HUUSD School Board Meeting Wed 2 11 26 @ 6 00 PM

001and welcome to the UU HU that's something that's you welcome to the HUSD schoolboard meeting for February 11th 2026. Um we are calling the meeting to order a little late at 610. We had some slight technical problems getting going. Um, our first point of business is to have public comment. I have that list in front of me or I did two seconds ago. Just do that. Uh, we have two or Caitlyn. So, and just press that green button and then talk right into it. like point it right at your >> Okay. >> Yeah, tip it up. There we go. >> How's this? >> Perfect. >> Great. Okay. Thank you so much. My name is Caitlyn Hollister. I live in Waterberry and thank you so much this evening for um hearing my comments. I'm here to

002comment on the proposed district calendar um that I think is scheduled to be voted on next week. And I'm asking you to vote against the calendar as proposed. Um, I want to preface this with saying that I spend my professional days doing teacher training. So, I have a deep commitment to training our educators and seeing that they get excellent, robust professional development and time to collaborate. And that said, I think it's also time in our district to really prioritize student time in our buildings with our educators and not reduce any of that time more than we already have to with things like snow days and flood days, etc. Um, so I noticed that in this calendar we have pretty much a similar schedule to this year where we have some full days for professional development

003scheduled for next year and the addition is eight half days. And I'm just deeply concerned that this continues to interrupt student learning. I'm lucky that my kids are in middle school. They can be home on their own. That's not my personal concern, but I do think the interruption does not s serve our students well. Um overall, I think this highlights an issue that I hope the board will continue to pay a lot of attention to in the coming year, especially as you do some goal setting. I think that the district could stand to have more of a focus on instructional time and really prioritizing that for all of our students. We know that interruptions are inevitable and we've seen a lot of them in recent years even with the pandemic aside and I've been deeply

004saddened to see that um when we have an interruption any that there isn't more of an effort to recapture some student time. So the example I'll give is last year um when Crosset Brook had to close for three days due to flooding and it was unfortunately right on the heels of the February break. Our students hadn't been in school for most of two weeks and we came back on a Tuesday and our students still skied on Friday and two weeks later there was a one of the sort of professional development give back days because of conferences and that still proceeded as planned and I know there were good rationes for that and that's one very isolated incident but each time as a parent that I see an opportunity for us to recapture days it seems

005like we're not moving in that direction. When we had those floods, we asked for a waiver from the state rather than make up those days. Um so as you look at the calendar in the coming weeks, um I would just like you to keep those comments in mind and as we move forward beyond the calendar to really keep um instructional time front and center. So thank you again for listening tonight. >> Thank you uh very much for that input. Thank you. Uh we don't have anyone else who wants to say anything I don't think. Uh do we have any in Zoom? Yep. Okay. Uh, we see your hand up, David. We're gonna We're just getting um promoting you so you can speak. Okay, go ahead, David. All right. Hi, my name is David Ry. Hopefully

006you can hear me. All good on the tech. >> We can so much. >> My name is David. I am a a Harwood parent of a eighth grader and a sixth grader at Crosset Brook. They've been at the HUSD schools for their entire school career. And uh I received the email Monday about the proposed academic calendar for next year and was really surprised and disappointed as well. Um I talked to a lot of friends and other parents yesterday and I think it was to a person's similar reaction. I know there was the possibility floated of the additional half of half days in early December and all of us that I had talked to had assumed that that would have been instead of some of the full days and now with what's being proposed it is

007clear that it's being in addition to the uh typical full student or professional development days. Um so I did write a letter I sent it to the board. I don't expect that you have seen it. I just sent it a couple of hours ago and uh I am hoping to read that. You can cut me off if I hit my time. I wasn't able to see how long this would take uh with some snowy roads slowing my uh slowing my trip home, but I'd like to read that. Uh HUSD board members and administrators, we are writing to you collectively as a group of concerned parents and community members. Um I've put this out there. 54 different people have signed it. Um and I I want to give that a little bit more time before sending

008over those names to you. Regarding the administration's proposal to switch eight full days into half days in the 2627 school calendar, we wish to express our disappointment in this proposal. At a time when our students need stability and academic focus, reducing in-person instructional time is a step in the wrong direction. We strongly urge the board to reconsider this plan and prioritize more instructional time. Our opposition to this proposal is rooted in these factors. Cumulative loss of instructional time. The past six years have been disruptive for our students. They have faced significant loss of school days due to COVID closures as well as flooding and typical winter weather. Every hour of instructional time is valuable and turning eight full days into half days is going in the wrong direction. Given what we have seen in terms

009of programming offered on other half days and ski and ride days, we are not confident that students will be engaged in meaningful academic learning during the proposed half days. State minimums and waiver reliance. The state of Vermont already maintains a lower threshold for required student attendance days compared to the national average. Despite this already low minimum, HUSD has filed for waiverss in recent years to operate below the state minimum rather than make up for weather and flooding closures. We should be striving to exceed the minimum standards for our children, not looking for permission to do less. Misalignment with district mission. and we struggle to see how a plan to further reduce inschool time aligns with the HUSD mission to provide a rigorous, innovative and student- centered educational experience. A rigorous education requires time, depth, and

010continuity, and this is compromised when the schedule is already disrupted by many days off and breaks. We appreciate the need to provide teachers with professional development and time to collaborate. But the proposed schedule is lopsided in balancing the need for student learning time with professional development for our educators. true student- centered planning would prioritize the students need for consistent time with educators and peers. Our request rather than scheduling reduced days, we encourage the board to take a proactive approach to the calendar. Eliminate the proposed half days in favor of full instructional days. Plan for a calendar that exceeds 178 days. We frequently have more than three snow or emergency days per year. Building extra days into the calendar with more buffer ensures that when the inevitable Vermont weather hits, we are not left scrambling to

011meet the bare minimum or filing for another waiver. We ask you to vote against the proposed reduction in time and to adopt a calendar that reflects a stronger commitment to academic rigor and consistency for our students. Um I will send this over with the names of others that have signed it and um I'd encourage you to um continue that conversation and I appreciate all you do for our district. Uh, thank you. And we did receive your email. I read it before the meeting. Uh, we appreciate your input really and um we we we will talk it through without a doubt. Thank you. >> Thanks a lot. >> Okay, we don't see any other hands for public comment. So, we are going to move on to approve the agenda, but we do need to amend. Um,

012we did have a prospective board member coming in from Feton, but she has decided to pause and not take this appointment. So, we're going to remove, we need a motion to remove um the section of section five that says interviews for open face and seat for loan. >> I move to remove the section five interview for open seat for loen. >> All those in favor? I >> Okay. All right. So, next it Yeah. Now we need to approve the agenda with the amendment. Motion, please. JB will make the motion. >> Move to approve the motion with the amendment. >> I second. >> All those in favor say I. >> I. >> Okay. Now, we had hoped Candace would be with us. >> Oh, okay. Great. All right. Welcome Candace White to our schoolboard meeting. Um

013Mike's promoting you to panelist right now. Uh Candace is our local representative, state representative from the valley, one of the two of them, and she is able to be with us tonight to give us a little brief update on how it's been going up there. >> Hi. Can you all hear me? Okay, >> we can. >> Okay, great. and I'm in a room at the state house and Representative Tori is a little bit to my left. Um, just FYI. So, thank you for inviting me tonight. Um, I haven't been to a schoolboard meeting in a while. Um, and uh, I'm going to share what information I have on um, the conversations regarding education reform here in the state house. And I'll just um remind everyone that um unfortunately I'm not on either of the committees

014of jurisdiction, you know, who are really digging deep into these into these discussions. Um I serve on the transportation committee. Um and we have a a tiny uh role to play in education reform discussions. Um, but I have I do have a uh an intern from University of Vermont who has been attending some of the education and ways and means conversations and sharing copious notes with me. And we did um just restart um a series of meetings to discuss education reform with the um the full fuller um body of the house. basically conversations where we have a chair from Ways and Means and the chair from education or one of their deputies um kind of update um the interested house members on the work that they are doing and taking questions. So, we had um

015our first meeting last Thursday and um got an update and and I I guess the the big news um was that um the chair of the education committee um Peter Conlin has uh rolled or has introduced a map um to the education committee for them to respond to and it is a map of um supervisory unions. Um, Representative Tory and I were just taking a look at it a little bit earlier today. Um, the chair says that he he has no idea if he can actually get this map out of committee, but they're kind of going through this exercise. And um you know if if you have been following um some of the headlines on education reform at the beginning of the session back in January, the governor um devoted his entire state of the

016state address to um education reform and said that um he would not be p passing a budget without a map. And if you recall the redistricting task force work of the summer and the fall um did not come up with three maps to present with the to the legislature in January. Um they put in a heck of a lot of work and put out um two studies that that I have um read. One was a a re just a like a 40page redistricting task force report. The other was a 160 page um appendix which really gets into the meat of some of the recommendations that the redistricting task force made. Um and and I'm not sure if you all have um been digging into those um to those reports, but um you know, I think

017the redistricting task force um came to some uh very worthwhile conclusions. I mean, looking at looking for evidence of of um savings with consolidation in other states, finding really very little evidence of that. Um and and I think in in certain areas um there is opportunity for savings with consolidation but but it has to be very targeted and kind of modeled out um and and and not just kind of going into um consolidation because we think that it will save money. Um so some of so one of the the big um subjects that the redistricting task force took on was this idea of boseies or ceases I think they're referring to them as but um basically looking at uh consolid um consolidating certain parts of education um on the regional level for cost savings um

018purchasing power um special education. So instead of um individual schools or districts um handling special education at their level kind of um uh expanding to a larger district where um you're able to see some achieve some scale and also um you know take advantage of expertise instead of having to have expertise at the at the district level across the state. you're kind of um bringing that expertise up um and putting it at a district level and and and I hope I'm using district and and union words correctly, but but basically um you know having large regions um school regions throughout the state where um you are consolidating some of these kind of big ticket items. Um and more schools are able to work together and kind of have one group of experts who are advising

019them and helping them with big ticket items like special education like purchasing like teacher um education um those those types of things. Um, so you know, I did see so Rebecca Hulcom who was um a member of the redistricting task force and I know um you know I think a lot of you are familiar with with her expertise and she was a former um secretary of education for the state. She's been in um testifying at the education committee um regarding some of the redistricting task force findings and kind of um promoting this type of CISA Boseis um consolidation on a larger scale throughout the state um and and you know suggesting that here's a way to achieve some cost savings And um again really so that because it sounds like um some of her testimony

020shared that you you've got all these schools who all need someone who's an expert in special education and they're all kind of competing for experts. Whereas if we had fewer um groups doing that on the state statewide, we wouldn't have all these schools competing for these the same expertise and we also wouldn't be paying for um all those experts in that area throughout the state. You would just be achieving scale um in some of these key areas. um you know the superintendence union uh association, excuse me, has been in to testify um before the education committee um and um trying to think I mean some of the things that they were sharing is that they are supportive of districts not unions. Um and they are supportive of some targeted consolidation, you know, um seeing a

021lot of testimony that like um you know, it makes sense for for for some school consolidation. Um but that we would have to incentivize it with um some construction aid. And as you probably know, remember that Act 73 does set up a construction aid um uh kind of formula but but at this point there is no funding that is attached to that. Um, so these are some of the conversations that that um I have, you know, uh I I don't even want to say been a part of, but but um been listening to or or been reviewing notes on. Um, and you know, I think at this point there are I I think they're talking about a lot of different scenarios and um and I don't feel like there are any conclusions at this point.

022Um, Rep. Tori, I don't know if you want to share. Yeah. So um you know the conversations are continuing and um it's always valuable to hear from you all kind of um you know input if you are watching the discussions go on or if you know the conversations that you are having in terms of um you know I know you've been working on your budgeting and so forth. um you know if you have input that you want to share with us that we can put into the conversation and I think that's one of my goals with um helping start up these every other week meetings on education reform is so that people who aren't in the committees of jurisdictions like myself and repatory that we can have a bit of a seat at the table

023and and and bring forward heard concerns that um are coming from from our district. So, I'll I'll stop there. Um and happy to hear any questions. I'm not sure I'll have an answer for them. And also happy to hear concerns and challenges that you all are um facing in the hard work that you're doing um at the schoolboard level. >> Well, thank you for that update. We really appreciate it. Um, sounds like things are kind of where they were. Uh, and they still are a little bit. Um, I appreciate that you're going to do these every other meet, every other week meetings so that you can be in more informed and you will hear from us. We're actually working on a letter that we will probably agree on later today to send later tonight to

024send to you. But does anyone have questions? Bobby has a question. Go ahead. >> Can you You can hear me. I guess I'm, you know, wondering because we we are drafting a letter to send to you, but would it also be wise to send it to the um House Education Committee at this point? Okay. >> Yes, for sure. I would say in you know, Chair Peter Conlin um and if it touches on anything in Ways and Means, Chair Cornhauser as well. >> Awesome. And I'm trying to think on Senate Education Bombgarts. Well, we really appreciate this. Thank you very much. I think we'll soldier on with our next part of our meeting, but we really appreciate you coming up. Thank you. >> Yeah. Thanks again for inviting us and you know happy to join at

025any time when you all are looking for an update. Um or if you have you know if you're if you're hitting challenges or concerns and you just want to kind of share with us what those are so we can advocate for those here in the state house. >> Awesome. We would really appreciate that. That that's what we're sending you. You'll see advocate for the letter we're sending you later today. Okay. All right. Okay. >> Thank you, Candace. Take care. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um the next part of our meeting is uh section five where we're going to interview and appoint uh some new board uh a new board member from Warren. We have two people who are interested. Uh Tristan White House and Megan Phillips. I see Tristan online. He could Tristan are you?

026Yeah, we can promote you to panelist and we'd love to hear from you. Can you guys hear me now? >> We can. Yes. Go ahead. >> Okay, great. My apologies for not being there. I'm currently running a uh 103 degree fever. Um, so I didn't want to get anybody else sick, but I also wanted to show you guys how passionate I was about uh taking on this challenge of being on the school board. So here I am. I'm doing my best is trying to be as lucid as possible. Um, so I uh am a Warren resident. Um, I'm also a my wife's on the select board, so we're a family that is deeply committed to the community. Um, I'm also a UVM grad. I've got my uh bachelor's in history and comparative religion and then

027I went on to get my master's degree um in special education and my focus there is in special ed law uh as well as kids with moderate disabilities like um dyslexia and disgraphia. Um, I work now currently in Northfield Middle High School. So, I drive over Roxberry Gap every morning to to get there. Um, which is sometimes an adventure. Um, and I think, you know, the the two candidates I know Min, he shows up to every single select board meeting. My wife knows him pretty well. Uh, and you've you've got some two great candidates tonight uh that I think will both do a great job. So, whoever you choose, I think will do really well for you. But I think the best candidates are ones that have experience and have passion. And I think I

028have both. Um, in terms of experience, I'm a teacher, so I know what it's like to um work inside the school and kind of be upfront on the front lines there. I teach a lot of classes. is it's a really small school. So because of that I have to teach all many of the history classes. Um I teach a class called woodworking and I teach outdoor leadership. So we've gotten a lot of riffs in the past few years and because of that teachers have had to kind of pick up the slack. And so I'm taking on classes that I'm I'm not trained in. I'm in terms of woodworking it's all YouTube university for me. Um, and I would would really hope that we can as a school board make smart choices to avoid putting teachers

029in those kinds of positions. And I think Harwood has already has a history of making good choices in that in that respect. Um, I've I'm a union member. I've been part of our union MOI um discussions and I've seen what riffs can do and how budgets can fall apart when good faith actors don't you know behave in good faith. Um I'm also on our school's leadership and universal teams which are focused on the academics and social uh livelihood of our students. So I know how a school is run. Um, we also are dealing with a a lot and I I assume Harwood is doing the exact same thing. I I read through this morning uh the past year and a half of every single minutes of all the meetings you guys have had just to

030bone up on on being prepared for this evening. Um, and what I kept seeing was a lot of you guys as well as Northfield dealing with unfunded mandates that you're getting from all sides from the state, from the federal government, and how do you deal with that? And as somebody with special ed background, I'm I'm acutely aware of how sometimes they're telling us to do things that we just don't have the capacity for. And we're every school district is doing its best. And I also understand the chaos of Act 73. I live it in my career every day. And it's a mess and we're trying to navigate it as well. You know, just this afternoon we had a conversation. I wasn't there because I went home sick. um a conversation about our new schedule and

031having to change up classes and having to reduce the number of classes we teach because of the chaos of the mandate of how many students should you have in each uh classroom. And it's it's just a mess. And I'm I'm looking forward to to hopefully joining the school board so that I can kind of give you guys another perspective on Act 73, how it affects our teachers, but also understanding that there really isn't much that we can do right now besides just kind of weather the storm and wait out whatever is going to be mandated. Um, like I said, I think the greatest candidates have experience and passion. I'm also a parent and so that's where my passion comes from. My son um did school choice. He's at Fasten right now because all of his

032friends went there. He just finished or he's finishing up this year the the prek program. U so he's in PK prek4. Um and we were as parents disappointed to hear that it was moving away from FET. Um, but we also understand that the school board needs to make hard choices and that was, I'm sure, a really difficult choice. Um, moving that program to different schools and breaking up that that dream team, so to speak, from that building was, I'm sure, very difficult. Um, but we are, you know, extremely grateful of the prek program that's there. It's gotten our son off to a great start. and I want to join the school board because I want to give him and all the other students in the valley a the best education possible that they deserve um

033and that taxpayers deserve and that homeowners deserve. So um I'm doing this for Henry. I'm doing this for me and our students, but I'm also I just want to help. And I think that's what our family is all about is is public service. So, um, with that being said, hopefully I made sense there and my flu didn't take over too badly. Uh, that, uh, I look forward to hearing your guys' decision this evening. Thank you. >> Um, does anyone have any questions for Tristan? Cashel, go ahead. >> Hi, Tristan. I'm my name's Cashel. I'm a senior at Harwood and I'm one of our four student school members. I'm curious, what do you see as the biggest problem that we're facing as an education system in Vermont right now? >> Well, probably the the biggest problem

034is population. And I think that's what Act 73 is really trying to grapple with is declining enrollment numbers has been, you know, you can't uh keep a school going if you've only got a certain number of graduates. you know, Northfield right now, we've got only the maximum graduating class right now is 40 kids. So, we're trying to figure out how do we keep so much programming going um when we only have so many kids taking these classes. So, we're talking about merging with Williamstown formally to have more kids in the building and things like that. But, it's this declining um population. You know, my generation isn't having kids as as nearly as much as they should be to keep that population up. Vermont is uh struggling to keep young people in the state. When I

035graduated UVM, I had to leave. I went to Massachusetts to start my career because there were no jobs here. And I know that a lot of people have to deal with that. That that is not a problem we can solve here. But grappling with looking at population numbers that are really scary because it means that we're going to have to either close programs like the prek program at Fasten or that will continue down the line of uh unless we start bringing in a a culture here in the valley that brings in families. And I I know that we're already doing that. Hopefully that answers your question. Thank you for that. All right. Okay, M. Thank you, Tristan. We're going to move on to Mak now. Um, all right, M. sit in your that seat and

036turn on that mic, please. at the point in my life where I'm forgetting I have these readers, but I then realize I need them. So, um, uh, great. Um, can I begin? Okay. So, yeah. So, I just want to say first of all, thank you. My name is Megan Phillips. Um, I think I know many of you and I just want to thank you for the opportunity to be here. Thanks, uh, to the members of the public uh, and to Tristan. Uh and uh yeah, it's great to hear your comments and I share your passion and I should also say it's just great to see more young families in Warren that are stepping up and getting involved in public service. Uh his wife is just a really commendable uh select board member and you know

037Warren as a member of the valley maybe gets the you know uh resort town a little bit uh quieter but we've got some some new folks there that are showing up. Um so really really excited uh to see you today. But let me introduce myself um and tell you a little bit about why I'm seeking an appointment today. I live in Warren. Uh we moved here uh during the pandemic. Uh I have three kids. The uh oldest just started here in seventh grade. His name is Max. And I have a son named Knox who's in fourth grade and a daughter SA who's in second grade. Both at Warren School. And we live over on by the airfield in Warren. So I moved to Vermont to live next to an airport. Um and um I uh

038I returned to Vermont, I should say, actually uh during the pandemic because I first moved to Vermont um in 2002 and joined as an Americanore Vista. I was sort of graduated from college, didn't know what I was going to do with my life. That is for another night. Happy to tell that story. but got really lucky and found myself with a mentoring program that had just started out of Dartmouth and ended up in Burlington as an Americanore Vista and founded a mentoring program that still exists today uh called the dream program that actually brought me to Northfield and to few other communities in Vermont um uh building that up and that's where I met my wife and really had our first experience up in in Burlington. But it's also what sort of opened me up

039to the idea of social justice and trying to pay attention to the world around me. Uh it's hard to go through the Americanore Vista program without that. And you know I tell people it changed my life and that was 20 years ago 25 years ago. Two other things are happening at that moment. Howard Dean was running for president and uh Bush was saber rattling to go to War I. It's not exactly school board topics but I mention all that just to say it was my political awakening. Uh, and I got really lucky by meeting some people in the Dean campaign and I ended up moving down to DC and got involved with politics, kind of how the internet and technology was impacting politics. Spoiler alert, didn't turn out super great for everyone, right? But I

040mean, we were involved in that from the outset and um, uh, spent 15 years uh, doing that. I was privileged to work for President Obama on the 2008 campaign and then uh, joined him at the White House and then on to the State Department. And when the pandemic hit, uh, I had left the, uh, administration and my wife and I realized this was our chance to move back, um, to Vermont. And so we rented our house, found a place, and packed the U-Haul and, uh, moved back to the valley. Um, and have sort of charted a course since then. Uh, I'm happy to go into my professional experience a little bit more, but I put it in the letter. The upshot is now I run a consulting firm called Starling Strategy which we have an

041office in uh Waterbury uh and one in New York City. uh it's communications public engagement practice but lately using a lot of artificial intelligence to do uh work and one of the projects that we're working on is actually education policy related where we're using AI to analyze a lot of documentation like meeting minutes or uh teacher contracts to understand policies for different districts to find patterns and relate them to student time. So some of the comments I was hearing tonight from parents were super interesting to try to understand, you know, how would we analyze things like calendars and understand how that's impacting outcomes for ch kids and stuff. So um really cool. Um but that's my day job. And coming in tonight, I was thinking about what are the three areas that I'm interested in

042being part of the school board. And I think one of them is preparing students for a changing world. Uh, I think everyone has some version of this, but the way I think of it is when I went to college, we didn't have email. And when I graduated, if you didn't check your email, you were in trouble. You know, things change fast in terms of how we learn, how information flows, and that's only getting faster, and we have to continually test that. So, that's something I've done professionally. We start over. Just kidding. Uh I would say uh just preparing children for a changing uh preparing uh students for a changing world. Really understanding that uh how we communicate, how we learn is changing very quickly. Uh and we need to just accept change. The second is

043understanding schools as community anchors. Uh our schools are too disconnected from people who don't have kids just straight up. And um I see the uh school system as catalytic to our democracy. I see it as being part of the cure to what a Okay. All right. All right. Is this better? I was just going to I'm just talking about schools community anchors. I just think the CARES program was really inspirational and when I was thinking about if I was going to make time to do this myself, I thought about the fact that these are students that are making time to try to learn about their community and have important conversations. So, least I could do um the arts program, the music program. I know that schools have core competencies, but the ways that these schools

044can bring in people from the community are incredibly important. Uh, and then the final piece is going beyond the budget battle. If you're talking to me about education reform and all you have to talk about is property tax, you don't talking to me about education reform. We need to understand what our schools need. I thought, you know, what Tristan said about the population decline challenges was well put and we're going to have to be creative, but we have to start with what our students need, what our teachers need. Um, for example, we have to start with data like what we saw in the PR principal's response to Conland's map talking about how there's, you know, fewer districts that shows it's better than if there's a, you know, 200 but maybe not five. And grounding the

045stuff in what's best for practitioners, what's best for students is where we need to begin this. I need to be more informed to be articulate about that to drive a conversation. I'm hoping to be that advocate uh on the school board. Uh, and on the flip side, I think we need to understand what's driving conversations outside so we can own up to what we need to do. I'm really proud of the conversations y'all are having about the impact of school district consolidation. I was at the meeting here a year ago where we had the consultants going through the numbers and it's really difficult, but you deserve credit for doing it instead of just throwing out things from Montpielar and letting everyone sort it out. So, um, I want to be part of taking that initiative

046and really understanding the data and being part of that conversation. So, for as much as I want to show up for our students, I want to be clear. I see our schools as a bigger part of the community that I am invested in, I want my kids to be able to live here if they want to. And that isn't just about access to housing. That's about access to a democracy. That's about an access to an informed public. Jobs of the future. So many things run through this school system. So, that's why I'm here. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh go ahead, Lane. >> I see I see in your application that you're on the planning commission more. I'm on the planning commission at FAT and I I I've stayed on the planning commission and I'm

047still balancing my life here. But I know you're a big proponent of the fight, you know, for housing. And in 20 in October 2023, you were quoted for saying, "If we don't have housing for teachers, how can we expect education to increase?" Do you feel that your work on the planning I mean you said you're going to resign from the planning commission if you join the school board. Do you feel that there's people there that are going to keep that fight going for you? >> Thank you. Yes, I do. Yeah, the short answer is yeah. Um and I appreciate >> Yeah, that quote. I I um there's two things happening. >> I should say there's three things that I learned from my time in the planning commission and I just got so nervous I skipped

048that bullet. So yes, if if appointed I would leave the Warren Planning Commission. Um there's three things that I've learned from sitting on that commission. The first is be when I joined the town of Warren submitted its what's called a land use development regulation which is essentially its uh zoning ordinances. They still haven't passed it three years later. That's why I'm leaving. It's not personal to anyone. I just those are the rules that we use to affect the change and I don't see the agency. Um, and so that that's been a that's been one negative learning. The two positives are the successful implementation of the short-term rental ordinance, which is a framework to just to start getting a list of how many short-term rentals we have to understand the data so that we can make

049policy based, you know, decisions on data. Um, and then the third is a a very new conversation that's happening now that the bond has passed for the old garage, which is next to the Warren School. And God knows how long that will take, but it will happen that there will be a new um garage. And when that happens, there will be a question about what goes in the old garage. And we're talking to organizations like Habitat for Humanity to actually help develop housing there. And I should say and you know consistent with what I said to to Tristan along the way I have run across other families in Warren that are starting to pay attention and they're like oh wait I'm 45 I can go to these meetings I get to choose right they're showing

050up and they're asking questions right from the sidelines at baseball or whatever they're getting in the game because let's be honest before then different players were in the game different generation and they they are good at what they doing but I think if we're trying to make this town work for young teachers We need more young people involved and we're seeing that. So that's a long answer. The short answer is I'd leave and I feel good about where it is, but it hasn't been easy. >> All right. Yeah, that I just, you know, because we're all fighting the good fight here trying to trying to make the valley better and I just want to make sure we wouldn't be taking a powerful ally out of there, but it sounds like your work's done there and

051you really feel like you could affect change here and that that >> Yeah, I think so. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. >> Thank you very much. Um, I'm curious, how would you describe your opinion on what a student's role should be in education? student. >> I feel like I should have some pathy quote that like a you know some like proverb you know of how but I my hottest take is when I heard that question it's sort of like you know the students take is to always be learning which is sort of a cute answer but I would say like the best teachers I've ever had were learning with me. I think to be in communion with students is the best way to learn as opposed to being receiving wisdom from someone who thinks they know

052it all. Um and I think I spent too many too too much time in those situations uh growing up. So yeah, what's what's the role of student is is participatory. That would be my short answer. I think though like thinking about a little bit more, I think students have an increasing responsibility to demand the things that they need to be successful. They cannot assume that the adult so to speak are always aware of what's happening. And I say this as someone who was fortunate to have a front row seat as social media was impacting politics and what does all that mean? Again, that's a whole other conversation, but like the truth was the people in charge had no idea what was happening in media. They didn't understand what was happening in the economy and certainly

053just didn't know what was coming in terms of power dynamic. Okay now, no one's really figured it out because you have a lot of 20-year-olds that are in charge. I've not seen that same chaos and innovation in education. And I think it takes students feeling like, yeah, we can really take have more agency and sort of pushing people to give us the things we need, right? And I mean, you're sitting at this table, so you're already doing it, right? But I think um it's one thing for a bunch of adults to sit around and say, "Give us answers." But I think ultimately students need to like be active participants in learning. Any other questions? >> Hi Megan. Um we have multiple stakeholders in in this community in our schools and I think that's what we're

054struggling with right now is how do we help represent various needs in the community? And I'm just wondering if you have any thoughts about how that might happen. I you know I I think I I like your proposal and the three tiered the three uh areas uh that you would put focus on and I'm just wondering um you know addressing the issues that we're facing um with issues around property taxes and funding and and declining enrollment. I mean, I thought about some of this working on the planning commission. I guess like there's so many different ways to answer that. I the first one that comes to mind is the initial test of what are the things that are going to have material impact on my children versus not just to be honest right like you

055know my kids are in the system by the time anything happens what are we really right so when I look at the consolidation da da da part of it is like that's the first test and I wrote in my letter my son who goes to warren sometimes asks me which day the nurse is going to be there so like I'm pissed off there's a part of me that's just really not happy with where we are so that that's one, but I think the the the second test is sort of what's pragmatic um that we can get done soon. One of the things that I see missing in a lot of um these conversations is urgency. There's a real sense of like, well, these this is the way it is. We're going to work the problem.

056We're going to meet about it and like we're going to have to deal with urgency. And so the second thing is given the lack of leadership from Montpielar, given the lack of decision making, how are we as a district going to innovate within the district? What can we do with what we have? That's interesting, right? And and I don't I'm framing that out as a category. I could sit and try to fill it up with a lot of hot I have no idea. But what I'm not going to do is just wait for my peeler to tell us what we have to work with. My kids are in the system. I live next to a bunch of people from prickly mountain. Like there's a ethic here of us. We'll figure out how to create a

057great educational experience for kids if we need it, right? Like for me that's like a really to have a sense of local control is like really important. How do we make it work? We're not going to wait for years. That said, we're going to use that to create urgency that gets people in Monture to like be more realistic with what they're doing. Um, I think the the biggest issue I have right now with the overall debate is there's no picture of the future we're moving towards. Too many people in this state have given up on this state. They've accepted population decline and they just assumed everything else is going to happen because of it. I agree we're not going to solve population decline in the school board. But we can't run a school board as

058if this state is just going to be forever declining. I will not accept that for my children. So I'll be here as a public member if I'm not on the school board. You know, we have to be building towards something. So for me, the big picture is to say as a school board, how can we paint a picture of the Harwood district or whatever it becomes that's exciting to the people who live here that makes people want to be part of it and then we'll figure out how to pay for it. We have to start with that vision of the kinds of new things we're teaching students, the ways we're involving the community, all of the things that I talked about, all the things that you all want to do. start with those and get

059people excited about the schools as part of this community. I hope that was helpful. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Um All right. Next on here it says review select board recommendations. I did speak with members of the Warren Select Board. They did not have a meeting and they chose not to make a recommendation either way. Um, so the next Do we have any other discussion? Does anyone have any questions or comments they want to make right now? Anybody? Corey or Dan? No, they're good. Okay. All right. So, next >> go ahead, Steve. like what's the procedure? Someone's going to make a motion for the seat and warrant. Okay, >> I'm going to explain that cuz it is a little bit different. We haven't um we haven't done this exact thing before. So,

060first we'll open um someone will make a motion to someone will make a motion for one of these candidates and then we'll say are there any other um what's it called? Yeah, it doesn't say a second. Do you need a second? >> Okay. So, and then we'll ask for a second. And then we'll ask if there are any other nominations. And if there are, we'll do that again. And we'll ask for a second. And then we will do a roll call vote. We will exclude the students. Sorry, students. Um, but we're going to do a roll call vote around the table. So, you will basically choose your candidate if there are two. If there's just one, there's just one. And that will carry on its own, right? >> Will there be discussion? >> Yeah. Uh,

061and there is discussion. Yes, there is discussion. Yes. Okay. So, I'm sorry that I'm not great at this part. The um I've been on chat GPT learning all day. I've quized Dr. Mike. I've been all over the place. >> Just checked Robert's rules. Newly revised and for a nomination, a second is not needed. So, that's So, she is correct. >> We don't need a second. >> Sorry. Go ahead, Luke. I just I'm just looking for clarification that whichever candidate, if either of the candidates are ones that we choose, is this just until town meeting day? So, it's it's really like a three-w week a three-week job and then if they want to do they have to do like a write in if they want to be on past March 3 and they have both said

062they're going to their intention is to do that. So, yes, this is just a brief kind of like dipping your toe in the schoolboard and seeing what it's like right before the the big dance or something. I don't know. It's a little test drive. >> Don't forget they get signed in tonight >> to get and that's something new. Um, that was very clever. Yeah, Dr. Mike realized that we could swear in a new board member right here, right now because we have Bobby and Cindy are both um JPs and can do that. So we won't have to that person could sit at the table. Yeah. Okay. So now we are at the Does anyone have any other questions? I want to take it slow. I don't want to blow it up. I um so um

063All right. We are looking for a motion for a nomination for somebody. I saw first J and then Pam. Well, I I think we're very lucky to have uh two excellent candidates here tonight with Tristan and Megan. Um I met Megan a year ago. I continue to be blown away by your passion, your skill set, and I think what you can really bring to this board. Uh so I would move that we um nominate >> nominate making do um we don't need a second, right? Okay. >> Are there are there any other nominations? Dan has his hand up. Go ahead, Dan. Can't hear you. You're muted. >> Go ahead. >> You need me now. I'd like to nominate Tristan. >> Okay. Do we have a second? Oh, we don't need a second. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.

064Sorry. Okay. We have a nomination for Min and we have a nomination for Tristan. So Cindy is going to bring up and is there any discussion Steve? Nope. Not putting the spotlight on you or anything but go ahead. Uh I do feel these are two very strong candidates and they both have a really high level of commitment to education which is I think why we're all on the board. Uh I'm leaning towards Mon because of I feel his outside experience is kind of what we need right now on the board. I mean I think what Tristan is doing is admirable. And I really I mean the need for outstanding teachers is always very high priority, but I I feel the board needs people a little bit more involved with kind of the business end of

065the district and less with the teaching end. And I mean kind of talking about myself here as an educator. So I'm favoring making. Thank you, Charlotte. Go ahead. >> I would just like to say that both these candidates seem very passionate. Um, but from their outside roles, I know that Tristan is a teacher at Northfield and Megan has worked as many roles in the political aspects of things. Um, but I think that we do have lots of teacher perspectives and when we come to the board, we're kind of bringing all of our perspectives together. I mean, that's why we have student reps. Um, and I think that we have our teacher reps and it's very beneficial to have some other aspect that we don't have already. >> Thank you, Charlotte. Go ahead, Megan. I I

066I completely agree with Charlotte that we have a lot of teacher perspective and I I really think that Min would bring a lot to the the board because a lot of what we're doing here is, you know, communicating to the public and that's a skill set that I think he has a strong strong and I think that's that's what we really need is is help getting our message out and getting people to understand. We're we're dealing with some really difficult things right now. a lot of people's jobs on the line and things like that and we need to make sure that we're communicating in a well and I think that that would be a he'd be a powerful ally to help us to achieve that goal. to hear both of them for the first time

067tonight, but I was really struck when Megan was talking about um looking at data and I think that we have a lot of data to look at in the upcoming future and what to do with our school and what information we have, especially with the unknowns of Montpillier. We have to take action on our own and help defend our students and their education. And his approach to that seemed really what we need right now for the school board. Uh yeah, what particularly attracts me to making other than his taste in quality music which we share um is uh you know his his skill set as far as uh working in the Obama administration uh and you know the media and the changing world and and how we can adapt and show our students. the the

068the thing that's most important to me that he said um was mentioning the disconnect between uh the voters who have kids in the system and those residents who do not and trying to reach them uh meet them where they're at. Uh I think it's it's um between that and the advocacy uh in this landscape that we find ourselves in uh as far as the legislature uh I just I think he could be a huge benefit for the school board uh not only now but going forward. No, thanks man. >> Any other commentary? >> Trying to look at my people online. Okay, if that is if we have all said our peace, now we will vote. Tell me when you're ready, guys. >> So, first you just have to person. >> Okay. >> Ask for weights.

069>> All right. I know that's an um that's an old old uh it's a special sheet because Yeah. Yeah. It's a special sheet. Okay. We're going to vote and we'll just go Sure. I I think that it's worth hearing from you guys. So, let's start with the students. Um, if you wish, you may vote. Charlotte, how do I do? >> Here we go, guys. That's perfect. >> Charot Charlot. >> Just go with Charlotte. >> Brady's not even gone. Graduated. >> Emma, it should be Emma. >> That's Emma. >> Emma. >> That's okay. Take your time. You know what I think? I think a lot of them might for sure. >> That's okay. >> Okay, here we go. Charlotte, your vote. >> I would like to hypothetically cast my vote for Megan Phillips. Somebody online is

070it might be Dan. Mute yourselves, please. Okay. Okay. Charlotte voted for Min. >> Min. >> Casual for Min. >> Emma, >> don't preference. >> Okay. Then you don't have to vote. Abstain. Great. >> Okay. Um >> Bobby, >> I'll vote for Megan. >> JB Min. >> I am doing them in order. >> Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. >> Sorry. Bobby was for Mon. JB it was for M Rob >> M for Phillips >> is for M. Ben is absent. >> Corey, >> uh, Min, >> Emily, >> Kim, Pam, >> Min, >> Wang, >> Min. >> Steve, even though I can't see it, >> Min. Sorry. N for Steve and then Dan. Go ahead. >> What did he say? I didn't hear it. Tristan and Dan. There's a couple of vacants. One of them is going to go.

071Okay. that well that is a firm for min. Um uh thank you Tristan very much for being willing to step up. We appreciate that. Um min here is we will have our justice of the peace administer the oath to you which we've never done here before but we're going to give that a shot next. Welcome to the adventure. >> And and so just because we don't do this often because we don't we have to have vacancies don't count for a quorum. So we even the quorum is based on 14 members but the vote is based on the members who are present. So with the weighted voting uh there's a formula Lisa has in that for a yes the total weighted votes have to be greater than 81.4%. So, um I'm sorry the the middlecom 40.7%

072is for the majority. So, uh Lisa, I'm going back up. Uh 49.7% of the weighted votes were for min. So, that exceeds the 40.7. So, that's how how to read it. I'm having trouble reading it. Fortunately, Lisa's over here with the formula. to be to be a quorum, which it is. Okay. Thank you very much, Tristan. We appreciate that. And okay, Cindy going to I I should get a photograph of this. Cindy is now going to administer the oath as a JP to Min so he can join the board right now. Damn it. I could I could handdraw him one. I've been known to do that. Look, here's one. Here's one. It's an old one. John doesn't even get it fresh. >> It's tradition. I gave that one for you. You didn't get a You

073didn't get any fresh. That's right. Okay. So just so everybody knows the JP. >> Okay. Um please >> M Phillips. I >> I >> N Phillips >> swear >> do solemnly swear >> that I will be true and the state of Vermont >> that I will be true and faithful to the state of Vermont >> directly or indirectly any thereof. And I I will not directly or indirectly do any act or thing injurious to the constitution or the government thereof. >> Penalties perjury >> under pains and penalties of perjury. >> Sorry. Under pains and perjury punishment. Did you say >> I just wanted to get all set with my hand up just in case. Yeah. Right. office. Mhm. >> I >> Min Phillips >> do solemnly swear >> execute >> that I will faithfully execute

074>> the office board director >> the office of school board director >> for the state of Vermont >> there equal right and justice >> and will therein do equal right and justice >> all persons to the best of my judgment and ability >> to all persons to the best of my judgment and ability >> according to according to law. >> Pain and penalties forjy >> under pains and penalties for perjury. >> Congratulations and welcome. >> Thank you. All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. I got a text from a citizen saying that uh this is broadcast uh through through Zoom, but it's not broadcasting simultaneously on YouTube. So, she's trying to figure out what occurred there. Um, okay, we're coming back in. Uh, hello. Sorry, we are having some technical difficulties that are mean making

075our, uh, YouTube stream be down, but the whole video will be up tomorrow. Um, we are still carrying on Zoom. So, uh, okay. So, we're not fully online right now. I apologize, Lisa Scalyotti. We'll we'll we'll have the video up tomorrow. Yeah, Curtis will put it up tomorrow. Okay, one is done. Uh, next are our board reports. Everyone um everyone got the email that I forwarded around from the Addison County School District about signing on to that letter. That kind of inspired us to write our own letter. Um I have people had a chance to read that. Um do we want to have some discussion about that? It's a letter uh requesting that the legislature rem remove debt service and health care costs from the per pupil spending calculation because it's killing us as we

076know. Um and our own le letter was drafted by Dr. Mike I or was it Steve? Did you do it? Okay. So Dr. Mike did that. It's it's I think it's great their letter. Yeah. So if um um how do people feel about it? Are we do we want to sign it? Do we want to I mean I feel strongly that we need to make our feelings known. Go ahead, Bobby. >> Um I guess my first question is are you still sending the other letter? Is this it would this be an addition to this or >> the Yeah, there was a cuto off for that one. So those of us who did jump on that that letter's underway. They're definitely delivering that and they did they put it out to the whole state. So I

077think they probably had some. So, this is different, but it's the same it's the same request. So, >> um I think I think that's great. And um in preparing for our advocacy workshop that Cindy and I are going to do, um it is actually in the platform for the Vermont School Board Association this year. And uh I I think it's really, you know, it's important that we say it as many times as we can. My understanding is there is leaning in that direction. Um, that's what I heard from a few people. So, I hope it happens and um the and my only addition was to make sure you send it to the House Education Committee. >> I strongly support sending a letter. I think the only thing that I thought might make it stronger is

078if we included actual data or numbers in it. So like here's what our per pup people cost is right now when we include this data versus if we were to take that out our per pupil cost because then they could actually see what we're talking about and how much of an impact it has. But otherwise I fully support this letter. >> That's a great idea. Go ahead. >> I think this is a great letter. I've never seen it brand new to it but I look forward to getting involved. I was two things I wanted to make uh comment about when an C cummings I think she's still the state senator came and spoke about education reform you know I made the comment to her that health care costs don't have an education problem but education

079does have a healthcare problem and um I think it's really important that we stake out ground about what the health care issue is doing so that we can make it clear to people that we can't solve it. Second thing I'd say is like when I was at that meeting with the consultants and we can go back and look at this number. I remember looking at the um line item for healthcare premiums and assuming a 10% increase or something. And if you take that out over time, it's the same amount as the like total cost of infrastructure that was sort of in the deferred that huge amount that they were deferring cost on too. It was a huge number. And I just think it's important to put numbers behind the cost of health care as like

080we're late. It's as expensive as all of the deferred maintenance on all of our build. It's just ridiculous. Um and until someone steps up to deal with health care costs, they're going to be put again putting that on my kid's nurse. So I am all for doing this. >> Um Emily Vin Lang, >> I read the letter. I think this is a great letter. Um, I think this is also uh an important make sure that the community sees that we are trying to do something to try and mitigate these rising costs. I think these I think this is a step that a lot of community members may not realize that we as a school board are taking. Um, when I read this letter, the one question that I had was, are other districts doing this

081uh, sending the same kind of letter or or are we unique in our sending this? Some are. Um, we are not unique. We the idea came from signing on to that Addison County Addison School District letter, but I think others are. Go ahead. After Lang, we're going to hear from Dan. >> Okay. >> Corey. Sorry. >> I don't mean to put Lisa on the spot at all. Not even in the slightest. I just want to ask this question because there's a lot of people watching. So if we did remove the health care costs and the bond payments, how would that like how would that help us against the yield? Would it for our tax rate? Would it would it change the yield? Like cuz if we if our per pupil spending changes, right, it would

082lower that our relation to the if you don't know the answer, it's totally fine. I just I'm just curious how that would affect our relationship with the yield to get our number. >> So, um if you remember that um the our current debt, anything prior to 2024 um only counts and reduces your cost per pupil if you reduces the penalty if you exceed that threshold. So keep in mind that was that little cautisil and that's why we ended up getting back to 250,000. However, um it would health care costs would depending on how they do this would reduce you know if it's taken out any new health care costs it wouldn't add so it would reduce. >> All right so I mean I I totally understand the first part. So, this letter, which I think

083we should totally send. I'm totally on board with sending the letter. If we did successfully pull our debt load and our health insurance, it would lower our cost per pupil, which would then change our ratio to the yield, which would lower our effective tax rate for education, which would help the community lessen the burden of taxes going up. So, this is something that everyone needs to get behind because it has an effect on everyone's pocketbook, even people who don't have kids in our schools. Thank you. >> Amen. All right, Corey, go ahead. >> Yeah, I was going to say I support the letter for sure and I supported the Addison County letter also. I like Pamela's idea of adding the data. Um, I think that'll help help paint the picture continuously. I like that too.

084Um, yeah, we've got a note here. We'll do some alterations there. >> Yeah, there's one clar. Oh, sorry. >> Oh, okay. Hold on. We'll let some Dan, then Steve, then JB, then you. Okay, go ahead, Dan. >> Thanks. I support sending the letter. I'm a little bit unclear about what Lang was saying. I'm not sure that what you're saying in the letter actually removes any of those costs coming out of the education fund spending though. So, you're basically just taking we're just I'm not sure how to word it, but it doesn't impact property taxes at all. The way I'm looking at it, it's just simplifying the math a little bit to make it a little clearer for the uh the arithmetic of the process. Am I am I misinterpreting that? >> Yeah. in the letter

085>> in I'm sorry in the agenda it is just addressing the penalty for the excess spending threshold. So it's removing the those two areas it for the excess spending threshold and just from you know my own experience Vermont has the highest health care cost in the country 15% of our per pupil cost is directly attributable to the health care ratio my previous district was which was three times the size had about the same financial dollar cost for health care. So that kind of gives you an idea of how different states it impacts our per people costs. So it is only in relation to the excess spending threshold which is a concern for construction. If we go to if the board would go out for a bond uh going out for a bond to take care

086of our buildings which have been neglected in the state would penalize the school district. And that one >> in comparison >> in a comparison to other states, it will still appear as though we're spending a lot more in education compared to other states when in reality it's because we're spending it on health care whereas other states aren't counting the health care costs towards education. >> That's correct. >> Go ahead, Lisa. And I just want to emphasize any new debt would add to our cost per pupil, which we would then or uh additional health care would also add to our cost per pupil. And remember, we're only $240,000 $240 away from that cost per pupil threshold. So any new debt we take on, we would most likely exceed. We would exceed most likely Uh, I hope

087this letter goes to the Valley Reporter in the Waterberry Roundabout. I was going to make one more just question is uh is um just from a message standpoint and what I just heard it's it's healthcare. I think when you throw in the debt service part it gets confusing just hearing it for the first time. When I'm hearing it it's like yeah we got some bonds we got some debt service on the school district for some building. kick the can. What's new? That's a school district issue. Health care, everyone reads it in the news. They understand the Green Mountain Care Board is trying to figure it out. Blue Cross and Execs are pay. It is not an education issue. So for me, if we're going to try to stake out ground and say, "Hey everyone, you

088need to understand that when you're seeing the data about how expensive our schools are, we're absorbing costs that typically aren't." The cleaner we can make that about healthcare, the better. I'm not saying the debt service isn't important, but it just hearing talk about it. No one's talking about debt service. It's healthcare and debt service and then you come back to healthare. So why not just make the point about health care itself. I mean maybe the policy should be both but to me the healthcare message is the one to really talk about. I think that the the issue of whether or not it um reduces our our taxes is an important issue of course, but I think even more one of the things I hear a lot about is the talk about how much our cost

089per pupil is. So if the reducing t taking out those two elements reduces our cost per pupil even though it doesn't help us in terms of the threshold per se or our taxes per se it it changes the perception in in our community about how much we're spending on our pupils because we have a high per pupil cost um relative even to other schools in the state and people know that and they read about that good point. Okay. So, are we gonna do we need to vote to send the letter? We do. Do we have a tally sheet for that? We can probably just do a We >> Should I make the motion, Ashley? >> Yeah, why don't you go ahead and make the motion? >> I move that we vote to send the letter

090as written >> From the whole board with our signatures on it to the representatives that are listed on the top of the letter. Do we have a second? >> I would amend his motion to make it include the data to support the >> Yes. >> with the data. >> Yep. Second from Emily. Anybody? Um, all those in favor say I. >> I. >> Anyone opposed? >> Okay. We are going to work on the letter. When we um when we've revised it, we will share it and then we will do it. Okay. Um, next is an uh little update from Steve Rosenberg on public outreach. Okay. A few things as we go into uh prepping for the budget vote. So, we had our first budget form on Tuesday the 4th. Uh, I thought it was pretty

091successful. I I really liked how many board members showed up. I thought that was very helpful. And at any one time, we had between 15 and 20 members of the public. Uh, needless to say, the questions focused on various issues with the budget, property taxes, and so on, and different members of the board and Dr. Mike uh answered as it was appropriate. Uh we're having the next meeting is uh Thursday in a week on the 19th and I I encourage all board members to come. I'll send around an announcement. Pam had the idea that we should kind of divvy up who's going to answer what like somebody on the building use and visioning committee might answer questions about consolidation things like that. Uh so I I will be in touch with you. Uh there's also

092on the drive a talking points about the budget that everybody can view. Uh if you have trouble finding the link, let me know. This was developed uh I'm glad to say kind of in cooperation with the teachers union. So it they're supporting the budget at this point and they're working on getting out the vote. I think it it's pretty great that we're on the same page on this one. And uh finally, post to front porch forum are always welcome. I wanted to give shout out to Rob who's been posting some great ones. >> Yeah, >> in Waterberry. >> He got shut out. He's annoyed. >> Oh, and so many he got shut out. So, he's gonna have to go under an alias, I guess. But uh but I I appreciate his efforts very much. And

093anybody else wants to post front porch for him? I know Emily is uh I think Bobby is behind the scenes. Yeah. And I am. So uh the more the merrier. >> Is there a process if you're if you're representing the board where you have to run it by someone or something or can you just >> you just say you're speaking for yourself? >> You have to say you're speaking for yourself. Okay. That's very important. All right. Thank you for that. It doesn't have to be a headline. It can be these are my thoughts and feelings. And >> and for example, that's why when when Ashley presented that letter that it went the board voted for that letter because that will not go out as a letter from the board. Uh there there have been times

094where Ashley and Cindy will write a letter about board business, but they'll make sure that they sign it. You know, the chair and the vice chair. >> But the one of the things that is important is that if we speak with one voice that we do it. I mean we have to use the one voice and if we all sign the letter 14 people or sorry currently 13 people um are in in unison saying that one thing. So we we haven't done it very often. So this is almost like the first time I think since I've been doing this. Um go ahead. I just wanted to for people who didn't attend the forum, the structure of it was really good um that people wrote their questions in the chat and Steve served as moderator and

095got to each question and I think uh in general the consensus was what you know that it was people felt heard and felt um you know really responded to. So I think that was um a really great format and continue with that. Yeah, I wasn't sure how that would go and it really did go really well. I felt like people took the time to write their question out. They had time and I I was surprised by how well that went. >> Uh yeah, me too. I I thought the board members would like it and the public wouldn't, but in fact, everybody liked it. >> Yep. >> Um okay, moving on. We're going to hear from our special ed folks. John Berliner and Mandy Couturier are gonna give us a discussion about absenteeism and truency procedures.

096>> Dr. Mike's not giving his presentation with questions or no. >> Oh, sorry. I just totally blew >> there's superintendent report. >> I do. Do you have anything to say students? Oh my god. I'm sorry. Students have a presentation. >> Do you have slides and everything? >> Yeah, it shared with Cindy. I know. My god. I'm sorry. No, I don't. You don't. >> I am excited. >> Yes, it is. Yeah. Okay, student report February 11th. Here we go. Oh. Um, so first up, I am lucky enough to be traveling with the school to Rwanda. We leave on Saturday. We will be gone for 3 weeks. Um, and this time we're going to be immersing ourselves in the Rwanda culture. We'll be staying with local families as well as Jesuit centers and all around the country.

097We'll be visiting people as well as genocide memorials and really just immersing ourselves in a culture that has rebuilt after a huge setback. Um we'll be returning on March 6th and we are going to share our experiences through some sort of media project that we will share with the community. So, >> I hope you'll share it with us and we can put it up here. Great. >> Um, the annual rose sale is starting this Friday. Harwood's refugee outreach committee is hosting it um during lunch blocks. Roses are bought and sold for $3. And what's the bene who's the benefactor for that? Do we know? Okay. So, they're raising money for themselves so they can continue to do the great work they do next year. And last week we had a schoolwide dialogue based around the

098the Harwood way which is like the set of values that the administration of Harwood has decided guides um their policym decisions um I don't remember them but um Harwood way we will be ready respectful and responsible and we all belong here but Harkness leaders went to various t no these were I think it was mostly grouped by English classes various English classes were in different spots around the school and hard leaders came and had these discussions and I my discussion went well Emma did you do one went well okay so they all went really well and I'm very happy that we had that discussion because especially for the freshman it's just important that we instill these these values in them >> um on March 5th From 5:30 to 8 in the Hartwood Library, Community Action

099for Racial Equity, or CARE, is hosting a watch and talk about the encampments documentary on the students protests, focusing on the Israel Palestine conflict, and then having a dialogue on it. >> When is that? >> Uh, March 5th. >> At what time? at 5:30 to 8 in this room. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yes, it's a watch and talk. Okay. Our bi-weekly sports update. Um, we have some updated records. Boys basketball, their record is now 8-7. Boys hockey is 13-2. Girls basketball is 6 and 8. Girls hockey is 3 and 12. And gymnastics, Nordic and Alpine, and wrestling don't really have score like records, but they're all doing well. and states are coming up for wrestling I know as well as Nordic I believe. So yeah, gymnastics is doing well. Um sports are going well.

100Any questions for anything? Thank you. That was great. I'm sorry I was not aware and excited about that report. It was great. That's an exciting trip, Charlotte. >> Awesome. >> I'm ecstatic. >> I bet. Um, okay. And last, uh, Dr. Mike, does anyone have any questions? >> Yeah, I I don't have a written report, but I will apologize if you see me on my phone a little more. my my daughter-in-law is in the hospital and is in the process of labor. So, I may be a little distracted, so I will just uh I will own that. >> Um, go ahead, Blang. >> So, I've been asking I've been waiting a while to ask you about this. So, >> sorry. Sorry. It it's I've been I've been a fac and I'm fighting for facet. Um, this

101is not what you think it's about. Uh, and every morning I go Sappa Randall Road to North Fac and I watch the school bus come down. Sometimes the chains are on, sometimes they're not. And the bus driver tells me that other school districts have four-wheel drive buses. And today, I followed a bus up uh centerfaced in Road, which I then later in the afternoon also had some troubles. And I see these traction issues, and I see that we have these two-hour delays. And I happen to be driving through Hinesburg the other day, and I saw a four-wheel drive bus parked in front of their school. And I know that from conversations I've had with bus drivers at when they're fueling up in town that every couple years first student does buy new buses. And I'm

102just wondering what can we do to get one or two four-wheel drive buses for FAN. Um and is there a process to do that because you know they they're really they're really asking that quite a bit. >> I I don't know if Lisa's I'll look to Lisa because it is part of our bid. So, so when the board goes out to bid, there's specs in the bid that says what is specked and and I don't think that has been changed. Um, but that's something if if Lisa is not aware now, we could always come back next week and report on that. >> Um, I I do know we we require um two uh three-year buses that are in within three years. Um I have to go back and look. I don't believe we've required four-wheel

103um but um we would we can make that a part of the next bid process. Um and um but we we have drop down chains on all of the buses. So they're all equipped with drop down chains. >> Yeah, that's that's awesome. I just you know I have to ask because if someone doesn't say something, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take. So >> Well, and like this morning that the challenge this morning is I was up at 4:30. Uh I was checking in with the bus company. We were checking with the road crews and uh we were not hearing major concerns other than that uh the Dubberry crew did tell us that the state had not been through to plow 100 yet, but usually that's resolved by the time our buses hit

104the road. This morning it was not. Uh I got a call from uh our bus transportation company saying they had it was either three or four buses that could not move up the hill. So, it was one of those cases where um it was kind of a the pain now or pay later because the pay later would have been about 3 hours of delays of probably at that point an hour or more for many of our buses. So, so it's it's a challenge with where we live and and the equipment we have and and also I I also watched a report recently that was from a about the border uh and and how drivers between Vermont and New York because of the very different standards that we have for snow removal uh out of concern

105for Vermont. It's not a criticism of things like uh our rivers uh and the environment and kind of the timing they have it and then you factor in our uh the number of dirt hill roads we have in this district. It it makes for a challenging moment with all those things combined. But at the same point um this morning I had one parent contact me and that was a concern because he did not receive a phone call. Um the phone call we checked our logs it went. Sometimes things get missed in transition. Uh, last week we had a delay and it was either last week or two weeks ago I had two calls from Waterberry parents. The first parent called and said, "I can't believe that you only had a delay. You should have canceled

106school." The next parent who called me, and I'm not exaggerating. I can share the emails. The next parent who emailed me said, "Um, I can't believe that you had a 2-hour delay. We should have been in on time." So, that's that's a quick snapshot of 17 years of being a superintendent. that that for the most part, unless unless we have two feet of snow on the ground, uh it it there's always some judgment involved and sometimes you get it right and sometimes you don't, but you always uh go with the best information you have at the time you make the decision. >> Yeah, Vermont kids are tough. I'm glad we still go to school. You know, just got to ask for those four-wheel drive buses. >> Respond to Lang for a minute. I think we

107need to be a little careful not to talk about just getting four-wheel drive vehicles for face. We're talking about a district with a lot of hills and a lot of difficult places. And I understand you're the facet rep and I'm the Dubberry rep, but we're all the reps of all of our towns and all of our roads. So, >> sorry, I I didn't say I went I was talking to a bus driver who drives all the routes. I said, "Where do we need four-wheel drive buses? Where are the big hills?" And she said, "They're really infacing." I anywhere or whether you needed that extra traction, I'm with you. I just Yeah. I I apologize. And then there's the whole mud season thing. I totally get it. I'm just saying maybe a few four-wheel drive buses,

108but you know, can we can we work to start adding those to the fleet? Does that I'm I'm I didn't mean to be I meant to say that. Yes. Thank you. I used the wrong words again. >> I'd like to reserve one of Lang's buses for Weightsfield as well if that's possible. >> Adding Steve more time. >> I just have a question. What is the where are we at in our busing contract? What year are we in? Isn't it one of three years? They've had some changes. Maybe we can make some changes to the discussion. Yeah, maybe. Go ahead, Emily. The direction of this discussion. Um, uh, there has been a lot of comment that we have seen in these last couple of days since we've released the calendar and specifically about the half days.

109I feel as though I remember that there was a survey, but I I don't and it was in December. Um, and so just sort of one of those like tough things about when we work on as a board and we're sending information out the best we can to the public and then that how frustrating it is I think for myself as a board member knowing that this is a topic that was discussed and was shared with the community and unfortunat um Unfortunately, it's sounding like we maybe didn't do a good enough job of sharing why we were thinking about adding these half days and the benefits and the the data. I think I remember Oh gosh, who was it that was sharing? It it doesn't matter. Um I I just feel bad that there's just

110seems like there's a lot of of of stress happening in the community. Um and I and I just wonder Dr. Mike if you can just share briefly a little bit about what has gone behind the consideration of adding these half days and the benefits and the data that shows that there you know what kinds of benefits there there could be. >> And and just a couple of clarifications from Caitlyn's comments. Uh the first one is that this is not the proposed calendar yet. When I shared it earlier this week, what I had said is it's the draft calendar. We have a survey uh that went to staff members, went to parents and we encourage further survey as we refine it. So that was a piece. Uh we did send out an email early December and

111I was just trying to pull it up as you were talking. I did not find it yet. Uh but I I we sent out an email in that email that went to all families. It had a link and let me see if I can find it because that will help. I I sent it this Ashley and Cindy. They were talking. It had a list of the research that the administration a summary of the research the administration and principles have done over the last year. And what I will say with that one, uh, let me find it just so I can I'm I'm quoting exact uh But we did not have a high response rate on that and that went out early December to all families. Um, but we also wanted to make sure we sent

112that out again. So, it is at this point it hasn't been proposed. The other piece and I was a little surprised that Caitlyn mentioned this. Um the statute calls for the superintendent to develop the calendar. Uh there is nothing in our policy or statute for a board approval. So that was one of the questions I asked transitioning in. I just went back through the minutes. Uh the the the board in our district has chosen in recent years since at least unification was what was shared with me that the calendar is presented. So there is not a formal vote on the calendar. So if you look in back agendas going back I went back to 2018. You'll see that uh the the calendar is released by the superintendent. Uh the board of course I work for

113the board. So if the board wants to take action you you could direct me to do something differently. Uh but I can share I was planning to share next week. Uh I was not expected to have questions tonight about that. Um but um that is something that we I'll certainly plan to have some more discussion next week. >> Just to pick up on Emily's comment, I mean I think at the end of maybe what you're getting at and again it's my first meeting so I was hearing this for the first time. This is sort of a simple equation of like we're getting less days. what what's the value for it, right? So, that kind of like that seems like the metric every parent's zeroing in on. And so, it sounds like you just don't know

114what the payoff is or you're trying to remember what it is. And like if if that if we don't if we aren't clear about why we're doing it, that's going to be the headline is that people are just getting less. >> Yeah. And that's something I can certainly share out again as as we kind of finalize the process. Um but the the what what we now this was in addition to the email. It said, "HUSD staff proposal work exploring implementing a shortened staff day, one day per month to provide consistent, high-quality professional learning time for staff while maintaining predictable scheduling for families. The model is designed to strengthen instructional coherence, support continuous improvement, and use contracted staff time efficiently. Several Vermont districts, including many of our neighbors, used early release or delayed starts. In fact,

115one of the things we've learned is that we're in the minority in not having early release and coming from a district that had early release in another state, I was surprised. So, we went through instructional coherence and collaboration, efficient use of what what those different pieces are. Uh, and and one of the other things we started exploring this last year and I've talked to the board a couple of times about it. Uh, when we started talking to the board last year and we started doing research, uh, it was really around academics. But another piece this year is you'll remember from Lisa's presentations that we are reducing uh pretty significantly stipens for teachers academic work for teachers to be part of leadership teams. So we are building another reason for why it's important to have additional

116work. So uh as as the team as we've looked at data uh you know as we look at the the rankings of our schools publications like US News and World Report best elementary and middle schools uh we do very well and the research supports that the that that short bursts of professional development work throughout the year is more effective and has a bigger impact to student performance. So again, I can come back and talk a little bit more eloquently about it next week, but uh there was a lot of thought, a lot of research, a lot of I was trying to find Cindy in my I I look one other place. I wonder if >> I found your email, Dr. Mike. >> I have on my email. I can look at the actual uh responses,

117but it was not a high response rate when we sent that out in in December. Yeah, I received it to my personal email on December 2nd at 3:45 p.m. It is a really well-written three-page document that talks about exactly why we wanted to do it. All the information was sent out to the public. So, it's definitely you definitely put a lot of work into this. >> Was there is there anything to adding days to the school year to buffer that a little bit? We currently have 178 days and we have 10 professional development days. And and the one piece I do want to point out is that people thought that one would replace the other that if we took early release day, we would remove a day from the school calendar. We did remove a

118November professional full professional development day, but teachers are still contracted to work for 188 days. So, so and and the other piece I did want to clarify, uh, we have not asked for, um, waiver days since COVID for all schools. Last year, we did ask for waiver days for Crossit Brook and quite frankly, the main reason is we could have added days on in uh, the third week of June. Uh but my experience in 35 years of working with students K12 is that every day you get past Memorial Day, the more difficult it is. Uh and one of the parents who I spoke with a couple of months ago about this topic, what I shared was one of the challenges I think we have while our calendar in New England and generally in New England

119makes sense of full weeks of February break, a full week of spring break. while they make sense because we don't have a real hot summer until June. Um June is the third week and fourth week of June are very challenging uh for uh for for for focus on learning and sustainability and we felt as a team after reviewing the research that um improving the the quality of time rather than the quantity of time that we already have in a system that's doing well uh was more valuable. Any other questions for Dr. Mike? Um, we can choose to talk about that more next week and we will. It's definitely a topic that I do too. 53 people signed on to his letter. That's a lot of people. Um, okay. We're going to move on uh to

120uh John Berliner and Mandy Coutur are going to give us a presentation about absenteeism and truency procedures. These are the special ed. >> And while they're starting, what I will say is that at last summer's retreat when I asked for the board for topics you wanted to hear about, one of the topics was um our rate of chronic absenteeism. And this is of emphasis not only our district but the state of Vermont. and Jean and Mandy are the people who are putting a lot of time and effort into this and have some good data for us tonight. He's trying to pull it up now. So, um I thank you. Um we're um we don't usually get to come together, so this was great. Um we're usually here one at a time. So um we the

121there's a little bit of history that I just want to say real quick is that lots of people know what truency is. Um and and we have a kind of a working idea of truency and um when um uh students don't come to school and you know the idea of truency officers, things like that. Um and I am I guess really glad to live in a state that's thinking about this um slightly differently. Um and so um there the the buzz word around this is chronic absenteeism. And there is a difference um which we'll get into in a moment. So thank thanks for listening. Go ahead. Um so uh one of the things um that we're asking and making sure is that and this is happening in most of our schools is that when kids

122arrive at school it's not oh great you're here finally or oh why are you late but it's more hey we're so glad you're here. That's the message. Um I just the other day I was at CrossFit delivering something. I'm often delivering mail and there was a note on the um on Anie's desk that said, "We're so glad you're here." And I thought that's the first thing that kids are seeing as they walk in. You know, they have to sign in in the office and that's exactly the message that we want them to hear. So, here's um the like what I started with as far as the definitions. truency really um it just counts unexcused absences and unexcused absences definitionally um different people give might give you different answers but really it's like you're not sick

123it's not for an appointment um and and so it's kind of um an excuse in that way um and truency is rooted in a a compliance with attendance law on on the book that exists The way folks, the state is um is looking at it now is really thinking about chronic absent absences which counts all absences including excused, unexcused and also suspensions. Uh so other reasons that kids might be out of school and it's looking at it more holistically and emphasizing that there is an impact of missing school. no matter what the reason you're missing it, there's impacts of missing school. And so the it's really moving from like a just a compliance like do this because we do it to like let's connect about how we can get you here. Oh, and the the

124definition of chronic absence uh is 10% of the school year, which ends up being about two days a month, which is like 18 days, which when you look at a calendar, that's a whole month of school. So, kids are absent two days a month, they end up missing a whole month of school at the end. And so, why is this a buzz topic? Like, the reason that it was brought to Dr. Mike um probably has to do with this is that there's a lot of articles just this week. John and I got two in our mail in our email boxes about this from local sources. So people are talking about it and um this really skyrocketed during co after COVID, right? Not during but after COVID and folks really thought, "Oh, we'll rebound. It'll go

125right back to how it was in 2018." and it really hasn't in most places. And so that's why folks are talking more about more and more about it. This is just another graph that kind of shows the LA um it ends with 2023. There's more um data, but in 2023, 30% of of Vermont students were chronically absent. Yeah. Which is why folks are talking about it. It's a problem, right? which 2019 was at 18% of Vermont kids. So it's um we're not recovering as fast as we hoped or expected. So you know 30% is almost one in three students and that's you know looking around classrooms um that's one empty seat for for every three um in Vermont schools. Um and some um groups of students are are um over represented in that data. So,

126um, that's 37% of students with disabilities, 41% of students living in poverty, and up to 63% of students experiencing homelessness. Um, so, um, so it's really nice to, you know, look into a problem, but it's even nicer to actually action plan and try to address it, right? So, um just recently the uh Vermont Agency of Education um uh testified and this is right from that and if anybody is interested this that block of um text is a live link but there's it is appears later as well to this testimony. And so the proposed path path forward is really making sure that they update the stat make the law about um uh you know caring about kids being at school and not just about truency and compliance. Um they want to make a new policy for

127statewide pol um a statewidewide policy, excuse me. and then really um support at the state level implementation and assistance at the school and district level. So for us we were like okay what does this mean chronic absenteeism um it it is both an early warning indicator um that something is um that there of things to come. When kids miss school, um they get behind obviously and when kids get behind they leads to maybe school avoidance or um underperforming and there is direct correlation in studies to say that kids have less kids complete high school um who who have chronic absenteeism and that is just going to further impact all of their future options. So, it's better to notice patterns soon and intervene when we can. It also um is a sign that something bigger is

128going on for a kid. It's not just about not coming to school. And I think we all know that. So, some of the root causes to explore when kids aren't coming to school are potential barriers um with transportation, with um having what they need to be there, um basic needs not being met, sort of those sort of things. There's also, you know, issues around disengagement, aversions, and then there's always these misconceptions about what is expected of kids or what why they won't won't come in. So the recommendation at this point is and we've I think that we're do a really good job at this is we're not just using the same old solutions. It's not just oh we're going to send home a letter and we're going to say get your kid to school and

129that's and that's all it's going to take, right? Um communication is key. There's lots of phone calls. Um somebody asked about un um unexcused absences at the elementary school. We don't let just kids not show up, right? We're calling. we're saying, "Hey, you know, um, what's going on? How's your kid? Are they okay?" Those kind of phone calls. Like, communication is key to all of the steps of this. Um, you know, when, uh, students are absent a certain amount of days, usually five, there's an absolutely a phone call or a meeting, um, and and the leaders are asking questions like, "What are the barriers? What what is going on for your student? How can we clear up any misconceptions?" and how can we connect with you and your family and help um this process. So

130which has impacts in all three of these areas connected interconnected um for students well-being. Your turn. >> Thanks Mandy. That was great. >> Not you got the hard part. All right. So what's it look like here at Harwood? Despite the numbers statewide, our numbers are actually significantly lower. Um, in the 2425 school year, we had 13% of Hartwood students who were chronically absent. That's less than half of the statewide average and still way too many here at Hartwood. At the same time, I think the national average is high is about the same. I think uh Vermont it was about Vermont was about the the national average, but Mandy's going to look it up and I'll tell you for sure. So then we started looking at this year a little bit or this school year a

131little bit, right? And in September we had 21%. Just think about the statistics of it a little bit. It's a much smaller sample size. Missing two days if you're sick throughout the school year, not as big of a deal, right? So, we're thinking about different end sizes here a little bit. Um, and then when we went um up to this school year so far, it wasn't today, but it was I think as of last week um that number went down to 12%, missed um 10% of the school year so far, right? That's right. Sort of where we were last year. Um again, too, but we're still not all the way through the school year. So, if the trend continues, you would we're hoping that number goes down even a little bit more this year. But

132the real question is what are we trying to do to to help, right? I mean, until that number is zero, we're going to keep working really hard. So, the reason, one of the main reasons we're here is Mandy and I attended there this conference um earlier in the year. It was down in Killington in November. I believe it was the first snowfall the day opened. I was maybe longingly looking out the window wishing I was skiing. Um but I I I I got it together and Mandy and I participated in this. So So um this everyday counts is an organization. It's run by um a physician at UVM. Her name's um Dr. Heidi Schumacher. Um and she runs this through the VHIP program. We can talk about those details later if you want. Um, but

133it's really putting an emphasis on chronic absenteeism in school and it's really trying to cut through some of those preconceived notions. I think it's important to underline what Mandy was talking about like truency was an arbitrary. It's like what you think about if you were like watching the movie Dazed and confused, right? It's like arbitrary. it's some like scaring you into coming to school and there's very little evidence of it working for a lot of different reasons. Um, and what Dr. Schumacher talks about a lot is that this isn't just a school problem, right? Often times students with chronic absenteeism are not cutting school smoking cigarettes in the parking lot. They are students with chronic health issues that can't come into school. And the the bigger picture isn't why they're not coming, although sometimes that's

134part of the issue. It's when you're not coming, you're not learning the same way. And it's not just about learning the content in your classroom, although that's very important, especially in younger students, you're learning how to socialize. And that is not something that even if you have the world's greatest tutor trying to help you when you're out, that you're going to have that same experience. you're not learning how to be part of a community, how to interact with your peers, how to try to balance different demands throughout the day and all those type of things. So, it's more than just not learning addition and subtraction and and your letters and sounds. There's a a huge part of all of our developments as human beings and members of our community and society that take place in

135our school every day that are very real and not quite as easy to quantify all the time as reading and math scores. Um, and so what was really cool was there were hundreds of people at this conference um from all over the place. There were AOE folks there. There were folks from the medical community. A lot of school people were there. Some from our partnering um designated mental health agencies. So there were a lot of different people there hearing the same thing and it was a really powerful experience. Uh the keynote speaker Dr. Grant um has done did a ton of work on this in Washington DC where she was um I don't remember what her physician was. There she was. I think I think it was assistant superintendent um and she talked a lot

136about that. Um in addition to this, I was actually asked to be part of a group that my my own kids pediatrician's office was putting on and they asked me to be part of it as sort of a school representative. And so I've been doing these meetings talking to families whose kids are experiencing chronic absenteeism and trying to let them know what we as schools can do to try to be helpful around that. Um I think there's a lot of shame sometimes from families associated with it, right? And we're really trying to break down that barrier and that um idea that it's somehow, you know, a parent's fault or or things like that and really wanting to say let's look for a solution. We all want your kid to come to school and let's figure

137out a good way to do that. Um, there is a live link down here for the Everyday Counts website which is an ongoing project if you want to learn more. 25% nationwide and we are it looks like we had 2023 up there for Vermont. It looks like Vermont most recently was about 25% too. So it's still one in four kids who are absent from classrooms. I'm not going to describe the current truency policy because it's kind of um archaic, but if you want to hear about it, you can ask us later. Um but the question is like so what like what are the steps and and the way that it was talked about sort of um from everyday counts is you know the work starting at the state legislature trying to change those things legally

138um moving then to the AOE which is really what sort of tries to take the law and produce sort of um a procedure that we can follow like understanding what we can do then here as a district you know figuring out how we take that and implement it here and then pass that down to all the schools to try to be able to use. So, um there's a lot of good ideas and there's a lot more thought that's been put into it. My experience in this role is sometimes really shining a light on a problem is actually an amazing first step. Um you know, I think we had that experience here in our school district um with restraint and seclusion. Um we that's not to say that a lot of people didn't do a lot

139of work there, but shining a light on that I think was a huge um impact and I'm really hopeful that that will be the case with chronic absenteeism as well. Um, oh, sorry. Um some of the other things that we have access to here um as a school is um Mandy and I have been working with um the UVMC and um one of the school psychologists we work with also is the supervisor of the um pediat of the pediatric psychiatry fellows. And so he has a rotating psychiatrist and a a doctor, a fellow who works every three months or on three-month rotations rather. Um and he comes well it's currently a he but that fellow comes and works with um one or two students and their families to try to provide an extra layer of

140support and coordination. And it's a really cool experience because as a medical doctor, they can really sort of connect with the child's primary care person or the mental health world and really talk all these different languages and then also have the experience of learning a little bit more of what's actually happening in school. You know, they ask specifically to do this because a lot of those doctors don't have the experience of like sort of knowing like what's it like actually being in that school building both for students and for the teachers and other adults there. So that's one of the really cool things we do. Also, um Vermont also has a law called active 64 um which um puts together something we call a coordinated service plan. That's where schools um the designated mental health

141agency in our area that's Washington County mental health and chitten county at the Howard Center. Every area has a designated agency. Um sometimes the department of ch children and family if if they're necessary and we can bring in medical people, mental health professionals, different things and we all come to the table and we can talk about all the different supports that might be available throughout the community and try to coordinate those both to sort of ensure there's not duplication but also just pick the brains of different people with different levels of expertise. Um, so those are sort of some of the things that we have access to right now and that we're using pretty regularly here in the district. And then Mandy wanted Oh, and then the Vermont Agency of Education, um, you know, they're

142taking this seriously, which we really appreciate as well. and and I think they are making that connection that it's really hard to get the outcomes to reduce the uh inequities and to increase the return on our investments here if students aren't in school. It's just you can't really learn that well if you're not in school. So, thanks for listening. We're going to be very open to any questions that you might have even if we don't have all the answers and and um you know showing up and knowing you're invested and and that sense of belonging being such a key component and sometimes feeling um a little vague and because everybody has a different version of belonging but it's one of those things where it's pretty clear you know a student feels it um when you're

143with them one way or the other. Thanks. Open any questions. >> Thank you. That was great. Does anyone have a question? >> Emily, I'm just wondering if any of the the data that we have for the school when it comes to um absenteeism, how much of that might be uh transportation related? because I know at one point, you know, during our discussions, we've talked about some of the obstacles with our busing and um some adjustments to routes and and any number of other factors. So, just curious if um there's any data about um this any of this being related to just transportation obstacles. >> I none of the data shows like a systematic um transportation need. I think um anecdotally we know that sometimes students miss the bus, right, just because they're students and some

144more than others. And then transportation um has become an issue sometimes when the family doesn't have the ability to um bring the child to school if they miss the bus. But systemically transportation isn't hasn't been shown to be one of our issues around that. I will just say the only area where we have had a barrier is if students are experiencing homelessness and not living in the district or um excuse me residing laying their head down it in non-fixed non-permanent housing outside of our district. We do have a systemic issue. Finding transportation to get them here is what I will say is the is one data point that I can say we do have. But other than that, we we when kids aren't in school, we don't mark necessarily if if they're if it's an

145excused absence. They may put a note, but they it might not say it was due to transportation. It's more something we find as we dig a little deeper and we start talking about barriers um that we find out things like that. >> And I would just add for new board members, we we've talked about the McKini Vento homeless act before uh but just in case not everyone's aware, if a student becomes homeless while in uh our our district or in any district, they have a right to remain there. even if they are living in a shelter and we've had some students who are living in shelters in you know Burlington area, Williston area. So we we're required to provide transportation. So that is what they're referred to. Sometimes it's we've had situations where it gets

146challenging to find a provider. We we've done that but sometimes it can be difficult >> and the opposite is true. So if a student was attending school in in Willist or and and end up um changing and moving to the to the shelters that are within our district, we then have to be part of the solution of getting them to their home school as well. If that makes sense. >> It's um looking at the numbers here, it looks like, you know, statewide it was 25% last year and we were 13. So, it seems like we're doing a pretty good job. It sounds like we have a lot of outreach going on to really understand our numbers. Um, what is the like percentage level where we can look at it and say we're doing everything we

147can to get all the students here today? Because I don't think 0% is ever going to be realistic, but like what is it when we can look at is it going to be 10%, 5% when we're like, wow, we're doing everything we can do. This is our policies and procedures are right on track. Like what's that going to look like? I I don't know the number, but I I guess what I feel good about is that one, our numbers look a lot like they did po precoid, which is like what the state was hoping we'd bounce back for. And I don't I should pull up that number what our district was. I don't know that I have it at my fingertips, but I can find it. Um the other thing I'm really happy about is

148that I think it's going to be an easy transition to the new policy when uh when I read over what the state uh the AOE is putting out and the state is working towards we embrace that. Um and so we're we have already moved away from that compliance to connection but while keeping in mind there are laws that exist and we're we're keeping those in mind. Um, so I feel like we're in a good place as far as that goes. But I agree, we're not probably going to get zero. However, I, you know, we just want to keep the number as low as we can keep it and keep and get the kids into school. >> Agreed. And I'll just add sometimes it's thinking about like do we feel like the policies and the systems

149are in the place we want to be? um you know in terms of that piece at the end of the day you're right like we're not going to have enough control over the situation to be be at zero but you know seeing continual declines or like a plateau at a low number I think is is what we would be looking for. Um, and just one other question. I had a friend in a different school district who was Jewish and her kids kept missing school and she got a letter saying, "Your kids are missing school." And it turned out then the next year the school calendar changed to accommodate the the holidays. Have we done all those like simple fixes too to make sure our calendar reflect is reflective of religious holidays that might be observed?

150>> There's lots of holidays. not gonna but I I think in in terms of how that impacts um thinking about chronic absenteeism, I think that's a really good example of like how the truency policy isn't really getting us what we want, right? Because the truency policy is just like you're not here, you get a form letter, then some sort of vague threat that, you know, if you don't do something different, something something worse is going to happen. And I think what where we're moving and what we're doing here is knowing that that's what's happening like all that communication and if it's proactive or we know from year to year then we can say okay we know this isn't going to happen. We can try to plan for it better. We're not going to ask you

151to come to school during a religious observance. But the more proactive we can be in like knowing a student's not there and why they're not there. like that's the part of the process that's much more helpful and doesn't feel as arbitrary impunitive as as the try policy and >> it really is kind of student by student right I mean you really you're >> yeah there's definitely no one answer >> no um any more questions these guys go ahead Bobby >> I can give an example from when I was working in a school in part of the area that I got involved in with truency or this chronic absenteeism and you know one of our students who eventually graduated and went to Harvard but had um chronic um asthma and it would affect but she was

152a stellar student. So you know really in and I remember when we were rein enforcing the policy and the parent was pretty livid that we weren't taking that into account. So I think that's it's really a good step. >> Yeah, we kind of don't have that flexibility with the way the truency policy is right now. So it's just another good piece of moving away from it yet. >> Thank you both. We appreciate that. >> Okay. Uh we are winding down right now. The last piece of business is the consent agenda. Uh that is going to include approving the minutes from 121, approving the allstate music festival field trip request, approving the board warrants in the amount of Okay. >> Go ahead, Dan. >> I don't have access to the field trip request. Can you put

153that up on the screen to take a quick peek at it? You >> should. Hold on. >> Let me just see. >> Is she good? >> Ashley, I do have Let me just talk about the field trip. Yeah, go ahead. So, just to let you know on the field trip, it does have it clicked off. The general fund will be used. Um, and Molly has not had a chance to re uh submit this. The only general fund will be used. It would be part of their field trip busing. Um, all other expenses for this trip for the chaperons and the hotel and the lodging will be um either donations or fundraised. So only busing for students busing and it would be a part of the general fund and and each school is allocated field trip

154money and it would be coming out of that operational budget for their field trip. So I just want to clarify that Dan I just emailed it to you. Cindy's trying to bring it up. I was able to open it though. Is that the way I That's Can you screen share? Can you screen share, Lisa? But that's not the he was asking for the actual the field trip request which I just Yeah, just a Dan, Cindy has it up now. Is there something specific you want? Specific area you want? >> It's up now. >> Yeah, thanks. I see it. I just wanted to take a quick peek at it before voting because I didn't have access to it ahead of time. >> No problem at all. I'm good if that's all you're waiting for. Uh, he's

155good. Okay. What I need from you, Cindy, is that number for the warrants. 47,000 5 400. Okay. $47,523 58 is the amount of the warrant. And then last is the letter to the legislative de delegation that we talked about earlier. I guess we added. I don't think we do. I think that was We'd already tacked it on. Correct. So, we're good there. All right. So, for the first three pieces, the warrant, the music festival field trip request, and the meeting minutes from 121, do I have a motion? >> I motion that we approve the January 21st, 26 meeting minutes. We approve the allstate music festival field trip request and approve the board warrant for $47,523.58. >> Do we have a second? Second from Emily. All those in favor say I. I. Looking for one more

156motion. >> I motion to adjurnn. >> We already did it. Already did it. All right. Second on the All those in favor