9-3-2025 DCS School Board Meeting

001It is 6:00 um the September 3rd, 2025 meeting. If everyone could join me for the pledge of allegiance. >> 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. All right, we are on to minutes for August 6. >> Oh, Kristen has Do you have an extra packet? >> I gave everybody a packet. Is there? >> Yeah, there's two agendas. >> Yeah, I'll get six are the meetings up or the minutes. Sorry. >> You're good. Um, all right. I will entertain a motion to approve the minutes. Anyone so inclined? Make a motion to the minutes of August 6. >> I will second uh Nancy and Kendra. Uh, any discussion? >> I saw a couple

002typos, but I'm just Okay. Um, any other discussion? Okay. All in favor of approving the August 6th minutes. >> Hi. >> Yep. Okay. August 20th minutes. I make a motion to accept the minutes of August 20th. Okay. Want a second? >> I'll second. >> Okay. Nancy and Ellen, any discussion? Okay. All in favor of approving the August 20th minutes? I >> And I'll abstain. 401. Okay, now I lost my All right, public comments. >> Hi, Jacqueline Trimmer and via road. I just I had two comments um after catching up on a lot of the meetings that I wasn't able to be here for in person. Um the first one is about the initiative um instructing teachers to catalog all the books in class. Um, you know, I listened to what everybody said and I I

003totally understand that the incident that happened last year caused a lot of distress to a lot of people in town and it was it was really upsetting. Um, but you know, I just kept thinking, not only has that teacher already been reprimanded by by her boss, the administration, according to the policy, and also very publicly outed. You know, she learned her lesson. Um, the rest of the staff already know what happened and learned from it. So, you know, you're you're telling teacher teachers now to pay closer attention to what's in their classrooms based off of this incident that happened last year. Reread the policies that were revisited based off of what happened last year. And we're trusting them to do that. But on top of that, we're telling them that that is not enough. They

004need to catalog everything in their classrooms and then present it to the public for them to comment on. And in theory, it doesn't sound like a big deal. it's just a hundred the thousand, you know, depending on the grade level because I know some of the younger grades have so many books, right, to accommodate all the reading levels. But I just kept thinking about what message you're sending to your teachers. Um, you know, some teachers who have been here for I mean, I think about Mr. Ferguson and Mrs. Maynard who have been here for 20 years, right? More than that. Yeah. and and we have trusted them to educate our children. There's never been another incident like this. They got degrees from accredited universities. They were interviewed and vetted by our administration. But even with

005all of that and them educating our students, we still don't think it's enough. still think they have to spend the time to catalog all of the materials in their classroom to make sure that there's no pornographic material. It just to me feels like what is the message we're sending there? Um I know that we're looking to hire teachers still, right? Seventh grade math, we still need the wellness teacher. We're still looking for a world language teacher. And you know, I think about that too. Prospective teachers, what is the message we're sending to them? Right? We're not super competitive with salary, but we're so excited that you're coming here and you have this education and these credentials and we're a great community and we we can't wait for you to educate our children, but we don't

006trust you. Even though we know you can read the policies and there's this thing that we want to talk to you about that happened last year, we still don't trust you. That feels like a like an odd message to send. And then on top of that, I just kept thinking, okay, well, does it stop there or are we going to say, no, we need to review all of the music that Mr. Fong and Miss Davis have in their room. We need to know the lyrics, right? The public needs to hear that. Um, or the art room, right? We need to know all of the artwork, all the artists, like to what end, I guess. Where does it stop? Again, I know it doesn't seem like a big deal. And like so many members of the

007community are offering to help, which is great. We're a community school, but I just I hope that the board is really considering what message you're sending to to the teachers who who have been here and who we trust to educate our students. Um I I think it's important to consider that. Um the second comment that I wanted to make was about the board's discussion during the last meeting in response to public comments about Mrs. Miss uh Cohen missing meetings. Um, I was I was honestly shocked that the conversation went on a long as long as it did because um she missed meetings to have a baby. And I just can't I just couldn't believe we were talking about asking her to step down or vote her out because she had a baby. And it's not

008even like it was a surprise baby. You knew the baby was coming. Like she even talked about it. I was here at the meeting where she asked if anybody wanted to step up and um you know Mr. Katano said that he would take vice chair and that everybody would help each other out and yet we're having this conversation about her stepping down or being ousted because she had a baby. I just I just was blown away and and I hope that um any parent who is juggling life and volunteer work on top of that like would feel more supported I guess. And I I hope that conversation is over. It just was really sad to hear, but I appreciate all your time and volunteering. Thank you. >> Thank you. Other public comments. >> Okay. We

009will move on to board discussion regarding public comments. Um I did just want to clarify this agenda item. I know that we have I've given the spiel a few times, but um this board agenda item is really to answer quick yes and nos and to discuss whether something's going to be added to a future agenda. It's not the place where we're going to have robust discussions that are not on the agenda um about topics that the public has no knowledge are coming before the board. If someone wanted to make a motion to put something on an agenda, that would be proper. I that's not my preference because I like to have the public notice of what is going to be on the agenda before the meeting. Um so with that in mind, I'm not sure

010that there's anything that required a quick yes or no answer um to that. Um any anything else about that? So, we're not discussing public comments anymore. >> We're not having a robust discussion about about things that aren't on the agenda. So, if if someone want to say um you know, thanks for the comment, that's helpful. We can add it as an agenda item or we can talk about at the next meeting. That's fine. But no, I don't I don't think it's appropriate per our policy about schoolboard meetings to just have discussions about whatever happens to come up. I think we should notice our agenda topics and I think we should let the public know what we're going to be discussing before a meeting. >> What about if during a public comment somebody says it's like

011real misinformation? >> Yeah. So we can correct something that >> Sure. Do you mind if I just add? >> Yeah. So you guys do have a board policy that says you will strictly follow Robert's rules of order for your business meeting. And so that plays into this as well. So if you do engage in kind of that robust discussion without the public notice, it you're essentially violating your own policy. So if that's something you want to discuss at some other point, we can bring that forward to discuss and maybe tweak that policy. But you do have um the way that your board will follow procedure is by Robert's rules order. >> Yeah. >> Well, we're new at this. So, we're just getting used to it. I think the reason we put it in was because

012we had some real misinformation sometimes that you know come up and say something that just totally wasn't true or would ask a question that we would like to answer but couldn't. Right. >> So, but we but but like I said, this is new. >> Yeah. >> So, and you know to the extent you know the public commenter said anything that's wrong. add to the agenda tonight. We can we can entertain a motion or we can add it for another meeting. Um actually one of the policies we read for tonight talked about that. >> Yes, exactly. >> I know you said that. >> Oh yeah, >> we just read that policy. >> It's timely. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Agenda review. Um we are going to add an uh an item underformational items. Ellen wanted to give

013an update on stage road property. And then we will need a non-public session. So okay, review of correspondence. I don't think there was any correspondence that was received by the whole board. I don't think we have anything to review there. Nothing in immediate business. Uh so we will move on to board reports. U I don't see PTO. Okay. Is that board? Um, we had a meeting where we just had to approve funding and Jess helped me with just what it is. It's something it's software for the new payroll system because we went through a payroll shift from um, time clock plus to Frontline and so we needed a module that would basically allow Frontline to talk to our payroll system which is ID. So we just needed that. >> So we just had to approve

014funding for that and you said that was already already budgeted >> already budgeted for because they figured something would probably go wrong in the transition. So the money was there, we just had to approve it. And then we did get the budget calendar and is that going to be on the drive? >> Yeah. So it'll be on the next board meeting for next week. >> Okay. So I do have a copy of it. If you let as I get more information on budget season, I will certainly let you know. And that's basically outlines when all the SAU budget meetings are. There are full board meetings reviewing the SAU budget. Um they are the second and fourth coded >> of October typically. So we will have a meeting every week of Octo every Wednesday of October

015and then I think sometimes it has RNC meetings on that calendar as well. >> Yes. I think it's got every district and every meeting too. >> There are Ellen as you know additional NBC meetings that won't be on that calendar because that's just the school portion of the NBC. So just for >> you say board meeting every Wednesday in October. >> Yeah. So the first between here >> sorry not for here for so there'll be full SAU >> uh board meetings the second and fourth Wednesdays >> just for the whole SA board um which they do need a quorum and I don't know how many >> of that is but they always need people to attend so I would plan on going if you can because the SAU budget's the first budget that we discussed

016And >> my recommendation if you're interested in the SAU budget is definitely going to the first meeting in October that's the full SAU board because that's where they sort of present it and break it all down. The second meeting they answer follow-up questions but that really is intended for voting on the budget at that meeting. So >> So the first meeting will be the second Wednesday correct. And if you want more information before that, anyone is welcome to attend executive board meetings um sitting as an audience member um if you wanted to get more information about the budget, the SA budget in advance. >> Um and those are also usually what the second Wednesday of the month >> or do you guys meet? Okay. >> Yeah, follows the same schedule as the full. So there

017the exact board is meeting 10th and the 24th of September. Yeah. Of >> um and I will say for those who haven't reviewed the SA budget before, it's complicated in the sense that there are different funds and it's not always that was not self-explanatory. So it's helpful to like go to like really go to the first October meeting to like get the explainer about that. Um, okay. Report. >> Um, that was fast. Um, so this covers August 6th until today, September 3rd. Uh, the summer work continued at uh, DCS for the remainder of August. On August 12th, we had a new hire day at the SAU. This has been a tradition for several years now. Um, Amy Parkinson hosts and the SAU, she introduces um, members of the SAU. um staff to our new hires

018and goes over um things that are SAU wide like frontline and alma MLP and um competency based grading and competency based education and um all those things. So that was on August 12th. They all met at work academy for the day and then the next day the new hire spent the morning here at DCS. um we did some work together and um tour the building and went over things about all things CCS. So that was on August 13th. Um on August 14th uh was our pizza day for our wonderful summer custodial staff. Thank them for all their hard work as we send them all back to high school to do good things and maybe see some of them next summer. August 18th and 19th was the um middle school work where we updated the probation

019procedures now called academic student improvement plan. We've gotten some great feedback from kids and from teachers. Uh our first ASIP is what we're calling it. Um nice little acronym there. Uh we'll won't start until October. So that will be uh students who have a missing summit of or only one missing summitive and or eight or more missing assignments. And so then they'll have the week to be working on those and um they will be on um similar to what we had information at this updated last um last meeting in our student handbook. Um and the second day we spent um going over some common expectations for middle school and also for some planning time for advisory which is every day um sixth, seventh and eighth grade much like in the younger grades preschool really all

020the way up to fifth grade they have community circle meeting or morning meeting um and advisory meets every day and has a similar um format for uh advisory and eighth grade magnet. Um and uh our advisories in magnet have not been established yet. We've been the kids have been staying in their home room groups um in sixth grade, seventh grade and eighth grade. And um we have an advisory day coming up in October. Um so leading up to that day is when we'll divide the kids into their advisory and then they spend the day together in their advisories going to different places. Eighth grade usually goes >> the beach >> to the beach. Um and then there's apple farm, somebody else goes to an apple farm and somebody else goes to a pumpkin patch. So,

021um they spend the day together and they do community building activities and um it's been a lot of fun. We usually have three advisory days throughout the course of the year. Sometimes we stay here and do things and sometimes we um bus kids to different places. August 18th was our volleyball triyouts. We did something different this year and had tryyouts over the summer. Any feedback on that? >> Uh >> athletic director grieve. >> Some of the coaches weren't very happy. They stole some of their players. >> This is true. And we have a good turnout for soccer as well. >> Yeah, we didn't. It all worked out. >> Uh August 21st, um uh the um administration met with our reading specialists to begin our work on our literacy planning team, which is a um planning

022team that we're putting together for this year in addition to our MTSS tier one and tier 23 team. This is an additional um planning team to um look at best look across the school preschool all the way up to 8th grade in best practices in literacy including all of the research that um has come forward from the science of reading and making sure that we are implementing our best practices preschool through 8th grade. So um our reading specialists uh and administration started working on what that team will look like this year. We have three uh classroom teachers representing K to 2, um 3 to 5, and then a middle school teacher who will be sitting on the service planning team as well. Um on August 25th, we welcome back our certified staff. So that Monday,

023our certified staff come and then that Tuesday it is when all staff come back. So on Monday, um our PTO, this little PTO update for you, they did a welcome back waffles. They've done this for a couple of years. Um, we had the least amount of fuse blows this year. We finally kind of figured out the plug situation in the cafeteria. So, um, but it's always so it's so wonderful. Everybody comes back in. It's like seeing old friends that you haven't seen for months. And, um, it the PTO in the community always puts on a nice spread for the teachers. Uh, we had our back to school barbecue which was such a success and our open house. Um, thank you to the board, the PTO for their hard work that evening. >> Do you mind

024if I just add a little thing? >> I uh I was so impressed by the barbecue was my first time attending. I hands down the most attended like opening like school openhouse type event that I've been to ever. Um I've I don't typically see that many community members attending like an open house. I was blown away just by the presence of the community and just, you know, the good nature of everyone and everyone helping in and jumping in and uh thanks to the girl masters kind of sweat to death. I was going to say >> that was really uh that was a hot day. But I just I was so impressed by the community turnout and how big of an event that really is. So kudos to PTO and everyone involved. It was really impressive.

025>> Yeah. And I I appreciate you saying that. It's always very well attended and it does it is a snapshot of what our community is is like. So it's it's always a great event. Thank you for saying that. >> Um we also did the time capsule. Uh if you walked in, if you missed the time capsule, um Bill Fowler was here. Bill Har is that was here and um it took him a few digs, but I think Val Lucher Facebook lived it for the for folks that weren't naked and people came from all over. It was it was really I handed it all over to Bill. I said, "Knock your socks off." Um, and he did. They had he had a little helper, a couple little helpers that came forward, but they pulled it out

026and unearthed everything and people stuck around and uh so it's under the port to go on a table all laid down. There's class pictures and, you know, treasures from 25 years ago. >> So, it was a lot of fun. So, it'll it'll stay on display. And then, um, a couple people have reached out and said, "Don't throw it away. I have Mr. Leonard. I have this. I have that. So, uh, we'll keep it on display for a while. >> Um, and then on August 26th was our welcome back to all staff. We had several new staff join us this year, which is wonderful. Uh, we had a big staff meeting first thing in the morning and then the rest of the day was um turned over to teachers and and um par educators to work

027in the classrooms and administration and technology. our tech people Beth Mosu and Olivia Mara did rotations and met with all the teams um that both on both those days and August 27th we welcomed back our students. It was wonderful to have them back in the house. Um preschool had their open house and they have also started um back full-time and um then we had Labor Day weekend and uh just a few things. So something I forgot to mention today PD Wednesday um Dr. Andre Hall, who is our new assistant superintendent, um joined us for a staff meeting and uh did her presentation. Um the past couple of years, it's been Jess who's come around and and has done some of that mandatory training about Title 9 and uh 504s and special education. So, she was

028here today to uh to do that with the staff. Several parent educators stayed as well because it's an entire staff that needs to be trained. Trish stayed um as well. appreciate the people that stayed um beyond. Teachers always stay on Wednesdays for professional development Wednesday. Um and but it was good that a lot of people ended up staying. Amy Parkinson was also here to talk about the new absence portal that an absence management portal that is in frontline. This is something that um the SAU had put into the budget um to pay for for one year and then the years after that the schools will have to pick up the cost I believe. Yes, >> I think that that's what it was to get it up and running. >> Yeah, it was the transfer that

029was the onetime cost. It was the getting the modules and all that kind of >> Y. So, we already used Frontline. Um, Ellen and Nancy will probably remember from NLP where you put your professional development. All of all of your hours go in there if you want to take a workshop or if you're going to take a personal day. But, this absence portal is an additional cost. And um Amy came to talk to the staff about what what this is going to look like when it's finally ready to roll out. they're still doing a lot of the back building of of the program. So, >> so absence for who? Like what is this? >> Like if a teacher is going to take a sick day or or or a par educator needs a sick or

030somebody in the building needs to take a sick day or a personal day or instead of um >> filling out a form. >> Yeah. they just go in there, they put it in actually has a substitute component so that subs will be notified that there is a you know a job in the portal and they can go in and sign up for it and it fills um openings throughout the SAU as well. So >> it's also replacing so we had time clock plus to manage our hourly staff who work for so um sometimes like kitchen crew facilities some paras sometimes um would use time clock plus so that has gone away we're no longer paying for that subscription the costs are shifting over front line um and everyone's time management will be going into front

031line to help reduce some of the multiple human contact because we had a lot of paper time cards for staff and things like that. So this will be a more efficient system. >> Yeah, there were several thing, you know, there's the human resource portal and then there was time plus and there was so and they never communicated to each other. So getting rid of one thing and putting it into something we already used is was kind of the bottom line of of why we did that. >> And are we doing how are we doing on substitutes? Do we have enough? >> We have one. Well, I mean, we have we have probably eight to 10 um but not somebody that are available every day. I've I've taken a look at sub needs and have put

032emails out to people and you know I mean I know people are going to be out in October so I'll you know say hey are you going to put this in your calendar you're available >> these retired teachers who you know no other retire [Laughter] a lot Um, >> so beginning of the year seems to be okay. Our par educators do do a lot of of subbing for us, which we are always so grateful for, but that's ultimately not their job to do that. So, it's okay to cover for half a day or a day. But, um, and just something upcoming so you're aware, on Monday, September 8th, the middle school will be having a middle school community meeting for parents and guardians. Um, information, I try to always include school board when I send

033something like that out so you're aware of what's upcoming. Um we've done this for the past couple of years. The tradition in the past has been that it's been on the night of the barbecue and so you know the entire middle school or entire grade sixth grade will pour into the middle school and there's so much to cover and not everybody is there and some some pieces of information are lost. So we decided that we would do an additional middle school community meeting. So we've done this for a couple of years. There's always a slide deck that goes with it. I always share it out afterwards for um parents or guardians that are not able to make it. Um, and it's just updating families, especially our sixth grade. This is that they're new to to

034middle school life. So, um, the sixth grade will meet in the cafeteria. The teachers, Brian and I start the meeting and then the sixth grade teachers come. Seventh grade usually meets in the library, um, and they have their presentation about their expectations for the school year. And then eighth grade usually meets in um, one of the classrooms. um and they go over all the things from eighth grade, especially the New York City trip and fundraising and important magnet and important things for eighth grade. So, uh that will be on on September 8th and at starting at 5:30. It's usually about an hour. So, and that's all I have for now. Thank you. >> Thanks so much. And Jess, thank you for pointing out our grill masters. I was thinking of the same. I felt a

035little guilty being under the tent just kind of here youard you want cheese on your burger, you know, and look over and Ellen are like, >> thing I ask is that next time make sure both grills face the people because I had my back. >> We did have them like that when I was grill master. >> Yeah, you can see. >> Yeah, we had them side by side. >> Yeah, that would make sense. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Has CRB met? >> No. I don't think it's till October, right? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Uh facilities report. Mr. Kus, if you'd like to join us. >> Good evening. >> Evening. Okay. Don't people usually put their glasses down to read? Um, not in my case. Not in my case. Tonight, I'm going to start off uh

036first of all with the parking lot lights project. Um, as of right now, with the included $3,000 allowance, I went over by $872. This was caused by my misunderstanding um with Northeast Electrical about the units that we were actually getting. When his price came in, it wasn't the price that I was expecting. Uh we went over all of my qualifications that I want and the other the other units weren't going to fall with the luminums aluminums lumens that I was looking for and they did not have the outlets at the bottom. I wanted to stay what I originally proposed. So, I said that was fine. Um, at that time I was still within my budget, but with that change in the light poles, added extra costs in the pre-cast. We were planning for 24in Jbolts

037to anchor the poles down to. The engineering specs called for 30. Thank god I called. I found out this information because they were getting ready to pour the 24 inch um Jbolts. So that also increased the price by $1,750. Um and the increase for the light poles was $1,668, which brings me to $872 over at this time of this project. We received the lights today. The lightheads are in and in my office. The light poles are being delivered tomorrow. The balllets are manufactured and poured. They're waiting at the yard for the credit application to go through and then those will be shipped very quickly. So that's where we're at and anticipated date of starting uh next week or the week following if everybody schedule can come to that part. Um, is there still any possibility

038that it will increase more? So, we have the 3,000. >> Sure. There's Sure. Could we hit something that we're not expecting underneath the ground at 18 in? Yes. Um, I'm basing my knowledge off of what they ran into at in the parking lot and everything they ran into at the parking lot was exposed coming up out. So, you knew exactly it was there. You didn't know how big. We were fortunate enough that they could just um remove it with an excavator. Um yes, there is a possibility with any project that could go up higher. >> Okay. >> But I'm not I'm not anticipating any more increase. >> Got it. >> So what was the 1,600 bucks for to from 24 in to 30inch table split? Uh, >> yes. My my I'm sorry. My original price

039was [Applause] Oh, I'm sorry. Um, that also changed the diameter of the the size of the ball is from a 16 to an 18 in diameter. So along with the size of the diameter 2 in increased and larger table. >> Do you does he need a motion now for the overage or do we deal with that at the end? >> I mean I guess it depends how worried you are that there might be additional expenses. >> Well, it's going to be the excavation, >> right? So that has not been done yet. >> No, we're waiting to get the balls before we do any trenching. So the 3,000 I think we had originally anticipated for excavating issues. Um so potentially will be more potentially. >> Okay. >> If I had to guess maybe a couple thousand,

040but I've checked with the building inspector. He's good with 18 in. The electrician is good at 18 in. >> 18inch trench. Right. >> What? >> 18 inch trench. 18 in deep on the trench. >> Yes. 18 in deep. >> How deep do they have to be for the balls? >> Oh, we're going four feet down with the ballage and two feet exposed. >> That's That's very >> right. It's pretty deep. >> But that's already been included in that's already been spoken about. But I gave everybody the specs on the balls ahead of time because >> yeah, >> building in New England, you got to go at least four inches down, four feet down out of the frost line, >> right? >> And is how much play do you have, Chris? Like in terms of moving

041those ballers over, like if you hit ledge in one spot, but you're at 18 in, >> it's going to throw the pattern off. We don't know what the pattern is until we really see it. So, is anybody going to notice that we're off a foot or two? No, not really. Um, >> how how many are there? >> Seven. >> I mean, if if it's off a couple feet, no one's going to know. Um, I'm hoping for the best. There is a potential that there could be something right up that we don't see. >> Sure. >> I mean, we could, if you guys are in agreement, we could carry a couple thousand more dollars. I mean, $1,000 worth of es $2,000 worth of excavation is a lot of excavation for a price tag of we'll call

042it $7,000. So, I I'm hoping there's no big nuggets in there that are going to cause any problems. I don't know. >> We have another You have another board meeting >> if you do run into problems because there you said they're starting in about a week or so. >> Week or so. As soon as that credit application is cleared with Phoenix, they're going to want to get that stuff out of their yard. And at that time, I'll have everything here. >> You could move on this and then an issue arises, we've got another meeting in week after that. >> Okay. I mean, that's >> Yeah. The problem is going to be is if they do if the excavator runs into problems, he's not going to want to wait till next meeting to figure out whether

043he's staying. I I also don't really want to just write a white check for >> Do we know how much is in the trust fund? >> Uh I can find out. I don't bring that with me, but I can certainly find out. >> Like I'm just wondering if we have extra wiggle room in the trust fund already. >> Um this is one just for parking. Um, >> I can bring that the next one. >> In terms of digging, you think it would start as early as next week or it would be the following week? >> As soon as I get the balls and I check their schedule, it's either going to fall next week or the week after. So, by the end of September, we should have lights up and running in the parking lot.

044September September firing no problems with prior commitments with the contractor, but I'm keeping them updated on when everything is coming in and everybody's giving me the thumbs up. So, uh, the esavation's going to be, he's thinking two days, three days at the top. As long as the electrician can keep up with him and put his conduit and wire in the trench and he can get them to a point come around back fill set the balls back fill, you know, then it's just going to be up to the electrician to raise the poles, put the ligh heads on and do his final wiring and an inspection from this from the town from the building inspector >> if there are any unknowns say for ledge or something like that. Um, is there going to be any mobilization?

045>> I would think it's going to hold up at Yeah. Yes. I would think someone's going to want something. I haven't discussed it with them because I didn't, you know, I thought $3,000 was going to cover any >> Well, that's what I mean. Yeah. 500 bucks is going to be a move anyways, >> right? There's a possibility. I just don't know until we start digging. I mean 18 in, you know, can dig an 18 in 18inch hole with two shovel fulls, you know. So it's I hope not. I really hope not. >> Um are we going to have to block off a bunch of the parking lot? Is that >> only two spaces? I will coordinate that. >> Is there a plan for that? >> Yeah. uh two space is all he needs. He'll be

046able to ride over the trench as he esavates. Um he just asked for keeping the two spots immediately in front of the light pole or the ballard traffic >> and there won't be an issue with drop off in the morning or >> n they'll they'll know to start. They can probably work all the equipment will be well out of the way of any of the students, staff, faculty. So that won't be an issue. The only issue will be when we starting at the pump house, >> right? >> That might have to start either during the middle of the day to get them away from the building at the drop off area. >> No damage to the pavement from the equipment? >> No. Nope. >> Nope. >> So, do you have a daily rate from them?

047Like if if things were going to exceed their >> No, I don't. Nope. I think we should get that because I I just being in the business I know $2,000 is going to get you a day 500 bucks for a move and $1,500 for one guy in the next. So >> So you want a daily rate if we go over? >> Yeah. If there's anything that you know if there's any unknowns like ledge or excessive boulders you know if there's a hourly rate or a daily rate and then what they want to charge for mobilization if we were to if we don't approve it and we say you know they have to stop then we approve what the overages could be but again I we're going to be in a you know similar position not

048knowing again because if they get, you know, halfway done and run into it, they're not going to necessarily like take all the rest of, you know, briefly they'll expose like all the spots that are problem areas and then they'd have an idea like it's going to take us one day to hammer out what needs to be taken care of. So, we we'd have a better idea of, you know, one day. So, is your recommendation that we move forward on the 872 today or do you want to approve more so that we aren't in a situation where they're not able to work or complete the project before our next meeting? >> I have a feeling that they're going to be digging this with a mini excavator anyways. Um, and that if they were going to hammer,

049they're probably going to want to bring in a bigger machine anyway. >> So, I don't think the mobilization will probably >> hurt us too much. >> Okay. So, it's not like they could have that there the same day. >> Yeah. Well, they potentially could, but it's still Yeah, they potentially they could, but it it's not like they'd have to move out, go do another job, and come back type thing hopefully. Um, so yeah, I I I think we should do what's already over right now, the 873, and then you know, unfortunately, I think next >> Yeah. And and I would Chris, if you if that does happen, like what I said is like just complete all the trending, you know, if they can't if there's any resistance at any spots, at least expose everything they

050can. That way they can have a better estimate of how long it would take to to complete the overages. >> Okay. So, am I So, am I good to continue? If we get the credit application, it's submitted. If it gets approved and they're ready to drop the balls off, I'll have them drop the balls off. Can I schedule with the contractors for the excavation in the pipe or do you guys want his daily or hourly rate first? >> I think we move ahead. Right. >> Okay. >> With finger, all of our fingers crossed. >> All right. I'll make a motion to approve the additional or two >> 872. 872 for this project at this point. >> All right. Any discussion? >> Is that the only over that we're talking about Jesus? >> We already >>

051we had already approved a $3,000 contingency >> and so those are include this is above the 3,000 that we already >> accounted for as overages. Okay. All in favor? >> I I um I got word that there was some concerns about the athletic field. Just wanted to know if anybody had any. >> Yeah. So, um some people have mentioned about the condition of the fields and the lack of water. I had asked you about um irrigation and you had mentioned I actually went up there tonight and I saw um the cubes you have up there and you had briefly mentioned that the well doesn't support what you have going on up there. >> We've got to be gentle with the well. We've always had issues with it from day one. um ran into a little

052problem this year where we dropped it to a specific limit and it actually grabbed some of the sediment on the bottom, brought it into the school. Um had to change filters, run water. Same thing that happens in a residential if your well goes that low. We tried as hard as we could with this sprinkling, keeping in mind that we're on a well that is more meant for the school than for the school and irrigation. Even during the summer, we haven't had much rain to say that we have, you know, an ample supply of water in the aqueduct. But, um, we did fill the two 1,00galon tanks as often as we could, spreading them out, morning fill, afternoon fill, and just keep that on location. Um, I'm doing the same thing now. It has shown a

053little more improvement than it was a week ago. So, it's just being able to consistently water it, find time on my schedule, and find the water without jeopardizing the school system. So, what do you have up there right now, Chris? Besides those cubes, it's just hoses and like tripods or something. >> Yep. Yep. >> Yep. And I just move those around, run it for 15 minutes in a specific spot, and just keep going over the worst areas and have that with a pump that brings the water from the the holding tanks to the sprinkler heads. >> And where does the water in the holding tanks come from? Well, that's why I fill them intermittently when I can, what I think. It's the minute I fill a tank, I go check the water level on our

054tank down in the pump room. It has a a sight glass, and the minute I see it fall, I just stop. It's more important to have water for the building than it is for the athletic field. >> I don't know what the layout is for this piece of land that the school sits on. Does it have any water frontage over here? >> I'm sorry, say that again. I don't know what the layout is for the piece of property for the school what it sits on. Do we have water frontage? >> Yes, we have water. Yeah. Access. >> Has that ever been um thought about to maybe take some of that occasionally for a dry winter, dry summer? >> You could take it from there. I guess I I guess that would be an EPA dees

055whether we can pull that much water from a lake like that um where it's not a private lake. are extremely shallow. >> Yeah. Yeah. With all in there, it's very shallow. >> You would need a pump. >> Yeah. >> That would be huge to be able to take that water and get it up into the field. So, I mean, there's multiple ways of doing it. Actually installing a well up on >> up on the field. Um, I don't suggest actually trenching for irrigation. We just spent a lot of money on that. Isn't that the leech field? >> The septic system, right? And be right over the septic system. You could get a um a hose reel, which is an automatic reel with a big sprinkler head. You'll see them on college athletic fields and it

056just you pull the hose out, you start it up, and just clicks back. Sprinkles for five or 10 minutes, clicks back. Um, that would be I think the safest way to do something like that without disturbing that field and being able to supply water on its own source. >> Yeah, that was kind of the thought that I had as well. We we had a conversation about um the fertilizer and stuff and >> trying to figure out if there was maybe some savings um if we put the fertilizer on hold for a period of time and maybe did something like that like a well. I mean 11 to 15 grand we could put a well in. I didn't I know you had sent me a breakdown of like monthly, but it didn't show me like a

057total annual spend on um >> the fertilizer program. >> Okay. >> But um >> you want me to get that back to you? >> Yeah, that'd be that'd be I did some rough numbers trying to figure it out, but I mean in less than two years we could pay for that well. >> There is a lot of ledge there, so that will would probably have to go pretty cheap. Chris, can you just CC me on that so I can see the annual breakout too? >> The numbers that you get. Yeah, sure. >> Okay. Thank you. >> There was money in the budget for a pump or something. I don't know, but or the budget didn't get passed. >> Is it comi machine? The combi machine that you wanted to get. Is it comi? Is that

058is that what you're talking about in the end? >> Was that I don't was that >> there was something about the athletic fields last year. that we add to the budget. I think >> that was the two holding tank. I Well, no, that came out of my regular um field maintenance budget. >> The holding machines, but you wanted you wanted Yeah. >> pump water. I already got that out of my regular >> Okay. >> my regular budget. >> Um Yeah. Yeah, I mean I suppose if we want to look into a well that would be a good opportunity for a war article. >> Um >> okay, we still have um heating that is next on the capital budget plan >> and that's looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars. We're running in >> I didn't

059have this on my list but we're running into problems because we have no mechanical drawings of the building. So train is being very cautious about any numbers. They don't want to submit a number and it be way way less than what they're walking into. So that's next. >> So in terms of the unit ventilators, >> yes, correct. >> We can't get a price for those necessarily because we don't have the right drawings or specs or whatever. >> We Yeah. Um, they've gone dark on me right now. >> Okay. >> Um, they're not getting back to me. Uh, so I think >> I don't know what's up with them, but I will reach back out to them. >> What do we need to do to get those specs? Like, does a firm need to come in

060and like >> We could hire an engineer to go through everything. Yep, we could do that. >> And that was not included in the expansion project. >> No, a mechanical was not. It probably list what they could see and it probably listed description of the unit ventilators, but it never went deeper than that. >> So, there was never a mechanical from the original building. >> There might be some place, but it's not in my possession or Amber's possession. >> I would say the building has also been added on to >> there were small additions, but it's Yeah, it's I I've been left with basically architectural plans. >> Okay. Which They're just pretty pictures. >> We're going to need that to um to get any even even not just the firm wanting to not give you

061a price. I mean, we're going to be in the same position of, you know, a change order and >> committing to something. >> That's why I think they're so hesitant about, you know, >> putting a number out there. Is this something that the facilities committee could look more into and like what would be needed or I'm waiting I'm waiting for train to give me the information of what they need if they have a suggestion um whether it's you know a private engineering company to come in and go through everything and come up with um information that they'd be happy with creating a scope and bid documents. >> So, >> got it. So, that for those who haven't been on the board for the past few years, we've been trying to fund the I don't know

062which trust fund it is. Um, the building >> the one that has a lot of money. >> We've been trying to fund it slowly so that when we're doing the unit ventilators, there is a pot of money sitting in the dress for us to use. I think we've in the past years put $500,000 to the best of my memory, but it was based on an assumption that it would cost roughly $800,000. Um, so we might have to adjust for more articles. The only reason I brought a board article is for the will um is that to me where people are constantly looking for us to not spend money, I wouldn't really feel comfortable spending $15,000 on a well unless it was something supported by the town for the athletic fields. You know, as obviously athletics

063are important to our students, but while we're trying to figure out how to fund the school, I would want more input from the public about whether or not that's a priority for us at this point. >> There's a lot of variables in there. We got to make sure, you know, um it's going to have to be covered. It's going to need its own building. It's going to need power. Um, >> oh, >> you know, so it's a lot of other little things, >> right? >> That >> potentially a bigger project than just >> a well. >> When the original building was built, would they have had mechanical drawings or is that just something they didn't always do? >> Oh, yeah. They would have Yeah. back in the 80s. Yeah. You would have had electrical maps

064every Yeah, that's what I'm wondering. The >> state usually doesn't hold municipal or residential prints. >> The historical society >> planning board uh just scan a lot of things. You might want to check with Karen Clement the town. Yeah. >> Check with who? >> I' I've got Karen Clement, the town administrator. Um I actually have the mechanical drawings for the George B. white building some place in a box because they were getting rid of all the things they had scanned. So that may be a source for you anywhere at least. >> It seems like we should have it somewhere. >> Yeah. Right. >> All right. Um, anything else about the athletic fields? >> Uh, nope. That's it. >> Okay. Anything else? >> Uh, last last school board meeting, Principal Wy brought forth the um hourly

065increase that we're looking to give our one night custodian. Um, he's currently making $15.91 an hour. I think you guys got the sheet in front of you also. um price increase of $17 or an increase of $17 an hour brings into 24344 which is a yearly increase for the 179 days of $1,561. And above that, you'll see the billing for the 2024, 2025, 26 school year citywide. The decrease in years is because um the nighttime custodian picked up a full shift. He went from a 4 hour shift to an eight hour shift, which gave us less for citywide. >> So that's kind of a no-brainer. I mean, you're saving 10,740 and you'd be paying,561. Is that correct? I mean, that's >> Yeah. >> What What did you say, Ellen? >> Well, we're saving 10,740 with

066the citywide because we have a nighttime janitor. >> That's full time. >> That's on the left. Yeah. And we're only going to be paying him the difference would be$,571. Is that right? 1561 >> 1561 >> No, that that difference is just between his hourly rates, >> right? It's it's from 1591 to $17, >> right?$ 15,591 is total of 22783. >> So, we would be paying more $1,561 more than we would if he didn't get a raise, but we're saving $10,740. So, we would have been still at the 116 or higher if we kept if we didn't have a full-time custodian at night, but because we now have a full-time at the 1591, it's reduced it by 10,700, >> right? But he was at four hours before. So, there's his total weight, his total salary is

067like 22. So, it's like a $10,000 plus dollar difference. So, that's half of his salary. Yeah, but there was it was an open position. We have four open full-time custodian positions that have not been filled. >> I that has nothing to do with that. It's it's about the savings that are not we're not presenting it correctly. The 1561 is just the difference in his rates his proposed rate >> for the year his hours. So this difference is because it's four hours versus eight hours. So >> which is a $10,000 difference. It's just half of his salary. >> No, the $10,000 savings is by him coming on full-time and that's the deduction of the cost for citywide. >> So this bottom part is if if he were working full-time at his current rate, we'd be paying

068him 22,000 a year. We're only paying him half of that because he's only working four hours currently. So the savings he's at 8 hours. >> Oh, he's currently at currently eight hours. That's right. So, >> but he was at four last year, >> correct? >> So that's the $10,000. >> Correct. So was this was the eight hours already in the budget in addition to the citywide? >> Yes. City. >> Well, we're in default budget. So that that money has never moved. >> Yeah. >> So what was it budgeted for? Like was it budgeted as a position? >> Yeah. For >> basically a wash essentially is what you're getting at. It's a wash >> basically. Yeah. >> So either we have our full-time employee who we, you know, is is a local person. We're investing in

069a local person, a local community, and it's somebody we have say over their employment, right? versus a contracted company who we have less control over and may not live locally. So, are we putting the dollars into a local person or are we putting it into a contracted service provider? >> Correct. >> But essentially, it's an equal wash because the money that we spent that 10,000 would have been spent on citywide, but we're using that as the fulltime because he was at four hours. So, it's just a it's a priority of what you want to spend that money on. Do you want to spend >> the money's already the money's already been budgeted because I have >> Right. That's what >> three unfilled full-time positions >> and a part time now. >> And a part that's

070not what was being presented. So, that's what I was saying, >> right? >> It's not totally for giving the money to the local guy instead of the company. It's not that. It was just >> But it's not necessarily a $10,000 savings. I hear you. I think Chris was just saying it was a $10,000 savings from last year. I don't think he was putting that savings into into the salary, >> but you were just showing the difference between >> the an additional four hours. >> Yeah, I understand how it was. >> I It can easily be misunderstood if you don't understand the fact that it went from a 4 hour to eight hour. So, it's essentially a wash in your It's the same amount of money. It's just whether you're putting it for a local person

071or a contracted provider and if you're willing to approve the $1,500 a year raise. >> Right. Right. I just wanted to make sure that unders,000. >> Yes. Correct. >> Um I will make a motion to approve the rate of $17 for the night custodian. >> I'll second. Okay. Kendra and Ellen. Um, any discussion that's super? >> Yeah. All right. All in favor? >> Anything else that you have for us? >> Um, new answers. I think I covered that. Anel systems been installed. Clear bill of health on the fire alarm system. I hope so. >> Yeah, seriously. Right. Um, yeah. Sold going. >> What? >> Saw the new fence. >> Yes. >> What? >> For the solar. >> Yeah. Yep. Looks Yeah, they did a good job. >> Um, solar is probably 70% complete. We're still

072waiting on the one unit that ties the inverters um back into the actual electrical co-op system. Um, panels look fantastic. It's It's huge. >> I've never been a lot around a lot of solar systems, but we've got panels on our roof. So excited to see when it's all plugged in and see that dial turning. >> Chris. Oh, sorry. >> Can you remind me, were they going to put like a educational thing like in the lobby? >> We're going to be able to um with the help of Sean um we're going to be able to pipe that in. So like we have the latest and greatest going on in school. It'll give a snapshot of exactly what the panels are doing at that time. >> Oh, that's good. >> You know, yeah, it'll and you'll be

073able to access it in your classrooms. Oh, cool. If you want. So, yeah, it's it can be used >> right on through the school. >> Yeah. >> Did you touch base with them on the uh paving on the trench? >> Yep. We're gonna wait until next spring just to see what else happens with frosties and everything and if it settles more. And I agreed. I'm like, "Yeah, let it settle low. Let you know, let the snow come pack it and they will take care of it in the spring. >> It's pretty right now. >> Yeah. Yeah. It's unacceptable. Yep. >> Got it. Awesome. Thanks so much. >> Thank you guys. Appreciate it. >> Thank you for All right, policies. So, we have several on first reading and two on second reading. Um, you want to

074give me you want me to give a little snipp of some of the ones I added? And I added a few, please. So, the ones that I added for first reading, there's um I also added a couple for recommendation for withdrawal. So, I just want to give a little explanation for before the policy committee gets into it. Um, the first one, BH E, it's on the second page of the agenda. So, the agenda was a pager. >> Yeah, I thought that they were written out. I saw them in the >> Y. Um, so BHE I would recommend putting this one in place in lie of the policy down below. EG Aea. Um simplification of school. >> Well, so actually EG Aea is not policies with the letter E aren't really having to do with schoolboard

075functions and it's no longer a policy from the New Hampshire school association. >> It's been replaced by BH which covers nearly all of the same stuff from EGA EA. Um and it anything with B has to do with board functions. So it belongs in the B's, not the E. Got it. >> And so and it would align with the recommendation from Newport Association. Um DIE is a legally required policy that we do not have. Um IKFG is a legally required policy we're required to have and we don't have. And KFD, same thing. We're legally required to have it and we don't have that in case yet. So those are I tried to prioritize the legally required ones first before we start start getting to the older policies and trying to renew everything. So, um, starting

076with those, those will get us all the ones that I could find so far of our legally required policies that we don't yet have. And then the other policy that I recommended for withdrawal was BHD. It's also no longer a schoolboard policy or New Hampshire schoolboard association policy. Part of that is also covered in BHE. It's also covered in some of the other policies that we have or that I will be recommending that we have. So, duplicate. It's covered in BHE, BE DG, and BGE, which we will all end upating. >> So, if I can ask the committee to review those and give us your recommendation about withdrawing. >> Oh, I think we can talk. >> We haven't talked about them. >> I'm okay with there's nothing we have to do tonight, but I just

077want to give context. >> Good deal. >> Didn't seem any problem. Yeah, sure. together. >> Sure. Make it official. And then um as far as the first readings, I didn't have any problem with any of them except I did have a question about IKFG and it seems to me that there's um stuff in there that's high school that doesn't need to be in our policy. >> Correct. >> So that needs to be eliminated. >> Correct. >> Okay. But other >> we only need the part that pertains to elementary and middle. >> Right. >> So the way it's written right now, it has the high school stuff on it. Yep. >> Does any do any of you guys have any comments? This is the first reading, so you can get together if you have comments. >>

078I would say we can move all of those forward to a second reading. And then if anyone has comments, questions, suggestions, reach out to the um policy committee. >> And we talked we talked last time about possibly just approving them after the second one instead of going to a third reading. Oh, which to me makes a lot of sense because right now I mean I read the problem, >> right? And after you guys have met. >> Yeah, I mean I think that makes sense. >> Okay. >> All right. So if we we meet before the next meeting, we also talk about having policies every >> Yeah. >> I think there is still a backlog of like very old policies to get >> something here was like 19 I mean it was old. >> Yeah, I'm

079working on them. I think that the school board electronic communication was like 2005 maybe or some old. >> Um what one thing that on the uh KFD on the defibrill >> as far as maintaining it, it says that the nurse is the one that maintains it and I just wanted to make sure that she knew she was the one that I need to fairly sure she does. She was, if you didn't see her at old home day, she was giving defibrillator lessons in showing everyone how to use >> I think she did, but it was just whenever something pops up like that that it's a specific person. >> I think I think the language actually was something like the principal or the designate, which is usually the nurse. I thought it was a little bit

080more >> and KFD really is pertinent to athletics. making sure that our athletes have access to a defibrillator that throws the world. >> Um and then I did just want to point out for BEG um which is on a second reading. >> Yes. Okay. Um, per that policy, our committees need to be >> have that written down to now that you bring that. >> I had a question about that too. Like if two of us get together to talk about something, we have to keep minutes. >> Yes. Committee of the board. >> Okay. So, that's something we haven't been doing. >> Casual conversation? No. But if it's a formal comm and I sit down to go over it. >> I thought formal was only when you had three people. Like if Nancy and I are

081getting together to talk about policy, that's not really a formal meeting, is it? >> Well, you are the committee, >> right? >> So we So do we have to then put out that we are meeting at such and such a date and people can come to, you know, one of our homes? >> That would be >> whatever we adopt in that policy is what you'll have to follow. >> Right. >> Okay. >> It's not a majority still. So that >> right. It's not a meeting. >> It's not a quorum like you don't have to post it like you do. That's what I'm asking. Okay. No, no, no. It's not supposed to be posted like a school board meeting, but you are required to keep your minutes. >> Um, and they're supposed to come before the

082board to be approved and then we keep a record of them. They don't have to be fancy like your schoolboard minutes. >> Gosh. >> But just summarize your what you discussed, whether it's you reviewed the first reading policies, made adjustments, and are recommending them to move to second reading. Some something like that. I imagine it'll be pretty coffee. >> Yeah, >> well, I actually went to the state law to look at that because that was kind of my question and it was seemed like it was a little bit more ambiguous in the state. >> I agree with what this policy is. >> So, that's why I was wondering. >> I had sent a frantic email saying, "Yeah, >> what is this?" Um, but yes, I think that is required. So, for committees, so a lot

083of the committees that we have already keep minutes. So like executive order has minutes, municipal budget training has minutes. So we don't have to. >> But I was saying like when Danielle and I met last time to talk about high school contracts, we didn't do minutes on that. You just came back and told that committee talked about it. >> Do you have a contract committee? >> Yes. >> Oh, high school. >> Yeah. >> Oh, your high school contract. >> Yes. Okay. >> And so then you keep the meeting minutes and then you present them to the board and the board does what? >> Approve them just like you do your regular board minutes. It would be logged like the same way >> and just filed. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> Yeah. I mean, the board

084can really change them because most of us are there, >> but it's really just a to report back to the board of what the committee is working on >> to keep a public public record, >> right? So, the public knows what the committees are working on, >> right? Your formal committee [Applause] formal committees. >> Yes. Um, so >> that's second reading on that one. >> Do we want to do anything on these or do you guys want to meet to review >> the second reading minutes or second? >> I think I think maybe on this one. >> Yeah. Okay. And then um the EH I don't know if you guys had any comments about that. One I had was and I don't know if it should be in a policy or not but I feel

085like the consequences to the students need to be very clearly stated to the students before they use AI so you don't end up with hey we're using AI and then they do something bad and then you're like wait a minute these are the consequence. Like I feel like they need to know ahead of time and that's not really in the policy. Is there anything about it in the handbook? >> Yes. >> Like you have the consequences, but there's nothing in there about teachers stating the consequences before they use AI. I mean, it'll get to it would end up getting to be old hat after a while. But in the very beginning, like they need to know what's going to happen if they abuse it. >> Yeah. I mean, essentially, the staff presents it more towards

086again middle school. They present it as cheating. you you're you're essentially you're giving handing something in that's not yours yours. >> So and our teachers know when students >> are using AI, you know, it's not like college level where >> they might write as well as AI. >> It could also be used for bullying and things like that too though. And I just my thought is do they do they clearly know what the consequences are because they're pretty severe consequences. I mean cheating we've talked about a lot but we're entering into kind of a new territory with doing things. >> You could reference the um because you wouldn't want to put like day-to-day practice in policy but you could reference the graduated discipline consequences within there within that policy. >> Yeah. I think >> supported

087by the graduated discipline. >> Okay. >> Do you guys want to take another look at Nancy about that one? >> That's fine. >> We we actually didn't discuss these at the last meeting. So this time it's a second reading. We never had a discussion on the first reading. >> So we'll move the first readings to the second and then we'll keep the seconds. We'll also keep the recommend to withdraw. I'm okay with withdrawing those right now, but I mean you just don't want to read the books. Come on. Well, they are. I mean, you're right. I mean, this one's replaced by that and this is replaced by those. They're totally >> Do we want to though withdraw them before we have approved the other policies? >> I guess that's a good point. So maybe I

088know I don't want to have no policy about electronic communication for several weeks or whatever >> when you use dialup intermed with withdrawal. Okay. Anything else for policy? All right. Uh transportation. We're on toformational items. Uh transportation was just an update. Things are going okay. So with co brown transportation, I'm still in communication with Amy and any issues that pop up. Um we do have a transportation thing for non-public. Um, so I will pertaining to a student. So I will fill you guys in on that. Um, but overall the co brown transportation is still going greatly surviving high school. >> So right monthly furniture report I don't have anything to report on that was questions. No, I did ask Jess in advance of the meeting because this question came up at a municipal budget committee

089meeting of why the PAR professional salaries have not are not showing as encumbered yet. Um, and the answer is that it's a timing issue and paras have not gone through a pay cycle yet. So, their salaries have not been in covered. So, you'll see them in covered next time. >> Correct. >> Um, so to any MVC members who are listening, that is the answer. at the time of the report there wasn't. So, >> right. >> Um, uh, at the next FEC meeting, we're going to be reviewing this report as well as the, uh, full last previous school year um, report field's officially closed from 242. Oh, that >> you will once you guys sign your and we'll get you all the final reports. >> Yeah, we have to submit this to the state with all

090the board signatures on it. Um so that Amber can finish the closing of the budget process with the state because there's a couple of forms she has to fill out, but she can't fill those out until you guys sign off on the report to for her to submit. So everything will be wrapped up and we'll get back to you. Um, anyone have questions or comments about the monthly expenditure report? Um, we may have talked about this in a prior one. So, the library educational text subscriptions on page five. Um, this, as I recall, was intended to be moved to a different line in the budget. Is that correct? >> Yes. >> Okay. But there might be a I'll have to look and see what that's for. Um, I'll see what that's for. >> Yeah, that

091expenditure. I don't know. >> Yeah, that's fine. The >> What line are you looking at? Um you know I don't know how many numbers you have um 001 222 432 >> um just for my um knowledge because the NBC tends to flag things that are 300,000% over budget >> but >> Oh yeah there's It's $1 for that, >> right? So, I think I think I'd have to pull out our budget from last year, but I think we took the intention was to remove magazines because we weren't utilizing magazines as much and put that money into that subscription. Um, but I just wanted to see if that was the case because to be accurate, >> I just had a question about the um principal and assistant principal salaries. I didn't know how those are fixed. >>

092Yes. >> So, how do we overturn that? So because we're on a default budget and the principal and the vice principal are not on the CDA. So they're because they're not in a collective bargaining agreement, their raises don't automatically follow through in the default budget. So when the board approves them for a new contract amount, then it doesn't follow in the default. So we're going to be overspent because the board has approved a higher figure than what's in the default budget. When did that happen? >> I assume when when we approved your contract which was yours maybe was last year. >> Yeah, I think >> years. I'm not sure that I participated. >> I think it was year two of two, >> right? They're multi-year contract. >> Yeah. That's something in the past two to

093four years. >> So when we but okay so even if we try to budget for that >> so we yeah we tried to we included the raises in the operating budget but >> when that doesn't get approved we have to move money around from other lines. Yeah. >> Um, any other questions? Okay. We will move on the I assume sorry that this is supposed to be the year end report not the year-to- date report. >> Yes. And usually so this is the year end report. >> Yeah. >> So the one that you guys have signed usually this will go through docysine. So you would have been got it through email but docyign was not working properly. So I had to bring a paper copy for everybody. So, um, can gladly pass this around so you

094guys can review what you're signing before you sign it. But usually this would go to docu sign. So I that one was at my office. >> Can you give us the like ending figure? I know we've had a lot of estimates of how much ahead. >> Yeah. Pause, please. Does um does this have to be assigned tonight or can we do the um the docu sign? Is there another opportunity? >> I don't know when it's going to be fixed. >> It's it's Docu Sign itself, not us. So, I'm not sure there's some kind of IT issue going on with it. >> Okay. Um, so I would recommend I mean ultimately it's just going to delay your guys' closing of the budget. >> No, I just to >> this is not our usual budget packet. So

095they take payment. If you want to item >> well then we need you for them too. >> Oh well, right. >> Yes. So, um, audit updates there. Let's see here for Deerfield. It says, um, the last update I got was a couple weeks ago from Amber. Says 2022 is waiting for the legal letter. Uh, basically making it official official so it can be issued a final report. 23 and 24 are ready to type their final report. So, all the fieldwork is done for auditing. Um, we are waiting for a status update from the auditing firm to see where they're after that. So, all the fieldwork is done up through 2024. We're waiting for their final reports to be written from the auditors for those three years. So, for context, I don't know if you know

096about the auditing issue there. So we are required to do annual audits of the SAU I mean the school district budget school district finance >> which your new policy d >> it is a requirement there were many years that the audit did not happen. Um and we have spent several years trying to rectify that. Um, so we there were a series of consultants and people that were brought in multiple years ago to try to get us up to speed and get everything fixed. So that is the update. So we um yeah, so we have through 2021. So we're waiting on 22 23 24 audits. >> Yeah, that seems like that's pretty far. >> Correct. >> Because if you're ever trying to write the shift, that's pretty far. Correct. >> Yeah. No, there was um it

097has been a many year problem that most of us have inherited. Um obviously with everything that's going on in Claremont, I'm I am particularly also concerned about this. So um I'd emailed Jess saying, "Yeah, >> love those reports, please." Um >> so all the field work all the like the investigative work from the auditing company that's all done. They've collected all the data they need from us. >> Yes. >> They just need to actually physically write their 70page report per year and we are waiting for 20 2022 2023 2024 for their physical report. But all their data has been collected. They reviewed all of our files all of that. And then once we get those we'll be caught up fully for Deerfields. and I'll get on to 2025. >> My understanding is that from having

098been on exec board previously is that there if there were like really big gargantuan issues, they would let the SAU know. >> They would have already told us what those findings are because we would have to immediately >> we have to immediately fix them and there aren't any of those. Um, but there if there were issues identified in 2021, they probably have carried over because we didn't know that there were issues. So, we may have have to still fix those or they have been fixed now because we got the 2021 report. But if if any findings were indicated before they're doing their final report, Amber has adjusted those as the years have accumulated. So if there was a finding that came up, if they found that some of our data was an error in 2022,

099>> she would have already fixed that for 23 moving forward. So >> yeah, and some of the other schools have are farther along in their reports. So they have already gotten their 23 reports. So to the extent there was something in there, Amber would have fixed it for >> correct. It was all it was. Yeah. the entire correct yeah going back to 2021 I believe yes what I've learned that is what I have learned as well yeah 2020 2021 correct um okay so I'm hoping update in the next couple of weeks again from the authors yes okay great Um, yeah, and the audits obviously are important in and of themselves, but let's say some of the schools are are farther along than we are because if you're applying for a bond from the bond bank,

100they need all the annual audits. So, you know, they knew Allentown was going for a bond for their new school, so they prioritize Allentown, for instance. Um, so they have more audits done than we do currently. But that's all I know about from from exact board. And then we probably will also get an update um during budget discussions in October full meeting. >> Oh, did we skip over Ellen's update? >> No, I'm doing that after audit update. Um >> when you say that if there was an issue Amber would have adjusted like what would be an example of >> so if they found like a practice we did so say they found the way that they did the way that they labeled purchase orders for example if if that were an issue that they said

101>> we don't like the way you label your purchase orders because of x y and z it's a poor practice and that was a finding that came through for Chai Chester. >> Okay. >> When they did like the 2021 reports, she would have adjusted that when that finding came out for all the other districts even though their reporting wasn't done yet. So, if there was a finding of like practice that wasn't best practice that came from the auditors while the other audits were going up for the other districts, she's already adjusted those practices. So, you may get a finding in like 2022, but you'll see in 2023 that it was adjusted. It's just because of that delay and why the and because those reports are so far behind, you're not going to see that caught

102up. So until everyone's final reports reports for 2024 are done, you're not going to see that alignment between each of the districts because Deerfield might be farther behind on getting their final reports done than Epsom. So I I just wonder what Yeah. what it would be. >> Yeah. One of the consultants was a former business administrator who I think has adjusted a lot of policies and practices in those kind of things. >> Yeah. So we found like another example is we found through the auditing process that we were missing a policy last year regarding audits. So every school board went and adopted that policy that we were missing that we were required to have. And you know through another glance at required policies I found another one. So, I I'm bringing that forward and I'm

103doing that for all boards. >> Okay. Um, did you have the number for the year? Still looking. >> Um, okay. Stage Road property. >> Okay. Um, so at the last meeting, I had agreed to do a couple things. Talk to some realators about property assessment. You had gotten an estimate of 1,200. Um, so a couple that I talked to suggest that I talk to Jeannie Manard. I talked to >> Yeah. So Jeanie said that um you do need to get an appraisal value. Uh she said town property is not an easy one to do. You do need an expert to do it. She doesn't consider herself an expert. Y >> but um she said you really don't want to do something like that until it's about maybe three months before your marketing like if you're

104going to put it on sale because otherwise it's only good for about three months. So if we were to spend that money, it's only good for like three months. So what would be better um is to she could do for us a um she called it a market analysis or a broker's opinion of values. Give us something to go by. She'll do it for nothing. She can have it for us by midocctober. Um and then the one thing that she would really help her a lot is do you know Jess if we have historical information on the purchase of that property at the SAU that might >> I have not found anything but I can have Lexi and Amber do a deep dive in our historical records. >> Okay. Because if uh we could get

105that information to her that would make her job a lot easier. Um, the other thing that I did was I did contact the conservation commission and the energy committee about our next meeting about coming and talking about the property and um it was suggested to me um that maybe we might want to think about forming a committee that would have people from the different you know boards. So, I think the way it's looking is it's probably unlikely we'll do a Warren article this year because it looks like maybe we need to do a little bit more into looking at it because um I mean we're not we're not interested in just selling it which is what some some people think. We're really more interested in doing something that would be good for the community. >>

106Yeah. I mean, I think my position is that it's not doing any good in our possession and there's very limited things that the school board has the authority to do with the property. I think there was a comment last week about us leasing it somewhere or maybe that was before meeting, I can't remember. Um, the school board doesn't have the authority to lease the property to anyone. So, we have the authority to build a school building or do school things at that property. Um, so if the town wants to use it for something else or if someone another group wants to use it, I'm open to that. There's just not anything that we as the owners of the property, we can really do. You can't make a profit. >> Correct. >> Um, so >> yeah,

107>> police it themselves, >> right? I mean, >> it would be like change possession to the town for the town to see, >> right? Right. But that's like I would want to put that on the warrant article to see if people want us to give the town this property that's worth, you know, at least a couple hundred,000. Is that is that what the town wants to do? I'm fine with that, but other people may have very different opinions about that. Well, that's why we thought if we had a we had a group that kind of looked at the whole needs of the community, >> you know, with thinking about planning board and the conservation commission and energy. I know the energy committee, the chair of that has some ideas for that, but I say the

108planning board is going through their um master plan work at this point, I think. So, I would say planning board also probably needs to be involved. So if we get prime minister and asked her to members >> 16th 17th >> and she said she would be the open >> I just just one thing that I was thinking about because I you know it could if we if it's decided that it's going to help the community better than us holding on to it. I agree that you know just sitting there but if it is just sitting there and then the opportunity presents itself that something like what Allentown just did. >> Yep. >> Right. And that they >> what town just used? >> They built a new elementary school. >> Right. But and it wasn't I

109mean my numbers could be wrong but from what I had heard it um like they only paid for like half of it >> because there was state building. Correct. Yeah. >> So, if we landed it at a time where there's that funding that we could we could, you know, build a new school over there instead of expanding this, you know, >> right? I mean, I think that was the I mean, it was originally for a proposed high school um with other surrounding towns, >> Junior High School. Yeah. >> And but I think part of the thing is Alice Town as far as um their economics is very different than Deerfield. I do believe that when we've looked at how much we might be able to be uh those grants might be accessessible to us, it's

110pretty >> right. I mean, yeah, we could, but >> because I think there's building there's usually building aid available every school year that districts can apply to and they build like the state builds like a hierarchy of need >> and so depending on the year and depending on what schools apply will depend on how much funding is available based on the need. >> Yeah. I mean, I would just caution um any board who's thinking about doing that as making any sort of representation to the town that we will get part of the um project paid for. I mean, I think >> Oh, it's not a guarantee, >> right? Not at all. And I think >> and we're not on a high need basis. So they rank it based on community need and at least for

111the previous expansion project we were almost certainly not going to be followed by a state building. >> They also base it sometimes on um like bringing a building up to code. >> Yeah. >> And so if you are considered a high need not necessarily based on your community demographics but your building need. So, say, you know, we wanted to do a renovation, but it was going to be so much that you wanted to look into building a new school, and the reason why we need a renovation is because we had a huge asbestous problem or something, right? >> Like just for an example. um not saying we do it or too late for that, >> but um they might take they might move you to the priority number one if it was like a health

112issue or like a code issue of why you needed a new school or a renovation. >> Yeah, I mean it just depends. Yeah, that I mean that was based on the opinion of whatever consultant we were using that in their opinion we were not going to qualify despite the fact that we had a lot of code issues of having >> young kids coming to IAS upstairs and stuff. But >> um yeah, I I don't think the building a fund has been funded as generously as it has historically um in recent history. >> Yeah, something to think about and explore. not something that we >> Yeah. No, I mean I don't Maybe the town wants us to hold on to it in case they want to build a school. Um I think that has been the

113hope for the 20 something years that we've had it. So I'm I don't protest to know. I don't know. No, I just think that the numbers that I just for what the numbers were to do the addition here, the expansion, um, you could probably build an entire new building. >> Yeah, you could build a elementary school or something. It'll split up the school, >> but I don't know what the town would like to do. I cannot pretend to know. >> I have to say one thing about our school location is good. Right. >> That's the good side of that. [Music] >> But anyway, I mean the thought was we have this property here and is there something that we could do with it? >> Right. And if a suddenly we decide not to do anything

114>> and we may decide not to do anything, it's definitely worth looking into options, right? >> Yeah. >> Um but yes, as far as the appraisal, so the only reason we would need a firm appraisal number is because I believe we're required to put that on the war article. So if we are going to transfer it to the town or sell it, I think we have to put a fair market value of the property. Um so depending on what the discussion is, we may need to invest in that um if we want to put on a more something to keep in mind. She did say, by the way, that I thought it was 1400 and I looked back at my notes, it was 1,200, but she said, 1400 is a good good price. >> Yeah.

115So just so you know that that estimate >> I've got my own house appraised >> and it was not inexpensive. So >> um all right so go back to the year to date >> year. Um >> the number I have from Amber is a surplus of 661,312. >> Can you repeat the number again? 661,000. >> Yep. >> 312. >> Okay. So, we ending in a surplus. >> Yes. >> Of that. >> I know we get into this. >> Now, you didn't give me these prep things ahead of time. So, I didn't bring any. >> Okay. >> But if you have questions that you want me to bring for next time, >> I will need probably to have questions answered about that for the next MBC meeting. >> That's fine. Just let me know what you

116need like at least a day ahead. >> I will. >> So I can give you roughly what we had been estimating. Yeah. All summer. >> Yeah. >> And we already agreed on how much we were going to keep, right? >> Yeah. You would have already get more than >> I think we said Yeah. And I think you had some unanticipated revenue come in. from like special things like that was higher than expected. Okay. All right. So we are on to public comments roads church speaking in my personal capacity. Um that is the full amount that will go back to the town. No >> or what is what gets accepted out of that? 150 for warrant articles. >> Yep. So warrant articles will be funded. um the retainage from if the board chose to do retainage

117that will come out of there and then what's left from that will go back as >> so you don't have those numbers at the >> I don't have we will get it >> for the NBC meeting >> um is anything going on CIP um impact fee wise with you all >> nope not yet >> have you but do you do CIP Do you work for the to include with the town or not? >> We've had we've had a CIP quite a few years ago. We have a binder with >> Yes, but I don't think anyone has reached out to us from the town regarding that rec. >> Really? >> Yeah. I mean, every department has been asked to submit CIP requests. Um, >> so that is something >> August 26th. >> That was the deadline.

118>> Oh, I didn't receive that. >> Yeah. I'm surprised the school has >> I didn't receive any notification from the town asking for anything. >> Do you normally do that? I I think you >> um I know for just for Peer for example, we work with the town. It's it's a joint CIP process. >> You work with the town? >> Yes. >> It's amazing. >> So happy to do that. I'm happy to meet I actually reached out to the town administrator not too long ago and we're going to be meeting up. So that is on my list of to-dos to talk about is that CIP piece. Um because a lot of the conversations around facility like that that's on my to-do bucket for do you feel as well is to figure out where we're at

119with that CAP process, make sure we're up to date, all that kind of stuff. >> So I I I guess I'm switching hats a little bit, but um because we also have had um last March we passed a warrant article for $20,000 to do impact fee studies. Um, and one of the impact fees studies would have been, I think, for the school, but have you been approached about that at all? >> I have not been approached by anybody from digital about anything. >> Okay. >> But I think that's that's schedule that's planned. Anyways, I think that the Southern National Planning Board is or people are planning on doing an impact fee study for the school, my guess, which um they were last updated in 2013. Uh so I believe you would get a boost. Um

120>> that'd be great. >> U boosts are always good if they're in the right direction. Um, last item is I I would caution against any floating any idea about about building a new school. I I don't know if people know how traumatic an event that was for this town, but a a you got to get your audits done first because the the bond bank would have would have knocked you out for, you know, because you just didn't have audits. You can't go for a bond without audits. Um but um people were upset in town. So that was it was not the 57 million that was floated. It was like 87 million after interest. You show me how this town can afford 87 million of cash out the out of the pocket. I you know I

121got a bridge to sell you. It's uh it's just it's the economics do not work in this town for that. Um so thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Um just so the board knows I am meeting with Karen and Mr. >> Okay. Awesome. >> Head cross thirsten Pond Road. Uh just two quick comments. uh the recent uh evaluation appraisal that was just updated in the town. That piece of property was $416,000. So that's probably pretty current. They're supposed to do an accurate job. So let's assume that they did because we're all paying the tax based on their numbers. So I want to feel good that they did a good job. So that that gives you at least an idea of what kind of money you're talking about for that land value. And then

122just another thought on uh hearing your uh discussion about your light poles in ledge. Uh realize 18 inches of coverage could mean adding soil. So BMS work really well when you run into ledge issues. Uh sometimes it's less money to just bring dump trucks of dirt in to give you the thickness or the depth that you need. I don't know if the topography allows for it over there or anything like that. Uh, but if you have to get into chipping away with a hammer, you're probably going to be looking at a 50 to 80,000 pound machine. It's going to run you two to three,000 a day. Okay? And that's doesn't go very fast. Okay? Been there, done that. Okay. Dump trucks, you can say, "I need six of them. How much does that cost?" It's

123very easy to figure out. So, adding dirt gets you the coverage. >> Awesome. Thank you. Other public comments. >> Thank you, Mr. Cross, for reminding me that your audit should also give you a rough idea of what that property is worth. You got three years of of audit data. Uh you meant to represent on your balance sheet the fair market. Well, I don't know if it's fair market. It's lower cost or market, I think, uh for your property. So, your asset value on your balance sheet should probably help you with that as well. >> Other public comments. >> Okay. I will make a motion to go into non-public session to New Hampshire RSA 91- A 3 section 2 letters B and C. Missy. >> Oh, yes. Yes. Yes. >> Hi everybody. Thanks for coming for

124saying good meeting. >> How are you? >> Trish, I'll get you the rest of the >> Thank you.