March 11 School Board Meeting

001Good. >> We're good. >> Good evening, everyone. I'm going to call the March 11th school board meeting to order at 6 PM. If everyone could please stand for the pledge of allegiance. 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. >> Thank you. Roll call. Megan Arshambo. Melissa Bacon. >> Carmen Barski. >> Suzanne Bower. Mark Cardisano >> here. >> Elizabeth Day >> here. Michelle Felicetti, Anastasia Ferguson, >> here. >> Eric Garrison, Jod Lane, I'm here. Jennifer, uh, Mayo, sorry. Amy Morrison, excused. Uh, Wes Finny here. >> Adam Tangway, excused. Judith Val. D. Vigliata. >> Zoe Anthony excused. >> Walk. >> Okay, Judith is here. Thank you. Walker Vivian here. We have a quorum

002with 13 directors present. Are there any adjustments to the agenda this evening? >> No adjustments to the agenda. Uh can I get a motion to accept the consent agenda? >> D was that you? >> So D motion Anastasia seconded that. Any comments, questions, discussion on the consent agenda? Uh, all those in favor? That carries. Michelle is here as well. So, we're 14 directors present for this meeting. Probably no parking out there. Uh, public comment. Do we have any public comment this evening? We do not. We'll give everyone a moment to get settled and then we'll move on to the board chair report. All right, board chair report. We're going to start off with recognitions and celebrations. A couple of you have approached me over the last couple weeks saying that they haven't seen kids in

003here recently. So, um, we decided to remedy that tonight and bring all the kids in. So, we will start with some recognitions and celebrations. uh for our wrestling um participants. So, we'll ask Alex to come up here and speak to that. >> Hello. Good evening, everyone. First, I would like to thank the board for providing the opportunity to highlight the many athletic accolades and accomplishments of our winter athletes. As you can see, there are plenty of them here tonight. Um we're really excited to celebrate them. This season brought numerous individual milestones and team achievements that are truly worth celebrating. Uh, a couple of ones that I want to start with, you know, beginning with our wrestling program. Throughout this wrestling season, we had several athletes that had reached really impressive career milestones and career victories.

004Um, and I'd like to recognize those athletes now. The first being senior Sophie Grunhoved, who on December 13th at the Salem Blue Devil Classic reached her 100th career varsity win. A huge accomplishment for Sophie if she can join me up here to accept her certificates. >> We're gonna we're going to be going through a couple of different names. Some of these guys are going to be sick of shaking my hand by the end of this night. I have no doubt. Our second senior, a captain for our wrestling team, John Madigan IVth on December 17th. also reached his 100th career varsity win. An amazing accomplishment for John. Our third individual is Nvea Grunhub who on January 10th at the Pelum New Hampshire tournament also reached her 100th career varsity win. Congratulations Naa. Our next athlete is

005junior Evan Bouard, who on February 7th at the Class A Regional Championships reached his 150th career varsity win. Congratulations, Evan. And finally, Remington Grunhoved, who on February 14th at the state championships at Coney High School received his 100th career win in the state final. Congratulations, Remy. >> Congratulations again to these athletes for create for reaching these such significant milestones. Shifting gears to some of our postseason accolades. On February 7th, our wrestling team sent seven athletes to Coney High School in Augusta to compete in the Class A Wrestling State Championships. All seven represented their school with pride while competing against the best wrestlers in their division. By the end of the day, two athletes stood at top the podium as state champions. And I would like to recognize those athletes now. The first being Remington Grunhov,

006who was a class A stand champion in the 106B weight class. Congratulations, Remy. Additionally, at this competition, Evan Bouard also received a class A state championship in the 130 132 lb weight class. Congratulations to Evan and Remy on these amazing accomplishments. >> Following the Class A state championship just 10 days later on February 17th, we sent our girls wrestling team to Belfast High School where they competed in the girls state championship. We had six representatives from our team competing there. Our athletes de demonstrated tremendous heart and determination with three individuals finishing as state champions. Those individuals are Nvea Grunhov, state champion in the 138 pound weight class. Next, state champion Sophie Grunhood of the 146 pound weight class. And finally, Asa Brock, who is state champion of the 165 pound weight class. Congratulations. >> Thanks

007to the collective efforts of our six competitors and these three individuals you just met here tonight, the team finished that day as the state runner up for girls wrestling. Additionally, these championship finishes for Nvea, Sophie, and Asa earned them qualification to compete in the New England Championships. Something I will speak more on shortly. >> Before we move on to another sport, can we get all the wrestlers up? >> I I still have a We got a little bit more wrestling. That is a >> I'm sorry. I forgot about the second sheet. >> I apologize. >> Not a problem. >> I take it all back. So, just three short days later following our girls state championship, uh, three of our boys wrestlers traveled to Edward Little High School to compete in the all state championships. This

008event brings together the top wrestlers from both class A and class B to compete for the opportunity to advance to the New England Championships. Our athletes continue to demonstrate resilience during the long postseason and each finished that day as all state championships, punching their ticket to the New England. Those individuals are Remington Grunthove, 1606B weight class. Second, Evan Bouard, all state champion of the 132 pound weight class. and Alex Haramman, all state champion of the 150 pound weight class. I told some of these guys before they're going to be sick of shaking my hand by the end of this evening. Congratulations again to all these tremendous athletes. Finally, moving on to our New England Championships recap. Following the final state competition, our qualified wrestlers prepared for the New England Championships over two weeks. On Friday,

009March 7th, these athletes traveled to Providence, Rhode Island to one of the largest intercolastic wrestling events in the region. Over two days of competition, Nivea, Sophie, Asa, Remington, Evan, and Alex faced the top wrestling talent from across New England. Two Masabistic wrestlers emerged as New England champions at the end of this competition. Those individuals are Evan Bouard, New England champion of the 132 pound weight class. And I'd like to recognize Evan as Maine's first New England champion since the year of 2017 and only the third individual in Massabesic history to accomplish this feat. First since 1977. Congratulations, Evan. Apologies as I find these real quick. >> Congratulations. >> Our second New England champion is Sophie Grunhoved, New England Champion of the 145B weight class. This is her second consecutive New England championship and continues to

010represent our school with pride. Congratulations, Sophie. >> Finally, I would like to recognize the three female athletes whose performance at the New England Championships secured the first New England Girls Team Championship title in school history. Congratulations to Nvea Grunhub, Sophie Grunhub, and Asa Brock, along with our coaching staff for this incredible feat and for continuing to build a culture of excellence within our wrestling program. Congratulations to all three of those athletes. >> As we wrap up our wrestling accolades, I'd like to bring Coach Kenneth Hall up to the stand to say a few words about the program and his athletes. So, first thanks for um inviting us here and and allowing us to, you know, honor our student athletes um for the hard work that they've done. Um you know, lots of accolades and awards,

011which is fantastic. Um one thing this season, we didn't necessarily try to focus on wins and losses. um we just tried to focus on getting better um every week and you know at the end of the day if we can do that then the chips kind of fall in place um so that um proven true um with that being said um you know in getting better uh I think it's super important you know to give opportunities for these athletes to compete um you know outer state seeking you know higher level competition and you know with that Being said, just want to thank the administration and and the board for supporting that. Um, comes from everything from from budgets and transportation and and just allowing that to happen. Um, but I firmly believe to compete at

012this level, it's it's a necessity. Um, kind of proven by, you know, Evan Bouard, um, you know, New England champ for the boys. Um, it's been what, eight years since that's been done in the state of Maine. Um, so you know, we got to get out and and seek that seek that competition. Um, so thank you for allowing us to do that. Appreciate it. >> You want to do a group photo of the wrestlers now before >> I I was going to do it at the end, but we can do it right now if we want to. >> I don't It doesn't matter. >> Let's have all of our wrestlers come up here and snap a quick photo, please. >> Come on out. Come on. Don't be shy. >> And coaches and coaches, please. >>

013Kaitlin, how would you how about we step right in front of the podium, guys? Right over there. Absolutely. >> Shifting gears to our next sport of indoor track. The first track athlete I would like to recognize this evening is Abby Gilly. Abby competed this indoor season as one of the top distance runners in the state, excelling in both the mile and two-mile events while also breaking a record in the 600 meter. For her accomplishments, Abby was named the SMAA Harold Harold Harmon girls most valuable track athlete in the junior division. She also qualified to compete at the New England Championships held in Boston, Massachusetts on February 28th. Congratulations, Abby, on these outstanding accomplishments, and we look forward to seeing what you can achieve during this upcoming outdoor track and field season. Congratulations, Abby. >> At

014this time, I would also like to bring head coach of our indoor track program, Steven Westbrook, up to say a few words about Abby and the rest of the program. Thank you everybody for giving us time and recre, you know, recognizing these individuals for indoor. U Matt and I took over almost like a last minute. We had the drop out of the head coach who was marvelous individual. We continued the program that she started and we had a lot of what do you want to say people excel this year which was amazing. Maybe not all podiums, but to continue just as they were saying for wrestling, hey, work on yourself to increase what you can do. And we had over 300 PRs throughout the whole season of individuals on events. Um, the one thing I

015want to talk about, Abby, is the Harold Harmon award is for is um SMA voted on by the coaches. So the coaches saw what this individual did and said, "Hey, she's been a workhorse for Massabisic. We see her out there all the time." Just some of the things that she did, she ran for us. The 800, the mile, the two-mile, the 4x2, the 4x4, the 4x8, the SSMR, 600. The only time she ran, she set the school record, u which was awesome. She scored 66 points, which may not mean much to you, but it was 20% of all of what the girls did. And the girls amazing job that they did this year was that they tripled the amount of points that they did from the year before. So, everybody was making podiums and working

016things out, which was awesome. Um, as Alex said that, you know, she made it to SMA, she podium in the 4x8 as the um in the mile and the two-mile stage. She took 13 seconds off the two-mile time, got on the podium at states. The 13 seconds she wanted 14, one second off the state record or excuse me, the school record that was set in 2010 by a senior. And Aby's only just a uh sophomore. So, and as Alex said, she's the first one to make it to New England's in indoor since 2019 for boys and girls. So, um tremendous season by all our athletes. Um, one thing I did want to mention, really appreciate the school accepting homeschool kids. Aby's MEVA straight A, so she still has to make that requirement at home to

017participate in sports, but you know, you folks allowing individuals from the outside to come and compete, we greatly appreciate it. So, thank you very much. Thank you, coach. Staying on the topic of track, but shifting the topic to school records. During the indoor track season, our athletes set two new school records. First, I would like to recognize the boys 4 by 200 relay tame made up of Lurin Kennedy, Jackson Lamb, Logan Eldridge, and Katon Samson who set a new school record with a time of 1 minute 38.8 seconds etching their names in Massabadesic history. Congratulations to these four athletes. working. The second athlete I would like to recognize is senior Kenny Gluck who set a new school record in the boys shot put with a throw of 49 feet 2 and 1/2 in. This mark

018surpasses the previous school record which also was held by Kenny. His dedication to his craft has been evident throughout his career and I know he has big sights set on the outdoor season. Congratulations Kenny. Before we snap our photo of our indoor track athletes, I would ask to bring assistant coach Matt Gould up to the stand to speak about these boys. >> Um, thank you. Uh so at the middle of the season um for us to be able to get an additional coach to join our team, we had to mess around with a few of the contracts. Uh and this was before Alex came on as our AD. I had to sit down in a meeting with um Daniel Lawrence and we had to have a long conversation about if I should take the head

019position, head coach position for the boys side. Um in doing so, we allowed to add an additional coach which helped improve um parts of our team and showed with our improvement with some of our kids. Um, one achievement that was not recognized tonight, and this was due to late notice of us giving, um, Lorson Kennedy was able to break our 400 meter record. Um he had some medical uh issues halfway through our season and he was out for roughly 3 to four weeks, giving him only two meets um to give him the opportunity of running the 400. and he was able to break uh the school record uh on our very last reg uh state meet and he ran a 53.3 seconds um which the 400 record was not broken for 9 years with the

020last time being uh 53.8 seconds. So Lorson Kennedy, even though he doesn't have a certificate up here, he did improve tremendously and that is on us as coaching staff where we were not able to relay that he was able to run that time. Um, but he made tremendous growth throughout the entire season and constantly kept improving. Even when he was not able to practice, he always wanted to know what he could do to improve. just showing off what his work work ethic was. also with uh Kenny Gluck. He at the end of our season, he received a um the sec a third team uh SMA allconerence um certificate which is from the coaches throughout the entire league, the SMA league, where they vote on who is the best um best a student athlete in their

021event. Um he was voted the third best in senior shot put um which shows just how much the coaches throughout our entire league um were able to recognize his work ethic and how he performed when we were at competitions and how he held himself in public. Um, but thank you for the time for letting us talk and recognize our athletes because they get tired of us saying that they're doing great. Um, and being able to show the community how well they're able to perform kind of makes them feel a little better sometimes. Thank you. >> Thank you, Coach Gold. And let me please issue an apology to Lurin for uh that mishap and in not including you in that. Congratulations on such a tremendous accomplishment. Great work. >> And um excuse me. >> We we'll

022get that certificate over to you. >> Yes, we will. That certificate will be coming soon. >> All right, shifting gears to our final section. Um I'd really like to recognize right now our SMAA all academic uh student athletes. These senior winter athletes truly embodied the spirit of the student athlete, placing equal emphasis on excellence in the classroom. These seniors were recognized as SMA all academic selections for the winter season, having held a cumulative GPA of 93 or higher during their four years at Massabes High School. Those individuals from our indoor track team are lazlo Brock Camp, >> Jack Lassard, >> Jack unfortunately could not join us tonight and Juliana Libby of our track program. from our wrestling program. Sophie Grunhov and finally Naa Granhov. >> All right. Congratulations again to all these tremendous athletes and

023their accomplishments this year, both in the classroom and on the sports fields and courts and maths. To close, I would like to once again thank the board for providing us the opportunity to recognize the outstanding accomplishments of our winter student athletes. Their dedication, perseverance, and commitment to representing our school community at such a high level is something we are incredibly proud of. As we turn the page to the spring season, we are excited to see many of these same athletes along with others continuing to compete, grow, and represent Massabis with pride. Thank you again for your time and continued support of our athletic programs here. Thank you. >> Thank you, Alex. >> Can we do a track photo and then um probably the SMA all academic do two more photos? That'd be great. Awesome. >>

024Perfect. Congratulations. Yep. Last one. Congratulations. Thank you all so much for coming in. It's fantastic to see you. You're welcome to stay for the rest of the meeting. We are talking about legislature, policy, budget. No, >> enjoy the rest of your evening. Thanks for coming in. Moving on to my board chair report. I have a couple I have more than a couple things tonight, but I'm going to try and keep it quick. So, I first want to recognize uh some school board anniversaries. As you know, March is an election month for three of our towns. So, um I would like to recognize Carmen Barski who is now been serving on the board for one year. Thank you, Carmen. Eric Garrison, who's been here two years. Thank you, Eric. Mark Cardazano, four years on the school

025board. And Anastasia Ferguson, nine years on the school board as of this month. Uh um I also want to so three of our towns, like I mentioned, do do their elections this month. So, Limrich, Chappley, and Newfield. So, I want to wish good luck to those of you that are running again for reelection. Um, and uh, and so we will have those results. I also want to thank Melissa Bacon for her service on the board. She is not running again, so this will be her last meeting with us, but we appreciate you. Thank you so much. Uh, real quick reminder for you that the school board self-evaluation, if you can finish that by this weekend, that would be great. I will be compiling results and we will be conducting the evaluation at our next meeting

026on March 25th. If you uh don't know if you've completed it yet, just ask and I can look it up. Um we are doing a meeting with the town selectman on March 19th at 1 p.m. That will be at the Alfred town hall. The finance committee will be there. Uh Mr. Walsh, Dr. Marquee, Dr. Doyle will be there. We'll be talking about fund balance. um state subsidy and the upcoming budget which we were presented a draft of last night. You are more than welcome to come. So again, that's March 19th, 1 PM at the Alfred Town Hall. And then that following Monday, March 23rd at 6:30 p.m. right here in the East Building training re training room. There will be a budget review session for the public. So I would encourage you all to attend.

027That will also be live streamed. >> Yes. And um and posted on the website. And that's all I have for my board chair report. I'll turn things over to Dr. Marquee for the superintendent report. >> Um, we're going to start off with Walker and Walker is going to do the heavy lift for both representatives tonight. >> Thank you. Uh, good evening everyone. Uh, so March is an especially busy month in the district as evidenced by this pretty long report. Uh, do my best job to move through it pretty quickly, but as always there is more detail in the report. Uh so February break ended on Tuesday the 24th of February after the fourth snow day of the year extended the vacation by a day and during March the elementary schools will be heavily focused on

028reading as this is national reading month and the first week of the month was read across America week. At alignment elementary their theme is be a reader and they'll be doing a one school one book event where the entire school reads and learns about a certain book. The school's weeklong readathon will begin on March 13th and last a week. And in this schoolwide event, students will read at home and track their time on a reading log. The suggested reading time is based on grade level, ranging from preK and kindergarten students expected to read 15 minutes a night to fifth graders who are expected to read for an hour. The schoolwide collective reading goal is 25,000 minutes. And if they achieve that, students can vote on a fun challenge for the principal to complete. Previous years

029have included being slimed or being turned into a Sunday. So, it uh sounds like a good time. The um the top class in the uh lower and upper grades will earn a much coveted pizza party. Lyman will have a spring family night on Thursday, March 26, where every attending family family will construct a bird feeder. Uh there will also be free books and snacks and drinks provided. On Friday, March 6th, the school had a crazy hair day. Uh, and Alfred and Lyman library students have been finishing reading and reviewing the 10 picture books that were nominated for the uh, Chickity Award, the uh, Children's Choice Picture Book Award in Maine. Alfred Elementary will cap off ReadAcross America week with a vocabulary hat Spirit Day. Uh students will select a vocabulary word and design a hat

030displaying this word and uh use drawings or other visuals and items to show the word's meaning. Uh the school's Alfred Madness Basketball Challenge contestants were selected. The two staff members that had the most money put in their buckets in the main lobby um will compete on March 12th, which was rescheduled after the uh fifth snow day of the school year occurred on the 6th. Uh the competition was close with just a dollar separating the uh second place from third place and over $350 were raised and the winner of the basketball showdown will have the privilege of pying the loser in the face at Alfred. Fourth and fifth graders recently completed a STEM unit called safety vests. They learned about the human body systems and their cohesive responses to environmental stimuli. And then they study busy

031intersections that can be dangerous, working in teams to build and design safety vests that can increase um safety at these busy intersections. They work through the design process, performing research, testing ideas, collecting data, and expanded their project. Uh in their guidance lessons, younger grades have been learning about emotion management, while older grades have been focusing on perseverance. Boomer, the moose mascot of the Sanford Mayners, will be visiting Alfred to kick off the Boomer's bookworms program, where students will be able to track their reading minutes throughout the month to earn free tickets to a Maynor's baseball game. Students will also be attempting to meet the principal's goal for schoolwide reading minutes from March 5th to the 12th, and a punishment isn't aligned for the principal if they succeed. Past punishments have included kissing a real pig,

032being slimed, eating bugs, and being turned into a sundae. Alfred will have a one school and book event where the entire school reads the same book and will complete related activities. At Waterborough, the character trait for March is courage. Uh the school will be hosting a wild about reading family literacy night or they did host it on March 5th. Uh, and students spun jungle prize wheels and dug for gems with gemstone dig kits. Um, March began with a field trip to Hilltop Boilers for third grade students at Waterborough. Uh, kindergarten students will have had a Sparks Arc presentation on the 5th of March where they were able to learn about numerous wild animals and see live animals. On the uh 10th of the month, there was a weather at your school beginning bright and early

033at 5:40 a.m. That's the uh cost of being able to see yourself on the news, I guess. But at least it was uh 40 degrees and not as cold as it could have been. Um students were there to help a local weatherman broadcast the weather and were able to watch themselves on the news after the event. Uh and prek students will have a celebration of learning on the 19th of March. Kindergarten students uh concluded a K for me unit learning about owls. They studied uh behaviors, habitats, and the role these animals play in our local ecosystems. Uh they then explored a handcrafted owl nesting box constructed by the assistant principal and later helped assemble a nesting box which was um installed at the school and they're currently awaiting to see if an owl family selects

034to live at the school. While is hosting a readathon that began on the 2nd of the March and will run until the 13th. Uh they're tracking their reading time on a daily log and families can support the event with a flat donation or a pledge for the amount of minutes read. Uh the student that has the most minutes read for each grade will receive a $20 scholastic gift card for the upcoming book fair. Line elementary had a kindness month spirit week to uh close out February with themes including beach day, hat day, crazy hair day, dress up fancy day, and a day where teachers dress like students and students dress like teachers. The uh school had been holding a readathon spirit week during the first week of March. Monday was Oh, the Places You'll Go.

035Tuesday was Fox and Socks Day. Wednesday was wacky Wednesday. Thursday was Green Eggs and Ham Day and Friday was my many colored days. The school will be holding an uh inschool readathon during that week. And line will also have a March book bracket challenge for classes to participate in. Uh, Chapley kindergarten and first grade students had personalized paper hearts made for them by their families. Uh, they the school recently wrapped up their kindness month in the final week of February with a pet food drive and t-shirt contest. And they had a flashlight reading activity, western spirit day, and an outdoor celebration to finish that week. There were also kindness themed activities schoolwide throughout that month. Uh during the school's last early release day, first graders watched a video on why it's important to uh take

036care of their teeth and the upper grades participated in a dental hygiene trivia challenge. Shappley is also celebrating ReadAcross America month and they'll be having volunteers entering classrooms as guest readers. Uh the school will also be participating in the Boomer's Bookworms program and Boomer recently introduced the program at a school assembly. A registered main guide recently led preK students on an adventure. They experienced the moose antlers and mink fur and uh went into the woods to analyze the animal tracks they found in the snow. The school's PTC will be holding a March Madness calendar fundraiser. And on the sixth of the month, the school had a wacky sock day with a title, reading knocks our socks off. Waterborough shine at the second RSU 57 elementary math meet with the uh team landing first and boasting

037the top three and four out of the top five individual district scorers. Alfred finished second and there was a tie for third between Chapley and Lion. Elementary schools across the district created fractal triangles and these triangles were pieced together into a large picture and then sent to contribute to a nationwide fractal triangle that is on track to be a new world record. PreK and kindergarten registration for the district opens on the 9th of March. Uh, Massabic Middle School has numerous clubs and there's at least one student club meeting each day after school except for early release days and Fridays. Uh, Mass B6 High School climate and culture cohort has begun a student recognition program where teachers can nominate students who uh model positive behaviors and demonstrate care for their peers in the broader school community.

038Uh, and this group continues their weekly teacher joy blasts where at the start of the day's final block each Friday. A collection of students enters a different teacher room with handmade signs, music, and a few words of appreciation to celebrate them and the impacts that they have on the school. The uh theater trope performed their one-act play Murder Box recently. They they brought their performance to the uh MPA one-act drama regional competition on the 7th of the month. And the uh MHS will be hosting an academic showcase and eighth grade stepup night on March 25th. There will be student projects and learning throughout the year on display. And uh during the second half of the event, incoming eighth grade students will have a chance to learn about the school's programming, explore the campus, chat with

039uh current students and staff, and have questions about their transition into high school answered. Uh the process to select next year's courses began in late February. Uh and for the first time, course selections are being performed online and were due on March 6th. Um the student council and the American Red Cross are teaming up to host a school blood drive on Wednesday, March 18th, and they've been seeking willing students and staff to give blood that day. And MHS students uh recently achieved success at a regional snowshoe competition. Um MHS students earned three gold medals, a silver medal, a bronze medal, and a fifth place finish in different distances and other categories. Uh the second trimester of the school year ended on March 6th and the uh first progress report for um the second semester at

040the high school will be sent out that was sent out that same week. Uh elementary schools will be sending report cards home soon and there will be no school on Friday, March 13th. That is a a h wellness focused staff and service day. And so with the clocks uh being turned forward uh this last weekend, morning routines have become temporarily darker for many, but the extra light in the evenings have uh given people more chances for activities and opportunities to enjoy this uh increasingly warm weather as we saw yesterday. Thank you. >> Nice job, Walker. Walker has there's a question for Walker. Okay. >> Uh just one quick one. H how are the uh kids at the high school receiving the online? Do they like it? What's your sense? >> Uh yeah, it seems to

041be going well. Um I haven't done it myself. Um but you know, the people that I've talked to it seems, you know, it's uh it is easier than having to keep track of a paper. Um you know, it's all on all on one. And I'm sure you know on the other end it makes it a lot easier um you know on the guidance department to be able to translate that information into spreadsheets and put it in their you know systems to begin building the schedule instead of you know having to take the paper and then put it online. Um so I think on both ends it's a it's a positive transition that'll make uh make things a lot easier. >> Do you want some more information from Principal Thurlo on that? >> Sure. >> Come

042on up. So I would say I was disappointed in Walker that he hasn't gone through the process but his course selection next year will be vastly different than um what he's experienced. So um we're really fortunate to have the support of the technology department through uh Mr. Roher uh really supporting us to pilot some online digital course selection processes that are outside of our synergy module with the hopes that next year so next spring this time we'll be doing all of this course selection within the synergy module. So we're we're really trying to try it out first see how students and parents uh sort of get along with the process and then be able to use parent view and student view to select courses with a several different preset um components to that particular module.

043So, we're really uh really looking forward to it. As Walker said, it's going to streamline a lot of things it already has. So, good things. >> Thank you, Ken. >> Well, you're still up there. I'm not sure if you do the high school write up, but I >> I have zero involvement in student report. >> Okay. No, I just want to say whoever did it, I appreciated that they included the the co-op hockey team and so I just appreciated giving them. And I also wanted to add that the our swim team, our co-op our co-op students made it to states. I'm not sure how they did, but >> that was pretty cool that our co-op students for swim made it to states. >> Walker and Zoe are 100% um sort of responsible and and all

044the accolades for the report definitely goes to them. >> Yeah. Thanks, He Thanks, Walker. >> Um, I am not going to have a superintendent report. I'm actually going to talk much more in depth um under new business. And next up, standing committees. We'll start with policy. Beth, >> um, we met last week. Uh we went we still have some e policies that we're going through. Um and we have one e policy coming up for a first read tonight. Um we started on the G policies and for everyone who isn't invested in policies as much as me. Um those are personnel policies. So we'll go through those. Uh we went through some and next month we'll do those. Um there'll be one H policy coming up next month and then we will move into the I

045policies and again those are for instruction and we meet again uh great question when we meet again in April uh first and that's no joke >> and that's no joke. >> Thank you. Any questions for Beth? Uh, next up, finance. Wes, >> thank you. Um, the finance committee for RSU 57 school board met on uh March 10th last night. We did not meet uh on March 3rd due to the snowstorm. Last night, Dr. M he did a great presentation and I'm sure he's going to be uh making uh some remarks about uh LD 226 tonight and we appreciated um his presentation. Um we reviewed a summary of general fund revenues from fiscal year 1314 all the way to our current budget development here in fiscal year 2627. Um, we reviewed local assessments and state subsidies

046over that time period. Um, we're going to be continuing work on projected fund balance use in the budget. And, um, we're also going to be taking a look at potential capital reserve accounts and what might go into those. Um, we also reviewed a summary of the general fund expenditures from that same uh time period of FY13 to 14 to current budget development. We went over closely articles 1 through 11 last night looking at numbers that were presented to us by uh Director Walsh and Dr. Marquee. Um, we looked at particular increases and decreases throughout those 11 articles and we'll be having some real numbers soon that we'll be able to start presenting to the overall board. Um, we had great input from our committee members on the U finance committee last night. uh as a

047it's a bit redundant but again March 19th the six town selectman's group is going to be meeting with Dr. Marquee Dr. Doyle Director Walsh Sher Jod Lane and myself and any other members who are interested in attending. Um I'd advise and recommend reaching out to Jod so she knows who might be involved with that. March 23rd, I'd urge as many board members as possible to attend the budget review session for the public that's scheduled at 6:30 in this room. Um, please try and uh and attend that. Um the uh school re revolving renovation fund SRRF uh funding uh for the Alfred Elementary uh school roof uh project is moving forward but uh Director Walsh is going to be going back out for bids on that project. Transportation is doing a great job, but uh struggling

048this time of the year with meeting the challenges of keeping staffing issues squared away, but they're still meeting it and they're getting it done. Uh I'd like to note that uh Walker Vivian, our school board rep, has 100% attendance at all these finance committee meetings, which I think is absolutely fantastic. Next meeting is March 17th in this room at 6 pm. And uh if you have any questions, I'd be more than willing to answer. >> Any questions for Wes? >> Mark, >> just one quick comment. Um I don't know who exactly is on the finance committee, but I want to I want to just say thank you for your dedication to be meeting on St. Patrick's Day even. That's just amazing that dedication and and also probably self-control. So again, thank you. >> I I

049would imagine that uh Mr. Okconer and Director Walsh and myself probably won't be attending that March 17th meeting because we're all Irish and we'll be out celebrating. >> Well, if it makes you feel any better, we'll have a meeting next March on the 17th as well. I believe that will be a school board meeting. So So in March of 28, make your plans now. Uh, next up, uh, HR Anastasia. >> We have not met since the last board meeting. We meet next Wednesday at March 18th at 6 PM. >> Any questions for Anastasia? >> All righty. Next up, old business. We have none. We will move on to new business. First item under new business is the first read of the 2026 2027 instructional school year calendar. Um good evening. Um you'll find in your

050backup a draft. Um this would be a first read. It gives you time to review for our next meeting. Um want to share we have many new school board members. So I want to explain how we have to look at calendar development throughout the state of Maine. There are regional technical schools. In our case, we work directly with the um Sanford uh program and uh SRTC. And all schools that send students to SRTC have to have a similar school calendar so that there's equal access to opportunity and instruction and uh the hours of um participation within those programs. Those districts include Kery, um, Wells, York, Marshwood, Noble, Sanford, US, and >> Canabank. >> So with that, the state of Maine requires that collectively we cannot have more than five dissimilar days. So our students must

051be in session. no more than uh uh not be in session no more than five days that Sanford is in session. Okay? And that's by statute. So, we actually have to look at all of that. There are some districts that have more instructional days than us. Um that wouldn't make it dissimilar. I believe Sanford, and I could be wrong, but I think their calendar is 175 student days, which is the minimum required by the state of Maine. We have 176. There have been districts um that have had um 180 or more, but they've actually retracted recently and move those additional days to professional development for staff. Um so, we meet several times. Um each month the member districts meet in Sanford as an advisory committee talking about academic program, student selection, program development, program expansion.

052Um we meet with students for breakfast once during the year, for lunch once during the year as they're preparing the food in the um food service program. During those meetings, calendar and budget development um cost sharing elements are discussed at those meetings. For the purposes of tonight, um it all relates to the calendar. In the state of Maine, you cannot also have graduation more than five days prior to the last normal instructional day for your prek 11 program. So, we had to take that into consideration as well. As you look back over the last five years, my first year in the district, the way the calendar fell, we had graduation on the second Thursday of June, the way the year falls. The last three years, we've had it during the first Thursday of June. this

053calendar when we get to that portion. Graduation will be the second Thursday in June. Okay. So, the way the calendar works, I'm just going to kind of we won't get into too much discussion tonight, but I want to make sure you understand what went into this calendar. Typically, this district has done uh I think years ago there were three new staff orientation days. Uh early on, I think in my first year, we moved it to two. Um much of that work is happening anyway as part of onboarding and um new staff orientation days are not compensated days. Uh, but we do have our staff coming in and they're welcome to come in in addition to the new staff orientation days. So, we believe that we can accomplish that work in one new staff orientation day.

054That'll be the first time that it's happened this this way since I've been here. So, we'll have new staff orientation on August 19th. The following week we will have um three and a half days of professional development for our teachers and two days of professional development um and preparation for the start of the school year for our educational technicians beginning on the 25th with our opening festivities. The 26th would be the second day with our edteex. The 27th we would flex the day like we did to uh this past year where our staff arrive later in the day um in a sequential process. And then we're going to have all of our openhouse activities on the evening of the 27th. And they're staggered so that if we have families who have children in one, two,

055or three of our schools based on elementary, middle, and high, they'll be able to navigate those open houses. And then on the 28th would be a half staff day. And that's uh was built into the contract two negotiations ago um with an understanding of four fewer meetings. It were replaced by a half staff day. The following week SRTC will begin instruction. So the first day that counts as a required consistent common calendar would be on the 31st. What's important about that, our juniors and seniors are not in session with the exception of SRTC. Uh so we would run transportation on the 31st for all of our juniors and seniors who are participating in SRTC and that's an agreement with all other districts as well. Sanford does the same sort of struct structure. Um apart from

056the SRTC portion, we want to ensure that we give our K and preK teachers that day because there's some additional work, some additional screening, some last minute things that are needed to prepare and be uh welcoming to our youngest learners on the 31st. So on the 31st we are grades 1 through nine. This also allows our freshmen to get acclimated into the high school program prior to the hustle and bustle of 800 high schoolers that we're envisioning arriving on the 1st of September. So on the 1st of September, we will start with all students prek through 12. We will make sure we're sending out announcements because the first few days of school, our buses will be slightly delayed because we will have three and four year olds riding the buses for the very first time.

057And there's some transition. there's some buckling up and things like that that will um and we always send out a reminder to to please understand that we really are wanting to make sure we get our youngest kids to and from school safely and in an in an enjoyable manner. So we work through that week. Um and then on the 4th we were initially planning to have school but that is not a school day in session for SRTC. So if we had school, it would have been dissimilar. So we made that adjustment. So we will not have um academic instruction on the 4th. That will be a um holiday recess that heads into um Labor Day. Going forward, September, that's the only issue is um the holiday weekend. In October, we have Indigenous People's Day, Columbus

058Day. Um, on the 12th, there would have been a dissimilar. There are some years where we look at the 9th as an inservice day. We move that to another alternative between November and March. I'll get to those later. Um, so it would have been again a dissimilar day. on November we will have um voting day. Uh this board um had made a determination that we would not have school in session for our students and our schools would be available for the election on eveneared elections. So that would be for the gubanatorial and the presidential elections. November 11th would be observance on Wednesday for Veterans Day. And in November, we would have the Thanksgiving recess from the 25th to the 27th. I also should have said at the very beginning, anything in blue is an inservice

059day. Anything in red is an observance of a holiday. In December, we would have observance for Christmas um or the holiday break, the 24th and the 25th, and then we would have recess the following week. The reason why there's a difference between red and gray, the red would be representative for year round employees and observant of paid holidays. And then say if an administrator wanted to take December 30th off as a gray day, that would require the use of a vacation day or an office assistant or a custodian, any of those sorts of things. Um January, we would observe the new year on Friday the 1st. We'd also have Martin Luther King Day on the 18th of January. Heading into February, we'd have President's Day on the 15th, the same sort of thing applies for

060school vacations. Um, a year- round employees, if they wanted to to um take the day off, they would actually take a vacation day on those grade days. In March, uh, we would have an inservice day on the 12th, and that's consistent. That's been a significant shift for our regional servicing districts um to look at March 12th and we can do some uh that the details of that day will be developed in the coming year. Um what could happen is one a wellness day or perhaps even some collaboration with other districts around professional development um when we're all um working on particular things at that time in April April 16th that is by contract a um comp day for the conferences that teachers um are working outside of the instructional day and that's been historic for

061for a long time. um Patriots Day on the 19th the that Monday heading into the April break in May we'd have the 31st which would be Memorial Day. Our last uh our graduation day would be the 10th the 2nd Thursday of June. On the 11th we would have an early release day. It's highly likely our last day would likely be the following week, hopefully no later than the 15th. And then the 18th would be for year round employees uh or observance or if the year is extended um beyond uh what's currently planned and in accordance to various CBAs. That's the current tenative schedule. This reflects 176 student days, 180 educational technician days, and 182 and a half teacher days. So at our next meeting um we'll be looking for if you have um questions um

062but this is this puts us in alignment when we consider um the various calendars of other other districts. Um, one thing we looked closely at was trying to figure out the 23rd of December wondering if but that is actually a dissimilar day for Sanford. >> All right. Um, >> Dr. Do let me There we go. >> Um, I just wanted to note October 9th. Um, Dr. Marque had mentioned as previously a professional development day. It is actually a professional development day for SRTC. So, um, we don't see that on our calendar, but it doesn't count as a dissimilar day because, um, they're not in session. So, it would only be the times when they're in session and our students cannot participate. So, just so you're aware, if you see communication that comes out, October 9th

063not being an SRTC day, that's an important distinction to make with regard to the dissimilar days. >> Thank you. and and I um we talked a lot about that day. Um continue like we didn't have that day this past year and and it's about really butdding up into extending the year too long. >> So that that's um if it were simply a workshop day that would change some things. And we already have the 12th in the books. We already have November in the books. we have the previous days and then we have the contracted April date. So really by default that October date is the is the odd one out. >> Um but again this board can can make amendments to anything that we're doing. Um but this would be the recommended schedule that I

064bring forward for the first read tonight. >> All right. Thank you. Uh let's start with some questions. Jen, >> so I know you don't want to like talk about it, whatever, but so we only have one dissimilar day. That's the only one I took note of. >> Um, it's it's the collective of the group. So, we actually have to provide all of our calendars to the main department of education. So we might have one dissimilar day, but I already know for certain Wells has a few at the start of the year. So it's the collective of the group. So we try to kind of go back and forth. So um it's not each individual district can have five dissimilar days because we that could ultimately turn into 15 dissimilar days. But that's a great question.

065>> I always thought it was just per district. So that's good clarification. So, I'm glad you asked that question because I I didn't explain that. It's the collective of the group >> and uh and that's really been a I remember three years ago there was some real real hearty conversations and I think I talked about it at board because there were a couple districts that refused to start before Labor Day >> and we were we were really sunk pretty significantly and and that's where we really had to to to look at providing transport retation differently and and such. And um and then also negotiated with the state to ensure that uh election day will never count as a dissimilar day when we're trying to ensure one getting people out to vote and two school safety.

066>> Michelle, >> um I didn't hear anything. Stanford I saw is considering going to five early release days two hours instead of the one hour early release and they're voting on it this March. Is that going to impact does that become dissimilar days? >> I I I don't believe so. >> It doesn't it's considered a subsidizable day. it. Um, but I I don't know all the intricacies of how that's rolling out, but similar um our early releases don't impact the similar days either. >> Okay. >> Um, I had the same question about early release days and I guess uh my follow-up question would be for December 23rd. I noticed that you have two early release days consistently throughout almost every month with the exception of the months that have breaks, but our winter break is

067at the end. So, would you consider having an early release on the 23rd? >> The um the the question there um I'm just following the CBA and um an early release is different than a half day, >> right? So, so, um, that's something that I think, um, if the association wanted to, um, ask the board to say move the half day in August to a half day in December, that's something that the board could ask back and forth, but um, the the CBA has written as 182 and a half days. So I want to make sure that we're not in violation of the CBA on either part of the board or part of the got to look at that. So that's and there are association members present that's something that they may want to have

068a conversation and then uh that could be a discussion point that would then maybe yeah >> I'm just throwing that out as a potential >> I'm just thinking like travelw I know that's a big travel day too for um a lot of students and staff so I was just >> yeah and and we were again just trying to be consistent with SRTC schedule where they're in session on the 23rd. Thank you. >> Um, but again, there are members of the association that could bring that back to membership if that's something that the board or the association. I'm just trying to work within the framework of the CBA. >> Beth, um, I would love this schedule if I if I was a kid. Um, because it looks like they're they have a full week of school

069less than half of the school year. So, like there's only 15 weeks of a full week of school out of 41 weeks of school. That's it seems like a lot of time off. I mean, not maybe not time off for teachers, but time off for kids and we're here for kids. So I would personally I don't know how CBAs and all the negotiations and all that work but I would rather see them take a whole professional development day than take so many half days all the time. So just my my opinion I feel like kids need to be in school a lot more than less than half of the year. >> It is the same number of days that we that we always schedule the 176 days just the way it plays out this year.

070I guess I'd have to look back at >> Yeah. >> And um this uh calendar does not uh increase any additional early release days. Um it's been trying to get to that balance where teachers and administrators are saying we need professional development time and uh and also trying to balance the needs of families. uh what we try to do is break it up in a way that is as least disjointed as possible this week as as an example where it's a tough one right so we had an early release today and we have um professional development day on Friday that was not ideal in hindsight but generally speaking we tried to not have uh an impacted day um during an early release week. Um sometimes the one notable exception pretty much every year is um

071early in the school year because that's when you really do need to kind of work closely together kind of it's a good check in touch base. What are the systems? What are the drills? What are the expectations? That's always important during the first couple weeks. And if you don't have that opportunity, you miss it because everybody's running 100 miles an hour. Joe, I think to Beth's point, like when I saw Sford considering the five early release days versus the 14 we have because the teachers are still getting that time back because they're doing two-hour release on the other release day. I mean, 14 days is is burdensome on families that way. But also, most of the kids are going to a daycare. The kid parents are not home with them enriching their learning past that

072time. They're coming home early. I know I have to still make arrangements for my son and we can't be home with him. Um, and he cannot be trusted to do his homework on his own. So, uh, and you know, daycarees will not help kids do their homework. They just don't. And if Samford is considering doing it and you know that's something that we can look into potentially as well. Um, because again teachers look at their time and kids get more learning time. I would in my part of view >> one one of the the and I wanted to confirm it. I think that their time is longer, but I'm not sure exactly how much longer >> it's one early release day would be two hours versus the one or whatever we're doing. So, they would

073increased one early release day would have more time built into it than like having >> we can we can look at that and uh I can report back to see what that might >> Yeah, they're voting on it in March coming right up. >> Yeah. Um not not about I'm not worried about looking at theirs. I'm more I'm more more worried. >> How would we be able to provide the turnaround and transportation and those elements? >> Y >> I appreciate that. Thank you, >> Dan. >> Just while we're talking about calendars, I don't know who's like in charge of like vacations. Is it like a superintendent thing? I was just curious like why has it always been like February and April vacation? I would love it if we could get rid of those and do

074something in March because I felt like we had a really long holiday break or winter break, whatever you want to call it, this year and then it was like then we were back for like a break already in February. Like it just seems like a lot of time off like very soon. >> I I think >> Yeah, like I know college is due March. >> Well, I I think if there's a lot of what is it saying? Wise tales or whatever. Um I think some is um it's really during the throws of the most significant sicknesses have often happened in those time periods. They're also aligned with some actual holidays. Um I'm not aware of any school in Maine. The only exception I know of in New England is >> um New Hampshire does April

075break the week after us or before us. It changes year to year. Um but it's I don't envision I think that'd be a tough sell to change it. Uh would I love it? Yeah, maybe. Um close those two weeks, make it one week, end the year a little earlier. I certainly love my fishing and and I like summer, but I just don't see that happening. Um I think I'd get run out of town, >> right? >> Well, yeah. I mean, >> the similar days would make it a deal breaker. >> Well, but not if everybody else wanted to do it, >> you have to sell it. >> Uh >> right. And aren't there like high school attorneys during one of those vacations? >> February. >> I know. I mean, I would be all for it,

076but boy, we'd have to get a lot more than just the people in this room on board for that. So, all right. >> Yeah, I don't think I can do that lift to change vacation schedules for Maine. I wish I could, though, because I I would not be opposed. I'm just saying. But >> with you, you got a D, >> right? All right. Bring it home, Megan. >> Um, yeah, just one quick comment related to that. I do know in Connecticut they just moved to instead of taking a whole week of Feb break, they're only doing the first two days. So something to consider moving forward because I I think there's quite a few uh staff and town that does not love that we are going till June 22nd. But I get it. Um my

077question is more when when the calendars are being made, is there any thought like do you have the flexibility if there are a lot of snow days to make adjustments in the second half of the year or does that like do do you not have that ability? >> Um well couple things. The graduation requirement of five days doesn't apply if your original calendar was set five days, but then you have a bunch of snow days and you graduate earlier. As far as um if there are unique circumstances that impacted a school district's ability to attend, >> you can request a waiver. I did it two years ago and were able to wave two days due to the shooting in Lewon. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Um we did it. >> Um the it's really challenging to

078do that. There is one other lever you can play. You can cancel >> um professional develop uh professional development days. Um, you can alter um early release days and um I think we could trade in three early release days, work the full day and that might be able to pass this requirement of the state to reduce an instructional day >> one day. There's something. >> So, I think it's I think there's a three for one. >> Um, essentially, if you have a 2-hour early release day, it essentially turns into a six-hour day if you did three of those. >> Um, so that's that's one lever that can be played. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> And some districts could um go to school on Saturdays. Um, I remember years ago there were Saturday schools. You

079can also add an hour on every day and that hour can add up. I mean, creative. >> I've seen votes in I worked in a district that did votes for that um about uh adding an hour a day >> for two weeks or two and a like >> you can legally keep kids in school until 4 p.m. >> and and you can you can add that. I I think it would be a tough cell. >> Um I wouldn't be opposed to it, but I do think it would be a tough cell. >> Yeah. Um the hard part is we we do live in Maine and um and I unfortunately um we don't know what's going to happen between now and say April 15th. I remember having uh um a cancellation of a track me during

080April break because we got like a foot of snow up north, >> right? Well, we also had the year that had no snow days until April. >> Yeah. So, >> I I said to our administrators yesterday during our admin team meeting. I said, uh, I know you're all asking about the final day of school, and I said, it's actually just the final day of school. We don't know when it is. No sense talking about it right now because we don't know what's going to happen. Um, because I got burned a couple years ago, and I >> you guys I had you guys all sold in it >> about we're gonna have a year with no snow days and then we had two. Um >> all right. >> Can I >> last one? >> Okay. Um

081just the district that I work for, we are in this similar situation. And I don't know if you guys utilize synchronous days, asynchronous days at all anymore. Um or have considered it in replacement of snow days um because it can help. It's not ideal, but and it's like last ditch effort. Um because the district I work for, the way our contract worked is like they cannot go past June 18th because June 19th is not in the contract. >> So they had to take away a professional development day from us and consider that a whole school day. And if we have one more snow day from there on out, every other snow day will be an asynchronous day. >> So it'll be an online day. >> My recommendation to this board would be to never do

082that. >> Right. Yeah. >> And I I'll tell you tell you why. Um there are districts that are doing those sorts of things so they don't pay a holiday. I'd rather have good instruction with kids because I personally believe a remote day. There's not a remote chance for 90% of our kids that they're going to get much for instruction. >> Well, >> not not because of our staff, but as a general rule. >> Yeah. Right. >> There's not like uh and it has nothing to do with our district. And I'm not the only superintendent that's not a proponent. If this board were to say we want a bunch of remote days, we can look at that, but I don't think that we're I think that there's so much work that needs to go into it

083to do good quality instruction, >> right? And there are a lot of logistical things. We have to ensure that all kids are provided a meal on those remote days. >> Yeah, >> I think it can be done well. I just never experienced it as a parent. My my suggestion in saying all of that was that I think us as a board too should be very aware in the sense of building a calendar that >> we always think of June 19th because that will that could very well become a possibility of a date we have to go past >> um with snow days. So, let's I would just suggest that like we don't, you know, shoot our foot. Yeah. However, that's why we don't shoot ourselves in the foot. Um, in the sense of >> not

084including that holiday and then we're getting up to that holiday and then we're like, we can't go past because it's a >> that that's a consideration for why we didn't do the October day. >> Yeah. Yeah. But I I don't want to be insensitive and and I do want to be mindful of the school year, but if we if the school year extends, it's our objective to provide quality instruction and compensate people accordingly per CBAs and such. >> Um, and I think this this allows us to do that. And then if we ever do butt up against an issue, then it's a different conversation about the student instructional year going from 176 to 175. um because I'd rather do that than a remote day that I don't believe does a lot and it and it

085it separates the halves from the have nots and we have lots of kids that don't have internet access and we and ability to engage with instruction. So that would be a disservice. I think it's a noble effort and it can happen. I just don't think um that the the requirements to make it quality um are easily met. Um so this will come back for a final read. I'm going to move on and give you guys a chance to review this further. You can come back with any questions when we bring it back up if you need clarification. Uh, next up, an overview of LD 318 and LD 2226. >> I'm going to I'm going to save you a little bit. Those documents are in backup. I really hope you have an opportunity to read them,

086but I'm going to talk a little bit about it. So, in the state of Maine, the essential programs and services was developed approximately 20 years ago. At that time it was a noble effort to provide a framework so that a student attending school in Milbridge or Pelmyra would be provided equal access to instructional programs of adequacy. Think about that word adequacy. What's adequate? And they essentially established a floor and I'll always say a floor and not a ceiling. Adequacy is what is the minimal requirement. And when they develop the essential programs and services, they built into it some specific criteria. What is essential? Well, we need to have reading and writing and mathematics. And we need to have transportation for preK. Not pre-K at the time because it wasn't even a concept, but transportation for

087elementary school K8. All districts provided high school, but that's not actually by statute or a requirement. What are the things that all kids should have access to? What it does not contemplate are many of the things that give breadth, experience, and tie kids to a school. It doesn't include wrestling. It doesn't include track and field. Those kids come to school each day because of those activities. We'd love to say it's because they really want to learn multiplication or biology class. For some, that's the case. But for some it's about the breadth of program. So when the state developed this they did it through frameworks and the frameworks have changed over time. 25 years ago when I became a principal there were no prek programs. There were no developmental programs for our youngest learners. There were

088not requirements for school nurses in most districts had a nurse spread out through the entire district. And if if there were an issue, they'd be running around between schools. It didn't include STEM education, right? It didn't include engineering. It often didn't include AP courses or IB courses or dual enrollments. So what's happened over the years is there's been many many additions to the model uh to what happens in schools that have not included what is covered by essential programs and services. They then put in frameworks under this essential programs and services model. And I apologize. I know most of you know this quite well, but some of you are new to the board and there could be some individuals that are interested that could view this tonight or in the future from home. When they

089built the model, they built it on factors of a town's ability to pay based on property valuation. They built it on what the enrollment of students were. They built it on um a formula related to the cost of staffing and benefits and substitutes and transportation. And there are a lot of different elements on page one and two that kind of break those things down. On the ED279, they established criteria that for every X number of students, we would be provided a teacher in the formula. When they say teacher, they count all sorts of teachers, not simply a classroom teacher. They count the PE teacher, they count an art teacher, they count a music teacher, a Spanish teacher. So, they all add to it. So you might have 15 kids in your class but then what

090happens is there are several elements of that additional. So they don't cover everything. They then say that every school nurse can cover 850 students. And with that when you're a small rural school or even a small local high school you're going to be way over the EPS funding formula. They then determine your ability to pay. The state is slightly under 55% of essential programs and services, which is a far cry from what they actually pay for the total cost of education. And then throughout the state of Maine, 55% is the average, but there are districts that receive minimal receivership and others that receive s significant funds. And as your valuation increases the state gives less money and this is where the whole system is broken. So when they developed the system they had regional indexes

091and they would say okay in win a pitlock Maine it the labor market is X and they essentially started with a a level playing field. A one would be what the whole state average would be for the labor market. And then Winnipeck, I don't know what it was or what it is now, but I'm guessing it's a 084, which would be the lowest regional index. And then if you were in a wealthy community, let's say Dayton, it's 1.09. So, the state will give you more money if you're in a high cost for labor area. You guys understand that what hurts this district is back 20 years ago, this district was listed as a lowcost employment area, but we're fighting to get staff and uh there are places that can pay more that can get staff.

092So, the majority of our surrounding communities are 1.0 09 we're 1.03. So we receive less subsidy towards labor. We also um are unable to hire in some of our most challenging areas. Staff get gobbled up by other districts. So then the state will say, "We're going to give you support for special education." So you can have an affluent district who can hire every possible special educator there is at high wages and they actually get reimbursed at real high levels for that for the special education services that kids need. And we can't hire because there are no candidates. So one, we get nailed because we can't properly educate kids. Our staff are stretched thin. and we're not getting reimbursed for their staff salaries because we don't have staff in the seats. So everything starts to add

093up. So that's uh something that I think is really really critical. So for us when I first started in this district we received 43% of EPS. So, say for example, we had an elementary school with 150 students and we needed and I use a nurse and I love our nurses. It has nothing to do with nurses. I think the formula is flawed and it's a failure. I've worked in a district where a student, a fifth grader, had a stroke and it was so catastrophic and had paralysis. And thankfully we had a nurse in that school on the day it happened and they received immediate care. Right? So the formula is 850 students for a nurse. So if you have 150 students you get the fraction of 150 over 850 and then you get the multiplier

094of the EPS. So with the So when I first arrived we were at 30 43 44%. And each year as our valuations have skyrocketed outpaced much of the state our EPS number has declined rapidly. This current year our EPS number is down to 41%. So our EPS number that the state says is roughly 41 million for this current year. So of 41 million we were getting 41% of EPS. Let's just use round numbers $16 million. Right? It's pretty close. Next year our EPS number will go up slightly. But because our valuation has skyrocketed, our EPS number will drop to 37%. While our economically disadvantaged population actually increases from 46 to 47%. So the way the formula works, it really helps the halves and doesn't help the have nots. So then LD318 LD318 in your backup

095was aligned with a deep study to look at how the model works and what levers could be played or pulled to help offset some of these unique challenges. So that leads us to current work in the legislature related to 226 which is the most monumental thing I believe to be discussed in public education in the state of Maine since I believe 1954 and the advent of the Sinclair Act which consolidated schools in the state of Maine. and allowed uh really expanded opportunities for kids in rural Maine to actually be able to attend public school at a higher level than ever before. Okay. And that was really a a foundational um legislation, the Sinclair Act. So the EPS model is broken. The halves continue to have. They live in communities that can afford to pay well

096above EPS. I shared last night if we actually had the same per pupil spending as York, our budget would increase by 29 million. If we had the same per pupil expense of say Felmouth, our budget would increase by over $22 million. Any school district of our size over 50 million is seeing a $3 million increase in their budgets in the coming year. No less than that. Our current budget year-over-year for next year is up under 400,000. No one will ever believe that in the state of Maine. I don't think some of the smallest districts in the state of Maine with 500 kids will have budgets that will go up more than $400,000. So, here we are now with this 2226. We're in the initial stages of that work. MEPRI, this the entity out of USM

097has worked really closely with the main department of education has looked at funding formulas, have looked at and done heavy deep dives, think tank efforts, have uh I have provided loads of information and loads of opinion to that study >> as have many of my colleagues and they pulled this all together in Augusta. Now, this the joint committee on education and cultural affairs is hearing was hearing testimony on Monday and the testimony about 22 26 is really looking initially at two of the levers and we don't want the discussion to be slowed and be pushed down the road. Um so we really want to focus on two areas in this new study. It changes the required uh the um uh regional adjustment for every district in the state of Maine. They just move the lowest

098ones. Everyone comes up to at least a one and then from the one the ceiling is going to be 118. We benefit significant. It might be 118 or 119. Then you're backup. We move up to 115. We gain a ton of additional funds. And then there's also uh in this the two prongs that I'm most interested, they look at a 9010 split, an 80 uh 7525 split. I'll explain what that is in a moment. And a 50/50 split. Essentially, the first number is valuation. The second number is economically disadvantaged or poverty. So, if we had a 90% based on valuation and a um 10% based on poverty or economically disadvantaged, we would benefit. I would have thought we'd benefit even more at 75 25. We actually don't. The sweet spot might actually be 8515 or

0998020. Um, if this legislation were to pass, we would receive depending on where it falls in those percentages around the two prongs. For FY28, our subsidy would increase by 1.2 million up to 1.2 285ish million. And I think that's drastically needed. In the state of Maine, there are roughly um entities that receive ED279s. Of that, 34 would lose money in this model. Over 200 districts would gain. The total cost would be $39 million to taxpayers out of a $1.3 billion education budget. Exactly 3% increase in state support for education. One of the roadblocks is this belief that there are winners and losers. Well, the way I calculate 30 versus over 200 is there are a lot more winners than there are losers. And the losers have historically benefited at the highest levels and they have

100the ability to pay. Okay. So, of the 34 that lose money, I quickly looked, nine of them lose less than $10,000. 12 of them. The next 12, actually the next 13, they would lose between 10,000 and h 100,000. And 12 would lose over $100,000. We would gain 1.2 million. Collectively, the 34 would lose about $5 million. And I don't feel I I mean I there's going to be some effort to work towards hold harmless, continue to give them the money, which that's not my but I'm more worried about us, but I think that districts like us and uh Machias have been harmed for years and years and years, right? And um of those 34 districts that would lose money, really the bulk is the wealthiest towns in the state of Maine um in your uh

101in Cumberland County would be impacted. A little bit in eastern Maine, Herman would be impacted by a couple hundred thousand. Hamen would be impacted by a couple hundred thousand, but six of uh York uh Cumberland County districts collectively would lose 3.6 million. All of those districts receive more money per student in subsidy than RSU57. Just think about that. The wealthiest districts or towns or cities in the state of Maine in Cumberland County are receiving more subsidy per student than we are. So I I wanted to um share with you. So the cultural the um the committee on education and cultural affairs I think they're trying to do the very best they can. So right now they were collecting testimony on Monday. I joined superintendence and I do hope you look at the backup. Um and

102I think that I'm giving you a a what I would say is a general store version of what it means because it's it's pretty complex and uh and I'm not all that bright. So, um the way it works, um everyone's doing their deliberations and they they're they go to they went up we all went up to uh Augusta on Monday. We all had to speak if we wanted to for three minutes. It began it began with the people that really want the change. Then it went to um the people who didn't want change. and then it went to the people that really don't care either way. Um because there's some value to that as well. What I shared last night is um I don't recall a time, I'm sure there have been when there was

103such unison between the main department of education for change of this nature. That's a real slippery slope because there are going to be winners and losers. The main education association is strongly in support of change and main school management, main school board association, main school superintendent are all in support though there are going to be some people that don't want change. So this committee um is heavily um comprised of resident legislators from the districts that are going to be most impacted. I think that there's such strong support it will move out of committee to a well it will go it'll stay in the committee. There will be work sessions and there are going to be a some heavyduty work sessions talking about what this means and answering further questions. I'll likely participate in some of

104that and then from there hopefully and I I'm hopeful even though the people that are going to be most impacted are going to have to make the decision to move it out of committee to bring it to the full legisl legislature. Okay. I do want to read what I shared. So when you speak in Augusta, you have to provide your written testimony. I actually had to shorten my testimony. Um and I did change one section. I removed a particular town that I shared with you all and I just said up here in the region. Um, but I think that's all going to come out in work sessions anyway for people from around the state. Um, so I had to provide that and then uh so if you would I hope you don't mind but it's

105going to take me about 2 minutes and 50 seconds to read this but I think it does ring true and I think it's really important that we get this legislation passed and as you speak to community members as we are so below anybody I just really want to stress that and um and the further we fall behind it ultimately will have and I shared this last night I think the potential to be catastrophic for this district if we cut ourselves to the bone we actually are cutting the future in my opinion and I'm I believe I have been hired to tell you what I think is in the best interest of this district and I and I hope you hear that loud and clear. So, good morning, Senator Senator Rafferty, Representative Murphy, and distinguished members

106of the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee. My name is Steven Marquee, and I serve as superintendent of schools for regional school unit 57, which serves the communities of Alfred, Limrich, Lyman, Newfield, Chappley, and Waterboro in York County. Today I stand before you speaking in strong support of LD226 on behalf of the students, families, and staff of regional school unit 57. RSU 57 ranks 26th out of 30 school districts in York County in per pupil spending. We are well below the regional and state average and far more comparable to rural districts across the state than to the wealthy suburban southern districts that we are often compared to. Our district serves 2,885 students nearly have nearly half of whom 46% qualify as economically disadvantaged. Our current total per pupil spending in RSU 57 is 43% below that

107of a regional peer where just $8.4% of students are economically disadvantaged. That gap is nearly $7,700 per child per year in favor of a district with nearly 160th the poverty rate. a district that receives a greater subsidy per child than RSU57. This is not an outlier. According to the data that you have received, the communities of RSU 57 are working communities and are not wealthy towns. They do not have large commercial tax bases or high value oceanfront property. And yet, because of how the EPS formula calculates local ability to pay, the families in these towns shoulder the majority of the total cost of their children's education. That local burden falls directly on property owners, many of them, the same working families, whose children qualify for free and reduced price meals at our at our schools.

108The formula asks them to pay like wealthy communities while denying their children support that wealthier communities receive. These wealthier districts that spend more per pupil than districts like RSU57 can afford those things not because their administrators are more creative or their school boards more dedicated, but because the formula and their communities deliver them more resources per child. I have participated in this conversation about formula for years alongside colleagues from across the state. The frustration is consistent and it is real. Without LD226, the students in districts like RSU 57 will continue to wait. They will wait while the children where wealth exists with where property values are high and pro poverty rates are low continue to be funded by the state and by their local communities at levels that are significantly higher. This is a daily

109reality in many school districts in Maine. It is in the programs that we do not offer and the specialists that we cannot hire. The students sitting in classrooms in many main towns are not waiting because they matter less. They are waiting because the formula has not caught up with what they deserve. I urge this committee to move LD226 forward with the understanding that the education of a child that a child receives in Maine should not be determined by the zip code in which they reside. Thank you for your time and your commitment to getting this right. So, I I really applaud you for wanting to support our kids, and I'd like us to get this legislation passed so that in the uh next year's budget development, we have those additional resources. Um, and I and

110I really want to stress, we are not um presenting a budget that is pie in the sky. We are woefully behind uh districts throughout the state of Maine. And I and I understand the realities of our taxpayers. I just worry that the further we reduce and we limit our opportunities for kids, the fewer kids we'll actually have to educate, which in turn will result in reduced subsidy, which then escalates the cost to educate kids with an inferior program. And that is real and uh I view this as a long-term issue and I am not here for decades to come but I think the conversation is a decades to come conversation. So I again I appreciate your efforts and I can answer any questions uh to the best of my ability that you might have. I

111know that you said that this is primarily uh conversation committee among superintendents, principles, you know, superintendent. >> It's a huge conversation that legislators are part of. There were several community members of various towns throughout the state that attended the meeting and testified. So I guess my question really is like what impact can the members the individual members of this our communities have in this in this fight in this argument. I think your impact would be I I think this is something I'm going to talk about next week with the town folks, but I think if you have good relationship with any representative um that goes to Augusta or represent you, this is really critical. Um, we uh I believe we might be top three in gaining the greatest amount of additional revenue as a result

112of this of any district in Maine. I can't think of there might be one above us, one or two. Um, I wish it were actually more. I don't I I really do believe that. So, how can you help? um encourage folks to uh I'm going to put my little write up I think in a community newsletter tomorrow. Um and uh I I don't want us to sound like we're needy, but what is fair, right? Why why should you know we can have kids go off and and do great things. Walker is going to do great things, >> but we need to make sure that we have the opportunities for every kid, >> and just because you're born and you live in one town, what you know, there I wasn't trying to pick on York, but

113man, if we had $30 million more in our budget, I'm not suggesting we even try. That's not my point. But the opportunities that kids have that our kids don't have, my kids didn't attend here, but I would have wanted them to have I want them to have the best. I want the same for any of our kids. And um and you know, how do we prepare kids for success in an ever changing world? This is a start. Mhm. >> I I feel like in this case, the squeaky wheel definitely gets the grease. So, >> I hope so. >> Yeah. >> Um uh up in Augusta the other day, um I was joined by several colleagues. Um Sanford was there, Matt Nelson, good guy. Uh Jeremy Ray, Bedford, Sako, uh Dayton. Um Portland superintendent spoke. Um

114Bmouth was was um in support of it. Uh though they would get hurt so they did ask for hold harmless. Um Scarboro gets hit the hardest and they would like to see it fail. Um and I understand that if I were going to if we were going to lose a lot of money, I'd want to I'd be fighting too. So I can I value and appreciate that. We all want to be advocates. Um lots of folks from from Northern Maine. Um, I think it's going to be a bit of a fight. Um, but sometimes a good fight is nice. So, if you know of individuals, um, we just want an equal playing field. You know, >> it's uh there there are kids in this world that they woke up on third base and thought they

115hit a triple and others, they just can't even get to bat. And uh, I want to make sure all of our kids get to bat. Michelle, >> I was lucky enough years ago to help pass legislation for my career in the state. And the one thing I learned is you write someone as a as their constituent. And I think if you teach people to do that, there's you Google it, there's ways to show you how to address them. You talk to them as their constituent. They want to hear from you. Maybe if Steve is okay with us attaching his testimony to yours, say this is, you know, I'm from this district. You know, please see attached. give them just some of your words. It doesn't have to be long, but just tell them you're the

116you're their constituent. You want them to hear you. Would they be willing to talk to you um and encourage everyone else to do it? It's it's those words that you are their constituent because you're the one voting them in to their position. And that's who they look at most when they receive letters is their constituents and they do want to hear from you. You know, whether they listen to us is still, I think, a question we all ask ourselves every day. Um but it's that scariness of, oh my gosh, I got to write a letter, but really they want to hear from you. doesn't have to be long, just from the heart and saying you're the constituent and that's easy enough to look at. >> Can I speak to that because you just sparked a

117thought in my mind. >> Yeah. Well, thank you. >> So, when you look at those documents, right, and it shows you what districts can receive, I would encourage you to look at if you're not from this area. Um, I would be contacting uh some folks from where I'm at, but I already know that their superintendent and assistant superintendent from the town I grew up in. One of them uh spoke on Monday, so I was really excited about that. So, it's not simply this is a statewide issue. So, if you have a a a sibling or a parent or somebody, look in those documents to say, "Okay, in Newport, holy cow, you would benefit. If they don't benefit, maybe not don't don't connect with them." But, um, but, you know, that's really a statewide sort of

118thing. Um, I know I know that Bedford, Sco, Sanford here, we're we're going to push it really hard. Mark, >> I just wanted to thank you for going and speaking. I think in a three minute speech, you very succinctly articulated the reality we face. And I I just appreciate your leadership in in clearly. I mean, being there and speaking up and and and speaking so well. I mean, if they don't understand that reality, you know, what's going on, I mean, it's just you did a great job. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. And I don't think at all that we're being needy, but we need we need more. Um, and so that's I mean that's what we're asking for. We're not asking for them to fund everything, but boy, when we have a draft budget with

119an increase of this much and it's all going to be taxpayer, it, you know, like that's that's really the reality of is if our subsidy goes down and our budget goes doesn't go up at all, there's still that loss of funding. And it just it's impossible to give kids opportunity if you can't put people in your buildings and have staff and um so we're really like we're struggling out here. Deal. >> Um first I have a question and then I have a comment. >> Okay. >> Um question for you Dr. Marquee is with the evaluation of a new forum of this equation with the projected amount of money that we could receive. What is then the projected amount that we could continue to receive through that new forum? >> It would be this it would

120be uh a multiplier going forward. So if if it'd be they ran the analysis as though our current ED279 for our FY27 we'd go up by 1.2 million to 1.28 million depending on the various scenario. It would then continue. It'd still be at that higher level for two reasons. Our um economically disadvantaged wouldn't be changing. So we'd still be part of that multiplier. and our um regional adjustment would be increased cuz right now we're 1.03 versus 1.09. We'd go to 115 out of 18 or 19, right? One of those two. Um so this isn't just a $1 million one-year fix. >> It would be a million dollars, a million dollars, a million dollars with some level of >> typical growth. But our district, our subsidy hasn't changed in years because our valuation for example has

121gone up 94% I believe in the last 5 years. >> Right? >> So what the what that says is we have more ability to pay because our enrollment has also declined a little bit >> and the district got received so much more subsidy. Um 30 years ago there were 3,800 kids just under 3,800 3765 I think um without prek. >> Mhm. >> So our enrollment has declined significantly in the last three decades. As a result our subsidy also declines >> less >> Oh sorry you had I ap No, go ahead. You had a comment too. I forgot. >> Sorry. I just wanted to make the board aware that um coming this June, we have elections and voting to put represent uh representatives in place to um represent us as a district and um you know,

122I just want to say that I'm working very closely with my father to do that. So, uh he's very aware of this issue. I'm making him very aware of this issue. Um, I've even being on this board, education has gone under the rug and frankly at this point, education is I don't want to get too but it's it's getting thrown away in the trash. And to make a huge difference, you need to not just do your research anymore. You have to go to those meetings. You have to go to you have to use your voice. You have to use your voice. You have to write the letters. You have to make the phone calls. You have to know who you are putting in the positions to represent you and what their actual purposes are. So

123that's all I have to say to this board because I know we are all very very passionate about education. Not and this district but education. So >> bless >> ditto to um what others have said. Dr. Marque did a great job and we really enjoyed hearing this message last night at the finance committee because we're right in the middle of budget and it really does impact on the work that uh the finance committee is doing. And a key thing that you said it's not just about an economically disadvantaged issue. It's about a fairness issue. And I think that's a tremendous way of districts like ours going out and politically selling this to uh those uh individuals who who are going to be on our ballots in June and then again in November. And um you

124know, I would encourage every single member of this committee, take a look at the candidates that are on the ballot seeking legislative office in June and talk to them about where they stand on this issue. I know I've had a lot of people talking to me about this issue out in community already. And I can't go in the boon store. I can't go into the post office. I can't go anywhere without people starting to be encouraged by what this is all about. >> I mean, it was broadly uh reported out on the news on TV the other night. So, uh let's let's get aggressive. Let's get out there and tell people how we feel about this. >> Any last thoughts? All righty. Next up, >> where are we? >> Sorry for taking so much time

125with that. I All due respect. >> Uh, next up we have some field trip requests um that I believe Dr. Doyle was gonna >> one of them. >> Okay. set. Our first one, our first field trip request is a curriculum elementary common learning experience. >> Yep. So, this one um is part of our shared learning experiences which we've talked about as a function of the strategic plan for the district and it's before you um for the fifth grade group because this is an out ofstate travel. Um it's not an overnight, but it's just a day trip um where fifth graders will head down to the um SECO Science Center in Ry, New Hampshire for the day um where they'll have an opportunity to process some tide pools and learn um with a hands-on method some

126of the science standards that are taught within that curriculum. Um big fan of tide pooling myself. I think it's a great opportunity for our kids and so I hope that you are in support. Happy to answer questions if you have them. >> Do I have a motion? >> So Judith has made a motion to approve that field trip trip. Is there a second? >> Anastasia made a second. Any um discussion or questions on that? Mark, >> just a very quick one. Are all fifth graders going? >> Yes. Okay. Yeah. >> Any other discussion? All in favor? That is approved. Thank you. Next up, uh we have a field trip request, two field trip requests from NJOTC. I'm going to ask that we just approve them as a bulk. Um if that's okay with you. So,

127they have some overnight field trips coming up to Norwich University and Main Maritime Academy. Um, so that information is in your backup on those field trips. Is there a motion to approve those? Who was that? Jen. Jen and Suzanne. Jen and Suzanne. Any questions or discussion on those? Mark, >> also just a quick question. Um, the overnight accommodations, who's fun I'm I probably missed it. I apologize, but who's funding that? >> I don't have the details on that. Do you Ty? I think the typically the ROC provides, but yeah, >> I don't know the answer. >> Uh, yes. So, we have um an ongoing partnership with with various military universities, specifically Main Maritime Academy and Norwich are two of our most solid partners. Um, and so we get a certain amount of funding from the

128federal government, the department of the US Navy. Um, and so we will pay for that upfront and then be reimbursed by either the US Navy or Norwich or MMA or a combination of both >> 100%. Um I I I don't have the details on these two particular um trips, but normally especially for field trips because it's a component of the NJRTC program that there are outreach opportunities. It is at 100%. Um there may be some some funds that we expend from our NJRTC account, which is fundraising. Um so things like there may be some meals on the way, but accommodations and meals and the programming once we arrive on campus is all taken care of. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Perfect. >> Thank you, Ty. Yep. Any other discussion on that, Jen? >> I mean,

129I just want to say like when my daughter was in the program and they did things like this, they just stay in gyms on CS. It's not like hotels or anything. So, they just I don't think there's that much cost really. Okay. Great. Any further discussion on that? So, this is a motion and a second to approve both of these field trips all in one action. just to clarify um because they are listed separately. So all those in favor. So that carries. Thank you. Next up we have a first read of policy E G A D-R which is a copyright compliance that Beth will speak briefly about. >> Uh very briefly. This one is um oddly timely. Uh this the changes to this policy are basically removing all the the distance education information um and

130the processes that we used um back during COVID. So we don't do distance education anymore. So those are coming out of the policy. >> Thank you Beth. Do I have a motion to um acknowledge the first read Anastasia Melissa? any discussion or questions regarding that policy. So, this will come back for a second read after policy meets at the beginning of April to give all of you an opportunity as with any policy that's going through first and second read to go back to the committee for any um suggestions or changes. So, um all those in favor of accepting the first read, that carries. Well, we're getting there. We're getting there. Next up, um I will make a motion to enter into executive session to discuss a student matter pursuant to one MRSA 4056B. >> That

131was a tie. Who was that down there? >> D. I'm going to give it to D. So I motion D seconded. Any discussion? All those in favor? We are in executive session at 811. We good? All righty. We are out of executive session. What is the direction of the board? >> I make a motion we remit student A back into school. >> So, we have a motion. Sorry, I have to write it in two places. So, Anastasia made a motion. D seconded. Is there any discussion? All those in favor? That motion carries. Welcome back. >> Calendar and announcements are at the bottom of your agenda and we are adjourned at 8:29. Have a night everyone.