August 20, 2025 School Board Meeting

001SBSD Owl Camera: Alright, ready? Okay, we're live. SBSD Owl Camera: So I'd like to call to order the August 20th, 2025 school board meeting for the South Burlington School District. SBSD Owl Camera: The first item on our agenda is a projected executive session. SBSD Owl Camera: I would entertain a motion to find that premature public knowledge of what we're going to talk about in the executive session, namely employment of a public officer or employee, receiving confidential attorney-client communications for the purpose of providing legal services to the board, and labor negotiations would put the district at a significant disadvantage. SBSD Owl Camera: I'm off. SBSD Owl Camera: Second. Any discussion? SBSD Owl Camera: All those in favor? Aye. Great. And, it's possible that District Council will be joining us for that executive session. And we'll return

002to regular order, SBSD Owl Camera: Once we're done. Oh, and we all… and now we have to do the executive session. Okay. So I would entertain a motion to enter into executive session. I will move to enter into executive session. Is that a second? SBSD Owl Camera: Second. Go ahead. I second. Okay. Any discussion? SBSD Owl Camera: All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Great. SBSD Owl Camera: Alright, we're now in executive session. SBSD Owl Camera: Alright, I'd like to call the August 20th, 2025 regular SBSD Owl Camera: school board meeting of the South Burlington School District back into order. We had an executive session SBSD Owl Camera: to discuss employment of a public officer employee, to receive confidential attorney-client communication for the purposes of legal services to the board, and, labor negotiations. SBSD Owl Camera:

003And, now our first… SBSD Owl Camera: item on the agenda is announcements and amendments to the agenda. I have one amendment. The discussion of… SBSD Owl Camera: The new cell phone procedures will be moved to the September 3rd meeting. SBSD Owl Camera: Does anybody else have any announcements for amendments to the agenda? SBSD Owl Camera: The only thing I would like to ask is, I did send around the draft agenda on the new template, and I don't know if we want to take a peek at that. Yes, I have it pulled up for that. Okay, and just to share, like, hey, this is what it looks like, and I think there's an opportunity to… SBSD Owl Camera: Further discuss what… SBSD Owl Camera: those different boxes are that we're checking. I pointed that to you

004guys, too, so you have it. Okay. … SBSD Owl Camera: Yeah. So I think we should show it. Okay. And then, I don't think we should discuss it, but, … SBSD Owl Camera: Or, you know, you could make an announcement about it, but we'll… Yeah, I just want to… SBSD Owl Camera: I have a couple of points I'd like to end about. Yep. SBSD Owl Camera: share my screen for that. And I don't know when the time is to do that, I'm just making that announcement. I think we should… I think we should show, because that's an outcome of what we had last for, but… SBSD Owl Camera: Okay, I couldn't be… So this is a… an example, or the drop template, for what an agenda… what our new agenda may look like, and this

005was… SBSD Owl Camera: developed based on, Laura, Emily, and I participated in a VSBA training session a few months ago, and, this was… SBSD Owl Camera: one of the teachers that got up and spoke. This was an example from… from their school district. So I looked at this, I forget where it was. Where… where is she? Debbie Sennheiser? Debbie Rutland. Rutland? Yeah. And then I also looked at Essex. And I looked at Essex, and I looked at Burlington, and I also went and I looked at… SBSD Owl Camera: … I forget if it was which… which… SBSD Owl Camera: house breakout group it was from the state, but I also looked at that, and that's where I came up with the idea on the side, to do the informed, discuss, decide. And I think what

006would be really helpful is… well, okay, so if you scroll to the top, I'll start at the very top. SBSD Owl Camera: So we have, you know, public notice, where it is, we have the link here, so we don't have all the call-in information, but it's just link into if you want to participate remotely, and then we kept the QR code for the media factory. We've got our ends. SBSD Owl Camera: And then, as we get into, like. SBSD Owl Camera: the, executive session. Where it's applicable, I included the Vermont statutes, so you have the Vermont statutes that are summarized there, and then I broke out what the specific items were that we would be discussing in executive session. And then as you go down the regular meeting called order, I added in the Pledge

007of Allegiance, because that aligns with the South Burlington SBSD Owl Camera: City Council, when we went to the City Council meeting, and I think it's a good thing to do, personally, but… SBSD Owl Camera: Then we've got our announcements, and then review and accept agenda, and then the treatment of community, I elaborated on Policy 2.3, and broke into that, you know, we can amend what that language is in there, but it kind of provides an overview of SBSD Owl Camera: what public comment is, and how you have an opportunity to comment, but it's not going to be an opportunity to dialogue with the board. And so we put that in there. SBSD Owl Camera: And then the next thing… so yeah, where that was appropriate, but then I referenced the appropriate policies. The thing that

008I think that we could improve upon is SBSD Owl Camera: having in those buckets the checkboxes on the side is more clarity regarding, you know, hey, if this is just, we're informing versus the discuss, decide, and where does the public have the opportunity to engage, I think would be really helpful. The last thing that was on there on the very bottom, if you SBSD Owl Camera: I'm not seeing a screen anymore. SBSD Owl Camera: Wash your screen. If you go to the very bottom. The other thing that's new in here is the board meeting evaluation, and I don't know if you are able to open that. SBSD Owl Camera: But that is something that we also got from the VSBA, that at the end of every meeting, you just take, like, 2 minutes, and you

009go through and you score the board on how did we do during our meeting. Were we prepared? SBSD Owl Camera: Did we have ownership linkage? Did we, you know… it goes through all of these topics. So this came from VSBA as an example that they use in order to drive continuous improvement in their meetings, and SBSD Owl Camera: just transparency regarding how prepared folks are, and how we're plugging into things. So, anyway, that's it. So, I think that during… SBSD Owl Camera: agenda planning, we should consider talking about that, for a future… for a future board meeting to finalize that, or maybe to go to a committee system, and then let the committee work on that, and then come back. Any other announcements and amendments? SBSD Owl Camera: Alright, the next section is comments from

010the public. SBSD Owl Camera: And, I want to remind people that in our new public participation policy. SBSD Owl Camera: This is where the public is encouraged to comment on all SBSD Owl Camera: possible topics. You could talk about anything you want. And, if we had any… well, on… only on action items. SBSD Owl Camera: Will we take… SBSD Owl Camera: further public comment. So, for example, tonight, we'll take public comment right before we appoint the new school board members. However, we will not take public comment around discussion items. So, with that, I'd like to open it up for public comment. SBSD Owl Camera: Yeah. SBSD Owl Camera: I'll just raise up. SBSD Owl Camera: Oh yeah, absolutely. Please. SBSD Owl Camera: Can I just clarify, is it okay… can you say your name and

011where you're from? I know where you're from. My name is Kate Jarvis, I'm a resident and parent of, twins at South Burlington High School. SBSD Owl Camera: Just wanted to clarify, is it appropriate to make a comment about SBSD Owl Camera: cell phone policy, even though it's not going to be discussed tonight? Okay, so then, having said that… we… we… SBSD Owl Camera: we, as a family, discussed the cell phone courtesy, and, my one kiddo, Tumor, had some interesting thoughts which I thought were relevant. … Would you speak up just a little bit? Bring this closer to the chair, Jugger. So… SBSD Owl Camera: the thought was, I know the policy is no phones from 9am to 3.25, or bell to bell. … SBSD Owl Camera: Juniper wondered if… SBSD Owl Camera: There will be

012a problem with kids retaining their phones if they're allowed to have them from the time that they arrive at school SBSD Owl Camera: Until the time the bell goes. And, so they thought there might be some temptation to hold onto your phone if you've had it for the last hour, or however long you've been at school. The other thought was, if the phones, when they need to be put away, are either at home, in cars, or in lockers. SBSD Owl Camera: … SBSD Owl Camera: the… if… if your locker is in, like, the world language hallway, but your first or last class happens to be in the science hallway, which is, like, I guess a million miles away, not quite in there, but, … SBSD Owl Camera: Would it be problematic Going to put your

013phone in your locker, … SBSD Owl Camera: If you've got to race to the other side of the school in order to get your class, or at the end of the day, if you've got to go from, like, the science to world language to get your phone, and then catch the bus, like, does it involve… is there enough time? SBSD Owl Camera: … There was also a comment, that someone made about… SBSD Owl Camera: Do they feel like their phones would be safe? SBSD Owl Camera: in the lockers, like, would kids be tempted to break in, or steal them, or whatever? I'm just relaying information that was passed to me. So, but I thought, I thought Jennifer's comment or question about SBSD Owl Camera: You know, what happens before the first bell, was in terms

014of kids returning their phones, or, you know, not wanting to really give them up, was relevant. SBSD Owl Camera: So, thank you very much. SBSD Owl Camera: Is there any other public comment? SBSD Owl Camera: Alright, so… Seeing none… Our next, agenda item is focused on student learning. SBSD Owl Camera: Thank you, Miss. SBSD Owl Camera: On August 25th, there will be an open building day at Epic TMS. Students will get the chance to see the new classes and see their peers after a long summer. Students will also get their schedules on this Open Building Day. Other preschool-specific events and open house information can be found in the school's newsletter and on their homepage. SBSD Owl Camera: South Burlington High School students' class schedules are currently available to see on PowerSchool. We want to remind

015students that to sign in, you go onto PowerSchool, you enter your student username and password, and then you navigate to the Schedule tab to see your personal schedule. SBSD Owl Camera: The middle school has new bus routes for the 25-26 school year. It can be found on the FHTMS website. SBSD Owl Camera: All middle school students, make sure to check your bus barrel and their rescue schedule accordingly. SBSD Owl Camera: And school photos begin soon for most of the districts, so high school's photos will take place on August 28th and 29th, and the middle schools on September 3rd. Please look at your school's specific homepage to learn more about your school pictures. SBSD Owl Camera: The South Brampton High School has adopted a new phone policy for this coming school year. Please look at the

016high school's August newsletter for more details, and if you'd like to learn more, we'll be discussing this at the board on September 3rd. SBSD Owl Camera: And then Mom and I met with Nicole Carter yesterday to finalize, and today, actually, to finalize our convocation address, and we're super excited to share it, as well as offer high schoolers' perspective on the theme supporting students as well, so that will happen tomorrow morning. And I know a couple of you will be there, too. On that note, could you remind me who's gonna be there tomorrow? SBSD Owl Camera: Okay, so I was wondering if one of you guys could record it, so Allie could see it, and so I can share it with my family and stuff. And then… SBSD Owl Camera: Also, on that note, is… SBSD

017Owl Camera: the off chance that this meeting running super late, it would be fine if I head out early, so that I can make sure I sleep before tomorrow. What time is it tomorrow? I need to be there at 8. Okay, but what time does it kick off? Is it 8.30? SBSD Owl Camera: It's, 8.30, until following 10.30. Okay. Yeah, you need to go to that. What time's it to practice? SBSD Owl Camera: practice today. Oh, okay. I'd also like to inform you all that I will unfortunately be missing the next couple of board meetings as my volleyball game schedule changed this year, and it's now on Wednesdays and Fridays. So, I will be watching the meeting recordings afterwards, sharing my thoughts with Momin, which he'll be able to bring back to you guys if

018I have anything. SBSD Owl Camera: And I have full confidence on him to run… run the ship alone, but I wanted to take the time to inform you guys about that. SBSD Owl Camera: Good luck this season, man. Thank you. Yeah, I'm running around today and didn't have time to take him off, so… SBSD Owl Camera: Just for clarity, 7.30 to 8.15 is a meet and greet. … SBSD Owl Camera: Jen, and then, actual convocation starts at 8.15. SBSD Owl Camera: But it ends at 10.30. It ends at 10.30. SBSD Owl Camera: Give or take. SBSD Owl Camera: And that's all we have. SBSD Owl Camera: Thank you. So, the next item is, school board candidate interviews, but since we're running about 13 minutes early, the suggestion is to move the consent agenda forward. SBSD

019Owl Camera: So do I have… agreement from the board to move the consent agenda forward. SBSD Owl Camera: You're… Okay, so… We'll move on to condense agenda. SBSD Owl Camera: … Are there any comments that you'd like to make about those? SBSD Owl Camera: There are no comments other than we're super excited to have, new folks working with us. We had quite a few on the last agenda, and we have some more on this agenda, and we're really SBSD Owl Camera: Happy to be as close to full staff as we can. SBSD Owl Camera: Awesome. I've been noticing on the social media, you get to meet the new people who are coming, in this year. There's, like, a little profile on each of the new… Yeah, the high school's doing that with their… with their

020new hires, and I think people are… the… I think people are really enjoying that. Yeah. Yeah. SBSD Owl Camera: Are there any other questions, Bob? SBSD Owl Camera: Now, the only thing I just wanted to mention, and I only knew this because I created the draft agenda, is that the AP orders, one of them is 1097, and the other one is 1098, so it looks like 1098 is referenced twice. SBSD Owl Camera: But one's 9-8, and one's 9-7. SBSD Owl Camera: Thank you. Thanks. Good in touch. … SBSD Owl Camera: is… and on the driver's education car, I think I saw that that was, like. SBSD Owl Camera: $20 a day, or something like that. Is that a deal that we get from them? So… SBSD Owl Camera: Apparently, this hasn't been something that's been

021on this… the consent agenda for a while, however… Yeah, it's, G. Marie Clark, had suggested that we put that on there, so… just so that folks were aware of it, you know, the idea behind having a leased car is something that's… SBSD Owl Camera: Newborn car, we don't have to worry about maintenance, and… SBSD Owl Camera: Just important to have something that's ready to go for our students. It's all the current safety features students. It does. SBSD Owl Camera: So this is something that's new, we wanted to ensure that we had it on the agenda, so… or on the consent agenda. SBSD Owl Camera: Electronic, that's a good ad. SBSD Owl Camera: … SBSD Owl Camera: So, I keep… I forget this every time. Do we need to take a motion on this, or is

022this… SBSD Owl Camera: As long as we're… SBSD Owl Camera: we need to be in agreement with this, because it has been decided. So we should take that motion. So I would entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. SBSD Owl Camera: I move to approve the consent agenda. SBSD Owl Camera: Is there a second. Any discussion? SBSD Owl Camera: All as a favorite. SBSD Owl Camera: Right, so the motion passes. SBSD Owl Camera: We are now running 10 minutes early. SBSD Owl Camera: We have a question that I forgot to ask earlier on when we were speaking. SBSD Owl Camera: You asked about filming Allie, I want to make sure I have this right, or filming tomorrow. So, you mean the speech that you guys have been working on? Yeah. You'd like us to

023be able to kind of be away, you know, film you while you're up on stage. Will that be filmed by you guys? I don't believe that we're filming, our, … SBSD Owl Camera: convocation tomorrow. We might be able to, if that's a thing you're not sure… I don't… oh, no, no, I should make sure I do the right thing. I'm totally happy to do it. I just want to be in the right place at the right time, so… Yeah, we're taking pictures. We have someone taking pictures for the awards and for different opportunities, but we don't have time today. SBSD Owl Camera: No problem. I'll just check with you in the morning about, like, when to expect that they'll be going and get in place. I won't be personally giving the speech, as I'm on

024the peer leadership training, but I want to see if we'll just do it, so… SBSD Owl Camera: Thank you. SBSD Owl Camera: So since we're 9 minutes early, I was gonna suggest that we, SBSD Owl Camera: look at, agenda planning? Yeah. SBSD Owl Camera: So, I'm gonna pull up the Ember 3rd draft agenda. SBSD Owl Camera: And I think that if we… SBSD Owl Camera: Is that okay with everybody? It's… oops. SBSD Owl Camera: And if we need more time. SBSD Owl Camera: So this is the draft agenda for September 3rd. SBSD Owl Camera: we're monitoring equity. Will that still be possible? Yes. And we have, quite a bit of time for that. SBSD Owl Camera: … I think this… the superintendent report. Can we add the, cell phone? Yes. SBSD Owl Camera: So, that's

025when we were talking about it. Did you have another… So, here's… … SBSD Owl Camera: Since that is in the acting superintendent's report, would the public be able… would they only be allowed to comment on it during… SBSD Owl Camera: popular comment. SBSD Owl Camera: Yes. Yeah. Are you concerned? No. No, that's a great question, because… SBSD Owl Camera: Because we'll be discussing, we're not taking action. Yeah. I'm so bummer because we're gonna be here during that task. High school's going to be the toughest. SBSD Owl Camera: Yeah. SBSD Owl Camera: So that's where I think, in the new agenda, that if we're going to go in that direction, I think we need to be very clear where we will take comment. SBSD Owl Camera: in those boxes. Like, this is informed aside, but we

026need to say we're taking action, like, in public… maybe there's a section there, like, public comment acceptable or something, and we can check it, so that people know when they get here, okay, this is when we have an opportunity to weigh in and when we don't. SBSD Owl Camera: Because it gets too confused. I'm still confused. You could, well, it's a… yeah, so on an action item, and instead of the three boxes, you'll have four, right, and then you have a couple columns. SBSD Owl Camera: Put a check in on. SBSD Owl Camera: The only other thing I would add, Seamus, if possible, is, I mean, from what I've seen from other school board meetings, they really are, like, 2 hours. So, even this one, because we've got our executive session, and then we're consent

027agenda, I don't know what time we adjourned it, probably is, like, 9.05 or 9-10. SBSD Owl Camera: It just… and maybe… SBSD Owl Camera: we can… we can look and see how we're doing tonight, but it seems like we are becoming very efficient, and I think there's an opportunity to reduce some of this. SBSD Owl Camera: And just give us out of here by January 1st. So how about I ask Delina to just reduce everything by 5 minutes, and we'll keep doing that until we have a show. I do know I've heard that the… the equity monitoring will be extensive and take a while, just to be there for next time. SBSD Owl Camera: So, Monica asked for about an hour and a half, and so we added some time then for some questions as

028well. SBSD Owl Camera: Okay. SBSD Owl Camera: And then I just wanted to mention SBSD Owl Camera: So I think this is fine for September 3rd. September 10th. SBSD Owl Camera: We're having a special board meeting. SBSD Owl Camera: And we are hoping to be able to… to make final decisions about an interim superintendent, we're hoping, on September 10th. SBSD Owl Camera: And then on September 17th, which is the regularly scheduled board meeting, we will have a, … SBSD Owl Camera: a community forum. SBSD Owl Camera: with the new superintendent. And so there will be… will be light on business items. SBSD Owl Camera: with the intention that the community can have a back and forth, not only with the board, but also with the new superintendent. So that'll be… SBSD Owl Camera: September 17th,

029don't miss them. SBSD Owl Camera: Yeah, and then I really do hope we get back to just two meetings a month. It is a real strain on the staff. SBSD Owl Camera: I've got, you know, IT here, and then, SBSD Owl Camera: you know, Delina and the other people, they have to listen to these five-hour meetings and transcribe, and so it is a lot of stress and strain on the staff, which is another good reason to keep it to two, two and a half hours. That's best practice anyway. SBSD Owl Camera: So, because once we get this going, I would say. Great. Any other thoughts on… September 3rd. SBSD Owl Camera: Okay, great. So, we're 4 minutes early, so I think we should take a recess. SBSD Owl Camera: And restart at 6.30. SBSD Owl

030Camera: Yeah, just so we make sure that everybody is here. Presenting. SBSD Owl Camera: Theoretically. SBSD Owl Camera: Yes. Like, the leadership thing is supposed to get back in, but when the dog passed the screen, that runs a little late. SBSD Owl Camera: I think we'll get started again. SBSD Owl Camera: … SBSD Owl Camera: So, is… Make sure that everybody's here. SBSD Owl Camera: Is… Dr. CG here. SBSD Owl Camera: Oh yeah, she's just in the bathroom. Okay, alright, so we'll look there for a minute. Is Mr. Smith here? Yes. Is Mr. Harger here? Yep. His lawyer? SBSD Owl Camera: And Galvez? Okay, great, so we're just gonna wait for Dr. CG, and then… Start over. SBSD Owl Camera: Oh, you're here, great. Honor, Doctor. All right. Great. Hi, Doctor. Okay, so I think,

031if all the candidates for the school board vacancy would come up to the, the spots up here. SBSD Owl Camera: I think we have 5 chairs. SBSD Owl Camera: Just good. SBSD Owl Camera: Alright, now you know. SBSD Owl Camera: And, … Dan Boyer is recusing from this discussion. SBSD Owl Camera: And decision up. SBSD Owl Camera: So, the way that we're gonna… so, first of all, thank you for applying to fill the vacancy in the school board. We very much appreciate your interest and involvement. SBSD Owl Camera: We're going to ask the same SBSD Owl Camera: questions that were in the application, so… SBSD Owl Camera: basically interest, experience, and, and issues, right? But… SBSD Owl Camera: And so, you're welcome to repeat, to a certain extent, what you already submitted on your form

032with any other thoughts that you have. And we're gonna go… for each question, everybody's gonna answer, and then we'll go to the next question, everybody's gonna answer, and the next question everybody's gonna answer. And… SBSD Owl Camera: Before we start asking the questions, I wanted to give the board a chance to, … SBSD Owl Camera: Say, if there's anything you wanted to ask the candidates to elaborate on or to focus on in their responses. SBSD Owl Camera: So, board members, do you have any thoughts about… Well, just that I'm going to be doing the timekeeping, just like, so 2 minutes, and I'll just give you the hand. So, that's what I have to say. SBSD Owl Camera: Any thoughts for the candidates before they answer? I mean, I just am extremely grateful for everybody who

033applied. I mean, truly, we're so happy to see all of you here tonight, really. SBSD Owl Camera: And no, I'm just excited. And because there is only two, I'm sure you're probably going to speak with this, but there's only two seats that we're filling. I'm really hopeful that folks, if it doesn't… SBSD Owl Camera: happen this time, but we will definitely consider running in March, because we need active members of our community involved in this board. SBSD Owl Camera: Yep. SBSD Owl Camera: My only thought for your responses was if you could also elaborate a bit on you're… SBSD Owl Camera: Role as representatives of the taxpayer. SBSD Owl Camera: In addition to anything else you have in your, in your responses. SBSD Owl Camera: Great. So… SBSD Owl Camera: I'm going to ask the

034first question, and we'll start with you, Dr. CG, and we'll go this way. SBSD Owl Camera: I should start with you and go this way, I'll come back to you and go back that way. SBSD Owl Camera: … And then, multiple questions here. SBSD Owl Camera: So the first, question… is… SBSD Owl Camera: What interests you about becoming a school board member, and what strengths do you bring to the role? SBSD Owl Camera: First of all, good day. I am Dr. Aliyah Callaghadib, better known as Dr. CG, Coach CG, out of South Arlington District. SBSD Owl Camera: I'm here to… to serve, as now we're currently moved, so that's how Burlington, and also in parallel, SBSD Owl Camera: I worked with the middle school as well, in high school, as a coach. SBSD Owl Camera:

035I believe that I… that we need to be more involved with advocating for, not only for our community, but our students and faculty. Our… the morale for South Burlington School District faculty, with so many different transitions and stuff like that. SBSD Owl Camera: Two years ago, I was approached by the teachers' union to serve, and at that point, I wasn't going to commit because I was a transit provider. SBSD Owl Camera: At the same time. So now, I'm invested as a homeowner. I want to do more, and we want public service, to other facilitate for SBSD Owl Camera: The school district, as well as the community, students, faculty, and families. SBSD Owl Camera: And so, my leadership skills is, very diversified. SBSD Owl Camera: I have all the way up to a doctorate's degree. I've

036worked in nonprofits as a vice president for global ministry for numerous years. SBSD Owl Camera: As an educator, I've worked in those schools, when they were sitting in homeschool, we brought them to Vermont. SBSD Owl Camera: And also, as a public service, I work with governments, where I deal with community mobilization and outreaching. I'm very… I'm a very strong advocate for SBSD Owl Camera: The students, and also, active, Person serves with some sword. SBSD Owl Camera: With the middle school with, this awesome. And so I believe that, by active, active commitment and being very progressive, we need to have a reflection of our community that's serving the board, and those who are willing to basically, SBSD Owl Camera: After we get things done, it's hard to sleep with no tourist service. That one plugs into

037me, so that's why I'm good. SBSD Owl Camera: Thank you, Children. SBSD Owl Camera: My name's Tim, nice to see you all. SBSD Owl Camera: My interest is mostly a result of the fact that this is… I'm starting my seventh year in South Burlington, and I've seen a lot of change and dissension, and it feels like there's a lot of bad blood out there. And I'm pretty concerned about the way that that is SBSD Owl Camera: having an effect on the schools. I have a 5-year-old and a 9-year-old. SBSD Owl Camera: So far, I haven't seen any effect, on the education that the 9-year-old has gotten. 5-year-old's about to start in a week. SBSD Owl Camera: And so I have some personal investment in that regard, but I also feel like… SBSD Owl Camera: One

038of the reasons that we moved to Vermont was… SBSD Owl Camera: the public schools are pretty well known for being… or spoken about very highly, and I'm concerned about the way that things seem to be heading. I feel like some skills that I bring are that I'm currently an educator. I've been an educator for 25 years. I've always been in the independent system. SBSD Owl Camera: And, as I've… so I have a fair amount of ed… experience in education, SBSD Owl Camera: I feel like I'm a pretty good listener, and I'm pretty good at seeing different sides of the issue, and I… I guess the reason that I decided to finally step forward was that I thought that SBSD Owl Camera: I would like to try to help bring the different parties together. I think

039we all actually have the same goal in mind of educating our students really well, and giving them a good start, and I would like to try to help SBSD Owl Camera: heal the rifts that are out there, many of which I have seen in news and things like that, but I'm sure a lot that I don't know about. And I would… that's… that's my goal, is to try to, do what I can to help out in that regard. SBSD Owl Camera: If I can just ask real quick, can we just have everyone introduce themselves as they go through? Because I… I know, but just, again, thank you for stating your name, but yeah, that's a bad part. So, our first speaker was Dr. CG, our second speaker was Mr. Harker. Harker. Harker. SBSD Owl Camera:

040Yep. SBSD Owl Camera: I am Michelle Moyer. … My interests, my… in serving on the board is… SBSD Owl Camera: Really centers around my larger experience, my professional life, my academic training. SBSD Owl Camera: From that perspective, I know that this is where it happens, this is where the students are, this is where we have what we call local control. SBSD Owl Camera: I work a lot with states, state departments of education, I've worked at the national level on national assessments, even internationally. So I do bring that perspective. I work with many districts throughout, SBSD Owl Camera: the U.S, and so with that, I will say a little bit about what my SBSD Owl Camera: perhaps my relevant experience, perspective, sales are, which are that I have spent the last 25 years working, in the

041area of educational research, measurement, and accountability. SBSD Owl Camera: Primarily working at the state level, but more and more lately, at local levels as well. SBSD Owl Camera: My training, my academic training is actually… SBSD Owl Camera: kind of varied. I did one of those… not quite a U-turn, but maybe a right turn or a left turn. I started out very social science, had, you know, policy, government, I have a bachelor's in government. SBSD Owl Camera: and policy, political science, a master's in public administration with an administrative management concentration, and I also have a PhD in research, educational measurements, and, all that is to say, what I'm, what I think I'm very good at doing is SBSD Owl Camera: Reporting, documenting, interpreting what we're seeing, and I come with some pretty deep concerns about our

042SBSD Owl Camera: our historical, I'll say, implementation of policy governance. I think it favors certain parts, and to the disadvantage of the actual leadership and authority structures. SBSD Owl Camera: You'll think that's time? Oh, yeah, all right. That's me. SBSD Owl Camera: Thank you. SBSD Owl Camera: Finger scrimmage. SBSD Owl Camera: Yes. First of all, thank you to the board for letting… giving us the opportunity to join. I appreciate it. My name's Austin Smith, I'm a resident of South Burlington, a parent of two students in South Burlington District, 11318. SBSD Owl Camera: So, Seamus, I think you have wanted us to speak about who we are. So, I'm a Vermont resident, I was educated in Vermont, had a lot of wonderful experiences and memories here in Vermont recently moved back to the purpose of raising

043our children with the same education system that I have been from. SBSD Owl Camera: So, I'm a parent, my parents witnessed challenging school districts, where we spoke previously, with one problem learning who's one pillow figure. SBSD Owl Camera: I'm also an entrepreneur, so I like to build high-performing teams and businesses. I'm also a real estate investor, and you had also asked us to speak about our role as a taxpayer, and as somebody who wants to do business and development and build teams here, I want to make sure that our tax dollars are going towards SBSD Owl Camera: Something that is really high impact for our students. SBSD Owl Camera: So, what do I think I'm going to help bring to the school district? SBSD Owl Camera: … SBSD Owl Camera: there's a lot of ambition

044to do wonderful things on behalf of our students, and there are so many ways our district can serve our students, and I worry that it's very easy to loot and forget that our main constituent is our students. There are so many things that we might want to do to communicate with the community, or to communicate with our neighbors, who are all stakeholders in what this field does, but SBSD Owl Camera: I want to remind this very single-minded focus back to serving our students as our main constituents, to make sure we're building an environment where they can thrive, to make sure we're finding all of our students the individual unique skills, and helping them develop to be our most successful people. SBSD Owl Camera: There are so many people who have opinions about what the school

045district should be doing, and how the school district maybe should be serving them, or whatever their initiative is, but I really want to join the board and remind ourselves every single day that our main responsibility, our main constituents, are our students, and that those are the people we need to serve. SBSD Owl Camera: There's been a lot of distractions in the news, and some people are still good about those as well, as well. Sorry, adds up time. So I'm equally concerned by those. I want to make sure those distractions and other similar concerns SBSD Owl Camera: Don't detract from what our… what's our main responsibility, which is our students. SBSD Owl Camera: Thank you, children. SBSD Owl Camera: Speaking of that, or just this one? We can't see if the light's on in the screen.

046My name's Alyssa. SBSD Owl Camera: My name's Alyssa. Okay, that's cool. And I'm a South Burlington resident, obviously. … SBSD Owl Camera: I guess the next question I'll talk a little bit, but I used to work for the South Berlin Principal District, in the Food and Resource Department, and so… SBSD Owl Camera: I stopped working here in November of 2024, and since then, I've wanted to get more involved in the community. I liked working in the school and supporting the teachers, supporting the students, so I think I've been, like, looking for that SBSD Owl Camera: additional community role, so that's… that was my main interest in this role. It's super awesome seeing 5 applicants. I know that in the past times there's been a lack of applicants, so that's also kind of… SBSD Owl Camera:

047why I felt called to, buy right at this time. SBSD Owl Camera: … SBSD Owl Camera: there are a lot of changes happening, there's a lot of news cycles happening, and so I think what everyone else, like, I agree with what everyone else was saying, that, kind of brings back the focus into the schools, under the students, and making sure that they have a… SBSD Owl Camera: successful ways to grow and to learn. … SBSD Owl Camera: I do not have any children right now. One of the big reasons why I bought a house in South Burlington was because of the schools. Everyone talked very highly of the schools. And so, as someone SBSD Owl Camera: Who does not currently have children, but is, … SBSD Owl Camera: planning on growing the family, I think

048that I have incentive on keeping our schools strong for SBSD Owl Camera: Years and futures to come. SBSD Owl Camera: Some of my strengths… SBSD Owl Camera: I have a lot of historical knowledge in this district. One of my roles was to carry out and implement policies and procedures, so I feel like I know those very well. SBSD Owl Camera: Something I didn't mention in my application was I actually took board meeting minutes for a long time, and so I think that I have a pretty basic understanding of Robert's rules and… and understand that. SBSD Owl Camera: Thank you. Perfect. So the next question… So, the next question… SBSD Owl Camera: it blends… it kind of blends in, I think, a little what you guys have already been talking about, because it's… please describe your

049previous experience and involvement with SBSD. So, if you want to spend a little bit of time in this one, answering also the first one, which is what interests you, … SBSD Owl Camera: you can feel free to do that. But the official question is, please describe your previous experience and involvement with the South Burlington School Board and the district, and we'll start at the conference, then. SBSD Owl Camera: Yes, so I worked for the Sacramento School District, for about 3 years, maybe a little over 3 years. In that role, I worked with district leadership, I onboarded new folks, I helped implement policies, and… SBSD Owl Camera: I was kind of the front person for all staff, with questions and stuff like that. Like I said, I did do board meeting minutes, and so I do

050have a pretty good understanding of Robert's rules, and how to carry that out. … SBSD Owl Camera: I think now is, like, a good time to have a strong board. I think, like I said, it's awesome that there's so many applicants. There's gonna be a lot of transitions in the near future between a new superintendent search, an interim superintendent search, and I think my interest SBSD Owl Camera: my previous experience within HR, I've seen a couple superintendent searches, have been involved in one of them, I believe, and really support and bring valuable skills into the board, and bring, SBSD Owl Camera: Transparent communication, and making sure that everything is… SBSD Owl Camera: Aried out within a clear process that the community can really appreciate. SBSD Owl Camera: Austin here. So, my experience with the South

051Bromington School District is largely through my two children, 14-year-old and an 8-year-old. SBSD Owl Camera: First, want to recognize the administration of Delta Middle School for being extremely supportive and accommodating. We met them before we moved, and we just had a really wonderful first experience with them, and I appreciate everything they did. SBSD Owl Camera: We'd like to be a part of the community that was able to help our students and make sure we're creating an environment to help other students the way they supported us and our family. SBSD Owl Camera: I'm also a former Vermont student myself, so I want to make sure that other students have a similar experience that I did here, which is wonderful. Other experience I do not have a background in. SBSD Owl Camera: set of an entrepreneur, but

052one of the goals that I've created is as a consultant, so I'll get brought into these teams to help fix challenging situations and lead large teams for people even more. SBSD Owl Camera: And make sure that we're staying focused on what is most important and the reason that that team exists. And in this capacity, I think that the reason the school board exists is to make sure we're serving our students. There's no shortage of distractions or other opinions out there, and we certainly need to make sure we're incorporating those and listening to those. SBSD Owl Camera: But I think it's also valuable to have somebody come in as an outsider, make your friend, all of us at times. SBSD Owl Camera: What our main goal is, that is to serve our students, and making sure

053we're creating a partner for them to thrive academically, creatively, athletically, and that we all know what student thriving should look like, and working with our administrators to make sure we're focusing on having our students first, and that their needs are always first. SBSD Owl Camera: As opposed to many of the other voices that may have opinions about what the school district should or shouldn't be doing. So, I want to try and bring that in me, taking my students. I'm not going and serving students. SBSD Owl Camera: As well as my two students have already been served already. SBSD Owl Camera: Thanks. So, I've lived… I've been a resident of South Carolina since 2009. We moved here when our children were very young, 3 and 6. They've just since graduated. Our youngest graduated in 2024, and

054it's at UVM. SBSD Owl Camera: I have been involved in… … SBSD Owl Camera: fair number of ways. I spent a lot of time doing all things on my ski racing team. Both my kids were ski racers, and my son was especially involved in the high school, L1 team, so that meant a lot of ski swaps, organizations, and sales, and… SBSD Owl Camera: Working off the… ton of ski races. … SBSD Owl Camera: And then just being involved in, their progress through school, and advocating for them, and their needs, and working with faculty, inclusion special ed, folks, SBSD Owl Camera: I also served on the board, briefly. I'm thinking maybe… SBSD Owl Camera: most relevant for this application process and for your consideration is I have spent a lot of time reviewing, the videos of

055the meetings over the past SBSD Owl Camera: three, four years, reviewing the monitoring reports. I have a deep understanding of where we're at and where we've been, and I do bring those things that I mentioned regarding policy, policy implementation, policy development, and policy governance. SBSD Owl Camera: Should we all, like, miss dates at all? Okay, sorry. … I'm Tim again. … SBSD Owl Camera: So my involvement with the South Burlington School District is purely as a parent of a child till this point. This is the first school board meeting I've ever come to. … SBSD Owl Camera: like I said, I've been in education for 25 years. For about the first 20 years, I was a classroom teacher. I've taught… SBSD Owl Camera: Physical science, chemistry, 5th grade science, … I've coached, … SBSD Owl

056Camera: I've been varying administrative, kind of junior administrative roles. I'm currently a senior administrator at my school. I'm the dean of students, so I oversee all of the non-academic programs, which involves, athletics, social events, social-emotional learning, SBSD Owl Camera: I'm a health teacher, I've also taught some social studies there, … SBSD Owl Camera: I am pretty… I deal with a lot of instances of student conflict. If a student says something, or has done something, I play a role in that. I do discipline, SBSD Owl Camera: I tried to do a little bit of everything, because we're a small school, and we all wear a lot of hats. … SBSD Owl Camera: A lot of that work involves a lot of collaboration. It involves collaborating with other administrators, it involves collaborating with the board of that

057school, with parents, with students, whether it's standing up a new program, modifying one, or deciding, hey, this one's not working very well. SBSD Owl Camera: Sometimes it involves delivering some bad news, That's… SBSD Owl Camera: less fun. Sometimes it involves doing good stuff. My goal is… my focus is really, what is… what is the experience of the kids? SBSD Owl Camera: All of what we're trying to do here is to serve that, and to try to keep that as a focus as a result. I'm out of time, so… Thank you, thanks. SBSD Owl Camera: Can you repeat the question, please? Sure. SBSD Owl Camera: Please describe your previous experience and involvement with South Burlington School Board in the district. SBSD Owl Camera: this is my first experience here, being before the board. I saw Burlington,

058the district… SBSD Owl Camera: Brian Yankus, my son, graduated in 2022. We were transiting back and forth from Maryland. SBSD Owl Camera: And coming to Vermont was different for… for me. My husband loves Vermont. For me, because the lack of diversity was a concern. SBSD Owl Camera: my first year of service, I served in Winooski because I felt there was a great need in Winooski, and … SBSD Owl Camera: volunteer there, and then I came over to Vermont South Burlington School District because there was some stuff going on at the athletic component when the daughter was playing sports. So I became a very active parent. SBSD Owl Camera: And from that, I expressed interest in working with the school district. SBSD Owl Camera: to get more involved, and the first opportunity I've gotten was to

059come coach, for the high school, and then I started dealing with middle school. SBSD Owl Camera: As well. And so, as a… as a parent, as an educator, as, a Muslim. SBSD Owl Camera: As a woman of color. SBSD Owl Camera: There's a lack of representation in this picture, and I'm not gonna… I'm not gonna, … SBSD Owl Camera: sugarcoat it. I'm from New York, so I'm gonna make it… tell you straight exactly what it is. I think that, you cannot advocate for one experience unless you are in that person's shoes. SBSD Owl Camera: And I believe that South Burlington has a lot to offer, and can be a beacon in South… in this area, where… SBSD Owl Camera: The community will be… feel as though that their kids are being represented and being, given

060the proper supports necessary. SBSD Owl Camera: So, I served in this capacity not because of the pay. I wanted to serve as… in a position just to get involved, in the school district to get back to the community, and also represent the constituents who are here. And this is why I'm here, and progressively, actively involved with that. SBSD Owl Camera: Administrator. SBSD Owl Camera: Something. SBSD Owl Camera: All right, so the last question is, and we're gonna, again, start with you, Dr. Suji, what do you consider SBSD Owl Camera: to be three of the most pressing issues facing public education in South Burlington. SBSD Owl Camera: Number one, the morality of our staff, who appreciated, the faculty and staff. SBSD Owl Camera: Feel as though they're self-rentes, and working with, the staff and the school

061and other professionals in the high school. SBSD Owl Camera: We have exceptional educators in the district. SBSD Owl Camera: But they don't feel as though they're not being recognized, and I believe the morale can be, improved with that, and their voice being heard. SBSD Owl Camera: With their credentials, the concern about them working and bringing those expertise that they have to the table to be compensated, really, to level off in a district compared to, like, another district, that's another concern. And also, regards to students, I think that SBSD Owl Camera: for the students, respecting the students who are here in South Burlington, whether in Wisdom, whatever, to not impose SBSD Owl Camera: Certain different things, not respecting their faith. SBSD Owl Camera: And what needs to be dealt with, or also respected individuals to be

062fairly treated, no matter where they are, whether it's from a assault, a refugee, or immigrant, wherever they're coming from, a transit, to be treated fairly. So I think, those are concerns with that, and the students. SBSD Owl Camera: … SBSD Owl Camera: in sharing, expressing their voices. I love SOAR, because we have a group of students who are very involved in that, because they're very passionate to speak up for the rest of students who are not being heard. SBSD Owl Camera: are those three concerns, I say. SBSD Owl Camera: Thank you. SBSD Owl Camera: On my application, I cheated, and I'm gonna cheat again a little bit here. On the, the, my… SBSD Owl Camera: First concern, which is kind of the most local, is the, the dynamics right now between the school board, superintendent,

063or the central office, and the educators, and the impact that that is having on SBSD Owl Camera: the… the students, and what they're able to experience in the classroom. … SBSD Owl Camera: The second is the dynamics within the state. SBSD Owl Camera: Seeing very dramatic proposals for change at the state level, and the way that that will impact SBSD Owl Camera: South Burlington, the fact that this board may not exist in a few years, because it gets taken over by a bigger board, and figuring that out. SBSD Owl Camera: … national things. The fact that SBSD Owl Camera: Money that has been coming from the states, that's changing, and we've seen the impact that that has had over the past few years. SBSD Owl Camera: What's coming from the federal government, and the… both…

064SBSD Owl Camera: Financially, but also in terms of… SBSD Owl Camera: regulations and requirements that might be imposed upon school boards or school districts like ours. And then the fourth, which is… SBSD Owl Camera: and kind of backing up further and further is, AI, and trying to figure out what is the district's stance, how does that play out? How is that going to modify what happens in the classroom? And how are we preparing our kids for SBSD Owl Camera: The world that could exist in 5 years, and the world that could exist in 10 years, and that's always been the challenge for educators, to figure out what is the moving target with… with respect to technology, but that… it seems like that's something that the educators need to be able to work with the board

065on, and work carefully with students, and… SBSD Owl Camera: You know, from, have guidance from the board on how to handle that in the future. SBSD Owl Camera: Sorry. SBSD Owl Camera: So, as we're hearing, and as I agree, I think there are… there are a lot of issues. I did write three. I can't remember if I included these or not rank-ordered, and it was hard to pick. SBSD Owl Camera: I spoke of one when I first started speaking, which is I think there has been a bit of an imbalance in how policy governance has been implemented historically in South Burlington. I could go into more detail on that, but none of this is going to be a two-minute answer. So I'm going to focus on one. SBSD Owl Camera: Had to be to… obviously,

066we have some pretty serious financial conditions that we have to deal with. SBSD Owl Camera: … And that is monitoring. And… SBSD Owl Camera: In policy governance, monitoring is the primary mechanism of transparency to the community. It is the linkage. It is how we represent. And I don't think monitoring has been done, particularly well, not in the time that I've been watching. SBSD Owl Camera: I think that there are ways that can be improved, and even very simply, just the rigor with which we actually do the monitoring. We should have an expectation. SBSD Owl Camera: that there be relevant and clear, honest information. Nobody has to be perfect. Problems can exist, we can't address them if we don't know that those problems are. SBSD Owl Camera: … SBSD Owl Camera: One of my deepest concerns

067about that is that as a business owner, I have no idea that we're meeting our ends. SBSD Owl Camera: That is not visible to me in our current state of monitoring, and it is our most disadvantaged students that will be the biggest victims of that omission. SBSD Owl Camera: Thank you. Sorry, those weren't… SBSD Owl Camera: like, friendly, fluffy words, but I do mean them, and I'm really very serious about that. SBSD Owl Camera: I think, so some of the issues that I see that I would love to be a contributing force in solving SBSD Owl Camera: One is distractions. I think everybody assumes that the superintendent is unions wobble, and it's a distraction. I mean, the district wants to be known for that. They would much rather be out of the great work that

068our students are capable of, the great work that teachers are doing, helping students thrive, so… SBSD Owl Camera: I think there's a lot of distractions, and I wanted to turn the focus back to celebrating our students and their success and their achievements. SBSD Owl Camera: There's clearly a cohesion problem, and a lot of people arguing, but those people need to agree about what SBSD Owl Camera: the end goal is in who we're trying to serve, again, which is our students. We cannot serve our students well if we can't agree on… SBSD Owl Camera: what our main goal is as a district is to serve our students, for us to be educators to the community, versus experts. We need to have cohesion and agree that we are here to serve our students first, rather to repeat

069academic impact. SBSD Owl Camera: … SBSD Owl Camera: I think there's a lot of very noble and low-intended mission grief. That makes that really hard, right? We're trying to do too much as a district, in the attempt of serving our students' lives. SBSD Owl Camera: It makes it challenging maybe for us to serve them academically, or creatively, or athletically, one of the ways that, you know, if you really can be helping them, and then the boundaries of what a school can dig through with them. SBSD Owl Camera: So, I want to make sure we're focused on impacting our students' lives in a way that schools can, right, which is SBSD Owl Camera: Providing them the academic resources that SBSD Owl Camera: unlock their unique skills, help them achieve in the way that's best for them,

070help them be creative, express themselves, help them thrive in athletics. And then lastly, financing and funding. As an entrepreneur and business owner, you know, I've been with SBSD Owl Camera: money is the oxygen by which actions can get done. It's by how we are able to achieve things, and with funding looking like it's on tenuous ground, and districts having to, you know, reconsider federal funding. SBSD Owl Camera: I want to make sure that we're setting this district up for long-term success, not overspending at the expense of future generations. I see that every time. Thank you. Thank you. SBSD Owl Camera: When I first answered this question for the application, I think I was looking at it through a lens of the state of Vermont and not South Carolina School District, but I think that it

071is… SBSD Owl Camera: it can be looked at all… all in the same. And so… SBSD Owl Camera: I think one of the biggest pressing issues in Vermont is SBSD Owl Camera: the changing landscape. I mean, we've heard it, we're not quite sure exactly what's gonna happen, but districts, … SBSD Owl Camera: special funding is changing, all of that, and so I think supporting students through that changing landscape, and making sure that we SBSD Owl Camera: Continue to have strong schools, even though… SBSD Owl Camera: the world is changing around them, and supporting the students through that. Another thing that's already been said, is the budget. SBSD Owl Camera: Having really transparent, strategic, budget alignment, or… SBSD Owl Camera: the community, but also to support staff and support students. And being… SBSD Owl Camera: Strategic

072with the community so that they SBSD Owl Camera: support the budget and understand where things are going. Within Vermont and within South Carolina School District, I think SBSD Owl Camera: staff recruitment and retention is a big problem. We are a small city, with a… SBSD Owl Camera: ever-declining, workforce, and I think really paying attention to that and understanding how to be, strategic and competitive is really important. SBSD Owl Camera: Thank you. SBSD Owl Camera: Well, with that, that concludes our… School board candidate interviews. SBSD Owl Camera: At this point, we are going to go into executive session to deliberate regarding the appointment of new school board members. SBSD Owl Camera: So, thank you all very much for… And… SBSD Owl Camera: like I think Jen said at the beginning, your continued involvement, whether or not

073there's a vacancy offered to you, is very important for the district itself. SBSD Owl Camera: Thank you very much, just for stepping on. Thank you so much. Thanks, Al. SBSD Owl Camera: So, at this point, I would entertain a motion to find that we have to do that, so… SBSD Owl Camera: I'm not able to. SBSD Owl Camera: I guess what I'm wondering is that, do I need premature knowledge thing? Is this more just about a personnel matter, more about this person? SBSD Owl Camera: Do I need this premature bind them? SBSD Owl Camera: Equal protection. SBSD Owl Camera: Yeah, it's like… Okay, so I would… SBSD Owl Camera: I think I have the motion, though. So I'd entertain a motion to enter into executive session to discuss SBSD Owl Camera: Well, it's employment of

074a public officer. Yes. SBSD Owl Camera: Do I have a second, or do I have a second? I motion to go into executive assistant. Okay. SBSD Owl Camera: What is wrong. SBSD Owl Camera: And, any discussions? SBSD Owl Camera: All in favor? Oh, oh, yes. Is it okay for… To invite Allie in a moment, yeah. I'd like to invite them, sure. SBSD Owl Camera: Okay, great. And we will be returning to regular session after this. SBSD Owl Camera: Canvas, you're live? SBSD Owl Camera: Oh, yeah, we would do that. For the ancestors. SBSD Owl Camera: virtually birth. SBSD Owl Camera: We got some arms in the thing. SBSD Owl Camera: No, there's no… SBSD Owl Camera: So I'll call to order the regular meeting of the South Burlington School Board, August 20th, 2025. We just

075exited executive session. SBSD Owl Camera: to discuss… deliberations regarding appointment of new school board members, public officers. SBSD Owl Camera: The people in the executive session were Dan Lawrence, Seamus Amster, Laura Williams, … SBSD Owl Camera: Emily Hoffman, and then we also had our student reps, Ali Leduc and Moment there. Dan was recused from that executive session. SBSD Owl Camera: And, since this is an action item. SBSD Owl Camera: And so our next item on the agenda is an action item to appoint new school board members to fill the seats recently vacated by Chelsea Tillinghast and Tim Warren. So since this is an action item under our new public comment, or public participation policy, we are, again, opening the floor for public comment, but only on this SBSD Owl Camera: Topic. SBSD Owl Camera: So,

076if there are any comments? SBSD Owl Camera: Yes, yes, please come down, just state your name, Mark. SBSD Owl Camera: Thanks, Ron. SBSD Owl Camera: So, my name is Mark Gable, and… SBSD Owl Camera: The only thing I'd like to say to the board, and I think I've already said it to all 5 other candidates, is you've got 5 incredible people here. SBSD Owl Camera: … SBSD Owl Camera: all of them would be huge assets to the board, but they're also huge assets to the community. So, you know, only two of them can sit on the board. That's a shame. SBSD Owl Camera: No reflection on anybody else who's currently, I'm sure. But if there's a way to keep them involved, there's more discussion around subcommittees, etc, these are the types of people that you

077need. SBSD Owl Camera: So don't let them walk out of the room without knowing that, please. SBSD Owl Camera: So there's a lot of opportunity for them to serve over and above. And, if not on subcommittees. SBSD Owl Camera: Then again, From the other side of the table, where voices, Parents, teachers, and students. SBSD Owl Camera: Are needed at each and every school. SBSD Owl Camera: Thank you. SBSD Owl Camera: Is there anybody online with a comment? SBSD Owl Camera: Okay. So, … based on our discussion in executive session, I would entertain a motion to name, SBSD Owl Camera: Austin Smith and Michelle Boyer. SBSD Owl Camera: To the vacancies for the school board. SBSD Owl Camera: About a second. SBSD Owl Camera: Second. SBSD Owl Camera: What are seconds, any discussion? SBSD Owl Camera:

078I would just like to say, I hope people do stay involved, and I think I said this at another… I've gone through this so many times now, but it does feel like a great British fake-off, where you don't want to bump anybody off. And it… so anyway, I do hope people stay involved and even run, because there's no telling SBSD Owl Camera: So, it was nothing. SBSD Owl Camera: Yeah, so not an… was not an easy decision as well. Now, I thank everybody so much for coming out. I mean, it's… SBSD Owl Camera: what we're doing here, there's a lot of it out in the public, so it's not like you didn't know what you're signing up for, or getting into, or volunteering for, and, I just really appreciate and respect that everybody was willing

079to join, and I hope that, you'll run in March. SBSD Owl Camera: as well. SBSD Owl Camera: And come to the community forum that we're doing on the 17th, because hopefully there'll be an opportunity at that time to talk about some of the committees. SBSD Owl Camera: like Mr. Gagel was just mentioning, and, I think we really want to have more engagement with the community. SBSD Owl Camera: So… Yeah. SBSD Owl Camera: So all those in favor? SBSD Owl Camera: And Dan is recused. SBSD Owl Camera: The motion passes, so, … SBSD Owl Camera: So we're naming Michelle Boyer and Austin Smith as school board members until… to fill vacancies until the next town meeting day, which is in March 2026, and they will be sworn in and join the board at our next board

080meeting on September 3rd. SBSD Owl Camera: So, thank you. SBSD Owl Camera: At this point, … we… would… like, … SBSD Owl Camera: Well, it's what you were saying. Yeah. Okay, yeah, yeah. SBSD Owl Camera: Okay, so let's now move on to discussion items. Superintendent search. SBSD Owl Camera: … So… SBSD Owl Camera: So, updates on the superintendent search are that, we have at least 3 active candidates, as I was updated a few days ago. Our first meeting of the search committee is tomorrow. SBSD Owl Camera: Here at 5 p.m. It is… It… is… SBSD Owl Camera: That's a really good. Is it a public meeting? It is not. SBSD Owl Camera: It's not, and it's not recorded. It's not recorded, it's not open. I think the reason for that is because it's… we're talking

081about individual people. Yes. We're talking about personal details. So, it is tomorrow at 5 p.m. here, but it's not an open meeting. SBSD Owl Camera: … SBSD Owl Camera: And there's not a quorum of the board? No. There's not a quorum. Yeah, just wanted to make sure that's clear. And right, so the structure of the committee is that there are many people on the committee from different stakeholder groups. However, the only voting members of the committee are the board members that are on the committee. SBSD Owl Camera: … And… We did have… 404 responses to the superintendent's search, SBSD Owl Camera: questionnaire survey to the community. Among them, there were over 200 parents, 60 teachers, 60 community members that are not affiliated with the schools. SBSD Owl Camera: And, the most highly ranked qualities of

082the superintendent search SBSD Owl Camera: Of the interim superintendent were, collaboration, ability to manage a budget, and being student-centered. SBSD Owl Camera: So that is the context for our discussion and evaluation tomorrow. SBSD Owl Camera: Any other questions you might have? What did you say? 404 responses, over 200 parents? How many teachers? 60 teachers? 60 teachers, and how 60 people not affiliated. SBSD Owl Camera: Yeah, no relatives employed by the district. That was 40, yeah. 60 and 60, yeah, okay, 66. SBSD Owl Camera: Oh, Daisy. Yes, I would love an upper… yes, Daisy, please go ahead. SBSD Owl Camera: Daisy is the HR Director at the district. SBSD Owl Camera: Don't know if she's on as a panelist. We might have to let her in now. Oh, nope, she is. [email protected]: Hi there, sorry, I'm

083not going to, turn my camera on, because I took a shower during executive session, so hey. [email protected]: I did want to let you know that, just as an update, we do have 7 active applicants for the interim position. SBSD Owl Camera: Thank you. SBSD Owl Camera: Fantastic. SBSD Owl Camera: All right, great. Thank you, Jason. Great. SBSD Owl Camera: Any other ques… any other… SBSD Owl Camera: questions you might have that I might have the answer to, and I'm just stopping here. Do you want to just bring up the… quickly, if you have access to it, I thought maybe the timeline, just to review it again for the community to see where we're at and what's coming up next. SBSD Owl Camera: Yep. And I… I like that timeline, too. SBSD Owl Camera: So, the

084position was posted on… I think, actually, August 12th. SBSD Owl Camera: Not August 11th. SBSD Owl Camera: And we are… and Elaine, our consultant from the Vermont School Board Association, has met with SBSD Owl Camera: Many different stakeholders, in the district. SBSD Owl Camera: And at this point… We are… Right… here. SBSD Owl Camera: Right? SBSD Owl Camera: Yeah, the steering committee first. It's the 21st. Oh, yeah, yes, tomorrow's August 21st, so yes, thank you. Yeah, so we're right on schedule. SBSD Owl Camera: … And the community survey is now closed, for which we received those 404. Then, … on a… SBSD Owl Camera: The 28th, we'll have another meeting, and then on the 4th, we'll have an all-day meeting. I believe this is the first round of interviews. SBSD Owl Camera: And then there

085will be a second round of interviews in the first week of September, first couple weeks of September, including with board interviews and our, finalists around, our September 10th SBSD Owl Camera: board meeting. SBSD Owl Camera: And… SBSD Owl Camera: I can put this document online, too. Yeah, it should be. Is it not posted yet on their website, or…? I don't… SBSD Owl Camera: It's not there? It's not there yet. It's not there yet. Great, thank you. SBSD Owl Camera: Any other questions? SBSD Owl Camera: And our total count on the committee is 14. Yeah, 14, those have all been selected. Yeah, so we'll see you tomorrow. 5 o'clock. SBSD Owl Camera: Alright, so the next, item on the agenda is the superintendent's report. SBSD Owl Camera: I can get us started. Tassan is going to

086be joining us to talk about the budget, and that's primarily, who's using SBSD Owl Camera: my space for, Dassante to come, but I don't think they're going to be here for a little bit, and, do you think we should do a few hundred recess, and then you start when they're here, or do you know? So now, if they get here, great, and if not, then we'll put the little recess. Yeah, and I'd like to offer a suggestion that… SBSD Owl Camera: Maybe, yeah, like… SBSD Owl Camera: I think it's great. We're going to stay right on the agenda, but maybe have people come, come, like, half an hour. SBSD Owl Camera: If it's slingshart, because I, yeah, just sitting here and join 30. They're coming to an event, so… They're coming at… they said they'd

087be invited, but they couldn't get here anywhere to do that. So, yeah. We're not used to it. I just wanted to echo what Ellie and Moment had said about, convocation tomorrow, that we're really excited. One of our SBSD Owl Camera: our principles, talks about convocations being the most exciting day of the year. SBSD Owl Camera: our teachers are coming back, and we're getting ready for our students, I think above and beyond, obviously, the first day of school when our students are actually here, but, you know, it's us getting ready and prepared for our students, so we're really looking forward to it, looking forward to you, Homan, giving the address, and knowing that you and Allie worked really hard on it together, in cooperation with your peers. It's gonna be, it's gonna be great, and we're

088super excited. SBSD Owl Camera: I think one of the, or several of the folks who commented, as candidates for the board talked about, us focusing on students. SBSD Owl Camera: And I think that that's, you know, that's what tomorrow's gonna be about. We're focusing on our students, we're focusing, with our keynote speakers being our students, and we're… SBSD Owl Camera: having, the past few years, we've had a Stuart Poet who ends, convocation, so that's really what our idea is, is that it's all about… it's all about you guys, so, we're really excited about that. The buildings I mentioned last week that we're getting the buildings ready, there's gonna be a few things that are still gonna be, you know, there's… for the most part, everything's up and running. SBSD Owl Camera: Orchard is going to

089have a few things going on in their furthest parking lot, and so Olivia Cain, who's the principal, will be sharing information with… with those folks, I believe. And I'm gonna… I don't wanna say for sure, but the… the, … SBSD Owl Camera: Paving has been done, they still need to put the lines in, but we're looking like we're in good shape for next week for school to start. So those are all really good, exciting things, and again, just a huge shout out to our facilities folks. SBSD Owl Camera: To Nick, who's helping us in the back, who's working a gazillion hours, trying to get things ready, up and running and ready. IT's been, you know, working like crazy. Hr, getting everybody in. As you've seen, we've had lots of folks, for the consent agenda and

090getting that all ready, so… SBSD Owl Camera: We're… we're getting ready. We had a new staff orientation the past two days, and so we've had new staff here in the building. SBSD Owl Camera: learning, more about our district. So, just lots, lots going on here. … SBSD Owl Camera: And that's it, that's all I have. SBSD Owl Camera: I had a question. Yeah. Are all the buses, SBSD Owl Camera: staffed and running? Yeah, so the idea is that we're staffed and ready to go. We're doing some final, you know, practice runs and trying to get things ready to ensure that everything is, is, is, is SBSD Owl Camera: And it goes perfect as we hope it will go. Just a reminder, that, especially for the first couple days, you'll want to have kids out a

091little early, just because, you know, we'll be getting those, those runs down prep, but ensuring that, that you're out a little bit, your students are out a little bit early will be helpful for that. SBSD Owl Camera: Did you have a question about that? Yeah. I feel like earlier, woman, did you say in your report that the middle school reps were different? Yes, she said there was something… So, the middle school and high school? Jean Marie is on, and I bet she can answer that better than I can. Oh, thank you, Jean Marie. SBSD Owl Camera: Go ahead and unmute yourself, Jean Marie. Jean-Marie Clark: Hey everybody! I'm sorry, I couldn't quite hear Emily's question about the middle school. SBSD Owl Camera: Sure. My question, and I could be wrong, but, that's why I'm asking

092it. I thought that middle school and high school kids bused together, and so that's why I was confused about if just the middle school bus was different, and maybe something's changed in. Jean-Marie Clark: Oh, you are correct. They do… middle and high school kiddos are on the same bus runs. We do our elementary kids first, and then we circle back out and pick up our high and middle kids. So what we did this year, I'm really grateful to our admin team at the elementary schools. Jean-Marie Clark: The staff have shifted their time by 5 minutes to allow our little kiddos off the bus, sooner to get those buses back out on the roads Jean-Marie Clark: to begin picking up the high and middle kids. So, the middle school start time is 8.35, so it's, like

093Kristen said, important for parents to know that Jean-Marie Clark: particularly for those middle school and high school kids, those buses may be running earlier than you are accustomed to them being run to get folks to school on time. That is something that we were wholly missing the mark on last year for a variety of issues, so… Jean-Marie Clark: And to, I think, Seamus's question earlier, we are fully staffed. We have done just an amazing job over the last year hiring and training new bus drivers. I think the word has really gotten out that Jean-Marie Clark: We have a new transportation manager, and we've really upped the game of how that team is being managed. There's a lot more professionalism and a lot more training that's being done with that team, and we've added a variety

094of substitute drivers to the team as well, so we have regular full-time drivers who Jean-Marie Clark: do those routes, you know, those are the drivers that you see every day picking up your kid and bringing your student home again in the afternoon, and then we employ a lot of substitute drivers that we use for… primarily for the, you know, take the basketball players to the game in St. Jay, or take the field trip in the middle of the day when our regular route drivers are busy. So, when we have an opening in our Jean-Marie Clark: Full-time positions, which… we did just have one person, submit their resignation. Jean-Marie Clark: like, a week or so ago, which always gives me anxiety as we get this close to the beginning of the academic year. We go to

095our internal pool first to see if we have any interested candidates, and gratefully, we do. Jean-Marie Clark: I'm just super excited about this new school year and the team that we have compiled. They're working really hard, and they are as excited as the students are. You know, they are the first group to Jean-Marie Clark: welcome those students in, for the beginning of their day and the beginning of the academic year. So, big kudos to John Mabee, the new Transportation Manager, and the entire team for getting that work, ro… getting everybody rolling again at the beginning of this year, so…. SBSD Owl Camera: Thank you so much. Jean-Marie Clark: Yeah, you're very welcome. I just also, if I have one more second, I would speak to Kristen's comment about, so much of, so much facilities work

096has been done this summer. So, first, I just want to say thank you to our community members and taxpayers for Jean-Marie Clark: giving us a budget that we were able to get some of this work done. We were taking advantage of a facilities bond that was approved, before I arrived on the scene, so at least a year ago. And we have done just a tremendous amount of work this year. We have Jean-Marie Clark: Some new roofs on some buildings. Every parking lot has new, pavement and new striping. Jean-Marie Clark: We've done an amazing job at the middle school. If anybody has middle schoolers or returning middle schoolers, you'll be so excited when you even just step in the lobby. There's lots of changes there. Renovations on bathrooms, gym floors, it's just… Jean-Marie Clark: So, again,

097thank you to the taxpayers, but thank you to the facilities team for managing all of that work. We essentially gutted our high school cafeteria kitchen, brought it down to the concrete, ripped out the ceiling, ripped out the… like, just took everything out. Jean-Marie Clark: Today, we had a… I had a request from somebody, could… could facilities help us with this, that, or the other? And I said, absolutely not, they're busy putting the kitchen back together again, because Jean-Marie Clark: We need to be able to feed those students, you know, in just a few more days, and so they were setting all the appliances in place, and setting the Jean-Marie Clark: the plumbers were there putting the sinks back together, and so forth. So, it's super exciting, and I'm just grateful that that team has been

098just a tremendous amount of effort. So, the one big thing that's kind of hanging out there is a stormwater project that we have happening on the Orchard campus. Jean-Marie Clark: That one is really being done by a contractor outside of our purview, and there is this, … Jean-Marie Clark: giant piece of equipment that will be buried in the ground that is called, the jellyfish. And this huge piece of equipment had to be created and shipped to us. It's like… Jean-Marie Clark: I don't know, 25 tons or some crazy number, and so that was late in being produced and is on its way to us, so essentially they're gonna dig a giant hole in the ground, just off the far parking lot. Jean-Marie Clark: Bury this piece of equipment, which will then mitigate the stormwater and

099send it in the direction that we'd like it to go, and that work won't start until that piece of equipment is, nearly… Jean-Marie Clark: Nearly in our zip code. Jean-Marie Clark: Because you and I both don't want to have a giant hole in the ground and school children wandering around nearby. So, that likely will start on Monday, and will take about 2 weeks to complete. So that's the one big project that is not done, but otherwise everything else, is ready to roll. Jean-Marie Clark: I think I may have killed just enough time to have, allowed for my friend Julie Johnson, who's a representative from the Toussaint Group, who, will take a few minutes of your time this evening to bring you up to speed on the… on the work that she and our team have

100done on that this year, so… Jean-Marie Clark: Thank you so much, Julie, for… we're running a little ahead of schedule. Julie is a mom, as many of us are, and we were doing the evening scramble. I knew you guys were running early, and I gave her a little bit of a warning that, and she said. Jean-Marie Clark: Okay, I gotta get everybody in bed, give me a few more minutes. So thank you so much, Julie, for joining us tonight. SBSD Owl Camera: Thank you very much, Jean Marie. Gene Marie is our Director of Operations, and also Director of Finance. SBSD Owl Camera: And before we start with the Tassade presentation, don't we normally post the, bus schedule with the times? Yeah, the bus schedules and the times have been put… January, bus schedules and times

101have been posted, correct? Jean-Marie Clark: Yes, they were posted, I want to say, around… shortly after the 1st of August. I know that there was a bit of an issue with PowerSchool updating with the software that we use, so they have been making adjustments even this week to the bus schedules. Jean-Marie Clark: So, if there is a parent or a student who is unclear on the time of which they will be picked up. Jean-Marie Clark: They should look first on the bus, it's right on the home page on the district website, you can click there for the schedule, but that if they aren't listed there or have a question, Stephanie Hyatt is sort of our first woman of defense, who… her number is listed right on that page, and you can reach out to Stephanie

102by phone or by email, and she can look up the time and get back in touch with folks. SBSD Owl Camera: And then don't we normally would put it into the paper as well? Jean-Marie Clark: Yep, those are also… yep, those are also being posted. John maybe has been working with our, contact at the other paper. Actually, Dan, I'm not for sure that they post, like. Jean-Marie Clark: you know, we're on Brown Avenue at 745. What I think they post is some information to direct folks where to find the schedules. SBSD Owl Camera: Okay. I remember seeing in the past it would actually be an actual schedule. Like an address on the bus that stops at this address at this time. We can, we can check into it. Yeah, I'm sorry. Thank you very much

103for all the work that you guys did at the center. SBSD Owl Camera: Thanks, Team Brain. Thank you. Jean-Marie Clark: Yeah, you're welcome. I'm sorry I couldn't be there in person with you this evening. I'm helping my college freshman get packed up to get on the road tomorrow morning, so I will see you all tomorrow at convocation, though. SBSD Owl Camera: See you tomorrow. SBSD Owl Camera: So now we'll switch over to… Julie! Welcome, Julie. Julie is our, consultant from Toussaint, and she's been working on, the budget with us, and she has a presentation that she wants to share. You can… can you make… is she able to share now? SBSD Owl Camera: Okay, awesome. On mute. SBSD Owl Camera: And could we just… would you, just kind of introduce Tassant for people who are

104not familiar? Yeah, yeah, so Tassant is, a company that we are a… the company that we're working with to work on building not necessarily the budget, but building the framework of how we, are going to do our budgets. The idea is SBSD Owl Camera: that this is a framework that we can have for years to come. And Julie can talk a little bit more about that, and about the process that we're using. Other school districts have used, SBSD Owl Camera: Toussaint Services in order to help set up the framework. The idea is to be as transparent as possible, to have timelines and frameworks that folks are really clear on, and that that, going forward, provides all the clarity that people should need, hopefully. So, that's our… that's our plan. So, Julie, take it away. Julie

105Johnson: Absolutely, thank you for that intro. I am one half of Tacent Partners. My business partner, Sarah, is actually up closer to you all this week in Maine, and she's sorry she wasn't able to join us. Sarah and I spent about a decade at DC Public Schools here in Washington, D.C, where we live, and Julie Johnson: In a variety of leadership roles in finance, Julie Johnson: human capital and also operations. So hearing that update about facilities really warmed my heart. I think the week… Julie Johnson: the couple of weeks before school are so stressful, talking about student transportation. I remember always, like, thinking about mowing, and what fields and properties have been mowed, and if they looked ready for our students to be excited to come. So, I am excited for you all as you

106get ready for a new school year. It's always a great time, to be involved with the school district. Julie Johnson: And thank you for your patience with me. As, Jean Marie noted, I am a parent, and … Julie Johnson: I… I'm getting ready for school next week, with them, so, … Julie Johnson: To jump right in, as Kristen shared, we have been working with the district for approximately the last 6 months to create both an annual engagement calendar that you all can hopefully use for years to come. Julie Johnson: And, a model for distributing resources specifically to schools. Julie Johnson: So happy to share, the work that we've done so far, and kind of our recommendations for going forward. Julie Johnson: So, really, the foundation of our work has been engagement with the South Burlington

107community. We were able to hear from almost 275 different stakeholders, from parents, staff, students. Julie Johnson: and, community members and district leaders. So, … Julie Johnson: the key, or the largest group that feedback came from was via a community survey that you may remember from the spring, where we heard from just over 200 individual stakeholders from across all of your schools. The most Julie Johnson: influential and critical group, shaping this recommendation, though, was the Budget Advisory Group, which met five times over the spring and early summer, and developed much of what we're going to be sharing today. They… Julie Johnson: heard summaries and information about all of the community engagement. We learned about how other districts allocate resources, and they really, landed on, again, what you're going to hear today as the best Julie Johnson:

108option for South Burlington. We never land with the same recommendation for any two districts, and so it was… Julie Johnson: Lovely getting to know your community and, getting to a proposal that hopefully will serve the district well for years to come. Julie Johnson: … So… Julie Johnson: here are the names of that group, so thank you to those, community members. As you can see, we had a couple of principals involved, parents, community members, and then leaders within the district office. Julie Johnson: So, one thing that came forward, both from the Budget Advisory Group and the broader community engagement that we did, was a real hunger and desire for clarity around Julie Johnson: who makes different decisions, within the budget work for the school district. And so, that's something that going in, we didn't necessarily know

109that we were going to need to define more clearly, but it quickly became a top priority, and… which led us to creating this resource. So, as you can see, this kind of outlines Julie Johnson: the kind of key touchpoints and decision-making that will hopefully happen each year in a predictable manner. So, what we are recommending is that Julie Johnson: The school board move up, the timeline on which you all, Julie Johnson: determine the overall, the total budget amount for the district, so that you set a, a total budget number in September or early October. Julie Johnson: that recommendation would be based on information provided by the district in terms of cost projections, as well as, aligned with priorities for the upcoming school year. So it would not be just Julie Johnson: You all would not

110be coming up with that number entirely independently, but it would be based on a lot of information from the district. Julie Johnson: Then the central administration would be responsible for making allocations to individual schools. Julie Johnson: So that in the later fall, principals could take their allocation of resources, both staff and dollars. Julie Johnson: and determine a budget for their individual school. So, this is different than how things may have been done in the past, or may happen in a lot of school districts where principals are maybe responsible for Julie Johnson: Deciding what positions are cut, or deciding… Julie Johnson: where to add resources. This is really, … Julie Johnson: We're relying on principals working with their community to determine how to allocate from Julie Johnson: All of those resources and ensure that they are,

111… Julie Johnson: put where they need to be. We know that decision-making happening as close to students as possible, the data is clear that that leads to more successful outcomes for students. Julie Johnson: And so we're excited that this is something that your district shared, and community members shared was a priority, having your principal really actively involved. Julie Johnson: Once principals Julie Johnson: create their proposed budget. That would then be filtered back up to the district budget at large to be included in the final, to be kind of Julie Johnson: assessed and finalized with the superintendent before a final comprehensive budget goes back to you all for approval, and then to your voters in March. Julie Johnson: So, to go a little bit deeper on roles and responsibilities. Julie Johnson: Before we look at the

112proposed community engagement calendar, we also felt just really clarifying Julie Johnson: who is going to be conducting community engagement, what does that engagement look like, and why are they doing it? So… Julie Johnson: your school board is the one who sets the total budget goal or amount, and they would do that with the community and district leader support and input. So that would be one point of engagement that we'll talk about on the next slide. Julie Johnson: They also… you all approve the final budget at the end of the process. And, … Julie Johnson: We heard clearly when we had some small meetings with groups of Julie Johnson: two or less board members, in the last month or so, that, you all really see your role as being critical to ensuring and getting out there

113and really getting out the vote and campaigning for approval of the budget by your voters. Julie Johnson: The superintendent's role is to establish annual strategic priorities or goals for the district. Julie Johnson: That the budget would then need to align with, to communicate how the district budget aligns with those priorities, and hear from the community, whether they recommend adjustments or not, kind of on a district-wide scale. Julie Johnson: The superintendent is responsible for allocating resources to schools, and then, again, once those school budgets come back. Julie Johnson: Compiling the full district budget to submit to the board for approval. Julie Johnson: And finally, a really critical group of leaders, principals create their school's budget, considering what the priorities are for the district for the coming year. And, Julie Johnson: Ensuring that they are aligning their

114school's budget with the funds and staffing that they are allocated. Julie Johnson: And to do this, they engage with their families, students, and staff to help determine what their final budget looks like, and then they would be responsible for reflecting that… those final decisions back to their school community. Julie Johnson: So, looking at this… Julie Johnson: recommended community engagement calendar, it kind of aligns with those three roles that I just spoke through. So in the first column, the school-led engagement is really being led by the principal. Julie Johnson: The center column is really being led by the superintendent, along with their admin team, and then, finally, there's board engagement in the last column. Julie Johnson: So, in October, looking at each group, principals would share information, including timeline, priorities, total budget allocation with their community

115in October, ideally. Julie Johnson: We know that it can be difficult to get community members to come out for these things, so our recommendation is to include this information in what they are sharing in open houses and other engagement opportunities in October or early November. Julie Johnson: The superintendent would share a video overview of their strategic priorities with the… along with a community survey to request feedback from the community. And that Julie Johnson: Video would be shared via social media, the website, and potentially even citywide communication channels. Julie Johnson: And the board… Julie Johnson: Could hold a community forum to receive feedback from the community prior to setting the overall budget for the coming year. Julie Johnson: We know you all have a lot to balance, and that your stakeholders would come with a lot

116of different priorities and, Julie Johnson: And positions on different issues, and so making sure that there's time to hear from them before you set that mark, in addition to reviewing the data from the district, will be important. Julie Johnson: Also to build trust and kind of engagement in the process. Looking at November, we recommend that principals have conversations with their students on Julie Johnson: the budget priorities and how students would like to see them show up in the final budget. We know students as young as kindergarten can have really. Julie Johnson: valuable things to share about how to make their school community better, and we think it's important that student voice shows up in the process. And then for the superintendent, we recommend hosting so that video is sharing information to start with, and then

117Julie Johnson: we recommend that they host a virtual town hall to solicit further input on district-wide budget priorities. An ideal Julie Johnson: Reason for having this virtually is so that it can be recorded and shared for individuals who maybe can't make the scheduled time. Julie Johnson: for that session. Julie Johnson: Then, in December, principals would reflect back to their community what their final budget proposal Julie Johnson: shaped up to be before they, send it off to the dis… back to the district office. Julie Johnson: And the superintendent would release another video overview of, … Julie Johnson: what they plan to submit to the board. We are cognizant that a lot happens in December, so naming that it may be possible… it may be more realistic that that video overview happens at the very beginning of

118January instead of in December, depending on… Julie Johnson: what information comes from the state, in early December. Julie Johnson: And then the board, if necessary, can make… starts to make a case for the final budget, total, and tax rate. … Julie Johnson: via all communication channels, kind of starting in December, and… Julie Johnson: Then, finally, in January, the big piece there is the final budget presentation at the January board meeting, and, hopefully adoption of the budget by the board before it goes to the voters. In addition to that, Julie Johnson: we are hopeful that the student board directors can present to their fellow high school students in January as well, to give them an update on the budget. Julie Johnson: Knowing that they were actually very interested in this work, as well as interested in

119finding ways Julie Johnson: to support, which may be as little as going out and voting if they're over 18, or potentially more. That's something that's happened, as our understanding has happened the last couple of years, and so we're really suggesting that that just continue, that there's that update. Julie Johnson: February through March would then focus on the board getting out the vote, prior to town meeting day. I also have a star down there that… this is kind of… these are the big engagements, and I think we would also recommend that there is at least a monthly update Julie Johnson: Coming… an email update and kind of social media posts, throughout the fall and winter from the superintendent as well. Julie Johnson: Sharing updates and also kind of these other resources that we're suggesting are created.

120Julie Johnson: Finally, … Julie Johnson: I'm gonna pivot into, the funding formula that we are recommending. And so this is how resources… how we would recommend allocating resources that are allocated first to the district, how we would recommend Julie Johnson: Then pushing those resources into each school in alignment with the overall budget total that you all set. Julie Johnson: So, our recommendation is that… You, … Julie Johnson: implement, really, what is kind of a hybrid model, so there are, straight student-based, weighted student funding allocations that some districts use, where literally there is just a weighted formula that allocates all resources to schools, and then there are other districts that only allocate staff. We're recommending kind of a mix of the two. Julie Johnson: where each school would be allocated all of their required positions. So

121these are positions that are required by regulations, contract, or other Julie Johnson: rule, that includes every school must have a principal, a nurse, a librarian, counselors. Those positions, excluding the principal, might be allocated on a ratio, so it might not all be full-time positions, but that those are each allocated to each school. And then that teachers are allocated Julie Johnson: At the max student-to-teacher ratio for, … Julie Johnson: to serve your, kind of, general education classrooms. Then, on top of that, each dis… or each school would receive a care allocation, critical resources for education. Education loves an acronym. Julie Johnson: And those resources would be entirely flexible. They would be based on the enrollment of each school, and the different populations that are enrolled at each school, with weights for different grade bands, Julie Johnson:

122for students who are English learners. Julie Johnson: and, students who receive free and reduced lunch, as well as just kind of overall… an overall student number. These funds could be used for, … Julie Johnson: additional teachers, we expect they would be used for additional teachers. We don't expect that any principal would deter… decide to stick with the max, teachers, or the teachers at the max student-to-teacher ratio. So, additional teachers, they could be school administrators. Julie Johnson: an assistant principal, other non-core licensed staff, specialists, CAS, SEL coaches. Julie Johnson: And then support staff, and last but not least, the supplies and materials, those kind of non-personnel costs that are part of a school budget. Julie Johnson: Which would then all be pulled together into a final budget, which again then goes back to the district level.

123Julie Johnson: next steps from here. So, … Julie Johnson: We are going to be working with, the finance and operations team in the coming weeks, few weeks, to finalize some of the additional back-end resources that we will pull together so that you all can start using those this fall. Julie Johnson: And I think whenever an interim superintendent is named, we are… Julie Johnson: committed to, even if we have substantially wrapped up, we really want to see this work be successful, and so we are more than happy to make sure that we are able to come back and share this information with that person once they are Julie Johnson: in place. Julie Johnson: Are there any questions? I'm sorry, I moved through this quickly. I'm happy to flip back slides if that would be helpful. SBSD

124Owl Camera: Julie, I also just wanted to mention that you'll be meeting with, the administration principals in September as well, so. Julie Johnson: That's right. SBSD Owl Camera: sharing more of this with our, you know, folks have been on these committees and know about this, but the entire admin team will be meeting in the beginning of September to go through this. Julie Johnson: That's right, thank you. SBSD Owl Camera: Brilliant. SBSD Owl Camera: Kristen and Julie, could you speak a little bit to the… The research behind, … SBSD Owl Camera: moving the decisions for budgeting closer to students. I think that's what you said, Julie, moving it closer to students. Julie Johnson: Yeah, I think we know that whenever budget decisions, pushing them as close to students as possible mean that resources really can be

125allocated so that the Julie Johnson: individual students and school community at school, are getting what they need. So, I think a great part about Julie Johnson: the model that your leaders and the Budget Advisory Group, Julie Johnson: landed on is that you're allocating those core required positions, so that every school has those in common, but that beyond that, there's a great deal of flexibility for individual principals to make the right decisions for their school community. Julie Johnson: I will say that not every district lands with this level of flexibility, but it's something that, … Julie Johnson: A lot of districts have found to be successful and, again, ensures that those resources don't look the same at every school, but are hopefully Julie Johnson: As closely aligned as possible with what the students at each school

126needs. SBSD Owl Camera: Yeah, and I mean, and just going… speaking to that as well, we have our… our elementary schools that have worked really hard to… to align with each other, but they also have different needs, so ensuring that, you know, again, that the required funded positions, and they're looking at the care, positions, and how that can be funded, and what that looks like. SBSD Owl Camera: affords the buildings some… some, of their own ability to… to make… make those decisions. But I think it's really important for the… for folks in the district to know that the three elementary schools have been very, very committed to, you know, to keeping things as aligned as possible, so that when students go to the middle school, there's SBSD Owl Camera: There's continuity. SBSD Owl Camera: Julie,

127thank you so much. This is Jen. I appreciate all of this, your overview, and I… the rigor in the process that everything that you've done here, it's great. I think one question that I have is… SBSD Owl Camera: How is this model different? If you can speak to that, just at a high level, how is this different than how things have been done in the past? SBSD Owl Camera: Here, in South Carolina. I mean, do you have a… do you have a kind of a gauge on that? Julie Johnson: I do, although I would definitely encourage those of you around the table to chime in. I think, like so many districts. Julie Johnson: so many districts. Our understanding is that South Burlington, for the most part, has historically rolled over the budget from the previous

128year. Julie Johnson: and then kind of decided what level of changes need to be made from there. So there wasn't, … Julie Johnson: time or a structure in place to take a step back and look at the full picture and kind of make an assessment whether changes were needed or if things should continue. Julie Johnson: So, I think this allows for that kind of reflection and the ability to make shifts where they are needed, where in the past the conversation might have been more centered around Julie Johnson: everyone… every principal decide what one position to cut. Instead, principals are going to have the opportunity to kind of look at that full picture, and hopefully be looking at it from more of a kind of value-add and, Julie Johnson: We hope, from a positive and an

129excited point of view of what kind of they are able to get to do with their school's budget in the coming year. Julie Johnson: … Julie Johnson: I do, as I stressed, I think what South Burlington was doing is not at all unusual, but it does, unfortunately, it can lead to Julie Johnson: Historic inequities, and… Julie Johnson: things that were done 10 years ago and made total sense 10 years ago just continued to be rolled over, without that opportunity to kind of step back and think, Julie Johnson: More holistically on what their budget should look like. SBSD Owl Camera: I have another question, and… I don't… I know that this is… SBSD Owl Camera: this is stuff that we get to decide on, like staffing as a district. And there are other things that we

130don't get to decide about, like healthcare premiums and benefits, that's all decided at the state level. SBSD Owl Camera: So what about special education? Like, where is that… how much do we decide on what we're spending on versus state requiring us, or the federal government requiring us? SBSD Owl Camera: So, when it comes to special education, we… there's… there's different, you know, we… we get money in from different places, whether it's from federal, state, local. You know, our… our… SBSD Owl Camera: our charge and what we want to do is ensure that we have access for all students, and to ensure that there's, you know, that students are getting exactly what they need. So, … SBSD Owl Camera: those costs aren't necessarily going to… that they're not going away, but again, I think that's why

131if we're thinking about the pockets, those three pockets of money, and we think about where… what's the requirement, so they're within that level of… of, … SBSD Owl Camera: That first level. SBSD Owl Camera: that talks about what the requirement is. So, special educators are a requirement, you know, providing direct intensive instruction is a requirement for our students. And, … SBSD Owl Camera: So there's pieces of that. There's other pockets of money that aren't necessarily… so we get money, federal money, from the, … SBSD Owl Camera: Idea B, which is… SBSD Owl Camera: money that isn't necessarily within the whole… the whole budget that's specific to special education. So we spend that money specifically on… on special education, but we also know that money has been, decreasing, and so… SBSD Owl Camera: Again, I think

132what… what Julie and Sarah have provided for us is a framework to figure out how to do this, and again, I think the really key pieces to this is that it's… SBSD Owl Camera: It's figuring this out from year to year. It's the framework that's going to help, provide us that transparency and that ability to make the decisions. Here's the requirements, here's the places that… that are value-add, but also needed for specific schools, and they can talk about that again. SBSD Owl Camera: Julian highlighting that it's the principals who are… are going to be working with their buildings to talk about what it is that they need. SBSD Owl Camera: And then bringing that back to us. So, you know, we know that, we know that, SBSD Owl Camera: That, … Salary and healthcare is

133about 80% of the budget, so we're not talking about SBSD Owl Camera: the huge pieces of the budget, we're talking about the budget. SBSD Owl Camera: Got it. And so, the… SBSD Owl Camera: the board will say you have, what, 73 million, or some, some number. The board will say a number. Julie Johnson: And then…. SBSD Owl Camera: The superintendent will… SBSD Owl Camera: Subtract out the things like healthcare and special education and things that are not up for debate. Julie Johnson: That's right, student transportation. Julie Johnson: your debt service. Julie Johnson: Yeah, those things will come out, and then the remaining funds will be allocated to schools using the formula. Julie Johnson: And I…. SBSD Owl Camera: Do you know the proportion, more or less? Like, is it… SBSD Owl Camera: I think you

134just said healthcare… healthcare and staffing is 80%, but within that, healthcare is entitlement, and spending is discret… er, and staffing is discretionary. SBSD Owl Camera: So, like… SBSD Owl Camera: Somewhat. I mean, you also have to work within, you know, so when Tali talked about, you know, if you're having teachers at their maximum. SBSD Owl Camera: Right, right, right. You know, how many students they can have in the classroom. Yeah, so there is requirements, and you also can make those decisions about whether you're gonna… you're gonna be at maximum capacity based on your… your budget. Julie Johnson: I think special education staffing for English learners and your pre-K staffing is so complex. Julie Johnson: It's also so important that those resources follow students, that, you know, if you have, for whatever… if a program for

135special education students moves from one elementary school to another. Julie Johnson: Or if you're just enrollment patterns change, it's so important that those resources follow students, and you frequently don't know that as early as we're talking about, in the fall, a full year prior. So, for right now, those decisions are being left with the Julie Johnson: district. Julie Johnson: specialists who oversee those work streams, and serving those students. I will say, down the road from you all in Burlington School District, where we completed a similar project, different outcome, different budget model. Julie Johnson: They also did not include staffing or resources for special education students, English learners. Julie Johnson: And pre-K students the first year that they implemented their budget. They then included Julie Johnson: students with IEP, like, staffing for students with IEPs and

136English learners in year two, and then I believe in year three, they included pre-K. So it was an evolution, and I think, you know, starting… not that any of this is easy, but with the things that are a little more straightforward first, is a method for success, in our experience that kind of Julie Johnson: Trying to do all of this in year one, can be… Julie Johnson: A lot, both for the district, as well as for communities, to understand that. Julie Johnson: And even if you are, in the future, allocating those positions through this model. Julie Johnson: Again, we would recommend that if a change happens in your school… student population closer to the start of the school year, that you make those changes, so that the Julie Johnson: The staff is where it needs

137to be to serve those students. SBSD Owl Camera: I didn't… I didn't quite understand that. Are you saying that in the… in the first year, you… SBSD Owl Camera: do some decisions at the school level, and then in the next year, you would… you make more decisions at the school level. Is that what you're… I didn't quite understand that. Maybe you can explain. I think what… go ahead, Julie. Julie Johnson: I think all I'm saying is that in year one, we are not recommending allocating staff, specifically staff. Julie Johnson: to serve English learners and students with IEPs and pre-K students. So, those ratios and those staffing decisions… Julie Johnson: those. SBSD Owl Camera: Julie, that, that comes out of what folks have the ability to. Julie Johnson: That's right. That there wouldn't be flexibility with

138those. SBSD Owl Camera: Right, so the central office is gonna decide What? SBSD Owl Camera: you know, staffing for English language learners is going to be, and it's not going to be done at all. Julie Johnson: based on WIDA scores or IEP hours, that those would just be allocated by the district office and wouldn't be flexible. SBSD Owl Camera: At least initially, and then, again, like she said, Burlington made a decision to look at the Further in. Julie Johnson: Yeah. SBSD Owl Camera: Any other questions? SBSD Owl Camera: Tim, I know you're in the audience, I don't want to call you out here, but do you have any… do you have any thoughts about this, just based on what you've seen? SBSD Owl Camera: Tim is our former finance director. Julie Johnson: I know Tim

139well. SBSD Owl Camera: Yeah, I haven't even had the pleasure of working with Assange. … SBSD Owl Camera: As we kicked this off. So… SBSD Owl Camera: It's… it's… I think this model is much better for the community. I think that it will address a lot of the concerns that were raised during the last budget process around transparency. SBSD Owl Camera: It's not easy, because I think what's gonna happen SBSD Owl Camera: Is that the allocations will be made based upon some empirical input. SBSD Owl Camera: About enrollment, and how many… students fall into whatever. SBSD Owl Camera: And inevitably, there will still be debate about, I was shortchanged, and how come I only got this much money. SBSD Owl Camera: And another school got a different amount of money. SBSD Owl Camera: And that

140will be in the, debate. SBSD Owl Camera: Hopefully based upon vertical data, and I think that's… SBSD Owl Camera: For me, that's the primary benefit of this, is that it's more data-driven than it had been. So I think that we have continued to have data-driven decisions. SBSD Owl Camera: You'll be hearing from Monica at the next meeting with all of the equity information forward. The other thing is that you're making decisions SBSD Owl Camera: for the following school year, right? So, you're trying to, SBSD Owl Camera: Come up with the right model SBSD Owl Camera: for a, for enrollment and demographics that you feel not known until the following school year. So, maybe there's a surge of students who are allocated to one school versus another, you know, based upon where are the SBSD Owl

141Camera: new housing projects come. Are they going to Marcotte? Are they going to Chamberlain? Are they going to Orchard? But that data will have already been decided upon the scale data that we look at now. So, I think the biggest challenge of this, of any model like this. SBSD Owl Camera: Is the, … is that you don't know the space SBSD Owl Camera: extremely important, factors are in the funding formula. I understand that they will be attempting to try to get data earlier than they have in the past. You know, things about the town's… each town's, SBSD Owl Camera: a CLA, the real estate inflation factor, which is very important. SBSD Owl Camera: You don't know what the yield is going to be, because the governor… a lot of it will be determined on how

142much extra money does the governor intend to fuel the education fund with. SBSD Owl Camera: At a time when we are reconfiguring the entire way that education funding is done in the city. SBSD Owl Camera: I don't think they're going to be as generous, perhaps, as they have been in the past, and … SBSD Owl Camera: You know, you have so little time To make final decisions. SBSD Owl Camera: when, you know, if you go back to Julie's timeline, that first or second board meeting in January, you have to make a decision in order to get the budget warned according to SBSD Owl Camera: city charter, same statute, so… And we don't typically get that information from the state until the end of December, so the time frame is… The busiest week of the year

143for the… for us in the business office was the week between Christmas and New Year, because that's when a lot of this information was coming in. SBSD Owl Camera: And it can have such a significant impact, and lead to last-minute decisions that, you know, I think was problematic, that a lot of decisions SBSD Owl Camera: Last year had to be made in a very short period of time. SBSD Owl Camera: By default, because of the timeline. SBSD Owl Camera: But I'm encouraged, you know, the other thing is that it's probably better aligned with the state's … SBSD Owl Camera: new, strategy around the funding formula, anyway, and that… SBSD Owl Camera: You know, you probably have 3 years… to… Gradually understand that SBSD Owl Camera: The amount of money you're going to get from the

144state is going to be dictated by enrollment and the demographics of that enrollment. SBSD Owl Camera: Period, right? And then the city can say, well, we want more money. SBSD Owl Camera: I mean, our estimates, when this, when this was being debated in the legislature last year was that South Burlington was going to lose, you know, up to 4 SBSD Owl Camera: million dollars of funding. SBSD Owl Camera: Now, that's not like, well, how much are we going to increase the budget by, the $71.5 million? How much is that going to be increased by? It's like, how much are we going to have to decrease it by? SBSD Owl Camera: While also taking into account, you know, the labor negotiations and the contracts and inflation and all of this stuff. So… SBSD Owl Camera: it's

145encouraging that we're going to take a stab at this. I think that, you know, as a community member, I'm supportive. I think that it will go over better, and I think that there's a new board, and a new approach, and a new superintendent. SBSD Owl Camera: I hope that, you know, it will never be a completely smooth process, because the schools are still gonna, you know, debate. SBSD Owl Camera: Or, you know, or, or at least, discuss. SBSD Owl Camera: How these allocations ended up being. SBSD Owl Camera: But it's more… it's more Transamera, and it's more data, so… Thanks, gentlemen. SBSD Owl Camera: Superintendent, do you have any other comments on the… I don't, I'm… I just wanted to… I really think, SBSD Owl Camera: Julie and Sarah for helping, helping us, you know,

146come to this place where we're at. I think it's a really good place to be at, regarding the… SBSD Owl Camera: The time frame, it's going to be tight, I know, especially because we're also going to be trying to get folks, invested in the superintendent search, and so I think we'll have to be mindful of how many community opportunities we have, and, you know, we don't want to divide SBSD Owl Camera: whether people are going to come to, you know, a budget meeting, or they're going to come to a superintendent meeting, so we'll just want to be really thoughtful about what that looks like. I'm super appreciative of this. Again, think it's a super transparent process. Like Tim said, I think they'll… there'll continue to be advocacy for SBSD Owl Camera: what each school wants.

147That's why we have really great principals in each building who are going to advocate for what their buildings need. SBSD Owl Camera: And, there'll also be some parameters set, so I think, you know, I'm looking forward to how it goes through. Great. Do board members have any other SBSD Owl Camera: Arm tongues. SBSD Owl Camera: Yeah, my last personal reflection is I just want to recognize our former superintendent, Violet Nichols. SBSD Owl Camera: Leadership on modernizing. SBSD Owl Camera: this flushing process, and a lot of credit is due to her for recognizing that there was a problem and engaging, I think, the right people for it. Yeah, I definitely… I mean, Violet was the person who really headed this. Tim, working with Violet, spent a lot of time with Julie, and … SBSD Owl Camera:

148Sarah, and, you know, again, that's been… it's been a really good process, and I think we'll read the real words of it. SBSD Owl Camera: Thanks, Julie. Thanks, Julie. Julie Johnson: Yeah, thank you all. It was… it was… thank you for listening and… or letting me listen into that conversation as well. Really appreciate it, and we are excited to see, Julie Johnson: How this is implemented in the coming months. Julie Johnson: Have a good evening! SBSD Owl Camera: Right, be in September, Julie, bye-bye. Julie Johnson: Nice. SBSD Owl Camera: I would entertain a motion to adjourn. SBSD Owl Camera: Meeting. SBSD Owl Camera: Any discussion? SBSD Owl Camera: All those favorites. SBSD Owl Camera: We're adjourned.