001There you go. Oh, yes. I can show you the ones Can I use mine? You can use mine. Okay. Yeah, I'll figure it out for next time. We got that one. I told her to spell out the names. I only found one of them speed reading right now. Yeah, that's one thing I really Nothing more you just No, I had it When it comes down, will you I'll just I'll if you if you're okay with us Yeah, that'd be awesome. All right, 6:00 I'm going to call this meeting to order. You will please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance. Oh my goodness. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I'll
002read our board norms. Work together and be collaborative. Assume good intentions. Present and prepared for the meeting. Challenge the issue, not the person. Be respectful. And now we'll review the minutes for April 1st. I'll move to approve the minutes for April 1st. Second. Any discussion? I gave some corrections to Awesome. Yeah, so yeah, we'll uh we'll vote pending the or with the corrections being approved. Yeah. Uh all in favor say I. I. Any opposed? All right, public comments. Candy Abbott, 44 Old Center Road. You probably wish I did Facebook so that you didn't have to see my face here at the meeting tonight, Wednesday. I have um I'm going to try to word this as best as I can. Um I'm a bit confused. Um Mrs. Shute had brought forward her concerns about Facebook and
003how something was said that she felt was incorrect and um it was not addressed and it had to do I'm not sure whether or not she can be a board member or there are certain things that she shouldn't participate in conversation. I don't know. Um and none of the members addressed her concerns. Then at the end a comment was made by a citizen that clarified the conflict of interest in their mind. I don't know if legal counsel has addressed this and what the outcome of all of this was or if it's still sitting and simmering or if there's truth to this. I just don't know. And if you aren't addressing it as a board because it was a Facebook thing it's frustrating because Facebook drives me crazy, but I get it. But since it was
004brought up at the end of the meeting can we have some clarity? Maybe at not tonight's meeting, but sometime down the road. Thank you. I'm April Caron from Middle Road. Um was not planning to speak, but because Candy did um speak about the Facebook issue, I just want to chime in as a community member who has chosen that Facebook is not a part of my life. Um for me and I think a lot of people, I don't find Facebook to be a healthy, productive way to spend my time and it feels really inappropriate to me that many communities across our country are choosing to use social media as a way to try to resolve human issues. It's not a replacement for real conversation. And while there are many people who are avid Facebook and other
005social media users there are always going to be a huge contingent of any community who chooses not to participate there. And I feel very uncomfortable with the idea of this school board being willing to entertain the idea that you're getting a pulse of our community by the conversation that's happening there. It's a small, specific representation of our community. Um and I want to speak up for the people who are choosing to not be there. Please it's a mistake for anyone to think the echo chamber that they're in online is our world and we should be building community in person saying the things that we need to say to people in person even when it's scary. Thank you so much. Thank you. Stacey Commercial, 80 Meeting House Hill Road. I'm here as a resident, not as
006a member of the budget committee, but I wanted to address the budget and the surplus tonight. Um I wanted to start by saying that the notion that you cannot obtain or relay an accurate picture of your financials because you're operating under a default budget is erroneous. I would also suggest that you're not creating a budget for 18 to 24 months in advance. When you do it, you craft your budget in December, your new fiscal year starts July 1st, that's 7 months in advance. You don't measure it against the end of that fiscal year, but you measure it against when you when you're going to start that fiscal year. By July 1st, you have generally your contracts are in place, your staff, your new hires, um and your expenses for the coming year are fairly well
007set. Special ed I know is always a monkey wrench. Um but unless something catastrophic like school choice or something maintenance related happens um that really throws off your budget you have a a pretty good idea um when you start the school year what your what your year is going to look like. You operate under a bottom line budget. So, you have a proposed budget for each year generated by you, then adjusted. Um but that proposed budget represents your anticipated expenses. You have revenue and expenditure reports that come out from the SAU bi-monthly or monthly that tell you exactly what your numbers are. Um so, you can spend your money where you choose and you really do have all the information in front of you that you need to properly and accurately measure your expenses. Um
008this kind of flyer when you run a one and a half million dollar surplus but you go to deliberative and hand something out that says the NBC is trying to decimate education in Deerfield by attempting to cut 786,000 and you run a surplus of double that not only erodes trust in what you're doing, um but it exacerbates you know, your inability to get a budget passed. It's very frustrating um as a taxpayer to be told that you need every single penny that's in your budget when you run a million and a half dollar surplus and why you're just starting to look at that now and and going back as was in your budget packet, I don't really understand that. That's that's a process you have to do every time you're putting together your budget. Look
009at last year's actuals, get your budget together. You're going to have some extraneous issues, but you you know fairly well um what that budget needs to be. Um so this saying you couldn't even find $786,000 in your budget you came up with some number, but you were $215,000 short is really hyperbolic when you run the surpluses that you do. Having said that, I am very grateful that we're not running at a deficit um as a lot of school districts are, but we can do better than what we're doing and I hope that that renewed focus on looking at your actual expenditures um helps get us there. Thank you. Hello, I'm Joanne Franklin from South Road. Um I'm here to express a serious concern about our third graders being in a modular classroom without bathrooms. Right
010now, these eighth graders are required to leave their classrooms and walk to the main building without an adult escort. Developmentally, eight-year-olds do not have the judgment or impulse control to handle emergencies or strangers on their own. While the Hampshire building codes might allow for classrooms without bathrooms, it does not excuse the school from its duty to supervise children at all times. Asking a young child to walk outside unsupervised, regardless of the distance is a safety risk that our school should not be taking. It leaves children vulnerable to weather, accidents, and security threats. I teach at a school where fifth graders are escorted by an adult between the modulars and the buildings every single time. Um I'm asking the school board to review the current supervision plan and ensure that no elementary school students, especially third
011graders, are asked to travel between buildings without a staff present. Our children's safety should matter and should never be a matter of concern. I am concerned that administration does not feel the potential dangers of this. It is easy to say that nothing happens here. That is only true until it isn't. Thank you. Hi, I'm Claudia Lybas, Maple Avenue. Um I have three things that I just like to mention. The first was about the conversation and subsequent vote that you took at the last meeting meeting about Facebook. And I really listened carefully about that. Um through the whole discussion that you had. Um I'm encouraging you to vote again a second time. And here's the reason. I kept thinking about the older children, especially, who many of whom have their own Facebook accounts and have total
012access to all the comments that are made, many of which are detrimental to uh the teachers. And the teachers, maybe that fifth grader's teacher, just to take an example. And how is it going to be for that fifth grader when they read a bunch bunch of scathing remarks about their teacher on Facebook, come into school the next day and are expected to learn from that teacher and respect that teacher. Um I think it's a setup for some really nasty behaviors, some nasty feelings on the children's part that may not understand the complete picture. Um I would encourage, I think it's wonderful to have a venue where or an avenue to say, "Here's what we're discussing. Um Here's what we have discussed, if you want to say that. And at the bottom say, "We welcome your
013remarks. Please email them to us or come to our meeting and talk to us like I'm doing now." Um That way we are not or you're not uh breeding a bunch of nasty nasty comments that just get worse and worse and worse as they go around the community. It cuts off a lot of misinformation and I think we're finding out that there's a ton of misinformation that people are putting on Facebook. And it allows you to go through people's comments, see what they're concerned about, and come to the people that know the answers, and try to promote some real information instead of those kind of Facebook stuff that goes around. So, I would really encourage you to reconsider based on the kids, really. I mean, their their parents may be able to filter a little
014bit better. But kids, not so much. I don't think it's fair to them. I don't think it's fair to the people here at school. So, that's one thing. Um Your your 3 minutes is up. I'm sorry. Oh, what? Your 3 minutes is up. It is already? >> Yeah. I didn't even get to preschool. Well, if if if um I didn't know I had 3 minutes, but okay. >> Yeah. If there's if there's other if there's other public comments and there's time for another round, we can do that or at the end. Okay. Well, I'm not able to stay till the end, but maybe I'll have to wait Yeah, I'm sorry. I'm just trying to stay consistent and give everybody the same time. That's fine. Thank you. Um I am Lisa Monroe. I live on Wood
015Road. Um and not to keep going at it, but I do understand that nasty comments are going to happen on Facebook regardless cuz there's plenty of community pages. This town has I think more Facebook pages than residents at this point, so um I think it's just a matter of the board's public facing. It is important to share the information. I think that's great. But the board having comments on their own posts, I think is where that line gets crossed and um there's too many people that use their Facebook as a platform to insult and hurt others. There has been some really inappropriate photos of very dedicated people at this school with numbers written over their faces as though they are just a line on a table, which I'm going to say again, we have to
016remember that these people have dedicated their lives to educating the children of this town and helping these kids. It is not a number on a table. Um and I am going to quickly touch on the preschool thing as well, which um I commented on Facebook and I am very I I know this has been discussed over the last several years and I just want to make sure that I I saw it's on the agenda for tonight, too, and I'm looking forward to hearing more about that. Um but just really wanted to emphasize how much I value that program. It's difficult with the current schedule. Full-time would be phenomenal. Um but even at the part-time schedule, it was extremely it was a game-changer for me, my family, and my now kindergartner. Um we had a a
017bumpy start. He had attended preschool here for about half the year and because of that and because of the phenomenal people in the preschool program, he is now a fantastic kindergartner. He's a great friend. He's learning. He's doing math and reading and writing and it's fantastic and I I don't know if we would have gotten there as quickly um without having the help of the phenomenal preschool program that we have here. Um so I'm just advocating again for that and um it's not just the preschool classroom. It's a whole team of individuals that are supporting the kids and they don't just support preschool, either. So, um just wanted to make sure I shared that. And a reminder, they're not a number. They are people who have dedicated their lives. They are very well-qualified people who
018are supporting our community by developing the next generation. Thank you. Any other public comments? Sure. Um I did see I think 21, I think it was, had 40 minutes dedicated to public comments at their um meetings. I'm not sure what the time limit was, but if people were um finished, then they would come back and allow them if they wanted to. Um I just wanted to address some of the comments on Facebook. Um you obviously are not going to control what people say on Facebook, whether it's positive, negative, or neutral. Um it is it is scourge and a bastion of free speech all in one. Um whether you choose to keep comments on on your posts, whatever you decide. Um but most of what people are upset about is not um occurring on your posts.
019It's occurring on the town pages. Um to think that you're getting a smaller group of feedback on Facebook than you do at your board meetings is just an absolute mistake. There are very few people that come to these meetings and fewer still that speak. And you have very few people who email you. You have a lot more people, keyboard warriors, whatever you want to call them, who are willing to express an opinion from the comfort of their home on Facebook. You can go through it, take what you want, you know, it it's it's another forum. And it's good, bad, and ugly. So, um I I would just say that it's a great place for you to advertise what you have going on at the school, um your programs, put information out, whether you choose to
020take comments or not. But um it's not like you're getting more of a skewed version there than you get here at this meeting with the few people that attend. I just wanted to answer that out. Thank you. Is my name coming down? Yes. So, the second thing I wanted to mention um Could you repeat your name again, please? Oh, yes. Claudia Lybas. So, I also wanted to talk a little bit about about preschool, but also early childhood education, the early grades. And there is a boatload. I think um the superintendent mentioned at the last meeting about the um about all of the research that has been done on the benefits of preschool and the money that it saves you in the long run. It's true also not only of preschool, but all of those early
021grades where you're basically setting the stage for what children think of learning overall. This is where they learn that um the woman that came in here and talked about her chicks last time. Um that was cute and that was wonderful, but what she didn't tell you was that with she kindergarten or preschool first grade first grade. Those first graders are graphing what they learned from raising those chicks. And I mean they're doing a ton of very advanced math skills. It's the beginning of those very advanced math skills, but that's what they're doing with it. They're they're writing, doing writing projects about those chicks. And I'm just using this as an example to say I hear a lot of people saying oh, well, what do you do in first grade? You color and you paste and
022you cut things out. Isn't that cute? Well, there's a whole lot of stuff that's behind it. Those kids are learning to love learning. They're learning to value a book. They're learning how to um I can't think of the terms, so never mind. Um the last thing I wanted to mention was the part about the idea of um getting rid of the um recycling program. Several years ago at the SB2 meeting or whatever it was um that was that was brought up in a as an idea at the main dump for the town. And people from the school, parents and teachers and personnel said you don't want to do that at the school where a big part of our curriculum is teaching civics to early early childhood civics. And that's how to be a good citizen
023you're in your town. And the school made a big big thing of doing recycling at the school and why that's important and loving your planet and everything that goes with that. So based on that, even though it was costing a little bit more to do recycling at the town level May is that my sign timer? I need that thing. I'm sorry. It was even though it was going to cost a little bit more, they voted we voted to to keep it. And I would urge you to keep to um honor that. And not have that be a cut. Thank you. >> also say I know I'm I'm leaving. I'm leaving. I will also say that this school runs on a shoe string budget. It has for years and years. And if you have to cut
024from that shoe string, God love you. It's not going to be easy because it really is basics. And I think that I'm leaving. I think that the the whole idea of the surplus has been explained in the past. So, you just may might have to look through some notes to find that. All right. And board discussion regarding public comments. I've got a lot of notes. Me, too. Who wants to start? All right. Well, I'll address Candy's comment first um about what Nancy had brought up about the Facebook post and um the reason that it wasn't discussed specifically last week or 2 weeks ago is because that was already put to bed. And we had legal counsel. It's in another meeting from the fall when it happened. When the conflict of interest happened. Or uh it
025wasn't a conflict of interest, but when the complaint came in um we did get legal counsel and it was determined that there was no conflict of interest. We talked about it at the board meeting. And so in my opinion it had already been put to bed, so it wasn't discussed. And as we talked about as part of the Facebook discussion people are going to say a lot of things on Facebook that are not true. So the fact that it got brought back up is not a surprise. That person may not have been satisfied with our decision as a board. And they commented on it, so that's where I sit. I don't I don't There was a lot of comments that we ignored Nancy's comment. But I think that there was just a difference in opinion
026on whether we should leave the comments on or not. I don't think I I hope that she doesn't feel that we didn't listen to her cuz I thought we had quite a conversation about the Facebook and there was just a difference of opinion. Um I don't know if you want to speak to that now or I don't know where you I can do it now. I mean, I had talked to you. I I went back and watched the last meeting. That 5 hours wasn't enough. I had to go back and watch it again. Um and I wanted to clarify something that I felt come out in it. Um I did not bring it up because I felt I was being picked on on Facebook. And I appreciate people looking out for me and saying, you
027know think of yourself, you know you. That wasn't why I brought it up. The reason I brought it up was to kind of show what I was trying to get across that if we're not responding to comments, if comments are out there and we can't respond, then something that should have been put to bed, we thought was put to bed is going to come up again. And I understand Facebook is going to be nasty. I just don't think we need to provide another platform for people. We talk about doing away with the us and them. We don't want that. To me having comments on our page and I went back and looked at them. They weren't horrendous on the new recent one that um Angela put out saying, you know, we're going to try to
028keep it open. They weren't horrible. But there was enough bickering starting to happen. And I guess for me our page my opinion should be posting absolutely every single piece of information we have. But I don't think we need to provide another platform for people to start going after each other if we're not going to respond to it, which we can't. Also, a couple people did say, well if they're going to allow comments, but they're not going to respond then what's the point? And that was another issue I was concerned about that people were saying, sure, tell us what you think. But we're not going to say anything thing to you about it. Um and somebody said, so does that mean they're going to bring it up at school board and talk about it all? Well,
029I can imagine some of the threads we could get going and we could have about 30 things asked and we need to comment on those. So, I wanted to clarify one, I have a tough skin. I didn't take it personally that people were commenting about me. The reason I brought it up was so you could kind of understand cuz it didn't come right out and say but I just wanted for people who didn't know to have some idea of it. As I said, I have a tough skin. I'm used to things like that. I just don't think we should provide another platform. Let them do it anywhere else, but we as a school board want to create community and to me allowing comments on our page is going to take away from that. All right.
030Um I know that there's going to be more discussion about this, so we'll um we'll pick that back up under board communications if that's okay. That's fine. >> Okay. I didn't know where I should say Only because I know that yeah, I'm sorry and I opened that up, but I the board discussion regarding public comments is supposed to be more, you know, just addressing what was said specifically, so and I my apologies for opening that up that way, but um we'll get back to it. Um Does anybody else have any other comments regarding public comments? I have a couple. If you'd like me to start. I'm not a I'm not a Facebook hound. So, I don't see everything that's there. Okay, I admit that right up front. I do that on purpose. Um but I
031do think that it's a it's a platform that some people use. It is just one of many platforms that that gets information out. Um most of my understanding that a lot of the negative comments on Facebook which I think uh somebody had had mentioned is on the town's side of the Facebook posts. I don't see you know, that kind if this initially, I don't see anything like that in comparison on the school board Facebook posts. And and that's all that I want to say. It's just one. I don't think it's the all. I don't think we look at that as everything is and only is coming from that. Right, it was it was said that perhaps it was a replacement and certainly it's not a replacement, it's just another platform. Correct. That's that's my take
032on it, which is why I mean I'm in favor of if continuing it at this time. Um you know, the mobile classroom situation that we have with you know, and and the young students there, I already have voiced my opinion in that that I agree. Young children going back and forth supervised or unsupervised unsupervised, we we should be look if that's happening, we should be looking at that. It is a concern of me Chris of my of me personally. So, I I hear I hear um you Joanne when you voice your concern on that. Um I think when it comes to some of the comments on preschool um and again, I'm going to speak mostly of myself because I've only been on the board for a short time. You know, but the value of preschool,
033we're not questioning the value of preschool. I don't believe we are. We're looking at the budgeting parts of what preschool is and how it affects us because that's our job is to look at it. We haven't made any determinations. We're looking at and I think we'll get more discussion on that later on in the meeting. You know, but I I just want to be more clear that we're not questioning the value of preschool. And as far as um the other comment on recycling and I think we're going to be talking about proposals that we have with our dumpsters um and all the proposals that I've seen have an element of a dumpster and a recycling dumpster. Okay. I think some of the question is do they actually recycle it when it gets hauled away from
034here? Those are the things we don't know and honestly aren't going to be in our control. That's that company's responsibility. I don't think we're asking us to do anything different than what you're teaching in recycling here because regardless of where it ends up doesn't stop you from continuing to work on what you already have in place. Okay. Um So, I think we'll be talking more about that. >> have more discussion on that as well. >> those those are just a couple things I wanted to address that personally I had some opinion on. And I appreciate all of your uh comments. It helps us to get a feel for where everything where where the community's at. So, thank you. Yeah, and just to be clear about the you know, the the modular issue there was a
035lot of discussion about that last year. Um you know, despite the board's all we can do is make recommendations. That's an admin decision. So at the end of the day, all we can do is make our recommendations on an issue like that. Um but we will follow up on uh if there are children of that age that are unsupervised going back and forth I I believe that's an issue as well. Any other comments? All of my stuff is on the agenda for later anyway. >> Okay. Awesome. I just I wanted to say as well that I don't believe that Facebook is the only place that we need to get a temperature from the public at all. I never thought that. I never said that. Um it it's there and I think it's fine to post
036whatever we can to be informative for people to be able to come out and speak to us. And of course as we know, as everybody's already said, people are going to say what they want on the town pages or wherever else. They don't have to comment on the school board page. Oh, yeah, the school board page. But um I do I would hope that it would help help people come to the meetings in person. I think it would be better if we could get more people to attend. All right. Agenda review There's nothing that we needed to add, right? Nothing so Um review of correspondence There's a long list. A lot of them um so I don't I'm not you know, there's a lot and we're not going to be able to address everything individually.
037Um Did anybody particularly want to speak on anything? Do you want to maybe just give a recap of what some of like what was in things that they were about or Um social media Yeah, I mean There social media >> Yeah, there's a lot. There's 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9. Um There was a lot regarding the preschool conversation there was conversation about the recycling um bringing up um again the auctioneering Yes, that Let's see. Yeah, there's a couple in here on preschool. So Yeah, I'm I'm not going to dive into all these, but I I will say that we are reading them and considering them just as we do the public comments. And um you know, unfortunately we can't respond to all of them, but especially many of them are pages
038long, so. But I just want people to know that we are reading all of them and um we accept them just like the public comments. Are you okay if I share this one that just came in right before? Not the whole thing, but just inviting the board. >> Oh, yeah, absolutely. Um Julie Musgroves invited the board to the second grade event uh the zoo event coming up. Um so, that was sent out. It's the second uh our annual second grade zoo. So, she's informally inviting the board to come and visit that. So, that was in your email this afternoon. So, make sure you check that out and if you're able to uh please stop over to DCS and let Miss Woody know you're coming and we'd be happy to have you guys. I have a
039question. Would it be That's it. 1:50 to 2:15 that the parents time? Yeah, let me see. There's a block that's for the um for the grades >> and to visit. Right. And then there's a block There's two blocks. One with staff that staff can come in and then the other one for parents, so. Which one would you prefer? Is it Does it matter which one? Can they come to either one or would there be a preference? I will clarify that. Okay. Thank you. Uh the only other one I did want to address was uh from Errol Rhodes um and I did actually run into him the day after he sent this to me. So, I did clarify it with him, but um it was just about um the same thing that we talked about earlier
040with he said that I ignored the legal opinion um that the school had received, which I don't think that I did. Um it had just already been addressed and put to bed, so we didn't get back into it. So, I just wanted to be clear on the fact that I I do support the legal um advice and opinion and and our board member and I don't I don't mean there it to be um any misunderstanding about where I stood on that issue. Um Awesome. Thank you. All right. Um on to immediate business board communications. So, I just want to start this one out um a couple members had asked to put this on the agenda. I just wanted to start off by saying that I'm going to try to do a better job of introducing
041topics that are on the agenda rather than just diving into them. Um in particular, you know, the conversation regarding preschool we all you know, do stuff in preparation for these meetings then the meeting starts and we dive right into it. So uh I just want to put it out there just as an example, the preschool like Ed started talking about we're not looking to cut the preschool. We've been asked by the community by the MBC to come up with what the cost is of that program. And when we don't have answers for it that doesn't look very good. So, we're just looking at the cost analysis of it. I was I talked to um Miss Fortier today and she said that there was a cost analysis done but that was she believed was prior to
042her starting. Um so I want to maybe look back at that as kind of a starting point and um but again that program has had huge value to my family as well. We're not looking to cut it. We're just doing our due diligence. So my point in saying all that is just that I'm each topic I'm going to try to say why it's on the agenda so that it doesn't feel um like an attack on any program or anything like that. So with that um Nancy, did you want to start I I know you kind of already Yeah, the only the only thing still that and I guess I'm going to be the lone wolf on this one. I mean I read all the correspondence from people and many people said they didn't feel comments
043should be on the school board page. And I want a school board Facebook page. I'm not saying do away with it. I just feel that it should its job should be posting every bit of information we want out there to people. I just don't think it's the platform for comments. Because one, who's responding to them? So we're having comments out there and nothing's happening with them. And I guess and again, we're trying to do away with the us and them. We have said that. And to me there were comments out there on again, they weren't horrible. I've seen some really bad ones on other Facebook pages. But again, it was creating to me, in my opinion, a bit of us and them. And why are we as a board I'm going to use supporting but
044that's not really a good word but supporting that when we're trying to break that. And so I to me our Facebook page should be just presenting information. Yeah. I I think that the way I view it is that it's it's kind of like the email correspondence or public comments. With the public comments, we're able to address it back right here. The emails we are able to address back but again, there's so many we're not necessarily going to get to every single one. So to me it's similar in the comments. If there I think the goal is to address certain things if they if there's productive stuff that comes up in the in the comments on Facebook, then we can choose to address those things. Um but I think that we I would like to have
045more more on that page than just the agenda and stuff like that. Everything that we've posted, I mean there's nothing controversial on there. It's only people that make it controversial and I just don't personally I don't see the difference with um it being the exact same post being shared on to three different groups and then people commenting on them. Those threads are still available for the fifth graders, you know, as the public commenters said to to view. It's it's available on those town pages for them to view just like it's available on on our original post. It's just a repost of the same thing. Can I Yeah. Um so I I I am I'm kind of with you there, Nancy, because the jury's out for me yet on how I think these comments may or
046may not play out. I agree with you that, you know, sometimes people are just mean and, you know, they say dumb things and, you know, sometimes it's divisive and sometimes it's just vulgar, sometimes it's just completely inappropriate. I I also don't want that on the school board to say, you know, these are things are happening because of our posts. Um but I know that the other groups do reshare it if I don't reshare it to them and those comments are still going to happen. So I don't have any control over what people say when they're out there, unfortunately. Um I think, you know, some of this has already been said but um there is a lot of information out there that is wrong. Um I think, you know, we've talked about it in the last
047meeting about how we respond and and what we respond to. I didn't respond to anything because we agreed we wouldn't do that. Um if anybody has questions about why we're not commenting, then you can check the last 5-hour meeting cuz we did talk a lot about it. Um so I don't want to waste much more time here on that. But I do have some comments that I pulled that I thought might be valuable for us to talk about um or at least to be aware of. Um so I'm happy to go through a few of them. Nothing is offensive. I think they were all pretty um you know, reasonable topics to to bring up if you guys are interested in seeing some of that. Um I do monitor everything. I think somebody had an issue
048with um on my personal page I may have blocked some people that are inappropriate. Um but on the school board page, no one's blocked. So I can see everything from everyone regardless of who I've blocked in my own personal life. Um so I do see everything. I monitor it all and I watch it. Um trying not to take it to heart cuz some stuff's pretty brutal but uh for the most part it was pretty tame I would say as opposed to the very first post where it was suddenly you know, allowed to be commented on. Um so I don't know if you want me to get into a few of those. Yeah, I would. So some good feedback. People said they um they liked that they could hear us last week. So we did a
049good job I guess speaking up and talking into the the mics. So that was good. Um audio and video were both good. Uh and I got personal messages as well as comments from Facebook on that. So that was a good one. Um and then somebody was talking about the preschool. Um I personally responded just of my own opinion to that person in a private message. Um but I didn't do anything publicly for that and it was again for my own personal opinion about how the conversation went. Um and you just addressed it but, you know, when when you're when you say things like we're trying to defund preschool, that doesn't feel very good when that's not what the conversation was. Um and so I think using Facebook to with a grain of salt and being
050able to come up with some um some responses to some of the things that might not be true could could be beneficial here but that's up to you guys if you wanted to do that or not. Um Why no comments from the school board? I just addressed that. Um comments we didn't talk about the kids enough. So there was a couple people that said we didn't say enough about the kids and I think, you know, at the end of the day we're always considering the kids. It just may not be that we're saying kid in that conversation. Um that's our job and so I thought that was something we should address. Um and then Uh I already I already covered that one. So those were some of the ones. I think my main my main
051ideas with having comments open, whether we decide to keep them open or not, we can kind of wait and see I guess what happens and if we decide we want to turn them off cuz they're inappropriate, we certainly can. Um my ideas with it is really just I want us to be able to get ideas from the community. What are you guys thinking about? What is important to you? What questions do you have? What do you want to hear of from us during these meetings? Um it's just one it's just one avenue. Um you know, I'm not going to take everything that everybody says on Facebook to heart cuz I wouldn't be able to sit here tonight. Um but I think that's important um from a social perspective to just be able to get a
052feel for what people are saying and and take it into consideration and know if there are questions that we can address them here. Um but if it gets out of line, I think, you know, we can always turn it off. Um in the future, I would like to post not just the agenda and the meeting packet and the video, um but I would like to also post um surveys like we had mentioned last time. Um questions that we have about, you know, various topics and what are things we can do to make the school even better. So I think there's lots of opportunity there where we could gain some really good perspective whether it be from one side or the other. I don't know. I hope everybody will participate in that. Um so that's what
053I have from a social perspective. And I had some other things on communications but I'll let you guys >> talk about that stuff first. You already just addressed it and we'll switch gears. I I agree I that was kind of the intent that our communications committee had talked about and I think part of our our conversation that we had last time is that we want this to develop beyond just the um agenda in the meeting. Um that we can do stuff like surveys. And so if we say, "Oh, we're going to turn the comments off now." But that means that now we can't use that other vehicle that's out there. I think the reality is that there's so many people that use Facebook. And just like one public commenter said um there's less a lot
054less people that come to these meetings or are willing to write an email than are willing to click a button, you know, on a survey or share any idea. Like we could put question just like, you know, what would you like to see on the agenda? You know, and people could respond with stuff like that um if we leave the comments on. Um that's I see it developing that way. And I just I didn't think this was going to be so controversial. I was I was trying to make it a positive thing and it's you know, it's turning into a lot. Right. So, I mean I would be in support of leaving it open and trying to let this develop into what we're trying to use it for. And again, keep monitoring it and if
055it is it is an issue, then then we address it, but I just I just have a hard time separating you know, the repost on one page versus our original thread. You know, it just it's going to happen no matter what if people want to be nasty on Facebook. My my only comment would be that we've talked about this enough. Okay, and uh from when I say that I don't mean to be negative about it. But for now, this is the direction we're going. We will continue to monitor it. But nor do I want to talk about it at every meeting. Okay, because we have much more important things to talk about as well. So, I don't want to be bogged down every time about our Facebook post. You know, this is where we're at
056with the board. We've made that decision. We're monitoring it. And if we find that it's an issue, we'll bring it up as a board. We'll have a discussion with the public and then we'll do something different if we choose to. But for now, I think we we hear you. We hear the concerns. We all don't agree. We already know that. But we're going to continue in this direction for now. And see if we can develop it into something more. Or see if it develops into something What was the next thing you wanted to talk about? Um so, the other thing I had regarding communications, um so, I in a previous life we did this thing called fireside chats. And um really what that is is just a it's a conversation. Um it's not a meeting.
057It's not a PowerPoint or presentation. It's a conversation. Um and it really helps to get certain groups aligned so that we know sort of what priorities and what questions there are. Um it's another forum for communication that's not social media. Um it would be you know, in person, face-to-face, belly-to-belly. Um and allow us to talk to groups of people, whether it be our staff, um which I've you know, I love having them come and talk at these meetings cuz they they share such a great perspective. Um and there's so much passion there. And so, I would love to talk about how we can make that work. Um I don't know as a board how we do that, but um I'd love to have fireside chats. It's just super casual and um we'll have a certain
058topic we'll talk about and you know, everybody will know the topic ahead of time and we can have conversations about how we make the school even better. Could be you know, something related to um you know, the kids um after school, maybe what they're doing after school and how we can you know, maybe give them a new program. Or you know, whatever. There's so many things. So, um I'd love to have a conversation with the staff about or with the school board about that um and how we start to implement that. Maybe starting with the teachers um who are diligent in coming here all the time and um sharing their their programs that they're doing. So, I don't know. I don't know how we do that, but I want to do that. >> kind of
059similar to what Nancy had brought up a couple times about the the um prior to meetings or something like that. the we well, many moons ago we used to have twice during the year staff could come to the school board meeting. It had to be the public had to come as well because it was a meeting. We were all there. But for the first half hour of the meeting, it was just conversation with the staff. Um so, yeah. And and Sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off. I was just thinking so, it was just conversation with staff, but the community members could be there, but they're not participating in the Right, right. But they're not participating in the conversation. Okay. Okay. Just staff and staff. >> the whole school board was also there? It
060was a meeting. Yeah. We were all there. Yeah. Anytime you are doing a meeting as a capacity board, you have to post it publicly. And Right. So, just I guess my thought would be like let Cannon or I as part of the communications committee lead one. Um and gain some feedback and bring that to the school board meetings. Um as opposed to making it a school board public meeting, it would be more like, you know, I would go and I'd get to sit down and chat with a certain team. I see. So, it would be a way for us to gauge like whatever is important, whatever's going on, why don't we utilize that forum to be able to have real conversations with our with our staff and then with our community members and um you
061know, and with our administration and try to figure out like what are the things that are what are the pain points? How can we improve those pain points? Or like if there's not a pain point, maybe there's something really awesome that we'd like to do. And how do we do that? Um so, I think we can really do some cool things with that. I just I need help with figuring out the right structure. Let me reach out to legal counsel to make sure you're not going to put yourself in hot water doing that. >> Yeah. I don't want to Um let me but let me reach out though. I I now I have a better understanding of what you're trying to accomplish. So, I can have a more informed conversation with counsel. Um and I
062can do it with school board counsel. Yeah. Like the New York School Boards Association. And I was thinking too like aligned with what are the school board's mission, what's our goal, what are we trying to accomplish this year and into the future. And how do we align those conversations to help you know, help us get there. Yeah, which we you guys will work on setting this summer, but yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, let let me let me get feedback for you and I can Is that all right if I bring that back for our next meeting? >> Sounds great. Okay. And then for the um teacher one, we can we can just schedule that. Like you guys can determine if you want to add that on to a meeting coming up in May or even June.
063Um you guys can just add that to your meeting and make it a public forum for that. As a former teacher, Nancy, is there a time of year that you think would be Please to do that. >> used to do one at the beginning of the year and we did one near the end of the year. Okay. So, maybe like October and May, something like that. >> Just how's your year starting and what's going on and then checking in. Can we do a second meeting in May? Yeah. May 20th? Uh we're going to have facilities right before that. And we're going to have a Yeah. You could do it in June, too. You could do it June 3rd. It's so close to the end of the year. And even if it's not something, you know,
064if we can't fit it in this year because it is getting near the end and come June, I know every as a former teacher, I know what June looks like um for teachers. Yeah. So, >> too short notice to do the next meeting. You can. I I would just say I think we're going to have a lot to discuss in our next facilities meeting. So, Yeah, no, that's it's up the will of the board. It's up to you guys. And I mean it yeah. I think I know a couple teachers that will show up. So, even if we only had two, I think it's worth it. The most enthusiastic, too. Is that May 6th? Yeah, May 6th. Yeah, so do you do you want to just plan for that? And then do you want to
065do like a half hour of public forum with the teachers only and then open up to your regular public meeting after that? Or Um what do you guys think? >> Public forum means you have open conversation back and forth. And you can't If you're going to do a public forum, I don't know that you can actually restrict community conversation during that point. I mean, you can say the intention is teacher and give priority to teachers. But if it's public forum, you're posting it as public forum. How did that go before, Nancy? Did public chamber mean >> honest, I don't think we ever really had many people ever come to the school board meetings then. I mean, the public is Right. public. So, when the teachers came, you know, wasn't usually anybody else there. Yeah. Yeah.
066It would be my preference to keep it a staff a staff conversation. If we legally If we can, yeah. I don't think we well, I don't think we and we'll find out for sure. I don't think we're going to be able to staff only it, you know, but I think that we should be voicing it to the community outright that this is the time for the teachers. Please give them that time. Yeah. Yeah, I just think it's going to be hard for us in a short period of time to allow community members to have that back and forth. Like I think I can >> It's going to be a limited amount of time. We're going to ask the cut the public to give the teachers this period of time. >> Right. We can't keep somebody
067else I can find out for sure what our abilities are with restricting that. Um do you know now and then we can and that way we can message it ahead of time. Okay. Awesome. My only thought with doing it so quick is like what is the topic going to be cuz I want to keep it to an actual topic if we can. And unless you're talking about something completely different than the thing that I proposed, which is also fine. I just you're going to have a lot of I think you'll have a lot of dialogue and it it might go long if you don't have topic that you're focused on. >> the nice thing is is that we only have a certain amount of time because we have a meeting. So, How did it go
068in the past? In the past, there was not a topic. Okay. It was It was strictly a conversation. Um Um teachers would bring up things going on. You know, it tried to keep it It wasn't a They were coming to the school board to tell the school board what they were doing wrong or anything like, you know, like that. You know, but it was strictly a This is what's happening. If they had some questions, they would ask the question. Um There were You know, I mean, there's probably teachers on staff that do not know if you were I mean, if you were to walk down the hall, yeah. I mean, they may now because it's on. But to just even know who the school board members are so they can put a name and a
069face together. I had talked to Jess once and um and maybe this wouldn't be during that time. It might have to be another, but I would like to hear from the teachers like we started some new programs. Yeah, like they went through the training for reading. And the letters And then a new math um program for Well, even just the math program in general, but the middle school, you know, had switched from Eureka. We haven't heard from I mean Yes, Kristen's very good at filling us in on that information, too, but the teachers are who live it every day in their rooms. How's it working? Was it worth you going through all that training? So, I guess those are some of the things that I would like to hear from the teachers as well. And
070I don't know if it'd be that time or a different. The first time, I agree having a topic would be a good way to focus it, but maybe the first time it's just to come in and say, "Hey, I'm Angela So, you know, I mean, you can just I think that's a good idea. We would like to And then maybe we could do the maybe the focus groups more on a topic. Mhm. Yeah. Okay. All right, I will I'll reach out tomorrow and try to get some guidance by the end of the week so we can plan for that. Awesome. So, um would that if if we're able to do that, would that start at 5:30 and then we'll start our regular meeting at 6:00? Is that what you meant as far as timing goes?
071I honestly would encourage you to consider an hour. Yeah, that's a good idea. Um maybe start at 5:00 and start your regular meeting at 6:00 cuz just knowing like I don't think a half hour you can eat through a half hour it feels like nothing. Oh, yeah. We're going to We're going to want at least 10 minutes to transition from that to this. Yeah. Okay. And do the do the staff typically want to hang out that long? Oh, cuz it's late. You don't Teachers actually live in the building. You didn't know that? >> mean, I know there's probably cots somewhere, but I just don't want to keep them, you know, if they don't want to be here so late. So, I don't think we need a vote on this. No. So, but is everybody on
072board with that, Missy? Okay. So, that'd be nice. Anyone else is there? Yes. Awesome. Anything else on board communications? Oh, I did some web Sorry, I have so much to say on this. I did some website revisions. I sent them to you, Jess, so if you have any Yeah, whenever I don't When whenever you want to get to that, it's not urgent stuff. It's just, you know, if it talks about masks and things, I feel like that's super important. >> right now. Okay, perfect. Thank you. I handed it off. Thank you. So, yep. Jess, can you share that? I'll put it on there. It is on the DCS Facebook page. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. website Yep. The DCS and the school board So, they're on both. There's a ton of duplicate stuff. Yeah. Are they
073linked? That'll be a whole other topic. We were required to have those when we had the SR grant. So, as long as we had SR funds that we were still utilizing, we had to have certain things posted on our websites. >> Got it. So, I think now that SR is done, uh I believe we are okay to take those things off. So, that I have that in review right now. Oh, I'm talking about the frequently asked questions. >> Yeah, that's part of it. Yep, that's part of it. Okay. Thanks. All right, next we have board discussion and public comments. So, this topic was um Nancy brought this one up. Yep. And >> Yeah, we have the opportunity at the beginning to have a little discussion about the comments, but we don't at the end of
074the meeting. And I know the whole purpose of it and sometime I mean, and I get off, too, not sticking to it. The whole reason we kind of wanted to respond to the comments was is this a topic that we want to put on another meeting? Um cuz we can't actually have the discussion with them at that point. So, it was like, is this something else we want? But at the end, we have public comments. And then it just goes on. So, I mean, it wouldn't add very much. It'd be just kind of use your something here. Yeah, and I I would be in support of that as well. At the last meeting, there were public comments at the end that I wanted to address. And then maybe we could flip the agenda items for
075next meeting to after after the next section of public comments. So. Um is everybody in favor of that? Yeah. I'm fine with that. All right, that's good. That's okay. Um all right, next up we have surplus retainage. Okay. So, uh you One of the questions that came up from last time was what was the amount retained? I did double-check and we the board had retained $150,000 last year that's currently in retainage right now from last year's budget. So, I double-checked uh before the meeting. It was $150,000 that is in retainage currently. That means it was there and then it didn't get spent, so it's still there. Correct. Correct. So, that's sitting there. So, that will go back to offset taxes barring any catastrophe between now and the end of the school year. Um One of
076the things that the board uh will need to make a decision on sooner rather than later is current retainage to plan for next year. So, you have the ability to retain up to $415,020 uh which is 2 and 1/2% uh which is the limit that the board had uh proposed and was voted on in a warrant article a few years back. So, the board can retain up to $415,020 this year to go into next year to sit there as retainage. Um you can retain all of that, you can retain none of it, you can retain up to a certain amount in between zero and that total amount. So, you guys will I'd encourage you to have a discussion tonight regarding retainage. >> absolutely. So, um can you just basically there's a lot going around about
077our surplus and what we're going to do and stuff like that. We're going to discuss that all tonight. Um the the topic of how did we get to the 1.5, why is it there? That's going to be an ongoing project that the SAU is doing research on and we've created a They've created a project Oh, okay. I have a friend. And then And Amber. Amber's going to help me. Yeah, okay. And uh to try to, you know, nail down how we got there. For now, our conversation's going to be based around our retainage and what we're going to do with the surplus. And then we'll get to that other stuff as the project develops. So, I had thought that we were close that we were for some reason I thought that we were at like
078225. That's what you and I both thought last year, but it was 150, so. Um which was I think it was 50,000 less than the year before. That was what I had remembered. So. Um I had just done some some quick math. Um we have in the packet the um What was it? The Was it surplus this one? Yeah, so there's the the sheet on the surplus requests and line transfer requests. Um And you can you had mentioned uh don't forget about graduation. Yes. Cuz that comes up every year. Graduation's not on this list. >> that we add graduation to consideration under here. Um and I think we talked about this, Mr. Rudy, but we talked I think it was 2,000 that we'd be requesting. So, that's about what we usually request for graduation. And
079that's for caps and gowns and um offset the cost of the event itself awards. So, the board has two packets. One is the public packet and the other packet that you have only has the surplus stuff in it. It was things that were not in the public packet. They are now Right. They've been added. Yeah, after I made the copies. And then there's a second clip that starts with um the mini walk-throughs information. Got it. So, what's that? 18, 20 plus just under 23,000 for this stuff that's on the request. And then I wanted to just add into that request also the 3,500 that we already approved just so we can capture everything that we're spending surplus on. So, that's um roughly 26 five. And then my understanding of the line transfer requests, those are
080just getting transferred from another line that is not getting utilized. So, the stipends is the overnight trip for Maravista and the New York trip. And then yeah, we're requesting a line transfer because we know exactly what line that that would come from because and they're similar uses. So stipends for the overnight trip we're hoping to take that from the stipend line for the intern stipend line because we don't we don't have any interns we're not utilizing that. So we want to be able to do a line transfer but we need your approval for that. And then the band chorus field trip is taking that from the athletic bussing line to this so to pay for the bussing for the band and chorus field trip. So we knew exactly what lines they'd be coming from and
081they're similar. They're not utilized. But it it is part of the surplus still. However that whatever line that's being funded from or in or whatever it is going to affect the overall surplus because it is coming out of surplus. Even though it's a line transfer I just want to make sure the public understands that it's coming out of the surplus. It's just how they account for it. So it is that's why it's in this part of the discussion. It's not just them moving money that they've already calculated on spending. This is additional money that they'd like to spend. This is just the way they're going to account for it. So it will come out of that overall surplus. So I'm at just about $30,000 including the line transfers. So I you know was thinking about
082all this you know at 1.5 my thought was we're going to fund 250,000 for our warrant article. And then my thought was to retain about 200,000 for and again just so that everybody understands the retainage is basically like a savings account for a catastrophic event. And that money if it's not utilized automatically goes back like Jess said. So the 150 from last year we didn't use that automatically goes back. So it's basically you know our cushion and in our goal to reduce surplus it's good that we have that that emergency fund. That's so that's it can you explain a little more in detail the $250,000 that's covering the warrant article. I want to make sure the public understands that there was a warrant article passed. Yeah for the building repair trust fund specifically our goal
083as a facilities committee is to utilize that money for the HVAC project. So that money only that only gets funded with surplus. So that's something else to consider in the surplus conversation is if we are going to fund warrant articles for $250,000 we need some surplus. Otherwise that stuff is just going to get built into our budget because the HVAC project has to happen. The question I know we're supposed to get things to you but do you remember we were having issues with refrigerators or freezers? Those all got replaced last year. Are they all taken care of? I just I was looking back through old notes and I could not remember. I thought we had but I just wanted to those are all set. Um so we will have just to add on to your
084list to keep in mind is we will have to the board will have to consider the non CBA contracts for next year that are in place. So that will have to come out of that have to be accounted for for next year's budget as well is the money that will be need to be accounted for for any raises for non-certified or admin contracts currently in place. So the principal the assistant principal and the special ed coordinator special ed coordinator and like kitchen facilities those folks who are not part of a CBA. Secretaries. Yep. Not that that's that's not necessarily going to come out of surplus this year but just something to keep in mind as you're talking planning for next year. Okay. It's good to keep in mind. So and then my goal would be
085to well I guess return is not the right word but not utilize not spend. Yeah $1 million so that goes back to offset the tax rate and then use that leaves us $50,000 for these projects and the other stuff that was just mentioned. And those are you know kind of rough numbers where I think but anybody have any feedback on those numbers or have your own suggestions? I think I would defer to you to say if that's a reasonable amount to retain because I don't know. And then just point of clarity so if we had 150 that automatically goes back and then we also had a surplus of 1.5 around that. We're not done yet but okay but like let's just say that's what it is. So you're suggesting 250 of that goes to fund
086the warrant article and then 200,000 would be our retainage. Right. I in my very limited knowledge of this budget so far I would say that makes sense but I'm I'm working on it. I would defer to you as far as the amount for that retainage because I don't know. Yeah it's just to have that it's to have that rainy day fund in case something bad happens right? And we recently there's updates that have been done to the roof the roof's in good shape. It would be something like the heating system that we know is already giving us trouble like any of those kind of unanticipated things that come up or some kind of things like we did just have two of those units in the calf that went down right? So it'd be like for
087those unplanned circumstances that we know maybe are coming in the future but aren't planning on them failing currently but like the what ifs of something might happen. Yeah. And that too and I know we have papers on that but we talked about mics and stuff so it would that that's not in here yet. Yeah so that would be something to consider. I know we're are we talking about that cuz we Yeah yeah we are going to talk about that. And then I guess so these these are you know ballpark numbers something like that. I think the quote on that was I can't remember. One of For the mics and stuff I I wouldn't anticipate it being more any more than 5,000 for and that would be like a really great system. Yeah right so it's
088not going to move these numbers too much. Like the 50,000 number I said that could be you know if we needed to do that it could be plus five plus that. These are just ballpark numbers that I thought would get us Yeah yeah absolutely. What do you think I'd Um well the 250 we have to fund because that's what the warrant article called for. Okay we have a surplus over 250 so that 250 gets funded. The retainage I think it's reasonable to have a retainage. I think a $200,000 retainage I think is sufficient. That's higher than what we had last year. And again if it doesn't get used it does go back you know. So I think that that makes that's that seems like a reasonable number. I'm got to use the right words. Not
089spending the a million dollars I think is a great idea. Okay so how that all affects and comes back to reduce the taxes there's the the whole process of that that maybe Jess could explain it better than I can and I'll let her. Okay so it's a whole process. It really it goes back to the town fund budget and the town just wouldn't charge that number that increase in taxes to the taxpayers in the town. So it's not like people are going to get a you're not getting a refund check in the mail. Okay so I we wanted to make that clear. You're not going to get magic money that's going to come flowing into your mailbox. What it's going to do is it's going to reduce tax at a level of the of that
090million dollars. Where and when that all happens that's the town process. I'm not going to try to expand on that but I am in favor of not spending that million dollars. And with retainage you could do you know if you decide that 200,000 is your motion you could do up to $200,000 that way barring some crazy thing in the next couple months, if it has to be 190,000 190,000, it's 190. Yeah, I I think because again, we don't know the absolute numbers. We know that they're going to be relatively close to that. We know we're going to be funding some of these other things. You know, and there could come an expense somewhere else that might not afford us that $200,000. So, using the words up to I think makes sense when you don't know
091the absolutes. So, I'm I'm okay with that kind of verbage. Jessica, quick question for you. You remember we had the health care information. Is there any update in terms of the presentation? >> Not yet. We just read it reached out again to Health Trust to see where they're at in that process. So, uh I believe they are providing a ton of other quotes to a lot of other different schools, too. So, but we did just recently reach back out. So, we over that. Yeah, it had to come out of that. Yep. Just making sure we're we have that on our radar. I don't know if it's going to be a problem this year, but Yeah, well, it came out of surplus. Right. So, you say you can return a million but we end up with
092a 400,000 >> Right. Well, yeah, but if that but again, that we could also you could we use our retainage from last year for that or I mean, either way, it's going to be the same thing, Lori. But but we have it. So, it's you know, if that came up at the end of the year, then We should be We should be all set for anything that would be in this fiscal year. It would be looking at next fiscal year that would be the that would bear the burden of any health care changes. It would be next fiscal year. So. Um absolutely in favor of returning money if we can return money. The one thing I'm I'm just going to put out there is back during and someone can correct me if if I'm wrong,
093but during COVID time we had a huge surplus. It was returned and people were all excited because they saw something go down. And then I'm I can't remember what, but something then happened. And You have a boomerang effect is what happened. >> effect on taxes. And it wasn't and it and I say something happened. I'm not sure it was even something happened. I think it was just life happened and budgets came and all of a sudden people were like, "My taxes went up." And it's so you got to make it clear that we have this money that we can return. But beware. Right. You risk a like a double hit on us by doing it. So, that's and that and that happened. I remember it happening and people being very upset. So, and trying to
094even explain, well, there was the surplus. We had a huge surplus. We had you know, the buses weren't running, school wasn't open. And it came back with our taxes went crazy. Yeah, and I think that it was coupled with other grant money as well that the tax rate was being bought down artificially, basically. Yes. Um Yeah. So, it's just something Just keep Right. >> I'm not saying don't return it. >> No, no, I know what you're saying. It's Yeah. People said now that yay, we returned a lot of money, which is great, but keep in mind >> Yeah. what could happen. I think the biggest thing for me, like as much as I would love to, you know, take a big chunk of that and help fund our HVAC project to get that done. I
095just think that in terms of where we are with everything that has gone on and having such a huge surplus, my goal is to help try to build trust with the community in saying like, okay, that you you were you were overcharged, you're going to get you know, some relief there. And then we're doing being good stewards of the money that we do have. And um I did write a little blurb so the board knew that uh around the surplus review project. So, what Amber and I are essentially doing is doing like a little mini audit of surplus over the last couple of years. Um we're going to start with last year and this year and then we will likely expand for 2 years prior to that. Um but it's going it will be a
096we're looking at the lines that have been uh historically over or under spent, I should say, under spent. Um and then going through every single purchase order within that line to determine why was it a fluke? Was it because we had a position we couldn't fill it? Like any of those kinds of things or did student services did the services offer a student change? And we're going to do we're working on a more intensive audit of a surplus review. And so that will be that's going to be a multi-month project, but starting it now so that we're prepped and ready for that come budget season. I'm thankful you and Amber are doing it because I have been trying to go through things on my own. Yeah, no, just for Yeah. >> sheets because that is
097something that I've wanted for a long time. Well, we're going to do it. >> thank you so that we can say to people, yeah, here's $200,000 Mhm. because we haven't run buses. You know, so it's very clear to the public. >> and there will likely be some rationale for that, but knowing that rationale is going to be important. So. Um is there Oh, sorry, go ahead. I would say uh that's that's vitally important information for us to have when we're building a budget. Is we have to look historically where we spent our money. Because we can use the history of spending to help predict the future of spending. That's how budgeting works. I know there's some things that are not controllable in some aspects and I realize that's different. Um you know, but I do
098hope to get a lot more information out of that work, which I'm glad that we're that we're doing so that we can answer why cuz that's an important question to answer. We need to know why. Okay, but also be able to use it when it comes to creating budgets for the future. We have to look at the history and then look at those areas of variables to try to determine where we're going to be at. So, it's a good thing for for us to go to and go through. Um because honestly I don't like surprises like this. And I'm a new board member and so I don't have history, but if I was, you know, for me personally, when it comes to governance, um knowing ahead what's coming, it's called forecasting. We need to be
099able to forecast. Even though we have some uncontrolled expenses that could go up or come down and I understand that. We still can do forecasting. And that's what I'm hoping that we can look at as a board and talk to Jess um in um in the administration here, how do we do that so that we can be watching and forecasting on a quarterly basis. I think at a minimum, on a monthly basis would probably be a lot. But it at minimum, a quarterly basis. And I want to just say the word again, it's forecasting. It's not absolutes. It's projections of what we think. And just like weather forecasting changes by the day, sometimes um change along the way as well. But being able to forecast might give us at least a heads up that something's
100coming, whether it's a um deficiency or a surplus. Yeah, and I I know we get the monthly expenditure reports, but I'm wondering if there was something that had, you know, we had talked about the last meeting where we get a report that more instead of being the entire nine-page report, there's key indicators. >> Yes. You know, something like that where it's easy to just pan through the the big ticket items. And I and I think those are those are the that's a some keywords, key indicators. You know, that's a lot of line items to review. And one thing that I I'm understanding the more I look at it is I don't know where in the budget cycle or spending cycle those things get paid. So, you could have something that's already been paid out 100%
101Right. in in 2 months of the fiscal of financial year and me going, "Oh my goodness, we're out of money in that already. What are we going to do?" Well, that might be the only time it ever gets expended. Right. Or I could have it's 100% still not spent because it's one of the last things at the year that actually gets money spent. So, forecasting it helps me see it at a higher elevation so that I can actually be helped directing what's going on and also be able to understand what we should be looking at and what we should be concerned with. You know, so those are just areas that would help I think us as a board to to able to govern the finances um with understanding and then hopefully we can share it
102out to the public too. So that we're not you know so that none of us are caught by surprise. Yep. So do we want is there any items that we want to go ahead and decide on tonight or I know that during our facilities meeting we had talked about discussing some of these items. There was a during our facilities meeting there was a one project the cafeteria is going to be funded with the cafeteria floor project is going to be funded with impact fee money. Okay. And then there's another project that's on the plan that we approved in the fall for removing the strip of grass and paving that right up to the building over by the modulars. That price needs to get updated but I think a good ballpark price for that is about
103$10,000. And so that money could either come out of a trust fund or we could use surplus for it so that was another thing on my radar to spend um cuz that's a project that we facilities committee wants to complete this summer. So we just have to decide where the money's going to come from from a trust fund Right. or from surplus. Well if you have your I know you generally kind of threw it out there like utilizing up to $50,000 for surplus you may have room to do you know majority of stuff that's on this list and cover majority of that project >> Right. >> through that. >> That was that was kind of my intention cuz we had what we were at 30,000 Yep. for what's on the requested list. Right. And up
104to like if we it's not that much then we can give back whatever's not. >> Right. And so then if we if we had spent 10 on that paving project um it's 40 so and again it doesn't the 50 number is flexible. We still have to leave some money like we said for Yeah there's going to be other things that come up that I know that Right. we haven't gotten there yet. >> Right. So. But again I I mean the number doesn't have to be one one million on the dot but that's that's my goal. Do we want to make these decisions tonight or do we want to review that list firm up that number and then do deal with it all at the next board meeting? >> Yeah I I that's I was thinking
105that we just did the retainage tonight. Yep I think there's I know we've got the the trips the line transfer requests if there's if it's possible to get that moving cuz I know those things are coming up. Um like the Mira Vista trip is in May. Okay. And so I don't know what date is that? It could be discussed at the next meeting. It can we have Okay so we have room. Okay so we do have room. There you go. And the trip is in June as well however the um music trip Yep. Um however they they have been fundraising to offset the cost and if you would pay for the bus that would take a huge percentage off of what the families would have to owe. So they're trying to Michael we're talking about
106thrills and thrills. So are you buying tickets now for that or do you We're looking to sell we're trying to first get the money fundraise from the fish cat scheme which we already exceeded our fundraising goal which is so exciting. So once we get the check for that then we'll figure out the costs. Yes it is. So yeah so we've got sounds like we have wiggle room to wait till our May 6th meeting. Okay. I I like that idea of waiting not because I want to delay it but I'd like to get some firm numbers Mhm. just so that we can make absolute if it's possible. Yep. And there's no so then there's no press to do the retainage tonight as well. Nope we don't have to decide it tonight we can wait till the
107May 6th meeting. I would say I I don't want to go past May 6th for the retainage. Um and certainly if we can get the any surplus wrapped up on May 6th that would be advantageous as well cuz we start closing books in June. Yeah I I don't think there's any reason we can't get this done at the next meeting that works. Everybody on board with that I see. Sounds good. Right. I'll second I mean so me being the teacher side of me I look at the line transfer things and look at I'd rather them know that they have that money sooner than later so it's like part of me would almost like to talk about those tonight and maybe agree to them but whatever if we have time but I was kind of leaning
108that way too but it sounded like we had the time so but The only other thing would be that the end of year POs Amber does like to cut that off at a certain time. The board always has the leeway of Right. doing anything you want until June 30th. That's not best practice but um so I don't know if that would interfere with Amber's cut off date. Yeah well so Amber's got there's different cut off dates so school buildings are cut off from doing any new POs after like the mid of May I believe it is there's a cut off date in May for them. Um the school board ideally cut off is the end of May for anything new that way we have the month of June because if anything is surplus it has
109to be ordered and either delivered prior to June 30th or the work scheduled so if we are using a contractor the works won't start until July 15th. We just have to have that contract in place the contract has to be signed sealed delivered and then the work being done we have to have that date as well. So there's really we lose a lot of our wiggle room for getting quotes and things like that if we wait if we wait till May 20th I am worried about that but May 6th is fine. So. Can we just can we just do the line transfers today to get that part over with? You could do the board can do anything we decide to do with if we feel that those are fixed cuz they're fixed and we want
110to approve them tonight we can approve them tonight. And you could make your motion to be up to depending cuz if there's extra funding that comes in from fundraising already done they may not need $1,400 they might need 800 Right. depending so you do up to. You have to keep reminding me of that up to. It does allow us to have flexibility and that way if you don't need it you don't spend it. Yeah. So. Yeah I'll make a motion to approve the two line transfers up to that looks like 3840. Sorry how much? 3,840. I'll second. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I. I. Any opposed? Thank you guys. It's helpful. Yeah and I mean some of these other things we can discuss next time. >> is urgent yeah. Awesome all right on
111to our next topic. All right quotes for projects. All right so we have several things I will try to stay somewhat organized. I think the um easiest thing to consider is the dumpsters. Yeah. So Yeah. board packet you saw five different options that we Josh Coughlin the Pembroke facilities director helped me reaching out and getting quotes from these companies. So you'll see that Casella was in there for 550 a month. Um and then there were price caps on the extended year contracts in there. K Town Disposal was at 468 per month and all of these options included recycling by the way. Um none of these removed recycling. Um so 468 a month for K Town and also had price lock ins and caps on increases over a multi year contract. Waste Management was 477 per
112month um and allowed for the price caps on extended year contracts. Um we sent to Win Waste they don't service Deerfield and Zero Waste is also not service Deerfield. Yeah so I think the K Town is to me a no brainer it's less money the contract itself is better the terms of the contract and I personally use them and I have they've been super reliable. They they were pretty new when I started using them like a year and a half ago but I've had them for a year and a half and they they they they come on holidays and everything it's crazy so I see it it says Casella no hidden fees except the delivery fee. Is that not the case with K Town they don't have a delivery fee? Right. It looks like K
113Town just they just don't hide anything. Yeah I think they're getting aggressive with their >> business. Yeah. They're more local familiar with them too. I'm not familiar with them but I read the the write up and I read their proposal and I read who what they are. You know um the fact that you're using them and you've already got personal experience. I was pretty impressed overall with their proposal and with with their attitudes of how they, you know, they want to be our service provider. And they're local. >> And they and they offered to to do a 15% match. >> They they they >> by 15% but they were already cheaper, so. Yeah. Yeah. And it part of me wants to Um Don't go there. They might be cheaper. But this is all public, so
114they know. Yeah, don't. No, and I know that that's not the right way to do that in here, but I the I'll leave it to that. It would save What right now we have Casella. Yep. It would save us about 984 a year. The same service. A month. No, a year. A year. >> Oh, oh, oh, sorry. >> $1,000 a year. Oh, no. Yep, yep, sorry. It's going to save us >> win, but it's a good win. It's going to save us money even if I won't say It's a It's a savings. They're a local company. They they're Their proposal was was great, I think. And I don't see any reason not to. Yeah, and the other thing is is that we're gaining frequency on our dumps, too, which is needed. Yep. Do we have
115to make a motion for that? >> Yes, please. Can I make a motion to switch our contract to Kate Town Disposal? I'm I'll second that. Any discussion? All in favor say I. I. >> I. Any opposed? All right. One down, 40 to go. Um Let me just down. Okay. Uh next one I think I want to get off the list is the field treatment. Um if you want to talk more particulars about company and service, we can do that in non-public and come back out and you guys can make a motion after, but just on surface level um Josh reached out. So, Pembroke also uses Mosquito Joe. So, he had reached out to Mosquito Joe. We had already got a quote from TruGreen, that's who we currently use. Um just for treatment of like pests
116and bugs and things like that. TruGreen was at $980 a month uh or per treatment rather for five treatments. And Mosquito Joe came in at $400 per treatment um and same frequency. So, and that's just for field treatment, that doesn't include um we're separating out the grub treatment and that does not include fertilizer. So, it's just for like the mosquito, tick, those kind of pests around the athletic fields. So. Yeah, I I mean again, that's Mosquito Joe's less than half, so I think got to keep TruGreen honest here. And uh I would I would be in favor of switching. I'm I'm okay switching. Um it's a substantial difference in some of the concerns I have when I see such a substantial difference is always you know, we going to suffer by taking the lower end
117one. I can give you more info in non-public. >> Yeah. Yeah. But I Well, then I'll give you this info in public. Um I've used them in the past and they did fine. Yeah. Mosquito Joe? Mhm. Okay. Yeah, I mean I know a lot of people in town use them. I personally have had bad experience with TruGreen. Um I just think it's it's a big corporate thing, you know what I mean? And I just I I don't know. It seems like Mosquito Joe, I don't know how big they are. They're local. I I'm recommending Mosquito Joe. Okay. Yeah. They're locals. They service. They do a job. They do a good job. Awesome. I make a motion that we change our contract to Mosquito Joe. I'll second. Yes, he's got it. Good. Any discussion? All in
118favor say I. I. >> I. Any opposed? No. Um Another thing for consideration and you don't need a necessary decision on this tonight, we can come back um because you may want to go and look at some of the options that were in the packet. I didn't put a cost for the hour green, this is around board recording equipment um because you would ask to look into that to see about upgrading our current recording system. So, if that's something you are seriously considering and wanting to do um Josh Coughlin again gave me an estimate around what it would cost to have a similar setup that the Pembroke uses with the like microphones and a big speaker and all that. And he included a detailed there's a detailed itemized like quote list in the packet around
119what materials that would be. Um and that came up to uh around all those materials would have come up to around $2,000 back in 2020. So, it has been a few years. Um so, but that could either be good or bad with technology. Sometimes technology gets cheaper um over time and then sometimes it gets more expensive. So, just a ballpark around $2,000 would be a similar setup to the Pembroke system. And then the owl system can range anywhere from like $1,500 up to around $5,000 depending on what type of mic system that you would get um from owl. Or we can maintain our current. Yeah, well, so the I did like the custom one. It has two cameras. So, >> Yeah, one's a mounted. >> Right. So, I was just, you know, looking at the
120way we're set up tonight, it's like it could go right up there. And um It would be one Do we want to have a camera that like at the town meetings you have whoever's speaking from the public is on It's a split screen. Mhm. It's on and then the board. >> one could be there and face the crowd and the public comment there and one could face and then that way you'd see all of us at >> That would be I think if we could do something like that, that would be Yeah. That you know, that would just be better I for the public that's viewing. Yeah. I'll play devil's advocate. Yeah. If we have good audio and people are saying that they can hear us why spend the money? I think that I think
121there was a combination of our first meeting, a little bit of nerves, you know, and people not speaking up. >> mic placement. It could be. It could It definitely I mean I definitely think that at the very least, even if we stayed with this, we should have more >> on there that can pick up Like there's no mic over here. There's no mic for Evan and Nancy over here and there's no mic over there for the public commenters, so. >> This with you, is that something that can be done with this system? Could we purchase more mics and add on? You think? Um I don't know. Okay. How old is it? This system I don't know. I think we've had this system for a long time. Mhm. This system is new. The camera and that
122that's new. That we got post-pandemic. >> Yeah. Another thought would be who else benefits from this? Who's using this system? Is it just us? Just the board. Yeah. I mean Mhm. Not for nothing, but I think people hear enough of us from these mics, but that's just my opinion. We could look into a bigger, you know, there might be a bigger system like that. I don't know. I don't know either. I just hate to see us spend money where we don't have to. Sure. Then how about if we uh How do we reach out? What's a good You communication people. What is a good way for us to reach out to the community to see how much how how well it's working now compared to the first meeting? We're going to find out, Ed. >>
123There you go. Well, yeah, cuz I I I know that there were complaints, you know, prior to just the past 2 weeks, you know, it's not it's been an on >> a one-time No, no. No, I think I think the first meeting this new board's first meeting kind of triggered that more more comments. As expected. Yeah. I think I think that that's normal. >> Yeah, I think in the past I've heard papers. I don't know if they're hearing the papers tonight. That would be the only thing. Yeah, and and I do think that that that the camera the I don't know if it just needs to be further back or maybe tonight the way we're set up is better. Cuz it it's less of a circle right now. Yeah. So, it might pick up all
124of us better. I'm not sure, but I know a lot of times >> give some feedback. Oh, yeah, go ahead. Sorry, I didn't see it. Before my little tenure I would do the minutes watching the videos back. Yep. I would have to put on closed caption. Okay. To be able to For the audio, yeah. >> the volume or is it the Is it background noise? Um background noise and just this like I asked you guys at some at the beginning, if you could just speak up cuz it's it was hard hearing people on on recordings. Okay. Not everyone has a teacher voice. >> Yeah. And there's a couple of them getting multiple people are saying it's perfect tonight. Um Huh. Well, I could change. >> Yeah, let's see. Yeah, but we also have that red
125cat system. I don't know if we could buy microphones for something like that. The red cat system is like a little it would make I don't know. The teachers use that and it >> Well, I'm curious if we can add more of these mics and you know, I think we would need at least two more. And Yeah, I think at least two. Maybe maybe two. I'm good with trying to do something on the low end spend if we have good enough video cuz that was some of the concern. But if our video in this form setting works, that Yeah, and it I think that with the microphones and if even if that was further away and you you don't need to necessarily make out everybody's but if you can see everybody and hear them at
126the same time, it does the video quality I don't think matters that much. But it's just knowing who's speaking and Is it is it Brian who I've seen get up and turn the camera to Yeah, sometimes this this I use this to manage the camera but sometimes this doesn't work. Okay. For whatever reason the battery's dead or it did didn't sync or whatever. So yeah, I can move this camera. That's what I do when people are not public speaking publicly. I move the camera so that they're Good because I wasn't paying attention and didn't notice that. It's hard to see. It's moving right now. So Yeah, so if we can at least make sure that we can view the public. If that camera does that, there's no need to necessarily buy anything more. We can
127look into more mics. I think a mic at each table would be would be good if we can do that. Okay. I talk loud. >> That should be pretty cheap. Cuz I have lots of kids. It was necessary it was a necessity. Um all right, the other um I'm sorry, I didn't mean to move on so quickly. So we're going to be am I good? We'll do that then. Yeah, and it I think that with the microphones and if even if that was further away and you you don't need to have Um so the board uh hoping for the board to make a decision on the mini split tonight. Not right now. Um I would like to go into some more detail in non-public about some of the vendors. So we'll do that in non-public
128but then hoping when we come out that the board would entertain a motion to approve one of the quotes that we received through the RFP process for the mini split replacement. And can you just confirm where that money's going to come from? So that will come from one of our existing maintenance lines. Okay. So then the mini split conversation will pick up in non-public. Yep. And then come out of non-public with any decisions that we have made. Okay, perfect. There's another Oh, no, that's part of the same thing. Ski or Joe and Ski Town. That's just >> that was all the quotes. Yeah. Okay. All right, general assurances. So every year um the board chair and the superintendent have to sign off on what's called general assurances. They are basically a contract that we sign
129with the state of New Hampshire saying that we will follow all state and federal laws as it pertains to our grants that we receive from the state and federal government. So there's they combined all the general assurances this year which actually is kind of nice but it makes it like a 20-page packet um and can I not have to have you initial every single page today? We can do that after the meeting. But we do have to make sure that it's in public record um that the board had a chance to review the general assurances that have been in there um and just letting everyone know that we do sign off on this and we do meet all the requirements for uh the state and federal grants. We have policies all the policies in place
130that are required um and we have to go through a whole verification process when we do apply for the grants to make sure that we're meeting all the areas of need uh that they require. And anytime we put an activity in for a grant that gets sent to the state to review. Before that gets approved, we have to have certain language in there. Um we have to cross all our t's, dot all the i's in there and then the state will approve an activity or not approve an activity. They'll kick it back if it doesn't meet the criteria for that grant. So I don't need you to do anything. I don't need any action on it. I just have to put that in the public record and we have to be able to show evidence
131that we talked about it at the board meeting. Awesome. >> package just the cover letter I guess. I did not copy the Oh, yeah. Thank you. I have it printed out ready to go. Any discussion on that? It was a long read. Yeah. Uh yeah. Yeah. It gives you some insight though to like the things that we have to do on a regular basis to make sure that we meet that criteria. Public wouldn't necessarily see. So Okay, informational items. Preschool update. So I just wanted to provide I know you guys covered on a little bit so I don't want to you know beat it with a stick here but um I am doing uh review with the help of Miss McConnell, our special ed coordinator, Miss Withy, the wonderful preschool staff that we have um
132and the business office and starting a longer term review of what we have to offer for preschool already, how we meet kids' needs, where we need improvements, um what some different options are for preschool to consider. Uh not that this would be an action item for the board to cut anything like you said it but it's just it's a thorough review of our current program, the cost analysis of that and what options are in is there a better option that would meet more kids' needs or are we doing what's in the best interest of kids? So it it's basically like another little mini audit of our preschool program. So I will continue to bring back updates but wanted to let you know that's what we are starting to do. We've started to gather a bunch
133of information um and we will continue to do that over the coming months. Yeah, and part part of that conversation also that has happened is um you just being able to can we offer more? You know, whether it's full day and I don't you know, we don't I don't know the feasibility of all that stuff but just it you know, to bring up the fact that we're not looking to cut it. We're actually talking about you know, where we're at, can we make it better? That's the conversation. So So I will I will continue to add that to agenda updates for the board um and bring back information. So next time I'll have I'll I will actually have information for you guys to start sifting through and learning for next round. Awesome. And audit updates.
134Audit update. So we just got back the 23-24 school year final audit. Our auditors uh submitted the final report to us so that was included in the drive and that is included in the public packet. Um you're going to see a lot of the same findings in here that have been for the last few years because this is our this was our last audit that was behind. We are now fully caught up with all of Deerfield's audits um and they are they've done all the field work for the audit from the 24-25 school year and they're in that process now. So they're um finishing up I don't know if they completed I shouldn't say completed but they started that process and they'll be completing field work and then we are expecting to see that report
135I believe in the fall in October. I think it was the timeline I shared at the full board. So So we're caught up with audits for Deerfield. It's good news. And a lot of the um findings that they had mentioned here, you'll see repeat comment. That means that that was found early on but we were behind so you will see repeat errors over the last few years because we were behind on audits but now that we're finally caught up the 20 24-25 fiscal year will be what's actually current practice that we have changed um adopted policies, changed practice. So we're anticipating um having a more thorough and up-to-date finding if there are findings. We will make whatever changes we need to with that. But they were all most of the findings had to do with
136policies that we were missing as a district that would support some of the financial um practices. So we but we have already begun adjusting that and changing that. A lot of the policies that begin with the letter D uh which you've seen come through over the last year are a lot of the ones that are mentioned in these audits. So within this audit um and I'm trying to understand it and that you've explained when I when I see repeat comment, it's because they've seen it in the past they now still see it. They shouldn't see it in 24-25. Okay. Um So all of these if there is deficiencies are being worked on. Correct. Um cuz one of the ones that kind of stood out to me a little bit and I just wanted clarification if
137you can Mhm. is the student activity fund. And again it says repeat comments. But when I look at the situation or when I look at the comments that are there um where it looks like some or a little bit of lack of oversight is what I'm gleaning out of that. Yep. Um, has that been corrected? So, as it it is now been corrected. So, we did um I shouldn't say we. Amber Amber has done an on-site visit for every one of our schools in the SAU and done a thorough audit of our student activities accounts. And that happened this year. So, that will actually still be a repeat comment for 24-25, but will not be a repeat comment for 25-26. Okay, so So, the deficiencies that it spells out have been worked on or in
138the process of working on. >> So, they're in the process of being worked on. So, she had completed the audit I think it was about a month ago and the findings have been shared with Principal Woody. I I'm Maybe I didn't share those. If I didn't share those with the board, um I will share those with the board. Um, so you so you can see it. I thought I put included it last meeting. It was. Okay. The student activities >> Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We got that. So, that handbook creation came from this audit finding. Um, so Amber created the um student accounts or student activities accounts handbook. She went and did an on-site visit and did a full audit cycle, the same that our auditors do. She did a full audit cycle um with
139our uh budget secretaries and if there were any findings the principal got a copy of that, budget secretary got a copy of that, I got a copy of that and we're working on cleaning up any processes that need to be cleaned up. Okay. So. Cuz I know when it comes to money Yep. it's a sensitive subject, wouldn't you say? >> 100%. Um, so I just want to make sure that the public's aware of the progress Yep. that we're making on this whole audit in time and moving forward. Absolutely. All right. So, we will move the agenda items for next meeting till after our board discussion and public comments. So, we are on to policy. So, we had moved some forward for a second reading and maybe I know I didn't bring it up and only
140know cuz I feed on the board before, but like Angela and Ed if you when you read if you have any concerns on the policies, forward it to Missy and myself and then Missy and I get together and we'll talk about it. So, we did not get together again to talk about the ones for the second reading. We did not. No. So, cuz Missy did So, if you have any feedback on those, let us know and Missy, you and I can set a date to go over. Yeah. I have a procedural question. I'm sorry, what? I have a procedural question. So, um I went and happy to look through those. Am I allowed to email you both at the same time? You can email us. I mean, you can just know that it's it's subject
141to right to know and public I'm perfectly fine with that. I just That's all. I don't want to get in trouble. You can. Just know that that's the caveat. It becomes public We read it all. at that point. Thank you. And you had sent me I know and I did not make the corrections. I'm sorry. I will do it. I It's all right. >> confused two of them, but I do have semi-draft minutes of our last meeting that I will get That's all right. I'm behind on both of them. I what? You got them. Yes, I did get the minutes and I've been making fixes on it. I just did not complete No, that's cool. And if at any point you would need feedback from me on anything or want me to look at something
142in particular, Please email me and look at them. I sent them to Missy first Okay. and she wrote back to me and said, "I think you confused these two." And when I went back and read them, yep. So, it was just fixing that, but I will send them to you as well for sure. So, we'll move these to a third reading. Yeah, and anything you have, please let us know so that we can get together. Yep. All right, then we are back to public comments. Look at that time. I just want to um first of all, thank the board for a positive meeting. Um and just bring some things to Can I ask you to state your name, please? >> Oh, Candy Davin. Okay, thank you, Candy. I'm the secretary in the office downstairs. Mostly
143live there and my mailing address is 24 Old Center Road. Okay. So, I'm hoping next year to be sitting by my wood stove and not relying on heat in the office because in my area there is none. And it was because the office was reconfigured, but the wiring and the heating was not put into place. So, put that in the back of your minds for the new staff that will be there. Mary and I used to wear and put blankets around us as a joke, which was not appreciated by the prior administrator, but anyway, just wanted to let you know that. Um, second, if you have any floor tiles left over from your cafeteria project, if you could look at the office floor, I am currently drilling a hole to China because I basically stand
144one spot and spin and it's extremely worn out. Take the joking aside, the office is where people do come in. It is their first impression of your school. And no matter how nicely we try to present ourselves and how pleasant we can be, the office could use a little love and touch-up. So, if you can um just keep that in mind, that would be great. Forecasting your budget, it's a good thing. School choice because people, I believe from my perception, are moving to Deerfield because they have school choice. So, it makes it easier if you're selling your home. If I'm wrong, please correct me. But include that in your budget or in that oh my gosh, you didn't expect that type of a thing. So, I'm just giving that to you as information. Um, the
145second thing I want to I'm going to pick on Cannon cuz he picked on me. Thank you, Cannon, for bringing it to my attention and I knew what the board was doing when you did not say anything about um comments made on Facebook page. I wanted it reiterated and made clear and then since it was a public comment at the end, I thought we could have more clarity on the situation even though Nancy may have thick skin. So, thank you for that and I think um you may for some reason set the Facebook model for other communities. I know you don't want to talk about Facebook anymore, but if it can be a positive thing and you can hold it and use it and make it a model and put other pages to shame, kudos.
146I hope you can do it cuz I think it's a good way to communicate to people and I understand how you're using it. So, last but not least, my time is up. I think we can all take a breath. I think that sometimes we jump to conclusions. Um, people have come in and made comments about getting rid of this position, that position, then you talk about preschool and the fire and then the you know, budgets that were cuts that were being proposed and the fire just builds and builds and builds and builds. I think you as a board tonight put some water on that and maybe it's not a fire, it's embers and that I can say when I walk in the door tomorrow, I can say I feel that the board is truly looking
147at everything in this building and wanting it to be better and not to take these away, but to improve them and make them better. And if I'm not correct, Cannon will correct. Thank you. Hi. Daniel Palmer, Range Road. Um, just a couple quick comments. I don't know if it was discussed or not about the paving in between the modular um at the school, but instead of paving like I don't I don't know if it's being considered for like gravel or paving blocks instead. I don't know if it's cheaper. I don't know the details, but just a thought on that to reduce the cost of paving. Um the conversation about the surplus, um another thought just to put out there as a fundraising parent who is burnt out and done. Um you know, would it would
148it be worth looking at putting some more money into the um budget line for field trips. So, parents are not fundraising from sixth grade through eighth grade trying to make thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars from the same families who keep offering money over and over and over again. So, it's just something to consider. Please. Um and then I do again I do appreciate you guys mentioning that you're not trying to defund the preschool. I think it is a hard lesson to recognize that words are really important to the public. Um, you know, when we're sitting here last week and we hear statements such as, you know, one of the highest paying teachers we could see by not having her here or, you know, how much financial impact is it to to not follow
149the rules or the limits of what what the state requires. So, it's just just recognize that words like that really hit home for a lot of people in your field and it scares us. Um so, please just pay attention to the words that you're using when you're discussing budget and stuff. That's all. Thank you. Thank you. I'm Julie Sullivan, Ridge Road. And um yeah, similar similar sentiments about the surplus if there is a way to get a level floor and some heat in the office, stuff like that. Any reinvestment would be phenomenal and to support the fundraising activities. I am looking forward to the Fisher Cats this Friday, but um just wanted to mention that in um public comment here. Um also, I went back to verify and I just want to say again, word
150choice is very important. So, I I was the most, I think, openly communicative about preschool on that Facebook post and I want to just state for public comment, I never said that I thought the board was defunding it. I was quoting the board when they were talking about what the consequences are of not complying with the regulations about preschool. And then it was mentioned about a teacher's salary who happens to be currently in the preschool program. Um so, I didn't use the word defund because I don't think that that word came up during the meeting. Um um but it is very concerning and disheartening to hear. And I loved hearing tonight's discussion about the fact that we're not looking at eliminating programs, we're looking at the cost of it and what different avenues we can
151take to improve it, to potentially expand it. I think that is fantastic. Um I would love that cuz I do have a younger kid, too. Um on the Facebook note, I do love a survey. Um I am, you know, I'm learning also surveys are just part of life. And um I just want to reiterate that another public commenter mentioned, they are intentionally not on Facebook. I do hate Facebook at times. Um and I think there are many times I need to to take a step away from it because of the commenters and and the way the community um treats each other. Um I do think surveys are great, but I don't think that a Facebook survey is going to be representative of a community survey. So, I don't know if, you know, I think we
152get emails from the school, so that's a great way to survey parents. Um I don't know the best way to survey the whole community, but I don't think Facebook is going to be representative. Um and I also just want to note that I did read the emails that were submitted to the board um in the public packet. Um and I am a little disappointed that they weren't mentioned. I mean, they were mentioned, but they weren't summarized or um bulleted or anything. Um I do think there was time to at least give the high level. There was some very thoughtful emails that were sent. It takes more time to write an email than it does to write a Facebook comment. And we were able to review Facebook comments, so I would like to um see more
153of the emails at least mentioned when it goes to the whole board. I I thought the intent was to communicate and I know they were available in the packet, but um not everybody has the the ability to to find it and read it. Thank you. Thank you. Hello. Hannah Perry, Deerfield Primary first grade teacher. And Angela, I love the fireside chats idea so much. I don't know if you could see or hear Michael and I cheering in the corner after that, but um we absolutely love it. Um the public forum, love that idea, too. I want to be completely honest and caution that um there is the the chance for us to feel maybe a little uncomfortable or nervous um having a public forum with you. We want to speak with you. Like I can't
154um stress that enough, but just with some of the comments that have been made in the recent past about teachers, um we might, you know, some people may be a little bit hesitant and worry that their words could be twisted or you know, we would just the fireside chats sound like a perfect starting place if that's something that we're allowed to do. Obviously, if we have to do a public forum with the community, then that's that is the avenue that we take. Um Just something to consider. I have so many notes that are so scrambled. Um I don't know if like there's a chance for like maybe you need a teacher to collaborate with to plan these things, but like I would love to be a part of it. Um Cannon, you said that you
155it was as a as a board are looking to build trust with the community and that really resonated with me because I feel like um us as teachers are doing the same thing and I feel like we can work together on doing that. This is a really positive meeting and um thank you guys so much for your time tonight. Thank you. Joanne Franklin, South Road. Um I was wondering if I can ask with Principal Whitney being here, she can talk to the um policy of the children coming in and out of the modulars. Or is that not allowed at this point? Yeah, I think we'll we'll save that conversation for another time, but we're the the goal of public comments is not to engage back and forth. Um It It really needs to be put
156on the agenda for it to be a conversation. Can you do that? You can I don't know what the process is. They request Yeah, if I mean, it would be helpful, yeah. It would be helpful if you just sent me an email. >> Absolutely. Thank you. Then it opens up our ability to have a discussion. Thank you. Any other public comments? Hey, good evening, everyone. Um Michael Trong, um one of the K8 music teachers here at Deerfield. And again, I just um have to extend my appreciation for everybody here tonight. Um both school board members, admin, community members who choose to uh to choose to spend their Wednesday evening uh at Deerfield Community School. Um I gloriously agree with everything that um my colleague and friend Hannah said just now about the idea of fireside
157chats. I think, you know, in the theme of building the bridges, right? Building bridges for community engagement, for community partnerships, that is a great first step and I truly appreciate that. Um there's been all this meeting, I've been thinking about this one quote that's been going through my mind and I'd like to share that. Let's see if I can remember it, though. It's by the Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw. He says, "This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose considered by yourself as a mighty one. The being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and it is
158my privilege to do for it whatever I can for as long as I live. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle for me. It is a sort of splendid torch and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations." And scene. So, again, I just want to extend my appreciation. Thank you. Thank you. Any other public comments? All right, we will have our board discussion and public comments, second round. Just to jump in real quick, I totally get where Hannah's coming from as far as chats versus public and I think the chats are a great idea, but again, Jess was going to
159look into the legality of it and how that could work and not that I feel if it was Cannon and Angela because they're our communication people doing the chats, I just don't want to make sure we all are hearing what the teachers are saying. I mean that's the one thing. So it'll be interesting to see how we can cuz I do understand the speaking in in public and being concerned about that. I get it. That was part of it even when we did it years ago. But I also want and believe it's important for the whole board to have a sense of Yeah, and I think I think that this is brand new, right? So it's going to develop, but I I would suggest that it's not just the two of us that it's if
160it has to only be two, you know, we mix it up, right? And then >> Yeah, exactly the same thing. Yeah, that way everybody has a chance to interface with the various groups we're trying to meet, but we'll talk more I guess as we figure that out. And I think that we'll get more honest feedback, too, in a smaller more private setting, right? So And I have a fire pit at my house. We could utilize that. All right, we'll take that. Fireplace here, we could have a turtle side chat. Turtle side chat. We do, yeah. Fire pit, nice. In the pavilion if it rains, yes. It doesn't rain in the woods. Oh, that's right. I had a few comments. Um just in regards to Julia's comment, I definitely didn't say that you said that Yeah,
161I just wanted to make sure you didn't think that I had said that. Um it actually was someone else that did say it, however. Um and so I wanted to make sure we were really clear that we weren't trying to defund preschool. I just thought it's sad. Um and then um Danielle, your comment about the words, um I couldn't agree more. Um and I think that the reason why we brought that up tonight was because of the things that I was seeing on Facebook. And I knew that there was some some misconstrued information from that last meeting and I think it was just because we hadn't explained why we were having that conversation. Um and it wasn't just, you know, for one reason. I had multiple people, as soon as I was elected, that were
162like, "Why do we have preschool? Why is that even a thing?" And I was like, "You know, we really need to make sure that it's a it's something that we understand fully. Um and so that was why that that was on the agenda. Um so I'm glad we were able to clear that up. Um I don't know if I'm allowed to. I did respond respond to some of our emails individually to say thank you for people. I hope that's okay. >> as long as you're not um I wasn't speaking for the board or making a decision that No, please communicate. >> Yeah, no, I really I thought some of those emails we got were really thoughtful. Um and I appreciated reading them even if I didn't agree with everything that was in them cuz I
163certainly didn't. Um I did reach out individually to thank people when they had sent things that were really thoughtful and um one of them that stands out to me was GG's. Um I thought she's always so and I I said this to her, she's always so thoughtful in what she says and um very clear-headed um and very thorough and uh I've always appreciated her comments. Um again, even if it wasn't something that I 100% agreed with, I thought, "Gosh, what a what a what a time that it took her to put it together." So uh just wanted to let you know that I did respond personally to most of them um to say, "Hey, I I get it and thank you." I think that was all I had. Oh, and I did share the packet,
164the full packet, on Facebook. I know it's only one avenue. Um it's on the website, of course, but people don't know how to find it and I thought if I share the full packet in that post with the meeting minutes, hopefully people will see it. So hopefully people got to read those comments as well. The only comment I have cuz I want to be really clear. In unfortunately, Candy stepped out. I said this would be the last meeting, so her talking about it again we're still in the meeting. So it's fine. Um to a couple things that Danielle said, um the paving project um it was originally proposed as pavers. Um pavers are much more expensive than pave than asphalt paving. I install pavers. And Yeah, but you have to think about the Yeah, oh
165yeah, it's it's I mean the it's the same prep. But one of them just spreads in a machine and lays it down. The other one's all laid by hand. And the material itself is more expensive for the pavers. So It and it's and it's to enable snow to be removed >> Yeah, and so the the idea is that it can't be gravel either cuz we want to plow it. So then the gravel would end up on the hot top and then we'd be cleaning that off. So the goal is to basically right now uh there's that strip between the building and the driveway and during the winter it's just a big snowbank. So Brian does dismissal and everything and he has nowhere to walk. The kids have nowhere to walk. Um so it's just paving
166that and then we can plow right up to the building or snowblow really close if needed. Um just to allow more access. And that that we've determined that is the cheapest way to do it. Um In terms of the the comment um that you made about the preschool teacher, I I I did mention that she was one of the highest paid teachers. I did not say it'd be really nice if we cut that position. I did not say anything about cutting her position. So um we're talking about we were talking about the total cost of the program. Um and again, sur- surveys um yeah, you're never going to get everybody's opinion, but I mean at the at the uh school deliberative session that vastly represented one side. And the polls were indicative of that. So
167and in terms of correspondence, yeah, I mean I just a lot of it there was thoughtful comment. A lot of it was um Yeah, it's hard to uh yeah, I'm not I'm not even going to go there. There's a lot and we have a and we're already here in at 8:30 still and when you have a dozen nine, 10, a dozen, you know, lengthy communications, we post them so that everybody can read them. We we may not be able to touch on all of them. Okay, so it's just a choice of time. And unfortunately, that's the reality. All right. Any else? Any other comments? Um thankful to Candy who's not here for letting us know about what's going on with the floor in the office and the fact that there's no electricity at that particular
168area. The heat. Heat. Oh, no heat. But there's electricity, so you could have an electric heater, maybe. She does have an electric heater. Okay. And the office is heated. It's just they're on the heaters over here and they're on that side. >> Okay. But the office is heated. But it's good to know that she'd like to have some tiles. She's going to China. those things, yeah. Well, that's that's I mean as a facilities committee, that's the first time we've heard about that. So I'm saying I'm glad she brought it to our attention. I'm not on facilities anymore, but Right. You So you know So we that is I mean we've we've got a whole list of projects and that's not there and it's not because we chose to not address it. So now now it's
169it's on my notes for the next meeting. So these men. Anything else? All right. Uh so then we'll go to the agenda. Oh, sorry. Thank you for bringing that up about the third graders and the safety. Thank you. Yeah, just if you just send me that email, we'll Thank you. Okay, uh we're on to agenda items for next meeting. One thing I wondered um we didn't go through all the warrant articles, did we? Um no. >> of them, but but at some point do we need to discuss them? >> Yeah, we did briefly just address the Yeah, but I that actually was on my radar as well. >> Yeah, just because some of them, you know, whether we're going to act on them or not, um they were voted on and just to I just
170didn't know. Yeah, no, I I think No, I think that's a good idea. If we take um one topic maybe per meeting for warrant articles. Um is there one that anybody wants particularly, whether it's school choice or top off agreements or I was thinking some of that was going to come out with the high school committee. So that's why I wasn't like pushing the warrant articles cuz I figured it was going to be part of your conversation that you would then bring bring back to us. But Yeah, definitely. I guess the reason I I mentioned it, too, is it was mentioned to me by some community members about are you going to discuss the other warrant articles? So I'm kind of wondering if that's just to say, "Yes, we're going to work on this one
171or this one or put it aside." Yeah. Like I think that's basically >> I a quick update for the community. >> Yeah, are you guys Is it If you guys don't have one right now specifically that you want to address at the next meeting, I'll pick one. And I think that's the way I'd like to tackle it is to um put one per meeting cuz none of them were pressing right now. It's like It's just but get the conversation going. Yeah, absolutely. And and my other just thing for not the next meeting, but for us to put in the back of our head, especially when we start thinking budget again. And someone said, you know, special ed is really unknown. It can affect your budget like a nor'easter though. We had one year where we
172had to freeze the budget the very beginning of the year because of changes. I think we had that presentation about special ed and funding. I wonder especially for new members and even for a review of myself. Um just what the cost involved in special ed is. I mean, transportation alone. Sure. I think that I don't think people know that. And I think it would be beneficial. If that area is just so tough. There is that. Budget can get tough. There's a PowerPoint I think from your meeting on that that I did review. But I'm sure I can learn loads more from that. Maybe >> I went and met with Jess right after I was elected. And to go through it. And I sat there like, really? I mean, and I didn't so I just it's
173it's one of those areas in the budget that really tough. Yeah, and if you guys want to help me prioritize some of these topics to what you guys want to see. I'm just trying to plan it out time wise. Like I think that to me that sounds like a good August, September conversation. There's I feel like we've got a lot of stuff to hammer out this spring. Yeah, now but put it in the back of our head that I think that's an important part of budget. >> off budget season with this. >> Yeah, that's a good idea. We will we'll have to do the ELA curriculum at the next one and just that that will be a lengthy conversation cuz it's a really thorough thoughtful presentation that that group has worked on. Really? So that's
174transportation. Yes, they will come that will be presented. And then if you as you're reading that, if you have questions ahead of time that you know you're going to ask. If if you want to share them ahead of time so they can be prepared to answer some of those questions. Just send me it. Yeah, send me an email and I'll send those off to Jess Woody. So I know we have transportation. Amy's coming to the next meeting, right? I got my survey. I filled it out. >> Okay. I don't need bussing next year. So there's one less for you. Joseph's going to have to make sure he passes driver's ed. Or I can give him a ride. Um any other I have one. >> have that just a warrant article topic? Okay, awesome. One topic.
175Maybe not the next one, but we have the New Hampshire School Board Association annual meeting in October. July 3rd is the deadline to submit any resolutions. So if there is anything that we want to bring to the table for that, we should be prepared to do that by the 3rd of July. If there's any suggestions that you have from that. For resolutions? Yeah. Yeah. All right, I'll look at it. Um and then why don't we just add the the modular conversation while we're at it. ELA curriculum. I don't know if it'll be next meeting or the week after or the other meeting after. Oh, we just let me know. It's all right. Yeah, that way we can try to Yeah, I want to try to do what we did tonight and not be as overwhelmed
176as we were last time. So if that's going to be a long presentation, then we can add some more and it's going to get moved and we can add some more stuff to May 6th. And our favorite communications topic can go on again. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Follow up. Fireside, yeah. I wish you made it. Thought she was being fresh. I am. Kind of. All right. Any other uh agenda items for next meeting? Obviously you can help keep updating that as we you know, up till next Wednesday. All right. Um we we're going to need a non-public session under NH RSA 91-A:3 Roman numeral two uh - B, C, and J. What's that? Can you say it again? B, C, and J. Yep. I'll second and then roll call. Any discussion? Roll call vote. Yes.
177Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. All right. Thank you. Bye guys. Have a good night. Welcome back, Trish.