001I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Does everyone have a seat that needs a seat? We can pull out extra chairs. Mr. McMar, are you good for a seat? Do you want a regular chair? Okay. >> All right. Uh first order of business will be the selection of a new board chair. So I will entertain any nominations for >> chairs. >> Is there a second? >> Second that. >> All right. Missy moved. Ed seconded to nominate Kennan. Do you accept that nomination? >> Yes. >> All right. Any other nominations? >> Okay. All those in favor, please say I. I. opposed. All right, motion passes. All right, Canon, hand it over to
002you. >> I'll just read off our board norms. Work together and be collaborative. Assume good intentions. Be present and prepared for the meeting. Challenge the issue, not the person. Be respectful. I will review the minutes for February 18th. I make a motion to accept the minutes of February. >> Any discussion? Yeah, I see a a typo under immediate business a state of committee. Fourth line down not selling whole things not selling the whole thing. >> Any others? >> Um last page adjournment. Don't we usually have the time? It's not on this one. I probably have that written down so I can get that added in because I usually keep my own like set >> so I can look that up. >> Yeah, I don't have the >> Y. Anything else? Pass the minutes for February
00318th. All in favor say I. >> I. All right. And we'll now open up public comments. >> Good evening. Alan O'Neal with Milstone Lane. >> Hey, we just wanted to come in and and welcome new board members. And we are both board of trustee members at Co. We want to make sure that it's on your calendar. I know it's challenging, but May 13th is the joint board meeting with the trustees. All the send in schools are invited. You should have received an email from Amanda. We just want to make sure that the transition that it's not missed. I know counting on the dates going out every two weeks, it lands on one of your own meetings. >> Oh, it does. >> It does every two weeks. If you're on every two weeks, it's two weeks
004out. And there's executive board. >> What time was that? >> 6 p.m. You should have received an email if you haven't yet. We'll make sure you get one from Amanda Roy over at the joint board. We just wanted to make sure you knew that we were here to help facilitate communication between this board. We're available. >> Thank you very much. >> Yeah. Greg Whitmore, North Road. Uh, so first off, just want to say welcome to the two new board members, Andrew and Ed. Nice to have you. Nice to see you. So, congrats. Um, I just had a couple things I wanted to bring to the board to attention. The first thing is that I'm sure you remember a while back uh there was a request that a book list be generated for the school. So
005like the classroom books or whatnot and it was for a very specific reason. You know there was definitely an incident with uh something inappropriate popping up and uh I'm curious what the status is on that list. So it's been quite a while. Um we had our own unfortunate incident pop up. Right. That's all I'm going to say about it, but something like that could have been averted if we have a list like that. All right. So, I'd really like to know what the status is on that and how how we're moving forward. And uh one of the things I I hope that the board will take up in the near future is uh a serious look at the math curriculum. And this stems from um basically I I I see this Eureka math book that
006comes up and uh I look at the the the type of math that's being utilized and this incredible roundabout methodology for solving basic you know fifth grade math. you know, we're we're we're in fifth grade this year and uh I wonder if this is the best method for for serving the students or if you know, we could possibly look to going back to a more traditional math, you know, in the near future. So, those are really the only two things that I have for you, right? Thank you. Nancy Shu Pleasant Hill Road speaking for Nancy Shu not a board member at this time. Um first I would like to thank Ellen and Kendra for their time on the board and for their dedication to the community and also um all of Deerfield students pre through
007K. So thank you for your time. Um my other comment is I'm putting on my focus hat and um would like to thank the teachers, the staff and the administration for their continued support with Tricky Tree. I just got the list of uh donations from the school and as always they are amazing and although yes the school um does benefit from the um the money we raise um a lot of the community does too. So I would like to thank them for their continued support of the school and the community. Hi Danielle Palmer, Range Road. Um, welcome school board. Um, just want to say in general, elementary education is a place where so many life skills are learned for kids. Um, we want Deerfield to be a place where our kids can come back if
008they want and raise their own children here and, you know, keep families returning to Deerfield. So, I feel like in order to do that, we need to make sure that DCS is a very strong foundation for our children. I'm not discounting the high school. I think they are extremely important children as well, but DCS is the home where they start. Um, yeah. So, please just keep in mind the research behind elementary school education before big decisions are made. Please keep children in your thoughts during this process. I know it's not an easy journey being on the school board and there are hard decisions that have to be made. So I just implore you to keep them keep them in your thoughts. >> Any other public comments? Hi, my name is Julia Sunderland. I live at
009Retro and I am hoping to just voice some con not concerns but sentiments about the importance again of all of the children in town. Um, and it's not just their education, but it's the community as a whole. And I want to make sure that the board understands the importance of maintaining this community that we have and the programs that we have, which are phenomenal. Um, and I I don't want to have to think about some of the cuts that were discussed last year and more recently as even potential. Um, and I truly believe that the every person that I have met and been fortunate enough to work with at DCS is very qualified, very smart, undercompensated, and hardworking. And they are dedicating their lives to our children. So I really hope that the board keeps
010that in mind as well that it's not just numbers in a table. These are people that are literally dedicating their lives to our children. They are helping them understand how the world works from social skills, being able to make friends and know when a friend needs space and all the way up through uh what was it called? I don't know what Eureka math is, but math and biology and chemistry. And as an engineer myself, I know that I got my spark for math and science in elementary school. And I I would love for my kids to to carry that on as well. But nothing against the the arts as well because I also think that those are tremendously important as a band member and um somebody who uses art as as one of my ways
011of um managing stress. I make Julie now, but uh got into that in high school as well. So, I do think that high school is is still extremely important and I think making sure that we don't undercut the prek through 8 program because of the rising cost of high school. I think that high school choices I'm opposed to it. Um, I didn't have a choice when I was in elementary school as far as which high school I went to, but I had classmates who did because I went to a regional high school. And I know that those I had cousins, for example, that came to my high school because they lived in one of the towns that could. And their experience of going from a small K through8 to a pretty big high school, it's
012it's difficult. And I and I love that the DCS program really helps the kids prepare for what's next. Um, I also think we need to continue to really not just think about, like I said, numbers in a spreadsheet or on a list because of the importance to ensure that they are um, oh, they are continuing to excel in their own educational path so that we don't end up at a point where some schools may say, "I'm sorry, DCS just isn't putting out the kids we want. I'm worried about potential changes that could result in less attention on the students and lead to their potential suffering in their educational experience. Um, >> I'm not. >> All right. Um, I just also want to add that I am not trying to be political. I'm not trying to
013be radical. I'm not trying to be liberal. It's a community. I want to keep the quality of our children's daily lives and their education at the top of mind prek through senior year. Any other public comments? >> I'll speak. Um, good evening everyone. My name is Michael Trong and I am one of the two music teachers here at Der Community School of which I've had the immense privilege of being here for the past seven years. First, I want to just extend a congratulations to Mrs. Sullivan and Mr. Cross for the uh their election to the school board. I would also like to thank Mrs. Coen who's here and Mrs. O'Donnell for their service on the board. Listen, public service is not for the faint of heart and I want to acknowledge the time, energy, and
014commitment it takes to serve the community in this way. So, thank you all. One of the many reasons why I chose to come to Deerfield was something that was shared with me during my interview many many years ago. When I asked Mrs. Whitney and Mr. Greek what was their favorite part of working here was, they both said this community. Over the past seven years, I've had the again immense privilege of seeing firsthand the power of this community through the support of families, the dedication of staff, and the shared investment that we all have in the success of our students. I truly believe that this sense of community is one of Deerfield's greatest strengths. However, in the past few years, and I'll, you know, say this as, you know, an, you know, as somebody who's working
015here as an employee, I've also felt, you know, sort of an underlying tension beginning to form, uh, sort of a an us versus them narrative. And as an educator here, or not even as an educator, as someone who cares deeply about our students and about this town, that kind of worries me because when that narrative takes hold, the question shifts from how do we solve this together to how do we win against them? But I believe that when we have the opportunities to sit down together and talk openly, we often find that we share far more in common than we might initially assume. So tonight, I'd like to just throw an idea that I hope we might consider together as a community. If we want to build relational trust and strengthen the engagement and partnership
016between the school and the community, then we need more opportunities to be in conversation with one another. That might look like something like, you know, just informal or even semi-structured community conversations where schoolboard members, educators, and community members can sit down together in dialogue. You know, having those spaces where we can talk openly about the challenges facing our school, share our perspectives, and work towards solutions that reflect the shared values of this community. I'm sitting here this evening saying this to all of you as school, you know, everybody in the audience. I'll even say it to the camera because I believe that Deerfield is capable of this kind of collaboration. Again, I think that it is one of the thing that make this town so special. At the end of the day, whether we are
017educators, board members, parents, taxpayers, we all play a part in this community and the success of our students is something that belongs to all of us. Again, I truly believe Deerfield is at its best when we choose conversation and collaboration. So, that's just all I want to say. So, thank you all for your time. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. Last call for public comments. Good evening. Donald Gama Mountain Road called me a veteran of the school board. So, I know exactly where you guys are. Congratulations to the new people who are coming on and thank you for stepping up and running and getting elected, Mr. Chairman. Thank you. Congratulations for your new position. I believe the citizens of Deerfield elected this school board for two reasons. Reason number one, education for the kids, not indoctrination,
018not all this woke stuff. Education. math across the state of New Hampshire is in against national averages is in the 40 high 40 percentile numbers. That's outrageous. English our native language reading writing in the 50 low 50 percentile rates. That's outrageous. Fairfield needs to take the money it's spending and educate the children. Kindergarten to the third grade. And a wise teacher who was sitting on this board told me one time that from kindergarten to third grade, you teach someone to read. From the fourth grade on for the rest of their life, they learn how to take those reading skills and apply them to life. Our kindergarten to third grade should be in the 80 or 90 percentile range, not in the 50s. That requires education. The second thing is, and there's a reason why a
019lot of the legislation that's going around in the state of New Hampshire now that comes out to putting caps on school budgets, putting caps on comm the town budgets, city budgets, things of that nature. Because the reason why and I can tell you as a former legislator, the legislature is very very reluctant to stick their nose into local affairs telling the board of selection or the school board you must do this that and the other thing but it's getting out of hand and more and more of those bills are going to be coming down. You won't have any choice in the matter. The way I look at it is really simple and straightforward. We have a new board starting from scratch. You have a grand opportunity for two things. To improve the quality of education
020in this school are the following facts. I think and I know personally that we have one of the best teachers in the state of New Hampshire sitting on this board that I spent many an hour in their classroom. When I was on the board, I sat in the kindergarten and I went to every single classroom all the way to the eighth grade. I recommend that what some of you folks do that also. But we have got to improve the educational standards in this school and we have got to look at the costs. The taxpayers are not a fire hydrant that just produces money. Because I'm telling you, there are things going on at the state level that if things aren't changed in this state, there's going to be a lot more coming down from the
021state level. But again, I want to emphasize you have an opportunity here to grab the bull by the horns and start teaching education, math, English, science, civics. >> I ask you to wrap up. >> I'm sorry. I can't hear you too well. >> Please, please wrap up your statement. >> Oh, >> thank you. >> Yeah. So, good luck. I hope things work out. >> Thank you. Oh, I'm gonna ask Don Gorman to stay here. >> Oh, sorry. Candy at 34 Old Center Road. I've spoken practically at every meeting. Why? I had children attend. I also am a grandparent who have children participating in the town of Deerfield Educational Program. Don and I I saw Don at work. I also saw the fear and dread of having a libertarian on the board. I will tell Don,
022he and I argue politically that I'm a better libertarian than he is. He just doesn't realize it. But yes, >> I saw him walk the hallways. I saw him bend down and tie children's shoes that were loose. I heard him listen to people. I heard him change sometimes his direction and his thoughts. It is possible. So, I'm just here to support what Michael Trong has said to all of you. I want to thank past board members. I want to thank members who are new members that are here and to welcome you. But as an example, and I was the one who took the minutes and so he and I would have many conversations um outside of school board about education and where it was going and what was happening and agreed on a lot more
023than we disagreed. So, >> it works. Thank you. >> Well, thank you. >> Oh, thank you all. I guess you got an air full from the two of us. >> All right, we'll have another session of public comments at the end, so we'll wrap that up. >> Uh, so we're on to our agenda review. Board discussion. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Yep. Board discussion regarding public comments. >> Um, I have something real quick. Um, there was a comment earlier around the U book list. I did have Miss Wy share at the last board meeting where we were at with the book list update that was part of her principal report at our last board meeting. So, it may have gotten missed, but we did give an update. So, Miss Wy doesn't mind if she could just
024restate >> what she had said at the last board meeting? >> Yep. Uh, as you know, we have our professional development Wednesdays. Uh, staff stay, certified staff have to stay after school every Wednesday from 3:00 to 4. Um, for the past several weeks, we have been making up the tech January PD day that we missed because of a snowstorm. Students didn't have school, but teachers were supposed to be here for professional development. Um so one of the things that we've incorporated in that hour of working with our uh tech specialist and um our digital learning specialist um in addition to the work that they're doing, we're also cataloging giving teachers time to catalog their books. So teachers have been working um going through their classroom libraries. They have we've used an online program to um
025to catalog them. We have purchased some scanners. So teachers just have to scan the book and it goes into the system. So, they've got lists available if if a parent is interested or guardian is interested in seeing what those lists are. Um, several books that our teachers have come across have they've been weeding out of books that they don't need or use anymore. Uh, several ended up in the um book the PTO book um selling sale the other this past weekend that was going on during Hoops Classic. Um, and uh if a book doesn't have a barcode, teachers have to get online and create a barcode. And so it's it's it has been a process and um but the teachers have been going through it. So teachers have the book lists available if anybody's interested.
026>> We it's still the expectation that those will be completed at the end of this year and then we will find a way um to make it the most accessible for families during the summer. We'll make sure that it's easily accessible for families coming into the new year to access those I do believe we gave them till the end of the school year to do it. So >> it has taken them quite a long time. It's they've got thousands of books some teachers do. So the the time has been very um they've been very grateful to have the time. >> And I guess along the similar thing I want to uh the math curriculum came up a couple times tonight as well. Um right now we are working on an approved board approved math curriculum
027and so when that comes up for it due cycle we will the board will have the opportunity to go through and reapprove a curriculum or not approve a curriculum or make adjustments to the curriculum. Um but I will say we are still required to meet state standards and as of right now state standards also include some of the math curriculum that people might disagree with. uh some of our state camp standards do include um the new way that math is done not necessarily traditional way but it doesn't mean we can't incorporate um ways to meet the needs of all learners not just some so there's always room for improvement and that cycle I'm not sure I don't know off top of my head when the math curriculum is due on this >> it's a couple
028years that's a fairly new yeah >> a couple years >> yeah but I mean the program that we use to support the curriculum is the Eureka squared. Uh it's the next iteration of Eureka. They use have used Eureka my first year here. The year before Nancy um you had piloted the year before Em and I when I got here the whole school went to Eureka Eureka. Um middle school does big ideas and uh the teachers K to five do Eureka squared and it has um a lot of really positive reviews. It's one of the best um programs that we've come across and I think it's an SAU wide program um big um Eureka's SIU wide program as well. So um we're the one of the only schools that went to the next iteration of Eureka
029Squared and you I'm happy to have uh teachers come in and speak on the program. Um I know that my math specialists and math interventionists are happy to come and do a presentation if you would like to learn more about the program. Um but if you do your research on u math programs it is one of the top in the in the country. So >> any discussion comments? >> Um I will like to I'd like to just talk specifically about a couple things that we talked or mentioned. You know Michael I think that was a great opportunity of conversation. >> Okay. Um, I think that we, you know, having good conversation and collaboration is the is the recipe for success and I hope that we're going to be able to do that. I know that
030the people that I'm familiar with on the board here now, that's that is one of our primary goals is to collaborate and and work towards success. Um, as far as, you know, education for the children, I'm in for all all children, all educated to the best of our ability. I don't put a separation between high school and the elementary school because I think the responsibility of the board and as a board member is for all and not for any particular group. Um there may be challenges with each group because one we have as our own school and then the other we don't have a lot of say on some of the things that we tuition them off to whether that's how to control costs or what they're actually teaching. We don't have that ability to
031have a lot of input. We might be able to have verbal communication you know but we don't have the ability to make an awful lot of change. So that is challenging. Okay. And so um I just want to speak to you know for myself personally that I I'm in for building a great educational opportunity and I am also looking at doing it as effectively and as financially responsible as I can. >> Yeah, I agree. I think we're all looking forward to that opportunity for collaboration and trying to end that us versus them mentality and culture. Appreciate that. >> All right. Anything else? All right. On to agenda review. Um, we are just going to add underformational items, there is a building issue that we'll discuss when we get there. >> Uh, review a correspondence. Do
032you want to start with that one? >> Yeah, we want to start with this one. >> Yeah. >> So, I had a request come in this morning um from a local family who is requesting to use our parking lot on May 30th. It's a Saturday. um and ultimately requesting to use it for a wedding um as basically a shuttle service. Um they would park cars here and then they would shuttle off to the reception or the wedding. Um there's no barriers that exist that we know of currently. Um it is public property and it's for a community member. So just hoping to get the general okay from the board for them to use that. I don't I don't see a problem in allowing the community to use public property and it's not impacting students um
033and is a good gesture that we can give to the community. >> I I could I add sorry um we have done that in the past. Uh they we use the facilities use form and they fill that information out just so we have some documentation of them using what when will they be here what time what is the you uh need for the use of the school property. So that's that is something we've done in the past and I'm happy to uh forward that facilities use form um policy and form to the family. >> Yeah, I think the there's no conflict, you know, schedulewise. So I think that makes sense that the only thing that we'll do is just make sure that they know not to park in front of you to that lot. >>
034There any barriers or reservations that anybody might have done? >> No. Okay. And we also said insurance wise. >> Yeah. I mean we have we carry liability insurance and we would provide them with our policy and facility use form which also helps cover any incidentals and things like that. So um we're not providing we're not overseeing it when it's public property. >> Do you have the date for that? >> May 30th. >> Saturday is there an estimate of the price? um 30 to 40 cars. So, it should be plenty of parking spots >> up there. >> Yeah. >> As long as they know that they shouldn't be again parking any sign or something. >> We got some barriers or whatever. Your little fancy. >> They're called delineators. >> I knew there was a fancy name.
035>> So, okay. I'll let as long as there's no reservations, I will let them know that we're okay with that. >> Okay, great. Thank you. Um there is let's see. >> Yes, we have there's a um correspondence from the transportation company just letting us know that we had to make a shift in a bus stop. So, that's just in there for information. uh we don't need to do or anything. I just wanted to you all saw there's correspondence in there from bus company around switching of a bus stop based on that and then there was correspondence from um Cohen in there as well. >> So Miss Cohen provided just some um general information and advice to the new board. based on her experience here. >> All right, we are on to immediate business board reorganization
036roles and committees. We all have this form here. All right. So, we got number one out of there. >> Yeah. So you would just ask for nominations from folks and if there's any questions around what committee entails and make a motion for every line by line or do we want to go line by line? >> Okay. So uh vice chair nominations vice chair >> I'm interested in doing that nominate myself >> somebody else can nominate >> I'll be happy to nominate >> that's so >> I will move is there a second >> any discussion all in favor of um appointing Angela as vice chair Say hi. >> Hi. >> Any oppose? >> Yep. >> All right. Um, next is NBC representatives. >> Um, that's something that I would step up for if anybody else is
037interested. >> You have to be nominated first. Yeah, we should nominate every position with a motion and a second. Um, I'll >> second. I'll second. >> Any discussion? >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> Oppose. >> Okay. >> Do you need to do an alternate? >> Are we going to just not vote for ourselves? No, you can vote for yourself. >> Yeah, you you should have an alternative for that. Um there's it's a pretty lengthy commitment and so there's a good chance that somebody may miss one meeting throughout the winter months. >> I'm willing to step up. >> I'll second. Any discussion? Okay. All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any oppos? >> Um, SAU Executive Board. >> Can we talk a little about what that is? >> Do you want to
038give a definition, Nancy, since you've been doing it? Um so once a month the other school board members one from each town get together and go over issues the we go over the budget meetings like that. Um so it's issues at the SA level >> and then there's also several times a year a full executive board meeting where we have to get a form of all school board members to go to meetings. I was focusing in on the on the full board. All of you are members of the full SAU board and then the executive board is just one um member for each of the >> it's one meeting per usually one meeting per month unless there's some big issue going on usually. Nancy discussion. Right. There's no discussion. We'll take a vote. >> All
039in favor say I. Hold on. I'll second discussion. >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> Anybody's welcome to come to those like you can come as just a member and be a part of the community. You just have decision making >> for appointments. But any member, any member of the public, any member of the boards can show up to be present at the decision. >> Yes. full board decision contract negotiations. >> I will say we are going into negotiations this school year. So this also will be a pretty hefty time commitment for anybody who's on this committee um because we will meet several times for negotiations for contracts. >> Be very interested in that. to second. >> Any discussion? >> All in favor say I. We need one more. >> Oh yeah. >>
040Any discussion? And all I'm sure to say I >> review board. >> Miss Woody, would you mind giving just kind of a little synopsis of that? >> Yeah. Uh the curriculum review board meets the third Monday of every other month. So our first month month our first meeting starts in October. Then we have a meeting in December, February and April. And basically the schoolboard representative is there to um listen to the uh things that are going on in the curriculum within this within the school. The curriculum review work consists of um a a member of a grade level or a grade level span like we have one member for K to2. Um an IIA teacher sits on the on the curriculum review board. Uh there's probably about 20 or so uh people that sit on
041the board. Uh we usually have curriculum committee meetings prior to these the curriculum review board so that we have an update to give to the um to the committee regarding the things that are happening in the uh curriculum. This year our ELA curriculum was up for renewal. Our curriculums go through a renewal process every seven years. Uh and so the curriculum review board uh were the they were the ones that um the ELA team presented the new updated ELA curriculum to this we call it CRB to the CRB. Uh we asked for some readers within the group so that uh they can read the information and see if everything is in there. or if there's spelling mistakes, grammar error, whatever, they make all kinds of recommendations. Then we come back at the next meeting and
042appro they are the first layer of approving the curriculum before it comes to the school board. Once the CRB has had a look at over a curriculum, then it is um it is brought forward to the to the school board. So, >> and you just put out a request for community members as well because ideally there's community members that sit on that board. >> Amy Parkinson from the SAU comes over. She's our curriculum and instruction um our director of curriculum instruction and assessment. So, she sits on the board. She's actually um has encouraged other schools in the district to come and sit in on one of our CRV meetings to see how our curriculum how our curriculum rolls through its cycle. Um >> you guys have one of the best models that I've seen in
043a long time. >> Yes, I I was fortunate to come into this model. Um I wish I could say that I take credit for it, but I certainly can't. But we've certainly carried it on. Uh there is a chair the chairperson Andrea Clinch is the chairperson. So she'll send out the agenda every other month and make sure that people have the information that they need. Um it's it's only an hour 3 to 4 and um it's usually a a good time for people just for who are a board member to get a sense of um the curriculum that's happening in the building and then you report back to the board. There's a um a board report for curriculum review board. Um, so some meetings Ellen would say, "No, no meeting this month." Um, and then
044the next one she'd have an update for you about different things that are happening in the school curriculum wise. >> I was honored as a teacher. >> Any discussion? >> All in favor say I. I >> would like to shut down. >> So, the manifest review, there's uh we need at least two members of the board to review our manifests every week that go out. So, our payroll and invoicing, you review that, make sure there's no discrepancies, check for anything that looks suspicious or anything like that. Um, and if there's any questions, definitely reach out to myself and I can help answer any questions that you have. But we do need two board members to that. And you have to be very good about checking your emails because if you don't sign those on a
045very quick basis, it holds up our entire payroll system and vendors will get paid and things like that. So, it's got to be somebody who checks their email pretty regularly, please. >> You were pretty good. You're pretty good. >> I don't mind. >> I I nominate Missy. >> Are you up for that? >> Any discussion? >> All in favor say I. I >> don't know if I was official. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> She said she was willing, but >> I'll nominate Nancy for that. >> I'll second. >> Any discussion? >> All in favor say I. I. All right. Facility. >> I've really enjoyed being on that. I don't know. >> Yeah. Unless I mean I guess we so we want let's uh let's go back to that one and see how it plays this
046plays out because I just don't want to put my name down for too many points to do you know what I mean I think Ed do that well as well that as well I would like to see that out because I think we've got a bunch of stuff we'll just go back to that Um if that's all right with anybody else. >> Yeah. So this one is um the New Hampshire School Board Association. This is a representative to go and have a voice at the table around their approved um initiatives. So they'll send feedback out to all of the boards in the state that are members of that to basically get guidance from the boards on what priorities are set for them for the next year for legislation, for topics for professional development, for a
047variety of different things. So they they do ask that a representative um come from the board and you will get feedback from the board and then take that feedback to the delegate session for the New Hampshire School Board Association. So it's usually in the fall I think it's around October time that that happens. Um so it's really only like a fall commitment and then it's kind of done. >> Is there anyone that's interested in that? I will do it if I I will take one. >> It's a learning. >> Yeah, it is. It's great. >> You'll learn a ton for sure. >> Well, I will I'll nominate Angel for that. >> Thanks so much. >> All right. Any discussion? All in favor say >> I >> do I have to be honest when I was
048reviewing this I kind of forgot I was on that Kendra took care of it all so I have to be honest I'm not even sure what I mean is it a posting of >> yeah we need to make sure that somebody's the point person for sending out communications for the board so it could be sending out flyers. It could be sending out board notifications. Like any of those type of things. >> Very passionate about this one. >> I love all communications things. So, I would definitely like to be involved in that one in some capacity. >> Thank you so much. I'll >> Any discussion? All in favor say I. There goes. So we need one more. >> It requires the world of technology. >> I mean I'm willing to be on there. >> Yeah. All
049right. >> Any discussion? >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any oppose negotiations. We definitely need >> any discussion. >> All in favor say I. >> I do. >> Were there any opposion? Um but I will accept that. Is there >> second? >> Any discussion? >> All in favor say I. >> I. sit back. >> I'll stick with it. I mean, it's so hard. >> I'll nominate you. >> I'll second. Any discussion? All in favor say that. I'll second. >> Any discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. Any oppose >> transportation committee. >> Good for you to take yourself. I was >> I nominate this for that. >> I'll second. You didn't say no fast enough. >> Any discussion? >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? policy. >>
050I have a question about policy because I guess it hasn't been around for a long time and it's been on since I've been on the board because I've done it, but it was to speed up trying to get through policies because we were so far behind. I guess I sometimes think of >> every board should have a policy committee. Okay. And I think we I would like to fine-tune ours a little bit. Um, and maybe like I I would like to meet with the policy committee to help actually facilitate our policy work a little bit and make it go a little faster and a little bit more streamlined. >> Um, >> that's a good idea. >> Definitely helps facilities. >> Yeah. And um there's I'm going to be doing like a more thorough crosswalk of
051our policies this summer, too. So, we I believe we're finally at the point where we have all the legally required policies, which is yay for now until this legislation season is done. Um but then we have a lot of policies that are still like early 2000s. I think I got all the ones that were still in the 1900s, 1990s, 1980s. I think we're caught up from there. Um, but we still have a lot that are well over 20 years old that need some funding. We have a lot of work to do. So, and it'd be nice to try to get them moved along because I feel like, you know, Ellen and I would meet and then we'd come back and say what we had thought about them, but then we'd still put them to a
052second reading and we'd still put them to a third reading. It's like I mean you should do a second reading like that's good after but it was like yeah it just felt like so why are we >> I'd like to put it on a similar path the facilities committee is on that we meet once a month and then at the next board meeting we do a report out and then just kind of streamline that process and so it's just set in regular >> expectations real. >> So if anybody has an interest in policies for you, >> I don't mind continuing with it. >> I'll second. >> Any discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. I want to nominate you. >> I mean, let me just count. >> It's a good idea. I did that
053to myself. I know. So that'll put me on five. I would really like to stick with facilities. >> We will not be torturous. >> I'll bring you coffee or tea every time. How about that? Whatever your whatever your poison is. All right, bring it back. >> I'll nominate to see if somebody has >> any discussion. >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> Um, so let's go back to facilities really quick. Um, I would like to stay on that. >> I'll dominate second. We have a second. Is there any discussion? I'm sorry. >> Nancy second the motion. >> Is there any discussion? >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> So we need one more for facilities. >> I'll second. Uh is there any discussion? We just need your notes.
054>> No. >> All right. Discussion. >> All right. Um, all in favor say I. >> I. All right. Last one. Space needs. >> I'll second. Any discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any one more after that? Anyone else? >> Yeah. >> I don't anticipate that. >> Yeah, I agree. Um, sure. I'll I'll um you have a lot taking the chair position, so I'll take that one. >> I'll second. Uh, any discussion? All in favor say I. >> Any opposed? >> All right, you did it. I'll get this uh typed up and cleaned up and I'll have Lexi put it in the drive for you guys. It'll live in the committee's folder if you ever immediate business is nominations. So in so in non-public tonight we will be reviewing the um teacher nomination
055list and so uh we'll be reviewing that and incoming abnon public will be will be looking for a motion to approve or not approve the non officer as so just that >> that's all and So, um Gail, our um food service director, reached out to me recently. Um she is requesting us to increase lunch by 5 cents for students. Um just to help make ends meet within our food service budget and then increasing the adult lunch price to 375 from 360. So 15 cent increase for adults and a 5-cent increase for students. Um student meals will now be at 275 and then adults be so looking for approval a motion then approval. >> I mean all things considered that >> yeah our food prices keep going up. Fuel prices are going up at least increasing
056our food prices. Do we need to motion it to have discussion? >> Ideally, you make a motion and then you open up for discussion. >> So, I'll make a motion consider discussion. >> Do you know when last time was it was last? >> Yep. How much does >> uh I don't know off how much it increased by last year. Usually we can't go more than I think 10 cents at a time. So we're we are not legally allowed to increase it more than 10. >> It was 10 cents. >> Oh, but the adult >> for kids we can't. Adults adults are for like the teachers and things like that. >> So we're not required to provide them lunch necessarily. We're required. And um so does it this typically only comes up if there's some kind
057of deficit. >> If it's looking like we're not going to break even for our lunch program, then that's when those increases and we still may not break even. We may still have to transfer funds, but this will help offset those costs >> because our lunch our food service budget is separate from our regular budget. is its own budget that's a part of the figure. >> Do you know what they are at other schools in the district? >> It's around that same It's around that same uh price point. Um I have to get back to you. I can bring back all the numbers. >> I just >> But they're all around that same >> The other thing I had asked Jess was about >> Yeah. It doesn't give us enough time. Um, wellrounded. >> So, we
058we have to meet federal guidelines with those. So, we actually don't have very much say in how well-rounded they are um because they have to go through certain checklists and be pre-approved for whatever items and they can only order from certain vendors that are approved by the state and federal government if we receive federal funds for those. So, um sometimes they're pretty sparse. They wouldn't be what you necessarily keep your kid at home, but they do meet what guidelines are set forward from the statement. >> I'll make a motion to increase. >> That's already considered. >> You can amend it. >> Oh, yeah. Amen. I'll amend it to approve. lunch >> and I'll second. >> So now you're voting on the amendment. >> Now we're voting on the amendment. >> All in favor say I.
059>> I.ly amended. >> So I'll make a motion that we pass the newly amended motion. Any discussion? All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any oppose? Next is strategic plan. I think um >> I'm not sure. Yeah, I was gonna say I think Ed and uh Angela I don't have watched the last two meetings but um it's that that's a bigger thing we need to talk about after today. >> Yes. >> All right. Um review election results. So print that I put that on there. Um I just wanted to talk about the warrant articles really. Um >> no like the petition warrant articles. >> Uh well all of them I guess. So the first I guess the first one was um oh actually my computer doesn't work unless it's on a plug and the
060plug doesn't reach. So um so the first one is our budget. So we are involved. Um second one was the uh for the building for the unit the building fund um did not pass. So that's awesome. We really appreciate that. Um third one was in regards to the SAU and that passed as well. So we'll start discussing forming a committee for that. >> So it's um all the petition warrant articles are advisory only, right? >> So the board would want to determine if you are going to establish a committee to look at that. >> So that's something to consider. And then four fourth was the top off every pass as well. I just was in terms of, you know, I think because the article 7 was on there, I'm not sure how that affected article
0614. Um, so I guess we need start talking about high school stuff. Um, that'll just be something to consider. I think that the way that article 7 was worried and maybe people thought that um that that was like a last resort type thing or not sure. But >> I kind of disagree with that. Yeah. >> Thought I think people are very aware of what pop up agreements are. And when high school choice was being discussed years ago, we heard constantly from citizens, well, you can do it and make it cheaper by doing top agreements. So I think there are still people out there that are looking for a way to reduce the cost and of agreements doing that. That's just my feeling of it. I mean because we I mean I I still remember when
062the board approved high school choice gave the three choices and immediately someone in the audience said well they picked the most expensive way to do it they should have done it as a top. So I think people are very aware of what they are and I don't think it was I personally don't believe the result of the other foreign articles affected that and >> oh sorry >> no I just think that people are looking and I'm not saying I agree with them or disagree with them mostly disagree with them personally. Um, but I think people in the community are looking for a way to reduce taxes and that's one way that they're thinking could be done. >> Yeah. I just my thought was just I heard from a bunch of different people in ter they
063weren't really sure. They thought that maybe high school choice was being threatened, therefore they saw that as a a last resort. Um, and I know people that um, but yeah, we can we'll I'm sure we'll get into that when we talk about high school. I'll say the board consider that when you get to the um high school matters and negotiations that those uh warrant articles be addressed right through that committee >> and then that committee can make a recommendation on whether to um act on those um more articles or or even pursue the recommendations from those more articles. Maybe I mean the vote could act push it to those committees and then they can make recommenations that's >> Yeah, I think I think that would be best. Um I know I've been trying to review
064what the RFA is and what it means and there's a lot in it, >> you know, and what we can and can't do, you know, it's it's kind of in there. It is in there. I just kind of have to figure it out. Um, so I would I would say put it to the, you know, adjust the time of it when we're dealing with it on committee. >> Couple of them high school. >> Yeah. And then high school number seven passed by. So yeah, again high school. I just wanted to acknowledge the the uh voting results mainly on our budget and the um and the the trust fund one. >> We were a little bit worried about that one. Thankful that >> I think there was two around the NDC and then you already mentioned
065the SA one. Um, someone wants to form a committee around looking into do you feel the company's own SAU? >> Well, I still was um curious about like the legality of those issues. >> They're just advisory only. >> Yeah, they're advisory only. So, it's um which is good information for us to have, right? It's just giving you the public's opinion on what their feelings are. >> As far as as far as what to do with the SAU, you know, certainly that is something that we can be looking into. You know, um there's and I I'm I trying to understand that whole process, what's legal, what's not legal, what we're responsible for, what we're not responsible for, and um you know, how to manage that, you know, and then what are the alternatives? There's a lot
066in there. Try to figure it out because You could just say we don't want it, but you have to have an alternative. >> So you got to figure the alternative up before you say we don't want it. >> So there's there's a lot of >> learning. >> Yeah. We should make that an agenda item just discuss form a committee for that. >> Any anything else for that stuff? >> All right. We'll move on to stage road committee which Yeah. That reminds me, we're going to need to >> add someone else to that committee. >> Um, this Allen and this >> were our representatives there. >> But those be added on to the big list right now. >> Is there anyone that's particularly interested in that one? If nobody else will do it, I'll take it
067because I'm kind of intrigued. >> You want to stay on that? >> You got to delete. >> All right. I I'll second this question. >> Any discussion? >> All in favor say I. All those. >> So, has there been any meetings since the last one? >> No, the last one was February 17th. >> Okay. Yes, >> we were going to put out a a poll. see who wanted what the best dates were for everybody that involved to go ahead and have another meeting and get their site, but it needs to be a lot. So I think I think it can be that best date be for the next >> we need to nominate Lizzy to be also on that. >> I would nominate Lizzy for that. >> I'll second. >> Any discussion? All in favor
068say >> thank you for that report. >> I probably have some PTO things that I can throw in there regarding mine. >> You want to just put that cover in your report? >> Yep. uh curriculum review board. >> I don't think they've met. >> No, fe they met in February. I think we I think Nancy uh Ellen reported it out last time. >> So, we'll meet in April again. >> April. >> And it's the first Monday. >> A third Monday. >> Third Monday. >> I'll let um Andrea to add you to the email. Second report. >> We had um a meeting last week um basically discussed election results in other towns. Um talked about our own board reorganization because since it was right after elections, some people did not know what their role would be
069on it. like one of our members in Epsom, they do at the chair is the representative on executive board and he didn't know if he'd be chair again. So, we talked about, you know, reorganization of that. Um, there was a letter read into the minutes in Yeah, it was it was public. And there was a request um to record the SA minutes because we don't currently do that. Um we didn't discuss it because we weren't organized yet. You know, we need to discuss it in our next meeting that will come up. And the only other thing is that there is a full board meeting full board meeting April 8th at 6:00. You should get a email from the SAU in your cards, but it's really important that we have a quorum there, the whole SAU
070in order to be able to vote on things and stuff. So, we'll probably meet in the library. So, so when you say a forum, you're talking about a forum on the committee or a >> throughout the whole SAU. >> Yeah. So, no, we don't have to have a >> I think there's 24 members. So, we need at least people to show up. So, yes, we haven't specific to the board. >> Yeah. No, we haven't always had our full board. >> Yeah, that's what I wanted. >> But, but if you can, >> it's good because sometimes don't always show up. >> Yes. So, this will cover um our last board meeting was February 4th, so it will be February 5th. We didn't have a second February meetings or first March meeting, so this will cover through
071March 18th. Um, so we're going all the way back to Thursday, February 5th, where uh we had our annual biography kickoff. If you had fourth graders here, you know that that is an a tradition here at the school where um a couple of staff members dress up as as famous people and come in and um present their do a 20 round of 20 questions with a couple of judges. Happens to be Mrs. uh Swanson, Mrs. Mr. B, and Mr. Griev. Um and they answer 20 questions to try to figure out who that famous person is. and and the kids get some information about uh their lives. Um so that is an annual tradition. Our fourth graders have been working hard on their biographies through the month of um March and April. They will have a
072biography night. Uh traditionally it's been held upstairs in the hallway. Um but they're going to use the gym this year. So that's a little different. Uh so we'll I'll have more information about that at my at our next meeting. Uh Friday, February 6th, we had our monthly all school meeting. Fourth graders were the hosts. Uh we've uh started our class of the week for our new board members. Class of the week is an opportunity for Mr. Griev, Mrs. um McConnell and I to get into a particular classroom. On Mondays, I go in and read uh do the morning announcements from their uh classroom telephone and make a big deal about them being the class of the week. Um and I stay for their community circle or their morning meeting and participate in that. Uh so
073we have had a few opportunities to visit some um classrooms, Mr. Bull or Mrs. McConnell go in and have snack time with the kids. Mr. Grape brings Oreos, Mrs. McConnell brings fruit snacks. Uh so depending on whose week it is. Um and then we usually uh uh take part in an activity in their classroom and then I end the week uh as a doing a readaloud with the class. So um that is something that we've been doing for a couple of years now. Um it's just a good opportunity for us to get in, see the kids, be with the kids um uh among other areas that we do that. But uh in kindergarten, Mrs. Mrs. Plater's class was class of the week. In first grade, we visited Mrs. Angelos, Mrs. Mclofflin, and Miss Perry. Uh
074we are currently in second grade with Miss Poopier and Miss Moss Grover. And then uh we'll just continue up. I also take the time an opportunity to visit each advisory every week. I visit a different advisory in sixth grade, seventh grade, and eighth grade and hang out with them for the morning um that they have advisory and participate in their activity that they're doing. On Friday, February 13th, 8th grade had their annual career fair. If you've had an eighth grader here, you know that that is a tradition as well where people from the community come um and present their career. Uh the eighth graders uh had great questions this year. They rotate uh tables in the cafeteria and get to meet different people in different careers. Um the local barber has gotten quite a following
075because he comes every year. So, um it's it's good for them as well. We also held our middle school pep rally. We try to do that once every trimester with our with our students with our middle school students. Uh this was a staff first student basketball game and uh the students were proud to win. Is that correct, Mrs. Okay. I thought I thought I had that correct. Um music did a fundraiser this year. They haven't um traditionally done this, but they are going to be attending Trills and Thrills in the springtime at the end of the school year in June. And it's an um Trills and Thrills is an opportunity for kids from all music students from all over the state in band and chorus to get together and they do a trills event. Um
076and then they go off to Canoby Lake Park for the remainder of the day. So it does cost uh it is an expense. So they've been trying to do some fundraisers to cut down on the expense. So they had a someone special social for our kindergarten, first and second graders um back in February. uh February 16th, we met as CRB. Uh we are looking for we we typically have three community members on our curriculum review board and um we were down to none. Um so we uh it's a it's usually a three-year commitment. So people, you know, they'll commit to that, but then they can't do it anymore for what one reason or another. Uh we are very fortunate that two members of the community did uh email I put it in the bridge this
077past week and two members of the community did email and say they were interested in um taking part in the curriculum review board. So um we gladly accepted them and um we'll we'll be looking for one more community member that might be interested in joining us. On Tuesday, February 17th, our fourth graders participated in NAPE which is the National Assessment of Educational Progress. The NAPE um it is a national uh assessment that is done with fourth and eighth graders. Uh they do and high school. They do high school because PA participated this year too. Uh we have we've you we were just chosen out of thousands of fourth graders across fourth grade and eighth grade and high school students across the uh country. They come they bring it was right here in the library. There's
078two sessions that happened and some kids are tested on math and some kids students are tested on reading. um uh they bring everything, they pack up and they leave um things just as they are. So our fourth graders were the only ones that participated a few years ago. We did fourth and eighth grade. Um so that is that happened on February 17th. Uh we also had a visit from John Dubiansky who came to visit our first fourth first graders to do uh to participate in their community helper unit. And um every couple of um months or so, maybe every other month, uh our staff participate in a craft afternoon. Um it's just an opportunity for the staff to get together that are that are interested in getting together um and just doing a quick little
079craft with for the for the hour. We sometimes we have some visitors uh who come in and help you. Nancy has been a helper, right? Were you or Ellen? Ellen was the helper. >> Didn't want me tried to get me to come in to do it, but >> Okay. Sorry. Sorry. Um, >> come and smile. Reminds me to teach it. >> We'll remember that for the future. Uh, so this month they did a reverse applique. They're also going to be doing a doormat. Um, painting a doormat. So, it's just an opportunity of staff to do something outside of uh what we typically do in an afterchool event, which is usually curriculum based or professional development based. And uh just another way to build um the uh uh climate and culture of the building. Um Wednesday,
080February 18th, we had SAU leadership at Hill School in Pemrook. So for our new members, once a month, uh the leadership in the SAU, meaning SAU um superintendent, assistant superintendent um the technology um got director, thank you, was there this uh he's not always there, but he was there this uh last month and this month. Um it's a and then the principles, assistant principles and special ed coordinators get together um on the third Wednesday of the month. Uh we usually we have an agenda that we follow. We we visit a different school every single month or we visit or or the it happens at the SAU conference room. Um we usually have many things to discuss. One of the things that we are participating in is a book study on multi-ter systems of support. So
081this is happening throughout the entire district. every administrator in the district is reading a book um in support of students and also following up um during our SAU leadership but also following up with one of our um behavior specialists in the district. She's been coming to our schools um throughout the entire SAU to um talk about multi-tered systems of support in our buildings and where we are with that. Steerfield has been doing multi-tered system of support with a tier one and a tier two three team for several years now. So um but some schools are just starting that process. Um and so >> you don't know it's our intervention system. >> Correct. Thank you. Thank you. Um and um NIA is the behavior specialist that's been coming to our school. Uh we've been going through
082some leadership drivers which are things that what are what are things that you know are happening in your building and what are some things that you might need to incorporate into the uh process of intervention and support for all students. So we are participating with that in the um during our SAU leadership as well. On Thursday, February 19th, our PTO sponsored the assembly, the brain show assembly. If you didn't see the video posted on Facebook, you might want to look it up. Uh it was a lot of fun. The students got to participate. It was very interactive. Um it just was a a great time. They did two shows, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, and then they had an evening um show for families that were interested in coming. Uh it
083was a lot of fun. Uh every month as well for our new members on uh the third Thursday of the month, our mentors and our mentees get together. So any new staff member that uh to Deerfield Community School is assigned a new certified staff member is assigned a mentor. So, a teacher that has been teaching for uh three three more than three years um and they just support them through the process of the first year can be pretty overwhelming. Getting to know the culture of the building as well as all the acronyms that we have like CRB and MTSS and um getting to know the the ins and outs of Deerfield Community School as well as uh supporting them um instructionally. And um every month our mentor facilitator who is Melissa Davis meets with that
084the all the mentors and all the mentees in the building um they have an agenda that they go over and every month it's a different topic um about something that is important to our school. So that happens um the third Thursday of every month on Friday. Sorry I'm only still in February. Um February 20th we had our middle school advisory day. As you know at least once a trimester our middle school advisories uh take a day to spend with each other. Our sixth graders did some Olympics activities here at the school. Our seventh graders went ice skating and our eighth graders went bowling. Uh we that particular day we also had our kids heart challenge throughout the day and our K to five do a jump rope um for heart and have uh spend the
085month fundraising and raising money for a jump rope for heart and our sixth through eighth graders participate in a basketball um tournament. Uh, so for the last I checked, we had about 81 registered students and have raised about $9,700. Um, I think that the fundraising stayed open for a little while. So, um, at the time that I was putting this information down, that's how much they had. If I have an update, I will certainly do that for you. Tuesday, now I'm into March. March 3rd, our second graders went on a field trip to Portsmith Music Hall. On Thursday, uh, March 5th, we had our annual talent show and pizza dinner. There is nothing like a talent show here at Deerfield Community School. Lots of singers and dancers and performers and joke tellers and um did
086an awesome job. On Monday, March 9th, our middle level honors band went to Pinkerton Academy. Uh thank you to Mrs. Davis who attended the event. She brought along our eighth graders who had to uh try out for this. Um and so Elizabeth and and Paige, two of our eighth graders, they played flute and Helen played the baritone horn. So they spend the day at Pinkerton Academy with musicians from all over the state, the best of the best. And then that evening they put on a performance for families that would like to participate. Um Tuesday, uh March 10th was our SAU professional development day at the SAU. Um it was at uh sorry at Penrook Academy. Um again, our PTO provided muffins um to the SAU PD day. So we thank them for delivering those. Um
087many of our staff presented during that day. So the SAU day is set up so that staff members from all over the SAU can do a presentation or a small workshop for other members of the of the and just pass along their knowledge about something. Um so we had many staff members from DCS who participated in that and held sessions for other people across the SAU. Uh and um as you can hear our parks and rec big event is happening down there. Hoops Classic happens for the rest of the year. No, just kidding. just through the month of March, but it feels like the rest of the year. It is a huge event and the kids just love it. Um, and I know that when my son played basketball, he came to the um to
088the event as well. So, it's a it's far wide through the through the state of New Hampshire. So, uh, the PT also held a book sale this past weekend. Um, and they are providing a nutrition month snack. March is um, nutrition munchut nutrition month. Uh, last week they provided some tomatoes. This week they're going to be providing blueberries and next week will be some grapes. So they pack do a little package for every student in the building. Um put them in a bag, give the the teacher to give to the students when um they feel like having a nice little nutritious snack. Um couple things for uh um that I want to make sure I mention. Our kindergarten numbers so far are at 43. Uh we're only at the beginning or middle of March right
089now, but we have 18 rising preschoolers, four-year-olds that will be going into kindergarten and so far we have about 25 registrations. That was last look there. It might have increased. I I did this last week. I provide I did this um report last week. So there might have been a few more registrations. So I will keep that updated as we go through uh the next month. Um and so that's where we're at with that. Some upcoming things. Mrs. Davis will be bringing her Mima club. They've been invited to play at the state house in conquered for music in our schools month. They will perform um on the for music sorry uh music in our schools month performance on on the hill day which is March 25th. So this is a day for music groups from
090around the street to celebrate music in our schools. There'll be the Lebanon jazz bands will be there, Pembrook Modern J uh band will be there and Deerfield's Morima Club will be there among many other um high uh uh groups across the street across the state. And one more thing I want to make sure I mention, we did get a grant-f funed project. Um somebody has is going to be installing or has installed get that from Chris carbon monoxide alarms. Um, we received funding from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. So, there is no cost to the school. Um, this the alarms are standalone and they require no wiring. So, they are going to put those into our school. >> I think that we do have some upcoming PTO events. There's a small and tall ball is
091going to be happening in April. I don't have the exact date. Um, and there's a plant sale coming up in May. Okay. And um in the bridge is get a free tree from the PTO. They had put something in there about getting a free tree. >> A tree. >> Thank you, Miss Perry. Miss Perry is tree e t re eo bingo. >> Oh, bingo. Yeah. For a fundraiser coming up a lot. >> Yeah, they they're always always involved. So I try to I just in case somebody's not here, I always try to put what they're doing for our school as well. Kristen, is the fundraiser is that like per grade that the money that they raise is that like stick with that grade or that that >> Oh, no. It goes to the American Heart
092Association. >> They fund raise for the American Heart Association. Yeah. >> All right. Um I'm not going to read my work. Um it's I did put it in the board uh drive and for those of you that are new um this is something new I started this year is doing trying to do a monthly superintendent report just to give you an idea of some of the things that the administration of the SAU are doing. So our IT director our assistant superintendent student services curriculum coordinator just so you have an idea of the work that's going on SAU wide and what those administrators are doing. um business administrator. I can update what she's been doing. And then um for myself during the month of February, I focused on wrapping up budget seasons across the districts, finishing
093up public hearings, deliberative sessions. Um saw all of you there. Um which was great. And then uh trying to just enhance the public's understanding of school budgets and data. and then working to meet some of our new reporting requirements that have come through um from the last legislative round from last year. There were some law updates that we have to meet every year when that happens and so trying to make sure that we're meeting our requirements on those. Um there was a new law that took up quite a bit of our time, my time, my assistance time this year, which was the mandatory report to voters, which some of you may have seen. It was those giant graphs that were posted at the front of the building that were posted down at Town Hall down
094at George B. White. Um, and the graphs came directly from the language of the law. So, not necessarily the easiest to interpret. It sounds like there might be some amendments coming forward to help make it a little bit more user friendly for next year. It was the first time it was done. So it was just interesting to see how the data looked on the um report out. But um the information on there was in regards to average cost per pupil, average teacher salary um which if you did notice there was a huge spike last year, but it was because the data got reported in error last year. So the average teacher salary did not actually spike as large as it looked on that graph. That was an error in input. And um that was done
095last year before I came on and I didn't notice it um until we did that and then uh we had actually done some work back in the fall. >> So we had presented that at the board. So if you go back you'll see that that information was shared out at the board as well, but we can't go back and change that right now. Um so this year's data that got included is correct and you will see that that average cost per teacher will go down being you know a reasonable increase and not the huge spike. So please know that our average teacher salary is not over 80 wish um average combined administrator salary was in there over the last 10 years and then all of those rates were all adjusted to last November's inflation rate.
096So that was that was an interesting experience to do all that. Um and then let's see here. I just part of that to know the new requirements of that law ended up costing overall um over $5,000 for us to meet the requirements for that new law. So an unfunded mandate. Um, I did reach out to our repres some of our representatives and they have been very receptive and helped change hoping to change some of the language in that law to not cost us any money to still meet what they're trying to eat through the language of that law. So, um, the big cost was the huge printing of that paper. We don't have that in our SAU office. We don't have a printer that can man that giant printing. So we had to send that
097out to get printed and the posting in the local paper. Um for years we have posted all of our postings for public notices in the conquered monitor. So we have established that the conquered monitor is our local paper. And so the majority of that cost was that we had to publish those graphs in the conquered monitor which was an astronomical cost. So um so hoping that next year that will be adjusted a little bit. Fingers crossed. Um, but then still be able to get that information out just on a more reasonable size piece of paper and not have to post it in the bottom. Still put it on the website, still post it publicly in several different locations. it was just a comfort at least not cost effective for us. So um March moving into
098March welcoming new board members that are here and we'll be finalizing plans after town votes to meet new requirements and we will begin heading right on into contract season and it'll be June before we know it. Um, so one of the things that I'm hoping to do this summer with the board, if you guys are open to do it, is to do um, they call it a board retreat, but kind of get together to do some big picture thinking and planning for next school year. So hoping that as we get closer to June, we can maybe set up a time during the summer week where we can spend like half a day or a full day together and work on some planning and and work for next school year. fine tune some of the big
099picture things we got going on. >> All right, facilities committee. Uh facilities committee just met before this meeting. Uh we met with Chris to talk about some uh current projects. Um, Amber has a few RFPs um that she's working on for the cafeteria floor. Um, I believe it's the mini split in the IT room, I believe. >> Um, >> uh, paving um, between the grass section that's between the building and the modulars. I know Brian will appreciate that >> with the the dismissal building. Um, and then we had an issue with the um there's two broken unit valators in the cafeteria um that there's two quotes um that we're waiting for two quotes right now to replace those >> because the parts can no longer be purchased >> to repair them. Yeah. Uh yeah, in
100the elevator um we are asking for two quotes because the the company that services it currently has given us a quote and they suggest to replace it. We're going to get two more quotes. Um that's we had that as a couple I think it was $136,000 was the so um we're going to get to close to see we're uh Chris was advised that the parts are no longer available >> for the original one that's over 35 years. Um and then we talked about um our working relationship with Parks and Recck and trying to get um obviously as a nonprofit, you know, we're not going to charge them to use this building, but how can we help spread the costs of our our maintenance um and try and I talked to Craig and he's very willing
101to help out. Um so we're looking forward to that. We already talked about um some refinishing of the gym, some other projects like that. That was really it. That kind of transitions into the next one actually, the umformational items building issue. So, back on February 25th, um we had a handful of youth uh break into the school here uh after hours. the school was closed due to waxing of the gym floor that needed to be done and uh parks and wreck was notified. They in turn sent out notification to all the families that would have been here for activities. So notification went out several times that the building was going to be closed. We had some youth show up and um break in one of the exterior doors and do some extensive damage to that
102door um and also got into the gym on the freshly waxed floor and damaged the wax that was on the wax floor. Even though there was taping that said danger, do not enter, they decided to go through it and damage the wax floor. So, this is currently an open investigation being handled through Deerfield PD. Uh, we are seeking reimbursement for the damages from the people that were involved. Um, as the damages have come up to, uh, over $70,000. So, hoping to recoup some or all of those costs potentially for those. And the door has been replaced, so it's not a security issue at this time. And the gym floor was fixed. policy table. Hello again. I am Jul um I'm a little congested so that's not helping but it was quite difficult to hear much
103of the board's discussion tonight. Um and I think it was probably difficult to hear online as well. Just for future reference you can like project a little more that would be helpful. But I am definitely contested. And if I did hear correctly, um the the committee discussion was was hard to hear, but it sounded like uh Mr. Cross is on the high school committee, but I just wanted to raise um just the note that that was a bit of a surprise given the potential uh conflict of interest u by being on the board of Jesse Remington as well. So, just wanted to raise that as a potential conflict of interest and make sure that we're all aware of it and that that's on top of my and I again I may have misheard who was
104doing which committee. So, I'll definitely be revisiting the links as well. Any other public comments? We are going to need a nonpublic session. A and B. >> I will make a motion to go into nonpublic discussion 91- A small letter A and B. local yes >> All right. Thank you everybody.