001You got it. >> Good evening everyone. I'm going to call the February 25th school board meeting to order at 6 PM. If you could stand for the pledge of allegiance, please. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the for it stands. One nation under God, liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Roll call. Megan Arshambo excused. Melissa Bacon. Carmen Barski excused. Suzanne Bower. Mark Cardzano here. >> Elizabeth Day. Michelle Felicetti, she is running a little bit behind. Anastasia Ferguson here. >> Eric Garrison, excused. Jodie Lane, I am here. Jennifer Mayo. Amy Morrison. >> Wes Vinnie. >> Adam Tangway. >> Judith Valent. >> D. Vigliata. >> Zoe Anthony Walker. Vivian >> here. >> We have a quorum with 12 directors present. Are there any adjustments to the agenda
002tonight? You have any adjustments? No adjustments. Uh the consent agenda. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? Second. >> We have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda. Any discussion on that? All in favor? That carries public comment. Do we have any public comment this evening? No public comment. All right, we'll move on. I will be very brief on my board chair report. I will first start off by saying that our next meeting we will have recognitions and celebrations. I know we've had a bit of a lull, but we will be getting some students in here to recognize very soon. I have uh tasked the administration to beat last year's record. So, um the other thing that I wanted to share with you, first of all, I wanted to
003uh recognize Suzanne Bower, who as of this month has been on the school board for three years. So, thank you. And secondly, um I know we've talked unified basketball a lot. We've mentioned that quite often. Um but I was lucky enough to be able to sneak out of work a little early yesterday and be able to attend a unified basketball game finally. And I I know that it's not possible for everyone because of schedules and everyone's busy, but if you get the opportunity, I highly recommend that you attend a unified basketball game. There's two more home games coming up March 10th and March 17th, both at 3:30 right over at the high school. Um, our new AD, Alex McCormack Kumman, was um, commentating during the game. He did a great job. The kids were amazing.
004The sportsmanship and the teamwork were amazing. So, I highly recommend that if you're able to make one. Um, I had I said to Tim O'Connor, um, this is how I want to spend every afternoon if I could. So, um, so they're really great and I encourage you to attend. That's all I have for my board chair report. So, I'll turn things over to Dr. Marquee for the superintendent report. >> And as always, we will begin with Zoe and Walker. >> Good evening, everyone. Uh, so Alfred Elementary's February calendar raffle has raised over $2,500 for the PTSA. Uh, a winner is being declared every day and that will continue until the end of this month. And the PTSA has also introduced an Alfred Madness basketball challenge. 10 staff members have a jug assigned to them in
005the lobby and students will put money in the jugs that they want and the two staff members that have the most money in their jars will go head-to-head in a basketball challenge. The winner will have the privilege of pying the loser in the face and the uh the game and the pying will be occurring on Friday, March 6th. uh individual classrooms at Alfred had a variety of activities to celebrate the 100th day of school which was on the 12th of February. That same day, certain fourth grade students at Waterboro Elementary took the National Assessment of Educational Progress 4th grade exam. Uh only certain students were selected for this test. The school's PTO held their monthly meeting on the 10th and they will be hosting a movie night on February 27th. The PTO also had a
006roller skating event over February vacation on the 16th and families could pay $11 per person to skate at Happy Wheel Skate Center. Line elementary second grade classes went on a winter nature walk at the Jerry Preserve along Oipi Lake. Uh students were guided along the trails and their tour guides helped them learn about all kinds of natural elements and they snowshoed on the trip which was uh the first time doing that for many of the students. The students also visited the Jerry Preserve earlier this school year in autumn and coming back has allowed them to observe the seasonal changes and it was a hands-on uh learning experience about these seasonal changes and the wilderness. Chapley Memorial School is currently looking for new PTC members. On February 25th, the school will have a presentation about the
007upcoming Boomers Bookworms Program, a local baseball themed elementary reading program. On February 27th, the school will have a family dance sponsored by the PTC. Uh the 2-hour event will begin at 5:30. Lyman Elementary's PTC was selling Lyman and Massabesic uh spirit gear and the fundraiser ended on February 13th and the gear will be distributed within the first couple weeks of March. Massic Adult and Community Education has been offering courses to help parents support their pre-K to fifth grade students with learning at home in key academic areas. Uh take-home resources and food were provided at the free sessions with each lasting from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. The reading session was on the 20th of January. The writing session was on the 10th of February and the math session will be on the 10th of March. On
008February 12th, the schoolwide dis the district-wide elementary school math meet happened for the second time. And I will turn it over to Zoe for the second half of this evening's report. Thank you. >> Good afternoon everyone. I will start with MMS and MHS band students. Recently participated in a jazz clinic with a professor from the University of New Hampshire who is also a lead saxophone player at the Portland Jan Orchestra and is a performer throughout New England which is pretty cool. Um the band performed pieces and we're practicing for the MMEA competition. Um which is the it's the festival the district one jazz breath festival. Um he the professor worked with the students to improve their performances and gave them historic and cultural information about the pieces that they were playing connecting the music and
009the jazz um to historic events. Students perform their pieces at that festival on the February 11th at 3 and the honors district uh MMA district 1 will happen on the 27th and 28th of February. MHS band has an upcoming concert on March 23rd from 7 to 9 that was in the gym as well as Massie 6 Theater one act performance of embroider box is a slightly is a comedic slightly scary with a plot twist. It's a very good show if you have the opportunity. It is opportunity to come. It is on the is on February 27th and 28th at 7 as well as Sunday, March 1st at 2 p.m. Admissions are free. Um the the group of students that are in this one will then take it to the one festival, which is the show
010they will use to compete um and put on against other schools in the area. um and will be judged by a panel for first, second, and third places. Uh this festival is on Friday, March 6th um after school and then March 7th. MHS concluded the week of February break with a uh spirit week and a prep rally. Um it was a students versus teachers. the um the final tally of students and teachers was done for the spirit week and the students ended up coming out on top with a higher percentage of students participating than teachers. But the victory of students winning enough games of the pep, but also during the spirit week meant teachers had to carry out their agreed up um agreed upon punishments. There was a scollet haircut done by students on one
011of the teachers. Um, there was also an arrest of a teacher where students uh threw dodgeballs at them. That was interesting. And eggs were thrown in another one. Um, yep. Eggs. Yep. Um, there were there were a lot of fun prepar games including musical chairs, a wig snatching battle royale. That one was interesting. Human ring toss, a pie eating contest without using their hands, a sack a sack rally, and many more. Um, it was a success and I thought it was absolutely hilarious. Me and my friends enjoyed it. Um, and it was a great kickoff to the week uh, break vacation was started on the 14th and lasted until the 22nd. There are lots of there were lots of funds and activ fun activities inside and outside the classroom leading up to the vacation and
012we assume there'll be plenty more on what school reserved and then school. Oh my god. My goodness. When the school resumes on 23rd, uh uh March is going to be a busy one and I'm sure there are lots more there's lots more to look forward to and I'll include a report. >> You guys are so great. Um I want to share that um we're quickly approaching school social worker uh appreciation week which is March 2nd through March 6th. I want to share a little bit of information about our um upcoming professional development day um on March 13th just so the board is aware of what uh will all transpire um that day. And many districts in southern Maine um typically have a March date that's about staff wellness and staff wellness will take many forms.
013So what might be good for me for wellness might be different than um each of you. So, um, Adam go, our, um, director of Odell, uh, in partnership with Tiffany Twitchell, our director of, um, teaching, uh, director of curriculum. Um, they've been doing a a great deal of work planning for that day. And um it's going to be a day that uh staff will have opportunities to sign up for various uh activities, workshops um that are going to be a little bit out of the norm. And it's really about uh building uh team, building collaboration, um really enjoying one another's company. Um so it's really a uh a little unique where it's not all about curriculum. It could be about uh meditation. It could be about um bringing some gifts that you might have uh
014to teach others concepts. So it is a little traditional and for some it will be a very um more like fun and games, but that's really about what wellness is and um I think that it's really critical that we build that in. So thank you to Mr. Go and and uh Mrs. Twitchell for their efforts on that. um we will be bringing forward lots and lots of individuals um to be uh acknowledged by this board. I'm not going to start sharing too much detail, but I can say right now because some of these individuals are still competing at the next level even we have five individual state champions in wrestling this year. Three females, two males. We also have a state runnerup. Our boys team in wrestling came in third at the states. Our girls
015team were runner-ups. Um, in indoor track, we had the Southern Maine Athletic Association uh female athlete of the year. We'll be recognizing her soon. We also had two new school records um and track and field uh this winter and we'll have those individuals invited in. We had two students uh place in the class A state meet uh for track and field. One girl, one boy. Um and uh um the girl, I'm not going to share her name right now. Um will also uh has been invited to participate in the New England Championships um in the two-mile. We also have um three Southern Maine Athletic Association all academic team selections for indoor track. Um only students that are seniors um can be eligible for that award. And then two uh senior girl wrestlers are also going
016to be or have been recognized as SMAA all athletic um all academic. I apologize for that. Our hockey team, so in many schools throughout southern Maine or the state of Maine, 25 years ago, many schools had their own teams and um for whatever reason, um schools are unable to field full teams. So there's a a significant number of co-ops. We are we are in a partnership Massabis and Gorum um as a co-op hockey team. Uh we're in the southern region. There's northern class B and southern class B. And our hockey team um includes eight individuals from Massabiszic who have really excelled on that uh team in partnership with Gorum. They're currently 14-4 or now 15-4. They won last night in uh the playoffs and they went into the tournament ranked number one in Southern Maine
017um South and they'll their next competition will be against um either Gley who plays tonight against quite a long team name that I forgot to write down but it's um it's called PLOG which is Poland maybe Lisbon um Oak Hill. Um, I should know it, but I uh gee, Gardner, and I think one other town. >> Uh, Gray Gray. Okay. Um, so, so that will be an exciting matchup at the next hockey game. Uh, from what I understand, because I was here last night at finance, it was extremely well attended at the University of Southern Maine. Um, couple other ones. Um, our girls cheering team qualified for the state championship coming in eighth in southern Maine. But what's really exciting is when they um had the state competition which included another eight or nine teams
018from the north, they came in sixth overall in the state competition. So, congratulations to our cheering team. Um, we're also going to get into and as as I've already shared a number of more academic um with performing and visual arts and um and at the middle school recently our our middle school jazz band competed in the district 1 um middle school music educators association jazz festival and um they performed exceptionally well with nine of our students uh receiving a rating of I which is outstanding um scoring between 91 and 100 and I'm not going to share their names even though I have them here because we'll be inviting them in. So really good things are happening. Um I'm going to go out on a limb because not all the time can our staff attend these
019meetings. Um and uh some of them may not want to go forward in their nomination process. But as you heard previously, we have a number of staff members that have been nominated by their colleagues, by their administrators, by parents or community members to start the first rung on Maine teacher of the year. What happens is um you first have uh county nominations and those get whittleled down to semi- finalists and then finalists and then the county um winner then competes or is in um engaged with each of the county um regional winners uh to um pursue the main teacher of the year. Um, I will like I would like to share the teachers names if if uh you could indulge me. Um, and it's really a heck of a list and and the list could
020be far longer. We have really tremendous educators throughout this district. So, from Lyman, um, Carla Kelly from Massabisc Middle School, and these are not in any preference order. It's just how I wrote them down. Um, Massa Music Middle School, Michelle Turner from Alfred Elementary, Kim Rollins from Massabesc Middle School, Michael Bryant from um, MHS, Massesic High School, Maryanne Stevenson from Line Elementary, Michelle Brown from the high school, Amanda Todd from the middle school, Jack Ricker, from the high school. Andrew Atwater, I mean Andrew White House. Andrew Atwater is a former student of mine and one of my son's good friends, so I apologize for that um slip up. Um, from the middle school, Cindy Thorne from Chappley Memorial, um, Deb Wintel from Waterboro Elementary, Bria Bourke, and I'm not sure if I already said it
021once before. Um, Amanda Todd from the high school. Okay. Um, I didn't want to read them in all the high school together and the middle school together. I wanted to kind of separate them. So, we're really fortunate to have um educators that are doing a tremendous job and that will be moved forward. >> Yeah. >> What did I write? >> I think you said Michelle. >> Oh, and that's that's another proteian slip. Um I actually had a staff member named Michelle Brown. Um anyway, I'm really sick and I'm and I'm really tired and uh and I if I'm going to make errors, you're going to definitely see it. So, I apologize. Um, so that's the the bulk of my report really. Um, I hope folks had a good vacation. I know that many people are
022really anxious about um snow days and such. We all are. Um, but last time I knew we live in Maine and and weather happens. So, um, we're going to make it through and we'll see how things go. I do have one additional thing and then if there are questions about anything you can share uh or ask me but I'm going to pass it off for an update from Dr. Doyle related to additional information. >> Sure. Thanks. So um at the last meeting we had an agenda item where we talked about ways that we might uh leverage curriculum opportunities to celebrate the signing um the anniversary the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Um and so I did bring that back to instructional administrators this week. We had a meeting yesterday where
023that topic was discussed. Um they did confirm that seventh and eighth grade in particular are the areas where um aspects of our country's government are covered most closely and so they see that as the greatest potential for um a focal point for this um important milestone in our nation's history. We will continue to plan for the eighth grade participation in the mosaic product uh project that we discussed at the last meeting that was sponsored by the main department of education and their contribution to the national goals with that project. And then the administration will also continue to explore ways to further highlight the anniversary throughout our curriculum. We also have um programs uh at the high school. the civics and government course is a required course for all of our students to take and that
024also touches on aspects of the government. I think the plans for um that level of celebration and the emphasis on the 250th anniversary are still underway but certainly will be part of those conversations. We'll also look at ways to expand that more broadly districtwide to more than just the grade levels that I mentioned today. Um perhaps through the work with our GT folks. So those conversations are ongoing. the administration was appreciative of your suggestions and ideas and we'll be in touch if we have more questions or or um information to share. So, thank you all. >> Thank you both. Are there any questions for Dr. Marky or Dr. Doyle? Um, before we move on to standing committees, real quick, I'm going to back up to the board chair report for the one thing I forgot
025to mention, which is that at each of your seats is our first ever uh school board newsletter, annual newsletter. Um, so this I want to do a quick shout out to both Caitlyn and Amanda who both helped so much putting this together. Um, so we're gonna these will be available. There's a couple extra hard copies over there. Um, but these will be made available and disseminated like throughout the community um, you know, over the next several days. And, uh, so I hope that you like it. I hope that it, um, achieved what the HR committee and this board had spoken about as far as what kind of information we wanted to share with our community. And, um, I, you know, I think it came out great and, uh, it highlights, you know, a lot of
026the good things that are happening. It um informs the public about the upcoming budget meetings and the importance of attending those and talks a little bit about what we are as a school board and what we do and when we meet and um you know also gives access to the website through a QR code talks about the strategic plan. So, um, you know, take a look at that. If you want copies to bring to wherever, um, you know, you can let Caitlyn know, and I'm sure she can run off a couple. And we tried to keep it, um, pretty brief and manageable, but also, um, get all of the information in there that we had talked about, um, as a committee and a board. So, any questions before I move on to standing committees or
027comments? Okay. Standing committees, policy, Beth. We have not met since the last meeting, but I want to just do a quick shout out that the last two um policies that were brought forward at the last meeting were kind of lengthy, so kind of gave you a little bit to chew on. JLCD and GBA. Um so we let us know, we meet again next week. Um Adam or you can send us a message. Uh let us know if you have any questions or clarifications on those. um they will be coming for a second read on the March 11th meeting. So I'd like to get any any feedback on those um by next week if possible. And next meeting is next Wednesday, March 4th. >> Thank you. Any questions for Beth? >> Uh finance and facilities. Wes,
028>> good evening. Um RSU 57 schoolboard finance committee met last evening. I went from 6 pm till a little after 7. It was a full quorum. Um meeting uh did a budget update and review. Um beginning of March, we're going to be getting into real serious numbers crunching. um second uh meeting, second week uh meeting in March, we'll be looking at adult education numbers and taking a look at a new process where there's a state subsidy for adult education along with the regular state subsidy and uh director Walsh is uh doing a lot of research uh so we have a better understanding what that process is is is all out. Um, last night we reviewed uh previous uh RSU 57 fiscal year budgets and the votes. Um we also reviewed uh RSU 57 tax assessment
029trends over the past 5 years and u reviewed uh how that assessment process is broken down and 50% enrollment 50% evaluations and and um reviewed a lot of other information along with those uh uh that data. We took a a historical uh look at um unrestricted fund balance and um Dr. Walsh will be doing presentations on behalf of our board chair um in more detail uh for you as a board I believe this evening. Um, Director Walsh also reported out that we're still waiting to hear from Modular Genus attorneys on the U modular uh project for its final um resolutions and ending of that project. Um there's still few things outstanding. Um the upcoming uh selectman meetings with Dr. Marquee and Director Walsh and and Dr. Doyle will and and and our chair Jod Lane
030will be occurring later in March once we start getting real numbers uh together for them to go out and uh discuss. Um uh the finance department uh is uh providing some final items to the auditors for the audit. That process is moving along. Uh the uh school revolving renovations fund uh was discussed and uh the uh bids that went out uh have been extended to March 6 and the goal is to get as many bids and the best bids as possible and um uh some of that uh will be discussed further tonight by director Walls. Um, we did a review of capital planning updates and got into some of the tier one projects which we'll be going over in more detail in the future and presenting through the budget process and and working on prioritizing
031just exactly where we we head with uh with spending in that arena. The next meeting is March 3rd, 6 PM right here at Massabisk High School East. Any questions? more than willing to answer. >> Any questions for Wes? Thanks, Wes. Uh, human resources, Anastasia. >> We have not met since last meeting. Um, our next meeting is March 18th at 6 p.m. right here. >> Thank you. Any questions for Anastasia? Next up, old business. We have none. So, we'll move on to new business. Our first item of new business this evening is we will be hearing from Lansa Tomkins from the high school. Um she is going to be speaking to us about a proposal she would like to make. So welcome. >> Hit that button on the right and I will turn your mic. My
032right rate right not my left right. >> Hey y'all. Um thanks for letting me b uh borrow your ears for a minute. Sorry, I've talked all day long, so I will stumble over everything I say here. Um, so, uh, Alansa Tommpkins, been an art teacher over at the other at the high school building for 11 years this year. Um, and a couple weeks ago into my mailbox slips this little email about becoming an MTLI ambassador. You've probably heard about the MTLI program, which is it's a statewide onetoone device uh educational device program since 2002 trying to get kids and teachers partnered with devices to best bite into curriculum. They are now serving about 80,000 people across the state. So, it's a pretty established situation at this point. But the ambassadors are actually the distinguished educators
033in the state that sign up to help support the integration of new technologies. And what they end up being most often is used as the person presenting it to you and then giving you professional development about it and kind of sitting there and holding the hands of educators to kind of get them into the right headsp space with these new technologies as they're rolled out. The employment structure of belonging to this program means that for two years the person that is an ambassador goes to work with the DOE for two years and they fund this through the state. The state covers the salary of the ambassador at their home school for the time that they are working with the department of education and they hire a replacement in the meanwhile and then that person works
034for the two years and then comes back to their home district. They're positions that are really great for people that want to be involved in the integration of technologies at the state level for educators. It's people that are excited about technology, people that are skilled at working inside the classroom and kind of communicating concepts to people, and collaboration is kind of that lynch pin in the center. Why I want to do this is because I think it's really important to continue to grow as a person that is communicating with others. I want to be able to lead other educators in the use of different technologies in their classroom. I want to help connect educators and student to technologies that are going to suit what they're trying to do and how they're trying to access the
035learning in their room specific to their contents. And I want to be able to advocate for the arts in this technological space. And I want to do all that while I grow so that when I come back I'm a better educator in my classroom for all the people not just the other teachers in the building but my students. The district gets out of this a whole person that comes back two years deeper educated on how to educate others. you uh the person would come back with all of the information that is on the leading edge of what the state wants to be performing and putting out into the district and it would give you a person that is now better at um helping anybody in the building or in the district integrate any of this
036stuff. So I would be able to help anybody that wanted to build curriculum with the new technologies. I would be able to as an art teacher. I don't um I've never just accessed curriculum from out outside of my own brain. So I'm very versed in building it from the ground up. It would be no different with this content and I would be able to provide that for people. Now that's basically what I know about it. It's a little bit bare bones. I was not able to when I reached out to the would you like more information on this content. I I did want more information. I have not heard that extra information yet. So that is what I know about it. If anybody has any questions, I did do more research, so I might have
037something to share, but it is a sharing is caring kind of program where you lend me out for a couple years. Does anybody have any questions about it? >> Yeah, I have some hands up already. First of all, um I MTLI, what does that stand for? I think >> Let me go back to my first thing because I will mess it up. Main Learning Technology Initiative. main learning technology. >> Okay. >> MLTI. I have a little slideshow I will share out. Um >> I thought I would have access and um so I will give that in case anybody wants my little barebones moment that I have up here. >> Right. And so your actually I'll open it up to questions and then we'll go from there. Um Anastasia, >> you said it's a two years
038>> that you leave here to go there. >> Yes. >> When would it start? next year. >> So the school year or is it like a calendar year? >> It follows they do do some work in any of our vacation times but it is mostly during the school calendar year. >> Okay. So it would be 26 27 27 28. >> Yes. >> Check. >> Right. >> Judith. >> Um what would be the cost for our district? >> There would be no cost for the district. The state would pay you my salary. You still don't talk. >> I'm making eye contact. Um, so you would you would get the um funding from the state to cover my salary and they would replace my position for those two years. Uh D. >> Um when you come back,
039have you collaborated with any of the admin or any of your other um kind of teachers to maybe are you going to plan to build a committee like or have some PD offered to your staff or what will that look like in the sense of your support to the building once you come back? There is no guided outlines to what I could. So what I could is anything I'm willing to um I would absolutely like I don't see a whole lot of purpose in going out and learning more to hold it to myself. Right. >> As an educator I've always just wanted to like like germs share them with everybody. Um so like I would not see any point in going if I wasn't going to be able to add to our skill set. >>
040Sorry. No, it's fine. >> I deal with teens all day long. >> She is a teacher, so it's inevitable. >> Sorry. Yeah. >> Um, so like I want to come back and be able to >> I want to solve problems like anytime there's little gaps and whatnot, if I have anything I can fill in, that's my goal. >> Yeah. Can I ask a followup? Sorry. Um, in essence of like the staff, what will that what do you think it will projectedly look like for the students as well? one of the big things they did talk about as far as like what they're thinking about moving towards. So, of course, I don't know because I'm not there. Um, but they did highlight in particular media literacy and artificial intelligence >> and those are just big concepts
041right now in education. How are we going to utilize those things? Which direction do we want to go in? Which one's beneficial? When which one's harmful? So I think coming up with more informed learning about some of these topics that are so cutting edge to everything we're doing right now is only even if it just gives them kind of the structure about more accuracy about what we need to be searching for when we're being media literate or when we are using artificial intelligence. Um, but I would hope that if we go two more years since things are going to grow so much in that avenue, I think that it would be kind of almost the new structure for how we're going to move those things forward. >> Yeah. >> So then our students would be
042some of the most informed because I would teach them it. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. So, thank you. >> And you're here this evening seeking approval from the board to apply. I I have to have permission before I can even apply. >> And when would the application be due? >> It is due in like two weeks. >> Okay. >> So, it's pretty quick from there. >> And then when would you when how does that selection process work? Like when would you find out if you were chosen thereby us knowing when a position needed to be filled? Do you know that? >> I couldn't get any clarity on that. Um I do work with a school district that has sent a a teacher to this program. um she didn't indicate like how long there was
043as a gap. Um and so and I never got information back from them. So if if it's like any >> other workforce I've ever two months maybe. >> Yeah. >> I don't and that's kind of why it's nice that I am here first because the district that I um dealt with, they got superintendent permission, but then once the person had their interview and everything, they had to come back and ask for board approval. Um, and this kind of gives us that leap ahead. If I already have it, then if I do get an interview or heaven forbid accepted, I would already kind of have the permissions in place and you guys would be able to seek for an employee right off the bat. >> Okay. Uh, Mark, >> uh, most of my questions are for
044Dr. Michelle. Um, are you supporting um, this initiative? >> Dr. Michelle, I'm sorry. No, no. I'm I'm Michelle Brown, right? >> I'm sorry for Dr. Marquee. >> That Okay. So, I work for a Dr. Michelle. Uh I apologize. >> So, I I think there would still be some logistics that we would need to work out. I think this really is a board uh decision. Um, we'd have to determine um there's the teacher CBA does not allow it or not allow it. It's really silent on these sorts of things. But there um since it would be a position, we would need confirmation that it doesn't impact seniority and those sorts of things. Um, I think that, um, with the right conditions, it allows us to, um, grow someone and have them return and have an impact.
045Um, I think she would be highly likely to be supported or approved. She is actually very similar to you all where she's a school board member in another district nearby. Um, so that might be attractive to their selection committee. Um I I think that um there with anything like this there are going to be some benefits and there are going to be some unique challenges. Um >> well I think the program I I want you to know it sounds wonderful. >> Um but as a board member I'm concerned how easily we would be able to replace her for two years. I'm also concerned that you said um state's going to pay your salary. Are we still going to cover your health benefit? Who's going to cover health benefits? >> My we would need to vet
046all of that. So she what she looks for tonight is your approval and I think that the then there's the final approval of the board. So we so we'll have time to get additional logistics. It's really about she can't walk through that door without your approval to at least start the application in my opinion. Um, I didn't want to be like some other district that the superintendent approves it and then all a sudden it's kind of like go ask mom, go ask dad type of situation. Um, I didn't want to do that with you all. >> Um, as far as um, my understanding currently is they would pay all salary and benefits. >> So, and then we would have a replacement. Some of the unique challenges might be, will somebody want to apply for a
047job that could be a two-year only position? In reality, every person that's hired is hired as a one-year position. They are essentially hired three separate times. You approve them as new hires, probationary one, probationary two. So, I don't see that necessarily as an issue. Um so I think um my recommendation to you all is generate all the additional questions you might have um allow Lansa to apply um and then we could explore it more deeply and she'll be able to give additional information to you all. Um, yeah. >> I will say Mecca currently has 12 people prepared to graduate as art educators this year and I'm teaching one of them right now. >> And and Mecca is um uh the >> private art school in Portland. >> Right on right on Congress Street. >> Yeah.
048Main College of Arts. >> I forget that not everybody is like, "Oh my gosh, Mecca, I wish I could go there." >> Thank you. Yeah, that that was helpful. Thank you. >> And my name is Steve, by the way. >> Thank you, Dr. Marquee. Uh Michelle, um I would I guess listening to it and I looked it up really quick on here. How overall do you think it would been? Like I'd like a little more information. How would I'm in favor of it, but how would it benefit the the district? Like what ages, what grades, where do we you know, that type of thing? Because I'm looking at it and it's K through 12 showing on the website. So, like what's your I guess vision for how it would benefit RSU57 as a whole and
049where? >> Um, interestingly, my degree is also a K12 degree. So, I did do training in school to be able to teach all the different ages, which is just a really interesting perk when I'm thinking about how am I going to address this for all the different ages. So, I've practiced it already. Um my my thoughts on it would be the first thing to do would just to kind of be like an assessment of if people want me like I'm going I would not be just asking like >> hey I just did a thing and it was cool. Do you want to know about it? Because that doesn't you want to give people enough to be curious about when you're presenting content. >> So it might be something like I build a sort of newsletter
050situation to kind of give all of my in I'm used to wandering away from the microphone. um I could come up with a like a wrapup a summation of the work that I do in that time and the stuff that I think is the most pressing and pertinent in like the ways that I perceive in the latter part of those two years because that probably is going to be the stuff that because technology does move so quick from here where are we even going to be in two years so um kind of run that like uh run through of what I have done which then gives me the ability to create a document just in the raw where I could hyperlink to anything that we have introduced. I could conclude the I could include the
051presentations we did put together in that time. So I could take all of my raw content and then if anybody in the district wanted something further and they wanted me to like come into their classroom. I've always been told in this district, no matter who was um like the admin I was uh dealing with because there's been changes in the time I've been here that like I'm welcome to experiment in other people's classes if they want to have me welcomed into their space and they will find like a substitute and that sort of thing. So I think it would be really possible to do some district shaped like presentation work if we see like a big need that I would had access to helping people with. But I think it would be really easy to
052also dial it into if I have particular people that need support, I could um do that either one- on-one um in emails and like just maybe it's emails back and forth sharing presentations and content or it could be go to their space and like actually help them with what they would need. So, I'm willing to put in a lot of extra like footwork after the fact to benefit my peers because I've had many instances pop up that I wish I had somebody to ask about. So, like I think being partners in education is like what I want for our educators. So, it just gives me more tools to be somebody's partner. >> All right. Thank >> All right. We have a couple more questions and then uh and then we're going to wrap it up.
053So, we're just looking for approval for her to apply tonight. The logistics would come later um in the process. But uh Wes, >> I was just simply going to make a motion that we move uh to for board support for Miss Tomkins and pursuing the main learning tech initiative ambassador role. Um and uh I think it sounds wonderful. Second. >> Oh, wait. >> Mark. Mark's got the second. Okay. So, we do have a motion and a second to uh approve Lance's request to apply for this MLTI initiative. Um there's a little bit more discussion. We're going to quickly Suzanne. Um I think it is a combination of D and um Michelle's question and it is do you envision yourself kind of coming back during the two years that you're being trained and kind of checking
054in with either a committee or with administration saying hey this is the direction this is where I'm looking does that match where you even our um curriculum director where you're going are you going to keep that >> I assumed that the people I would be keeping the most contact with would be like the head of our tech, probably Mr. Thurlo, just because he's my building human and I'm so comfortable with talking to him. Um, Dr. Marquee. Was he making a face? Okay. Um, Dr. Marquee and then, you know, head of curriculum. Um so that like because I won't be in the building so I won't be able to identify like what is happening here where do our gaps exist and sort of things like that. So um I not only imagine that towards the end
055I would be trying to kind of gather info to like put something together. I would not be opposed to coming in periodically and being part like this is my district. I have not worked in another district. I've done some long-term subbing elsewhere, but this place has built me as a professional educator. I love the student body and I've enjoyed my um like professional time with so many of the people I've worked with. I want to grant more back to this thing. Like um you know, as a teacher sometimes you spend a lot of time in your room and you're helping the students and um sometimes you end up feeling like there's a little space between you in the community if you don't end up out in the building way more often. and I'm down in
056a little hallway and I'm far away from everybody else. So, the ability to then like come in and present support instead of just being like because I do tend to be a chaos creature and wander in and be like, "Do scissors or something because I'm the art teacher, but to come in and actually be able to help and not just cause chaos in their world would be wonderful." So, yeah, I would be trying to make sure that I'm stay linked into my community here. And should you accept and go, um, it would be great for periodic updates for the board on how it's going as well. Dr. >> Yeah, I was just going to agree with Wes, um, moving it to allow her to apply. There's a potential she applies and says, "Hey, this isn't
057my thing." Right? Fact that she hasn't had the level of communication back, um, I would find concerning personally. Um, so and she wasn't able to answer or you might not have been able to ask questions because she doesn't have that information. So, let's get her approved. If she's the finalist and she's offered, then you can vet through the final questions to make sure because she's essentially on loan to the Department of Education. So, for all intents and purposes, she's on she's paid as though she's an employee. She's covered as an employee. Um there's some association questions I think should be pretty straightforward, but who knows? Um so we really wouldn't have a lot of oversight during that two years. Just so you're aware, assume that there's not a lot of oversight or connection because I
058>> she's going to be working throughout the state of Maine, right, >> with 200 districts and um hopefully learning things to bring back if she's selected. >> Does that make sense? >> Not even a little bit. Yeah, >> perfect. >> Absolutely. >> All right. So, we do have a motion and a second to approve this proposal and allow for the application to this MLTI program. Any final discussion on this? >> All those in favor. That motion carries. Thanks so much. >> Thank you all so much. >> Good luck. Keep us posted. >> I will. >> Okay. All right. Next up on new business, we're going to have Mr. Walsh come up and speak with us about some capital reserve fund use for some elevator upgrades. Mr. Walsh, >> good evening. It's interesting because thank you
059Wes. I I received this evening my doctorate from Wes. >> Um so thank you very much because I was back there. Wes said Dr. Walsh and Tai looked at me like when did that happen? So it's been a night. So thank you Wes for my honorary doctorate. You should have seen Tai's look on his face though the way he looks over at me. and he's like, "Huh? When did that happen?" Um, this evening, you have in your packet a motion. There is one correction in that motion, and that is in the top left corner, which is the date. The date says February 28th. It should say February 25th, which is today's date, um, 2026. The finance committee, as Wes talked about, is and has gone and continues to go through capital planning and assessing what
060should be replaced, repaired, fixed through the capital planning process first. And they've developed a tier one and a tier 2 structure. Within that tier one structure are elevators at both line and um Alfred elementary schools. Those elevators are original to the schools. They provide access to the second story of each of those buildings. It is required um under statute that we maintain those um because of accessibility. Those elevators are at the end of their useful life, not the elevators themselves, but a lot of the components that are integral to the elevator, including computers. You may not realize when you get in an elevator, even a two-story elevator, there are four, five, six different computers interacting all at the same time to make that elevator go up one flight. Um, that's what we're talking about. We're
061not talking about the guts of the actual cabin of the elevator. We're talking about upgrades to the existing elevator to make it compliant. And frankly, we're at a point where we can't get a lot of parts. Um you've heard that before over the years for other things. So this rises to that level. Um this has to be done during the summer. So this would be planned for the summer of 2026 and before you as a motion money goes into the capital reserve fund voted on by the public. in that motion at budget meetings and by referendum. They also authorize the expenditure from the capital reserve fund at a board level with a twothird supermajority. So I would ask the board to consider this evening this motion in order for us to start planning signing contracts
062and having that work done during the summer of 2026 up to 170,000 all inclusive of the work the electrical and everything else associated with that. >> Fantastic. I move that the vote entitled vote to authorize expenditure of capital reserve funds for elevator upgrades at Alfred Elementary School be adopted in form presented to this meeting and that the secretary file an attested copy of said vote with the minutes of this meeting. >> Suzanne, is there any discussion? You Colin, you said it was Alfred Elementary School's elevator you're going to do, but you also mentioned line. Is that on the >> I mentioned line just because I if I'm sitting in your seat I'm going well what's up with line? Those two schools were built right at the same time. Um line will be coming up in
063a subsequent year. Um I only mentioned as reference because those two schools are so close. Someone's I was anticipating would say well you didn't mention line school. No they're both going to need to be done but we can't do both at the same time. So that was the content or context of why I mentioned line school was for a subsequent year and consideration. >> Okay. Uh so we have a motion and a second to approve this. Is there any other discussion? Any other questions for Colin? Seeing none, all those in favor? That motion carries. Thanks Colin. Don't go anywhere. How about a budget update? >> Thank you very much. Um so we're at that point. Um you had a presentation from me in December about the budget process. So tonight we're going to talk just
064briefly about what the finance committee's been doing in that time. You've gotten updates from Wes at meetings um during January. Most of it was presentations from department leaders and principles about their needs, their wants, their desires, what needs to go in the budget. um where do we stand and for them to be able to interact with the finance committee. February has been a lot of analyzing fund balance, state subsidy reports behind the scenes. We're putting together the meat and potatoes, if you will, of the budget. And March is really starting to get those numbers, going through them, and really developing the finality to the budget. So where we stand at this point is that will be coming through the month of March for finance. I anticipate at the end of March. Finance will be moving
065that out of committee and moving a budget of whatever sort they approve forward to you as a school board in the meeting in April, the first meeting in April. Um so that's just the timeline of where we stand. that syncs with the budget schedule that was developed by the finance committee and it also syncs with what I brought to you as a budget development process that the committee had approved in November December time range. So that's where the budget process stands. Jody also asked me to go over just briefly tonight um the presentation that we did on fund balance and state subsidy um a couple weeks ago. And I'm going to really condense it down for you. But I do encourage you, the slides to that presentation are online. The video from that presentation and
066that night are also online. I encourage community members, the board, anyone from the community, selectman to really watch that. Um because the questions we got last year at budget meeting tended to really gear towards um fund balance and what is fund balance and why aren't you using more as well as state subsidy. We we don't understand it. We just know taxes for the local six towns went up. But it's important to understand that. So fund balance is not cash. Fund balance is the equity of a government in schools, town government, county government. Um, some of you serve in other capacities in other towns and other governments. Um, fund balance is that item which helps support stabilization of taxation, unexpected expenditures. Um, bond ratings we don't talk about a lot, but fund balance is integral to
067a bond rating. when we go out to bond money at some point. Stadium was a good example of that. Having an appropriate amount of fund balance is critical almost like a credit score in your personal life. If your credit score is poor, the interest rate is much higher or you may not get a loan. It is similar for governments. Fund balance is one factor that helps determine that credit rating or bond rating. So all governments have risk that they try to balance through utilizing and maintaining fund balance. It is not cash. Most people think well fund balance is a bank account that a government has set aside. That is not what it is. It is the equity of the entity that helps stabilize taxes and unexpected expenditures. For towns it may not be so much
068the expenditure side as it is for schools. It may be more about we don't know if the revenue stabilization is going to be the same for schools like us at RSU57. We also have a lot of facilities. Most towns don't have that risk. So for instance, boilers go look at the square footage. A building needs a new roof. Maintaining fund balance is an integral part. How much fund balance is the ultimate question and there is no right or wrong answer. There are guidelines. The guidelines in governments are a minimum of two months of annual expenditures which is roughly 16.7% of annual expenditures up to potentially four months in extreme cases maybe five months of expenditures. For us, we have historically stayed right around 14.9% where we are now to about 17 or 18%. That is
069on the low minimum end of fund balance reserves. Why is that important? Because again, it goes to all those things. You have unexpected expenditures, you have bond rating, but the most important of all of those is a stabilization to local taxation. You utilize all of that fund balance at once. You look like a hero in that year until the next year. You don't have that fund balance or as much fund balance to utilize to offset taxation. And in that year or other subsequent years or multiple subsequent years, taxation goes through the roof. That is the stabilizer, the shock absorber if you will, to maintaining tax stabilization. Any questions on fund balance before I go into state subsidy? Because they're two totally different topics. But when you hear, and I know you will from towns, we
070want the school district to use a lot more fund balance. you have more fund balance to use. Towns do too. And if you look at town fund balances, they're much higher typically than 15% or 16% that we as a district are maintaining. State subsidy. I tried my best at that meeting to explain state subsidy in Jody only allowed me four hours, but I tried to do it. Um, but state subsidy is complicated. It's a complicated formula. It is available online. It's also available. You go and you look up E as in Edward, D as in David, hyphen 279. That is the report name that Maine uses for state subsidy reports. You can look at every state subsidy report for every school district for the past 10 or 15 years online. Have fun. I am more
071than happy to do a public presentation on the nuts and bolts of ED279. I have not had enough interest in it. What I tried to do a couple weeks ago was really a condensed version of that. What is important for you as a board to know about state subsidy is it is as Steve would say it is a floor not a ceiling. It is a minimum not a maximum. It is a minimum that the state believes in its legislative action is the minimum amount school districts should receive to meet the minimum educational standards of school districts and do that as equitably as they can. What that means is in the state's terminology, schools that have or districts that have higher fiscal capacity will receive less subsidy and schools that have lower fiscal capacity will receive
072more subsidy. In English, what that means under the current formula is higher valuation, less subsidy, lower valuation, more subsidy. lot more complicated but when it comes to the end of the formula valuation is what determines the amount of subsidy there are limitations to that but that is the final threshold the hard part about that is um it doesn't take into account a lot of things and I'll just mention them briefly here for you first it doesn't take into account the square miles of our district it doesn't take into account the median income of the taxpayers of our district. It does not take into account the poverty level within a school district. And it also does not take into account the number of buildings or the number of buses or the number of anything else that
073we have because of how spread out we are. Now, that was a movement 20 years ago, 15, 20 years ago about consolidation. We want to consolidate school districts to be more efficient, but the formula does not keep up with that. It was a different time and era than it is today. The other part is the formula considers what they consider essential programs and services. They meaning the department of education for Maine. The formula says EPS or essential programs and services is a calculated number of costs that then subsidy is based upon. So we'll talk about in just a second what that means. The other part I really want to mention that is important is you will hear a lot and through this budget and multiple other budget seasons the amount that a school district spends.
074School districts spend a lot of money. They have a lot of buildings. We have a lot of staff. It does cost to educate. Our school district has consistently been at the bottom tier of the state average as well as York County average for schools and cost per pupil. That is the measure that a lot of schools look at. It's not the total cost because it depends on how many students you have. We are approximately $2,000 under the state average in cost per pupil, which equates in dollars to about $5.7 million. That's real dollars. I know Wes got a question from a town. Well, if you spent the state average, what could you accomplish? Does it make a difference? Yeah, it makes a difference. 75 or more% of our budget is staffing. What does that mean?
075It means we have more resources to be able to do things we can't currently do for staff, but more importantly for students. So when you hear the school district spends way too much money, it's on the brochures that we've done every year. Look at where we are in our appropriate costs. And we are a very very frugal school district when you consider the amount of mileage our buses do, the number of buildings we have, and how spread out a district we are geographically. Property values, I said, are a key factor in determining subsidy. Property values are up 97% since 2018 in our six towns. That's almost double. But does that equate to in a very simple form it means what I said in the beginning higher valuation means what lower subsidy in the state's terminology
076it means we have a higher fiscal capacity we may not believe that doesn't matter that's what the formula calculates our poverty rate may be higher than most it's not included our median income and household income may be lower which does tie to a poverty rate not in the formula. I want to make very clear and I made very clear in the meeting and I will be unpopular throughout the state for this probably when you hear funding of 55% of education I want to be very clear what that means I told you essential programs and services is a calculated number it is a calculation of the minimum amount that the state provides in equitable funding to school districts across the entire state. That's a calculated number. On average, the state pays 55% of that number. So
077your question is, I'll feed it to you, is going to be, how does that compare to our actual costs? I told you we're a very frugal district where that $5.7 million under the state average statewide EPS is only 78.5% of all actual school costs throughout the entire state and then the state pays 55% of that number. That equates to, if you do the math, 43.19%. 55 of actual costs. Stays very clear. We're not intending to provide 55% of actual costs. Very important that we understand that because it's 55% of a calculated number called EPS. How does that relate to us in 2013? 2013 has personal significance. It's the year I came to this district. 93% of our cost, EPS was 93% of that cost. I just showed you the state average is 78.5%. In 2013,
078it was 93%. In 2026, we're at 75% in RSU 57. What does that mean? That means 18% has slowly every year gone away which means that goes to local taxpayers. The formula has gone through an evaluation as ordered by the legislature. That report just came out literally just in the past week or two came out. I know Amanda Steve and I are going to a presentation um next week in fact by the people who did that report and did that evaluation. I am truly hoping I've seen drafts of it as it was being developed. Um I'm truly hoping that the state as a whole takes it upon themselves because this is going to require legislative action. It is important to understand. You might not want to read all of those 279 reports, but it is
079important to understand what the formula is and what it is not. For us in RSU57, that means we get currently 33.6% of our revenue from the state. That puts more and more pressure every year on local taxpayers. I'm happy to answer questions. I I thank you for bearing through what might not be the most interesting topic for some, but I think as a school board, it's really really important to understand because as enrollment is flat and valuations continue to rise significantly, our state funding will remain flat or decrease in coming years. Which means more and more pressure of a budget increase. just the cost of living to a budget is going to be borne by local taxpayers and we do not take that lightly as a school district nor a finance committee and I'm sure
080you as a board do not. >> Right. And we as a school do not receive 55% of EPS. >> No, it's much lower. Um I'm going to turn it over to questions real quick, but I would encourage all of you to attend the budget review session for the public on March 23rd. That's going to be at 6:30 right here in this room. That's the opportunity to get that deep dive into the actual numbers that the finance committee is looking at that um Colin has four hours that night as well. So come with your questions um and we'll do a deep dive into actual numbers um and and get into that. So questions Michelle I had been following the legis legislation that's being put out there. So the understanding from what they're doing is they're looking
081to have the state actually fund special education fully, right? And take it out away from like schools paying for it. Is that correct? A part of it sort of kind of. And the other part was they are looking at considering poverty levels per towns and looking at the formula. Right. >> Both of those things are part of what the evaluation was done by what's called MEPRI. um that is an organization that the legislature and the DOE have hired to do this. They've done other evaluations before. >> I'm going to skirt that question a little bit because I want to make sure in what's presented next week that I can fully answer that and what I've seen of the draft so far. >> Yes, they're looking at revising that and there's a recommendation within there about
082poverty levels. There's also a recommendation about potentially median income >> in there. um finance directors for school districts throughout the state for a good 10 years now and I'm sure superintendents as well have really been talking about there has to be more factors there have to be more factors than just valuation. Is there a way is the school board we can support you or our district in this efforts? I mean is there >> the the first is to learn understand more and the second is to talk to your legislators. >> This is going to be legislatively driven at the end of the day. >> DOE will have their input. Superintendents throughout the state will have their input. Finance directors will. But at the end of the day, the public, as with anything, the more the
083public's involved in understanding it and then talking to legislators is important. >> So the the executive summary of the MEPRI report, if the legislature were to adopt it, I believe that our district would benefit. Some districts would lose, some would benefit. We'd benefit under the two various simulations. One is around the regional adjustment and um essentially the regional adjustment um is a calculation um that the state determines what the cost of labor is for a district. So we're at 1.03 on this scale. Places around us Bonnie Eagle's 1.07. Um Bifford's 1.09, Sco's 1.09, Canabunk's 1.09. Um Sanford is the same 1.03. Um, if they did the regional adjustment, they would move us to 1.15 and we'd gain 1.2 million. If they were to do simulation two, which is regional adjustment plus ability to pay, um,
084we'd also receive that 1.2 million. Um, but there's still a lot to be worked out and we'll learn more about it at that uh, workshop. So getting our con people from our town that do talk about the school budget and how large it is and wanting yours letting them know they need to write to legislators regarding this. >> Yeah. I that's an important factor. It it really is because without a change to the formula we know what the path forward is which is not >> Is there a bill name? Is there a bill name or is it just >> it's not even a bill. It's a right now it's it's an study that was issued by the legislature to be done. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> It's not even at that stage of a
085bill or an LD. >> Yes. Just to follow up on what Michelle's saying and and I I've listened to Colin and um finance now for quite some time. He does an outstanding job of building outrage and I think all of us as board members should have some level of outrage because um he says that we are $2,000 below the state average but there are communities that are spending $10,000 uh per student. I want that to sink in. $10,000 per student more than we are. Um you know we want a level playing field for our kids and this state does not have a level playing field. You can't you can't give the education that we would like to give to our students when another community is able to spend $10,000 more and not have some of
086the expenses we have in terms of the the size of our district, the busing costs, the fuel costs, things that I I can't imagine what they're capable of providing educationally that we can't provide. And it's wrong. So, I think Michelle, we should all absolutely be outraged by how this state uh funds education. It it it really is a disservice to our students here at RSU57. >> And there and I just want to add if you really want to do a little bit of an analysis of that, um you can just do a quick Google search um or I can send the link, but it's school district expenditures by budget category and it will list off every district. So when he's saying we're $2,000 per student below the state average, just imagine what we are below
087the York County average. >> I'd like that link. >> So if we're $5,000, I'm just throwing out 5,000 um over 2,900 kids, you're looking at um $14 million. >> What could we do with that? The other part which is a little bit of a tangent but it's not to this conversation is at the same time this report was released there was another commission study over the past year that was done on school construction and how to evaluate school construction projects because the state is woefully behind in its funding of new school construction. Um, so in tandem, the legislaturator's got both of these things going on at the same time. And there's going to be a lot of talk in the next month, next year, next five years about how to make these ends meet for
088aging school buildings throughout our state, but also how to fund the annual funding at a state level for school districts for its operations and its staffing and all of those costs. So, I just mentioned that as a tangent because those are two very costly items that I think um were studied at the same time by different groups um to bring forward for review. Um the school construction one gets a little more complicated at a state level for various reasons and I won't get into that tonight, but just know those things are going on. So the more you're involved with legislators to let them know about these, I think it is an invaluable resource to share your thoughts with them, >> right? And simply encouraging them to stop talking about talking about it. That's where the
089frustration lies, I think. And what what we hear is, "Yep, they're talking about talking about it. Okay, now it's now how about we talk about taking some action on it, >> you know?" So that's where it gets. I agree with Mark. It's very frustrating um because as Dr. Marky always says, shouldn't be limited by your zip code. Shouldn't be shouldn't be defined by your zip code. >> And I want to caution you if you I'll send you the link that will give you all those access points. Don't forget that we don't have some of the big buildings that people actually have in theirs, which is going to be another expense. But also, our transportation costs are astronomical. our geographic expanse is very challenging. So, um if all of our schools were close by or if
090we had larger schools, so we have some complexity and we're still well below the York County and the state average. So, and again, when we talk about transportation costs being very large, that's a direct relationship to the amount of miles and the square miles we cover, not because that department is excessively spending. It's because of the costs that we have just because of the mileage. We do about the fourth or fifth most bus miles in the state. >> Wes, did you have anything? >> Yeah, I was just going to say what Dr. Marquee said. Take a look at the York County numbers. there there are like five other districts or school systems in York County that have, you know, putting uh $10,000 more per student costs. And I mean, that's just an unlevel playing field
091for us out here in in rural York County. And we get asked these questions out in the public all the time about, well, how do we match up and compare elsewhere? And, you know, I'm always quick to point out that we're $2,000 below state average for pupils in this district. But then take a look at what happens say in York and Old Archett and Kenny Bunk and you know uh the kids out here in RSU 57 deserve that same level of commitment for their education as we're seeing elsewhere. Um, so >> right because you think about all the amazing things that our kids are doing >> and and I always point that out >> the limited resources. >> I always point out with the limited resources take a look at what we are doing for
092our kids, what we are doing for our teachers and add to it. Take a look at the talent that we have in our school administrators and our principles, our support staff, our superintendent, our assistant superintendent, the gentleman standing up here before us tonight. >> Dr. Walsh. >> You know what I do is I always put director and when I'm reading it, I'm seeing Dr. not not >> No, I like it. But the reality is the the way that we do balance things out is we probably have one of the not probably we have the best teaching staffs and we have the best principles and the best s superintendents and assistant superintendent. There is no doubt in my mind about that. We work with them all the time. Without them, think how far we would be
093behind with the sort of numbers that we're investing and per pupil cost for teaching our kids. It's unreal. >> Yeah, I was just going to say it's it's socioeconomic discrimination. Um, you know, so as a board, it's great that we have this space to discuss these topics with each other. Um, but to find a way for us to express our big feelings about it, but also like it is really easy to say like, "Okay, now do it." But there's also a big board of them that's just like, you know, so any way that we can get involved in other ways, get involved. Get loud. Seriously, get loud. put your money where your mouth is and um you know where I would hope that we're all here to support each other too to do that. So
094if anyone has a petition that they need signed or you know whatever they have an idea like let's collaborate and let's try to figure this out because this district does deserve a chance to have a fighting chance. >> Anything else? Thank you Colin. Thank you. >> Next up, we have a field trip request from the high school wrestling team. They are headed to Providence on March 7th and 8th for the New England Wrestling Championships. As per policy, overnight trips need to be approved by the school board. So, you have your information in your packet regarding that trip, and I would be looking for a motion to approve if you so desire. We have a motion. Who was the second? D Anastasia motion. D seconded approval of this wrestling team field trip. Any discussion on this
095questions? Seeing none, all those in favor? That carries. Thank you very much. All right. Next up, I'd like to make a motion to enter into executive session to discuss negotiations pursuant to 1 MRSA 40560D. And we have a second. Anastasia seconded, Caitlyn. Uh, any discussion? All in favor? That carries. We're in executive session at 7:25 p.m.