001Good evening everyone. I'm going to call the August 27th schoolboard meeting to order at 6 PM. If everyone could please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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. >> Roll call. Melissa Bacon. >> Carmen Barski. >> Suzanne Bower. >> Mark Cardazano >> here. >> Elizabeth Day. >> Michelle Felisetti here. Anastasia Ferguson >> here. >> Eric Garrison. >> Jodie Lane here. Jennifer Mayo >> here. >> Amy Morrison >> here. >> Wes Finey >> here. >> Adam Tangway. >> D Vigliata >> here. >> Judith Vel. >> Zoe Anthony is excused. Uh Walker Vivian >> here. >> We have a quorum with 15 directors present. Are there any adjustments
002to the agenda this evening? No adjustments. Uh consent agenda. Uh can I get a motion to accept the consent agenda? >> Melissa, uh Anastasia Melissa, I do have one correction to last week's or the last meeting minutes. Um under D adjustments to the agenda. We need to add that um I made the motion and Anastasia seconded that motion to accept those adjustments. No discussion. It was unanimous. All in favor? But other than that, any other discussion on the consent agenda? >> Anything else? >> Perfect. All in favor? That motion carries. Public comment. Do we have any public comment this evening? All right. my board chair report this evening. I want to be pretty brief. Um just a reminder, committee meetings start next week. I did send out the updated committee list about an hour ago.
003Um at the first meeting of each committee uh chair and vice chair will be elected. That's a new um electing a vice chair for committees is new this year. We changed that policy last year. Um, so that will be taken care of at each at the first of each committee meetings and then the website will be updated with the chair and vice chair of each. Um, just a reminder per policy BDE-R, if you're unable to make a committee meeting, reach out to the board members from your town to see if they can cover for you and make sure to let uh communicate that to the chair that you're not able to make it and um if someone is going to cover for you, just so that we know who's going to be there. Uh reminder,
004the MSMA fall conference is coming up October 23rd and 24th. Uh that's a Thursday Friday in Augusta. I anticipate that registration for that will start soon. So we'll be reaching out to you to see if you are going to attend. It's certainly a good experience. Um I've had this on my board chair report, but wanted the details before I shared it with you. Um our very own Wes Finny is being inducted into the Marshwood Hall of Fame next month. Um and they Yeah. So that's happening on Sunday, September 28th at 11:00 a.m. at Marchwood High School. So that's pretty exciting. And then lastly, yesterday morning, we had the opening staff day breakfast and um we had a very special keynote speaker yesterday morning, uh Walker Vivian, who undoubtedly wowed the crowd when he got up
005to speak. Uh Dr. Doyle and I were talking yesterday. You could hear a pin drop in that room and um it was fantastic, Walker. I really there are no words to say how well you did. It was amazing. So, thank you so much. You uh you represented the student body and the school board. Yeah, it was really good. I just I still I cried. I knew what he was going to say and I got teareyed. So, it was amazing. It really was amazing. So, uh, that's all I have for you, Dr. Mark. >> Before I go, Walker, um, would you like to speak about yesterday at all or >> You're good. >> Yeah. Okay. >> And student report. >> Okay. Uh, good evening everyone. Um, so I'll uh provide an overview of the first uh
006student representative report for the 2526 school year. So the first day of school for grades 1 through nine and SRTC students is Tuesday, September 2nd. And the very next day, all students will be returning to school. Uh, as uh was mentioned, the staff came back yesterday with the annual opening day staff breakfast at the middle school. On August 28th, the uh open houses will be occurring. Each open house lasts for an hour and a half and have a staggered timings for elementary, middle, and high school. Staggered start times. Um this year, uh there will be a couple of things that look different at Mass Basic High School. I won't go over these too much because I know the board has already heard a lot about this, but the uh switch to percentagebased grading uh from
007the 1 to4 scale and um the uh cell phone policy that is being extended from the elementary and middle school into the high school. Uh there was a community forum on August 21st at the high school to discuss these new changes. Um there were some people that attended in person and it was uh broadcast online for any people that couldn't make it and these new changes were discussed and people had the opportunity to have their questions answered and concerns addressed regarding these new policies. The uh fall sports preseason at the high school began on Monday, August 18th. On the 15th, there was a meet the coaches night where there was an informational presentation by the athletics department followed by a breakout sessions with different sports. This provided the opportunity for students to gain schedules and
008information before the start of the season. Registration had to be conducted through parent view before the start of the season and students needed a physical on file and had to complete the online sway test if they hadn't already completed it the year before. Uh there are numerous sports offered at the high school including boys and girls soccer, girls field hockey, boys and girls cross country, girls volleyball, golf, football, and sideline cheer. There's also a new athletics website and there will be a new athletics app that's currently in development and is expected to be completed around Labor Day. The app is expected to be a place where there will be um pretty much all of the information on Mustang athletic scores, cancel cancellations, schedules, etc. Yearbooks at the high school were distributed on the afternoons of
009the 9th, 10th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 17th of August. Um and any yearbooks that were not collected during those dates can be picked up at the open house or uh at the start of school. The new bus ride app is now available to download. Parents are able to follow their child's bus route to and from school and get um instant uh information on any cancellations or bus notifications. That's especially helpful for uh parents who pick their kids up at the bus stop every day so they can, you know, check and see where their kids are along in their route. Uh at the start of off uh start of August uh Massabic middle school families uh received supply lists and a welcome letter. And uh during the month of August, student schedules were available for high
010school and middle school students on parent view. And there will be a meet the coaches night in the library for the middle school on September 4th. Registration is uh currently open and the sports season will begin on September 8th. There was a bus orientation last week for preschoolers in kindergarten c kindergarteners at the elementary schools. Uh Alfred Elementary recently recently received a recognized ASCA model program or ramp award from the American School Counselor Association. This is a national prestigious designation uh and is because of the school's datadriven exemplary counseling program that is committed to students emotional, social, academic, and behavioral success. Uh in the report, there's more detail about some of the great things that Alfred has done to earn this uh very prestigious award. It is um among a few in the state of
011Maine and few even in the country to receive this designation. Um, so with all of these things, open houses, athlet athletics starting, bus orientation and staff returning, the start of the next school year is just around the corner. There's uh some new technology, new apps, uh some new policies going into effect. Um, and a couple summer events, especially in August. And uh the school year will be beginning now in just a few days, just next week after a long welldeserved summer break. And that concludes my overview of the student representative report. Thank you. >> Gez, you get better with every uh passing report. So, thank you, Walker. Um I do want to draw extra attention to Walker. Um so, I've worked in schools. I've had 34 openings. And um over the years, I've been part
012of staffs where they'll have national speakers come in. They'll have the the latest, the greatest thing that's gonna revolutionize education and they'll present about it. We've had a few of those sorts of things here. Um I know of a local district that uh Walker's the best value in town because a local district a couple years ago spent 51,000 I believe um on um keynote speakers for their opening and uh we benefited from providing Walker with a really nice massive sweatshirt. So, so thank you Walker for that. Um, in my 34 years, I can say with confidence I thought it was the best opening day speech that I've experienced. And I think that was reflective of everyone present. Um, Walker started off by sharing a an an image of himself as a first day kindergartener getting
013ready to head to school and uh was sitting on a rock wall and uh and then talked through his experience and that of his friends and the impact of staff and it was very wellreceived. I received um uh communications from a number of staff who had worked with Walker, saying how um overjoyed they were and uh sharing that they had uh been part of his life and may have had him in class or um in different connection points. So, Walker, I I know it might have been a little risky for you, but you you your pacing um your message, your um the humor you mixed in there um was really uh remarkable and um I don't say it lightly when I say thank you and and really amazing work. >> Yeah. Um I know a
014few a few of you were present and uh you you could definitely attest to that. So, thank you. Um, he stole almost everything I was going to say in his update, but I I will say the numbers are going to change. We didn't do the student enrollment report because there are so many kids that have not yet been pulled from our system that are leaving. We do have all the new kids who are starting, but sometimes there's a delay in transfers. So, I know the number that I'm going to site right now is going to be a very inflated number. Um, our current enrollment as of September 4th, the the start of that day when we have all students is 2,894. I think um by the 1 of October, that number is actually going to
015be probably around 2830. That will be my prediction because there are a number of kids that will um funnel out of that number. our enrollment um we're we're seeing continual increases at Chappley. Um and all other locations are going to be pretty flat or actually decline a little bit. The high school has dropped a little bit and I envision that. I've done a deep dive at looking at enrollment. Um high school will be probably around 820 in three years. So that that's dropped a little bit and then it will start to rebound because we have some large classes that will then enter the high school. Um we started off last week with our new staff. We had 30 new staff members joining us. Um what a tremendous group. They came into this space. Uh went
016through some onboarding activities and then u had lunch with their administrators. They had some time together as as teams and Mrs. Twitchell, our new director of curriculum and instruction um did a master masterful job in preparation in collaboration with Dr. Doyle. It was just a a well-run, seamless introduction to the district um that I have not yet seen to this level um in my time here. Uh those same staff members spent uh Monday of this week with their building administrators preparing their classrooms. As shared already, we had all staff start yesterday. We did uh keynotes. We recognize all of our new staff members and also recognize those staff members with years of uh dedicated service um beginning in five-year increments starting at year 10 culminating with um um really the highest number we have a
017staff member with 40 who's starting their 41st year and uh just thousands of years of service to our kids. Um, our focus turned after lunch yesterday and throughout the week. There's some onboarding activities. There's a lot of work that's happening within our our buildings, but we have a concerted effort of trying to maximize how we utilize time more so than I think we've done in the past where we're really trying to have folks have good professional dialogue and room preparation um instructional preparation because I think in the past what we've tried to do is um push too much professional development and not enough um of the soft skill stuff to support our newest employees and really uh allow our veterans to work collaboratively together. So, that's been the focus. Uh that happened throughout today. Lots
018of um instructional preparation uh tomorrow that will continue. Our staff come in with a delayed start tomorrow. So, with open houses throughout the district, our teaching staff will start later. They'll still work the same number of hours, but we're not asking them to come in and and be here from like 7:30 to 7:30. We're trying to be respectful of of their time and and their needs as well. And then Friday will be a half day um as uh outlined in the CBA for staff um for per for teaching staff, the CBA. Our edte won't be in tomorrow and uh they will not be in on on Friday. And as Walker said, we're going to have all of our um grades 1 through nine and SRTC on Tuesday. And then on Wednesday, we'll um greet our
019upper high school students as well as our youngest kids, our our preK and K. We've already sent out communications about uh folks being mindful of the delay on Wednesday and probably Thursday as we get literally three and four year olds off of our buses and onto our buses. that automatically creates some level of delay, but we don't want to rush that process. So, um, our new software, our busrite software will allow families to track kids and in real time. And um so we think it's going to be a very smooth start and uh really am thankful for the hard work of our administrators, the support of the school board, the um exceptional work being done by our department leads, our operational staff, our business office, and uh and in particular Dr. Doyle and Mrs. Twitchell
020for all their work in uh uh preparing us for success with the start of the year. I think that covers everything on my list. Any questions? >> Mark, >> just one. Are we starting with any do we have any unfilled vacancies? >> Um, we continue to advertise for a few positions. Um, we're actually in better shape than I was anticipating. At this point, we do have um essentially that SEAL coordinator um student uh support position. We have not yet filled that. Um, we've advertised. We currently still have the payroll person in our business office. So, we're short in that area. And, um, Kristen Johnson and, um, Colin and the team in the business office are doing a really good job getting folks paid and also onboarded. Uh, we we um, instructionally. So, we also have
021a STEM position that we're we're seeking to fill. Um, we've filled a number of edtech positions in the past uh few days. Um, and we do have a few additional these new hires that are coming on board right now that that um we've been interviewing. I can't think off the top of my head what additional positions because we've been processing people so quickly. I currently do not have any scheduled interviews for finalists. Um, do you anything jump out? >> I'm just rolling through and I see and fast. >> So, um, >> no one classroom position. >> No, nope. No. Uh, and I think that we've hired really, really well. One place that I think is hired, and not to kind of say one school has done it, but I am really, really excited about the
022new hires that we brought on to uh to line school. Um, Miss Richards has done a really good job and uh, it's just a different feel and even yesterday I had a number of line school staff come up to me and, uh, make connections about how they're really looking forward to the school year. So, uh, we're excited about what's happening there. I think collectively we we've been able to really it's it's always sad to see people leave, but um it's also nice to to welcome new folks. Uh I'd say this crop of collectively the 30 that were in here last week, I felt like they were the most prepared and upbeat and uh anxious to start of any group that I've seen here or before. >> Great. Do you have any extra thoughts about any
023of that? Because you've been >> They're really a good group. >> They're It's a It's actually a very um inexperienced group, too. Like Like sometimes you um last year we were hiring a lot of people with a lot of experience. A lot of those people actually were like one year and then moved on. This year's group um I think collectively has fewer years of experience than some of our previous groups. Um I don't have specific data but I that's I can just think of where we were placing people on the salary scale. There are a lot of newer newer folks to education. >> Beth um are we planning on having the new curriculum director speak pretty quickly like soon? >> Yeah. So um there's only it's a balance trying to figure out how we want.
024She has already got a presentation that she'll be sharing with the board. she shared it with our administrative team. There'll be some other tweaks. Um, we'll probably do and and um I really looked to directions from Jod and the board, but we would do um opening of school reports at our next meeting and then our second meeting in September. Um we would dig a little deeper into some of the curriculum work and goals because we've been doing a lot of work on um really growth measures rather than percentage of kids meeting or exceeding. We want to make sure kids are actually moving and improving and if they're doing that they're they're meeting growth targets anyway. But it's really about a growth measure. So, >> uh, any other questions for Dr. Marquee? >> Next up, standing
025committees. They start meeting next week, so we'll get going with those reports at our next meeting in September. We have no old business. Uh, new business nominations. Uh, so we have Mildred Axelon, special education teacher, Waterboro Elementary. Jenna Raanis, registered school nurse, Massiec Middle School. Michael Peron, special education teacher, Lyman Elementary. And Frederica Grunt, I think that that's how Tai said it yesterday. Social worker, special education, Mass Vis High School. Um, is there a motion to accept the nominations? >> Anastasia and Beth, we have a motion and a second to accept the nominations. Uh, any discussion on those? Oh, yep. Judith. Um are these people have certification in the area that you will be working? >> Um we by law I cannot employ anyone for more than 30 days in a position without certification. There
026are times when a person does not have proper certification. They have um associated credentials. So, if they're not fully certified, I can write and seek approval for what's called a um certification waiver request. That's a legal binding document that I sign that I send to the commissioner. I'm going to finalize your answer in a second here. And um so that's not uncommon. We likely have about a dozen people that have uh are working under that waiver request. and then I um commit that um we will work towards getting them certified. They'll be taking the courses and such. We actually had a situation three years ago where somebody actually when I had just become superintendent there was someone on staff in a unique position that was not they were fully licensed for their position but they
027were not certified under the department of ed. So an example of that if any of these people do not have say the most common waiver request is a school nurse because people don't typically go to college to become a school nurse. So that's a common waiver request. I won't say if that's indeed the case here, but I don't recall hiring a nurse that didn't have to have a waiver request as they worked through the process with the DOE. So, the long and short, everyone we hire um must be certified or certifiable within 30 days. And if I didn't do that, I would lose my license as a superintendent. So, I take that one pretty serious >> based on the warning from three years ago. >> All right. Any other discussion before we vote on that?
028So, we have a motion and a second to accept the nominations. All those in favor? That carries. All right. Calendar and announcements are at the bottom of your of your agenda. We kick off committee meetings next week with policy on Wednesday night. The week after that, we'll have finance on Tuesday, the school board on Wednesday, and the week after that, human resources will meet on Wednesday evening. All meetings are at 6 PM. Moving forward, and if there is nothing else, uh we are adjourned. 6:25 p.m. Thanks everyone.