001e good evening everyone and welcome to the Sak School Board committee meeting for August 7th 2024 at 5:00 pm would like to note that we have all members present this evening would you please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance Ales thank you and now that takes us to item three this evening and that is the approval of the school board minutes dated July 10th 2024 is there a motion Madame mayor Schoolboard member Truman I move we approve the Schoolboard meeting minutes dated July 10th 2024 is there a second second second by School Board member Preble any discussion on the minutes okay not seeing any roll call vote School Board member prebble yes School Board member Richards yes School Board member roach School Board member Gail yes School Board member Truman yes and School Board
002member Johnson yes motion passes 70 to approve the minutes UH 60 excuse me okay there are no adjustments to the agenda this evening there are no correspondents takes us to item six and that is public session if there are any members of the public wishing to speak please step forward state your name and address and you will have three minutes to uh discuss with the school board okay not seeing anyone seeking recognition item number seven this evening is the superintendent report and that is superintendent Ray good evening everybody and uh thank you for coming out on a beautiful summer night uh to a meeting uh just a few items as it has been an extremely uh busy summer in and around the schools uh certain you know big thank you to all of our maintenance
003and facility staff who battled some really warm days when they're waxing floors and doing those pieces and have done a fantastic job uh we've had a couple of uh summer projects that have been uh fairly Grand in size that we've been working on and one of those was just replacing the hallway rugs at Fairfield school after I don't know probably 20 some odd years it just needed to happen because of uh you know the wear tear cleanly less all of those things that go along with uh little kids and then currently right now at uh Sako Middle School we are working on um installing the windows into the cafeteria so that it's not so much of a a brick and mortar situation we have the ability to see in and see out um make that
004more an inviting friendly place um reminder to anyone watching a home uh schools just around the corner and we welcome our staff back in just a couple of weeks but really one of the important things that we need uh parents to do um is to make sure they complete all of their power school information so we have updated email addresses phone numbers all of those pieces while it's critical um that we have drop off and pickup information for kids on buses because we know that those first couple of days uh can be really trying for families with the adjustment back to traffic and making sure that your child's delivered to the right place so please please please uh make sure that everybody has updated information so that we can do our job uh on the
005first couple of days of school uh last night we had a National Night Out uh at TA with the police department which was a great event uh represented by the city uh and always very thankful for our collaboration with police fire and all of those Services um tonight in executive session we will talk about a couple of contracts which I think hopefully will put us in a great place for hiring moving forward um because certainly we do have some open positions uh to fill Meg and I have been starting to talk about and work starting to ramp up again on the school construction end of things um as we'll start with the project and as we move forward thinking about now all of the design phase and the little things that go into it and
006working with 911 and room numbers and so that process will start to pick up a lot over the next um two to three months and then finally um you remember probably six or seven years ago um Sako Recreation and bford recre Recreation kind of came together to uh form Twin City uh theater uh and they're performing uh at bitterford middle schools on Fridays in the summertime and uh I was able to get to a show a couple of weeks ago foot loose uh and just to see the amazing talent uh that exists between the communities on a show and to see a Friday afternoon with basically a packed house over there um it was just really wonderful to see and uh couple of Sako kids had some pretty Key Parts if few remember Foot Loose
007um and so uh just great job to an gurnie and Sak Rex in that program and and bitterford wreck that they work together collaborative because just an area where kids can thrive in the summertime and uh so if you get to catch a show it's a great it's a great experience thank you entertain any questions through the chair okay just add to that um the Twin City also performed at harborfest on Sunday and let me tell you they put on a great great show for everybody they did about four or five pieces um from each of their shows so any questions or comments for superintendent Ray okay not seeing any moving on to item number eight that is the chair's report School Board member Preble don't have anything new to report this evening but thank
008you thank you okay item nine there are no staff reports this evening item number 10 are the board subcommittee uh minutes item a is the policy and Personnel committee the minutes um are in the packet next meeting is September 11th at 5:30 the finance and infrastructure committee next meeting is August 28 at 4:30 and in the packet we did have the curriculum committee on 826 but had has been changed to 8819 at 4:30 okay moving on to item 11 that is old business at the last meeting there we were looking for nominations for a local delegate to the msba annual delegate Authority are there any nominations or discussion first Madame mayor School Board member proble I would like to nominate School Board member Sarah Truman as a delegate for um the local Ms msba annual
009delegate assembly thank you very much is there a second second second by School Board member Gail any discussion on it I'm happy to do it I uh I have an event that day but I can I can squeeze this in I think it's and I believe as M stated there was one other date but it was September 12 I already wrote it down yeah it okay great roll call vote School Board member Preble yes Schoolboard member Richards yes Schoolboard member roach yes Schoolboard member Gail yes Schoolboard member Truman yes Schoolboard member Johnson yes motion to nominate Sarah Truman to the msba delegation passes 60 okay that now takes us to item 12 and that is new business um item a is new hire there is a memo in your packet with a list and is
010there a motion Madame mayor School Board member Truman I move we approve the nomination of Sean Fitz Simmons CK Burns special education teacher for one-year position Rebecca Clark CK Burns special education teacher Allison Cox young teacher for one-year phys and Rachel Chandler CK Burns teacher and issue a contract for the 2024 25 school year motion has been made by Sarah uh Schoolboard member Truman is there a second second second second by Schoolboard member Preble any discussion on the new hires okay roll call vote Schoolboard member Preble yes School Board member Richards yes School Board member roach yes School Board member Gail yes School Board member Truman yes and Schoolboard member Johnson yes motion passes 60 okay Item B this evening is resignations is there were motion for the resignations and again there is a memo
011in your packet Madame mayor School Board Truman I move we accept the resignation of Stacy sorry Stacy rosek CK Burns teacher Christina renal young nurse Juliana key Melnick speech language pathologist and Wendy Cannon math interventionist effective immediately motion has been made by Schoolboard member Truman is there a second second second by School Board member Johnston any discussion on the resignations okay not seeing any Schoolboard member prebble yes School Board member Richards yes Schoolboard member roach yes Schoolboard member Gail yes School Board member Truman yes and Schoolboard member johnon yes okay motion passes 60 okay that now takes us to item C and that is a memo from the ecology school and Meg going to present that yes this is an annual memo that we provide to the city of Soo and just sharing it for
012your information it itemizes the services that the ecology school has made an arrangement with the city to provide for Sako students I'd also like to highlight that we were able to acquire a number of Grants two different grants specifically in collaboration with the ecology school and Sako schools one around professional development and one around uh subsidizing the multi-day overnight program at the ecology school for our middle school students so in addition to the obligated funds we were able to acquire additional funding and provide other opportunities for our teaching staff and our students okay great thank you are there any questions or comments regarding the memo Schoolboard member roach uh yes uh so so I I just heard the grant but um the cost the the amounts that are provided students have you know almost tripled
013from uh when this started um the summer program there um 56 can't how was that selected how was that um how do parents arrange that is that is that the tuition C or not tuition cost the cost that they would uh that they would ask from people that would sign up for it or is that their inherit cost to provide it I believe that that is the cost that they would be charging to campers not the provided cost so in other in other words it's like not their wholesale price for what it cost them but what they would be charging had that spot gone to somebody outside and and just to be clear that particular line item is one that the Sako school department is not really involved with but I believe part of their
014agreement with the city is about serving Sako students so that's an area in which they're not necessarily collaborating with the school department on the service but are providing Services directly to Sako students sorry to chuckle a little bit cuz I was on Council when this was agreed to back then and I mean I think it was to be collaborating to the school year uh of benefits I'm not against that number or provided but that's not necessarily their cost and I guess they're proving through the city that they the students are residents so assuming that they are going to school here but it's not done through the schools that number is not us so correct okay okay I'm good okay anyone else School Board member Johnson thank you my questions were I guess along the same
015line as um Kevin's um so it do we actually have a number of of Sako students who over the course of the Year let's say even um have received these opportunities at the ecology School the number that they provided was 1,614 for July 23 to June 24 I think that includes student programs when they are visiting that might look different so I think that number can be a little bit tricky because the level of involvement with a multi-day program where students are visiting the ecology School versus a presentation that might be 30 to 45 minutes for a whole grade level of students certainly has a different level of impact so we we have tried to arrange though some years we have like a Miss with a grade level or two that there is a touch
016point or an experience for every student at every grade level with the ecology School we've had some scheduling stuff where that hasn't always worked out but that's the plan that we've itemized and try to execute every year okay thank you I appreciate that information um I obviously there's our hand and there's their hand so we're I was trying to figure out how they come together thank you welcome Schoolboard M I'm just curious I know you just gave us a a round number that they gave us I think right for a thousand some odd kids for the middle schoolers who do the overnight program is that everybody in that particular grade or is that like a select few select few number of students that are taken there like how does that work it's all students in
017the grade level every year we may have a handful Marie might know the number but it's not a big number of students that elect not to attend and I believe we've also offered the opportunity for some students that might not be comfortable with an overnight to take a daily trip there for the days that students are there so they're not like missing the program because of the overnight piece they're just modifying that program perfect thank you okay great thank you anyone else Schoolboard member Ro how many overnights is that Maria I think it was two overnights for was it two overnights for all teams yeah so two overnights for every team three days of programming with two overnights and if the kids opt out they don't want to sleep over are they required to go
018there during the day or is our school just does the Middle School provide in School instruction during those couple of days okay are there any kids that travel though for the day right so if they opt not to go it's either one of those go for the day to the ecology school or alternate programming at Sako middle school but I think we're talking about less than a dozen kids in the whole grade okay and the rest of the um like during the year I'm just going back to my kids 10 10 years ago um is it um are they are they still doing a day trip here here and there um to the ecology school or is it just this overnight program during the air we've done more programs with ecology schools coming to our
019schools then we have sending kids to ecology School truthfully a lot of that is around Transportation availability and the time turnaround that we have if we get kids there there's just not a ton of time whereas if they're coming in to do programming it's a little bit more flexible and they can meet with like a classroom at a time to provide that programming Outdoors on site rather than busing the logistics of busing a single class to run through one hour sessions is pretty taxing on our transportation department just one of the one of the piece I would say that I think I feel um very thankful about the overnight program is that it provides that opportunity for a two night kind of Camp experience for so many children at no cost uh or from different
020backgrounds that we would not be able to theoretically provide or maybe them not have the experience to and I think that when you think about our changing population um that has been something that's been very valuable uh for that experience in the middle school is just getting kids there to a new experience new place something that um not everyone would have the option to do and just to add to that we have changed I think preco the project-based teams were doing that overnight and when we resurrected that postco we really wanted to make it a priority that all students at a grade level could access that not just the Project based team okay great anyone else okay thank you thank you okay that now takes us to item D and that is the ward one
021nomination replacement seat for Ry Archie um we do have one candidate that has submitted their resume and letter of interest and that is Carolyn waroff unfortunately she is not able to attend tonight um as a prior commitment so if everybody had a chance to review and you're comfortable you do have an option of making a nomination and voting tonight um if not we I do need to double check to see if we can take it to the next meeting um to see if she can attend or if at this point it would become a mayor's appointment any discussion or conversation on this Madame mayor School Board member Johnson when did you or we received the letter from this individual yester yesterday yesterday yes okay no yeah I don't have I don't have it in front
022of me so I haven't had the opportunity to read it it was included in the updated packet today yeah yes well I sorry but I don't have that wouldn't probably have seen it if I did um so I again I haven't had the opportunity to read it but I did have the thought today having heard somehow that you know there was at least one letter cuz I did check last week um I have always felt that it's it's rather important that the the voters actually have the opportunity to weigh in and I am just thinking that as close as we are to the next cycle anyway for this particular um elected position in Ward one um and with only one and again I have not even looked at this letter yet even though it's in
023front of me now with only one person trying to put their name forward forward I personally just wonder if maybe the best thing to do for the public is to allow it to go through the normal cycle and um with an election coming right up anyway and unfortunately per the charter I do not believe we're able to do that because there is this enough time between now and the election that the charter indicates that an appointment is necessary I understand that but I've also exper experienced in the past where that did not happen it did not happen when we had a school board member who left in January and was not there there was no election and there was no appointment for a number of months it's happened twice in my recollection back in time
024and we did update the charter just a few years ago where we had which on year did that actually occur uh I believe that was 2019 I think it went I think it was actually in place at the time that these things did not occur her I think that it was actually in place at the time that we did not have an election which was due to be had during Co was it during 2020 we're talking about in the past I don't remember which year I'm sorry y but I do believe that my concern at the time was that we should be having an election for this particular position and then one that came along 3 months two 3 months later and it didn't happen so all I am trying to express is that I
025do believe we have a bit of an obligation to the public for them to actually weigh in and I do realize that if you for instance were to appoint somebody today tomorrow whatever that that individual would be up to be elected not reelected because they haven't been elected yet but they would be up to be elected at the election that's coming up in November if they chose to pull papers and right right I do it's not an automatic yeah but I guess my concern is I don't want to I don't want to jump into a situation where we have one person who's expressing interest and we have an election which will be in it's nearly in front of us now I I just think that the voters of Ward one probably are the ones that
026should make that decision and I understand you're talking about Charter and I totally respect Charter what I don't what I don't like is the fact that it hasn't been followed in the past thank you not your fault right and fortunately we can't speak to what happened in the past but School Board member Gil yeah I guess I having not been here in the past I mean I think if if the charter is saying something then we should definitely follow it and and you know the past is the past moving forward I I I um I hear what you're saying on the the letting the the residents of w one decide I guess my thought is that without having an appointment there is no real voice forward one up through December January time frame potentially so
027December 4th um December 4th okay thank December December so I think it's what like five at least five meetings where there's not going to be if if there's no appointment so so I guess I um you know one other just piece of context too is this person is is also a candidate or at least has taken out papers and indicated in their letter of interest that they're a candidate for um Council seat in W one to they have pulled from Council they will be pulling their papers from Council oh yeah um return not running for Council they're not running for Council they they're not going to run for Council they have opted to um apply for this position for the appointment and then they will be pulling papers for the school board the school board
028okay um so I think there's I mean there's definitely an intent there it feels like to to run in some way shape or form and to have the voters of of w one decide and um I mean I think we we have a name that someone expressed interest um I guess I would be curious if if we didn't move forward with this and goes to mayor's appointment is there a list of folks who have expressed interest kind of are We Are we kind of like in the back back in the same kind of boat I haven't had anybody reach out or yeah okay so we'll have to um but we should be able to um again in traditional standard with the charter for Council when we have the expiration date which is today is the
029expiration for acceptance of the letters of interest um we had I want to say two weeks um before we brought that person in the clock didn't start ticking immediately from the day that the application closed that's so I was kind of surprised that it was actually brought on tonight um so we should be able to bring her in for the next meeting even if we may have to maybe adjust the next meeting schedule a little bit earlier but I will double check with uh city clerk Hughes tomor tomorrow on the date and times and so we did meet with city clerk Hughes and this was part of the reason that we moved this meeting forward was to align with the timelines of 21 days was it Meg uh that you had an opportunity to meet
030with the school committee and put in um you know for what it's worth um when Carolyn did send her like letter of interest I was able to jump on the zoom with her yesterday she wanted to just ask some questions about school Comm comme um and not that I have a vote but it was someone who was interested in serving the community um and I had a great conversation she had a commitment tonight and tomorrow night and a planned vacation coming up um but she you know um had expressed her uh willingness to not run for the city council and run for the school committee because she was interested in just serving the city in one way shape or form um so I did get a chance to over for a computer meet the uh
031Carolyn um so and I think that the meeting had already been changed with anticipation of having some candidates this evening yeah we because the 21 days would bring us to the end of the month and it was we have a outline I think from Michelle it it was 30 days after the resignation and with a 22-day posting of the opening and the day that we posted I can't I have that's what I'm saying is that's why I'm wondering why the meeting was changed tonight because it today is the 22nd day today is not from the day of the expiration of the applications council's never done it the day on the expiration and we've had multiple appointments over the last few years it doesn't H it doesn't start on the day of exper we have you
032have 28 days to have that meeting or 21 days in our meeting with city manager we had we had laid out that based on the day of resignation the 30 days left us at so if we had posted the day after the resignation we could have had the meeting later but we we had to have within the 22 days and within the 30 days was the way I think there were four or five of us kind of reading through those Charter rules and interpreting what to do and and again it's body that did they legally had tell today so if somebody submitted their application at 3:00 uh Schoolboard wouldn't have their any other information right but it had to the the in order to not have a May mayoral appointment it had to be done
033within 30 days so that's where we ran into the 22 30 days so if we had posted it the day after the resignation we would have 22 days then plus an extra seven days days to process publicize Etc before right that appointment so that's where we ran into the between a rock and a hard place spot and decided to move forward with this plan so basically you're saying today is the last day if if it's if a nomination is not made tonight then it will go to the mayor that's my understanding okay Madame mayor uh Schoolboard member roach first and then Schoolboard member tman and then how long do you have to make the appointment 30 days you have 30 days okay School Board member Truman I would like to nominate Carolyn waroff for the
034W one seat on the School Board second motion has been made by Schoolboard member Truman second by School Board member pribble any additional discussion I just think that uh having no one in W one seat is doing more of a disservice to W one than having someone that maybe they didn't pick at this point and we have to someone has to go into the seat so I think if they're not happy with that individual come November they can just not vote for them so I would agree with Sarah on that I would rather have board representation for that word then no voice Schoolboard member roach and then Schoolboard member Johnston yeah I mean the timing here I know the election comes up in November but um you got start a school we still the TA
035contract um to have the whole Ward go without representation these critical you know three months coming up is you know and and the interest is already there that that you she had pull papers for Council so um and just a message to the whole Community um we are starving for people that are interested in not just elected office but but commissions and what have you so so we need to get out there a little bit more to to encourage um you know this partic participation so um yeah so I I'll definitely you know we need to get this filled um and uh hopefully um this this gets the word out for more activities so thank you thank you anyone else uh School Board member Johnston thank you um I really feel that it's awkward for
036a council or a board to actually choose someone to replace one of the members who have left I think that's a a difficult task um again I I would not in any way shape or form say that this individual and again I am just now looking at some of the um experiences that she's had so I'm I am entirely uninformed enough to say that I don't feel comfortable voting at all so um I appreciate anyone's interest but it's a pretty big and daunting task to choose a council member or a board member by the rest of the of the you know um group so I would have to say that I feel I have to abstain tonight thank you and yes it is um i' on Council I've had four that I've had to go
037through it's not we did this a couple years ago and it was very awkward because we had like three or four applicants and it was like very very strange process but okay so there is a motion on the floor to nominate Caroline waroff roll call vote Schoolboard member prebble yes School Board member Richards yes Schoolboard member roach yes Schoolboard member Gail yes School Board member Truman yes and Schoolboard member Johnston I abstain okay motion passes 5 Z with one abstention Madam mayor yes one just real quick thing and I apologize if it was brought up at the last meeting I think I I missed but I just also want to thank Arty Archer for all his service and um he's going to be missed he's a great in my opinion a great representative of Ward
038one and um his public service was was commendable so I I just uh wanted to give him a big thank you and um yeah and wish him well so thank you thank you anyone else School Bo member Truman oh okay moving on to item e and that is the first reading of the policies is there a motion School Board member Johnson thank you I move we approve the first reading of policies AC notice of non-discrimination Slash equal opportunity SL affirmative action AAA harassment of students ACA A- R1 student discrimination and harassment complaint procedure acab harassment of employees acab B- R1 employee discrimination and harassment complaint procedure jiee pregnant students aa- R2 student sex discrimination SL SL harassment complaint procedure and AC ab- R2 employee sex discrimination SL harassment complaint procedure second okay there's been motion
039made by councelor uh Schoolboard member Johnston second by Schoolboard member Truman any discussion on the policies okay not seeing any roll call vote Schoolboard member Preble yes Schoolboard member Richards yes School Board member roach yes Schoolboard member Gail yes Schoolboard member Truman yes School Board member Johnson yes motion passes 60 okay that then takes us to item F and that is a second reading of policies is there a motion Madame mayor School Board member Truman I move we approve the second reading of policy IMB teaching about controversial issues and to um IB a-r allow plan program for multilingual Learners motion has been made by school board member Truman is there a second second School Board member Johnston any discussion on those items coo member Johnston okay so I believe at the last time that we
040discussed um I IMB the teaching about controversial issues I expressed a hope and a desire to have the rest of the board um weigh in on their thoughts about that particular Pro policy it is one of the policies over the course of so many years that I found the most difficult to settle with um I believe our chair Jen did say to me a few days ago that she had not heard any responses or comments about that policy so I don't know if people haven't looked at it haven't thought about it don't have any comments to make or whatever um I am sorry about that um even I yeah Beth I think it's great would have been nice but my I'm still very unsettled about this and I'll try to put it into a nutshell
041I know that our assistant superintendent mag Parker is very much concerned that we have something on the books and I understand that because I do believe that if you don't have policy around something that could happen you're putting yourself at risk I totally empathize and agree with that my problem is that I feel that this policy has some wide openen language I guess you could say that really needs to be tightened up in order for us to not only have a policy on the books but also have a policy that doesn't have wide open holes um there are a couple of lines that particularly bother me but I think the basic thing is that I feel that we're putting in the hands of teachers Authority that really should be in the administration's hands and I
042feel like that not only puts us in an awkward place in terms of what they might choose to do what curriculum they might choose to share but it also puts them as a teacher in an awkward position where they may feel well I don't really know what to do here because I might not want to do this but I'm being told that I have to offer this curriculum or I have to incorporate it um that is one of the major things that I find very difficult about this policy I do appreciate the fact that since we got the original MSM msma um policy um suggested policy that we have tightened it up I do totally appreciate that so I guess I would just say that I'm still having difficulty with it I've I've actually wrestled
043with myself on several occasions coming out at this point in time not really being able to support it but if there are other board members who have ideas that they want to share tonight about this policy I am really encouraging others to do so thank you thank you School Board member Truman I just as a reminder to that this policy is specifically written in the framework of students rights to learn certain topics not teacher rights um so that leaves the door open for a student to learn about something that maybe a teacher might find controversial or a parent might find controversial but that student wants to learn about it and I don't think that this is going to fall in the I think this is more like Middle School definitely high school but we don't
044have a high school so but I think you know awkward conversations come up sometimes curriculum comes up but that's why we have Administration so that if something does come up and a student says well I want to do my project on I can't even think of anything off the top of my head but if they wanted to and that made the teacher uncomfortable they could certainly reach out to say you know April or or Marie and say what do I do um but it's not for the teacher to necessarily shut that down um so just remember that the policy's specifically written for the student and for the student's ability to learn about certain topics and controversial maybe that's the word that really triggers people because what's controversial it might be controversial to you but it
045may not be to somebody else so I think maybe that's the triggering word for a lot of people but I I think setting that word aside the purpose of it is to make sure that we're not shutting down learning opportunities for students thank you anyone else Madame mayor you you guys have edited this since the last meeting right or it didn't appear to be this oh it's the same as last meeting okay no we have not we were waiting to see if anybody had any any other feedback we have hammered this one out over many months we've come back and we've tabled it and we've come back and we've tabled it again and finally we're like let's just bring it to the board and see what everybody else thinks right we we and I think
046Beth is disappointed that they were crickets so um when I read it the hold up let me wait till you please wait to be uh acknowledged Schoolboard member Richards uh when I read it the first time I had like I agreed with Beth that it was a little kind of hazy but I reread it again before tonight's meeting and I thought it was well written kind of uh you know and like be uh uh Schoolboard member triond says it's you know with the student in mind kind of kept that in mind as I read the whole thing and I think it's well written um kind of protects all parties anyone else yep go if I could um in response to that I yes we have certainly Rewritten it from the very original version of it
047and nothing has happened since you saw it last time in terms of changing it um I understand the purpose of the policy is to protect us as a district and also to allow repression not to occur um I do think that there are there is some verbage in here that is pretty open-ended for instance the words any any controversial um wait let me find it again any controversial issue like I I guess I just have to wonder if there is anything that isn't really appropriate in the public school it's not as if certain controversial issues can't show up somewhere in our society but if I have rights to something does somebody else not have rights to something so to me again this policy needs I'm not against the concept I just think it needs to
048be refined to a point where it's not as opening ended and I I'm sorry I won't I've said that before so I don't mean to reiterate it except to respond that again I'm glad that you read it and I'm glad that you thought about the fact that hey this might just be fine I I really appreciate that Chef I do Schoolboard B Truman just to hop on top of your concern about the word any it's hard because how do we decide what that controversial topic is that's not worthy of that child of that student exploring because then when at what point do we just keep rolling with that and say oh no not that one no not that one either not that one either and then turn into you know the next thing we know
049we're book burning and whatever so I just I think the word any needs to be in there because and then it can be decided whether that's age appropriate like we have a second grader coming in and wants to learn about the Holocaust in its full form maybe that's a little little rough for their other seventh grade seven seven-year-old peers but you know um I don't think that that's on their curriculum either so that's where they can Veer off from that and not discuss that you know what I mean um I think it has to be tied in with that curriculum um so the word any kind of has to be in there to make sure that we're not the one thing shutting that door on on students so School Board member prel I'm going to
050have to agree with Sarah Beth and I sat in on some of your committee policy meetings and it was great discussion I hear you with your concerns and I think there's good concerns for both sides of opinion on it I think we probably should move forward with trying to get something on the books just to get it going and we can always come back to that through policy revision but um protecting students rights to learn is a very important and unique and special thing and I think that's something that we should probably think about moving forward with but I think you guys did an amazing job taking it from the beginning of where it was to now and trying to get that to what specific to our students needs are and what everybody's needs are
051in that situation so I think it's well written so far I know there's probably always room for improvement in anything we do so I'm hopeful that um we can move forward with something but you guys did an amazing job I always love sitting in and listening to your discussions because they're always fruitful thank you Jen I appreciate that and I appreciate your opinion as well um and I'm not going to I'm sorry you said something a minute ago that I was going to respond to but I appreciate your thoughtfulness as well everyone's um oh I know what it was so I have always looked at policy in that it is a working progress It's not ever necessarily dead in the water however while it is in place for the time it is in place it
052is in place so I think what I would suggest is that we come back to this policy again let's say within a year's time and and look at what may have happened what may have changed what may not have happened what how everybody feels about it at that point in time I mean maybe nothing that relates to this policy is going to occur in the next year's time but I would say it's definitely worth a return visit thank you for that great thank you anyone else Schoolboard member Gail and then Schoolboard member roach yeah I mean I I just a yeah I think it has to have the in in it and be vague but I I like that idea of coming back to it in a year's time and just reassessing based on kind
053of what we're seeing in the classroom and if there's any any issues so um I that's a great idea School Board member roach yeah I brought up the last meeting about uh curriculum appropriateness you know want to make sure math stays with math you know reading um and I I felt like the the meeting you know the wording as is was okay but I just want to make sure maybe to the best point about a year is revisit this is that I don't want too much pressure on the teachers um um I think Administration you know needs to uh back up the curriculum part of this uh in defense of the students rights here is that is that it just can't be a free-for-all um in all classes and I know we got to keep
054it flexible um but uh maybe in a year if there's language on Administration as much as on the teachers um and again this could have been discussed in the in the uh curriculum meetings and the in the policy meetings but um yeah that's that's all I have I I don't I don't necessarily need to see any changes now but I would I would keep an eye on this um throughout the year thanks Schoolboard Member trumman One More Time tiny thing and then I promise to put this to bed I don't think that this policy is going to make kids go okay time to open up this can of worms I think this is just more to cover us as a district so that if someone comes and says why is my kid doing this report
055in seventh grade social studies on whatever it allows them if it's age appropriate and it meets within the curriculum which the policy does line out then it's then it's cool beans you know but don't think there's a student that's following this meeting right now that's like here it comes I'm going to really turn the tables on the teachers now I think um this is more of like making sure that we know it's for students rights gives teachers a little bit of guidance and keeps us from having any kind of hairy Cary coming down our door so that's my that's my two sons I'm going to stop talking now okay so we have the motion on the floor to approve the second reading of the two policies roll call vote Schoolboard member Preble yes Schoolboard member
056Richards yes School Board member roach yes Schoolboard member Gail yes School Board member Truman yes and Schoolboard member Johnson no okay motion passes 51 okay that now takes us to item 13 and there is no additional information this evening item 14 is an executive session is there a motion for executive session Madame mayor Schoolboard member Truman I move we enter into executive session for the discussions of Labor contract proposal for non-instructional and instructional support staff pursuant to 1M RSA subsection 4056 D motion has been made to enter into executive sension by Schoolboard member Truman second by Schoolboard member Preble roll call vote Schoolboard member Preble yes School Board member Richards yes School Board member roach yes School Board member Gail yes School Board member Truman yes and Schoolboard member Johnson yes motion to enter executive
057session passes 60 we'll TW a uh take a quick 5minute recess and executive session will be in the city administrator's office this evening e e e I'll do it okay welcome back everybody is there a motion to exit executive session I move we exit executive session second we're really excited to get out of executive session motion to exit made by Schoolboard member Truman second by School Board member prebble think that was the first voice I heard uh roll call vote Schoolboard member prel yes School Board member Richards yes School Board member roach yes School Board member Gail yes School Board member Truman yes and School Board member Johnson yes motion to exit executive session at 621 passes 60 is there a motion coming from executive session yes I move we approve the labor contract proposal
058or do I just say I move we approve the non-instructional and instructional support staff contracts pursuant to oh for the years uh 20 24 2025 for the non-instructional and does it matter 2425 for the instructional and 24-27 for non-instruction sorry can I redo this I didn't write it down so that's okay I move we approve the non-instructional contract for three years 24 25 25 26 26 27 and the instructional support contract for one year second motion has been made by Schoolboard member Truman second by Schoolboard member Johnston any discussion I just want to say I think a lot of us want to say if anybody else wants to jump in uh I'm really proud of the work that we did on this contract on both of these contracts and um happy to report that [Music]
059the entry level steps um for the starting pay has gone up significantly to match other districts so we are more competitive in hiring both bus drivers ed techs and um hopefully we can fill more positions this year so great work to everybody on the negotiations teams um on on both sides thanks thank you anyone else Schoolboard member Gail and then Schoolboard member Johnson yeah just to Echo that thank you to the superintendent and um school board members uh Truman and Johnston on the negotiation it's it's um it's fantastic that we were able to to get this done and thank you guys for really doing uh you know um a lot of work on it to get us to a place where both sides can agree and and have some real um significant change for salaries
060and time off and things and it's it's great for the district and for the people that ultimately also will be hired with this new um salary structure so thank you guys for for all that hard work great thank you Schoolboard member Johnston thank you um I think that those of us on the negotiating committee feel pretty good about what we brought to fruition certainly was a joint effort amongst all of us um and I really have to say I appre appreciate um the cooperation and also the guidance given to us by superintendent Ray thank you go by member tman I did want to acknowledge superintendent Ry for making this possible as far as like raising uh those pay grades up to make them more competitive that was like his number one like one of his
061number one goals was going in and making sure that we were competitive and paying fair so Kudos okay motion on the floor roll call vote School Board member Preble yes School Board member Richards yes School Board member roach yes School Board member Gail yes School Board member Truman yes School Board member Johnston yes motion passes 60 okay that now takes us to item adj 15 and that is the adjournment is there a motion to adjourn so move second motion by Schoolboard member prebble second by Schoolboard member Truman roll call vote School Board me uh School Board member prebble yes School Board member Richards yes School Board member roach yes School Board member Gail yes Schoolboard member Truman yes Schoolboard member Johnston yes motion passes 6 Jeremy to adjourn at 626 thank you everyone and have
062a great evening for