily the BL end all to make a blanket policy it's really best to involve all of the um those who are involved to develop procedures that are going to work for everyone um so this those are just some things that are kind of floating around in my mind and um I think it's It's Tricky if we were to make a blanket um K12 I think that might and maybe it would be short term it's hard to say I mean my mind is still kind of working through what is the best way to go um but I think there's lots of information to consider so there's a few different layers to this as I think about it one I I think we're all in
026agreement that k through eight 3K through 8 we have a pretty solid policy um as a parent who has regularly had my kiddo come home and say oh I saw this today I'm like where did you see that it's happening on the bus too so I know we've been talking about during the school day my kids come home because they're mixed age groups on those buses with some stuff that I he does not have a tablet he doesn't have a phone I'm that Mom right um and he's not going to get one for quite some time um so there's a strategic reason for that and to member spr's Point there's stuff that he just doesn't need to be exposed to on the internet um whether that's in school on the bus um we pretty much
027monitor what happens there because you know he's only 10 right so I do think we need to think about not just during the school day but what are the rules for the bus right and I know the bus can be a difficult place anyway where kids are sitting together and they already have bus monitors and there's somewh much to pay attention to um but I find that's where a lot of the the sharing of things on screens is happening um at least from my experience when I think about the high school level um there's certainly a case for a a limited use of cell phones during the day um would think um I would think that it is a key opportunity where and MRE I think you and I talked about this before just you
028know on other times it's an opportunity to build that media literacy at the high school age so well we might restrict what they can use it for you can start to have a campaign around for example the high school like what is this that you're looking at how do you verify that this is actual information is this AI generated like to start to give them some of the tools to be responsible media consumers um um because they're starting to get a little bit more Savvy a little you know you know as they approach high school and then as they transition into whatever comes after high school whether that's the Working World you know further education it would be good for them to be armed with the tools to know what's what's quality what's not quality
029what's real what's not real credible sources of information um and balance that was talking about mental health like how do you not get subed to the Doom scroll Vortex that can happen um so there are some teachable moments in that um how you build that in is obviously super complex um but I think that we have to have a little bit of that in mind um um as we're moving through and thinking about these things so those are my initial thoughts yeah just one more Point um you know I was wondering about enforcement too because I know that some teachers are strict and and you know strictly adhere to policy and others are more lenient and um are are very flexible with the students and you know they're they're the popular teachers right that the
030students love but how can we make sure that we this is enforceable across the board right so there are not some teachers who are flexible and lenient and others who are really strictly adhering to policy um I don't know if um you know if there's uh you know follow through with this at the high school level um at the put TR tole Butler on the spot or anything but I'm just curious on how we can make sure that this is enforced even if there is a strict policy right I I think it does warrant for the discussion I I um have not had this direct discussion with all of the administrators um and that was what I wanted to do is gather this information see where we all stand and where where the committee stands
031and then bring that back to say okay here's all the information we have what can we do move it forward so those will be some next steps thank you yeah I just wanted to make a few other other points another concern that I've heard from a an administrator here in Bangor and these these concerns were made during meetings was talking about cell phones being utilized for bullying uh and particularly at the high school level and and some of the most egregious bullying cases that have been investigated uh at High School level were typically facilitated through cell phones and this was during the school day um and i' I've heard about this from other teachers as well and other districts that a lot of the bullying has gone sort of underground uh and it's and it's
032being done through cell phones during the school day pictures being taken pictures being shared in the bathroom or somewhere in the school the teachers just have no idea that it's going on so so that's a that's a concern that I think is important for us to think about in terms of the the safety issue if if you listen and and students students wanting to have their phones and parents wanting their students to have their phones in case of some type of emergency if you speak and if you listen to emergency responders they will tell you that the the worst thing that a student can do during an emergency is be on their cell phone texting with Mom or Dad and that really what they should and again it it it does what cell phones do
033it distracts you from what you're supposed to be doing which is listening very carefully to what your teacher is telling you your administrators telling you what directions are coming on on over the intercom and um so that's so that I think that's an important thing uh to consider as well the the it's a rhetorical question but the question that I keep going back to is what are the what are the positives of having a student having a cell phone from the beginning of the academic school day until the end what are the negatives of a student having a cell phone from the beginning of academic uh Academic School day until the end for me there there's many more negatives to a student having access to that cell phone than there are positives but but that's
034just that's my opinion thanks I'll first reason is truly the liability issue C phones now you have given a teacher $20,000 you Pro that they Char up and if there's a bu are they supposed to go grab them are we liable for those phones say something happens to them I I see at an enormously huge amount of problems with that happen that's just again my my first thought but the other issue that I have few other major issues but the biggest one I not around assisted and adoptive technology and further ostracizing those students by you know my concern is say we have a new sub that comes in that sub doesn't realize this students bone is for an Adaptive assistant technology purpose and they take that pH and now that kid can participate a bigger
035concern kids type one diabetic not the phone is also helping them for inst that phone's gone and what do we do and now we're be liable for that so that's do I know that these are extreme circumstances but they do affect a lot of different kids a lot of different ways other than a distraction the other thing that I cannot stress enough is we have to teach them moderation we have to be able to say like no can't your phone now that's it and you can be back later that's it that's it like that's kind of it it doesn't need to be complicated and we have to learn we all have to learn that like I don't I don't think that that is something we get stressed enough especially enough so again yes go ahead
036and I would be fine with exceptions for health related issues or I I don't know the exact term you're using but I'm with you on that yes and the the tail end possibility of liability due to like the teacher storing the phones is much less in my mind in magnitude towards the liability of not educating our children because they are so distracted by these devices I think that is much more highrisk proposition than some of the risks that you and others might mention and to that point I had thought about the liability liability risk as well but just momentarily because I thought to myself this goes into the policy your student brings their phone to school at their own risk understanding that it will be placed here like they they would do that anyway like
037seeing a student's cell phone lately like they're smashed right A lot of them broken screens and whatnot um so you send that technology off um and often times it gets broken throughout the day but I think that if it's you send it at your own rescue now it's like checking luggage you trust the TSA with your luggage to a certain extent knowing that it could come out damage right because things happen um but I think that we can be careful about that I'm not is worried about that component and I 100% agree with memb spray if there's a student who's using their technology um and in the you know for adaptive purposes or whatnot um then we just need to make sure that we are properly supporting substitutes at the beginning of the day to
038say this you know here's the list of students who might have this out because they're using it for this specific reason or because they're you know tracking their insulin or you know their their A1C levels and things like that so I think that there are ways to work around those and I agree that the benefit of reducing cell phone use in the day far out ways having to work around some of the more nuanced situations I think that it's important and we can teach them balance right um but maybe that balance is you can only have your cell phone at your locker right and if you are in between classes and you want to check notes but then it needs to go back in the locker and it can't just carry around with you during
039the day like it's not like we're saying you can't have access to period maybe at the high school level um but there's like it's it's a lot for check and it goes back in you know I don't know the the nuances and the logistics and the headaches of monitoring that I've never been a principal at a high school so um or anyone to monitor those things but I think that we can put those systems in place um and see how it works right it's going to take some creative thinking but I I think it's important that we do something remember okay um I think this is a complex issue I appreciate this really just talk about it openly in in depth there probably need be other discussions about it um my first thought is and
040that's almost always my first thought is how are other school districts doing this um I know that member shet mentioned that other school districts in in our area have implemented this implemented this in beginning of school year um and even before um so at this point they must have some type of information or data or some type of um if information that can assist us in in what we decide to do um we be a complete ban at the high school level is it even being enforced are they able to enforce it principles and teachers um applying it equally that type of information I want to know um before we decide anything on our own um and in our policy it seems quite strict um currently so it seems that we have a policy in
041place that's not being enforced um and I want to ask why um and my first thought is because of uh lack of support for teachers I don't know in what way that we could get um support for teachers in order to it I'm not sure but again we can look at other school district to see how they're um better up amening it and maybe they're not maybe they're struggling as well and um we need to come together and brainstorm ways to properly enforce it but um it seems like different teachers have different rules in their in their class what this policy allows it's because it says check the the handbook or theion um but to get some kind of even application or at least somewhat even application across classrooms would be helpful if we're really
042trying to address the issues that cell phone use and distraction um causes for students I I kind of agree with almost everyone's points um about the need to teach them accountability and the ability to uh deal with thees but also recognizing that they're young and I'm impressionable and not adults um and uh understanding the the evidence the great amounts of evidence that suggest that or show that cell phone use um have some comforable effect so I'm just I just want to start by we have our other school do kind of gauging what we can learn from them and takeing take us yeah we can gather I can gather that information and final comment here problems um so and I think the the last thing that none of us really touched on is the fact that
043um this takes like the entire Community effort right um so the main doe had a um The Pledge the wait till 8th pledge um and I'm a big big advocate of that and I you know share that with friends and uh family members and neighbors um and I'm adhering to that personally with my children right none of my children got phones before the end of 8th grade third and it's not a popular thing right CU now my seventh graders like oh my friends have cell phones I'm like well I'm their parent right um I'm yours so um it's it's not a popular thing but I feel so strongly about it because of all the you know research that's there and um the older siblings my older children did just fine and so um but I'm
044wondering if we can push that out more a community uh awareness Community Education for parents because parents are ultimately buying cell phones for their children at very young ages too I know kindergarteners who have cell phones and I understand that sometimes it's it's a a necessity because the parents are both working and it's communication with the child and I I get that um but for children who just have it just to have it and they're they're it's attached to them 247 and you know um if we can really push that out from from the Bor school department or the school committee I think it would be very beneficial for the entire Community to help us with that you know if you can wait you know to buy a sell a smartphone right I'm not talking
045about the little flip phones right but the the smartphones um I think that would really help us right especially K I'll be brief thank you for bringing that up I've talked about that too and I just have not had the bandwidth to push on it but it is a really important topic to me and a lot of the parents need the education to for the reason you're saying but the parents are just as screen addicted as the kids in some ways and the kids are learning it from the parents so we have a public health responsibility I think to convene and to lead on this let's do it let's do it my question to see well I can add this to again to a future um Workshop agenda and circle back with the information that
046I gather in between now and that so next you're gon move to governance calendar so no I was just going to say that that was it was all it was shared electronically so I don't have um copies but other but I would love to hear any um thoughts or ideas on any other item that we want to you know add to the calendar or um if there's anything that you feel needs to be modified because this is a draft thank you I like the idea of this I like what we're doing I like the open discussion uh couple things I'm just particularly interested in the capital Improvement review you know ongoing um renovations to schools but some of the bigger long-term questions too I think sometimes these questions are so big and they're so slow
047moving that it's suddenly like wow a year went by and we didn't talk about that but I'm just very interested in especially the fair Mount Mary snow conversations what happens to those buildings what happens with the middle schools I think we're all kind of interested in that topic uh and then the other thing I just want to keep kind of near the front burner is uh tuition students drawing in students to the neighboring towns you what is our what do we doing there what's the marketing behind that what is the storytelling uh how can we how can we do better and I'll get you back off of a Ben statement here um I saw an email about um like a um what what's it called not thinking Step Up day but not Step Up day
048but it's um eight graders yeah yes and I and I thought wow this would be a perfect time along with that right you know some you know whether it's uh um you know the wonderful things that Ray does right the little videos or whatever attached to them because if the eighth graders and their parents are coming you know that's perfect timing add a video to the email yeah yeah or whatever is being pushed out to ath grade parent right and hopefully getting some of those um students too thank you I remember something else com I say this more for Katie because she's not here but she's got interesting ideas around foundation uh Education Foundation and I think it would be great to learn what some other school districts do and uh you know how how
049individuals or the business Community can support things in schools thank you that so that would be on a would that be a separate committee is that what you're thinking or well I'm just kind of unfamiliar with the concept but I so I'd like to learn more and I don't know if it needs to be commited or if it just it would be a good discussion item I don't know what the barriers or what how heavy a lift it is to start an Educational Foundation but um just coincidentally this would not be the model but I've been learning about uh at the Collegiate level uh businesses supporting uh athletes and athletic programs through this name image likeness the nail program and so I'm not actually suggesting We Roll something like that at the high school level
050but it's been really fascinating to learn about the different avenues that an individual or business can support a Collegiate Sports programs or individual athletes so there might be causes that are particularly interesting to donors out there either businesses or otherwise that if we had a vehicle for them to give to it you could imagine all sorts of things like in if you had a physical therapy place that was particularly interesting I know we got to be mindful of you know who are opening the door soon who are not but it could be a chance to collect some funds that would relieve some pressure on our own budget and in a very affirming way recognize the charitable instincts of people and businesses in the community and Banger high school has thousands of alumni so I think
051that I think there is a lot of opportunity there and and uh I can definitely put this on as a future topic for sure check in with Katie too but she's articulate about it than I than are we on topics we are still yeah and I I would say I don't think that would be a governance calendar so when we think about the governance calendar this is is um annual series of events so the governance calendar would kind of give us the the systemic pieces that we want to view each year and then break it down by month so that's why I'm saying for certain ones you know maybe tuition students I think that could be a regular update maybe twice a year what's happening and then maybe you know as we get an update
052um Capital May and Facilities I think could also be a regular update I just think the foundation might be a future topic sure um is this um like I see like for January um there's the de advisory committee update since don't think we're in January would that make sense to push to febr or is the advisory committee um either ready or prepared to well I think this was just an update and I believe um member has even an update yeah January I did oh I thought I was thinking more of the Pres R yeah update that happen last oh I think we could definitely you know I thought happen every meeting right every time you guys have a meeting yeah so we discussed I think as a committee we discussed um having um like a
053a two-p parted uh big review big presentation instead of everything uh focused on that last meeting like we did which was like three hours it was overwhelming for us as the committee and overwhelming for them as well for the presenters so I think um am I am I um correct on that yeah yeah we talked about just trying to break it down at the smaller CH so there wasn't a big yeah that makes sense and it's presented that way on this governance calendar in January and April but there wasn't a right broken down less radi but still not just a you know absolutely and 100% you're you're speaking to exactly what we want to get to and I think just because of the nature of the formation of the committee at this time we've only
054met twice twice we only met twice so we weren't in a position to bring folks but I think for April we will it will look yeah and we were exposed me actually yesterday too but several of us are sick and a lot of people couldn't make it so we've had to postpone it we're actually rescheduled for next week and so um so more to come on that but we this is exactly what we want to do it's hopefully present twice a year um and and breaking it into digestible pieces so it's not overwhelming I see on the calendar that March there'll be there'll be the budget the first second votes but I don't see anywhere workshops before why are we going to be having budget workshops question we can add that in yeah we we
055are it's just not would it make sense to keep it in March or looking forward would February be a better I February so moving forward I'm not sure for this year well I'm sorry just clarify what did you mean by not this year Well given the where we are right now in the budget process I'm not one I can't say for certain that we'll be prepared for a budget Workshop in February okay will we have a workshop prior to when we vote on absolutely yes and I plan on I plan on infusing some of the uh budget updates into my updates to to offer that communication because certainly the discussions are happening and principles have all submitted their information just don't have it compiled yet so that's where we are in the process but yes
056I will communicate she just say for future February is a goal but this year probably not yeah but we'll still have it thanks so um just to kind verify this point too um because in the past they weren't scheduled in last year and the year before and we were like we need more job so and it just helps us have this type of discussion right you know um so does that mean those will be added to our important dates at the very end at some point just so that we all can put them on our calendars I think that's something we can talk about and and look more closely at and make sure um if it's not infused in the update that I provide if the meeting is there an additional date that we want
057to add and I think we can definitely consider that because each year we're all like no we need to right and it's not scheduled in we're trying to like quickly get something in the past it's been yeah scheduled in be outside of a regular meeting yes correct correct and what you're saying was not a opportun correct would like to have that before yeah if we can schedule that you know it's giving us ample time that wonderful we like is it possible to do it in this format I'm not sure if that's a budget Workshop you're not talking about the executive session public yeah and I think that's what we've done typically we it's been sort of more of a no it was it's a public meeting but it's not the formality of this of this
058type of meeting was we're in another room the door is open anyone can come in but it's not it's not this level of formality and I I can gather some more information and talk to um folks about how it's been done and how we want to potentially shift it but I hear I think what I'm hearing is we want an increase amount of communication around the budget and what's happening with it prior to having to vote on it all very government budgets all right um so let's move on to the Regal Ms meeting board chair report so I was looky enough to get to participate in both of those items it was Regal meeting and then also the board chair training report training I guess I should say um and both of those were designed
059to sort of help get um committee members throughout Maine sort of up to seed with where we are with legislation that is important to the region and Educators District how we can support that I've also covered some really great sort of guidance and recommendations around couple new policies but overall it was really just more of how do we how do we connect to each other as Bo members how do we make sure that you know civil and respectful very forunate to deal this also gooded to for my own State the variety complexities is just F but msad the RS very you're very lucky here were great and then again MC trainings think I think they're going to do a special Workshop too on the 279 budget so I'll share that for to thatn so just
060want to share those updates and then move on to topics for future workshops gotta through that a little bit Yeah discusss Yeah and are there any other I'm thinking even you know uh longer term so if there are aspects of the school department that you'd like to dig into a little bit deeper um you know whatever those topics are I could even obviously go into um the summer and next year um but just to help me understand you know where where are where is the need for more information um so that I can then you know can look at uh prioritizing those needs based on where we are and what um initiatives we're moving forward with at any given moment so I'd love to hear any you know other topics yeah so when I was
061curious about so our previous superintendent had a real commitment to mentoring and did some fantastic work and I'm just I'm wondering what the status of that work is I assume it's continued but is it planning to be continued and just yeah sort of an update on the status of the mentoring program and the mentoring work that started during JY time I remember you had a question oh yes um I wanted to dive into the East Side West Side divide um there's uh some issues of economic disparity as well as perceived and real real um negativity on the two sides obviously is if there's two districts um it's leading it even into my household my in sixth grade says you know oh we're going against that go con yeah we're gonna you know like in my
062opinion a little bit harsher language that I would like and I've heard it from lots of other U parents and students that there's a real divide that students feel on the one side of the other and I'd like to have a workshop toic to discuss like that make us dist I agree with that and that ties in the facility question too yes and it even ties in curriculum like there's mismatches between academic tracks you can be on on the east side and the West Side there's mismatches in recess time like at Fair mile they don't have morning recess they go inside at 8:40 I I don't know why I don't get it but just the inconsistency across the sides of the city little rout raising and you just want to make sure the kids are
063getting the same opportunties yeah and and I will add on to that I think the misconceptions too that you know we as a district are favoring the east side over the west side you know in terms of sports I've heard um negative statements like that made over and over and no matter how many times you try to correct those misconceptions they're there right and I think they've been there you know since I moved to Bangor 20 years ago and so how can we as a really you know um combat those types of misconceptions you know I think um it'll take the administrators to come up and say is actually what we do because you know people don't know what they don't know and I again these are it's hearsay it's like story that are shared
064again I heard this 20 years ago you know I live on the east side but I know that I have friends on the West Side they say simply this is not true and then you hear the opposite and so it's like this back and forth so I think it's that clear divide that we need to say no we are one district and these are the facts right great um I um just little things I don't even know if they're um topics of workshops per se but I know that they come up quite often you know um who can use our facilities you know and we have strict policies around that but it's always like you know um is it partisan is it nonpartisan you know things of that nature well what if so and so
065you know comes in and you know again I'll go back to misconceptions and things that are said over and over that are simply untrue and inaccurate so um you know how can we stay ahead of that and um so that we're not having to address this over and over as a school committee I don't know if it's like really a workshop but it's something that I don't I wonder if there's um you know if there are other topics of Interest yeah that need further communication maybe those are things that are um just an idea pushed out on our live feed or have a designated spot on our website or something like that where they you know it can be referred to say well it's here on the website so you can you know check that
066out because we do have a facilties policy not but I get what you're saying the ease with which uh people are able to access that information I think it's important to consider okay good line on this when you're falling from a plane you need a little piece of paper that says pull this cord not a 96 page PDF be check all the boxes for transparency and openness but if it's a 96 page PDF with jargon it's not actually Sol thank you I it's a great discussion come on and have a conversation that's really other day workshop exciting part the workshop wild conversations like this do we have any other future work um so that point I'm GNA into informational items so up next we have our important dates um Wednesday feu 1225 regular meeting Library
067Wednesday February 265 meeting 7 library Wednesday March 5th meeting 7 library Wednesday March 12E 7.m library and Wednesday March 26 2025 regular meeting 7M the B Library I very you're this I'm just questioning the March 5th meeting because it's off schedule we usually meet the second and fourth Wednesdays Bud says regular meeting well I i' have to I'll have to get back to you on that problem I bet it's like recycled our previous year where like the February meeting was during February vacation or something is that during February vacation 26 the 26 is not no well we could use the fifth for a budget Workshop yeah exactly just yeah I think um if I'm not mistaken there are three in March because of the that's typically what it is and what I was going to
068say is um I haven't decided um yet which ones are going to be workshops because I want to see where things l in so following up um there may be an opportunity for workshop with not regular meeting but it's not a regular meeting because it's not on the actual schedule second and four should be called something extra meeting but is it a regular hold on is it a regular meeting if it's already listed as a regular meeting because it on our on our schedule because I remember checking this recently it says March is three meeting because of budget so is it a regular meeting because of that well if it says that maybe it is reg yeah yeah I I think it says the website we meet on the second and fourth Wednesdays except for
069March okay I remember my first year March did have yeah lot something every day we need a lot yeah we need a lot March because we need it right and wanted typically a workshop and on the website for the 20242 meetings and the 12 and the 26 says 12 review 2020 56 budget 2016 says approved but that's I still imagine still reg meetings we're doing that thank you and you will let us know absolutely so I move to a oh yeah you're regret this what it's like