001All right. I would like to call to order this meeting of the Moscotting School District board on this Monday, February 2nd. >> Oh, sorry. >> Scratch that. We'll do >> No, I was just turning off Gemini. I think it's still recording. It looks like it is. Yeah, there >> that was the AI not um >> uh no actually last meeting once you read the AI notes they were all wrong so shutting it off >> um all right I would like to call to order this meeting of the Masky school district board uh on this Monday February 2nd 2026 at 6:31 p.m. Uh and the first item uh well it was called order. The second item on our agenda is any changes or additions to the agenda and we have two that I know of. Uh
002first we are going to move item 6D accessibility updates. That's going to pop right after a couple public comment so we can hear from Jim and he can go on his way. And uh we are also going to add an item to the items for discussion uh as item A before school district clerk Jacob Ford. We are going to do a resignation. Uh any other changes, additions. Here we go. We'll move on. >> Uh move on to number three, which is approval of minutes for January 5th, 2026. And I will take a motion to approve those minutes. >> So moved. Second. >> All right. Any discussion of the minutes from our last meeting? >> Make sure I get one last. All right. If there is no further discussion on those, I will uh take a
003simple voice vote to approve those. So, all in favor of approving the minutes from the January 5th, 2026 meeting, please say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? And do we have any abstensions? All right. So, the minutes are approved. And are we still Okay, Amy's logged on by now. We're still missing Elizabeth. >> Okay, so those are approved. Um, item four, public comment on non-aggenda items uh or announcements. I'll just read my little spiel to do that. Public comment is not legally required. We believe it is crucial for us to hear from our community members about their concerns over issues. Through these meetings, our board models for our students how to conduct public discourse and that the board and members of our community can approach controversial issues in a civil and constructive manner and can
004demonstrate mutual respect. Having said that, please note the board is here to listen. The public comment period is not designed for discussion. Please start by identifying yourself, what town you reside in, and please limit your remarks to three minutes. All right. So, do we have any public comment? Not hearing any uh any comment from folks on the board administration announcements. >> Um we can announce our assignment winners. >> Fantastic. >> I went home in uh the last parent guardian update but in first place was Wilson Engel who was using vibrations of Morris code to interpret text. So, this was actually actually learned a lot through this one because he was looking for a Raspberry Pi, but that's all he said to me. So, I'm like, I guess I know Shopper. No, very wrong. It's this
005little device. So, he based it on um that if you have your text out read out loud because of vision problem, you don't have any privacy. So, he created something that sends your text to you in this Morris code. Um it was really uh neat because she's really enthused about it. Um and Grace Lanterns uh is the other first place and she did a really good one. It was the effect of overounter overthec counter medications when you're just flushing them and um fat life and ecosystem was good. Uh then second place was Izzy Mouser, Audrey McFarley, Audrey McFarland, and Isabelle Curelli. In third place was Josie Ritson and Jaylen Lyman. in our honorable mentions were Lars Kamik and Lusk running. I think I saw a lot of you there. Um, and they are they are
006impressive. >> Yeah. Yeah. I uh I was able to attend as a judge this year and uh I've I've been able to check it out kind of after the fact most years, but it was really really cool to kind of like, you know, have a doc and folks to listen to and to hear about all the hard work they did. I mean, I'm I'm blown away by it every year. But, um, >> yeah, I mean, the projects that you mentioned, too, just were the it's so cool. I'm always incredibly impressed on how professional it is and like the range of topics the students choose. It It's like a highlight of my year. So, >> yeah, >> congrats. I mean, congratulations to every student. >> So, in March, we'll be going to uh the speed competition.
007So, hopefully bring that good news from there. >> Very cool. All right. Any other um announcements? >> We're in our progress monitoring window and testing is looking good for our students with um progresses the fall. >> Awesome. Love to hear it. Looking forward to seeing the data, but I'm glad to hear some early good news on that. >> All right. Anything else? >> Maybe dinner. >> Oh, yeah. We're going to cover that. Uh >> we're talking about it later, but yeah, we say now, too. We're uh we're going to be hosting um the community dinner over at the Trinity Evangelical Church uh this coming Thursday. I believe that starts what? At 6:30 >> every year every Yeah, I >> I think it starts at 6 actually. >> Yeah, that that feels right. But I I'll
008check my email again. >> What time do you want us there? >> Um we're gonna go over that. We're talking about the whole thing later. >> I'm just doing Yeah. We'll we'll give all the verified stuff later. Yes, that is happening. Uh it's a great time. Uh >> we're at 5:30 to 6:30. >> Yeah. So, we serve at 5:30 to 6:30. So, where I think that we usually aim to be there right around 4 4:15. >> Is that too early? >> Yes. 4:30 to >> just 4:45. That's what I was thinking. 4:45 to 5. Cool. And thank you everyone for helping with um >> Yeah. And we'll talk about we'll do logistics talk later. Uh all right. Any other announcements? All right, hearing none, we are going to move on to uh Jim with our
009accessibility updates. >> Um I guess the update that it that I that you're looking for is the three cutouts in the front of the school are going to be um replaced this summer. There's one, it's not a cutout, but anybody that's been into the back of the school, what we call the B1 level, where that there's a bridge, the walkway to the bridge into the school there, if you look, the walkway has settled and the bridge is above that. And we we have to repair that, too, because you can't leave vertically. You cannot We've got a patch on it now, but we got a permanent we got a permanent fix that this summer because while it's vertically, you cannot be over a quarter inch high. So, we have to stop that and smooth that out.
010The other question that I think Christine asked me about that you guys wanted to know were the chairs for getting people out in an emergency here which we have three. Two are manual. So it actually the firefighters come and work on that. They take them down and we have one that is automatic. So the chair gets in it. It can go down the stairs on its own. Um the only other thing that we're updating right off is the push buttons take it hard from both from use and abuse. So we're looking at moving that button inside person's office so that they will have that there. Same with down in the back. So I think I think we're good. The only thing that I don't have that I don't have an answer on that I was
011looking into is um the availability of a chair person onto the playground. I was asked about that. I'm still studying that because the chair has a hard time in the wood chips. >> We have to have the wood chips. and I was saying, can we make a pathway? And then I'm like, well, we'll have to make a pathway to each structure. So, I'm still working with Visit on that. I don't I honest trying, but I don't know the answer to it. >> But we obviously want everything accessible for everybody. >> Yeah, absolutely. I appreciate you looking into that, too. >> So, I think that that's pretty much what I got to say. >> Thank you, Jim. Any any questions for uh for Jim while he's here? >> Yeah, just what buttons you're talking about? The
012one where you push the button and the door automatically opens so that you can go. >> So it's a handree handsree exit or entrance. >> Oh, that kind of button. >> So Kristen need to press it. Is that >> somebody in the office? >> Great. Good. >> I tried all kinds of new buttons, but that's tough. >> You know that >> it's right in the middle of the way. It can be where not necessarily it's vandalism. They're just going in the backpack or something. It's just hard to keep it. >> So I think we should try it inside. >> All right. Uh, Elizabeth, you have your hand up. >> Yep. Thanks. Are you talking about push button entrances for both schools? >> Every any school. Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you for that, Jim.
013>> You're welcome. >> Yes. That's upstairs, downstairs here, and then over at ABS. >> Yeah. Everywhere. Oh, >> awesome. Yeah. And I mean that to me that makes sense because I think we're we're having to manually unlock it anytime somebody's there. So, having the button next to it functionally makes some sense. Cool. Any other questions? >> No. All good. Thank you very much. Have a great night. >> All right. So, we are now on to our administrative report. We're going to get some budget info. The budget info session run through. Somebody my computer to be slow. Okay, you ready? All right, this is the draft. Um, open to feedback tonight. going to be mostly led by the principles. Um but uh yeah, it's a delay. It starts with uh an outline of what we're going
014to talk about, all the areas that we're going to talk about in the presentation and then uh and the moderator will go over that. And our moderators is Kate um >> Stilson. She's agreed to do it again this year and she's wonderful. She has the articles already. So she'll read over the articles which have been put into the presentation and she'll read them out as she always does. There's just five this year. And then um I will take a moment to talk about the strategic plan um which is coming up um and I'll I'll be um sharing the following information. So nearly six years ago, a diverse group of stakeholders uh came together to create our strategic plan which serves as our northstar in guiding student success. As part of this work, we identified five
015core competencies. Empathy, perseverance, integrity, communication, and critical thinking that we expect all students to master before graduating from our system. Our strategic plan is built around three three key goals. First is student success and engagement. Second is culture and student wellness. And the third is information and communication. And for the past six years since the um adoption of the strategic plan, the decisions that we made about our schools revolve around these goals. Uh culture and student wellness are the heart of our work. We know that for our students to thrive, they first need to feel safe, healthy, and seen. To meet this goal, we are investing in the people who support our students the most. our teachers, our counselors, clinicians, support staff, equity coaches, interventionists, SEIs, administrators, etc. Um to ensure our schools are trauma
016responsive and inclusive of every child's unique story. We've been working hard to build schools where every student feels a sense of belonging. Uh we we are also we have also been reimagining what student success looks like by giving our students some voice, choice, agency, and leadership in their own education. Students are setting their own goals and leading some of their own learning. With our high quality ELA and math programs and our electives, we are ensuring that school is both challenging and exciting for kids. To keep our parents and caretakers and community members connected to our journey, we keep our website updated and send regular newsletters. We want the connection between our schools and our families to continue to grow stronger. The budget goals that you're about to hear about are in line with our vision
017and uh our strategic plan. Can I turn it over to Kate? See, we want the screen. You got it. Okay. Um, we are we talk about to maintain a staffing plan and program studies which provides for the whole child and supports academic and social emotional growth to bring forth a fiscally responsible budget that meets the educational quality standards and considers the impact this budget will have on our community. responds to a traditional transitional staffing plan to meet the requirements of act 73 and responds to the requirements of act 139 which is our early literacy instruction. Um here is a look at our enrollment. I would say my first feedback for yourself was we should have 26 27 projected in there computers lost internet connection but it's still up there. Um, next one. Well, I can't
018go because of the computer just uh also for next year. >> Yeah. Make a note. Um yeah, it is it is >> it is a full moon. Sorry. >> Spectacular. Let's do that. >> Okay. And then I want to go to slides. Yeah. >> All right. A little bit. Uh so here are our gosh. uh look at our numbers how the budget supports the strategic plan in our high school. Um our core classes will be meeting minimal class size. Uh as we've uh dug a little deeper into this and we looked at the elective, it actually um should have the impact of opening up more electives um because our electives class will also increase in class size um to about 1816 where that's the safety cut off which will then allow another elective uh to
019be taught which will be a different elective that maybe we haven't offered or offered um in every other year. Um, appropriate staffing levels opportunities and our experiences, our march intensives, our fine arts opportunities continue to grow. They were just in Bellis Falls um this weekend and actually they were invited back and they're going to go to Bellis Falls on Wednesday to see the uh dry the I think rehearsal >> the dress rehearsal of their play and we're hoping uh to make another thing. We also invite they are dressed. Yeah. >> Um, class trips, we've already taken a couple this year up to Salem with our psychology class. Um, another theater trip took place. Uh, continuing to build our flexible pathways and continuing to build extracurriculars um, and supporting those extracurriculars like I've been begging the
020math team to get shirts for years. Finally got them this year. They really nice when they show up to the meets. um our culture and student wellness to continue to support our student community service opportunities. Uh we continue to have an SEI at the high school and we have an HRS clinician now for how the budget supports the strategic plan in the middle school. Um number one supporting um our foundation for academic um success is our multi-tered system of supports. We work with parents, teachers, team um specialists to find the best plan um for our students and supporting um our interventionists and giving the students the interventions they need in math and ELA. um student support services, para educators, our VR hope coach contract, our shared SEIS um which are our social emotional interventionists. They
021are the people who are helping our students with learning readiness to be able to attack what they need to in their classrooms and their academics. We also have um some student mentoring happening as one of our electives for our middle school students um and doing some of that crossgrade um big buddy um big kid little kid um supports um and we're into our third quarter of doing that and we've got some really nice feedback um culture and student wellness. We have student leadership and advisory celebrations. Um working on having um more meaningful connections between adviserss and advises. Um one of the things we talked about when we started this was helping kids um with truency issues, needing to make sure we have good attendance at school. um student choice and more middle school electives, working
022with the high school, having some more offerings that our middle schoolers can um try out. And other wellness pieces are student assistance providers who have some kind of specialty um training in substance prevention. um our HCRS clinician and our school nurse and all of these support staff members are huge to helping our students again have that learning readiness and being available at school. >> Um so at the elementary level, Jennifer and I share this work. Um we both believe so strongly that we we build our foundation um with our youngest students and um finding those gaps and holes in instruction and be able being able to plug those in as young as possible is what builds their academic strength and stamina as they grow. Um and that core instruction um building that foundation is just
023so critical. And this year, I think we've been incredibly lucky to be able to target a lot of our instruction. And um the budget allows us to maintain our our um our targeted instruction for intervention and prefer flexible um you call it flex teaching to support the students to really fill those holes and we're seeing it it work um in our scores that we we're excited to share with you. the enrichment opportunities also. Um, our winter enrichment programs are expanding to offer students so many opportunities this year and the budget supports us continuing that. And then just diverse learning opportunities, being able to figure out how students learn, what makes them tick, what what helps them really wrap around and own their learning and um, you know, meeting them where they're at. Um, so that's
024where we're where the budget supports the students success and their engagement. Just making them a rock solid learning how to be a learner at such a young age. Great. We also know that academic learning cannot happen without emotional stability. This budget does fund social emotional teams to provide necessary real-time interventions supporting regulation and procoping strategies from sideby-side classroom support to facilitating collaborate problem solving conversations. These teams ensure that students who are struggling to navigate the challenges receive what they need to stay safe and present while they persevere. Included in this are um understandings about the importance of some key areas. One is the community connection as well as the family engagement. We know that we do not exist in our own little bubbles. No classroom exists in our own little isolated silos either. We are
025an integrated part and we need particularly rural communities. We need our families on board. We need back and forth dialogue and we are blessed to have a whole host of families just willing to come just a little walk through hard stuff with us. We also need communities that support us whether it's through um the budget or through the volunteering or the community um outreach opportunities that our students experience. These are the things that give our children a sense of belonging and purpose in our communities. We utilize responsive classroom which is a general approach to teaching kids how to behave. We would no more expect a child to come in and know how we want them to behave in our classrooms than we would expect them to do math before we taught it. So the responsive
026classroom approach starts with we must first teach them what we want them to do and how we want them to be. Every family has a different background in history. Kids come with different strategies and skills. So we have to teach that. And then from that we go to effective management where we help students through the learning process develop their sense of what they want their community to be and that creates their sense of expectations and goals that they want to be guided by. And this develops this sort of internal motivation where they take ownership of their learning which leads to our ability to support them and becoming leaders of their own learning and students who learn to be learners lifelong learners. It's not about did I get it quickly? Did I get it first? Did
027I get it? Um but how did I get it? What's working for me that I can take from now into my future. So they're given strategies as they get harder and harder conflict more complicated situations personally as well as in academic world they can navigate those. Teaching them to find their voice we know is a critical component of them being able to be successful and then to recognize and celebrate successes together with um them with their parents with their communities. What we focus on is what becomes what we value. And the more we can focus on the things that we are successful at, the more we are able to bolster that value in our communities. So through this budget, we are hoping to continue those supports that have been so well supported for the link
028to the budget book QR code. and we are deep into the winter of 2026, but this has been online since the fall of 2025. Um, from full transparency, you can move on. Um, >> this was the slide Davis did last year. >> So, I don't know if you want Sure. I'll take it away. Uh, so funding sources for our local schools. Uh, we rely on local taxes. uh the state of Vermont education fund and private grants uh as well as parent teacher organizations or in ABS it's the school and community partnership generous donations from families teachers and community members our volunteers and uh our teachers use their own their own buttons to buy classroom materials as well. Uh the primary budget drivers fiscal year 27 are the uh we're entering the last year of the
029contract um for next year the year that we're working on uh which has negotiated wage increases. Health insurance is up 7.3% and the SU assessment is up um 16% which is a big increase 14.6% of which is special education and 1.4% 4% is non special education uh lovingly to refer to as administration operations. Um there's also a reduction of 3.6 FTEEs across the Mount Sky School District previously mentioned. Next, um to give you an idea for health insurance trends, um even though health insurance by 27 has up 7.3% which is not a double digit increase, it's been going up almost double digit increases every single year. since act uh the state law that um put negotiations at the state level. Uh in fiscal year 19 and prior, we would sit down just like with our
030wage negotiations and negotiate with our teachers and our support staff. Uh that was taken away and now they sit in the room in arbitration and it's not arbitration every time. And the way it works uh is um because of the nature of the agreement between all the uh teacher associations and the um negotiator from the governor and the legislature side of things. Uh the um it's arbitration. It's it's all or nothing. Meaning uh administration or management has a number they want to get to and the association has a number they want to get to and the arbitrator cannot compromise in the middle. They must choose one of the other and every time they have they've chosen the um teacher support the association side. So you can see that was a family plan of less than
031uh $20,000 in fiscal year 19 is now over $42,000. We are planning for an FY27 and um you can see a similar type of rise not as steep but similar for a single plan. This shows uh rather than seeing four lines up there I chose the course engage plan which is 80% of our employees use choose gold CDHP. Max um yeah >> staffing adjustments at Windsor 2.6 reduction in full-time employees for act 73 adjustments Albert bridge um is a 1.0 know full-time reduction uh per act 73. >> This uh >> our favorite graphic. >> So this shows uh again all the detail is in the budget book but a high overview of where your tax dollar goes. Uh almost 70% of your tax dollar goes to your mouse school district local budget and 18% roughly
032is the green that goes to SU special education. uh less than 10% goes to administration operations. That's the orange. That includes um the uh business office, the superintendent, uh the curriculum instruction, uh diversity, equity, inclusion is pretty much it. Um is a big part of that. Uh so it's that's what's administration operations. Early childhood program is roughly 2% of your tax dollar. And food service is coming up the rear at a little less than 2%. Y >> uh this shows and this is everything I'm showing now is on the budget flyer uh that we created. Um so the district this shows the district tax rate percentage change over time before the CLA is applied for winter west mask school district being a merge district from act 46. They have a district uh tax rate. Um
033that is basically education spending divided by LTWadm which is long-term weighted average of the average daily membership. Um that number is the district tax rate and uh before the CLA's applied. What this does is look since the merger um what that tax rate has gone up percentage-wise or down percentage wise year-over-year. The merger was effective FY20. So FYI 21 was the first time of change and you can see that uh there was a significant increase in this fiscal year and we expect that um we are estimating that the district tax rate depending on what the yield is in May or June will be um closer to what the average has been uh the average increase since the merger is 3.9% increase per year. >> Thank you. Any any hypothesis on this current year? Why? Why?
034There's a spike. >> That's last. This is the year we're in right now. >> That's >> Increased spending >> divided by LTWM. Meaning, uh, if it weren't for the reductions, for example, it wouldn't look like it was all by itself. >> Gotcha. Got it. um to show what that would mean to the average uh homeowner property tax. You can see in Windsor with a $100,000 home that would be we are estimating $193 annually increase in taxes. West Windsor it would be for $100,000 home. This is now the CLA is now taking into effect is $150. Um and then because the math is easy, a $200,000 house in West Windsor would be $300 and so on so forth. If it was a $400,000 house, that's $600 a year. Um, so again, for $100,000 home, it's about
03520 bucksish a month. Little little less. >> Voting day information. Windsor. They're both March 3rd. Uh 9:00 a.m. to 700 p.m. Uh Windsor will take place at the rec center gymnasium and West Windsor will take place at the town hall. >> I bet I can be the first one there. Elizabeth, >> just as a very quick side note, um would I would ask that you would I ask you to consider including um uh slide about Oh, forget it. Well, I was going to say a slide about what uh uh voting rights for people with disabilities or older Vermonters looks like. >> Oh, yeah. That's we can do that. That's a great idea. >> I I can send you the information because they have the right to have the ballot brought out to their car. They
036also have the right to have somebody accompany them to the polls. >> Um, >> sure. If you send that to me, I'll get it in there. >> Okay. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. >> Yeah. Thanks, Elizabeth, for that. >> It's a great idea. Okay, >> that's it. >> Cool. Uh, Bill. >> So, this is this is a side note and a suggestion because it is a personal weakness of mine. Um, when in front of the next audience for this, I would suggest that the speakers slow down. >> Yeah. Always good. Appreciate it. Uh, Elizabeth, >> you're muted. >> Davis, uh, I just wanted to ask about the part where it said, uh, that the, um, reduction in staff was per X73. Sorry, I might have missed the beginning of who who were you
037looking for? Uh >> 19. >> What was the >> I think I think slide 10 says it responds to a transitional staffing plan to meet the requirements of act 73. >> Yeah. I it was my understanding that those were budget decisions and not advanced compliance decisions. >> There would have been reductions anyway. >> So were that different. >> Yeah, I was Yeah, we can I think Yeah, that makes sense. >> Yeah. >> I'm sorry. What What did you say? uh they're going to change the wording of it so it it isn't saying that it was because of act 73 that those happen is that it was you know budgetary and um >> okay thank you >> yeah appreciate Elizabeth thanks 109. >> All right. Any other questions, comments? >> I'm just checking the polling in
038West Windsor because this usually starts at 10, but can't seem to pull anything up. >> Where would it be? On the website, probably. Uh the warnings in the >> Nancy, that's on a regular election day, not on town meeting day. >> Ah, good. Thank you. >> Yep. >> Didn't want to give false information. >> Always good to check. >> All right. >> Well, thank you all for running us through that. I'll be I'll be ready to smoothly and slowly read my slide the day. >> Yep. and I put my brakes on. So, it looks like we are ready for uh item six, which is items for discussion, followed by motions if needed. Uh, and we're doing our first one that was shoehorned in there, and that is resignation. Um, I was notified uh a little
039less than a month ago that unfortunately our uh district clerk Aaron Miner had to resign um somewhat suddenly. he had some, you know, changes in his uh in his kind of personal situation. It's it's all good, but it means that he's not going to be able to be the clerk. So, uh really appreciate the good work that he did last year being the clerk. Um and we'll uh you know, miss having him on our team. Uh so, I I think we should probably just do a vote to approve his resignation. So, I will take a motion to approve uh the resignation of the Mascott District Clerk, Aaron Miner. Second forward you uh any discussion. All right. Hearing none. Uh this one I will just do a simple voice vote as well. So all those in
040favor please indicate so by saying I >> I. >> All right. And I'm an I as well. And I think that was all of us. So, I'll call for uh extensions or uh strike. All right. So, thank you, Aaron. Uh next, we are moving on to school district clerk, Jacob Ford. So, fortunately, um the day that Aaron sent this resignation, I reached out to Jacob, who was very down to agree to be our district clerk for uh for this election. So, uh >> thank you. >> If you want to just introduce yourself to us, say a couple words. >> Hi. Um, I'm Jacob. I've lived in Windsor for twoish years now, and I know Davis from like the musician side of things. So, this is all very Newton, but I'm happy to just dive in
041and learn as I go along. >> Yeah. All right. Thanks, Jacob. >> Thank you. Yeah. And I'll just say like, you know, having, you know, played music with Jacob and kind of worked with Jacob on shows and stuff, you know, I think it not to get too deep down this rabbit hole, but uh there's a lot of coordination and organization involved in doing things like putting on shows and putting on festivals and and that kind of thing. So, uh, it's part of where I where I thought of Jacobs and how he's very dependable on those things has really lent a hand in a lot of the larger events that we've done, uh, in in ways that I think go above and beyond even the amount of complexity that we need for running an election. So,
042um, very confident he's going to do a great job. Really appreciate him being here. >> Thank you. >> All right. So, I will take a motion to uh approve uh Jacob Ward as our new Miscott County School District clerk. >> Second. >> We'll give Bill. All right. Any further discussion? All right. Hearing none. Uh let's let's do a roll call vote on this. So, uh Elizabeth, how do you vote? With deep gratitude, I vote I. >> All right. Bill >> I, >> Amy, >> I, >> Nancy, >> I, >> Megan, >> I, >> and I am an I as well. So, congratulations. We're now officially the Madison County District Clerk. And thanks for uh, >> yeah, >> thanks for getting to do this. >> You're welcome. >> All right. So, we are on to community
043dinner check-in. Let me just quickly pull that up. Uh, so I appreciate you all looking up the actual time before I just said things that popped into my head. Uh, well, after I did, but thank you for correcting me. Uh, let's just get that. That's not it. But yes, so 5:30 to 6:30 serving time. I think we typically plan to be there by around 5:45 to start getting set up. >> 4:45 5 o'clock if you I'll be there at 4:45. If you can just try to be there by five, that's helpful. But no pressure if you can't make that that early 15 minutes. Um I just want to go over our signup sheet. Last time I checked, I think just about everyone had signed up. So I just want to double check that. Um the
044wrong account. There we go. And I saw that uh Mary McDonald had popped on there and taking a look at it. So she has reminded me a couple times because she is very good at doing that. Very on top of it as you all know. Um so I think it looks like we've all said is anybody not able to make it? >> I might just be a few minutes late. Okay, >> Elizabeth. >> Um, I will make it, but I will probably probably be late, but I'm also bringing dessert, so >> totally cool. >> Yay. >> All right. And I I think not to put you on the spot here, Amy, but I think you're the only person who has not signed up for a specific thing yet. >> Well, let's say it's a few
045days before. So, um, if you, uh, if I can send you a link again if you want, if you can just take a look at it and, uh, you know, fill in the spot there. >> Who? >> Amy. >> Oh, >> um, I'll take a look. It's It's Yeah, I mean, I will be there. I don't know that I can bring anything, though. >> Okay. I honestly like looking at it right now, there's a lot of stuff. So, if you're just showing up and give lending a hand, that is also totally cool. Um, but you know, if you think of anything and want to put it on there, that's also fine. Just wanted to make sure make sure you were you were able to make it and everything was uh everything was good. Cool. >>
046Any other any other questions about uh that community center? >> Trinity starts being served at 5:30. >> 5:30. Yes. >> Yeah. Trinity Evangelical right on Main Street. We'll be there between 5:45. 4:45. It's Monday, y'all. 4:45 and 5. Serving starts at 5:30, wrap up by 6:30, and we're usually out of there easily by 7. Um, it's our third time doing it. It's a great time. Uh, Elizabeth. >> Yeah. Um, I >> I'm having a little trouble with logistics. >> Um, okay. I don't have anybody who can bring the dessert over on time, which means I'll have to bring it with me in the car, but which is fine because it'll be cool outside and and whatnot, but uh I am going to need help getting it inside. >> Elizabeth, can you can you can Elizabeth,
047can you have someone drop it off to my house >> and then I'll bring it down? I could I could have somebody or I could drop it off, but it'll have to be super early in the morning. I mean, you don't want me to drop it off at 6:00 a.m. And >> no, no. Uh if it's convenient for you, you can drop it off in my house super early and if it's done and then I I can I'll bring it for you. >> Okay. Thank you, Phil. If that doesn't work out, um, if there is somebody I could just call on to help me get it inside, that would be really >> text me when you get when you pull in. >> I will do that >> and I will help you. >> Thank you
048very much. >> Excellent. >> All right. Any other any other questions, logistical stuff about this? feel like we've we've got it down to a science now. So, I'm I'm looking forward to it. All right, cool. Enough said about that. Uh let's move on to high school library. I think Kate, you were gonna >> um Sure. So luck uh we did a little I did a little digging um and in former administration and former board in 2017 uh turn the library into the hub that it is now. at that same year our librarian retired. I don't know which one came first, right? I don't know if the plans for that came. I I don't know. So, we have to go back. But now here we are with uh no updated fiction book, which is a big
049ask from students and parents. Um they don't find that there's any local library that the big fiction books that are appropriate for high schoolers are interesting to high schoolers. So, we do have the ability to check books out on the high school side. That has that has never gone away. And Colleen and I are going to work with Tara Kuster um and just lawyer to be able to to start a young adult uh young adult fiction section for next year. Um, and then depending on that, there's, uh, three middle school kids that have also joined in to help. And, um, hopefully get a couple high school kids to help us pick the books. And then, um, once we have that information up and running, we'll see what that looks like for putting stuff in the
050budget for follow year. >> Excellent. And is there I think it's got mentioned at a previous meeting where this came up, um, or maybe a couple meetings ago. Is there a a virtual library service that >> um Amy, uh, your name was mentioned, uh, a couple times today while we were talking about this that you could help support that the virtual service is not not what we're looking for, not what the kids are looking for. They have access to teaching books. >> Okay. But not not kind of like reading for pleasure like like personal interest. >> Go ahead, Amy. I'm sorry. Um there there are a couple of options that a school can get. So students can get Libby through their public library if they want audio and ebooks that are just any audio and
051ebooks reading for pleasure. And there's also a through Overdrive which also runs Libby there's a an app called Sora which is particularly for schools and that the only thing is there has to be someone at the school who is going to be administering Sora and it has to be paid for. in in terms of Libby. If a student has any public library card, they have access to Libby and the public library is paying for Libby. And for Sora, there's a consortium of school libraries in Vermont that maintains the major collection and then schools, individual schools can purchase individual, right? Individual titles that would only be available to the students at that school. >> All right. >> And I can assist with that. Great. >> Awesome. Yeah. Thank you, Amy. Uh, Elizabeth, you have a qu
052Oh, Amy, sorry. You say anymore? >> Um, I can assist to help you guys figure out where everything stands right now in terms of Sora or um I don't even know if you guys still have a a library um integration system. >> Yes. Did is there still Alexandria? I know that's what the school was using >> at K5. >> I'm sorry. >> At K5. >> Okay. >> The elementary library, I believe. Uh so so something would need to be set up in the hub and someone to because there can be selfch checkout if it's set up appropriately >> but of 2018 2019 being selfch checkckout. >> Selfch checkout. Yeah. >> That was the last it was before. >> Yeah. Okay. And if anyone wants to call me, I can give a little bit of background,
053but I prefer not to in this meeting. Thank you. >> Sure, we'll be happy to call you. Sure. >> Thanks, Amy. Uh, Elizabeth, >> thanks, Davis. Amy, I wondered what is uh the Sora app another ebook program or is it an actual book? Um, Sora is an app. It's administrated through Overdrive, which is the same overarching company >> that does Libby. >> Yep. >> Sora is specifically for schools >> and it's ebooks. >> It's audiobooks and ebooks. >> Okay. Is there any way uh for students to be able to get books without going to the public library >> right now? >> Yeah. >> No, that's what I mean there are our library hasn't been updated. It doesn't have the books the fiction books that kids are looking for. Um, so we've always we've been functioning,
054you know, the K5 with our library and obviously Destiny Bler is in her own personal library um in the middle school, which is why she's joining this committee and bringing some kids to it to help us get this up and running. But no, there has been no purchases of library books for five years. >> Um, Bill, can I let Amy just go quickly before you there? It looks like she has something to >> um couple things is. So, uh the Vermont um library site has 50,000 books. I mean, that's pretty extensive. And Amy, I I understand the public school, one of the big differences in the public school site that uses um Overdrive is that there's no um uh limit to students taking out books. So, so for an example, uh Libby will have uh
055one copy available. So only one person can take it out at a time, but the educational portion of that that limit doesn't exist. So >> um I it does >> okay it >> it does exist. Um, okay. For instance, if a student is using Sora >> and wants to read one of the Vermont Golden Dome Book Award books right now or listen to it, they're very, very popular right now and chances are you have to put a hold on it. >> Okay. Is there a difference in the amount of copies that are available? There are there depending on how popular a particular title is, the state consortium will buy maybe two or three copies, but then that means there are three people per copy instead of nine people for the one copy. >> Thank you
056for the clarification, Amy. I appreciate it. >> You're welcome. But if your school has a budget, they can purchase a copy that would only be available to students at your school. >> Yeah, I was aware of that. That's why different when I had a H Heartland uh Libby, some of the books were different from Windsor Libby. So yeah. >> Um Right. Yeah. But Libby is different than Sora >> in the amount of titles. >> Yeah. >> There are thousands upon thousands more titles available in Liby >> of all different genres and reading abilities. >> Yeah. >> And interests >> in our clever portal. In our clever portal, our students have access to Alexandria and Nibi. >> Yeah. I think the concern is bring those back to kids. Yeah, the online stuff we have, but let's
057get uh books available. Uh Amy and then and then I know that Liz was all you >> if if there is a high school student for instance someone who was aware of titles the Green Mountain Book Award titles just for instance they could go down to the elementary school library and they could request that librarian do an interl library loan >> and we we have helped kids with that. Um we're just missing like the ability for a kid to have to be interested in a book and go down to it and get it, check it out, >> right? It's always so much more fun to be able to browse the shelves and say, "Oh, you know, >> looks >> covers do make a difference." >> Yeah. Uh Liz, >> hi. Uh thanks for letting me
058jump in. Um so I had raised this issue at the SU meeting um when you guys were talking about the library policy. Um, so I just want to say like it's it's great that we're talking about ebook access and there should be ebook and audiobook access, especially audiobook access, but um that's definitely an accessibility issue if you don't also have physical books. Um, you can't consider yourself sufficiently providing reading materials um if it's dependent on upon a device. Um, so I just want to say I think it's really really important that there is a physical updated collection in the school. >> Yeah, we are working on it. Um, I also just wanted to say like, you know, there's there's a lot of grants for that, which I know you already know that. Um, I know
059Tiffany, um, I mean, not Tiffany, um, Destiny's gotten grants. Um, >> but, you know, if you need community volunteers, um, I'd be happy to come help um, as far as >> we could talk about on February 9th when we're in the PTO meeting together. All right. Yeah. Thank you, Liz. Uh, Bill, do you have one more to add here? >> Um, quick question. I think the one of the main things with accessibility with with ebooks is, um, technology and of course, um, audiobooks require on Libby require Wi-Fi. So that that definitely is a is an issue with uh but my question is um uh what's the one-on-one policy uh for students to be able to take home devices because I know at Hartford high school students can take it home but middle school students can't.
060>> I think our fourth grade now right there fourth grade now can take their public home. All right, Amy. >> Thank you. >> Also, in terms of let's say Libby, um, Wi-Fi is only required to download onto your phone or onto your device. Once it's there, you do not need Wi-Fi. >> They they've changed it. No, >> they have not >> because but you can't see the file. Is that the difference? >> I I I double check that. So, you can't download a book anymore onto a device. You have to have Libby on the device to run it. >> Right. Right. But you have Libby on your device. You check out your book and it downloads onto your phone or your device and you do not once it's there you have it for two weeks
061and you can listen anywhere. >> All right. Well, thanks everyone for going down kind of the current state of things and I appreciate uh input from our our resident librarians here on on how these platforms work and how students can access them. Um I guess what we' just be looking for is maybe for you know going to the next school year, how we're kind of going to address this >> on the next agenda. >> Cool. Yeah. Yeah, we can talk about more in the next agenda. Um but yeah, greatly appreciated. Uh the only the only thing that I would add that we might want to think about just in in the interim as this is kind of coming together maybe is um if we wanted to reach out to Barbara at WSOR Public Library and
062just make sure that there's a really clear it's clear how students can access th those local resources um that might not be as apparent. I I know that there is some stuff we can get through the school but um just strengthening that connection. I know Barbara's always happy to give a rundown of what uh WEL can offer here. Cool. All right. Uh, our last item now is going to be the HACTC bus. And Bill, I think that was something you had requested put on the agenda. Is that right? >> Yeah. So, at at one point, um, with David, um, we brought up in a schoolboard meeting that how important it was to be able to allow students to get to HACTC. And so what the compromise was was that um in the student handbook it
063would state that um on a day where Windsor had off um that HACTC students there would be a bus available and HACC students would be dictated by the tech center um uh schedule as much as possible. So instead of doing a uh um uh like a a policy or anything like that, they they just put that in the student handbook that that would be the expectation. Now the question I have is one did it ever end up in the handbook or two did it end up in the handbook and just kind of have go away um after a while because it's not in the handbook now. So when this issue came up this year, I'm like, "Oh, it's in the handbook." And then I went and looked in the handbook and it wasn't there. Um,
064>> it's not it's not handbook. >> Yeah, I know it's not in the handbook. Yeah, >> but I don't think it has ever been there. And when we uh go ahead, you can finish. >> Yeah. So, the expectation was that it was going to be in the handbook. David said that it was going to be in the handbook. It never got into the handbook. That's kind of how I expected it went. And so now this is a new board with different administrators because I believe this happened before um this transition took place. Um I'm wondering what the rest of the board feels about having this as something that's available for our students. >> Can I chime in? Um just a couple things. So, this came up uh you know, I work with Erica and Scott
065a lot and our expectation usually with um the tech center says you follow your home school's schedule and then we work out things like when we have um inservice days is expected that the Hartford bus runs. So on inservice days, our Hartford bus would still run with the with the haggle or like what what we're not seeing at ION is December 18th for next year's calendar would be the one day that I think we have an early release for winter break. I don't know a park for death. So we have an early release for winter break then our Harford afternoon students are excused from Hartford. That doesn't mean that we couldn't run a bus. we could run a bus, but the reason for that is so that families have a consistent schedule if they're going
066somewhere. And part two, we get feedback from Hartford students and parents that they don't they don't have a home, right? That they're Windsor students who spend a lot of time at Hartford and they miss out on a lot of the Windsor fun um because of Hartford. But I have worked with um Erica and Scott in the past like we adjusted our uh midterm schedule which is really easy to make sure that no one missed Hartford. Uh, and once Erica gives their calendar, then I could come back next month and we could discuss any gray areas because when I look at our calendar um, for next year, the only gray area that I would see is that December 18th because that's an early release for um, a holiday, not for anything else. And May 28th is
067an early release, but it's for an inservice. it just so happens that we put it up against Memorial Day. So that would fall under the inservice one. Um any holidays that we have um that students follow the Windsor schedule, but um we we could always brought it bus. That's not a problem. Um, and I really only see that conflict being that one date, which was the conflict at the same date that brought it up this year of what the expectation is, but I uh reached out last week to Hartford for their schedule for um next year and Scott told me that it was accepted and then taken back. So, he said to probably wait a week so I can update you on that at the next board meeting as well. >> Does that sound good,
068Bill? We can get an update for the next meeting and go from there. Yeah, but my my my question was not directed toward administrators. My my question was directed at um board members, you know, on about um their feelings and it may not be today that we get those perceptions, but you know, if we get an update next month and then >> board members have a chance to kind of think about it about what >> I just wanted you to give that information because there is a big feedback from the students of I miss out on a lot of what makes Windsor Windsor um because of the tech center which is also why the tech centers sometimes you know okay we're going to make an exception for this but this year the only that that
069was one only day and then we make decisions together when it comes to stuff like winter carnival that's a huge yeah >> winsor tradition >> but those are the only two >> well let's yeah I think I think having some time to kind of digest this and then have maybe a more robust conversation about it next month would make sense to me. Is everybody that's um good to the rest of the board seeing seeing nods? >> All right, fantastic. Can we also put on the agenda? You could just tell Tracy and Colleen I don't want to come next. Can you also put on the agenda? I'm getting a lot of feedback that when this school was built and opened, a lot of the drive was that was a community school and that walking track and
070I would like to create a procedure to have that walking track open for community members um when it's freezing out. >> Absolutely. Yeah. >> Um >> so I would like that on next month's agenda. >> Yeah. I was going to say you got just ahead. So set item seven setting the next agenda walk and track and that I I remember that being a thing and I think that there did used to be a procedure for that because I know that >> yeah like procedures would be updated we we have an idea in mind I was the one that put it out here until that is a teacher's classroom right and I always have respect for that so until I can um talk to that teacher and get the parameters on from them I don't want
071to say anything but that is our goal to open that up because I mean, it's not going to be massive. There be 100 people you're walking. It's going to be the same six people that are out in the cold. >> In cold or bad weather, though, it is it is nice to have that walking track. And I and I do know that intermittently at some point in the past there was a procedure. >> Oh, I have the article. >> Well, yeah. No, we can talk about that uh next time. Anything else for the next agenda? So, we know we have HACTC bus. We're going to hear more about library where that plane's going. >> Walking track. >> Yep. Reord. Right. So it'll be after town meeting today which is wild. >> And we have a
072as part of the administrative report we do have our student growth report. So be able to bring you some data. >> Awesome. >> Student growth. And is that does that include uh behavior data too? Is this one of our Okay. Excellent. >> Cool. >> Built in >> uh Bill >> uh sort of to to to go back to uh Thursday. Um, I had an idea regarding um a suggestion. I'm I'm I'm planning on doing uh baked pork chops. So, if anyone's struggling with to bring something, we could use some applesauce because I know some people like pork chops and applesauce. So, just figured I'd throw that out there. >> Fantastic idea. >> Awesome. Thanks, Bill. And thanks, Amy. I love the I love the collaborative problem solving we got going on here. That'll be great.
073>> I'm just getting myself confused. >> It's going to be right after because it's the first Tuesday in >> March 9th. >> I think we kick it out a little bit. So, it is after >> Oh, yeah. We kick it out a little later. >> Let me just make sure it's in the calendar. >> Yeah, that that is the outlier though. Um, is that it's Yeah, we kick it out a week. >> March 9th. Let me just make sure. >> That sounds right. >> Yeah, it's the nth. Should be good. We learned that last week. >> Yep. Yeah, the March meeting. We always plan to just put it after that meeting day because that's what the first Tuesday in March. March. >> Awesome. All right. Any other stuff? >> When is our Can you announce
074when our next meeting? It's February 18th at 6:30 in this room. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Um before we close, Davis, I brought these and I forgot to mention the one pagers that um Larry worked on. I think we're cut a little bit. Um and they're really concise and I think give a good picture. uh some well one district at least is choosing to mail these to um all their members. Is that something this board wants to do? It is in the budget vote. >> Yeah. Yeah. I mean I think that's a great idea. That's something you all have to do. I don't think we need to vote on anything. We haven't done it before. So just >> Thank you. Is the annual report out yet? Uh, it's at the printer. I don't think I've
075seen it yet. >> So, >> okay. Can we just say uh where they will be when they come out and whether we'll have them at the meeting on the 18th? >> I expect we'll have them by the 18th. >> Um, I'd be surprised if we didn't. They will be out at the post office. They'll be out, I believe, at both town halls. And then um >> we usually bring them >> central office. >> Yeah, the central office. >> And they'll be at will they be at both post offices? >> I can make sure. >> I believe they did last year because Lori brought them out. Yeah. >> Yes. Okay. So, both both post offices, both town halls, and uh we keep some copies at the school and the central office schools >> at both schools.
076>> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you very much. I just wanted to make sure that the public was aware. >> Yeah, I'll follow up with Terry to get an ETA. I'm assuming they'll definitely be I assume they'll be here before is pretty quick. >> Yeah, they're very quick. Yeah. Thanks for checking on that. That was good. >> Is it expensive to mail this to everyone? >> Well, I was just looking. That's every door direct fee you about around $524. >> Yeah, it's like bulk. >> And the reason they do the reason why it's not that expensive, one would think is because it's easier for the post office to deliver it to everywhere >> or nowhere, right? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Because that way they don't have to. It just goes out everywhere. Yeah. >> Okay.
077>> It's uh like junk mail, but it's not junk. Yeah. >> Well, >> that's why junk mail is so super. >> It's valuable. >> Yeah. No, I think that's a great idea. >> Um, take care of that. >> Yep. So, next agenda, just to review before we close this out. So, school library, HACPC bus. Um, we are going to reorganize. Um, >> and we have a student growth report. >> Student growth report. Um we have any student presentation learning is that >> we have a student presentation of learning. Um >> I was gonna ask if I could move mine to April just because the kids have an event coming up in March that's after that date. Yeah. The reorg meeting is along anyway. >> But is it possible for us to do presentation at the
078K12? >> All right. In March in March. Yep. >> That's awesome. Can we get that down? >> All right. All right. Well, if we are all good, then I will move on to everyone's favorite item at 7:43, which is item eight, adjournment. Uh, I will take a motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> All right. All those in favor, please indicate so by saying I. >> I I opposed. All right. Thanks everyone.