001All right. Good evening, everyone. I'm going to call the June 11th board meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. If everyone could please stand for the pledge of allegiance. Roll call. Melissa Bacon here. Carmen Barski here. Suzanne Bower here. Mark Cardisano excused. Elizabeth Day here. Michelle Felisetti excused. Anastasia Ferguson here. Eric Garrison, Jod Lane here, Thomas Lee, Jennifer Mayo excused, Amy Morrison here, Westfinny here, Adam Tangway, Angela Tardiff, Judith Val, Walker Vivian here. We have a quorum with 11 directors present. Are there any adjustments to the agenda this evening? As you know, this time of year, we are having resignations and new hires on a real uh frequent basis. So, um in your revised backup, there will be two new hires. One that I interviewed late Friday um afternoon and then one on Monday. So you'll
002see that information for Michael Malazo who's going to be teaching music at the middle school and Andrew Antonitis who's going to be doing STEM and engineering at the high school. There are also some resignations that are in the consent agenda that have been updated for uh your review. Thank you. Um there's also another adjustment to the consent agenda that I will um that I noticed needed to be brought forward. There are a couple of policies that were inadvertently left on the consent agenda that went through a second read at our last meeting. So, we can disregard BCB, BEB, and JJI if those already went through their second read. So, the only two policies that should be on the consent agenda for our second read tonight is BDE and JF CK. Yes. So, that should work
003everything up. Next up, public comment. Do we have any public comment this evening? All right, we'll move on to my board chair report and we will start off with recognitions and celebrations. So, principal, what we didn't vote on consent? Oh, I'm sorry. I was not pay I apologize. Can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda? Back in. Thank you. Any further discussion on the consent agenda? All in favor? Thank you. Next up, recognitions and celebrations. Principal Farewell. I'm I'm really honored and privileged to be able to do two types of recognition tonight. The first one is for one of our coaches, Mr. Scott Carboni, who was recently named the coach of the year for um outdoor girls track and field. Really, really impressive. We're in a very large conference. If you don't know,
004uh the SMAA is the biggest conference in the state and so we're competing against some really large schools and and doing incredibly well. Um Mr. Carboni is unable to be here tonight because this is how dedicated he is. He's so dedicated to his role that he has attended two state championships in two days in the same year. Not his own choosing, but he's very committed to doing so because we had a bit of a snafu on on Tuesday and so we actually had to finish the state championships today. So, he's been traveling back and forth to central Maine with his student athletes. Um, and we have uh we made podium um finishes at the at the state championships as well. Uh Scott Carbon is a longtime employee of the district of the middle school physical
005education and a longtime coach for us. Um I would say that this is probably many years um late in the making. Really an incredible guy, an incredible coach. So um congratulations, Mr. Carboni. Yeah, just something interesting. My I actually coached out here back over 30 years ago and uh Mr. Carboni and I were hired the same year to coach track and uh he kept going and I had to kind of move on but uh because I moved but so he is a great coach and and really a strong supporter of our athletes. So yeah, congrats. Wonderful. Uh the second uh round of recognitions are for our graduating class of 2025, our top 10 students academically. Um what we do each year is do a small write up of all of the accomplishments of the students.
006And so um uh really honored to be able to read that here today. We do have some students and their families in attendance. There are some students who are actually at a competition in um in Yarmouth tonight that won't be able to be here. Um we understand why. And then as you can imagine having graduation last Thursday, many of these graduates have moved on to other things that have been in the in the works for for several uh months if not several years. So I'll go down through the the um our top 10 students in no particular order. And again, students, if you are here, um I think I've made eye contact with most of you. Once your name is read, come on up. We have a certificate and of course the board would love
007to be able to see you and and uh embarrass you one last time as we did at graduation and Miss Carol will want to get a picture um as well. So uh first up, Kaden Sher of Waterboro. Kaden has achieved the highest distinction for graduation, which is Suma Cumloud. Through focused effort to achieve this, he has had Sumakum Laad honors for every semester of his high school career. He's experienced success in numerous dual enrollment college courses, several AP courses during his four years at MHS, and he's also served as a volunteer for technical writing tutoring and has spent many hours supporting the class in various fundraisers such as homecoming hallway decorating and the highly successful senior scare. Kaden will be attending York County Community College in Wells to pursue an associates degree in graphic design.
008So, congratulations to Kaden Sheret. [Applause] Uh, next up is Noah Brian of Lyman. Noah has achieved Sumakum Laad honors as well and he'll graduate with sorry did graduate with that distinction having completed eight semesters of Sumakum Laad distinction. He's been highly successful in several AP courses and he has achieved several college credits through this academic work prior to high school graduation. He performed 110 hours of community service in his high school career. Most of these hours were um excuse me coming from his service assisting our physical education teachers in their adaptive physical education courses that teach and support students with special needs. Noah has also been a starter on the varsity baseball team for three years and his future plans including attending the University of Southern Maine in Portland and Gorum. So congratulations to Noah.
009All right, Kyle Abbott of Waterborough. Kyle will graduate with the highest honors of sumakumlad having achieved eight semesters of this perfect honors distinction. He was the recipient of the SMAA good citizenship good citizenship award and was the D good citizenship nominee for MHS. Academically he has challenged himself by taking four dual enrollment college courses and one AP course. He's had a prolific athletic career at MHS as well, participating in football in grades 9 and 12 while receiving the coaches award and SMAA all-conference honorable mention. He participated in basketball all four years, where he also won the coaches award sophomore year, the MP MVP award grade 11 year, and then Mustang award in grade 12. He was also an SMA allconerence honorable mention in basketball. Finally, he participated in tennis grades 11 and 12 and was
010the recipient of the Rookie of the Year award in grade 11. He's devoted many hours to helping the youth by coaching basketball at clinics, coaching youth youth basketball teams, and volunteering through the National Honor Society and School Culture and Climate Improvement Cohort. He'll be attending Clemson University in South Carolina to pursue a degree in business. Hy, come on up. All right, next up, Amelia Tero of Lyman. Amelia will graduate with Sumakum Larry distinction through her through her numerous work, excuse me, in numerous dual enrollment courses while serving on the student council, serving as the secretary for her class and through her efforts with the community improvement club. Athletically, Amelia was a member of the varsity softball team for three years where she was a 2024 SMAA allconerence honorable mention. She also participated in varsity volleyball
011for two years. Among Amelia's most impressive accomplishments were her volunteer hours, many of which were performed in the service of the Massabis High School unified basketball team serving students with special needs. Amelia selflessly supported these students to feel included and valued. She will be attending Forom University in the Bronx, majoring in psychology. [Applause] Uh, next up is John Bryant and although he resides in Limmerch, we added new field to his representation because he does so much in both communities. Um, John's dad helped me make that distinction. So John will graduate with sumakumlari distinction um along with his counterparts. He has achieved great success in numerous dual enrollments and advanced placement courses as well as earning multiple college credits before graduation. He has participated in the armored light bible club all four years. He served as
012vice president of the club junior and senior year. He's also performed as first chair alto saxophone in the MHS win ensemble in his grade 12 year. the saxophone section leader in the MHS Concert Band his senior year and the assistant director of the MHS Concert Band his senior year. John has received the St. Michael's College Book Award, is a member of the National Honor Society grade 11 and 12 years and he has amassed nearly 1300 hours of community service. Many of those hours were performed in the service of the Waterboro Fire Department as a junior firefighter and volunteering for the Awana program at the West Buckton Baptist Church. He will attend Southern Maine Community College in South Portland to pursue a degree in fire science with the plan to become a full-time firefighter and EMT
013with a local fire department while continuing work on the family farm hilltop boilers. But congratulations, John Bryant. I also want to take a moment before you sit down, John, to let the school board know that John was one of the recipients of our schoolboard scholarships because we choose these without names. Um, the school board doesn't know who they've chosen until it's announced at graduation. So, for anyone who or at the awards night, so anyone who wasn't there, I did want to recognize that John was awarded one of our scholarships. So, congratulations [Applause] Next to be recognized is Gabe Lawrence of Lyman. He's achieved Sumakum Lady honors in graduation distinction. Um having served all eight semesters of his high school career with the Sumakumlady distinction. He's found tremendous success in eight AP courses. Athletically, he's participated
014in varsity lacrosse in all four years. All four years of basketball, three of which were varsity. and he earned the most improved award and varsity soccer for four years as well. He received the Mustang award for his grade 12 uh year in soccer. Gabe also served on the MHS student council improvement group and future plans for Gabe include attending Thomas College in Waterville to study accounting and to play collegiate level soccer. So congratulations to Gabe. [Applause] Next to be recognized is Brady Batson of Waterborough. Again, he has achieved sumakumlade honors with his counterparts through his high school career, and he'll graduate with that distinction in all eight semesters of his high school career. He's been successful in numerous AP and dual enrollment courses and gra will graduate with several college credits. He participated in football
015all four years and baseball all four years while garnering all conference honors twice and serving as captain of the baseball team. Brady also recently threw a perfect game against rival Dearing. This feat is incredibly rare. He has been recognized as an all-state Eagle Scout for his work on the MHS athletic field flag pole project which has totaled $25,000 of funds raised and more than 200 plus manh hours for the project completion. He'll study business at York County Community College in Wells while working the construction industry as an apprentice. So congratulations to Brady. [Applause] Next to be recognized is Dominic Gianis from Alfred. Dominic finished his high school career achieving the highest levels of academic achievement for each semester. He was successful in numerous AP courses during his time at the high school and he was
016a dedicated member of the Upwardbound program. In this program, Dominic demonstrated great commitment, poise, and focus on his way to acceptance into the highly coveted biological sciences program at the University of New England. Dominic will use this program and degree as a precursor of attending medical school in the future. And as I've said to him on the graduation states, Jo has a really nice ring to it. So congratulations, Dominic. [Applause] Next to be recognized is Charlotte Dalpra of Lyman. Charlotte will also graduate with the Suma Cumml distinction. All eight semesters of her high school career, she has achieved this distinction as she was engaged in numerous advanced placement and dual enrollment courses and was also awarded excellence in ceramics in 2023. She has amassed 148 hours of community service through volunteering with YMCA swim lessons,
017the MHS boosters club, service as a teachers aid, and with the National Honor Society. Charlotte was also a dedicated member of the MHS theater troop, having participated all four years of high school. She was inducted into the International Thespian Society for three years, was a main state thespian officer for one year, the MHS troop secretary for one year, and the MHS troop vice president for one year. She was also honored at the state drama festival as one of two MHS students eligible to attend the international thespian festival in Indiana in June 2025. Thank you to the board for supporting Charlotte and this other student in that endeavor. She'll be attending Simmons University in Boston to pursue their three plus one masters in library and information science program where she'll earn simultaneously a bachelor's in information
018science and a master's in library and information science. So congratulations Charlotte. [Applause] And last but not least, Mackenzie Nason of Waterborough, who is competing against Yarmouth High School in a lacrosse uh tournament game this afternoon. Kenzie will graduate with Sumukumi distinction. She's participated in service and leadership capacities in many roles during her career. She was class president for two years, student council president, and a member all four years, and national uh honor society high school, sorry, national honor society president. She successfully completed five AP courses, four college dual enrollment courses, and is the recipient of the main principles award and the Clarkson High School recognition award. Additionally, she's participated in four years of varsity field hockey where she was a captain, four years of varsity lacrosse where she served as a captain, and she was
019named an SMAA all-conference player in lacrosse both sophomore and junior year. She was also named an SMAA all academic team in field hockey to the all-state all academic team in field hockey as well and the NFHCA all academic team in addition to participating in four years of club lacrosse. She has performed over 100 hours of community service and she'll be attending Renular Poly Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. So RPI for short, majoring in environmental engineering and to play collegiate level lacrosse. So congratulations to Kenzie. Thank you. I apologize for this being so long-winded, but I think it's really important uh that we look at our our top 10 students and all the things they've accomplished. So, um, congratulations to students and their families and to the board. Thank you. Um, want to really express
020how wonderful it is to hear the accomplishments of those students who are here tonight and those that had commitments that were unable to attend this evening. Um, it's it's exciting because we start to look at what the future might hold when you go off to school and then hopefully come back to Maine and and make a difference here locally or or throughout really the country. So, congratulations on that. I want to pull uh point out two other things. Um, John was also the recipient of the faculty bowl by the high school. So, that's really uh something that the staff uh vote on. So, congratulations John. And um I'm going to talk a little bit more about graduation later tonight after you're all departed. But um graduation was really a nice nice evening and uh want
021to draw special attention to uh Julia Bryant who sang the national anthem at graduation. Uh it was really amazing. So great job on on that. Uh you seniors should give her a round of applause. Well, all of us fantastic. [Applause] you'll be able to leave in a couple minutes, but we'd like you to stay for a couple more minutes when we acknowledge some of our folks from transportation if you wouldn't mind. Um, so so yeah. So, next up, um, Richie, can find you. I know. Surprising. I mean, you are way in the m first. Good evening. I think you all know me, Richie Newton, transportation director here at the school district. Um, every spring there is association, the main association of pupil transportation. They hold regional conferences around the state. These conferences are held during
022April break so the drivers can make it. Um, this year the conference in southern Maine was held in Kennybunk. This is a good time for the drivers to catch up with uh other professionals, socialize and network with other drivers, transportation professionals from other districts. Most of these drivers have past connections with other drivers from other districts. The conference this year there were classes offered to the drivers about uh wheelchair safety, risk assessment for pupil transportation, proper vehicle checks, and some other classes. Along with these classes, there's a skills competition, and the drivers compete against other drivers by driving through a closed obstacle course. The course consists of several different maneuvers, including backing up, parallel parking with a bus, and without hitting road cones. So, I'd like to recognize our own Mark Bryant. Uh he's a
023full-time mechanic here in the district. He won the solo competition uh third place. Mark, [Applause] I'd like to Mark Mark's eligible to represent the district in July at the state conference in Augusta. Want to stay up here for a minute? Picture. I want a picture. I don't want a picture. Um, so along with Mark, I'm going to recognize the rest of the team that was uh competed that day. Mark, this is another one for the team uh competition. They take the best five scores uh from all the teams and our team was awarded first place in the southern zone. So Mark was on the team. And we have Lori Knight, [Applause] Richard. [Applause] Robert Barry, [Applause] Michelle P. [Applause] Sterns, and Carmen Henriquez. So, these drivers along with the rest of the RSU 57 transportation
024department are truly some of the best around. They start every morning real early, then many different weather conditions. They check their vehicles to ensure safe transportation for all students in the district. They work late in the evenings to return students from athletic trips, activities. They work weekends and some holidays to get our students to where they need to be for parades and home again. So, in closing, I just like to add some numbers uh to show the hard work and dedication of this department. Last year on this date, we canceled 171 bus runs. Today, we've canled 12. So, in closing, I'd like to thank you for your support and your time. Thank you. We're going to want a good photo. So, right. So, everybody taking the picture. Um before you before you leave, I would
025like to say a couple words about you all. So our our you serve so many making sure our buses are safe that routes are set up and then you actually serve as the the first typically the first person our students see at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day. you often will have information that can help our schools. And and the fact that we have a fully operational staff when school districts around the state are really short staffed is really a testament to the fact that you like what you do. Granted, some days are going to be really challenging and you're like, whoa, why am I doing this? But by and large, you just make a such a tremendous difference. What most folks won't realize or don't realize, we essentially
026drive to California and back every day. Essentially about 7,000 miles of transportation between our vans and our buses. So, the fact that you come back each and every day that you support our students and our overall community is really valued and appreciated. So, thank you. And Richie, you're doing a fantastic job as well. So, thank you for all that you guys do. [Applause] Congratulations to everyone. Um, if you want to head out and enjoy the nice weather, you are certainly welcome to go. You're also welcome to stay for the rest of the schoolboard meeting. I always try. Oh, yeah. Right. And the you all need to stay. Come on. It's nice. It is nice. I guess. Thank you so much. Yes. Thanks, John. All right, now it's just me. Um, for my board chair report,
027just a couple more things. Um, I wanted to let you know about the second recipient of the school board scholarship. So, that was awarded to Deanna Watson. Um, I know it's hard the timing where we pick it with the information redacted and then um, graduation happens and here we are. But I did want to let you know those were awarded to John Bryant and Diana Watson. Um, and just a reminder about the summer meeting schedule. So, we'll be here June 25th at 7. And then the July meetings on the 16th and the 30th, those will be six o'clock meetings, quick meetings. We will have quite a bit of business at the June 25th meeting, but the two July meetings should be quick. August 13th, we'll be gathering with admin at 5:30. And then that meeting
028will be at 7, but then starting on August 27th and moving forward for the school year, meetings will be at six o'clock on Wednesdays. Um, for the next meeting on June 25th, I should have a full school board and committee meeting scheduled for next year ready for you all. That's all I have. I'm going to turn things over to Dr. Marquee for the superintendent's report. Walker. Okay, good evening everyone. Um, so in the last edition of the student representative report uh was discussed uh how the final day of school was moved to Friday, June 13th. So teachers and uh students have been finishing up their final lessons and exams and tying all of the loose ends together before the conclusion of the school year. Um over Memorial Day weekend, NJOTC cadets visited um veterans and
029parades in the community to celebrate that uh that special day. Um at the high school, there's a final exam week schedule that's been implemented which ensures no unlucky student has four three or four final exams in a single day. So, you know, it works it out. Um and so that's been that's been going well. Uh Thursday, June 5th was the last day for high schoolers to be able to purchase a yearbook. Uh the yearbooks will be available for pickup in August. Uh Mass Basic High School this year will be collecting student computers and charges at the end of the school year uh to make sure that all devices are accounted for and in working order. At the start of next school year, uh students who are involved in summer classes or have AP classes next
030year and therefore summer work um will be able to keep their devices. On Friday, May 30th, the Massac High School student council hosted a senior sendoff pep rally. There were uh fun games that were played like Dizzybat where the winning team was unable to pie a willing teacher in the face. And then there was also a um a seniors versus teachers tugof-war round. So, the uh the teachers won the uh the warm-up, but then a few extra seniors came down from the bleachers and they were able to win. Uh and then they walked out through a tunnel formed by the teachers to their um song, Everybody Wants to Rule the World, playing for their final senior sendoff for dismissal. Uh so, the top 10 students at Matabisc were recognized uh tonight and in in other
031ways at the school for their great accomplishments. uh like on senior awards night where students received recognition for all of their accomplishments throughout their high school years and that was followed by an ice cream social and then graduation was on Thursday, June 5th where all seniors were able to earn their high school diplomas. There are class officer elections happening at the high school uh for president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer. Some races were contested, some were not. and uh eighth graders also elected their first officers for freshman year. June 4th was the last day of weight buses running at the middle school and the high school. Uh the eighth graders recently celebrated the end of the year with a field trip to a Portland Sea Dogs game and they will be celebrating their graduation this
032uh this week. Uh next year the MHS 7th and eighth graders will have an exciting opportunity in the new law enforcement club happening at the middle school. The York County Sheriff's Office, the school SRO, and RSU 57 are teaming up to make this effort possible. Uh there will be afterchool sessions that where professionals will teach students about canines, crime scene investigations, traffic stops, and more. Signups for this uh new opportunity will begin next year. Sixth graders recently had an exciting experience in outdoor learning stations. They're able to engage in hands-on learning about forestry, predator and prey relationships, mic macro and vertebrae, fish migration and invasive species. Uh the main forestry service and York and Cumberland County soil and water helped bring this exciting uh event to them for them to life. On May 27th, second
033graders at Chapley Memorial School had a share learning experience. Uh the fourth and fifth graders recently had a field trip and they recently had their Humpty Dumpty egg drop where students were able to make devices to try to protect an egg uh from being thrown off the roof of the school. And so some some devices failed, some worked, but uh students were able to learn a lot from that process and are already looking forward to uh uh redoing their designs for next year and improving upon that. So a four or five uh fourth and fifth grade team at SHAP. We recently had a student panel discussion about homework where students were able to learn about research and presentation about a relevant topic. Uh preK students at Shappley Memorial were able to hatch baby animals this
034spring. They kept chicken eggs and tadpoles in their classroom and and were able to watch them develop and monitor them over time before they um they they hatch or the chickens hatched and the tadpoles grew into frogs. Fifth graders had a special paint night on June 6th at Shappley Memorial. They were allowed to register in advance and have a um a fun night to paint something to remember the elementary school with. Alfred Elementary had a penny wars uh that during the last week of May. There was a different coin focus every day and the second graders ended up winning raising almost $200. PreK and kindergarten came in second and the fifth grade placed third. Alfred Elementary had their music showcase on Friday, May 30th, where they were able to demonstrate all that they've learned through
035their music programming this school year. And the variety showcase and annual talent show will be on Thursday, June 12th. And the last day of school will be uh will be field day where they will have fun outdoor events and then students will briefly meet with their next year teacher in class before heading home for the summer. uh students and teachers will be released early to make a tunnel in front of the school and then the fifth graders will come out and walk through the tunnel and be celebrated by their peers and their teachers for one last time as they board the buses. Uh the main center for wildlife visited alignment and Alfred elementary schools recently and students were able to learn about different animals including turtles, hawks, and snakes. Uh prek students at Alfred hosted
036a petting zoo for all grades to attend and students were able to learn about and uh meet baby pigs, sheep, geese, rabbits, and goats. And on June 11th at 5:00 p.m., Lyman Elementary's fifth grade celebration will occur. Fifth graders will be honored for their hard work throughout their elementary school careers as they um say goodbye to their school and prepare to transition into middle school. Stepup night for fifth graders was on Friday, June 6th. And that's all there is for this student representative report. Thank you. Um I want to speak a little bit um about you, Walker, for a moment. Um you do have another year, so you got to you got to keep going strong. But um we in my 24 years as an ad as an administrator um I've worked alongside and observed
037uh student representatives and there have been many great ones. So what I'm about to say doesn't tarnish anything that they did. But you are by far the best student representative I've ever experienced. So keep up the great work. We're really really fortunate to have you. You're at everything. like whenever I go to a function, it seems like bam, there he is. So, so thank you for that. Thank you, Walker. Um, want to thank the board, the finance committee, the community for um the support of our school budget. Yesterday was our budget um uh vote and we came in at 60%. Um I'm a little tongue tied today because I literally stayed up through and then I couldn't fall asleep after. Um because the the vote totals through the first four um towns was very very
038concerning for me personally. But thankfully a couple towns came in at the end with some really strong numbers. So thank you to our our community as we seek to continue to grow and and improve as a district. Um, want to mention graduation again. Graduation I thought was fantastic. I I'm simply blown away with how well the high school um gets prepared and sets up the cross center. It's done so well. So, thank you to Mr. Thurlo and his team. Wanted to share that next Monday. I had shared the night that the board had um changed the last student day that we would likely have a a staff lunchon. The logistics of that immediately after putting that out to staff set in where it didn't make a lot of sense to me even though because I
039was kind of quick to act. So we'll actually have um the staff send off as a morning breakfast. We'll acknowledge staff and then they're going to go off to their departments and schools. that way they can get the work done that they need to do to end the school year. These are busy times. We've been really talking a lot about the high school, but the the elementary schools and middle school are in full bloom right now. There's there are events that's why Dr. Doyle is not present. She has a rising fifth grader into sixth grade and tomorrow night a rising eighth grader into ninth grade. So, there's just a lot going on for folks at each of our elementary schools celebrating uh end of year accomplishments. I'm glad that Walker uh didn't share this because
040I wanted to share it. Um at the elementary level when kids are learning about uh the birth cycles of polywogs and frogs and um chickens, we we did have a situation where there was a petting zoo and um unbeknownst to anyone in the moment uh that kids were trying to pet a goat started to have another goat. So, uh, they had to quickly, uh, adjust in a hurry to, uh, to put that, uh, goat into a different area as it was, um, in in quite some pain. But, uh, what's wrong with the goat? So, uh, never a dull moment. Um, senior awards were great. Um, our athletic teams finished up strong. Um the girls tonight did not prevail against Yarmouth, but they were up um by four goals at one point, but lost uh by
041one one one goal. Um reminder that um next Wednesday night is adult ed graduation on the 18th if you're able to attend here. I do what time? Um the time is I have so many different times in my head and I didn't sleep. I already told you that. Uh the time is six o'clock. I don't have my agenda in front of me. Oh, I'm looking on the So So 6 o'clock. It's really just a really great great evening. I do have um probably my longest report that I do want to share two major things with you. Okay. So, I wanted to um kind of circle back about truency because we said we were going to talk a little bit about truency. So, I'm going to review some information. Each board meeting you are provided um
042an update about truency. There's fluency is a a significant concern because when kids are not present, they're not learning or at the rate that we would like them to be learning and they in some cases could be doing some things that really are detrimental. So, we do take it seriously. We do have a pretty clear process. Um we we have folks in each of our buildings that are supported by our administrators where they meet on a regular basis. We track attendance through two different formats in Synergy, our student information system. Um one is our daily attendance totals and the other is really um attendance by date. So we can track that. We do review uh period attendance for students of concern. We um meet on a regular basis. We establish interventions to support those students.
043We do try to have as much outreach with parents or caregivers as possible. Letters, meetings, calls. they some of that work is really challenging because there could be some school avoidance elements on the part of families beyond the child themselves. Um I can't overemphasize the importance of regular attendance and and the lifetime impact. So we do have to I actually have to certify on a regular basis truency documents with the main department of education at grade six and above. Um, truency is really about 10 full days or seven consecutive days. Kids get there pretty quickly. Um, and then under grade six it would be seven full days and then five consecutive days um of unexcused absences. It's when we're not hearing from families because you could have kids that are out for five days but
044they've gone away and it's an excused thing. It's a family trip. Those sorts of things. Um so we do work through that. Um and then when we ultimately meet with families, we really try to establish attendance goals and a plan um and really look at what is the current reality, what sorts of patterns we believe. And I I recently met with a parent in my office. Typically, I would go to schools, but I it kind of trumped they came into the office. Um, if we are seeing intermediate elementary school kids that are missing tons of work, there's a high likelihood that attendance is actually going to in um attendance is going to decrease at middle school and get even worse at high school. So, it's so critical if if there's like a a gradual pattern
045that develops. Um, we also know that some kids could be going through drastic or significant trauma and that can come on at any time and that's why it's so critical to have the social work supports and the guidance supports and administrative supports um as we work through that. We also work closely with our everyone graduates committee looking at um what are the trends and the needs of our students. So that's what we're doing with truency and it really is um an area of significant concern but we have noticed um an improvement in overall student attendance and we're able to track that through um our new synergy analytics and um if our platform changes around synergy around student management because we have to look at what is that we have and is it actually meeting our
046needs fully? We might need to look at some other elements and I know that Mr. O'Hara is out back, but we want to be able to still be able to track and use analytics to help drive that work. The other item that I wanted to bring to your attention is an update around um ESA funding that we received. That's the elementary and secondary education act. So schools from around all over the country receive funds. So we have received our preliminary title one allocation for FY26. It was released last week. We're going to receive an additional sum of money. This is all baked into our budget development process. Um these funds don't necessarily supplant local funds. It's really um needsbased and allocation based around unique needs of students. So we're going to receive 661,456 in the
047preliminary. That's an increase of of nearly 15,000. So it's not a significant increase, but it is an increase over our FY uh 25 funds. And there is some subject to change, right? We've always talked about that. Title 4 funds um were also released. We're going to receive approximately 68,000. It's actually 6796156. Again, that's a small increase, about a 3% increase over last year or $2486. Um we don't have yet our title 2 allocations. Those are forthcoming. Some of these have come in since um uh since we we initially started planning this document over the past week or two. So we typically so we get title one, title two, title four funds. Most of our title two and title four we then move into title one and and that's really about working with kids who um
048really around literacy and numeracy. title one and not all of our students or schools benefit from that. It's all based on um free and reduced lunch and those aspects of that. So our intent is to continue to work through how we allocate funds really trying to maximize efficiency and supports that are needed greatest. Um, one area in particular is line school and that's really going to need to be our our significant focus. We as a result of these funds, we always have to engage community. So, at the curriculum meeting on uh May 13th, this information, not as much as I just shared about numbers, was provided. And on the agenda from that meeting was a link for public comment. On the agenda for tonight's meeting is also a link for public comment. So, if there
049are any members of the public that are um interested in in reviewing that, we'd ask you to go into that link, provide information. We'll be collecting it um over the next month or so. Um we really want that to be shared. Actually, it only remains open through this Friday. Sorry. And then ultimately we have to finalize our our ESA plan application and how we're going to use the funds by August 1st. We're well into that work. We anticipate completing that process before the deadline and uh with timely submission. So again, it's all all funds are subject to change. We don't necessarily believe there's going to be a drastic change at this time and uh as you all know there are times where we might receive a little bit more funds and that's why there's even
050board applications if you receive additional funds through state subsidy because there's always um adjustments being made. Some years we might have five, six, seven revisions of the ED279 as an example. So I think we're in good shape. I think that um Dr. Doyle is doing a tremendous job really reorganizing and rethinking this because we really do need to have a a a more significant, more finite, more focused approach to how we're providing interventions and supports with these dollars than ever before. and and I think that um Miss Twitchell, our new curriculum uh director, um will hit the ground running because we need to really be focusing in on um the unique needs of our students at a higher level. Um in the near future, we're going to be providing you with other information around most
051recent testing. We have seen some significant gains, but we do have some areas of of what I would call relative concern that are really a priority of concern that we're going to want to address in the coming year. That concludes what I wanted to share this evening. Thank you. Any questions for Dr. Marquee? I'm going to circle back to the board chair report real quick because I forgot something and because I need to come up with a new system for my board chair report. Um, what I forgot is very important. I wanted to congratulate Adam Tangway and Amy Morrison on their reelection to the school board. So, congratulations. And I apologize that it got lost in my scribbles. I'll try something new next time. Standing committees. Um, all of the committees have wrapped up for
052the year except finance and policy. So, finance, building and maintenance. Wes, thank you. Uh, finance building and maintenance committee met this evening prior to this meeting. Um, Colin Walsh, our director of finance, reviewed a number of uh topics. The new modul is very close to being completed, which we've discussed before. It will be ready going into the new school year. Um, we reviewed family medical leave, which will be kicking in uh for uh many members of our staff. Um um the school construction updates uh and that process will be reviewed uh at the beginning of the fall school year with us. Uh the finance committee voted to support um stadium scoreboard advertising. The process will be that the first uh folks to have rights to advertising will be those who were current participants. Any positions
053that are left uh open uh will be then randomly selected and uh from from other requests that will be solicited. uh positions on the scored board scoreboard will be randomly selected for placement. Uh summer projects lists were reviewed and will uh be reviewed again at the uh first meeting of the fall. Um Colin will be presenting tonight um lease purchase approvals and local tax assessment warrant approvals and and other items that he'll review with you. Um uh the uh uh review of the uh subsidy and fund balance issue is going to be something that the finance committee starts working with uh Dr. Marquee and Dr. Doyle and and and and uh our board chair as well as of course Colin and going out into community and uh doing some uh uh I guess what we
054would define as more public education. Um it's been um an issue that we wanted to consider doing anyway, but we were very pleased to see that we did get a validation of the uh budget vote past 6040, which is important. 6040 is a good vote and um appreciate the work of everyone in this room in their communities as well as our administrative team and of course Colin Walsh, our finance director. Um, we won't be meeting until, as I said, the very beginning of the fall, so we'll have more for you then. Thank you. Thanks, Wes. Any questions for Wes? All right. Policy met last week. Continued review of the B policies. These take a while. Board operations and governance. It's the second largest section of policies in our uh policy manual. Um so most of
055them had minimal changes or corrections clarification on language but there is a policy coming forward for first read tonight. So I will address that when the time comes. Um there is not another meeting scheduled for this year and the next meeting is TBD. Any questions on policy? Old business we have none. New business will start off with nominations. We have Jennifer Dubar, grade 1 teacher Alfred Elementary School. Michael Malazo, middle school music teacher, Masbisc Middle School. Tory Parker, grade five teacher, Line Elementary School. And Andrew Antonitis, computer science engineering teacher at Massabisc High School. Do we have a motion to approve those nominations? Anastasia made a motion. Beth seconded. Any discussion? All in favor? That carries. Thank you. Next up, the school year, the 2025 2026 school year calendar coming back for a revision. So,
056I will let Dr. Marquee speak to that. Um, I am very embarrassed to share that there was an error on the previous calendar that no one caught. um when um when it was put together by the individual that put it together, there was some cut and paste, I'm guessing. And unfortunately, um there are not 31 days in April. No matter how many times we looked at it, we actually had 31 days in April. And um Mr. O'Hara um caught that it actually had been changed after the February vote, but that hadn't been changed. I wasn't aware of it till Shane caught it um the other last week. Since there aren't 31 days in April, we actually were off by one student day and one staff day. So the revised calendar has to move one day
057further. So the final day will be June 12th, a Friday rather than June 11th, a Thursday to get to the 176 and 182 and a half days. The other change is we also acknowledge the openhouse date so families could be prepared for that. So my apologies 30 days has September, April, June and November. Don't forget it. And never trust a calendar until you double check. I can tell you that I probably counted 50 times to make sure every time we made adjustments leading up through the number of student days, the number of staff days for teachers, for edte. Um, but little did I know that we were basing it on an incorrect number of days in a month. So, so we'll have to get that out tomorrow and post the revision. It doesn't change anything
058other than the final day, right, for students. Can I get a motion to accept the revision? Yep. Uh once I get a second. Okay. Anastasia made the motion. Melissa seconded. Any discussion? Yep. Push your button, please. That's okay. So, are all school open houses on that one day? Yes. In the past, like last year, we had five on Wednesday and we had two on Thursday, and they varied in times. What we've heard is families don't want to go out two nights. They also want to have the ability to go between multiple schools. And we have some families that have children in three schools. So, we staggered the times so that um there is an overlay. open house is an hour and a half with 30 minute staggered starts between them. So our staff aren't out
059too late and our um or neither are our students and folks would have time to travel between say Chappley or Line to the middle school to the high school. Okay, any other discussion? So we have a motion and a second to approve the revision. All in favor. All right. Thank you. Next up, approval of the computation and declaration of referendum votes of June 10th, 2025 for the fiscal year 2025 2026 district budget and the validation referendum process. Mr. Walsh. So, thank you. Part of the board's responsibility once the validation referendum occurs is to certify the results of the vote of the public. And that's what you have before you tonight. Uh you have a 8 and 1 half by 11 page which has a motion on it. on the back side of that page uh
060the election results by town as well as in total. Article one is the budget for the 2526 school year fiscal year and article two is every 3 years the public votes on whether to continue the referendum process which means having a budget meeting followed by a validation referendum which we currently have. Both of those passed. Uh the budget passed and Dr. Marquee talked about that earlier as did the continuation of the budget validation referendum process um in article 2. So article two you will not see again for another three years. Um that process will continue as it always has for the next three years. Um, on the legal size page, I provided historical information about voting. And in the top half of that page are the percentages by town as well as in total of
061affirmative verse negative votes on the school budget in each of those years. And it has the voting date. June 25 would be the 2526 budget. June of 24 would be the 2425 budget. So, um, just like this year, we're voting in June for next year's budget. Um, that's what each of those historical dates, um, comprise. I think it's important for you as a board to really understand not just what happened with this vote, but what historically has been happening. Um, that provides information and guidance for you as a board, but also for the finance committee. Below that in the bottom half of that page for each of those votes is the number of people voting in each municipality as well as in total. Again providing historical information to you um to kind of see the
062trend analysis there. Um so your responsibility as a board is to certify this vote um that the public had yesterday and to attest to that. Once that is done uh Dr. Marquee would then sign as secretary to the board and then these will be distributed tomorrow as well as online um to the municipalities as well as on our web page. Before we go through these next several items, um if you want to make the motion, please push a button so that I can turn on your mic so that when you read that motion, um it is recorded. So, as for the approval of the computation and declaration of referendum votes, is there a motion? Yes, I believe. Nope. It's the one that is stapled. Oh, [Music] it's the one that I just handed out that
063is stapled with the eight and a half as well as the legal and it says votes to be adopted by the school board at the top. I make a motion that the computation declaration of votes dated June 11th, 2025 and attached here too to be approved. Further voted that the computation and declaration of votes be entered upon the records of regional school unit number 57. further voted that a certified copy of the computation and declaration of votes be sent to each of the mun municipal clerks of the member municipalities within regional school unit number 57. Melissa made the motion. Adam seconded. Is there any discussion on that one? Number three. All in favor? Motion carries. Next up, approval of lease purchase for fiscal year 2025 2026 for various technology and associated equipment for up to
064$490,000. So for this item as well as the following two items, I'll only give you an explanation once because they're all going to be the same, which is through the budget process and through the finance committee and the budget development. Embedded in that process, the finance committee had three leases that they plan to execute for the 2526 fiscal year and that the payments on those as well as payments on prior leases that have been approved by the board um are built into the budget and are part and parcel of the budget. So, what you're doing tonight is approving in this particular one technology, but in the next two, you're approving leases that are already part of the budget process and the budget approval, but you need to move to execute these leases and you're authorizing
065the superintendent as well as myself to execute those leases during the next fiscal year. Um, in this particular case, up to $490,000. The items that are included in this lease are technology. They're specific and were outlined specifically to the finance committee um through the technology director. Perfect. Is there a motion? I move that the resolution entitled resolution to authorize lease purchase of technology equipment in the principal amount of $490,000 be adopted in form presented to this meeting and that a copy of said resolution be filed with the minutes of this meeting. All right. So, Beth made the motion. Anastasia seconded. Is there any discussion on this one? All in favor? That one carries. Next up, approval for lease purchase for fiscal year 2025 2026 for school buses and associated equipment for up to $650,000. So,
066same explanation as before. In this case, it is for four new school buses um which is what went through the finance committee and is also our traditional amount that we purchased in our replacement cycle. So this is four new school buses and associated equipment which includes cameras, our radios and other equipment that is standard as part of our bus purchasing. Right. Thank you. Um do we have a motion? I move that the resolution entitled resolution to authorize lease purchase of new school buses in the principal amount of $650,000 be adopted in form presented to this meeting and that a copy of said resolution be filed with the minutes of this meeting. All right, Beth made a motion. Suzanne seconded. Um any discussion, Judith? Um are any of these electric buses? They are not. They are
067all diesel buses. Okay. Um, similar to the rest of our diesel fleet. Thank you. You're welcome. Any further discussion on that? All in favor? That one carries. Thank you. Last up, approval for lease purchase for fiscal year 2025 2026 for copers and associated equipment for up to $100,000. So we have a replacement cycle on copying equipment in the district that the technology department and the finance department collaboratively um go through that replacement cycle um is well established we buy new copers on that replacement cycle as I explained to finance committee if a particular copier isn't at the end of its useful life we continue it there are some other copiers that uh reach the end of their useful life sooner than we expected others that last a lot longer so we are evaluating that at
068a minimum on an annual basis, but more realistically on a quarterly basis. And when we adopt a budget, we're really have very specific copers that we know we're going to replace. And that's the case for the 2526 school year. We know exactly what we're replacing. We have those details and this lease would then allow us to purchase those. Those are new copers. That was a question of the finance committee and they are new copers and we do dispose of the old copers in a manner consistent with board policy pretty similar to what I described at the last board meeting when I presented about disposal of assets of the district. All right. Do we have a motion for that one? I move that the resolution entitled resolution to authorize lease purchase of photocopy or equipment in
069the principal amount of $100,000 be adopted in form presented to this meeting and that a copy of said resolution be filed with the minutes of this meeting. So Beth made the motion, Anastasia seconded. Is there any discussion? All in favor? Last up, school board to approve and sign the RSU57 local tax assessments for the 2025 2026 fiscal year. You have a single page handout. You'll if you approve this this evening, you'll also be signing documents to sign the tax assessment warrants for the next fiscal year to each of the six municipalities. You'll also be doing the installment schedule. Municipalities are required to pay on a monthly basis the allocation, the tax assessment for the fiscal year by the 20th of each succeeding month. Um, so you're going to be signing those if you approve this
070this evening. Um, and that's in accordance with the budget that was approved by the voters yesterday. Do I have a motion? I That's this one. That is okay. Thank God. Uh, I move that the warrant for assessment of tax and the assessment schedule and the notice of installments for each member m municipality prepared by the treasurer for fiscal year July 1, 2025 to June 30th, 2026 be approved and be issued in form presented to this meeting and that the treasurer be authorized and directed to deliver to each member municipality its warrant for assessment of tax and its assessment schedule and notice of installments. Uh Beth made a motion. Anastasia seconded. Is there any discussion? You may. I just want to take this opportunity um before you guys vote um to thank Colin for setting up
071all of this. he you really do a tremendous job and uh have well positioned us first through the budget development process but then the follow through to make sure that we're well positioned for the coming year. So thank you fantastic job very much for any who are interested the treasurer is also the superintendent of schools so if you're asking who the treasurer is that would be Dr. key just if that's a question. Yeah. And I didn't give you a compliment to then make it sound like I I just want to thank you for doing what you do. I do appreciate it. Now I feel guilty for giving you that compliment. Is there any other discussion? All in favor? All righty. Thank you, Colin. We appreciate it. Thank you. All right. Next up, first read of
072policy be DB agenda. So, this one um was reviewed by the policy committee last week. Um I'm find my notes. Um so we did some clarification of language, some formatting, you know, separating it into sections to make it easier to um make sense of and then made a lot of changes to wording regarding the agenda being um disseminated to various parties when we just decided with technology the way that it is and with what actually does happen with our agenda our agenda making it just available by Xate or at this time made sense to those changes. But we also thought that it was a good one to bring to the board for a first and second read because I think that this is an important policy like all of the B policies for the school
073board to be familiar with because this um is part of the board operations and governance section of our policy manual. So, um I wouldn't say that there is a significant substantial change to this policy, but it is reformatted and it um it is one that you should be familiar with, especially with, you know, a request for an agenda item. If you anyone can request an item be placed on the agenda, um there is a process for that. A request does not necessarily mean that it will be on the agenda, but it can certainly be requested. Um, and then it really outlines when the agendas will be ready, when they'll be made available, um, and how adjustments work and everything. So, this one's coming for a first read. Um, it will go it will come back
074for a second read probably at our next meeting so that it will be in place before the beginning of the f fiscal year. But certainly between now and then after we accept the first read, if you have any suggestions or um think that any adjustments need to be made, please feel free to reach out. So I would look for a motion to accept the first read. So Anastasia and Melissa, is there any discussion or questions on this one? Any clarification? Sure. We're stating all additions to the agenda must be approved. Is that like what we vote on if Dr. Marqueis says at the beginning of our meeting we have an adjustment to the agenda? Yep. And the way that I approach that is if an additional action item is added or if a removal of
075an action item is um proposed, then that's when I would have a vote. So, like tonight, we added a nomination, but it wasn't a a new item. It was just an additional nomination under that one action item. So, that's kind of how I've approached that that if it's um if it's an actual item on the agenda that's added or removed, then we would vote on it. So, if a board member wants to request something be added to the agenda, would that be the same thing if it's requested ahead of time? No. So the process for requesting an item be added to the agenda is you a minimum of seven days before the meeting you submit the request in writing. Okay. So then it goes through the board chair and the superintendent during the meeting when
076the agenda is built. A school board member can um motion to add an item to an agenda um at that adjustment to the agenda section of the um meeting and then it requires a second. So, the actual rewarding of that section of this policy is any school board member who wishes to add an item to the agenda may offer a motion to that effect. Such a motion shall require a second to proceed to a vote. The item should be within the scope of the school board's duties, timely, and appropriate for consideration under all applicable laws and schoolboard policies. Okay. So, thank you. You're welcome, Judith. Um, you said that it had to be in writing. Can it that be on a computer? Yes. Okay. Thank you very much. Yep. Yeah. I think it's Let me
077see what the exact wording is because I want to make sure that that's clear in the policy. Um, yep. So, it says may submit written requests to the school board through the schoolboard chair or the superintendent. I can look at the wording of that and just make sure that maybe tweak it a little to make sure that it's clear that it can be sent via email as well. Yes. What what's important about this is let's just use a hypothetical and I'm probably not going to get a great one here, but essentially um you have a school board. there's work the school board needs to do. But then you might have say someone that has a very strong opinion about something that really isn't part of the work of the school board or or um the
078strategic plan or so um there's a belief that they um just think of any idea that you would be so oneoff, right, that it like could be a charged political event that really could derail the work of the board the board hasn't you have stuff to do and it's not being disingenu disingenuous you want to make sure that it goes through the correct process so that you don't have simply people because there are districts where there could be a board member that says I want to talk about X and then nothing gets accomplished and that's really where you have runaway boards okay so it's about following the process. If there's something really significant, there's probably some conversation that happens beforehand and someone brings it in. Um, there are definitely cases where it derails the work
079of the board. It doesn't mean that the board should silence any question about a board agenda item. Does that make sense? I'm I'm really not saying it well, but we talked about that in policy. Yeah, we did. And it's also I mean you you want to make sure that if you're going to have a discussion as a board that you're prepared for that discussion. So um we try not to add you know real big items at the last minute to the agenda um for that exact reason. You want to be prepared when we all sit down here. We want to be prepared with what we're going to discuss and we want to be efficient with our time. Um, so Suzanne, um, I have a question just as a committee chair. If something happens and you
080don't get your agenda out, can you still have your meeting? Case in point. Yes. I kind of Yeah, I know. I struggle. I mean, I had some close calls this year myself, so there can be power outages. Stuff can happen. Yep. Things can happen. And I mean, we we make a a concerted effort to always get the full board agendas out at that minimum of five days. Um, you know, but there's especially this time of year, there's a lot going on. There's some transitions happening at central office. So, it's um but we're still I mean this agenda went out, tonight's agenda went out five days and uh it will continue to be that way. But um but yeah, we we just need to stay on task and know what we can and can't talk about
081and but yeah, and uh and this is a this doesn't have anything to do with this, but I'm going to bring it up anyway. at policy last week when we were going through this, I actually kind of flippantly made a comment about um moving forward bringing a couple of B policies as part of the board chair report every meeting to do a quick review so that everyone is familiar with them and um surprising me most of all that was supported by members of the committee. So you might see that moving forward where you know kind of highlighting a couple board policies because there are a lot of them and you really the only reason that I'm so familiar with them is because I've been on policy for 10 years and I've gone through the cycle
082of reviewing those. Now I'm on my I think the fourth review of those policies. Um which is really the only reason that I have any sort of sense. So I think that that would be beneficial too, especially where a lot of board members are, you know, um pretty new to the board. So any other discussion on that first read? So we have a motion in a second. All in favor? All right, we'll bring that back next time. Last up tonight is election of the delegate and alternate delegate for the MSBA annual delegate assembly in October. I cannot believe we're talking about this again or already. Um so every year prior to the MSMA conference, the um delegates meet and discuss. Anastasia can talk about it better than me. She's been doing it for forever. Um
083she's served as our delegate for the last several years. So they meet prior to the conference, talk about law changes. Why don't you talk about it? I I could make it up, I guess. It's basically the week before or two weeks before the actual conference. That's the end of October. Um, we've been doing it via Zoom, which is pros and cons for that. Um, but we talk about any legislatures that are going up to Augusta, what school boards have come together to say, "We don't like this. Let's word it this way." Or, "We don't like that at all. We don't want that to go, but we can't stop what legislators bring." But we can try to advise them to think about how they write these laws. That's what we do. They're supposed to be three
084hours, but they tend to go for quite long. 3 hours and 10 minutes. Um I wish. So Anastasia has done that and then typically um in years past Anastasia is a representative and then she reports back to the board what was discussed and then we you know go to the conference and a lot of those things are discussed there as well. So now is the time we need to let them know who our delegate and our alternate are. Um so I would I mean this is open for whoever wants to do it. The um MSMA conference is scheduled this year for the 23rd and 24th of October. Um so you are looking at mid to early October. Is it typically on a Saturday or so? Typically on a Saturday um talking law with other school
085board members, but it's a great opportunity to even interact at all with board members from other from other districts. So, is there anyone who would like to do it? Wes, I would like to move that Anastasia Ferguson be a delegate. Second. She loves it. Don't let her fool you. So, Wes nominated Anastasia and I seconded. Um, any other nominations? All in favor? Um, how about an alternate in case Anastasia is unable to make it? I nominate Suzanne again. Perfect. You can join that fun with me. All right. So, Anastasia made the motion. Wes sunk to nominate Suzanne as the alternate. That's okay with you, Suzanne? All right. All in favor. Wonderful. Thank you both. Uh, no executive session this evening. Calendar and announcements are at the bottom of your agenda. I already had mentioned the
086summer um board meetings, adult ed graduation next Wednesday night if you're able to make it. Um and we are adjourned at 8:23.