001Good evening everyone and welcome to the SAC school board committee meeting for Wednesday uh Wednesday February 25th 2026 at 502. would like to call the meeting to order and make note of all members present with the exception of school board member KDR. And would you please join me for the pledge of allegiance? Thank you very much. Moving on to item number three tonight that is the approval of the school board meeting minutes dated February 11th, 2026. Is there a motion? >> Madame Mayor, >> school board member Truman. >> I move we approve the school board meeting minutes dated February 11th, 2026. >> Thank you. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion by school board member Richards. Any discussion or comments on the minutes? Okay, not seeing any. Roll call vote. School board member Waroff.
002Yes. >> School board member Prebble. >> Yes. >> School board member Richards. >> Yes. >> School board member Roach. >> Yes. >> School board member Truman. >> Yes. >> And school board member Johnston. >> Yes. >> Motion passes 6. >> Moving on to item number four, there are no adjustments to the agenda this evening. Item five, there are no correspondents. Item six is public session. If there are any members of the public wishing to speak, please step forward, state your name and address for the record, and you will have three minutes to address the school board. Okay, not seeing any members of the public being recognized. Moving on to item number seven, that is the superintendence report. Superintendent Ray, >> good afternoon everyone. Um, few things. Uh, one tomorrow night is our kickoff for unified
003basketball at SMS uh at 2:45 in the SMS gym. Uh, they will compete against Bitterford Middle School. Um, we have an incredible group of athletes that promotes teamwork, inclusion, and sportsman's uh ship and always a highlight event uh for anyone um who makes it into the gym. We hope that families can join us on our family fun night at Fairfield School on March 6 from 4 to 6. Uh mark your calendars for a prek through five family math and literacy night on Wednesday, March 18th at CK Burns. PreK 2 will be from 5 to 6 and grades 3 through 5 will be 5:30 to 6:30. If you're out there watching and you have a four year uh a three or that will be four next year, make sure to click and register to get on
004our prek list. Um, and then the last thing I'd just like to talk to you guys about is um we kind of put together um a snow day plan um for all three districts because transportation interlinks with everything and vocational education and all of those pieces. Um it looks like uh next week there's a possibility of another big storm. Um and so what this means uh for SACO right now is that we have 175 um student days. Our current last day is June 17th. We don't need to take any calendar action at this time. Um but if we h we would have one more snow day that would be a regular snow day. We would end on the 18th. Certainly nobody wants to have a Friday holiday and come back the next Monday. Um, and
005so if we had two additional snow days, we would go to a blizzard bag remote uh school day because we'd be over the five days. Uh, met with principles today to talk about how we would lay something like that out. Um, and just wanted to have this document to update you guys, community, see what we're thinking. Um, you know, we are not a fan of remote days uh at all. Um, just it's not the same experience. Um, but after you get past five days, you are limited options for making them up or to extend the school year. You can go to school on a Saturday, which I don't think anyone likes, and it's not 1985 when that could work probably versus what we have for weekend commitments. Or you can add an hour a day
006to five school days to make up a day. That's state law. We've done that before in other districts. It's not ideal whatsoever because it just bogs down transportation. So, this would probably be our best uh solution if we get to that point. Hopefully, we will not get to that point, but it's a long time between now and April vacation. We've certainly had March snow days before. >> Great. Thank you. Any comments or questions for the superintendent, school board member Roach? >> When uh Fairfield was shut down, did that doesn't count against the school days, right? >> No, it does not. SMS was down at day two for a water issue. >> School board member Richards. >> So, we have two more before we have to worry about one more. >> One more and then we
007would have to dabble into the remote blizzard bag offerings. I just I just want to say um I really don't appreciate remote days, but I also would much prefer to avoid going into July or the follow the weekend after >> Yeah. >> after a long weekend. So >> once you start getting into that 20th, you start getting into people who want summer plans, summer camp start up, Rex, you know, all of those pieces start are kind of planned to come up. Um, and so >> for what it's worth, I also queried some children that I know and um, they too agreed that that was a much better option than >> Yeah. >> having to go later. I said, "Do you want to go until July?" And they said, "Oh, no. We'll do remote all day."
008I was like, "So great." >> And I think our conversation with principles today is, you know, for young kids, our goal is not to have just a bunch of papers to sit there and do. How do we make it somewhat meaningful? Uh, and that will be the next conversation. Hopefully, we won't even have to get there. >> Now, is that something that is an administrative choice or will that need to come to school board for a vote? >> That can be just that's an administrative decision. >> Thank you. Any other questions or comments? >> Okay, moving on to excuse me, item eight and that is the chair's report. School board Chair Truman, >> as I stuff my face with some snacks. Um, I have nothing to report. >> Great. Thank you. Item number nine, there
009are no staff reports. Item 10 is the board and subcommittee minutes. The policy and personnel committee minute meeting minutes are in your packet and the next meeting is on March 11th at 5:30 p.m. The finance and infrastructure committee next meeting is February 25th at 4:30 p.m. which occurred today. and the curriculum committee. The next meeting is February 23rd at 4:30 4:30 p.m. and that has already occurred as well. >> Can I update that? >> Yes. >> Um, we didn't have it on the 23rd because of the snow day. >> That was a snow day. >> So, I believe it's moved until next Monday. >> So, that will be March 2nd. Uh, yep. Okay. Okay. So, the next curriculum committee meeting will be March 2nd at 4:30. Thank you. Okay. Moving on to item. There is
010no old business this me evening. Item 12 is new business. Item A is new hires. There is a packet in your uh there's a memo in your packet. And is there a motion? >> Madame Mayor, >> school board member Truman, >> I move we approve the nomination of Michael Janako, sorry if I butchered that. districtwide BCBA and issue a contract for the remainder of the 2526 school year. >> Thank you. Motion has been made by schoolboard member Truman. Is there a second? >> Second by school board member Johnston. >> Any comment or discussion on this item. Okay. Roll call vote. School board member Waroff. >> Yes. >> School board member Prebble. >> Yes. >> School board member Richards? >> Yes. >> School board member Roach? >> Yes. >> School board member Truman? >> Yes. >>
011And school board member Johnston? Yes. >> Motion passes 6. Okay. Moving on to item B that is resignations. And is there a motion? >> Madame Mayor, >> school board member Truman. >> I move we accept the resignation of Rebecca Clark, CK Burn, special education teacher effective March 6, 2026. Great. Thank you. A motion has been made by school board member Truman. Is there a second? >> Second by school board member Richards. any items or any comment or discussion on this item? Okay, roll call vote. School board member Waroff, >> yes. >> School board member Prebble, >> yes. >> School board member Richards, >> yes. >> School board member Roach, >> yes. >> School board member Truman, >> yes. >> And school board member Johnston, >> yes. >> Motion passes 6. >> Okay. Item C is
012a building update. Superintendent Ray. >> All right. So in your packet you have a update over the last two weeks of what has been going on uh at the site. Um started to drill for the geothermal wells. Um certainly running into some ledge out there. Um they've worked on uh grading and earth work is the big piece of it right now. It's not that exciting when you drive out. I mean it's exciting but it's you don't see a structure yet. Um and so they've been working on those uh piece. You've got about 18 to 30 people on site every single day right now. That is far from Brondons. Um they have a lot of upcoming activities that you can read. We will be meeting next week with Eastern Trail folks uh to talk about that
013connection. Um, and if you're wanted to really keep track of the progress, even though there's no building there, we are 11% complete. >> Yeah, you're 11% complete right now and it's all in the ground. >> Thank you. Any questions or comments? >> Member Truman. I just want to say that um despite how not exciting you might find it, there are certainly some three and fouryear-old children out there who would find it fascinating. So, >> it's all relative. >> Those are some incredibly large dirt piles. Um, and if and Megan and I, we drove out there before um before vacation and um you know, you have to be a little careful because there's some parts there's just like some really big like drop offs there because they're getting that site ready for foundation and stuff and
014um you know the road is in you know from industrial park piece and they've been pretty lucky about blocking it from the other end. Um I know Kevin um touched on it at the last meeting when I was not here, but there was definitely some concern about um road diet in that area that came up at a at a meeting that has nothing to do with the school project. school project is has a design a different design >> separate DOT project um that doesn't require us to do anything one way or the other we don't have uh kind of an opinion on that I think we still would love to have a um light on the other end like if that came out of that we would still be really excited about that um but
015no impact from our project on that decision um moving forward. So, just want to make sure that we continue to clarify that piece. >> Thank you. Anyone else? School board member Roach. >> Yeah, I'm glad you brought that up. I did Yeah. bring it up in public and a couple of settings, this and also at this at a prior city council meeting. Um, I'm at the ready um to meet with any business owner there that and any group meeting that needs to be being on this original school construction meeting, but also being at a butter myself. So, I'm affected by all this. Um so you know we need to get you know the facts out to people and maybe if it can relate that hey you know a school member happens to be close by
016too which that location wasn't my first choice either but but it's a great location and I think it can work out and benefit everybody together. And then yes, like you said, the the the Route One road diet is is a general issue that, you know, business owners and a lot of people participated in. So, just need to get you know, but I'll throw my hand up if anyone wants to have direct meetings on this um and clear the air. Um let's do it. Just another piece of the school construction piece that I I just want it relates to school construction, but I've also started to have some conversations with um busrite. Um and while we won't have every single stop because you'll have new kids coming on board, we're starting to talk about that transition
017process of the routing for new bus routes going into that. I just don't want to be doing that the summer beforehand. We want to start looking at that, have that information out. Look at how it would affect. Obviously, you know, there's going to be people who have a fifth grader now and they're not going to be on that route and things will change, but it will give us a general sense of what our routes will look like using data from today um to start forming those pieces with with smaller operations. So that's something that probably as as early as this summer we'll start running scenarios on that so that as we come into you know even you another budget cycle from now we're prepared for the impact of what that would look like. >> Okay.
018Thank you. Anyone else? >> Okay. Moving on to item D. That is a budget update. Superintendent Ray. >> So this afternoon, uh, everybody received, uh, their big book of the budget line by line. Um, and that is posted on the website as well. Um certainly when you put together a document that's this big and this detailed, we will still be continuing to comb through for any mistakes, duplications, those types of things. Um Zach, who is in his first year of the budget process of doing it here, has done a really nice job combing through things and getting things in the right location. So I'm very impressed about that. at the same time trying to make sure that anything we set up um we're thinking about the future and how you know we code things and
019what schools people will will be at. Um some of the detailed work that de uh Zach has done will create some situations where you see like a large fluctuation in one place and then a decrease in another place because it may be to coded differently. Um, an example of that is in last year's budget, um, we were just starting our kind of consolidated effort with the city. And so, you know, those funds were allocated differently into positions and now you'll see that, you know, Don and Andrew have a salary that's in there that appears in the central office line versus different than um, you know, it may have been sitting in a maintenance line before. Um so those things have cha have changed a little bit. So the detailed budgets there let's just talk about
020highlevel overview of where we sit today uh and the work that's ahead of us. So currently if you look at the budget increase of where we are uh with all salaries and again this basically comes down to three things salaries, health insurance, tuition. Those three items drive the majority of this budget and we're up at about we're up $3.2 2 million or 5.74%. Last year at this time when we looked at an increase of budget when we came in into our first round. Also remember though that there was a million dollars there for a you know a cost of the bond payment uh that was reimbursed. you were sitting at about a 9% increase with the first draft, but a million dollars of that was a bond payment. So, that would have looked more like
021uh you know, like a 7% increase. So, we're a little bit lower. The numbers already lower than the prior year. There's a big difference this year. That's the revenue side of the coin. We have about a 100 students left based off our ML students leaving. That is a significant drop in revenue that comes in. When you think about page two of the 279 and when we do the 279, go through with the city council, you guys will get that information of why this line is lower than it was the year before, etc., etc. We only received about $80,000 more in state subsidy. When in a scenario with other students there, you probably would have seen that at somewhere around the $700,000 range instead of $80,000 range. Um, that's a significant difference. So, when you look
022at a budget last year that came out of the gate at 9.8% 8% up, but because of the revenue we had last year, that was a 4.69% to the taxpayer. Right now, we're looking closer to a 12% to the taxpayer based off this initial piece. Now, what that doesn't hit is added valuation in the city and the whole thing working together, but we're kind of exactly in the opposite position based off revenue that we were last year where the revenue brought you down uh to a lower percentage and this year without it, you're got a 5.7 and it's a greater impact on the local taxpayer. So, we've got a lot of work to do. We're not in the position of having to cut anything yet. Now, we need to review, go back, fine-tune, hope for
023the best on health insurance. We've got a 10% increase in there. That's $600,000. Uh on that side, uh we planning for our contractual pieces. Um, so let's uh let's hold on tight and we'll start getting together here real soon as we are ready to refine this and start having uh a greater conversation. And then obviously we present on the 16th I think Monday the >> 19th >> 16th I'm sorry. Yes. Monday the 16th, we will have a um joint meeting with the city council which will have a much more um grand overview. You'll get a preview of that at the school committee meeting before the week before that so that we can have discussions there about what we want to do. Um and then we'll start pushing forward. So happy to answer any questions. >>
024Thank you. Any questions or comments? Oh, okay. I think everyone's good. Okay, moving on to item E. That is the first reading of the policies. Is there a motion? School board member Johnston? >> Thank you. I move we approve the first reading of these policies. BIA, new board member orientation. BIB, board member development opportunities. BIC, board member freedom of access training. BID, board member compensation and expenses. CB school superintendent. CB-R Superintendent Job Description. CC Administrative Organization. BHC board relationships and communications with staff and BIC-e certification of completion of freedom of access training. >> Second. >> Great. Thank you. Motion has been made by schoolboard member Johnston. Second by school board member Truman. Any comment or discussion on any of the policies? Okay. Not seeing any. Roll call vote. School board member Waroff. >> Yes. >>
025School board member Prebble. >> Yes. >> School board member Richards. Yes. >> School board member Roach. >> Yes. >> School board member Truman. >> Yes. >> And school board member Johnston. >> Yes. >> Motion passes 6. >> Okay. Item 13 this evening. Uh uh other information. Are there any school board members with anything to share? Okay. Item 14. There is no executive session this evening. Item 15 is adjournment. Is there a motion? >> So moved. >> Motion second made by school board member Truman. Second by school board member Purbble. Roll call vote. School board member Waroff. >> Yes. >> School board member Prebble. >> Yes. >> School board member Richards. >> Yes. >> School board member Roach. >> Yes. >> School board member Truman. >> Oh, sorry. >> Well, then that I'm going to say
026a lyric. So, off to the judge the big river. Yes. >> Yes. >> School board member Truman. >> Yes. Sorry. >> School board member Johnston. >> Yes. >> Motion passes 6 to adjourn at 526. Thank you everyone and have a great night.