001Good evening everyone. I'm going to call the May 14th school board meeting to order at 700 p.m. If everyone could please stand for the pledge of allegiance. Thank you. Roll call. Melissa Bacon excused. Carmen Barski here. Suzanne Bower here. Mark Cardazano here. Elizabeth Day here. Michelle Felicetti here. Anastasia Ferguson here. Eric Garrison excused. Jod Lane here. Thomas Lee. Jennifer Mayo here. Amy Morrison here. Wes Finny here. Adam Tangway here. Angela Tardiff here. Judith Vel. Walker Vivian here. We have a quorum with third one two three four 13 directors present. Um I'd like to make a motion under adjustments to the agenda to add an additional four nominations under new business number three. Um, you should all have a copy of those updated nominations. So, I'll make a motion to add that. And also the probation,
002the additional probationary to continuing that would go under new business one. So, a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor? Motion carries. Can I get a motion to approve the consent agenda? There a second. Second. Any discussion on the consent agenda? All in favor? Motion carries. Approval of the minutes from April 30th. Is there a motion to approve? I will second that. I do want to make one correction. There was um a motion and a second missing on the minutes under approval of the minutes. Um so Anastasia made the motion and Beth seconded that. Um that was left off of the minutes, but other than that, is there any other comments, questions, corrections on the minutes from April 30th? All in favor of approving those. All right. Public comment. Do we have any
003public comment this evening? All right. I have nothing for my board chair report this evening. We have a very long agenda. So, I'm going to save what I have for you for the next meeting. So, I'm going to turn things over to Dr. Marquee for the superintendent report. And as always, we're going to start with Walker. Okay. Good evening, everyone. Uh, so this was a slightly longer edition of the student representative report. So I'll try to uh keep my summary brief. Um, from May 5th to May 9th, it was teacher appreciation week. So every school throughout the district had a different way of celebrating. Uh, Alfred Elementary celebrated their uh first class staff with a uh a plain amazing travel destination themed week. Um, multiple organizations at the high school including the National Honor Society
004and Student Council had their own way of uh, honoring all the hard work that uh, teachers do in the school. Uh, May 2nd was school lunch hero day and schools around the district again recognized their lunch staff who work every day to keep uh, students wellfed, healthy, and ready to learn in the classroom. Uh, Massa High School hosted prom on May 3rd. It was the junior class who always organizes and hosts the event. Uh the theme was a night in New York and it was held at Rustic Dreams Barn and Venue and uh 350 students attended despite wet weather and uh all of them had a great time. The National Honor Society at the high school had an Earth Day cleanup during April vacation. They did some uh did some work outside and cleaned the
005courtyards at the high school bringing wheelbarrows through the halls to transport leaves and debris outside. And uh AP tests, I don't know if you saw the sign when you entered this room, but they are being issued at the high school in this room. Um and there are some in the morning, some in the afternoon. Uh the first course was on May 5th, the first test, and the last one will be on May 16th. So that on May 16th um excuse me on I forget what day it was but um I didn't make it very clear in the report but there was a deadline to purchase a family business ad or personal ad for the yearbook uh at Mass Vistic High School and members of the science club at Massaic High School also recently attended the
006regional environ competition. The spring sports season is currently in full swing. The uh track and field team posted a strong performance with many setting records and some qualifying for states and other teams are logging their first wins at Massive Music Middle School. There will be a spring band concert on May 13th and a spring chorus concert on May 20th. Um there have been great things happening there. Uh you can read more about it in the report, but there are different things happening for each grade, special events and opportunities and great work that they've been doing over there. The uh the school's drama celebrated their successful spring show titled the internet is a distract Oh, look a kitten. And they spent 142 hours to bring bring the um the event to stage. But the dedication of
007the cast, the crew, and the directors made it a great success. So, Massa Music Middle School will also be hosting a parent night for incoming sixth graders um where they can meet the principles, take a tour, and learn about the middle school experience. The principal will also be visiting each fifth grade class in the second half of this month to ease the transition. Multiple elementary schools have had the weather at your school event where uh Ted McCannernney of Channel 8 News visits the school in the morning and uh elementary schoolers able to come and be on the news and the weather broadcast and then he stays and uh does a presentation about weather and forecasting later on once the school day begins. Shley Memorial School hosted a Lego family night on uh May 7th where
008they were engaging activities and grades four and five recently completed a robot finger project where they learned about muscles, joints and tendons and how they work together and they made a model fingers and had enjoyed this uh fun and interactive activity to learn about anatomy and engage with the creative aspects of their brain. Spring pictures taken by Studio by the Pond happened at Alfred Elementary on May 8th. And the school will also be issuing their NWA tests in the coming days. Families at Alfred uh and other schools have been encouraged to prioritize sleep, eat a nutritious breakfast, arrive on time, and limit test stress in order to do the best on these exams. The week before April break, students at Alfred Elementary participated in kindness days. Um they had a different theme each day and
009they also had a walk-athon on Thursday, the final day before break, a walk for kindness walkathon. They uh students raised over $3,800. Each grade wore a different color and they went through obstacle courses around the school and collected a bracelet for each lap that they completed. They danced to outdoor music, made sure to hydrate, and had a cold ice pop at the end, and it was a very fun experience. At Lyman Elementary, the third annual talent show was recently hosted. Uh, the NWEA and MBA testing is on the schedule for this month, and school pictures are also coming up. There are also a uh a book fair at Waterborough and a family dance coming up. There's also a mural project that was completed and students who made the mural were uh happy uh to see
010their hard work on it pay off and it really brightens up the the school hallways. A second grader who recently participated in the read to ride summer reading challenge won a new bike which will be received next month and staff are currently focusing on current instruction and exciting end of the year activities. There are just five weeks left of the school year, so the finish line is in sight. The final day of school is currently, at the time of writing the report, Monday, June 16th, and classes will work on wrapping up their final units and issue their final tests before that date. So, there's some more detail in the report, but that's my overview of the student representative report. Thank you. Thank you very much, Walker. Any questions for Walker? Okay. Uh I'm going to
011go over a number offormational items. First, I want to share that uh when we get when we go through these spring meetings, there will be agenda adjustments because it's a it's a sprint to hire staff. Um when I shared some adjustments yesterday with you all, one of the individuals that we had offered a position to yesterday um declined the position actually uh at like 5:40 tonight. So, so it really is kind of a kind of a sprint. Um, for for those of you who are relatively new to the board, um, tonight's agenda will have movement of probationary one to probationary 2, probationary 2 to continuing contract. I wanted to share with you the reason that we do that. In the state of Maine, essentially teachers go through a 2-year probationary period. So we essentially hire
012them three times when they're first hired, when they move to year two, and then when they move to continuing contract. So that's that's how that works. And um and then there was an adjustment because there we had one individual um that the position was eliminated and um they actually just secured another position in the district. So that's why they were added to that probationary to the to continuing contract. So that's really great for us. Really a wonderful teacher. Um we're going to do a lot of recognitions at our next board meeting. So there just be prepared for that. It's going to be pretty cool. Uh a number of recognitions that we'll be doing. Um I want to draw special attention to last week's uh district budget meeting. I want to first thank uh Mr. Walsh
013and his entire business office team for their diligence in setting that up. I'd like to thank the finance committee and uh and Wes for doing a tremendous job helping to prepare a budget for our our constituents and and you all the board for participating and and attending that that budget meeting. Um, we still have much work to do. U, but I'm hopeful that, uh, our constituents will get out, um, either, uh, through absentee voting or in person on the 10th of June. Um, Walker already talked about staff appreciation. Um, thank you for all of our community members for supporting and for the board for supporting our staff during staff appreciation. want to thank those of you who were able because I know there's a lot that you have going on um for attending last evening's
014community forum that was really well um uh wellreceived and appreciated on the part of our our staff. um want to bring attention to uh there are always things that happen within communities that might get people out and there may be interest in putting up signs whether it's for or against. Um most notably that happens during election seasons as a general practice. Um, in all due respect, we don't allow signs on our school campuses, whether it's for or against, whether it's um, Republican or Democrat, whether it's for construction, um, against construction. So, I just want you to know in case you're asked about it, it's not that we want to weigh in good, bad, or indifferent, but our objective is really just the kids that are in the buildings. And um that actually comes up most
015often here at the high school where when you're leaving on the right as you're at the stop sign and you're turning right there's a lot of grass there. Much of that grass is not our land and that's why it's literally a foot over the line but it looks like it's really close. Just as an example and that always comes up every election where people think that we're either for or against certain individuals. So just brought just want to share that because at this time of year those things come up more often. Um want to share some one thing related to say something the anonymous reporting system. We've really tried to put that out. Um it's on our banners for our students. They have access to it. Um if they see something they can say something.
016And I wanted the board to understand just how powerful that is. at the um press conference last Friday afternoon in Baford. Um Bford had a pretty significant event that happened at the high school and um that really um was aided the response was aided in the aided by the fact that a student engaged in using say something to report something that they had were concerned about. So we talked about it a little bit last night. It's something that we really want to continue to say and hopefully people gradually are hearing this. Um it was um the entities in Bford, the superintendent, the mayor, the police chief, they all were very clear about the importance and the value that happened. And um tomorrow we'll be doing a there's an EA e um EMA meeting, emergency response
017meeting and Alfred with um Colum will be there. I'm going to try to be there. I moved a interview. Um and I believe Bford will be present to talk about the events that happened last Friday. So just wanted to bring that to your attention. So when people anytime you get the opportunity to kind of engage about say something, please do so. want to share some highlights in case you have the opportunity to engage. Tomorrow the art show installation will open at Waterboro Elementary School in the afternoon and that's really exciting. Um our art teacher over there just does such a great job and uh creating little artists. So uh that starts tomorrow. Um, als on on Friday, our um our Special Olympics uh athletes will be traveling to Noble for the annual um Special Olympics
018track meet. It was scheduled for last Friday, but due to weather, it was postponed. So, that'll be this Friday. So, if you're out and about and find your way over by Noble High School, um I'm certainly looking forward to attending uh a portion of that track meet on Friday myself. Um, next Thursday night is the SRTC recognition um, celebration. Uh, we'll have many students um, that will be recognized and looking forward to attending that and I imagine um, the biggest cheerleader of the program by a long shot in my opinion would be Mr. Lever Virtue, the assistant principal of the high school. He'll certainly be in attendance. Um, he doesn't know it yet, but he'll be sitting next to me. Um, and then next Friday afternoon at our high school, all graduating seniors are going
019to do what's um was started last year, a um signing day. And what they're going to do is um uh share what their what their plans are for the future, whether it's to go to work, whether it's the military, whether it's a two-year college, whether it's a gap year, whether it's a four-year school, trade school. And then um they will be signing a document and Mr. Thurlo and I will also be signing that with them in the auditorium. I think that covers everything I wanted to share. I'm going to pass it off to Dr. Doyle. She's going to do an introduction and uh and that concludes my report. So if there's anything that you have for questions, I can answer them after. Dr. Doyle. Thank you so much. So tonight I have the pleasure of
020introducing to you our curriculum director um who will be joining us as of July 1 for the upcoming school year. Tiffany Twitchell is here with us tonight. Um you might remember that she is currently at the York School Department, York Middle School as a literacy specialist. Um she also teaches courses at the University of Maine and is currently working on her PhD in education leadership and policy. And so we're really pleased to have Tiffany on board. I know board members were looking forward to meeting with her last um last time that we met and her nomination was confirmed. Um she was at a course so tonight she's offered to come join us and be introduced. So Tiffany, if you'd like to come up, say hello. Hi. Thank you so much. Um as Amanda said, um
021I'm Tiffany Twitchell and I couldn't be more excited to be here. I'm so excited to join RSU 57. Um, like she said, I couldn't be here on the 30th, but I took the first opportunity to come and say hello so you could put a face and a voice to the name. Um, really looking forward to getting to know your communities, the schools, the teachers, the principles, everyone involved. I have to say it's been such a warm welcome and everyone has been so amazing already. I can't wait to start on July 1st and see what I can do to help curriculum and instruction in the district. So, thank you for having me and I'm I'm so excited to be here. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you so much. Welcome. That's it. Any questions for Dr. Marky? Um, can
022not tonight, but can we maybe either the May 28th or the June one get kind of a recap on the truency? I see the list get bigger and bigger every meeting. So just maybe an end of the year recap on how efforts to help that went and maybe what we can do next year. Yeah, we we can provide you with additional information. Um, ironically, uh, last night while I was in the curriculum meeting, I actually pulled up attendance because that's something that, um, we actually have improved in attendance over last year. The one issue that Shane, I know you're hearing me right now. I couldn't toggle over the information actually. Um, there's a bar graph. Well, no, a line graph um that spells it all out, but when you when you hover, it doesn't give
023you the number. So like say November last year, November this year, I couldn't calculate, I could estimate, but numbers are down across every single month except for one, which was um September. There were more days in September. I think it was a weird the way the calendar fell, but yes, we can do that. Dr. Doyle, make sure we do that. Perfect. Anything else for Dr. All right, we'll move on. We have all kinds of business. Uh, nothing under um No, I take it back. Standing committees, finance, building, and maintenance. Wes, yes, finance. Can you turn your mic on, please? Sorry. That's okay. I'll try to be brief. Finance did meet tonight. Um, the following issues were discussed. Uh Shappley Leechfield, the bid came in and uh Colin's going to be presenting a a figure to
024the board to approve tonight. Um the module update, they've been having some serious meetings trying to get that project done and is very close to being completed. Um also u calling at a particular point we'll discuss with you uh a going to a private uh company to handle uh medical uh family paid family medical leave program. Um, it's a private sector company, the Guardian Life Insurance Company of America, and the main school management association uh will be helping coordinate that for us. um he and our AD had met with the boosters to discuss um the uh money that they had turned over to the school board and uh they were having discussions about such issues as the uh wait room as a possible expenditure of that and and then also the walkway is going to
025be reviewed as well in the very near future. Um myself and Jody met with uh the audit firm on Monday, May 12th, and work is being well done by them and Colin is staying complete completely on top of that. Uh when it comes to school construction, there are no updates. There will be in the future. Um then uh we had a discussion about public communications and um we've taken some criticism and you know about public communications and uh we wanted to point out that since last fall we've been presenting to the public exactly what was going to be happening with the finance committee. We had countless meetings from January through April and I think did an outstanding job of getting to the public and getting to uh our communities uh uh the budget and what
026was going to be presented. We had a good turnout and a good vote the other night and that was appreciated. Um Dr. Marquee pointed out that we've tried to provide and succeeded in providing a budget that meets the needs of students and the taxpayers alike. Um Colin has suggested u because part of our strategic plan is about doing a better job of communications always and we view the towns as our partners and the community leaders and those uh selectman boards as our partners. uh before we start the process next uh year, we'll be taking a look at workshops on fund balance and subsidy formula. Um and uh other than that, the scoreboard advertising agreements being reviewed by the committee and will be uh discussed at our next meeting which is May 28th and then the
027subsequent meeting is June 11th. Thank you. Perfect. Any questions for Wes? Michelle, one thing my town manager actually approached me is if it's possible, could a quarterly report go out to the towns because she would include it in our newsletter and be able to put it to our people of the town just like a where is the budget at quarterly? Um maybe for more engagement so people would see throughout the year um some or some form of what's going on per quarter, however you that would look like. Maybe the finance committee could talk about that. But I know our town manager says she has lots of questions and until she gets that paper at the end of the year when we're going for budget, she has nothing to tell people. Um, so that was just
028something she asked me if I would just say, "Hey, is that anything that we we would certainly be open uh Michelle to any level of communications. Communications is a two-way street. I mean, we meet every Wednesday at 5:30 to 7 prior to the board meetings and the public is invited and communities are invited. Um, I don't know if they tune in. We're we're live on TV for it. Um, but I think town managers and and and town counselors and town selectmen coming physically to some of those meetings would be great. And I think if we could do a a better job of educating them as to what the process is about is important. But our strategic plan is clear and wanting us to do a better job of communicating. So those sort of ideas I
029think we as a committee would certainly embrace and with a realignment of committees that we've been discussing there would be potentially less meetings. So people might be more likely to come or find more time to watch it or whatever. I mean I flushed all that out but there is the potential. Um but we obviously the finance committee needs to do what they need to do. Um any other questions for Wes. Next up curriculum Anastasia. Uh we met last night after the comm community forum. We had a presentation on the ESA allocation funds, the title one, title two, and title four. Um, Dr. Doyle shared what we had for this year. We do not have an estimate or anything regarding next year because the federal government has not allocated that funds yet. We are in the
030application process to get that done. There was a public comment on these funds that opened last night and will go will be live until June 13th. Um, so it's critical for the public to give their input on those funds. We had a debrief of the community forum. Um, we all appreciated our administration attending. Um, we talked about how it could get out to the public more, which we all felt it was pretty public throughout social media, news, everything, newsletters, etc. Um, we will not have a meeting on June 10th as we have wrapped up our work for the year. So, we are done for the school year. Great. I also did happen to see on the district events calendar that there's a curriculum meeting on June 1st on the calendar, which is a Sunday. If
031we can We're not coming. We'll cancel. We'll cancel that. At least I'm not the Sunday. Shane, I know you're out back there. Can you remove that? It'll be uh next uh any questions on curriculum for Anastasia HR. Anastasia, we have not met. Um we are in study negotiations with the teachers. Um we will talk about some scholarships later, so I won't get into those. Right. Any questions for Anastasia on HR? uh policy. We met last week prior to the district budget meeting. Hopefully our realignment of committees will avoid that happening next year and in the future because uh we were really pressed for time and did not get to any new business. Um so we we got through all of our old business which will be coming to you for a first read later on
032in the agenda. Um, and we typically don't meet in June. I purposely realigned the three-year rotation to not have policies to review in June, but we will be meeting uh June 3rd, 6 p.m. Any questions on policy? Next up, PR Tech. Suzanne, um I didn't give my update in the last meeting. So, um but for we met last on April 15th and um we got to see a great presentation of um possible new website template styles. So, I've talked with Jod to try to do a overall presentation to the board where we could fit that in. um but it's just different look and feel um from the um the company that um does our website. So, that was we definitely had some preferences, but I think it'd be nice if the whole board saw it.
033And um we had an update uh from our uh athletic director and um the the students, you know, the numbers are up and involved and things seem to be going well. And um last we did some more planning for um the spring community forum which as you know happened last night and was um online. So hopefully the public will be you know watching it when um you know reviewing what was discussed. There was some great we had reviewed some of the presentations that were presented yesterday and um yeah it it definitely helped understand um some of the different programs that are going on at elementary, middle school and high schools. So and um we are not meeting next week. Um, I did for a couple different I mean I I don't know if you want
034me to go into details. I might not be able to make it back from picking up family at an airport and and Shane's not going to be able to be here and so we just yeah said we will we will table that and I don't know if we go into June because it's a third week meeting so we'll be done. So PR's wrapped up. We're wrapped up. So that's all. Right. Thanks. Thanks. Any questions for Suzanne? Uh, last up, transportation. Jen, uh, we haven't met. We're going to be meeting on the 27th at 6. Great. Any questions for Jen? All right. Now, I can move on. We have old, no old business. New business. First up, probationary continuing teacher contract recommendations. The right part here. We make a motion and then we can discuss. So,
035we have a motion and a second to approve um those contract recommendations. Is there any discussion? Right. Seeing none, all in favor. Next up is probationary and continuing administrator contract recommendations. We have a motion and a second to approve those. Is there any discussion on those recommendations? Yes, you may. Just as an FYI, as you look at this, there are some that are a two-year probationary period and some that are a three-year probationary period. That's actually by statute. So, um, as a result, principles, assistant principles, special ed directors, assistant special ed directors are a 2-year statutory required probationary period. And then for positions like athletic director, curriculum director, and technology director, those are a three-year probationary period by statute. So I only share that because in case you had a question, why are some certain
036way and others a different way? Any other discussion on that before we vote? All right. All in favor? That counts. Next up, nominations. So, we have Chrissy Piconei, a grade three teacher for Line Elementary. We have Shay Fairbanks, grade 8 math teacher, Massbek Middle School. Matthew Eastman, math teacher for Masbek High School. Jill Richards, grade 1 teacher for Alfred Elementary. And Anna Lavine, grade five teacher at Line Elementary. We have a motion and a second to approve those nominations. Is there any discussion? All in favor? Opposed? Motion carries. All right. Next up, approval of private insurer for main paid family medical leave. Mr. Walsh. In your packet is the handout, but I'll also provide it to you just so you have it. So, the finance committee's been discussing for a long time. Um, this is
037captioned main school management association insurance programs in your packet as well as the handout that's coming around is the same thing that's in your packet just in case you didn't have it. The advantage of going with a private insurer for paid family medical leave, excuse me, which is required under state law now is um one major financial benefit is that under a private insurer plan, private insurers aren't going to collect monies as the Department of Labor is right now until May of bless you until May of 2026. So any financial savings for both the employee and us as the employer would be saved between the date that we approve this as a board and then the Bureau of Insurance approves us as well. Um we decided to go with main school management for a couple
038of reasons. One is they are association that is for schools. We get a lot of insurance programs through MSMA already and the company they're using which is Guardian Life Insurance is a company that they have selected through their vetting process and is a company that is used in numerous other states that have had paid family medical leave for a long time. We also feel that the whole process once May of 2026 begins in regards to claim processing and the review of claims and approval of claims is going to be much um smoother and more efficient with main school management and guardian than it would be through the state program. So for all those reasons um the finance committees approved moving it forward to you as a board. It would be a three-year commitment through MSMA
039and Guardian. One of the questions you would have is, well, what happens if the law goes away for some reason? If the law goes away, this program goes away, our three-year commitment goes away because there is no law requiring us anymore to do that. So for all those reasons, cost savings over the next um 11 or so months, um the processing of claims, we feel that this is more advantageous um to go with a private insurer and for us to go through this process than the already standard um offer, so to speak, through the Department of Labor. So, that is what I'm bringing forward to you tonight is for the school board to approve uh the district going with a private insurer, specifically MSMA. Uh, great. Do we um Judith, go ahead. Um, I know
040that this is probably just the insurer, correct? Yes, this is the amounts employees are paying is half a percent for those who are required to pay it so far and the employer is half of a percent of gross wages. Okay. So there is money attached to this and but it has to be in this form. It has to be in this form if we're going to go with MSMA's insurance plan. Okay. So this is a request for using this form. This is a request to approve going with MSMA and approving this form so we can send it to them in the Bureau of Insurance. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. All right. So, we have a we have a motion and a second to approve. Um, Adam, you have a question? Yeah. Just is there um
041significant impact to either employees or the district from a pay? Is there a big difference in uh amounts paid? No. Once May of 2026 between the approval and May, right, all employer and employer deductions go away. So the employees and the employer saving after May um on the second page of this our rating is a 0.98 instead of a 1%. So it's very small after that. I think the advantage once the processing starts is we have an entity that we know have done insurance programs with for years and years and years and I think it's going to be much more efficient and beneficial to use them versus the Department of Labor's program. Does that answer your question? Any other questions for Colin? All right, so we have a motion and a second. All in favor?
042Opposed? That one carries. Thank you. Next up, approval of expenditures from the capital reserve fund for Chappley Leechfield. The finance committee has approved um doing a project to replace the Leechfield and septic system at Chappley. Um it was the committee's intent through the whole process to bring an approval to the board to spend the funds out of the capital reserve fund in order to do so. We received bids and approved the lowest bid um which was for a little over $223,000. the motion before you which requires a twothirds vote of the board in accordance with how money is put into um the capital reserve fund at budget meeting requires two-thirds vote of the board. The reason for the 257 is we need some sort of contingency for any potential change orders or items we run
043into during that process which is approximately a 15%. I want to emphasize that this motion says up to and as I stressed with the finance committee if for some reason it comes in right at the 223 223,000 and we have no change orders then we would spend the 223. We wouldn't spend the additional money up to the 257. That difference is to provide for any potential change orders and items we run into that are unexpected. I don't believe they're going to be significant. Um, the other question you may have is how much is in the capital reserve fund? Currently, there's 1,485,000. However, the board has already approved in a prior year um utilizing up to 360,000 for the modular project. And if you approve this as well, that would bring the amount in the capital
044reserve fund down to $868,000. $8.68. Yes, once you subtract the amount committed from the modular and if the board approves this u motion tonight modular's 360,000 up to 360 I move that the vote entitled vote to authorize expenditure of capital reserve funds for the Leechfield at Shapley Memorial 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 Well, who was that? Suzanne. Michelle. Okay. Heard that one. I know. So, we have a motion and a second to approve. Is there any other discussion? Any other questions for Colin? All in favor? Opposed? Motion carries. Thank you very much. Thanks, Colin. Okay, next up is the selection of the RSU57 board of director scholarship recipients. So, I want to do this similar
045to last year. I sent all of the scholarship finalists, the copies of those to all of you a couple weeks ago um and ask that you read through and give me first choice and second choice by number only. I know everyone is busy. If you have not had an opportunity to read through those and don't have a have a selection, that's fine. Just say pass. Um because we all have a lot going on. I'm going to go alphabetically just so that I can check everyone off my list. But if you can just give me your first choice, second choice, and then we'll move on. I won't be able to tell you who won tonight. That comes out at graduation. Um, but this will the HR committee narrowed it down to these four finalists, and we're
046bringing them to you. So, we're start with Carmen. So, first choice. Uhhuh. Yep. Okay. Uh, Suzanne. Okay. Mark, first choice two and second choice one. Beth, Michelle, that's okay. No, it's fine. Anastasia is not here. Jen, Amy, Wes, Adam, Angela. Okay, Judith. All right, great. Thank you all very much. then it'll be a surprise at graduation. Um, all right. Next up, we have several policies up for our first read. So, I'm going to There's a lot of policies and there's a lot of changes. So, typically I blaze through them all with the just with the changes and then we discuss them. I think tonight we're going to take them one at a time just because they're pretty significant and because um a couple of them are board governance policy. So, I want to give you
047all an opportunity to discuss those fully. So coming up for a first read the first one is BCB school board member conflict of interest. So the changes to this um adding some language regarding federally funded requirement uh pro procurements. I can't read my own writing. Um the removal of the immediate family members in reference to employment. So leaving it with just board member and spouse which is uh state statute that those are restricted. um and some clarification and added language in the volunteer section. So those are the proposed changes that have gone through the policy committee as far as BCB. So is there are there any questions? Do you have any comments or suggestions and you'll have an opportunity before this be before this comes for a second read if there's if anything catches your
048eye you can just reach out. But anything all right next up BDE authorization and appointment of standing committees. We've already talked about this but we did clarify. So we removed language referencing selection of two committees uh for each member. We removed um the language no we we removed the language regarding the board chair being a voting member. So the board chair would then be an exofficial member of all committees and would no longer serve as an as a as an official member of any committee. And then the removal of the curriculum committees, PRtech and transportation security, moving um curriculum presentations to the full board level, technology presentations to the full board level, um and absorbing some of the transportation security into the um finance committee and um moving some of the PR stuff into H
049into the human resources committee. So, kind of moving stuff around and then bringing a lot of the things that are happening in curriculum and then on the technology side to the full board. Any questions on that? I don't have a schedule yet for next year. That's going to have to be worked out over the summer so that when we get ready to choose our committees in August, we'll know kind of how things play out. But, um, but that would be that one. Mark, um, as I stated at the policy committee, um, if if people draw their attention to, um, the fact that, uh, B changes rather than rather than, um, the individual members from each town deciding by seniority who will be on what committee, the school board chair would then take down that power.
050And, um, I I don't think that's a great idea. Uh in my opinion, the seniority process has worked successfully. Um and uh I I think that not you, but certainly because we talked a lot about the fact that school boards change and leadership changes uh someone could use that power to um in a negative way to to quiet a voice on a committee that you know that they don't want someone on a particular committee. Mhm. So, um I don't know where we stand in terms of a full board discussion or agreeing to do what? Yeah, I mean I can put it out there because that was something we discussed at policy. It it's in the second part of in the second paragraph of B where it talks about choosing a minimum of two committees and
051then that's by seniority. Um, so that whole paragraph got struck, but can certainly it I'm completely leaving it up to the board and how you feel about how the selection of um committees would go. It's really up to you. Go ahead. I agree with Mark. I mean, we've always done it by seniority and it's worked pretty well because when we break up into our little sections of each town, we have a conversation with it. We don't just say, "Well, I want this and you get that." We I know Mark and I when Dominic was here, we made that decision together. We worked it out pretty well. Then we all kept our committees. I don't see why we need to change it. Okay, Judith. Um I don't see why we have to change it either. I
052sort of agree with Anastasia. We work it out. Um, and I know that there's been times that there's been some committees that if I had to be on, I would absolutely hate it. Somebody forced you. Yeah. I mean, it just is the way that I am. You know, if I had to be on such and such a committee, and I've tried most of them, so I know there's only one committee that I have not tried. and and there are some committees that if I had to be on them again, I wouldn't come the night. Really? Seriously, I would not come when that meeting is held. Y understood. Um any other comments? How do we feel about leaving it as a choice by seniority? Just like a show of hands or is that what everyone wants
053to leave it as a choice by seniority? No opin would you rather the no opinion. Okay. Um I can adjust that language before it comes back for a second read and work it out in that um under B so that we can leave it that way. Sure. Oh hold on Suzanne grab and then I'll get your mark. So, um, basically, is it by school district that you can decide how you want to do your committees? Does each district in Maine kind of do theirs a little differently? Okay. I was just curious. All right. Yep. Mark. And if we make that change, that would allow the board chair to actually be a voting member of one committee or No. Nope. Because that's in a different section. So that's a recommend Is my mic on? So that's
054a recommendation from MSMA that the school board chair is an exofficial member of all standing committees. And when I first saw that change, I scratched my head. But then when I started thinking about it, the board chair is typically um privy to additional information that board members are not that could potentially bias decisions in committee. That's that's why I think that would be there. Um, so it it's certainly something that we can explore. I um but I would go with the MSMA recommendation and just have your board chair attend the meetings and not be a voting member. Kind of similar with the superintendent. All right. Anything else on that one? All right. Next up, JJI if management of concussions and other head injuries. So, this one, if you noticed, is about a total rewrite of
055the policy uh per MSMA recommendations and was vetted through the athletic department and the athletic trainers in the district to take a look and make sure that it's where it needs to be and that practice matches policy and vice versa. So, if you have any questions on this, I will take them back to Danny and get back to you before the second read. But let me know if you have any questions. No, I'll find the answer. All right. Last up, JFCK. Student use of cell phones and other electronic devices. So, I will apologize first of all that the suggested changes weren't visible um in the electronic version that was sent out. I made the changes right before finance tonight. So, I apologize. So I can go over those with you if you have the policy
056in front of you or if you look at them online. So under A is removal of the sentence uh or the end of the sentence where it says except when the teacher or building principal, the rest of that paragraph would be removed. Um, so paragraph A would read, "Students are prohibited from using privately owned electronic devices, including but not limited to cell phones, smartphones, iPods, MP3 players, handheld computers, PDAs, and electronic games at school or during school activities. The next change would be in C in the parentheses removal of during lunch periods, study halls or. So that uh in parenthesis would just read on school buses traveling to school activities. And then the other recommended change would be under E the removal of number three which uh removes exclusion of the device from school for
057an extended period of time. So, and there is a um an accompanying policy uh procedure with this JFC-R that will also have some changes coming for a second read. But bringing this one to you all tonight for a first read and then we'll get that other one cleaned up and brought for a first read as well and then look to do both of these as a second read to take effect um for next school year. Michelle, does this cover smart watches? Yes. As far as So PDA would be considered. Yeah. Because you do have watches with cameras on them now. Mhm. Yeah. And we can we can add smart watches just to make sure that it's clear. I thought that it I mean to me it is, but maybe not to everyone. But I would
058be against specific. We can certainly consider adding I think there's a difference between maybe a Fitbit that doesn't have all that, you know, someone wants to keep track of their steps or whatever. Right. For a sport or something and kids who have the full on Right. Right. Because my Fitbit does a lot less than your Apple Watch. Correct. Yep. Uh, Jen, and what about those new glasses? Ray-B band glasses. I don't know. Uh, what? That's not it. What does I have no idea. I don't I don't know. Um, we can look into it. Look into adding it just to make sure we cover everything. All right. Personal digital assistant. The first thing that came up was a public display of affection. personal digital assistant. All right, thank you for catching that. Um, Michelle, we can
059work on that language as well. We have time on this one. Anything else on JF Cck Amy? Uh, go ahead. Um, I was just wondering with the cell phone um issue, the only thing that I could think of potentially is if we have students with like medical needs, like I'm thinking of kids, especially like our older students who potentially have um diet. Yeah, exactly. So, would there be exceptions for like and because that's like a very very specific case, but I know that that's like very serious. Yep. You want to speak to that? um that would be covered under a medical 504. Okay, perfect. That it would then be vetted by the nurse. Um we would go through that process because it would actually have to meet a standard is what is a handicapping condition
060that requires an a modification or accommodation to access essentially a level playing field. Right. Right. So that way we don't get into a situation where everyone under the sun has a medical need. 100%. Right. So um that was the one of the only ones I could think of that for that. Yeah. That that would be the framework that it would follow that process. All right. Suzan, and are they going to pretty much have their phones like in their lockers locked up? Is that how are they just not coming to school? How are they? So, they don't use lockers at the high school. There aren't enough um there aren't enough to accommodate the students. So, we did have a brief discussion about this app policy. Um so, the thought at this point is that phones would
061be left in home room at the beginning of the day and picked up at the end of the day. the logistics of that I'm leaving up to high school administration and they can update us before the start of the school year as to all the safeguards and but that is that's the plan that Tai shared with us at policy okay right now is that they would stay in home room for the day and if a student was dismissed early they would go back to home room to get it and you know those contingencies would be taken care of but Oh can you hit your button again Jen sorry go ahead so So, is this something that's only going to be geared to the high school? Um, yep. So, it's a No, no, it's districtwide. I
062was going to say no because they already don't have them at middle in middle school. So, middle school, they lock them up um in their lockers for the day, so they don't use cell phones or anything um during school hours. So, this would would be a district districtwide. There are fifth graders that have Yep. Well, I was going to say, yeah. Yep. I know some fifth graders. So, yeah. So yeah, there's nothing specific in the policy regarding Right. I don't think so either. Y Mark, I spoke to a few members in the Limmer community who I think we're going to get push back on this. Yep. But having said that, um I think Tai did a great job of researching this. He val he told us that uh this is being done in other districts
063successfully that there is a curve and that we should probably anticipate a little bit of that. Um so I just want to say I think there will be push back but I I fully support this this policy change. Yep. I mean we want student achievement to improve. Anything else on this one? Um yeah, there are lots of current proposed laws going through the legislature currently. They include LD 1234 um which is banning cell phones. Um, so 1234 is kind of the the front runner and won't allow cell phones in classrooms but allows them in emergency situations, removes local control, and may limit ability to use for educational purposes. That's that's one of the there there there's some strong opposition to that because it's too gray still, right? And we have devices in the hands of
064all kids. So it's not like in the days where kids didn't have devices and you might use it in that framework. So um there are being revisions to that. So main school management and um main school school superintendent association is opposed to that law in particular but like the fact that there's an effort to uh make some changes that add a little more um support to implementing these things because again when most of you were in school you didn't have a phone. If there were an emergency, you'd go to the office or your parents would call school and and and believe it or not, I think we all survived. So, and uh Okay, I'm off my soap box, Jen. Um yeah, I mean, I think one of our biggest things has to do with education
065wise, but I think an even bigger aspect is I think this could really help the mental health of a lot of students. And I think that should be a big goal of us as a board. Agreed. All right. Anything else on that one? Um I would look for a motion to accept the first read of those policies. Make a motion first read. Any further discussion on those? All in favor? Motion carries. So, we'll bring those back for a second read very soon. Next up, I would look for a motion to enter into executive session to discuss a personnel matter pursuant to one MRSA 4056A. Beth, were you the second? All in favor? Um, my apologies. So, we will not be taking action once we come out of executive session. So, we're going to end the
066live feed. We won't come back. The only thing we'll do after executive session is adjourn. So, we are in executive session at 8:04