001e e good evening my name is Jennifer Preble I'm the Sako School Board chair I'm calling this meeting to order at 7M on this Wednesday October 9th please note we have all school board members in attendance and would you please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance iedge Al to FL United States all right moving on to item two three we have approval of school board meeting minutes dated September 25th 2024 do I have a motion Madame mayor uh you're not Madam mayor no chair Preble I move we approve the school board meeting minutes dated September 25th 2024 do I have a second second I have a motion by Schoolboard member Truman with a second by School Board member Johnston um discussion on the meeting minutes from September 25th 2024 all right seeing I have
002nobody seeking discussion we'll move on to roll call vote School Board member waroff approve all right Schoolboard member Richards yes I vote Yes School Board member roach yes School Board member Gail yes School Board member Truman yes Schoolboard member Johnston yes motion passes 70 all right moving on to item four of our agenda adjustments to the agenda I do not have any adjustments this evening that I've have been made aware of um so we'll move on to item five correspondence I did not see any correspondence as well so we can move on to item six public session please feel free to come before the school board and state your your name and address for the record and you have three minutes to speak thank you seeing that I do not have any members of the
003public seeking for public session we will move on to Super um item seven which is the superintendent's report superintendent Ray all right good evening everybody or I guess we're night time now that it's dark so early um just a few things happening in the district there's always a tons of things but a few highlights um just want to say uh you know thank you and a good job to the SMS students who did a phenomenal job helping uh our community on October 3rd uh throughout October they'll continue to track their acts of kindness to see uh the impact that they're making uh the goal is 3,000 acts of kindness which would raise $122,000 in pledges so um you know thank the students for participating and doing some of those Community Services or just the little
004things um sako's pumpkin harvest fest uh students are decorating hundreds of pumpkins for uh sako's annual Pumpkin Fest on Saturday the 19th uh I encourage parents and community members to attend check out the downtown check out the fun pieces if you're around Red Ribbon Week is October uh 23rd through 20 uh through 31st which um is a partnership with Coastal Healthy Communities Coalition and the bford Sako Rotary Club it's been uh something that these groups have sponsored for several years uh and this year they're doing a screening of the documentary screenagers Under the Influence which address vaping drugs and alcohol in the digital age uh the the event will be held Wednesday October 23rd at 6 at Thorton Academy Auditorium uh followed by a panel discussion and resource faires we hope that uh parents in
005the community will access that uh I want to give a uh special thank you to the uh Fairfield PTO and staff who made the annual Fairfield Family Night a success um and then we've had uh a nice news article uh in the Sako Bay News around the kindness and Good Deeds at Saku middle school if you get the chance to check out that all right any questions for superintendent Ray on the superintendent's report all right seeing as no one is seeking questions we'll move on to item eight the chair's report this evening I don't have anything or major new updates um so we can move right on to item nine which is Staff reports um we don't have anything listed this evening so we can go right into item 10 board sub sub committee meeting
006minutes um item a policy and Personnel committee meant that our next meeting is November 13th at 5:30 they did meet this evening as well Item B finance and infrastructure the next meeting is on October 23rd at 4:30 p.m. and item C curriculum committee their next meeting will be October 28th at 4:30 p.m. any board questions on the board subcommittee meeting minutes or when the meetings are all right moving on to item 11 old business we have none listed moving on to item 12 new business item a new hires there should be a memo in your packet um it looks like there is no motion needed this evening for new hires so we can move on to Item B resignations there is also a um um memo in the packet and I have that that does
007require a motion this evening chair Preble School Board member Truman I move we accept the resignation of Gavin Pat human resources manager effective immediately do I have a second second I have a motion by Schoolboard member Truman with a second by Schoolboard member Johnston any discussion on the resonations School Board member roach yeah I just want to ask Jeremy uh what's the coverage in the meantime during this so pretty much anybody in the office is all hands on deck on those pieces um we're lucky enough that uh former director also still works in the office so that's helpful and then we've had some additional help in the transition for uh business manager with some retired business managers who help pick out some of those functions as well any other questions in regards to the resonations
008all right seeing there's no further questions roll call vote School Board member waroff yes School Board member Richards yes I vote Yes School Board member roach yes School Board member Gail yes School Board member Truman yes School Board member Johnston yes motion passes 70 all right moving on to item c a resolution calling for full permanent funding of Ida um Jeremy if you could fill us in yes so one of the things that uh over the last couple of years um kind of in the summertime when I do the trips to Washington and have uh meetings with our Congressional uh delegation one of the things that always comes up is the fact that in the United States uh federal law calls for 40% funding of idea which we're at about like 133% and so msba
009school boards Association um and uh superintendent Association from local to National level is looking for resol boards to accept this resolution because one of the things that we saw is that through the pandemic mic schools did receive a lot of additional dollars uh coming from the federal government which allowed us to do extra staff building work etc etc and then when you see that running out on top of the piece that we do not get the 40% at uh for for students with disabilities which was passed in 1975 um whereas asking School departments to pass this resolution we can compile a list Statewide and this will be done nationally uh and if you look at the the backup page that I have on there if you were fully funded you would have another $2,270 coming
010into your Revenue line that would be a reduction in taxpayers and so this is important that when you know I think on our end just like in the state of Maine when we as Citizens voted years ago to fund education at 55% and we just got to that point like 20 years later well we need to follow the own rules that we put into place and so this is uh looking for that support in this resolution okay uh questions for superintendent Ray uh School Board member Truman are you looking for a motion of any kind from us or yeah I I'd like to just have a motion that the boards approve this so that we can add Sako uh to the list of school committees that you know again Nationwide we're trying to compile and
011say hey here is what the the government has Pro uh promised us this is what the law says let's fund at that level now I know that that is Pie in the Sky approach um but it at least gives us some some talking points perfect can I throw that motion out then yep go go right ahead unless there's any other questions all oh School Board member Gail you have a question yeah I guess just a a question on in terms of Engagement with our Congressional Delegation with Senator Collins and and pingry and particular are they like I guess kind of what has the conversation been if we've had that with them and yeah so like when I when we go and talk about this this is always on our list and I mean they truthfully
012are like well there's a ramp up phase and they don't even get to having those discussions I know at one point they were trying to just get to 177% we're currently at 133% but as costs Nationwide rise and their costs don't go up it tends the percentage is going the other way I mean like anyone anyone is supportive of that and then it comes down to the process and where dollars and cents are allocated in a budget all right any other questions for superintendent Ray all right oh you have a question well we can wait till it gets on the table too okay right yeah I was going to say go right ahead member TR I move that we approve the resolution calling for full permanent funding of Ida I have a motion by schoolb
013member Truman do I have a second second I have a second by School Board member Johnston now uh discussion amongst the board for the motion School Board member roach all right first question is at five o'clock did bford vote for this already okay so we get that we get one um probably have number three next Tuesday night too okay okay um the uh more serious question though although that's the question um is um it says the estimate $1,200 a student is that sako's rough number too or is that just a nationwide average that's a nationwide average okay but if it was our average that's like $2 million oh yeah okay all right any other questions on the motion Schoolboard member Truman this is something that you've also brought up with the state legislature yeah that's
014kind of where you should where we should be starting anyway right to get the states to kind of push well I think it's it's only States this is this actually sits at a federal level piece y uh later on throughout the year you'll help you'll get to hear all of my talk about the the push on the local side that we need to make um and and changes in funding formula are there but uh this is straight Federal all right any other questions oh School Board member Gil I guess just also following up in terms of of Congress too I mean uh is there thought of sending this resolution to both of the presidential candidates to make it yeah there our national organizations have this this is where that information comes from as our national
015organizations of making sure that you know they're doing their lobbying work but they need us at the local level to lift some water so that they can say 98% of of the districts in Maine voted for this and we're sending that on to King and Collins and to the party platforms Etc okay last call for questions on the motion all right let's do a roll call vote um School Board member waroff yes all right School Board member Richards yes I vote Yes for myself School Board member rot yes School Board member Gail yes School Board member Truman yes School Board member Johnston yes motion passes 70 all right moving on to item D Elementary construction update superintendent Ray yes and uh uh Meg may possibly have things to uh chime in on this as well
016um basically some of the work that we're doing right now is we are in design phase interior wise um that is those are the big lifts and we had a meeting um this week uh with a Oak Point to kind of like think about okay what are all of the decisions that begin need to be made and some of those are like things like floor tile and pink colors and shelving and you name it there's a lot of decisions that need to be made about a building uh and so one of the things that will be happening in the next uh couple of weeks is a series of meetings with focus groups or different departments like an an example would be meeting with kitchen staff while the room is designed now you have to really
017fine-tune a lot of those pieces um so that's part of the work uh that we've that we've been doing uh in addition um Meg and I I think we both like spreadsheets um um and like them a lot uh and we have created kind of tracking sheets because one of the things that's important uh for us is that not only do we need to stay on task and make sure that decisions and things are made but we also want to make a pretty good uh record so that longterm in 20 years from now hopefully I'm still living in this community and someone will say well who made that awful decision and we can go back to a spreadsheet and said yeah that was Jeremy um or who made that really good decision and we can
018go down that one and say that was Meg um but I think that's something that's really important for us additionally we're moving forward um and we've had some conversations about in the next couple of weeks we will have a closing on the ban which will give us some of that upfront um funding and then also talk talking about one of the things I think will be a little bit harder for us than sometimes other school districts that may only have a state project is that we have a state and local project going on at the same time so we've got to be able to um you know we made some decisions could have been like you could have had one account uh for this and I was like No we're going to have the elementary
019account in the state account so that it's easily uh figured out like which expenses going here because there are going to be some things like throughout the process that we will have to divide cost for um when they come in an example may be that the requirement for just the um state funded project is a 8 in pipe but because we have the other school there it is a 12in pipe which means our share would be the cost differential between those two uh and so those are some things I think are really important for us to make sure that financially we have clean records and move forward we also very soon will be talking uh and having to have the conversations about owner's rep um and the pieces of the management of the process and
020when to bring people on board because you know we're hoping that by next summer at some point we're out to we're out to bid and we're we're moving that process along uh couple of weeks ago Meg and I were able to go do some uh Road walks and some site walks around the intersection of what would change what would not change looking at the property in what's needed for signage and uh so just kind of a lot of those behind the scenes things that are happening that no one gets to you know you don't notice them because everyone's gets more excited when shovels are in the ground and that work there so a lot going on Meg I just wanted to add um three more items onto that Jeremy's very excited about the bond the
021things that I'm very excited about are um one we have a plan with our CK Burns students to work with the architect um our fifth graders in particular should have an opportunity to have a presentation with the architect about playground design and provide some feedback and then our third and fourth graders were so excited or our third and fourth grade teachers were so excited about hearing about us doing that with fifth grade that we' found a way to kind of virtually play that down for our third and fourth graders to kind of had a have a short video intro and provide some feedback as well um in addition to that we mentioned at the last school board meeting that we have a committee that will be talking about themes throughout the building and ways that
022we could honor sako's history and sako's natural environment um we have heard from two different individuals from the community that are interested in participating we would love additional folks to reach out our current meeting times are going to be October 16th if we can pull together enough folks by then from 4 to 5: and then a follow-up meeting on November 6th from 4: to 5: and um lastly I just wanted to mention another component we are getting from vendors a variety of different flooring to be able to try out in some different spaces at Fairfield that need some upgrad grades anyway and that will allow us to have kind of a real life test environment for both staff and ourselves to see how those different materials play out in our schools just on a piece
023on the flooring piece just so that people aren't aware of like part of the test purpose of why Fairfield school is one cement slab that mimics what we will have in the in the other school number two same we wanted to make sure we kept it at one school so that we were looking at same cleaning routine same people doing it um and then also knowing that um sometimes you never know what you're going to run into for troubles in the future we know that that cement over uh the cement slab over there has a high moisture content so I'm interested just to see how different types of materials um kind of work through that piece so that we can make good decisions one of the things that we're really trying to think about um
024and it's very easy to think about building this new school and thinking about how beautiful it will look year 1 through 10 and a lot of the times my focus is on year 10 through 30 um because we know that we are great builders in this country but sometimes we don't maintain things the way that we should and I really want to have um a clear focus on what will be that maintenance in schedule looking like in years 10 and one of the questions I ask a lot is will we able be able to replace that item because matching is very important to me um and if you can't get a sign a sound panel that matches or a floor tile or something like that that uh matches in the future that's just going to
025make you know the building changes so much um the other piece is is when you look at the square footage um of that building and most schools most schools have as you remember you walk in in September 1st in the classroom floors a nice shiny wax tile that doesn't last very long and we're in the day and age where we cannot be uh placing so much funds in the course of a summer time into Just Waxing and redoing floors so that's like part of the test is like there's so much out there and while there may be a slightly different upfront cost to that material or to that um flooring system when you think about the next 20 years of your summer maintenance staff washing waxing doing it all over again the additional chemicals that
026you put into place place and all those things I want to make a a really hopefully we will make a wise long-term decision about what we have and still have that work in the classroom uh so that's why we'll do some of these testings and hopefully come up with the right solution all right any questions from the board oh School Board member Johnston thank you um this question is probably somewhat still difficult to answer and but I've been asked at number of times when do we actually anticipate starting the construction process I will say sometime in 2025 what start looks like can mean different for others like we've had a conversation about is there any advantage to uh and and some of this goes through the the bonding process and what the state board will
027allow and not allow one of the questions that we were working through last week was is there a way that we could start kind of preparing the land just tree clearing and was there any value that that was going to save us a month or two months in timing if we do it now and you have to go through the state board and they'd have to allow that too so there are some of those questions that the process does it make sense in the process does it make sense in timing does it really save you anything we are trying to think of ways that will get us in there quicker because I think like as the community everybody's like oh we voted why haven't we started you know I get that piece I understand that
028um because I'm excited to think of day one when the shovels in the ground and you know we're actually out there uh putting the foundation in and all of that stuff and the trucks are rolling that will be exciting for us so I would say hopefully sometime fall of 25 would be the ideal thank you for that answer it's it's explains a lot I think if people really stop and think about the variety of things that have to be considered in the process but in the fall of 25 as a potential is at least something to give people for a solid kind of answer and I know it's difficult to come up with that but thank you and I think it's also just you know when people think about this in the grand scheme of
029things how difficult it can be just to build a house and we're doing a $140 million project that's a lot and that's a lot of planning a lot of Permitting a lot of design work um that just takes time Schoolboard member Gil got two questions one um would it be possible in the next couple months to get like a just a specific presentation on that playground piece and like hearing what the feedback from the students is and kind of incorporating um that into maybe some public messaging about how you know this is a community space as well after school's out right and so we want to have a place where kids uh can help design it and then also are enjoying it I think that'd be really a fun presentation that could get people motivated
030and excited um and then I guess the second more broad question is I think I read that there was a a Statewide committee being formed on school construction I was wondering if we or you had any information on um potential feedback we could give them specifically related to uh areas such as the requirement of acreage per student that really constrain communities ability to put schools uh maybe in more urban areas that is more kind of fitting for a community school yeah I I suspect they'll do some listening tours on those pieces and um actually last night there was a news story on that on channel 8 that they' come down and talked to us because we have one of those projects um I think when you look at the overall condition and you think about
031again how lucky we are right now to be sitting where we are because I have a feeling that the next round things are going to change a little bit number one is that school construction just cost so much more than it than it did and when you're looking at you know a$ hundred million project and by the time you pay the life of the bond off and interest you're at like maybe 170 um that really a lot of our discussions around the state needs to be about the tax structure that supports building whereas in the state of Massachusetts they buy all their schools pretty much fund them with a tax piece so they're paying upfront no interest purchasing more schools you know in the state of Maine you also have these major construction pieces for
032something with a great amount of public dollars behind it being managed by superintendents and business managers um you know I think that we're pretty into it and we like that process but you know know I'm sure that there could be other ways that that could be uh better run Statewide and the other piece we've got 600 schools in the state of Maine that are overall in pretty poor conditions if you saw the news today one school was closed um so we've had like two or three schools in across the state of Maine that have been like closed or condemned in the last like 12 months for certain reasons and so as a Statewide piece we have issues around declining enrollment School construction the ability for municipalities to um pay for some of that upkeep and
033I think it's a really interesting committee that they're going to have out and hopefully not only do they just talk you know it's got to be more than just talk about what bad shape we're in it's got to be talked about like what's the solution here um because when you also think about like where you have you like when I came on board in 2021 that's when we re started the process we're in closer to 2025 now and yes we've had a successful vote but the time that it takes uh is a challenge there's got to be a better way to do this as a state yeah I guess I just that that sighting piece is just feels like so critical because that took up you know a year and a half of of trying
034to determine that because of all these constraints that the state puts on us um when it felt like there should have been an easier way an easier way to get where we're at today in terms of getting that money out and and making improvements probably for 90% of the state the issue that we had is not a problem for uh and again if Dayton was lucky enough to have a project in the next round we were 17th on the list out there they're in a whole different situ ation than Sako is that they may they may be lucky enough to have land owners coming to them who say please use my property because I want it to remain in the community as a school uh which is a very different where you know we had
035to really search to just meet the requirement they won't have a problem or you know some of those other communities but Portland would uh you know Westbrook's going to have a problem southern Maine you know any other questions for superintendent Ray all right moving on to item e political signage school grounds informational superintendent Ray yes so um this has really been like probably the earliest in a year and the most of it that throughout all three communities a lot of questions coming about political signage uh on roadways near school grounds near polling locations Etc um even where you know sometimes uh members of our staff were getting approached about removing a sign and certainly that's a no no um so we just put together a letter for our principals for our any of our school
036staff secretary the public to see of what that process is what that looks like and providing a resource to people um so if they do stop at the school or do have a question for one of you guys you can direct them right here and say hey this is the process this is what it is this is not a school department issue we have to work in another Direction on that all right any questions for superintendent Ray on the political signage school ground informationals Schoolboard bever roach yeah I took a look um I'm kind of fascinated by sign placements and um what did strike me I don't know if the complaint was at Burns but um um it did strike that the signs it's on the you know it's the only school where the street
037is that close to the main entrance but um it did seem to be distracting or in the way of the burn School sign and you know I don't know if that counts to that the number two of of obstructed views or not but and I don't know whe if that complaint came from that school specifically but um yeah I thought that was a little bit off I mean I just you know I I'm not saying remove the signs right in that little section but I mean a case could be made for that and I would point that concern to the city clerk's office who I hate to pass that off on that one but I just am not and I don't want to put our staff in that place uh and our principles in our
038place um no no that's what I mean I don't mean our staff or there's been memos that have gone around around to other um government in government of council had uh something as well but um um because there was um Talk of um concern about sign stealing yes um so you need yeah you don't want to touch signs and be accused of that so no no I'm saying definitely the city so we I I would say that this is the earliest this year and obviously with three districts I think I've received some sort of question or concern about every single school and every one of the districts okay about placement here or placement there and uh again earliest I ever saw it happen and so as we t uh spoke about it as administrators we
039were like yep one message one letter here it is how do we um work through the political season now since this is the school board um message to the kids out there or parents or whatever don't steal signs because a certain School Board member back when he was in high school took a sign and that sign was alarmed and I found myself at the Asbury police station in Massachusetts dressed up in a suit trying to talk her way out of it and I I was I was uh let go so I still have PTSD from that so don't steal signs all right any other questions canart follow up from that so uh any other questions for superintendent Ray I think good words of wisdom as we move into item F enrollment update superintendent Ray so
040I've had an enrollment update on U every school committee uh agenda and we'll continue we are in the process of verifying October 1 counts uh and I do have a state uh kind of the early print out of that um where it does look like our um tuition count Thorton Academy is going to be much closer or higher than 900 students uh which is something that we will have to budgetarily look at it looks like our elementary counts are probably going to be up somewhere around students um our elll count will be up around 29 students we'll be at 240 2 and um Meg and Chris uh endorf worked on a memo that uh they gave to me today and that if you look at what we kind of oversee in bord and Sako together
041when you look at the number of elll students between the two communities we are the third believe the third highest in the state Meg now with the combined uh which you know is a combined central office and so between us we're well over 600 students uh that again the level of expertise and the additional pieces we've got to come to you guys with a solution of how we um kind of manage uh some of that one of the things that you will see um when we finalize the number is that when we look at our economic status counts that's our kids that are free and edce lunch we're probably going to be looking at about an 18% growth in that or another 122 students that will qualify which will significantly impact um our overall rate
042um it seems like we've seen a lot of growth here that as communities we are not children who are living in poverty are becoming more and more uh so that goes back to some of the conversations that we've had um so from an overall piece we are not going to be down students which is a good thing for funding um we will definitely have higher waiting C weighted counts in free and reduced lunch and with elll students um but I do think that we are going to experience challenging budget times when it comes to this just based off everything that's going on and so one of the things that we're going to have to work really really hard for on is our influence with elected officials from a local and state level I'm going to
043ask you to pull out a pen right now and I'll we will send you a date but November 14th is an important meeting that's a Thursday night and we're working with city managers and elected officials to have a forum uh that will be at Sanford High School from 5:30 uh I believe until 7 that night and that forum is going to focus on two things number one homelessness as communities how we begin to talk about the solutions we will have all newly elected um legislators invited to that meeting and then our number two will be um designed by the superintendent with El officials boards City councilors to talk about some of the challenges we face one funding what needs to be done and talked about in discussion a 20-year-old funding formula where classrooms looks much
044different unfunded mandates while sometimes things have great intentions funding don't doesn't come with them and how does that impact um local voters and then there will be some other pieces that we put in we will keep our topics to a minimum that night with hope that people will also um form a relationship there one of the things that's really important is when our elected officials reach out to us for advice on bills so that we can give them the local impact um and then hyper locally as we look at our surrounding areas I think that for a school departments City officials one of the things that we need to continue to do is throughout the session make sure that we are touching base with our elected officials and understanding that the things that are passed
045in Augusta they understand the local impact to our taxpayers to our operations to our cities um because I think that is definitely something I feel like we moved away from over the last five or six years is that local connection um and bringing it back to how do we make sure that we convey the message um from City of Sako to our elected officials of what the impact is going to be so we're going to work on some programming for that uh hopefully before we dive well well into the budget season and then I suspect that throughout the budget season we'll need to be very active um based off different Revenue forecasts that are out there and and pieces of how all that comes through but school funding clearly will be a Hot Topic issue
046any questions for superintendent Ray from the board School Board member Gail sorry about that I didn't turn that on uh so 10% of our students are multilingual Learners right I mean yeah that's that's really surprising correct that's hard for teachers that's challenging for schools yeah and uh you know big change in a short amount of time here uh and so we've got to really come back and think about the allocation of resources and staff and whether we're have things at the right level because the numbers are just continuing um to kind of grow now certainly one of the things that we will need to keep a real eye on is in the next budget cycle does the same um volume of students come from the hotel I don't know that that will last but what
047I will tell you is that many of our students um who have started in the hotel are now permanent residents in the area um and I think that's an exciting thing is that we're seeing here being part of the community moving in having students here staying in the communities um you know a lot of movement between both communities back and forth uh has occurred um but yeah it's definitely a large demographic swing and if uh if an individual relocates to a different Community we still they have the option to have their child continue at our school in our schools is that right so if you if you have permanent residency somewhere else no you would need to to transfer uh that happens or occurs for someone who has a homeless designation okay um it also
048could happen during the you know time of the year if a kid's moving in April you're going to say hey finish out the school year here uh start fresh again but gotcha okay um those are some of the things that we deal with depending on the Des designation that a student may have okay thank you any other questions for superintendent Ray I had a quick question just out of curiosity um you mentioned with the Forum item one was homelessness has anyone thought about are you guys including like the York County shelter in this or Preble Street I was just curious what the around homelessness they if you're inviting community members to come in and kind of really educate the elected officials on what the impact of homelessness is in a community yes we this is
049uh we're working with York County Community Action to have the right providers in the room uh on that evening as well awesome thank you any other questions for superintendant Ray all right moving on to item G which is the transportation survey it does say in our packets that there may be some more information to come but superintendent Ray please fill us in okay so we were able to keep it the survey open we're about a week and a half Meg uh that we did this and so today actually this morning we were able to pull all of the information together because we wanted to have enough time for it to be out there and we wanted it to go through that second weekend of uh being open to the public public just so that in
050case you know parents are on the sideline of wck soccer game they might talk about that say oh I haven't filled that out yet uh we had approximately 250ish responses Meg is that correct um and this was prek through 12 and so I've prepared a memo for you guys tonight um that I would ask that you read read through this will be on the agenda again um there are some immediate action steps that we would be taking anyway um about thinking about the data is leading us to a review the policies that needs to get on a policy committee agenda uh we need to develop some surveys uh for students um in certain areas uh we want had a lot of people who um pointed out some great things about routing or bus right app
051they also pointed out some things about items that they said their family would consider and then we have to figure out are those even possible for us to do um one of the pieces that we need to spend some time on is just while there are many um really good opinions and uh suggestions offered up um without living the day-to-day piece like one of the let me provide an example an example was someone would say well it' be great if you could split the K2 and the 35 bus routes and that sounds like a great theoretical piece but in order to do that I would almost have to have double the amount of buses or make bus routes much longer so we want to be able to go through some of those suggestions and provide
052some information about what those impacts would be because it's not sometimes one thing affects another and we want to be able to convey those pieces so there's a lot here uh and a lot to read through and I apologize for it not being sooner but we just needed the time to make sure that we didn't rush anything um thoron Academy was able to send it out to this their group of parents so that they had some and uh after you read this if you have any questions of would you like to see a little bit more or or have a deeper understanding send those questions to Megan I and we can run through that process so that we can have a larger discussion with people having enough time to background and process things uh Schoolboard
053member roach uh yeah considering we you know the memo just came out um can we re address this at a next meeting which might have some proposed or what you call some action items that we could we could possibly vote on to give you know people filled out the survey uh the courtesy the drivers of course staff and then and then I don't know what that would look like yeah I I think one of the pieces is that Meg and I were you know talking about it today about you know when you think about sometimes the next meeting trying to get something done when you look at a workshop day on Friday uh a holiday on Monday and basically having to have an agenda done when you really think about it by next Thursday um
054it doesn't give us a lot of time in between some of this so I do think Kevin there will be some uh easy recommendations that we have on here tonight just like we need to work with our routing vendor a little bit and see what that looks like we need to explore some things like what does happen if you toggle the switch and you made walking distance slightly W longer to the bus stop you guys have some interesting language in your transportation policy and correct me if I'm wrong Meg that basically says kind of like door too for kindergarten which creates a situation where you're not going to pick up the kindergarten kid door Todo and tell the third and fourth grader sorry not you you know you can't get on that really impacts some
055of the walking distance challenges that we have because now you consolidate those so much more so we've got to look a little bit technology-wise of what we can build what we can do what are some steps and possibilities that could take and what that process might look like yeah it doesn't have to be the next meeting yeah yeah plus I might not be here for the next meeting so this this is going to take us a little bit because I don't think there's a I don't think there's a there's not going to be a there's not a quick solution to this because everything affects everything a quick solution would be having seven to 10 people from the community who are watching tonight say that they're interested in getting a bus driver's license now that's not
056quick either but that would help us we have competitive wages for the area we've done a great job boosting those we just need to have more people who are willing to do that and that was definitely a suggestion those hire more bus drivers and we are going for the public has watching we are going going to take you up on that uh suggestion and see if any of our parents want to be a part-time bus driver grandparents we'll send out a list for that send us a name uh and we'll follow up because that's solution number one the other piece that um I think Kevin and you've said this before uh yourself that I think is an important point is that certain parts of our community 20 years ago used to have a lot of
057kids living in that part of town town and then that that's changed and I think we need to do a little bit um of a better review working with our um software to make sure that we have historical routes and historical drivers doing a route and every one of us sitting here if we had kids at school would hope that we had the same bus driver for all 12 years of our kids education you get to know them you know who that person is we need to make sure that with the population growth in the northern part of Sako that were allocating uh you know enough buses or an even amount of buses in that piece and then I think there were some really good suggestions about having to make some real decisions about okay
058can you take a small section of town that is your longest drive and service that with smaller types of vehicles that would decrease uh the ride which may be a coming to you and saying hey I really don't need another 80 passenger bus but if I had two buses that held four mini buses that held 14 kids that might help really solve a problem in some of those Pockets uh through and through so I think we're going to have to be creative and just not assume that more 72 or 80 passenger big yellow buses is going to be the solution long term all right Schoolboard member Gil just quickly glancing through it um maybe also just leveraging the bus right app as it as it relates to that tardiness piece of it because it feels
059like we can track it in real time then maybe there's some teachers that can see that the student is late because the bus is running you know whatever late but um thank you for for consolidating all this stuff into a a great memo and yeah should be some good conversations moving forward any other discussion for or questions for Su superintendent Ray all right thank you for that information moving on to item H policies to strike um number one cb- our school administrator is lc- standers this will become an internal document um but do I have a motion School Board member Johnston thank you I move we strike policy cb- R do I have a second second I have a motion by School Board member Johnson with a second by School Board member Truman any discussion
060School Board member Johnston um I think it's important uh for the board to understand and anyone else as well that this will become an internal document it's not as if we are just eliminating it entirely it's just thought not to really belong as a policy all right any other questions regarding this all right roll call vote School Board member waroff yes School Board member Richards yes I vote Yes School Board member roach yes School Board member Gail yes School Board member Truman yes School Board member Johnson yes motion passes 70 all right moving on to item I second reading of policies we have number one gbia staff participation in political activities item 2 khc distribution of non-school materials item three I jnb d-r student computer and internet use rules I have um J item e
061j r a R student education records and information administrative procedure item F jfab admission of non-resident students item G kbf parent involvement in Title One policy item hbbb da School Board declared vacancy caused by absenteeism do I have a motion School Board member Johnson thank you I move we approve the second reading of policies G b b i a k HC i j n d b-r j r A- r jfab b kbf and BBB da a second all right I have a motion by Schoolboard member Johnston with a second by School Board member Truman any discussion on the policies all right seeing as no one is seeking discussion Ru call vote School Board member waroff yes School Board member Richards yes I vote Yes School Board member roach yes School Board member Gail yes School
062Board member Truman yes School Board member Johnston yes roll call um motion pass is 70 didn't want to go backwards there for a minute all right moving on to item 13 other information we don't believe we have any listed in the agenda this evening which then leads us to item 14 which is executive session duties of employees pursuant to 1M RSA 456a do I have a motion chair Preble uh School Board member Truman I move we enter into executive session for the discussion of duties of employees with advice from legal counsel pursuant to 1M RSA subsection 4056 a do I have a second second second by School Board member Johnston do I have any discussion all right roll call vote School Board member waroff yes School Board member Richards yes I vote Yes School Board
063member roach yes School Board member Gail yes School Board member Truman yes School Board member Johnston yes motion passes 70 to enter into executive session at 7:57 p.m. e e e almost there is this public okay yes um do I have a motion to exit executive session I move we exit executive session School Board I have a motion by School Board member Truman to exit executive session do I have a second second second by School Board member Richards roll call vote Schoolboard member waroff yes School Board member Richards yes I vote Yes School Board member roach yes School Board member Gail yes School Board member Truman yes School Board member Johnston yes motion passes 70 to exit executive session um there is no motion from executive session so we are moving on to item 15
064which is adjournment so moved second so moved by Schoolboard member Truman and I heard a second from Jeff Richards School Board member Richards um can I get a roll call vote School Board member waroff yes School Board member Richards yes I vote Yes School Board member roach yes School Board member Gail yes School Board member Truman yes and School Board member Johnson yes motion passes 70 to adjourn thank you so much and have a great evening at 9:30