001Okay, Amy, do it again. [Music] >> Hi, I am Amy McMullen. I live in Windsor and serve on the Mount Company School District board as well as the Windsor Southeast Supervisory Union Board. >> Thanks. Uh, Annabelle Park. Hi. Uh, my name is Karen Park. I'm on my daughter's computer and I can't change my name. Um, I live in Barnard and serve on the Mountain Views, formerly Windsor Central School Board. >> I remember you from the Act 46 days. >> Yes. Yes. Okay. Uh, Anmarie. >> Hello. Hello. I'm Anmarie Redmond. Um, let me see. I'll put my camera on for a second, but I get bad reception when it's on. So, um, uh, I'm on the Weathersfield School Board as well as, um, the Windsor Southeast School uh, Supervisory Union Board. Hi, Thanks, Emory. Uh, Bill,
002>> I am Billy Yates. Um, I live in, uh, West Windsor, um, right on the border with Windsor. Um, I, uh, am the board chair for the Windsor Southeast Supervisory Union and on the Mount of Scotney School Board. >> Thanks, Bill Davis. Hello. I am Davis McGra uh from Windsor, Vermont. Um I am the chair of the Mount Scottney School District board and I am also a member of the Windsor Southeast Supervisory Union Board. >> Thanks Davis. Uh Elliot. >> Yep. Elliot Rubin. I am I live in Plymouth and I'm on the board of the Mountain View Supervisory Union. >> Thank you. Um Gina. Yes, Gina McAllister. I live in Reading and I serve on the Mountain View Supervisor Union board. >> Excellent. And Jeremy >> Jeremy Warren. I live in White River Junction. Uh
003and I'm a new member of the Harford uh school board. >> Excellent. We're glad you're here. Uh Heather, >> I just signed in. You guys caught me so early. Um, I'm assuming we're doing introductions. >> Yes, we are. >> Okay. Um, I'm Heather Veneda and I am a member of the Hartland School Board. Um, and ironically, I actually teach at Woodstock Union High School Middle School as well. >> Excellent. Uh, okay, Jeremy. Jeremy, you already went. Um, okay. John Williams Interiors. >> Okay. >> Hi. Uh, John Williams. I live in Woodstock and serve on the Mountain Views Supervisory Union board. >> Thank you. Thank you for being here, Carrie. >> Yes. I'm Carrie Bristo. I live in Woodstock and am the chair of the Mountain Views uh supervisory union/school district and uh coach. >> Good
004evening everyone. I'm Kevin Coach Christie. I live in White River Junction. I serve uh on the Hartford School Board. uh been a member since 2007. Uh and I also represent the town of Hartford in the Vermont Legislature. >> Thanks, Coach. Um Lydia Lach. >> Hi. Um I live in Pmpra and I serve on the Mountain View Supervisory Union board. >> Thank you. Thank you for being here. Um Megan Hello, I am Megan Reid. I live in Windsor, Vermont. I serve on the Mona Scutney School District and also um the Windsor Southeast SU. Excellent. Thank you. Um Nancy Pedrick. I'm Nancy Pedrick and I live in West Windsor and I serve on the Mount of Scutney School Board and the Windsor Southeast Supervisory Union. Excellent. And last, but certainly not least, Ray Rice >> Ray Rice
005from Pittsfield and uh I'm on the Pittsfield board and I'm the representative for the Mountain Views board. Thank you. >> Excellent. Okay. So, um, uh, are there I don't think there are any members of the public here besides us. Um, so in that case, I will skip public comment unless anybody raises their hand right now because I I missed somebody. Hearing none. Um, I'll move to uh Did everybody here get a chance to look at the definitions of supervisory union versus supervisory district? No. Okay. >> I didn't see the email, Elizabeth. >> Okay, that's fine. Uh, Julie Calhoun, I see that you just joined us. Would you mind coming on and describing who you are and where you live? Okay, I'm just going to read from the um this link. Hold on. [Music] If somebody
006wouldn't mind putting a Well, I guess I can do it here. There is the frequently confused terms. And in here, um there's the difference between supervisory union and supervisory district. And just to quickly go through them together, uh, a supervisory union is a administrative planning educational service unit for more two or more districts. It's not a municipality because each district is its own municipality. Uh, it has a it has a governing board and uh uh boards are appointed from members of each school district's board. It has a separate budget from the each um constituent municipality and the state board of education has the authority to adjust boundaries of a supervisory union. Um but they have not done it for many decades. A supervisory district um consists of one prek to 12 school district with one
007contract, one school board, one budget, one tax rate. Um and so the reason that I if you all Oops. If you all did not get my email from last night, then um just to reiterate, I I included some notes from um from uh the uh meeting of the commission on the future of public education in Vermont, which I will henceforth just call the commission. And it also included some notes from um last week's uh redistric redistricting task force. And since I have such a hard time pronouncing redistricting, I'm just going to say task force from from here out. And um at the uh at the commission meeting earlier this week, I asked the commissioners whether uh they had plans to um uh whether whether uh they planned to absolutely keep the supervisory union structure in
008the um in all of this uh uh reconfiguration. And what I learned was that the task force, the redistricting task force, which is charged with making up maps of new districts, they are responsible for bringing to the legislature three maps of which one must include supervisory unions. And then the legislature can choose out of those maps or they can choose their own to create their own map. Um we don't know whether they will or not but uh uh they might not pick a um a map that includes supervisory unions. Um and so I think for the purpose of tonight's discussion we should discuss both first whether we think that we would make good. So, my my proposed agenda for tonight, which I think I um also included in a previous email, was public comment and
009of which there wasn't any, and then a discussion of whether we think we would make good partners for a supervisory union um merger or a supervisory district merger. with the supervisory union merger. Um it keeps uh it preserves all of the districts which means that um the uh Mountain Views and Hartford which are already one district would remain as they are. And in Windsor Southeast, we would have three districts and then there would be a an umbrella supervisory union board um over that. If it was if we'd if it became a merger into a supervisory district, then all of the districts within uh Mount Scutney would just all become one district with everybody else. Yes, Carrie, I see your hand. >> Yes. I just want to clarify that we actually are a supervisory union for
010>> Oh, I'm sorry. Sorry. But but we operate as a supervisory district just so you know it's it's because um Ray Rice who's on the call representing Pittsfield Pittsfield has choice but the majority of their students come to us um at Killington. They join the Killington and so we we're a little bit tricky here. So we're but we operate as a supervisory district. we have a merge contract and all of those things, but technically we are a supervisory union at least for the time being. Okay, thank you for that clarification. I really appreciate that. So uh uh so I my thought was that we we could first discuss um the supervis the notion of a supervisory union joining a supervisory union together um and then a supervisory district. then we could sort of touch back
011on um a regional high school discussion and then uh if we do decide that we would like to try to work together then I'd love to um talk about putting together a letter to bring to the um task force for their next meeting kind of laying out what uh where we Yes, Bill. >> I don't mind getting us kicked kicked off on the >> Excellent. >> Um, it's my I think the for transition purposes. I think a really good starting point would be the supervisory model. At the same time, I strongly feel that um if we transition these three areas into a supervisory, then I think it makes sense for um the Windsor Southeast Supervisory Union to merge into a district first um just for that to to have three not necessarily equal partners but
012three equal districts approximately the same size um come together and uh the Windsor Southeast Supervisory Union at this point you know works so well together I don't see that as a big leap to um work on that if our goal is to uh to if our end goal is to merge uh into a larger SU. >> I'm I know what you were just saying, but um I think what you were just saying because you were say you said supervisory and I don't I didn't hear you say union. >> Right. So, so if if you know the Windsor Southeast Supervisory Union becomes a district, I think that would be the first step, >> okay, >> into creating a larger supervisory union. Um and um and so it would be basically uh the Windsor supervisory that a
013a Windsor supervisory district, a Hartford school district which is single district and then what the uh Mountain View functions as a supervisory district creating a much larger supervisor union. Um, I think that is the logical stepping off point. >> I gotcha. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for kicking us off with that, Bill. I appreciate it. Uh, Karen, >> thanks. Um, thanks, Bill. I I had similar um thoughts. Um I've been wrestling with this idea of SU versus SD and looking at the advantages of each. Um and having gone through the sort of consolidation process in our multi- town, you know, multiple towns merging. Um not all at once. Speard was a hold out and there was a whole uh I thought very productive um you know democratic process of us negotiating how and around what
014agreements to come together as a district. Um that was really helpful. But it it um it has proven helpful in many ways to be uh unified district of especially of um elementaryaries um all leading into one high school. Um, I we can get into nitty-gritty, but uh, one advantage of, you know, sort of a smaller contingent of districts and and you guys, the Windsor Southeast has been working together. You have, you know, you have ties um, you know, communal ties, community ties, um, and some solidarity having worked as an SU, I would imagine. And that can be helpful um for coming together as a district. Um and uh I think that um it is helpful for us to maintain some uh multiplicity of districts under an SU for the sort of democratic representation that it
015affords in our school system. Um but being three districts under one SU um probably achieves um you know some level of of you know efficiency and that's just a catchall term for you know a lot of different things we can look at um that that I think could be helpful um for uh you know educational goals. So, I I'm glad that you put that out there, Bill. I've had been I had been thinking similar things. Of course, you know, neither of us is a part of either of those districts. Um so, we're we're talking about other folks doing things, but um you know, with that caveat, uh it's a interesting structure to look at. >> Thank you for that, Karen. Um Carrie, I see your hand. Yes, thanks. I've had to keep my um camera
016off mostly because it doesn't work very well. Um when the camera's on, I get a lot of pausing and I don't know, weird weird sounds. But in any case, I know that um it was a very difficult um work to merge all of the contracts um on the seven towns when this consolidation happened. and I was a teacher at the time and part of the union and I worked on that and um I don't know um how Windsor Southeast works now if you have a merged contract with benefits or is every school has separate things because those were some of the things that took the most of our time was along with articles of agreement around closure and intra intrad district school choice and things like that. That was a very painful but ultimately fruitful
017process because we brought everybody up to the highest level. And so it meant that in some cases people were stalled for three or four years not getting a raise whereas others had um one in one case a $14,000 gap for teacher in one school who um if she had been in another school would have made $14,000 more dollars. So it had to be done over time. Took three years but in the end it was the best thing because it raised everybody up. The other piece is that I don't know how you operate but once things settled um and the curriculum became merged. Um it really made a big difference as to where they arrived in middle school if the elementarymentaries were all using the same curriculum. And I don't know, I guess I'd need to
018know a little bit more how it works in Windsor Southeast, but those were thing big gains for us. It was extremely painful process and I'm not sure the legislature really understands how trying to make us even bigger and merge and figure it out. It will be uh I have my own private views on that loss of identities, etc. Um, but those were things that were nuts and bolts things that took a long time, but we all worked together on it and it did in the end benefit everybody. We just to fill in those blanks for you, we we do our our supervisor, WSOR Southeast Supervisory Union does have merged contracts and we do have merged curriculum and we do have a a um a shared administrative level. So we have shared um uh uh special
019education, we have shared technology, we have uh some shared um um >> buildings maintenance stuff and we have shared food. >> Yeah. >> So we've already been through that. >> So it sounds like it wouldn't be terribly difficult to do what Bill is suggesting. Well, the big stumbling block is that everybody would have to go would Weathersfield and Hartland would uh have to relinquish school choice. Um and I I'm not sure that they are even close to being there yet. Ann Marie, I see your hand. Um yeah, I was going to say um yeah, mainly with school choice, but also with uh voting on the budget. Um I think it's a big priority of the members of Weathersfield. you know, the community members in Weathersfield that to maintain that independence. I don't I'm not sure
020how it would go if there was a vote. >> I hate to tell you this, Emory, but >> I know we don't have a choice probably coming up, but >> Well, we won't we won't be voting on budgets anymore unless we're voting on uh >> on um going beyond what we are allotted by whoever it is who all lots it. Yeah, I think people are not really realizing that yet and I think when they do it's yeah, it's going to be pretty people are going to be pretty upset. But um yeah, we tr we've tried to tell them what's happening but uh not sure that they're listening. Oh, >> Bill. Well, I think it also I mean not to jump the gun on uh you know um regional high school discussions because so I won't
021go there but you know basically right now we're looking at um with that talking about school choice we're we're looking at two of the three SUs that are in this discussion with significant construction needs. Um and so how however those needs are are tackled, uh the ability to uh focus uh the education of high school students in some way meaningful is there. And so these sort of difficulties always create opportunity. Um and it may just be a way to uh create a system in which we have a single regional high school uh two SU high schools um and and to to you know meet the needs of uh northwest Windsor County and another one that meets the needs of Northeast Wsor county. Um, those are opportunities based upon a need. Yes, Karen. I just wanted
022to ask about what um high schools uh so for so it's both H heartland and Weathersfield have >> choice for high school and um can we put on the table so I understand sort of the lay of the land like what high schools >> um are within our region and or are there high schools outside of the 3SU that um students from those towns access. >> Uh and Marie, would you like to speak to that? >> Um well, I can speak to it for Weathersfield. I believe about half of our students currently go to Windsor. Um a little over a quarter go to Woodstock and then most of the rest go to Springfield. Um although that number has been going down uh year after year. Um we have a few that go um to private
023schools. Um we have some that go over to uh fall was it Fall River in uh New Hampshire. Um but just like one or two for like these other things, but the majority of the half the students go to Windsor. quite a few go to Woodstock and then I think about 10 or 12 go to Springfield or 12% go to Springfield and then who is there somebody here are you still here or did you leave who is here from H Heartland who can I don't know whether Heather is >> I know the data if >> it's not it's it's like uh Many go to Hartford. >> Yeah. A majority. >> A couple go to Woodstock and then many go to Theford and Sharon. Probably split in half, >> right? >> Uh well, you're missing the
024biggest block of of of Hanover. >> Oh, Hano. Yeah. >> Yeah. I think there's about 20 students or so that go to to Hanover. Uh, God, it's got to be 30 or 40 that go to Hartford and then 10 and 15 go to Woodstock and then 10 15 go to Windsor >> and there's a couple they go to KUA. >> Yeah. And by the way, um somewhere along the line, I think I I wrote in one of my emails that uh the total of um they gathered the students from all of our supervisory units um are around 3,800 um not around 3,000. So we're pretty close to the benchmark of 4,000. And I asked that um my uh one of my friends who serves on the task force whether 3,800 would get us there. And
025uh uh she said that probably probably they'll be more more flexible with the the numbers than um than we think. So they like it was really surprising at the last task force meeting the degree to which some of the uh task force members are utterly unfamiliar with our school system and how our statewide educational geography. It was really it it was um it was a little bit shocking. Uh but they um and they but now they know uh but um they were surprised by for example what what a uh what a map might do to the northeast portion of our state and how many like we already have a supervisory union with 13 um districts inside it like how many more it would require in order to get up to the number of 4,000 in
026the Northeast Kingdom. Uh Carrie, I see your hand. Yes. Um I don't think that the people making these have any idea what these numbers mean, 4,000 to 8,000. And I think it will change and it will not necessarily be required that you have 4,000 to 8,000 in your district. Uh we don't have enough kids for that really. I mean we're not Burlington, we're not Bridleboro, etc. We have rural towns in all three of our uh districts. We have rur, you know, rural situations. So I I don't worry too much about the 4,000. Um, as you know, um, we are committed to building a school primarily because at any moment, including today, the school that is in Woodstock could shut down because of septic major septic issues, major electrical issues, major heating issues, major roof failures,
027major everything you could ever imagine could happen. And the custodian staff and the they they keep it working, but at some point it's not going to work. So, um, the plan is at this point, it's still not firm, is to build a school that has the capacity of a thousand, although initially it may not have um, you know, all of the space completely done, but we're moving forward with this because what would we do if the building failed? Hartford can't fit us in with their problems. you guys don't have capacity for our 4507 through 12 kids. Um so, you know, and we've got Killington and Pittsfield on the outside of us. So, we have a kind of a wider um district in many ways. So, we we're moving forward with this and we don't know
028if we will do a bond in the spring. It's possible, but the funding situation with the coupling of uh per pupil spend combined with capital spending hamstrings every single budget in the in the state because it doesn't take much money to run you over the top if you're close to the the level of spending that's allowed now, which we are. We're over it actually and our voters voted for it. Um we you may have read in the papers there was quite the revolt around cutting things in the arts and the languages and the voters you know wanted to put it back in and they supported it. So we are actually over the penalty threshold right now and if we just keep our budget static with the raises and the health insurance rising we will be
029over it again in in the next year. And we just hope that the voters will support it because this is what they want. This is what they asked for. And we had many very difficult meetings last fall trying to figure out where do you cut when you don't want to cut. So um we are moving forward. We have you know the space on the current site is there. There's septic and there's also um water available and so the land is there. So, we don't have to purchase anything. Um, and we are going to move forward and see what happens and if it gets shot down again, uh, we'll see what happens next. But that that's the plan for the board right now. And I just want to make sure you all understand that because we're
030not going to back off at this point unless some big, you know, red flag comes up in the next several months. Um, could could somebody from Hartford just quickly also update us on the status of Hartford buildings? >> Coach, do you want to take that one? Uh, you've probably got a little more experience than me. I know that we're I mean we have the PCB issue that is is ongoing um and that fluctuates depending on how the testing goes. Um we do have um older boilers and and heating concerns. Um, we have bond money that has not been spent, but has been earmarked for projects that were put on hold until we get a a broader um answer or response from the state in regards to the PCB issue. Uh, we're actively pursuing a corrective
031action plan um for that that has to be reviewed by the state before any funding is released. Um, but that's that's pretty much where we're at with the with the PCBs in the high school. Um, I know that there's been other roof projects that are completed uh with some of the other schools. Um but but the um the elementary capacities um to pick up on where Jeremy uh left off um they were designed to expand. U so uh that's that's a given and a lot of that was around the growth of the upper valley itself. Um so that was the contingency in the architectural design of uh Dothenbrook and Adquichi which are the two newest you know of um uh the structures. Um White River Elementary uh is uh uh confined you know by space.
032Uh so uh maximum capa capacity is roughly about 250 um uh let's see uh Dothenbrook you know we're looking at um three 300 uh and then uh you know quichi is is very close uh to that same number as far as the high school itself goes. Uh Jeremy was pretty uh you know uh up to date as far as the the status of the PCB related classrooms uh because there's parts of the high school that are affected and then there's parts that aren't. Some of that is due to the additions that have come along over time. Uh at one point we had a graduating class of over 300 uh cuz my daughter was in that class and at that point the capacity of the school or I should say the cohort in the high school
033was close to a thousand kids. Um so the the infrastructure you know space if everything was um mitigated we'd you know that that was that would be what the capacity um uh would be. Uh and as far as uh again um you know design it's a matter of you know having the site capability to maintain that you know that extra uh capacity if that helps. >> That does. Thank you coach. Um, >> okay. What I'd like to, and if anybody would would prefer something different, um, please speak up. But what I would like to do is I what I'd like to do is ask Oh, here comes John Harrison. Good. Um, what I'd like to do is ask uh everybody to raise their digital hand if they uh think that if they agree in principle
034that we would make good partners in a supervisory union structure. Okay, great. Thank you very much. as someone who has and I know there's others of you who have associations with all three institute but the reality is that uh curriculum wise philosophywise and um you know basic need to serve the community all of these towns and all these supervisory unions are very similar in in in many many ways. Um, and I, you know, that as we've all gone through mergers of some sort, it's not an easy process. At the same time though with with these communities that are so closely linked and have many shared values um I don't foresee it being um difficult to to work together. Well, I think we have a lot of the um characteristics that it would take to um
035to successfully work together. We are close in proximity. We have a highway in the middle. Um we uh we do share a lot of the same kind of governance characteristics. Um, I've I've looked through the policies that uh all three of the um these supervisory units have and they're all very similar. Um, they're not identical and and I think that's a good thing. Um, Carrie, I see your hand. Is that a residual hand or is that a new hand? >> It's a residual hand. >> Okay. Sorry. That's all right. Uh, okay. Um, I want to ask uh Ray Rice, where are you? How are you feeling right now? >> Everything's fine. Oops. Yeah, I'm here. >> H how how do you feel about all of this? >> Well, Pittsfield has been through a lot through
036the years. I've actually been on the board for like 15 years. We changed supervisory unions from Windsor Northwest and we were up with Bethl Rochester in the northern towns for all the years of Pittsfield. Um before I came about 75% of our students go south to Killington, Woodstock. I mean, as a choice town, the town loves choice and stuff, but we've always worked to just make it uh financially the best deal for our town. And we were one of the first to do a governance study uh way back when when we moved to Mountain Views. And to be honest, it's been a great move to Mountain Views. Though uh we do have students that go um you know out to to other schools and to your Killington Mountain School is a popular. We're a very
037athletic town as we all are. Everybody's towns are and so um we have a a great draw for high athletics and uh students and parents who love that aspect of Pittsville, but it doesn't change. Uh sorry to get long-winded, but our hardest thing is that we can have 10 kids move in one summer and then 10 kids move out next summer. So, we're kind of um sometimes caught in the ADM and um but we have been able to save a lot of money and it was a very positive move to move to Mountain Views and it's been great for the for us. Uh Chris Sperber is our chair. She handles all the finances. she's been on the board longer and so she's very good at all this and um you know we're prepared to move
038forward with the world because that's what education is. Um, and our kids, I I gotta be honest, if I had anything to say, I had three kids metriculate through Killington Elementary into Woodscott Woodstock. Uh, one went to Harvard and they are incredible and all the kids that have come from Pittsfield. Many of them are doing like incredible work and uh from from the schools here, from going to these schools. So, I'm impressed and it's been great for us. Um, so yeah, we're into it. you'll bring proposals in Pittsfield to look at them and we'll see what the money says. >> All right. Thank you for that. >> You're welcome, Elizabeth. >> Yes, coach. >> It's interesting. you know, we've having been part of the legislature going through um you know, 46 27, you know, all
039of the ideations uh of change in that perspective and listening to exactly what you said earlier about a lot of folks not understanding the nature of education in Vermont. And I think we have to approach this with an open mind. And when I say that, I'm thinking in terms of uh not just the status quo. Uh because it would be easy for us, for example, in Hartford to say, you know, you know, we escaped Act 46 basically as an SD uh because we had the infrastructure and the strength to do so. But what does that mean today? >> It doesn't mean anything today. >> That's not happening today. >> No, but that's that's my point. >> Yeah. you know, in in thinking, you know, with an open mind and thinking a little more visionary, >>
040you know, and and we really haven't had this discussion, but just as as an educator in Vermont, looking at how the structures within Vermont that have worked Well, and that we all draw on. For example, special needs programming. You know, we have five special needs programs or special programs in Hartford that you all are part of. Okay. So, so there's a family connection there already. The tech center is connected to us collectively. Who's to say if we come to consensus that a regional high school is the best, you know, approach? What that does is it leaves the capability of expanding those programs that already serve our region within the confines of our existing structure because for example the tech center is located in the high school facility. you know, it it's an adjunct, but that
041would allow for that expansion and better an offering of more services at the tech center level and also at the special needs areas as well. And what's fascinating about it is Elizabeth and I were talking about transportation. The transportation infrastructure is already designed there because the buses are already running and people are already going into that area, you know. So, it it I I know that might seem a little uh odd for us to to say or somebody from there to say, and I'm not speaking for our board. Uh this is just, you know, 45 years of being part of the uh education infrastructure in that area. So, just thought I'd throw it out. >> Thank you for that, Coach. Um Carrie, I see your hand. Yes, I I I I've really given a lot
042of thought to, you know, how these merges could work and what would be beneficial and so forth. And what what comes back to me is that our three communities um use the Hartford Career Techn Technical Center and perhaps some in Weathersfield, for example, might use the one in Springfield, but we already have um a career and technical center here around our districts that we are using. And it occurs to me that if down the road we look at intrad district school choice, it could be that Hartford students coming from Windsor, Woodstock, wherever they're coming from, they might choose to metriculate to Hartford and stay their whole day at Hartford for the two years. I've heard that from students, you know, when I was working that it was a rough, you know, that the bus ride
043was rough. The time uh that they missed out of classes, sometimes they had to miss classes to go on that bus, whether they were juniors or seniors. So, there are possibilities here. Um, you know, again, if we if we build a high school, um, perhaps we would want to merge with a a middle school, either Hartford or Windsor. I mean, there's there's a lot of things to think about around what we could do if we're all one big district that has separate choices and separate um you know, folky on on various things. Um so, I mean, we've got some small elementary schools in our district. We've got some big ones in these three school districts, supervisory unions. So we would have some opportunity to think about geographically what works and as well as what's best
044for kids which is our number one reason for being involved on a school board is we want what's best for kids. You know, I can say that um I can speak for our district to say that we've made a huge initiative on reading, literacy, and math, and the scores have come up quite a lot, which is really shocking because it's really hard to raise scores uh in a big way. when it came down to, you know, hiring some people to counsel what to use and how to do it and a lot of time and resources through ESSER and all of that went into that during the pandemic and the post pandemic. And so, you know, each of our schools no doubt have things that they can um use, utilize to uh affect kids who want
045the career in trade center. I mean, I think it's a wonderful option. I wish my son had taken it, but he didn't. Um, and you know, there's also opportunities in in the Windsor Southeast around, you know, your schools and the different things that you offer. And if we it initially it would be it would be challenging to sort of start promoting all this but down the road we could look regionally as to okay what is this school known for? What did did are they the are they the farm-toschool uh school and the elementary schools can you know there's possibilities here that we can't even really talk about now but we can think about and say down the road what do we really want and if we are forced into 3 to 4,000 kids in a
046district that I think there are ways that we could all you know work together first of all and try to make it work for the best case scenario for students. Geographically, it's not that long of a bus ride to any of our schools. Um, unless you live in Killington, it's a long bus ride for Killington. Um but the rest of the towns, you know, it's not that long to get from one school to another. Between Reading and West, you know, and um uh West Windsor is 10 12 minutes to, you know, to go between schools. Seven seven minutes. >> Maybe it's slower on a bus, but I I think that, you know, as we move forward and think about the opportunities, we can find them. And I think that is what we really need to
047look forward to is what are the opportunities that we can get by agreeing to be in whatever they call us a supervised reunion or super I don't know the the terms escape me at times but I think it could work. I really do. >> Thank you for that Carrie. Um Bill I see your hand. Um Carrie touched on many of the points that I I was processing and I I think I just want to say it say it in a different way. Um more assertively probably the state of Vermont has failed monumentally in long-term planning just just completely has failed in the last 50 years. Um I think the opportunity to create a larger supervisory union creates the opportunity that for us to look at planning and strategizing for the next 50 years um 10
048years out, 20 years out, 50 years out. The reality if if if it if we decide or are forced to become a larger educational institute it that there's no logical way for us to start closing schools willy-nilly and move kids into a centralized location. That's not possible. Anything like that is going to be extremely disruptive and be counterproductive. But there are things that can happen. We have a lot of schools that are close to each other. We have a lot of schools that are on the end date of their productivity. Um when you start looking at 50 years is the lifespan of a school and actually it's a little longer than the normal lifespan. Um, and when you look at the elementary schools around us, um, and the middle schools and the high schools, um,
049there's a lot of construction needs, but construction needs are secondary, unless you're to the point of Woodstock High School. Um, to looking at what works best for the community, what works best financially, and what works best educationally. And that takes long-term planning. The state's not going to do it for us because, as we all know, many people at the state level and many people don't have a grasp of what educational institutes do, how they work, and how they function. Um and I think that three these three larger um these three uh supervisory unions working together can come up with uh ways to move forward in more effective and logical long long-term planning. >> I really appreciate all these all of these comments. I really do. Um, I think there's a lot of of uh hope
050and realism here. Heather, I see your hand. Thank you. >> No problem. Um, I just want to say that like this is our chance to like do what we want to do before our hand is forced. And so for me, sort of living in both worlds of like H Heartland School Board, but also like teaching at one of these high schools, it to me, I'm just ready to like jump in and see what we can do with all of us talking about this, getting our communities behind this before the state is like, "This is what you have to do." Um because I would rather come with a plan than have the the the state plan it for us. Thank you, Heather. I I suspect that the state will just throw us together without a plan
051and without anything else. That's what I suspect. But what do I That's just based on history. Um uh but I I agree with you, Davis. I see your hand. >> Yep. Thanks. Sorry, it's taking me a second to get online here. Uh yeah. No, just to kind of go off of um a lot of these great comments and what Heather's saying too, I think the advantage of looking first at that supervisory union structure. Um, you know, Bill, I hear what you're saying about the the advantages of uh the current uh Windsor Southeast becoming a single district. Um, what I think I like about the SU structure from all these communities represented here is that we don't necessarily have to make some of those more like micro choices before creating this larger unit. Um, because I
052know that can take a long time to work out. Uh, you know, those individual like you know issues of choice and contracts and whatnot. But um you know if we start moving at the higher level towards an SU um we still have some of the ability to uh continue working with our at at some levels below to figure that out. Um you know rather than just having one large supervisory district that sort of erases all of those lines and some of that complexity that exists. >> Just to clarify um we don't know whether we have a choice. >> Right. Right. So this one was I mean obviously a supervisory union structure would be the easiest for us and so if we agree in principle we are agreeing in principle to the supervisory union >> sure
053>> option because that that actually we basically just create an umbrella structure right but but the question is do we feel the same in a supervisory district structure where Hartland and Weathersfield are relinquishing choice. Not saying I just to clarify I am not saying would we choose a supervisory district instead. I am saying would H Heartland and Weathersfield still choose these same people as partners knowing that we are going to be merged. We that is the fact that we do know we are going to be merged with other supervisory units one way or another. And uh uh >> yeah and just to clarify Elizabeth I I I understand that framework. I'm saying that in so far as we can ideulate about this I think that that's a sensible way of ideulating. Um, I I I
054do appreciate that that ultimate decision doesn't really come down to us probably, but if uh if there's any advantage to putting that before the folks in the commission and maybe making a case, um I'm I'm in support of that particular uh way of playing this. >> Thanks, Davis. and and uh I don't if if any of you didn't get a chance to read my email from last night, at the end of it were um some notes that were taken by one of the com uh task force members about the last task force meeting. Although I I also attended the last task force meeting, she just circulated her minutes and made it easier for me. Um Corin, I you have you taken your hand down? I I I did but I'll just say it was really
055just I was gonna mention that right the extent to which we may be able to influence what happens not that something will happen but we do have the opportunity in any case to if we want to right yes >> right to the task force and I think that a lot of the this conversation has been really great in terms of putting some ideas out there as to what we might point to in such a letter um for the rationale for how we want to move forward together and the reasons why and obviously you know that's a the process of drafting something like that is is you know there's still there's still work there but I think this conversation has been really fruitful in terms of identifying Um some of the reasons why working together as
056communities with um you know similar interests um where we will be able to identify the opportunities best you know in that sort of democratic fashion. um and and sort of bringing that to the for in a letter such if we write one I think is important. >> Well, that was what how I was going to end this meeting was by asking for a volunteer from each of the um supervisory units to who's not me to uh help draft a letter for the task force. Um so, thank you for that. Um, coach, I see your Carrie, I see your hand and then coach, you're next. >> Yes, I I was just going to say that I've read through many many of the transcripts of these meetings and it does appear that they will be limiting choice
057schools to perhaps two or three choices. So, I think, you know, there seems to be a master plan that limits choice. Um, even though right now there's evidently full choice as to where a student in grades 9 through 12 wants to go, I I get the idea that they're going to try to limit that. So, if that's the case, that's another thing to keep in mind as um as we move forward in our planning. Um I was rather shocked to see the list of approved schools that included many many uh ski schools and um you know having worked briefly in one ski school nearby me for a year. Um the education was not certainly not what was being delivered in um the high school I used to work at. So, I I question why those
058ski schools all made it onto the approved list of those who could still receive funding versus the ones that were axed off the list for various reasons. Um, but again, that's another story for another time. I will be attending the the September 29th meeting um with uh a fellow board member, Gina Mallister, who's on this call. And um I've been told that they will would like to ask me some questions about SUS and SDS. So if any of you would like to send me any of your thoughts on that, um please do because um you know we went from an SU to essentially an SD and from our perspective it really simplified a lot of things. But there are things that some of you may have to tell me that would be helpful in in
059if I am in indeed asked any questions at that meeting. >> But you I mean in fairness just you also were an SU but everybody went to Woodstock. >> Everybody was already going to Woodstock. >> So that's different from us. >> Yeah. >> Where Yeah. Yes, you have two towns with choice. Yeah. >> Yeah. The other uh Oh, well, it doesn't matter. Um, okay, Coach, I see your hand. And then Heather, >> I I guess the um at least what I'm sensing from our conversation, you know, tonight. And, you know, I have to be, you know, uh, open about, you know, my personal feelings about how we got here, uh, having spent six years on House Education. Um, and a lot of your thoughts are accurate around how our work was done or not done.
060That being said, the true strength is in what is going on tonight. We are stronger together. And when I look around this screen, and I know most of you either directly or indirectly, um, this this confab has it, you know, and we have the capability and ability to make it work for our communities. And that is and I mean that uh as heartfelt as uh as I can can be. Uh and we just need to keep our energy focused around our kids and our communities and we'll get to where we need to go, you know, as this whatever we choose to call it at the end. You know, you noticed I've tried to stay away from, you know, naming this thing, but uh you know, our our child that we're working with um you know,
061has a lot of potential, you know, and I see it as being the superstar in the state. And that's just my feeling about all of this. >> Thank you, coach. Heather, you're up. Um, I just have a question because I don't know if I understand something. So, if I'm representing H Heartland, Hartland is, you know, one of the school choice towns. So, I'm wondering if we like does Hartland have to merge? Does Hartland have to be part of all of these things that we're talking about? Um because you know we we have a large population in H Heartland who move to H Heartland so that they have school choice and I know that the fact that like school choice is probably going to be taken away is something that is you know obviously very scary
062for a lot of H Heartland families. So, I'm just wondering like for a town like H Heartland and Weathersfield, like what like I think I just need some more information about like what happens with school choice in in both of these two situations. If we become a supervisory union or a supervisory district, >> in a supervisory union, school choice would be maintained. By definition, in a supervisory district, everybody goes to uh the one school. >> That's accurate. >> Bill, I see your hand. >> Well, um I just kind of want to review what happened with West Windsor. You know, we we merged with Windsor and we lost school choice. all my older children. Um my family has my siblings have multi-generations of children. Um and uh uh most of our children of my siblings went
063to Woodstock. um in the merging the nest group of children. My son, youngest son in particular will go to is Windsor High School. Yes, I know Heather, you had them all. Um but what happened is there was a in losing school choice, it really wasn't as dramatic um as you might have feared. it basically sixth graders um at a particular cutoff point um lost school choice. So the when we merged the sixth graders in that class were able to have school choice and then as the classes move forward they they they no longer had school po choice. So school's choice was never taken away from somebody. Somebody who decided to go to Hartford, for example, didn't have to stop going to Hartford. A sixth grader at that time who was planning to go to Woodstock
064didn't have to change their plans to go someplace else. Um, and so it it it affected the more flexible younger students and the parents of younger students. There was basically two families who were particularly upset. There's probably more, but there were two families who had just recently moved to West Windsor because of school choice and they moved uh because they had very young children and they they made that choice to go someplace else. Um, and so overall that that the impact was not dramatic. >> We did have some families being tricky about it. >> Yes. >> Phil and >> that lied and >> Yeah. Um, and there are some people who are still very upset about it. I mean, just to be clear, there are people who remain upset about it. >> Um, so But
065so I'd like to hear just for the next few Okay. First of all, I'd like to hear from John Arison about the voting wards because he can explain it very well and I can't. John, where are you? >> Good evening. >> Hi. Glad you could be with us. >> The the the task of the voting ward uh is from my perspective anyway. I incidentally I applied and didn't make the second cut. But anyway, uh it pretty straightforward and the hardest charge is going to be how many school board members do we have in the new units? 5 9 11. Uh you need enough to get the work done, but you don't want so many that it becomes clumsy and and doesn't work well after that. uh the way I envisioned it and uh was that
066the uh AOE's already started maps that can be populated and you would look at a populated map uh with um the boundaries of the existing SUS on it and the boundaries of the existing representative districts and that gives you a population um um because it needs to be set up as close as you can, one person, one vote, just like the House of Representatative. So the uh the division it may look something like the senatorial districts but I think you'll find that um these sus let's say it's Windsor County and you know you can almost divide it up into fifths maybe u or maybe sevens and um fill in the population by doing simple math and uh work your magic with with the numbers because the most important thing that group's got to do is
067to um a come up with the appropriate number of um school board members and b get it as close to one person, one vote as you can get it. >> That's about it. So there is the the um confusing part there is that that is separate from the redistricting task force and uh it's ideally the redistricting task force uh would have the same time frame as the voting ward working group but they do not Um uh >> I I can add to that. >> I see your hand. What's that? >> I can add to that because the language of 73 the uh the ward group is supposed to start their work before they know where the district boundaries are. And that will be really difficult and probably at least a moderate amount of of wasted
068time and energy uh speculating where the boundaries are going to be. and until sometime in probably early February when when the districts are total are definitely defined by the vote of the legislature, then the ward group really uh could sit down and do the work. But the way 73 is written, you're supposed to start your work with guessing where the where the districts are going to be. >> Thanks, John. Uh Corin, I see your hand. >> Thanks. Just a question to clarify what you mean by trying to get close to one person, one vote. Do you mean that the number of people a member of the board would represent would be about the same uh as the other members? Something like that. >> Yeah. Let's in in simple math, if your district had 10,000 people
069and you had five uh schoolboard members, you would attempt to divide it up so that each uh uh ward had 2,000 residents. And that that a little bit simple on the math, but not too far off. >> Okay, thanks. >> Okay, let's hear from some people who we haven't heard from yet. Um, uh, Stacy, I don't think we've heard from you. What are your thoughts about all of this? You don't have to answer if if you're not feeling if you're not feeling like answering. >> Uh, yeah, hold on. Just let me step out for one sec. So, um, yeah, I'm I'm a parent of two children in Weathersfield. We recently moved here about a year ago. Um, in regards to the school system specifically, um, we relocated from Springfield. Um and and the only reason
070for relocation was related to the fact that um the school system here um had more opportunity for our children. Um so I am hesitant um about school choice as a parent with who really dedicated a lot of commitment over a few years to put ourselves here in Weathersfield. Um, I, you know, my kids are young. They're six and eight, so first and second graders. I am realistic in knowing that we do have to do something and, uh, change is going to happen and we have to accept that. Um, but I also think um, yeah, I think who we partner with, how we partner, and the strategic decisions that we make are really going to be um are really going to need to be considered. think that that's really my overview. >> Thanks, Stacy. >> Yeah,
071>> I wonder how people what people think about um if 3,800 doesn't wind up being enough and the legislature does want us to get over 4,000. Um uh in which direction should we stretch? Should we stretch up to Norwich? Should we stretch over or south? Um, does anybody have strong feelings about that? I mean, it's not not >> I I think that uh >> you know the first step I think stretching in any direction would be a good thing. Um I think >> what >> a good thing. >> Okay. Um I I think stretching to Norwich would be a good step. uh looking into you know Cavendish um and that area as well. Um if kids are coming from Pittsfield then uh to to it makes complete sense to you know go in that direction.
072And so I think if we are as a collective group organized thoughtful I think others will join us. And so I'm I'm not particularly worried about the making it the 4,000. It it's kind of one of those things that that that the field of dreams is build it and they will come. If if you create something good enough, others will join us. I I don't foresee it to be a problem. >> And Marie, I see your hand. Um I do worry stretching south um just given uh the voters in some of the districts to the south of us and their willingness to support their local schools with their school budgets. Um Springfield has an extremely low per pupil spending rate yet their budget is voted down year after year. Um, so I would be very
073um hesitant to merge with Springfield. >> I second that. >> Here. Here. >> Okay. There are some strong feelings. Uh, Davis and then Anna. >> Uh, yeah. And I I would agree with that as well. Um, I think that that, you know, as far as a kind of unifying principle of being willing to spend on our people's education is really important. Um, and I'm glad you brought that up, Emory. Um, I I just had one kind of process going forward question, so I may have to jump off here in a minute. Um, Elizabeth, you had mentioned having some sort of letter of intent that is collaborated on by members of a different unit or a letter of intent or letter of agreement. Um, I don't know the best way to term that. Um, but I
074guess just Yeah. Yeah. So, what were you gonna say, Elizabeth? I was going to say I would really love to have uh a volunteer from each of the um supervisory units um so district >> okay >> or or union um to draft a letter to send to the the um redistricting task force because uh quite a few of the other groups around the state are already doing that and I have heard from uh three of the task force members that yes it does actually matter and it does have weight. >> Okay. No, that's good to know and that's one of my questions was what what unit were you thinking >> down to the smallest unit. Um I just for just so I understand the process. >> Should I assume that we would also be voting
075on each of those in our in our district units or our smallest units? Um, I think I just want to make sure that we're if we're taking an action like sending something to the state commission. There's also, you know, we're putting the weight of our of our boards behind those those actions. >> We could if we could get a vote before the 29th, which I know Windsor Southeast could. Um, >> I know it's a tight timeline, but I think >> a tight timeline, but actually if you could >> I think if you if it was drafted first, we could have each perhaps vote on it. Um, Anna, you know, just Okay. Sorry, >> coach. I'm going to change the topic a little bit. So, if you wanted to tag on to Davis's comment, by all
076means, go for it. >> As far as the letter, you know, technically this this meeting was warned by all of our individual groups that had more than potentially more than a or at least a quorum, you know, at the meeting. And I'm thinking about in in that sense um for us in Hartford being that we did warn that um Jeremy if if you would consider you know being you know our drafter I'd be happy to give you any support I can but right right now as far as the other things I've got a couple other projects that I'm kind of working on and I'd like to be able to give it you know at uh intensity. Would you consider being our rep, please? >> Uh I might not. Um just from the greenness of my
077uh school board knowledge. Um well, I think I do. But yeah, >> what what I'm going to say is but what you do bring, you know, is a vitality to the discussion, >> you know, and and and I I mean that, you know, you you're a Hartford grad. You know, >> I appreciate, >> you know, >> I'm a school choice for H Heartland, too. >> Right. you know, you know, you you you bring a a a little different perspective, you know, and I I think >> I'd be happy to collaborate uh as an individual but not act on behalf as the board, I think. Yeah. >> Um just because we actually just had our meeting last night. Uh so we wouldn't actually have a chance to meet again unless we called the special meeting before
078the 29th. But I'm happy to add my name as a a collaborator, contributor for sure to this group. I I think it's important to get organized. My greatest fear is that we'll go through all of this work and I I hope that it has weight um and that the state will just do something >> well. I mean, one of the pass there are a few right now the maps that they're looking at between last week and the 29th include uh countywide just county and one is a CTE and then uh I believe one is a statewide they're look they're actually not that they are exploring doing a statewide uh uh but they are um testing the map tool by running a statewide um >> on it uh >> geographically and infrastructure-wise it makes sense. I
079mean, and I I hope that they see that. Uh, so I would agree. >> Yeah. >> Uh, uh, and and by the way, nobody's asking anybody to write a letter on behalf of all of these groups. >> Right. Right. And that that's that's what I'm getting at, Jeremy. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Nobody's a monolith here. >> Right. >> All right. and and I uh if you drop me a text, I'll uh you know, I'll share how we can come together to help the rest of our board members, you know, with that. And you know, we've got a small board, so we can still do this collaboratively. >> Anna, >> good evening all. Uh can you hear me? >> Yes. >> Perfect. Uh I'm Anna. I'm from Reading. Uh sit on the Mountain Views District.
080uh school award and uh I see Davis has given me a thumbs up. It's similar to what coach was saying, seeing how many people in this group that I don't sit with on a board but work in other ways and interface with other ways. It's um really refreshing and uh I'll dare to say exciting of what what may come of all of this. Um I just wanted to share that uh myself and Karen have been um doing well Karen far more than I but doing a bit around the rural schools and so having representation for you know the Albert Bridges and the Readings and the Barnards are going to be really important as uh my expectation as it's been always for us is we're always sort of the lowhanging fruits. something that um is on
081my mind along with transport times between schools when we talk about sure from here to Albert bridge is 8 minutes and we've already got after school program you know overlapping between reading a Albert bridge another um good point as to how well our uh um districts and unions would come together Bill I do not know your sister um and I wanted to say there was mention of a another district that has a very low uh per pupil cost um and getting supporters behind that as far as the voting uh community. What I will say is we discussed this and Karen I I um ask you to fact check me as I speak on this. We were talking about this specific topic um and maybe in that specific school district um in that while it presents
082a very low per pupil cost, it turns out they actually spend more per pupil than many of the districts around us. and um it's uh mirrored as a small per pupil cost because they get so much in um subsidiaries and and federal funds um that don't go into their per pupil cost. Um, so just to sort of make sure that everyone's aware that there are a little bit of smoke and mirrors behind all of this and that um, just because their per pupil cost is low doesn't mean that they don't actually spend more per pupil um, than there than is not that it's been hidden per se or actively hidden. Um, it's just that it's on paper is not quite what it actually is in the background. Um, so just wanted to put that on
083the radar and I'm so honored and grateful and excited to be part of this group and everything I'm hearing is um, uh, as expected, but also again so refreshing as far as the the collaboration and and this idea that all of us are going to bring something awesome to the table and if we all bring something awesome, we can't do anything but be awesome, right? So, lots of hard work and it's exciting. >> I I think we are extremely lucky actually. um to to have um congenial neighbors to the degree that we do. Uh Bill and then Carrie, thank you for that. Anna, sorry. Anna, Bill, you're muted. is it's probably best to be muted because everything out of my mouth usually gets me in trouble. So Anna, I mentioned my uh sister Susan because
084she is a special ed teacher who at Reading as well as um Woodstock Elementary. Um >> my gratitude and honor go to goes to your sister for doing that work. It's so important. >> Um I wanted to to switch back on um who can work on this this letter. I mean I I'd be happy to work on it. I I I think um Davis is much more qualified and than I am. So I'd like to kind of push him in that direction. Sort of say, "Hey, Davis, this is right up your alley." Um but I I I I'd also be willing to put the time into it. Um because I know Elizabeth, you can't you couldn't do that. I I am quickly losing capacity to to do this kind of stuff. So um I be
085I am what I and maybe we should switch to that. Carrie, do you have something else to add? >> Yeah. Yes, I would be more than happy to uh be a collaborator on the document that we want to send to the state and I would even be happy to handel it on the 29th if you wish. Um, and I'm probably not the best originator of the letter, but I am good at editing as well as refining and getting rid of stuff that doesn't need to be in the letter. And I have no problem sharing it with a couple of my board members who are also very good at editing to make sure that it really gets to what we want it to say regarding our voluntary willingness to merge and consider merging. And uh you
086think that um that this really could move us forward and settle our nerves around what's going to happen to us versus what we're choosing to say we want to be um as um a bigger district at this time. Who knows in the end what the outcome will be, but at least we have made some kind of agreement that we want to work together and that we see ourselves as viable and equitable partners in this work as we head, you know, towards the next the next step. Okay, here's what I propose. I propose that we um rotate or alternate who puts these meetings together. So the next uh the next organizer has to be either from Mountain Views or from Hartford. Um and I I think we should well I have a Zoom account so I'm
087happy to >> Okay. >> originate that. >> Um the Okay. But the question um the question is do we wait until uh the task force has come out with or has gotten further down the road with uh how they're going to do the maps? or do we just continue our work now and and hope that the task force catches up with us? I personally think it's best to tell them this is what we want to do. >> This is what we're doing >> and this is, you know, we think we are great partners and we will do what we have to do to work together to forge a bigger district. Is there anybody Is there anybody on this call who thinks we should wait until after the task force um has gotten further down the
088road. >> I think being proactive is really the best step. >> Okay. So with that in mind, um I think that uh ideally uh one person, one volunteer from or more, but at least one person from each of the three um supervisory units. Um uh who would is there anybody from Hartford who would like to help? Jeremy, would you like to help? I'm I'm actually trying to see if I can organize a Google Meet uh with my new credentials. So, I'm not positive I have that capacity, but I can certainly find out. >> Okay, let's see. Uh Jeremy, um I'm I'm officed at the the Tenny House and that's where the tech center tech uh if you ever want to stop by and I can show you Eric can show you anything you need. Okay.
089Um, so >> I am a Microsoft suite and I am learning Google as >> as fast as I can and I I don't always like it, but >> yeah. And if you're going to organize it, Eric would have to Eric Eric Christie would have to give you um recording rights. And so um if you're going to do it, I I'll I'll have him do that for you. Um but if you need help, just stop by. >> Okay. Okay. Is there anybody from Windsor Southeast who would like to help pitch in on a letter to the task force? >> I would also nominate Davis, so I hope he would. >> Okay. Um Amy, what do you think? Megan, what do you think? >> You could put it in the chat. >> Um this is Amy. I
090am in no situation that I could help. So, >> okay. >> Else from Windsor Southeast who feels that they could volunteer to do it. >> Okay. Uh okay. I've got uh Carrie, Jeremy Davis, Anna, are you in or No, >> I'm happy to edit. I um am not great at writing things, but happy to read through and see how it flows and whatnot. >> Okay. Um >> I'd be interested in collaborating. Sure. Yes. >> I knew it. I could tell. >> Okay. >> Did Did Davis leave the meeting? So, we volunteered. >> He did. His computer died, but we we have vol we have volunteered Davis. So, >> so Elizabeth, if you could send the emails to me, I would be very grateful. And then I'm glad to originate a plan as far as when
091to meet and to discuss like different times that work for all of us as far as that goes. And uh you can do it on Google Docs, >> but I I have a Zoom account that's separate from it's my personal Zoom account for other purposes in my life. So, I could do a Zoom or I could do a Google Meet. >> Uh, it's up to you. We we need to make sure that it is recorded in a form that uh can easily be that's like compatible with your website because we're going to want to post these since we've had a quorum. >> Okay, does that make sense? >> Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah, I think we had eight people from our uh school board, but so that doesn't quite make a quorum for us. >> Okay.
092Okay. Um, we definitely have a quorum. I don't think Hartford had a quorum. >> We have 19 people on our board. So, >> and it doesn't look like Harford had a quorum either. Okay. Uh, okay. So, we are I think we're actually doing okay. So, our next agenda, um, what what would you all like to see on the next agenda? You can either shout it out or put it in the chat. >> Anna, uh, forgive me if I missed when the next planned meeting is. Is it going to be before? >> We don't have a planned one yet. >> Okay. My suggestion is we try together again before the tw I think you said it was the 29th was the next time the task force was getting together. >> Yeah. >> Um just to sort
093of finalize the letter. Um and I wanted to throw my support behind having Carrie hand deliver it because I think that's pretty powerful. Okay. And I think I'm looking up right now. I believe they have uh I think the next one after that is like October 10th maybe. Oh goodness, I can't even look in there because it's going to uh you're right on that. I I've been looking at those dates and I've been following the meetings, but I definitely plan to be there on the 29th. So I I think it would be great to be able to deliver the letter in person. >> Okay. Um so that means that we would have to meet next week if if we want to meet again before >> Yeah. >> at least the people that are going to
094write the letter have to meet. Okay. Do we have an understanding of what they're planning on doing the 29th and if we can flex out till the 10th? >> We It was at the end of the email that I sent last night. Um, hang on. >> I spend most of my days telling people as per my last email. So, you can throw that at me if you'd like. At the next meeting on the 29th, the task force will review the revised problem statement and goals, discuss proposed modifications of the template and rubric for map proposals, discuss what CTE regions would look like, discuss county level proposals, and disc and discuss whether a map of regional shared services could be a tool for addressing cost, quality, and fairness in service. >> So, it doesn't sound like
095they're going to finalize a map that night. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. >> I think if >> if the group wants to flex out until, you know, the 10th to submit that that letter, I think that we could probably do that. >> Yes. And they are definitely soliciting people's views. I mean, I I know that from reading the stuff that I read that they are welcoming Yeah. >> ideas from various districts to say, "Okay, we want to work together." So the more we can give them what they want, the better off we are. >> Yeah. And the first first letter could be just discussing our shared values and that we've met and we believe that we would make good partners moving forward, so forth and so on. Um, >> agreed. Agreed, Bill. I
096think that's a great idea. >> Yeah. It doesn't necessarily have to be a a thought out plan on how we're going to move forward. >> I I I would agree, Bill, you know, having been part of the 46 and previous, you know, uh merger discussions. people coming in with a predetermined plan, even though the process was as wonky as and weird as it is and was, stood better. So, you were right right at the beginning as far as being proactive. If if we tell them what we expect, we're better off. >> Yeah. And but if if we could get something discussing how we believe we could work together in what we want and then maybe on the October 10th flush out some more specific ideas. >> Oh yeah. >> And deliver another message a letter
097and say >> so in in addendum. >> Yeah. it it's it's sequenced, but at least we're controlling the narrative, you know, and that is the key because that question that was asked about why the independent schools were funded, Senate Education is made up of three members. Two of the members of that committee were from independent schools. So that's the answer to why that exists. >> They're not just from independent schools. They actually are board members on >> that. That's what I mean. You know, they work there. They work there and live there. >> Yeah. >> Thank you for saying that, Coach Christie, because it's very upsetting to me as a 44 years of teaching in the public schools in Vermont. It's really rather horrifying to find out that all of these private schools are getting,
098I refuse to use independent, private schools are getting tuition dollars, but they are not held to the same same standards as the public schools are. At the very least, they should be held to the same standards and testing requirements that the public schools have to go through in order to validate themselves. Amen. Amen. >> Yeah. Thank you. And and if there's any way I can make my voice louder and clearer, you let me know because I'm retired and I have time to do these things. >> We are definitely working on that, Carrie. >> Yeah. Same same dollars, same rules. >> Whatever you need from me, if you need me to come in there as a I'm and I'm a real person. I taught for 44 years in Vermont. If you need me, you call me
099in and I can make my case. Excellent. >> We We'll remember that. >> Carrie, never go against the family. Never. >> All right. All right. Um, so I'm going to hand all of this meeting stuff over to you, Carrie. And what I'm going to do for uh for the sake of umformational purposes is that I will just keep a running Google doc of my notes um and different sources and y'all can either look at it or don't but notes from the commission and the task force so that >> yeah very helpful. I really appreciated your notes >> and yeah, very helpful. >> And just to say kudos to Elizabeth, um she's a consmate biblophile. So >> or or anal recordkeeper. So, you know, it's it's u you know, kudos and and thank you so much,
100Elizabeth, for uh that work you've done for us. >> Yeah, of course. Of course. I want to see this have every chance in the world. So, um uh Jeremy, I see your hand. >> Yeah. Do we have the ability to share a Google doc amongst ourselves? >> Yes. just I'm new to this whole Google Meet thing. So, uh maybe that's how we can start um working on the letter of intent. >> Yeah. >> Yes. Yes. Because we're not a quorum of our boards, we can have a Google doc amongst us. >> If we had too many members on the on from each, we we'd have a problem. But >> right, >> I think that several of us can do that together >> easily. Yeah. >> Cool. >> We're never going to get a quorum of
101all these different groups on that Google doc. It's going to be fine. >> Um Okay. So, uh I I can if you'd like I can start the Google doc and I will invite those of you who volunteered to be editors on the Google doc. Um and uh Carrie, I am handing off to you the organization of the letter and the organization of the next meeting. >> Y >> okay, >> very good. I will I will work on it with my partners here. >> And Marie, I see your hand. >> Um I just sort of wanted to clarify because I thought that the idea Bill had was very good. um you know just getting something sort of preliminary to them through Carrie at their next meeting and then and then we can flesh out something more
102for a later meeting. But I think it's really important to you know get something out there right away. So I just wanted to make sure that that's sort of that is the plan that we're going with. >> So the first letter the one for the 29th is our just uh stating our intent very simply. It'll be a super easy way to get having volunteer check mark next to your name >> because we just need a couple of sentences that that state our intent and that we are actively working together to this end. um and that we would clearly prefer the supervisory union structure um because it's easier and then if they you know make us go down that other path then we'll deal with it. But uh uh for now, one letter for the 29th
103that states our intent and then all the flourishes for a another meeting or uh for a second letter um that would come before the U meeting on October 10th, 1010. Does that sound all right? >> Yes, >> sounds good. >> Yeah. Yes. >> Okay. Um well, with that, I will end this meeting and I hope you all have a lovely evening and thank you so much for coming tonight. Um I think it was really it was it was really good and it was good to have us all together. So, thank you. >> Bye for now. Thank you, Elizabeth, for all your work. >> Yep. Take care. Bye. Thank you.