001Good evening everyone. I'm going to call the March 25th school board meeting to order at 601. If everyone could stand for the pledge of allegiance, please. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Slot. >> Roll call. Megan Arshambo excused. Carmen Barski. Suzanne Bower excused. Mark Cardzano excused. Elizabeth Day. Michelle Felicetti excused. Anastasia Ferguson here. >> Eric Garrison excused. Jody Lane I am here. Jennifer Mayo. >> Amy Morrison. >> Wes Finny >> here. >> Adam Tangway. >> Tom Van Hton. Judith Valent. >> D. Vigliata >> here. >> Zoe Anthony. >> Walker. Vivian here. >> We have a quorum this evening with 11 directors present. I'd like to make a motion to
002make two three adjustments to the agenda this evening. Um, under new business, I'd like to add two field trip requests. One for the culture club for April of 2028, another one for NJOTC. We can put those um under new business in place of the schoolboard evaluation. So, the other part of my motion to adjust would be to remove the schoolboard evaluation. We will uh put that off until our next meeting. Um we will still conduct it, but we'll just put it off. So, if I can get a second for that motion. Anastasia. Uh any discussion on that motion to make those adjustments? Seeing none. All those in favor? That carries. Consent agenda. Do I have a motion to accept the consent agenda? >> Second, >> D. Anastasia, that was loud enough. Thank you. >> Uh,
003is there any discussion, comments, questions on the consent agenda? Seeing none, all those in favor? That carries. Public comment. Do we have any public comment this evening? Perfect. Next up, we're going to move, this is a little out of the norm, but we're going to move to the student representative report because Zoe was asked to help out at 8th grade stepup day. So, we're going to do our student rep report first in our agenda and then we can uh we can move on. So, I will turn it over to Walker and Zoe. >> All right. Uh good evening everyone. Um so, we'll try to keep this uh as quick as possible, especially for all these great educators that we have here tonight. uh many of whom I have the privilege of knowing and that we'll
004be celebrating soon. Uh but as I said, March is a busy month. Uh and this is the uh it's broken the record for the longest report I've ever authored or co-authored. Um so we'll try to keep it uh as brief as we can. Um but just before we start, I just think it uh it is important to note that uh the student report really is, you know, just a sampling of the things that happen in this district. you know, there are so many events and activities and innovative, you know, classroom happenings, uh, that it's really impossible to put them all into this report. And Zoe and I, you know, every piece of information we get or find, we put in here. Um, but I mean, if we really discussed everything that was happening in the
005district, we'd be doing this report all meeting. Um, so it really is just, you know, the tip of the iceberg of the many things that are happening in this district. Uh so we'll start now and uh try to keep it under 20 minutes. So Lyman Elementary held a weather at your school on March 18th. Uh and students who arrived by 5:45 in the morning were able to help broadcast the day's weather on the news. Uh Lyman's gymnasium became an Olympic arena in the spirit of the recent winter games. And there were Olympic themed stations around the gym, including simulated track and field events to games that required precision and coordination. Music students at Lyman and Alfred have been learning uh the last new songs they will be focusing on during this academic year. Uh they're
006also adding new elements to the songs they've already learned to make more complex versions of them. Last month, uh second through fifth graders specifically focused on music from around the world, while older grades were continuing working on their instrument units. On Thursday, April 2nd, Above and Beyond Catering is going to be having a popup event at Alfred on April 16th. Alfred's second annual walk for kindness will be hosted. Uh students will have a walk-athon and obstacle course during this event. And this year, parents will be allowed to join their students. Alfred's book fair will be uh open for students during this week. And on March 16th, their one school, one book event began where all students and staff will be reading the same book throughout the month. After a week of hints, it was revealed
007that Charlotte's Web would be the book that they're reading. And there are a lot of fun activities for this month planned around that novel. Uh on March 26th, uh Alfred will have a family STEM night related to Charlotte's Web as attending families will be designing a pig pen for the novel's protagonist, Wilbur. Uh the book fair will also be uh open uh after school hours on this night. Alfred's Readathon began on Thursday, March 5th, and ran for a week, but was extended due to a snow day. and the Alfred Madness basketball challenge which happened during the last hour of the school day on March 12th had quite the turn of events. Uh one of the competitors was unable to participate due to a rumored contract with the Celtics. Um and so another competitor stepped in
008and ended ended up winning that challenge. Uh and while they had the privilege of pying the loser in the face, I guess there were a few extra pies around because quite a few of the staff members ended up uh with a pie in their face after the event was over. On March 26th, fifth graders at Waterborough will be taking a field trip to the Merurl Auditorium. And uh Sunday, March 29th, will be the Waterborough Elementary at Main Mariners hockey game. Uh the first students who sign up to attend will be able to form a high- five tunnel to high-five the Mariners players. And there will also be an hour of ice skating on the rink once the game concludes. And part of the ticket sales go towards Waterboro's field trip fund. And there was a
009halfhour long prek celebration of learning on Thursday, March 19th. Uh turning to Lion Elementary, their breakfast with buddies recently returned to the school and this event allowed families to have breakfast with their students. They uh will be having an academic showcase on April 2nd at 3:30 p.m. in the gym. Uh and that same afternoon there will be a book night from March 2nd to March 6th. They had an inschool readathon and during midappril they will be having a book fair. During February, students participated in a shirt design contest and the um winning design included a flower in the message be the reason someone smiles and that shirt is available for the school community to purchase. Wine also started a spare change challenge on March 16th and the grade that collects the most change or an
010extra recess and the privilege of tattooing the principal in what I hope isn't permanent ink. Uh at the start of the month, uh kindergarten students at the school took a trip to Waterboro to learn about animals and witness live animals during a Sparks' art presentation. And third grade students had a field trip to Hilltop Boilers to learn about maple syrup and how it's produced ahead of maple Sunday. Chapley Memorial students had a crea creativity week as they worked hard taking their NWA exams. When students were not testing, they had much needed brain breaks through art and read alouds. Dur during March, Chapley has also been celebrating ReadAcross America Month like the other elementary schools and they had two special visitors to commence their celebration which were the Cat in the Hat and Thing One. Students
011have been given a reading challenge where their reading minutes counts towards miles. One minute is equivalent to a mile and they're trying to reach the over 3,000 miles to hit Eureka, California. The school's book buddies are continuing to contribute to their celebration of books as older students read to support and connect with younger ones. And the school is going to be having multiple volunteer guest readers throughout the month in each classroom. There was a schoolwide dance on March 13th and families were encouraged to wear bright spring colors for the event and there was a craft station present and the school was well decorated for the dance. The PTC's March Madness calendar raffle raised over $4,600. Uh, and uh, new winners will be continuing to be drawn each day until the end of the month. Shep
012will have a twin day on March 20th where the theme is reading is better with a buddy and they will have a words are everywhere spirit day on the 27th of this month where everyone is encouraged to wear clothes with words. Massic Adult Educ Education has numerous enrichment opportunities for families and younger students. Uh there was a three-hour Lego robotics program on March 19th and upcoming events include nature journaling, uh tic tac, excuse me, tick quacktoe family craft and 45minute martial art lessons for families, fifth grade students across the district will be attending a music concert at the middle school on the 20th of March. uh or they did, excuse me. And the uh second trimester of the school year ended on March 6th, marking the end of an elementary reporting period. And two weeks
013later on the 20th, report cards uh were sent home with students and released online. And reports from the NWA winter exams will also be sent home during this month. I'll turn it over to Zoe for the second half of our report this evening. Thank you. >> All right, I'll cover the second half and as Walker said as quickly as I can. Um we'll start with massive basic adult education um has started some enrichment opportunities. There is a three-hour uh Lego robotics program on March 19th. There is a nature journaling um oh wait that's sorry I'm reading what he just read. I'm going to try that again. Um so the 12 the so start with massac middle school there were 12 students elected for the district one main music education educators association that's the mmea honors
014festival which is at the very end of February uh it's a highly competitive festival um where only 78 students over out of the 20 225 attend um statewide they got high praise is for all for their dedication and um their professionalism. The eighth grade jazz band is will be going to the state competition um because they they did well at the district 1 MMEA jazz festival. Uh the group scored a 91 overall and received an I rating which is the highest possible. Uh the whole group earned an I but as well as uh soloists and registration for spring sports at the school opened on the 17th. Uh students in eighth grade have been working in teams to design and build homes to keep their ice penguins. It's a very fun thing. I remember doing that
015in eighth grade. Select uh they selected some building materials to reduce heat transfer and they placed their ice penguins and observed how their design slow the process of the melting. uh they collected and analyzed their data and connected everything back to thermal energy theories. Um not only did they learn about the insulators, conductors and aspects of energy transfers, but they also learn teamwork, engineering, and creativity. At MMS, 40 dedicated students um have been given an extended learning opportunity where they're researching historical topics um that are related to revolution, reaction, and reform uh which is the which is the theme for National History Day. Um they've put in lots of hours and research into their work. On Saturday, March 7th, five students who were elected to compete in the Southern Maine regionals at the University of
016Southern Maine, Portland. Um, and then there were selected finalists to compete in Maine State History Day at the University of Maine in Orina on May 2nd. Um, and then there were five students divided into two groups and each um each had to make a trifold for their project. The yearbook club at MMS um has been working on their yearbook and the yearbooks are currently available to order. The counseling office at MMS has allowed um students to give their preferences for the allied art courses and eighth grade students will experience showcased by the um NJRTC to be introduced to the program and opportunities. Um, Master Visc High School's National Honor Society put on the winter blues bash for the second year in a row on March 20th. Uh, this gave us a shortened schedule to allow
017it. And there were lots of different activities in each room. There was rock painting, movies, board games, lots of fun activities. Um, and then coming to the high school gym is the March Madness dodgeball tournament. It runs from March 30th to the 3rd and there'll be teams created of eight players. Uh and you have to they students must register for the tournament. MHS has an academic showcase and eighth grade stepup right now from 4:30 to 6:00 and then at 6:30 eighth grade students will be welcome to learn about MHS campus. The school's culture club is proposing a spring 2028 trip to Germany and there is an information meeting on it on the 26th. MHS uh resilience project has been focused on awareness of disabilities. It has focused around the disabilities are not always visible and
018striving to make students more aware of them and making it obvious that um they're not any less than anyone else. They will be g they gave out green ribbons at the academic showcase and registration MHS for spring sports has also been has also opened which includes baseball, softball, uh lacrosse and tennis oh and track and uh these practices will start on uh the 30th. Um, the fundraiser for the project graduation has been introduced to the seniors and their families. Families can also buy senior shoutouts which have a short short message and are in the hallways. Um, and you can als they can also buy yard signs for their seniors. the um MHS held a an American red red cross blood drive on March 18th which was by student council and then four members of the
019high school's science club recently competed in a science bowl. They advanced to the quarterfinal and ended up in a tie for fifth overall. Um they played in they won matches from teams across the state. The Unifi basketball team finished their season on March 17th. On Monday the 23rd, the MHS band band program um has a fundraiser concert um featuring the the Casco Bay Win symphony. The con the concert was free and accept but just accepting donations and then the honor roll was just released on um was just released for the first semester. Busting Theater brought their show Murderbox the regional one act festival where three students earned overall all cast awards um at Noble High School. uh the the groups have developed a strong connection and collect throughout throughout the year and that was demonstrated
020through their competition. Uh the MHS com competition cheering teams qualified for main state cheering. Uh developed a strong performance demonstrating their talent. Students are given the opportunity to write an essay for the New England Association for College Administration Counseling uh where they will have six winners who receive a thousand dollar scholarship and the overall winner will earn a 2,000. Um the University of Maine has will have a Wait, I missed something. Uh oh, it was specifically for junior year students um to be become one of to become one of the 123 students that can go to the University of Maine for 4 days. Uh these are things that will be experiments, pro things that have to do with problem solving and much more. And it's a it's free of charge. With the second trimester ending,
021um this means that twothirds of the school year has has been has closed. Elementary schools will continue their reading their reading months with book challenges and things and students will be learning about maple syrup and the sugaring process. Um there'll be me so many events and new sports beginning and the warmer and the colder weather is getting warmer. We'll have much much more to look forward to. >> Perfect. Thank you both so much. Great job. Any questions for Walker or Zoe on the student report? All right, next up we will move on to the board chair report. We're going to start off with recognitions and celebrations. Tonight we are recognizing and celebrating our York County Teacher of the Year nominees. We have several here. We have uh building administrators here to recognize them. Um but
022first, uh Dr. Marque would like to speak to this as well. >> First, I'd like to thank those of you who could attend tonight to uh um your joining us is valued and appreciated. Um, this district, um, I think is in a state of becoming, and it's becoming because of folks like you. I think that our students are becoming far more engaged. They're achieving successes. They're being inspired to think about the world in different ways. And really, that starts with all of our teachers in the district. And we have um nearly 300 teachers and over 650 staff. and you are among the the the finest in our in our ranks. So, I just want to say thank you on behalf of families, on behalf of students and uh and our collective community. Um it takes
023a village is what folks always say and and you're certainly uh key components to that. Each of your principles will stand up and and say a few uh brief words and uh we wish you all continued success. I know that some folks are moving forward and um I I think that when when you put yourself out there um you really set a shining example for our students to be risk risktakers and um let's let's hope that someone brings home York County teacher of the year and and ideally main teacher of the year. So congratulations. >> Thank you. We're going to start with Mr. We're going to start with Mr. Thurlo in the high school because he's going to have to zip on um back to the high school shortly. I could uh help my colleagues
024out and just hand all of these out at once, which uh they may enjoy. So, just bear with me as I try to find the the few for the high school. Okay. All right. Perfect. Well, thank you uh for this opportunity. Uh we have three teachers from Masabis High School who have been recognized as uh teacher of the year candidates for York County. Uh first and foremost, Mrs. Amanda Todd. She is actually um overseeing two different clubs right now at the high school, so she was unable to make it here. But a round of applause for Mrs. is Amanda Todd who chief is she is a social studies teacher among many other things. Um next up Mr. Andrew White House is a social studies teacher as well at the high school. So, Andrew, if you
025join me up here, you do you want a photo? Oh, sorry. >> And then last but not least, at the high school for uh the second year in a row being nominated for teacher of the year in York County is Mrs. Maryanne Stevenson, who is an English teacher. Mrs. Pellerum will come up and she's actually going to do um both Lyman and Alfred unfortunately. Um, Miss Puland was unable to join us this evening. >> So, it is Oh, I guess I need to stop here. Um, it is it is my pleasure to um give this certificate to Kimberly Rollins, third grade at Alfred Elementary. And now I represent my own school, Lyman, although Kim was with me over in Alfred when I first started. So, uh, felt fitting to be able to give that. So,
026um this is to Carla Kelly, um a Lyman Elementary prek teacher. Come on down. Um, also Carla has moved on to the semifinals. >> Hello, Leah Richards from Line School. Um, I am here to celebrate Melissa Brown. She is our uh semi finalist as well. She has been loving her little so hard that she's unable to join us today. But round of applause for >> school. >> Hello, I'm Amy Trion representing Mass Visc Middle School. We had four nominees this year for teacher of the year. Um we are incredibly proud of all of them. I think this group of teachers represents a lot of innovation um and some of the new exciting things that are happening at Mass Visc Middle School. Uh two of them are here tonight, two of them are not. So I
027would start with um our eighth grade social studies teacher, Mr. Jack Ricker, who is not here this evening. But um our second nominee is a technology education teacher who's been at Massic Middle School for a very long time. Um the very welldeserving Mr. Michael Bryant, who also is not here this evening. Uh the third teacher we'll be recognizing um left a position in sixth grade math to take over one of our new allied arts courses, and that is Mrs. Cindy Thorne, who is teaching STEM to sixth, seventh, and eighth graders this year. And fourth, but certainly not least, a seventh grade teacher who also made the decision to leave their position as a science teacher and take on a new endeavor, and that is seventh grade interdisciplinary studies. Um she's done a tremendous job and
028is actually going to be um leading the climate change summit which is happening tomorrow at Massive Sick Middle School from 11:45 to 1:15. If you're free, I encourage you to come check it out. Um and that is Mrs. Michelle Turner. >> Yeah. And Michelle is moving on as a semi-finalist for York County Teacher of the Year. So, we wish her all the best. Good evening, Marissa Penny from Chappley. Um, I have had the pleasure of working with Deb Wintel for the last 11 years, but she has served RSC 57 for much longer than that. So, um, welcome and, uh, congratulations. She teaches preK at Shappley Memorial School. >> Yeah. and Waterboro Elementary School is rounding out the night of this wonderful evening of celebrating our amazing teachers. It is my pleasure to share with you
029Bria Bourke as the main teacher of the year. Thank you all so much. That's fantastic. It's very exciting and to see all the semi-finalists. Um I can't wait to hear about what comes next. you're welcome to stay for the rest of the board meeting, but if you want to excuse yourselves, that's also understandable. Um, because it has been a long day. I understand. But thank you. Thank you for coming in. sitting next to >> uh next up in my board chair report, I do have a couple things to share with you. I want to first welcome our new board member from Newfield, Tom Van Hton. He was uh elected last week and uh he served on the school board many many years ago and has now come back um for another round. So, welcome. We're
030happy to have you. I also want to congratulate Wes and Anastasia who were both reelected to the school board for three-year terms last week. So, they'll be with us till 2029. >> Um, lastly, I want to congratulate Walker who placed second last weekend at the main Scholastic Individual Chess Championship. So, and from someone who does not know how to play chess, that's amazing. Uh, that's all I have for my board chair report tonight. I'm going to turn things over to Dr. Marquy for the superintendent's report. >> Um, congratulations. That's really exciting. >> Um, in a moment I'm going to have uh as part of my report, I'm going to have Dr. uh Doyle share some information about our wellness day. Unfortunately, I was very disappointed. Um, the wellness day was something that I was probably
031most excited about uh for professional development since my time in this district, but I'm on uh I was appointed to the governor's commission on school transportation safety. Um, and we're working on some laws that are very fast-paced so they can get in um this uh this session um really as a result of the tragic passing of two students here in the state of Maine. So, um I'm disappointed I wasn't present, but I really want the board to understand all that happened that day and uh Dr. Doyle was present. So, if you could give us a a kind of a review of our wellness day. Thank you. Um so on Friday, March 13th, here on the um campus at the East Building and at the high school, we hosted a district wellness day all day long
032for our many staff and teachers throughout the district. One of the things I'm really excited about is the fact that we could make this available to all of the members of our district. And we had a really fantastic turnout and a very successful day uh largely because of the commitment of Mr. go, our adult ed director, who it was just the right pick to lead the charge on this. Um, he has amazing connections throughout the community, a wealth of knowledge, and a good understanding of the type of things that will make for a great day for adults. So, he did a fantastic job organizing a massive menu of items for our teachers and our staff to engage in that support intellectual, physical, and social well-being. Um, some sample events of things that people learned that
033day were things like beginner ukulele. They had opportunities to engage in clay throwing. Um, they had opportunities to attend sessions that support their knowledge and work with students. An example of one of those, we hosted main youth thriving to discuss compassion fatigue and resilience strategies and working with students. That was a very popular and well-received session. Um, we also had opportunities for things like pickle ball and cardio workouts. um staff had the opportunity to revisit maybe some old crafting hobbies or learn new ones as they kind of move throughout their day with some freedom and flexibility to choose some things um to address their wellness. So, a couple of highlights that I wanted to share. We did survey staff to get a sense of this and I have to say I've spent nearly my entirety
034of my career planning and delivering facilitating professional development. This is the highest um appreciation rate that I've seen. We had a total of 99.7% of people who said that they experienced something that supported their wellness on that day. It's really, really hard to meet the needs of hundreds of people across many different jobs. So, I think that's amazing. 96.8% of our respondents said that they hoped that we would offer it annually with many folks saying that they wished we could do that more frequently. 87.7% of respondents said that they engaged in some level of new learning that day and the vast majority of those said that they learned a new skill that they could then transfer to students which I think is really fantastic as well. Um so many folks reported in their open-ended feedback,
035you know, like I said, learning some new hobbies, picking up old hobbies. We had um multiple tenur veteran teachers from both here in district and folks who have had experience outside of the district saying that this was the best professional development that they've ever experienced. That's amazing for any PD, let alone the first time we've asked Adam to take on probably the largest um event that I've seen put on in a long time. So um Miss Twitchell supported as well. I think she deserves credit for that um in supporting Mr. go and also the staff on this campus in particular were really helpful. I also think it's important to point out that we had many staff volunteers who participated as facilitators as well. And so it was a really a great marriage of some external
036providers who were experts in their field to provide their expertise. We also leveraged some internal staff who were willing volunteers um and we also had some of our adult education staff to be able to kind of spread the wealth. So I think overall it was exceptionally wellreceived. Um, and actually last Friday I was out of the out of the office at away at a conference and I was stopped by some of my colleagues in other districts, neighboring districts around us who had seen copies of the agenda and asked how the heck did we pull it off and how was it received and they had heard so much about it and wanted more information. And I think there's no better word of mouth for us in service to what we do in our strategic plan than
037having people talk about what a great experience it was to be here. So, um, we thank you for your support in that endeavor and also a big kudos to Mr. Go and Director Twitchell and all the others who made that day possible. Thank you. >> Thank you for sharing that so eloquently. Um, the other day I was actually driving and I and I thought about it's been five years since I was hired in this district and I'm going to beat the Adam Go drum just a little louder. Um, at that time when I was hired, I didn't start until July, but there were a number of key positions that needed to be um, hired for. And one was adult dead. And at that time, Mr. Malone said, "It's going to be your team. You should
038lead the hiring." And some of you were on uh, the committee um for hiring adult ed. And I remember vividly that we had several candidates that actually had background training experience in adult ed and we had Mr. go a music teacher with no background in adult dead but there was something unique about him and I remember vividly saying yeah he he doesn't have the the skill and the background that we would typically look for initially but do you hire somebody that has the the upside um or somebody that essentially um has a little bit of experience but they might not be able to move you forward and that's exact what Adam has done day in and day out and um the most shining example of that is what he's done with um adult ed graduation
039and getting folks across the stage which is by far the most um touching graduation ceremony for me annually. So um not to say that others aren't important but that's just a really a special evening. So, thank you to the the members of the board that were present on that hiring because I think we hired a good one. And um to that end, um Adam's always coming to me and asking, "Hey, what can I do to kind of grow as a leader? I'd like to broaden my experiences." So, little did he know when I asked him, "Hey, I think you're the guy to lead this," he thought I was absolutely bonkers. and he he he um not to overuse sports metaphors, but he truly hit a home run. Um and and he he didn't do it
040alone and he did it with a lot of uh helping hands, but thank you to uh Mr. Go for that. Um the board often asks, "Are folks hearing our message?" Um, over the past few weeks, I've looked at um probably upwards of 20 school districts web pages. I've looked at all six of our town web pages. I've looked at my own town web page and trying to get information that I think is critical and I I'm obviously I'm biased, but I think we try to attempt communication far greater than any other organization that I've seen. Um and recently it was asked well are folks reading our newsletters and such. So um Mr. O'Hara who oversees technology does a tremendous job. Um Miss Carol back here who helps with uh distribution of our newsletters and such.
041Um this year um our newsletters have been viewed 63,000 times. So that's that's really um speaks to um the level of engagement of our community for opening those things up and they're not simply just opening up an email. Uh we can track how long they're on the page and those sorts of things and it's it's um a little better than I would have even hoped for. So um thank you to to all those who provide information for our newsletters and um they distribute our newsletters. Um, I did notice on several of our town web pages they are posting a lot of our information now that we've been sharing and um and I do believe that a few towns used um all or a portion of some of the language that I provided for um communication
042to Augusta and to representatives around LD226 which is the subsidy essentially adjustment uh bill that's in on the floor last Thursday. that was moved to the floor with a unanimous vote out of the um joint committee for education and cultural affairs which is really um and I think it was 90 which is quite astounding because those individuals are the ones that would in some have some potential of being impacted adversely um if there's not a hold harmless clause to that legislation for any individuals that might be viewing from home. What LD226, if you haven't seen it in the newsletters and various communications or at our um meetings that we've been talking about, it essentially um is looking at the state funding formula and in two particular areas that benefit us at this time. One would
043be the regional adjustment which helps with salary computation as well as um ability to pay as reflected in um what would be classified as economically disadvantaged if LD226 passes ultimately and I have a feeling that it there could be some subtle tweaks but I do in my core feel like it's the right thing to do and people will make the right choices for main children so that their experiences are not identified or defined by their zip code. Um I think that if it passes we'll likely receive um upwards of 1.2 to even $1.3 million of annual um monies that are aligned per pupil towards education um of our students. So keep your ears out for that. want to share also on that same day because I would have been at the work session. Um I
044would have probably shared similar comments that I shared in Augusta um a couple weeks ago when I testified before that committee. Um there was the work session last Thursday. While that was happening um our finance committee and board chair, Dr. Doyle, Mr. Walsh, myself, and representatives from our six towns met on Thursday afternoon in Alfred and we talked a lot about LD226. We talked a lot about property and property valuations, the escalation that's happened here and the the end result where the state is funding us at a lower percentage with each successive year. Really based on two things. Our enrollment is not going up and it's pretty static and our evaluations have ballooned by I believe 94% in the last five years which far outpaces the state average. It was a really nice meeting. I
045think there was some really good dialogue and um I felt as though there was a level of partnership and a belief that it's not all about the school department trying to impact taxpayers adversely. It's really about how do we provide equitable opportunities and prepare kids for success in an everchanging world. So that's what we did. I'd encourage you to ask any questions you might have of the membership that was present at that. But I thought in my five years of attending um though there are some hard conversations, I felt like we were all rowing in the same direction. I want to draw extra special attention to you school board members. um your commitment and passion and dedication to this district, I don't think as often as is not as known as it should be. Let's
046look at this week, for example. Many of you were here Monday night for the budget review. Many of you were here last night for the finance meeting every Tuesday night. You're all here tonight. And many of you will be here tomorrow night for negotiations. Last week we had three nights. Next week I think we only have one or two nights and it feels like it's almost a vacation week. So that is not common. And um and you do get a $25 stipen for your meetings, but I was listening to one of our local towns meetings and I was really shocked how much their select board receives for compensation. I shouldn't tell you this, but it's a lot more than what you receive. Um, and I but I don't know how much work they do, but
047I do know that you all do tons and tons of work, so be prepared. Okay. Um, and uh, I thought the I'd like to think folks were viewing the other night when Colin presented. I've heard it a lot. Colin does such a remarkable job. Um, if I heard it for the first time, I'd be like, "Wow, that's so interesting." It's still interesting. Um, but I'm hopeful that others are hearing that message because I think we're coming in with a fiscally responsible budget. Colin will sp speak in a little bit. Um, I really thank you for all that you do. It's really exciting to hear all that's happening. Um, there was a lot and uh I'm going to call myself out right now. I'll say checkmate. I'm done for my conversation. Um, if you have any
048questions, I'd be happy to answer them. >> Thank you. Any questions for Dr. Marquee tonight? All right. Seeing none, we will move on to standing committees and we will start off with policy. Beth, >> uh, we have not met since the last meeting. Our next meeting is um April 1st. >> I won't say it. >> Any questions for Beth on policy? >> Next up, finance. Wes, >> good evening. Uh finance committee met last night. Um we went into great detail reviewing the budget numbers and considered various recommendations and thoughts. Uh there was a great review, great discussions, great deliberations. Dr. Doyle and director Walsh did a great job of uh providing clarifications on a lot of the issues that were being discussed and u were able to bring us around. And I'd like to add
049that that Waka Vivian uh presented a few views on the entire budget and its process and I thought really focused us as a committee uh just like Dr. Doyle and Director Walsh were doing. I was very impressed with that last night. Walk >> um I'm not going to go into any of the details uh on on the budget itself. Um Dr. Marquee, Dr. Doyle, and Director Walsh, and Jody Lane, our board chair, will go over the numbers and the figures and the information. Um so I'll cut short any further discussion on the budget and let others uh present that. Um, one point that uh, Director Walsh made last night and I think Director Doyle as well, we during this past budget season have communicated more strongly than any previous year that I've been involved with
050the finance committee and whether it was the forum Monday night, whether it was countless materials being forwarded and sent out to communities ities um and and also uh the the meeting that uh Dr. Marquee mentioned uh that was held with the uh six towns uh boards of community leaders and selectmen um this process has been ongoing. The presentation on fund balance and state subsidy that Colin Walsh did was one of the best presentations uh I've listened to. And if someone hasn't had the opportunity to view it, uh especially those who are tuning in to the meeting tonight, go to our website and review that. Um audits are close to being done for the district. Summer projects are going to be reviewed at our next meeting along with capital planning. Uh school revolving renovation fund update.
051Uh director Walsh shared that uh we've received authorization uh from the state to extend that process. The Alfred school roof uh project will go into the summer of 27 and the summer of 28. Um the U finance committee futuristically uh as we wrap up this budget season is going to start working with the policy committee and take a look at some of uh uh Dr. MI and director Walsh's recommendations of looking at what kind of a policy or guidelines could be established as we work toward maintaining and developing fund balance and uh uh putting money into the uh capital reserve accounts. The next meeting of the finance committee is Tuesday, March 31st in this room at 6 PM. And if you have any questions, I'd be more than willing to answer them. But I think
052you really want to listen to the budget review. >> Thanks, Wes. Uh, one thing that Wes did not mention about finance last night is that the committee is actually um passed a budget to move on to the full board. So, that will be coming to us um on April 8th. So, with a nice couple weeks for everyone to take a look and digest and be ready and discuss tonight and formulate any questions. But um but that was really exciting last night to come to that decision and and move a budget to the whole board. Any other questions for Wes? >> I I love that for you. >> Oh, thank you Wes HR Anastasia. We have not met um since February. >> Yeah, >> maybe January. >> But we are hopefully meeting in April 15th at
0536 p.m. >> We will have to them. Any questions for Anastasia on HR? >> All right, next up, old business. We have the 2026 2027 instructional school year calendar coming back for a second read and um ideally approval. So, Dr. Marque, >> yes. So we we made one amendment to the calendar that we brought before you last time. That one amendment is in August and we had August 19th in yellow previously which would be new staff orientation. We moved it to the full week so that some of some of those staff that might have summer jobs and and things, but we will um our principles will be welcoming and encouraging folks if they want to get into their classrooms um early, maybe starting the week of the 10th or the 17th, they can start to
054do that, those new staff members. Um so they don't need to be shy about going into those spaces. Those are typically held up until our custodial staff clears them for uh for use. So that would be the only change. We did look at some early release changes but ultimately settled with what we what we have had because any change that we made would have created potentially other um challenges. So I present before you um a final draft for approval unless there are additional discussion points. >> And we would we would we would update and get rid of all the drafts and actually have an adopted date once adopted. We don't we don't want to make it confusing. It would be just adoption date. >> Okay. >> Um All right. Do we have a motion to
055accept the 2627 school year calendar? Anastasia Beth. We have a motion and we have a second. Is there any discussion on the uh school calendar? Seeing none. Uh all those in favor favor of approval. All right. Opposed. All right. That's unanimous. Thank you. We will get that out there. be here before we know it. New business. We will start off with a budget update from Director Walsh. probably have a couple. >> I was going to say if there's >> So, thank you. Um, as you heard earlier, the finance committee has moved a budget out of committee to the board. Before I start, I just want to say thank you to several people. I want to say thank you to the finance committee as a whole. It has been a long process. It is every year.
056This year was a very engaged process and that was exciting. It was exciting on multiple levels because it wasn't passive. It was a very um engaging and give and take back and forth throughout the past three and a half months. And I think that's good. That is good to have those conversations to have that engagement in developing what is so important to drive the district financially for the next year. I also want to thank the folks who came to meetings regularly and those who just periodically came because the engagement and the communication of our community. There are several board members who attended almost every meeting. Walker attended every meeting. Vicki attended every meeting. I just want to say thank you to those who came consistently and also those who maybe just had an opportunity to
057attend one meeting or two meetings or watched online. That engagement, that communication and the transparency of state subsidy dollars and local taxation dollars are the key to developing a school budget. And that transparency is evident in those meetings, in the communication, in the videos that are online and in what's been shared and continues to be shared online. The past two years of budget and budget information is online. It's been there and that to me as your finance director is critically important. So, I just wanted to take a quick moment to thank all of those folks, whether here or online, for that engagement because it is the district's budget and it does affect all six communities. Want to talk first about this handout, which I'm not going to go through. There's a video of it. You
058can watch me talk for an hour this past Monday night about the budget. The first half of this presentation is about the budget process, about budget challenges, about cost containment and how it's approached. The second half of that presentation is about all the financial information um I think the public or you or others would want to know about enrollment, about state subsidy and how it works. And if you want more of that, there's also another presentation which Wes mentioned that you're welcome to watch which is an hour and 15 minutes on state subsidy and fund balance. To that point, I mentioned that somewhat tongue and cheek but serious because that's what we have heard over the past year at the budget meeting last May was what is fund balance? How does it work? What is
059state subsidy? How does it work? Steve has talked a lot about 2226 and that legislative movement to amend the state subsidy formula. So this presentation I'm not going to go through. We did it on Monday night. I did give each of you a handout. It is online as well, but I think it's really important if you haven't had an opportunity, please go through it. Um especially in the next two weeks because the timetable right now is it got moved out of committee last night. We'll go over those numbers and what the committee did and then for your input and then ultimately an agenda item on the April 8th meeting to approve and adopt a budget and then declare a budget meeting and then declare a budget validation referendum. For those who are new, it is
060a two-step process. Once the school board approves a budget in May, there's a budget meeting in which the public is invited and gets to vote on each of the 11 warrant articles as well as other articles that are included to be voted on. In June, the validation referendum occurs, which is the second step in the process in which folks in the community and voters vote on two things hopefully. One is do you approve or not approve the budget that was adopted at the budget meeting and two we'll talk about revolving renovation in just a second. So those are the items that is how the schedule goes out from here and the public's opportunity has occurred all through budget season and will continue to occur and then have those dates in May and June. Before I
061move into the numbers, is there anything I can answer or any comments or questions about the process, about the timeline, and about where we are before I start to delve into numbers? Okay. Um, I'll start with revolving renovation before. Revolving renovation is the main department of education's program which helps subsidize projects in which schools apply for. We applied for structural roofing upgrades to Alfred Elementary School at approximately $1.16 million. We were approved and we were number one on the list of 90 plus applicants who applied and not all of those got approved. It is limited funding and approximately 41% of that will be forgiven by the state of Maine and the department of education with the other 59% of that number occurring through a 0% interest rate loan over 10 years. That is what I
062will be bringing to the school board on April 8th. That's what if the school board approves, we will be asking voters in a public hearing in May, just before the budget meeting, and then we will be asking for a vote at the polls in June. This is a great opportunity for us to get a project done that needs to be done. This is not an elective project. This is a project that's going to have to get done. And whether we build it into our budget, our capital reserve fund, or some other means, this is a great opportunity to have 41% forgiven and 59% spread over 10 years with no interest. If I could get a 0% interest rate loan for anything that I needed to do personally, I would grab it in a heartbeat. And
063I think most of us would too. So that is the background on the revolving renovation fund so that you have an understanding of what will be coming before you next meeting on April 8th and how it works and what we will be asking the voters for. In front of you tonight is this handout. It is four pages. It is on legal size and it's on legal size because I am getting old and I can't see numbers well and we've been in finance for three and a half months and I need bigger numbers now. The first page are the expenditures and the general fund. There are two funds that we'll talk about tonight. The general fund is the general operating fund of the district. It is where the vast majority of expenditures occur and revenue comes
064in. We'll also talk about the adult education fund briefly, which is on the third page of this handout. On this page, you see a 5-year historical trend of approved budgets from fiscal 2122 through fiscal 2526, the year we're in now, in the proposed budget that came out of the finance committee last evening. The finance committee has done a ton of work in this district, especially Tom or others who are new. The finance committee is the committee charged by this board to work with the superintendent, the finance director and the public and bringing a budget forward to this board. That is how it's done in this district. Um that committee's responsibility amongst others is to bring and adopt a budget and to formulate a budget. They have spent three and a half months doing hard work
065to get to where this point is tonight. These are 11 warrant articles that are required by state statute including regular instruction, special education and so on. You can read them. They are the same every single year. You can see the difference or variance in dollars as well as percent between the proposed 2627 budget and the current 2526 budget. The proposed budget from finance is $55,779,000 for fiscal 2627, which is a 0.69% increase. So to be clear, that is 69 or less than 1% increase in expenditures. expenditures simply what we expend money on. Approximately 75 to 77% of this budget and most schools as well are salaries and benefits. Schools are very intensive on labor. That's just the reality of the services we provide, which is the education of students. For our district, we are low
066in a lot of areas and we are well below the state average of just under $2,000 per pupil under the state average. That translates to a budget that is about $5.6 million less in expenditures than the state average. It is much less than that and even a greater discrepancy or difference when you compare to Cumberland and York counties which is our peer group. So the state average includes the entire state and approximately 270 school districts. If you get into northern parts of the state, costs are a lot different in a lot of ways a lot lower than they are in York or Cumberland County. So we are what I consider a lean and frugal district. We have been for a long time and you can see the historical trend. I stand behind that and will
067continue to stand behind that because we operate a very geographically diverse area which requires a lot of transportation costs, a lot of operational costs because of the number of facilities and the number of miles that we have to cover on a given day. Having said that, those two articles which you see here are articles 8 and nine are larger than the state average. It's just the nature with the number of school buildings and the number of miles we have to transport. That's the reality. I would still say we're very frugal in cost per mile or cost per building than a lot of districts. So, the expenditures at $382,000 increase um is a very very small increase in what's going to be spent in fiscal 27 verse 26 if the school board and the public approves
068this budget. On the next page is revenue or where does the money come from? For those of you who follow me a lot, you know the numbers. 93% on average of what we receive comes from state funding or local taxation. Is that unique for schools? No. That's the majority of where it comes from. And our state subsidy has been flat or decreasing relative to the exponential increase in cost whether it's labor costs, insurance costs, or operational costs such as electricity or fuel or insurance. So each year because of the subsidy formula and the way it's constructed, we get more and more pressure to fill the budget revenue with local taxation than with state subsidy. And which is the reason 2226 legislation is so important. It's not because we as a district spend tons of money
069beyond the state average or beyond the county averages for our area. I just told you we're well below those numbers. It's not a expenditure challenge. It is as far as meeting the budget, but it's really a revenue challenge of how we get the money in this budget on the general fund. And I'll go over the numbers in just a second to show you the entire taxation impact to the overall and to the six towns. There are revenue sources here. ROC is one of them. ROC. We are reimbursed by the federal government for half of the salaries and benefits of the two ROC instructors. Medicaid is because our special services department does a great job in billing Medicaid for services that were eligible to bill for, which is not common in schools. It's common in hospitals.
070It's common in nursing homes. But there are very few schools that are talented and have the resources to be able to build Medicaid and get revenue. And we do that. Other. Other seems like a catch-all, but it really isn't. Other really includes interest on cash accounts in the money we have in the bank. It includes state agency client revenue that we get for state agency clients that our special services department and gened um have as students in our schools. If we sell buses or other assets because they've reached the end of their useful life, that's included. So there are a lot of areas that are included in that other. The last one is fund balance utilization. And fund balance is the challenge that finance and a lot of schools and finance committee really spent a
071lot of time on and they came to the conclusion that going to utilize $3 million to meet the operating needs in this budget. felt based upon all the information that was provided and all of their work that this was a number that was reasonable in order to balance the budget but at the same time not put the district in a potential risk area in the short term or long term. Again, go to the video on fund balance if you really want to learn more about that. The next page is adult education. Delta education is here because it has the same components as the general fund. Adult education receives local tax dollars. It receives state subsidy. It receives tuition revenue and other revenue in use of fund balance. Hence why this is here. It is much
072smaller dollars as you can well see. But you can also see the trend analysis on adult education for the 5-year period. Just as a side note, when finance committee was going through this, they were looking at a 10-year trend analysis. If you want 10-year, go to all the finance minutes. It's there for you. Um, but finance was looking at a 10-year period for the board. I typically provide a 5-year period just because it's easier to see. The last page is the local tax impact. When the board assesses those first three pages or in this case finance committee and comes up with a budget on those first three pages that then generates this page and that is the impact on local taxation that is part and parcel of the general fund budget and the adult education
073budget. how the total allocation of that $36,618,000 is divided amongst six towns. And those percentages you see under the 2627 percentage column is 50% enrollment and 50% valuation. That is how it's determined. That's in legislative statute for RSU57 and has been for decades. I don't change that. The board doesn't change that. The finance committee doesn't. Those are in statute and that's how it's determined. So in any given year in this year, Alfred will be the lowest. I think the past year or two, Alfred has been the highest or near the highest. Traditionally in this district, as enrollment and valuation changes, town is either high in one year, it may be lower or lowest in the next year. Excuse me. That's just how it works. So in this budget you see the in the far right
074column the percentage increase by town and in total at 4.89%. You say well if expenditures only went up by less than 1% why is the budget going up by 4.89%. And that's on page two. It's because those revenue sources including state subsidy don't provide an equal footing and it burdens the local taxpayers more. It's also expenditures are an increase based upon the expenditure budget which is $55 million. An increase in local taxation is an increase in percentage based upon the number you see on that page of 34,911,000 that's in the current year. So obviously 4% or 5% or in this case 4.89% of that number is what's needed in order to fulfill the expenditure budget. There are two other areas that the committee voted on last night. Second one is that they voted to have
075a warrant article and be brought forward to you and to the public to expend $190,000 from the fund balance and transfer it into the capital reserve fund. There was a lot of discussion regarding this. I certainly can go into it if you want, but let it be said the finance committee had a lot of work and a lot of due diligence into determining what was going to go into that number. I think there was probably some middle ground reach to be honest from my perspective in what to put in there and I think this is a good compromise and I think it is a compromise. I think there were folks who wanted more and there may have been folks who wanted less. That's what you do when you build a budget. The third item that
076was voted on is we have a holding spot for health insurance because health insurance rates will not be known and may not be known before the school board adopts the budget. That is very common. What we should know is what the maximum rate is. Right now we have a 12% increase in health insurance in the budget. I've been very transparent about that. I've been very upfront in multiple finance meetings about what that percentage is. If that maximum rate comes in less than 12%. Then the finance committee has voted to utilize or credit back fund balance for any savings so to speak of going from a 12% let's say to a 10% if that's the maximum rate in health insurance. Those are the items that came out of finance. The board chair had asked me to
077do a report tonight to update you and to answer any questions or provide any comment that you may have in regards to this um so that you have an opportunity to review this information before the April 8th meeting. Is there anything I can answer? >> Deep. >> Hi. Um, can you just explain where like why you guys landed on the 190,000 number? >> There were two different variations of the budget going um around when we got towards the end of the budget process and where the committee ended up resolving was approving a budget. We have some anticipated reductions that we think that are going to occur. um and that was the amount of those potential reductions as we come into the fall that the committee felt um if we're able to do that then that
078is where that number came from. So it was a direct relationship of two different versions and that's where the committee was really going back and forth and said okay we'll approve this version that is in front of you but realizing that we may well be saving 190,000 for some other reductions that are going to occur and as a result that's the number they came up with. Um, very typically a committee would come up and say we're going to put 200,000 in or 250,000, but that's what they chose to do and um, and bring forward. >> Does this balance fund um, build any interest? Like does it >> So, >> does it have a a growth point? >> Let me try to answer that as quickly as I can. The fund balance is not a cash
079account. >> Yeah. The fund balance is the excess of revenues over expenditures cumulatively minus things that have been transferred in the past. When we go over what that is, that number is a little bit less. It's at about 14.9% at June 30 or 25. It gets much more involved with that and that's where the fund balance kind of presentation comes from. But in short, it is not a cash account and it is not a cash balance account. It is that accumulation over time from an accounting standpoint of what is the shock absorber to help stabilize tax rates over a period of time and that's what's being used here. >> Okay. Thank you. with that issue about the insurance. Colin, you might want to share too that if insuranceances are over the 12% placeholder that we
080have in play, then we'd probably have to be cutting in the fund balance to cover allages. So, it it could go flip-flop either way. We're hoping that it obviously comes in under 12%. >> Correct. And what the finance committee had determined was if it's under it will reduce fund balance utilization. If it's over then it will increase fund balance utilization in what you see tonight. >> Any other questions for uh Mr. Walsh or for Wes or for anyone regarding the Amy? >> Um hi. So, I was one of the members that attended many of the meetings and watched all the finance uh um online at home, which is pretty comfortable. Um sorry for all of you that had to be here for every single one. Um and I just wanted to say that and I
081said this last night at the finance meeting, I feel personally not great about the fact that we have to cut two more staff members, especially after we reconfigured everything last year. Um, and I understand that the committee did a lot of work and it was very diligent work. Like I I think I can't foresee a way in which the community could say that this budget doesn't work for them. Um, but I really think that in future years, we have to really evaluate what we do as a board and what we're going to do to support students because I think about our kindergarteners 13 years from now and if I don't I don't foresee a time in the future where budget season is going to be easy, right? And I think that if we continue to
082make cuts every single year and our enrollment stays the same, I think it's a different conversation if we're going down significant amounts of students, um the quality of the educational um substance that we can provide I will have a problem with in the future. Um and that's just my standpoint. Like I am okay with this budget this year, but if next year we're cutting more positions with the same enrollment, I I am I would have to vote no. So that's kind of where I'm at. And I speak as obviously a parent and someone who's young in this district, but I also feel like I have to stand up for the people who the little kids, you know, that are going to be seniors 13 years from now. Like what will we have left for them
083if we continue to cut and cut and cut? So that's just the only thing I wanted to say. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Amy. Anything else on the budget? So you guys have two weeks to pour through these numbers, watch a back catalog of finance committee meetings, watch them on the old times two and then it's only a half an hour. Um, and get up to date and be ready to have a budget come before you on April 8th. um bring your good pens and um be ready to be signed in your name if that passes. So, last call for any questions on the budget. Okay, >> next up, let's start with we have a field trip request from the culture club over at the high school who are looking for approval to take a
084trip um over to Germany and uh Vienna, Budapest, all kinds of places on their sound of Europe tour. This is um an 8-day trip in April of 2028. As you all know, our culture club does these uh European trips um every other yearish at this point. So, um we are looking to get this one. I know it's still two years out, but they are going to be having anformational meeting tomorrow night and uh look to start fundraising and getting kids signed up for this. So, we have this field trip request before us that would be looking uh for a motion to approve. Um, I make a motion to approve the Sound of Europe culture club trip. >> All right, Jen and Beth, sorry, Judith. Beth beat you. Any, um, discussion on that field trip? Any
085questions? Amy, >> um, I just had a question. Did we already see approval for one for next year? Because I feel like there used to be I feel like we used to see a lot more of these. >> Yep. Do you want to speak to them? Yeah, >> that will be forthcoming and um really high school administration and some members of the board and myself, we want to create equal access for kids as well. So rather than all international trips, we're looking at having some domestic trips. So the um culture club will be presenting um I'm not sure where they're setting where they're uh ending up. um New York City next year or um maybe even Acadia next year. >> There would be like an alternating like >> domestic international domestic international. >> So then
086we might see next year's >> correct. There's currently not one for next year. They they will come forward. So >> and is that like an affordability type of thing? Because I would assume staying in the country would be slightly more affordable. I'm not aware of any school districts, but there might be that actually have a stipended position >> for EF tours essentially. >> Um, really I think that I don't have a lot of historical historical context, but I'll just share my own beliefs. If you have a culture club that's for all kids personally, they should probably be going into Portland and learning about ethnic um neighborhoods and things there or go to Boston and those sorts of things. Typically, um, the international is a whole separate entity, and I'm not suggesting one way or the
087other, but if we really want to expand opportunities for all kids, not simply those that can pay $5,000 to go overseas, um, we really want to broaden that. And that's something that Mr. Thorough is also strongly in agreement of having it international domestic international domestic and it also um with some of the challenges right now globally >> it's a little um >> risky and it was risky like coming out of COVID for example and uh the trip to the Galopagos had to be delayed and then there were some so I guess that's the essence of it affordability um and not simply an EF tour if it's a culture club that's supposed to be learning about the cultures um domestically as well as abroad. >> I think it will also like in conversations that I've had
088give an opportunity. So if they're doing an international trip every other year, that doesn't mean that they're limited to just one domestic trip in in that off year. I mean, if you're staying local, they could they could maybe do a couple outings depending on fundraising and and whatnot. And I just think that yeah, I I agree with kind of spreading those international chips. It gives every kid an opportunity that you know that can to go um but not have that every year big buildup and you know cuz not all kids can do that. Um, I just have a curiosity of >> do the chaffrons pay the same price as the students or is there a separate fund that from that the school budgets in to allow chaperons to go? >> The school doesn't budget in
089money >> apart from paying someone that essentially serves as the EF tour guide as well. Yeah, >> they they get a I I don't know all the dynamics. I understand that some receive um free travel. I don't know how many receive free travel. I'm not aware of if so many students pay full price if some adults get cheaper. I don't know all those dynamics. That'd be a great question for this committee to ask and have that individual come in and speak because I don't want to speak on their behalf. >> Okay. Um but we don't pay other than paying um a stipend um to oversee these international trips which is more commonly aligned with an EF um kind of ambassador type program. >> So it's a a unique situation here but it's been here long
090before I ever arrived. >> Cool. Thank you. >> And it and it's benefited a lot of kids as well. Yeah. Beth, I've had three kids I've had three kids go through this. Sorry, just waiting. I was going to answer that. Um, I've had three kids go through this and um and go overseas and it's been absolutely amazing for them. Um, but like I wanted to shop our own and it was going to cost me more money, which I didn't have any money. We did cans and bottles because we couldn't afford it. So, um, but we made it through with all three kids and I think it's an amazing program. Um, my brother did it and he lived in Kansas, so it's kind of all over. Everywhere does it. Um, but yeah, it chaperones. I don't
091know about certain chaperones, but I know like as a parent chaperone, I would have had to pay like twice as much, >> right? >> Yeah. I guess >> I was just asking more as like a teacher chaperon like that works maybe with sub in the culture committee or I'm sure they probably have their own fund like that they like do fundraisers for and they have >> um money set aside and such. >> I believe the person who receives our stipen also gets a free trip. >> Yeah. >> But I don't I don't want to speak on their behalf, but I think that's the the case. Um, and maybe some additional depending on how many students and family chaperones. I'm not sure other staff members have discounted or free trips. I don't know those intricacies. That's
092something that Mr. Thurlo could perhaps speak to or Miss Carol who is our the person who oversees it. >> Trust me, I am a huge proponent of this. I think it's a great opportunity for students to see our world at a very impressional age. I am always trying to talk to my uh my language uh community, language teacher communities because they always do the the traveling with the students, but the chaperone spots, they get kind of gobbled up really fast. So, I see the sign and I like run down the hallway. But, you know, someday I'll get I'll get on one of those trips. >> I thought that's what Amy's question was going to be was like, can we >> can I go? Yeah. Right. >> A lot of um my my own experience way
093back um and when my kids were in school, it was really more along the lines of a French teacher or a Spanish teacher uh or a history teacher. Those were typically um the ones that would work with these organizations. And I think that's probably happened some here as well. I don't know who all has done it over the years. >> Um but my experience is probably more like what your experience has been. >> Yeah. Have we voted on this yet? No. >> Okay. Any other discussion? All those in favor of approval of the uh culture club trip. >> That's unanimous. All right. Next up, we have a field trip request from the NJOTC who are headed down to the Sea Coast Sea Perch competition uh at UNH next week. So, because it's out of state,
094it needs schoolboard approval. So, I'd look for a motion to approve that. >> Anastasia. Who is the second? D. >> Any discussion on this field trip? Questions, comments? Seeing none, all those in favor? That is unanimous. That concludes our new business. Next up, um I will make a motion to enter into executive session to discuss a student matter pursuant to one MRSA 4056B. >> Oh, Anesthesia beat you. >> Any discussion? All those in favor? We are in executive session at 7:29 p.m. online. Um, what is the direction of the board? >> I motion to expel student A indefinitely with a roadmap for re-entry. Oh, I think Adam got you. Sorry, Anastasia. So, we do have a motion and a second to expel student A indefinitely with a road map to return. Is there any discussion
095on that motion? All those in favor? That carries. Thank you. So, administration will speak from you, speak with you from here on out and um get that roadmap put together. Calendar and announcements are at the bottom of your agenda. Our next full school board meeting is April 8th. We'll have the budget that night. Hopefully do a school board review. Um and that is all. We are adjourned. 8:05 p.m.