001Good afternoon. It is June 9th, 2026, and we are at the Southwest Vermont Union Elementary School District Board of Directors meeting. It's 5:32, and if able, and you'd like to, please stand for the pledge. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> And we are moving on to our public comment. Public comment, as a reminder, is to express opinions on anything that is in the agenda. Anyone who's here for Union Brook? >> Kathy Clark. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> No, I'm just here for Bennington Cares. >> And next? >> I don't remember, but anyone from the public? No hands raised. >> Okay, then we will move on. Um we
002are going to the meet the Is it not on the agenda? >> That's right. You can pause right there and amend the agenda. You're >> Thank you. Thank you. Um I'd like to amend the agenda to include an executive session, a VSA 313A1 contracts, so I need you to motion to be going into. >> I make a motion to amend the >> to amend the agenda. >> Cindy is amending it, and I'm Stephanie to second it. Any discussion? Uh those in favor of amending the agenda, signify by saying aye. >> Aye. >> That is unanimous. Thank you. Also, now we go on to the consent agenda. The consent agenda includes our minutes, warrants, retirements, resignations, nominations, and field trips. Can I have a motion um to approve the consent agenda? >> I'll make the motion.
003>> Cindy to make the motion. And a second? >> I'll second. >> Okay, Brent second. Discussion? Um I will say the one thing that we need to fix in our minutes is that the meeting place was here and not at Molly Stark. That is the only thing that I saw that I felt needed to be addressed. If anyone has anything else, could you could please share it now? Hearing none, then let's move forward and approve the consent agenda with those um with that one piece having the uh location of our meeting last month was here and not at Molly Stark. So, all those in favor of approving the consent agenda signify by saying I. >> I. >> Ah. Hello, Chris. And you have abstained? Okay. Um we are heading to finance and um we have
004I think this is a grant. Isn't this a Williams College Arts and Olive Award? Do you know about this? >> It's an annual uh gift from the college. It has a long-standing tradition from Mount Olive Elementary. >> So, we need a motion to accept it. It has a monetary I am dissident because it's >> Say so. >> Okay, thank you. Um So, we need a motion to accept the Williams College Arts and Olive Award for Mount Olive Elementary School. >> I'll make a motion to accept it. >> Cindy to motion to accept it. Can I have a second? >> Second. >> Corrine second. Any discussion on this? If not, all those in favor of accepting this award on behalf of Palmer Elementary School, please signify by saying I. >> I. >> Thank you, Chris. Was
005that unanimous? We are now moving to policies. There are four to warn and three to adopt. 6100, 4261, 4276, and 4100 are all warn. And 4450, 6382, and 7205 are to adopt. Did I have a motion to uh move forward with the policies as stated? >> I'll make a motion. >> Cindy to make the motion. We have a second? >> Second. >> Stephanie to second. Any discussion on the policies? Hearing none, all those in favor of moving forward with the policies either warning or adopting, um please signify by saying I. >> I. >> Thank you. Um that is unanimous. Uh we are now on section six, the ratification of the teacher collective bargaining agreement. I believe this is where Nick will help us out. >> So, I'll start. I just handed out the board members
006as you came in, the teacher overview as well as support staff, but we'll start with teachers. Um little preface just so folks know, the teacher and support staff associations negotiated collectively this year, so they met as one organization um which was nice. I think it was a good way to do it. It's the second time it's been done that way. And special thanks to the board members who participated. We met beginning in October and came to a tentative agreement in April so it was a long process. Um a very quick run through of the essentially the changes and additions to the teacher contract this document. I'll talk you through them quickly. The the first thing is that it's a two-year contract extending through June of 2028. Um in terms of salary increases with the attached
007grid you will see 3.75% cost of living increases plus step movement for those who are eligible for steps. Um a couple changes expansion of sick leave to use it for funerals for bereavement is available. So just an expansion of how we use sick leave as well as the addition of the use of quarter sick days which is done in an attempt to minimize the time staff have to be out of the building for appointments and things like that. Um an alteration to retirement payout for teachers who are retiring and have accrued sick leave increasing that rate from $60 to $100 per day. We're also altering the way we do course reimbursement. Currently it's a reimbursement model. You take the course you pay the course you pay for the course take the course and then you
008get reimbursed. Going forward for classes specifically at Vermont State University SNHU and Vermont Higher Ed Collaborative we can now prepay for those courses. So that people don't have to pay out of pocket. Um same is true now for conference reimbursement. We have the ability to prepay conferences and seminars. Um so language changes around about how vacancies are posted and the timeline for interviewing and hiring. There are two provisions that are specific to Southwest Tech and I won't go over those. Those don't apply to actually any of our boards but it is a collective contract with them Uh, so wonderful for them. Um in terms of class coverage, we've increased and uh, changed a little bit how class coverage is paid. That's when the teacher loses their prep to cover for colleague or for some other
009circumstance. Um, so we've just modified how that process is paid. And then finally, mentor pay, which had been $500 per mentee for many years, has been increased now uh, to $1,000. So, teachers who mentor a new teacher receive that $1,000 per year. Um, like I said, there's an attached salary schedule for the next 2 years with that document. And uh, that's everything I have. Any questions? >> We have a motion that we need to make to uh, for this agreement. Um, this is the teacher collective bargaining agreement. >> See your hand. >> Oh, I handed Chris. >> I served as our uh, our words rep to that um, negotiating committee. Just want to say I was very pleased to have another another round of negotiations that were positive and cooperative and collegial. Um, you know,
010nobody I say would say got everything that they wanted, but the compromises that were reached were done all in good faith. And I just want to acknowledge that that's that doesn't happen accidentally. That really happens when everybody comes to the table sort of with the same sort of trust and mutual respect. And I just wanted to report out that I'm very pleased that that has happened yet again from my perspective. >> I appreciate that, Chris. And I also appreciate the time and energy that it takes to be a participant on that group and that you were willing to do this as committee work on behalf of this board. And it is greatly appreciated. It is a lot of work and it's a lot of time and it's a lot of extra meetings and I I
011on behalf of the whole board, I know that we all appreciate the work that you did for us. Thank you for that. >> Oh, thank you for saying so. >> Now, we have a motion for the ratification of the teacher collective bargaining agreement, and I need someone to make a motion to Was that you, Chris? >> Yeah, that was a good Yeah, so So, Sandy, I would make a motion that we adopt the the contract as negotiated. >> That was a great. >> I'll second it. >> So, Chris, I have you So, we're going to make the motion that we're adopting it as negotiated, and I ask that you are the number one in that motion. Or a first from someone here. Maybe. Because Stephanie seconded it, we we need We need somebody to >>
012I'm sorry. I thought you were making the motion. >> Yeah, I thought you were making the motion. >> Oh, did you just say that? >> I thought he was making >> I'm the one that's one that I said. >> The one Chris as the first, Stephanie as the second. >> I must have misunderstood. >> That's why you confused me. >> I'm sorry. >> It's okay. I was confused, too. >> It's also a long day. It's a very long day. Uh any other discussion on this agreement? Any other questions for Nick? I'm hearing none. All those in favor of ratification of the teacher collective bargaining agreement to adopt it as negotiated, please signify by saying I. >> I. >> That's unanimous. Um and now we move on to the ratification of support staff in this collective
013bargaining agreement. >> All right. So, also next in your packet there, uh slightly shorter overview, but I'll give you the same rundown. As I said, same committee, same group, um both on the association side and the board side, starting in October through April. Um also tentative agreement for a 2-year contract covering the same period of time. Um their pay schedule is uh slightly different. Um, the average cost the average increase was 5% plus step. Um, it is an average because it varied slightly by position. Um, they gave special emphasis at the request of the association for positions like paraprofessionals and custodians, um, but there were nice increases across the board, but it was not uniform and that's why it says 5% average varies by position. Um, in terms of changes to the contract, a bit
014of a shorter list, uh, but uh, similar stuff. Uh, adding the ability to use quarter day absences for the same reason having staff out of the building less, you know, only the amount of time that they really need to be out. Um, in terms of hiring, again, kind of modifying that process for posting online, um, and required days before interviewing. Um, sick leave also another change with the attend for the attendance of funerals when bereavement time's not available, so for certain relationships. And then finally a similar increase in retirement payout, so when a support staff member leaves after 15 years and retires, increasing the payout that they receive for unused sick days. Um, so shorter list, uh, but very similar topics as you can see they have been negotiated, uh, collectively. And attached pay grid
015there as well for the next 2 years. >> Thank you, Mary. We'll start. Um, so can I have a motion to adopt the the agreement as negotiated for the support support staff? >> I'll make a motion. >> Thank you. That's Cindy making the first motion. And the second? And Bill as the second. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor of moving forward and adopting as the agreed and the negotiated bargaining agreement, say by the sign I. >> I. >> Thank you, Chris. That is unanimous. You're now moving on to We have committee reports. Don't think have any operations or committee reports. Um, so we are Do you our superintendent's report? >> Okay. I'll keep this short. Um, for board members in attendance today, just want to remind or make you aware of the
016fact that every Tuesday we are working to send everybody who's a board member across all the boards an email. Our hope is that it tells you the meetings that are coming up in the next week. Um, it might uh, opportunities for professional learning with the uh, request of this board's chair, we will start attaching notes so that folks can take a look at that ahead of time and if you find things, we would ask that you send an email to Amy Goslin at central office. Amy, you would have it at meeting at Molly Stark, that is incorrect and she will make the note change. Um, so you should see that in your email box every Tuesday. We're hoping that that gets me in a habit of communicating and again, it goes to all board members
017uh, with the hope of trying to be um, timely and transparent as we go along with that. Um, again with the board notes, um, we are using an AI tool. We're getting pretty good feedback from folks, but it still takes a pair of human eyes to go through it to make sure that it's not making mistakes, so encourage you to take a look at the notes and if you see things again, you can give us feedback. If you come over there. Um, Nick, do you mind just putting it up on the screen for folks to see? I want to show something also to uh, board members in the community or here. On the website, uh, under the tab uh, just a second here. Under the tab for I think it's departments, right Nick? Is where
018superintendents or is it on the bottom? Yes. So if you go on the SBSU website, under departments, there's a tab that says superintendents reports for 2025 2026. And what we've been doing is making this one-stop for you. If you remember, we shared a handout or you saw a presentation, and you can go and see on the left side there that it goes by month. And you're you know, if you're down the road and you're like, "Oh, Tim shared something. I want to go see that." For this board specifically, uh the two May presentations, uh Sandy and I sat with the SU last week. I shared a um data index. I brought a paper copy. I know some of you folks like me, you like to mark things up. Bill, this goes to a question you
019had asked me earlier. But this is an attempt to give you some kind of general information on the SVSU. So it has enrollment, it has student achievement in it. Um it talks a little bit about building use. Um and so we're hoping that by providing this for folks, um you when you're having conversations as we go forward, you can be referencing, "Hey, I can see this is going on." Things like that. So I have a couple of paper copy. Like I said, if you're somebody who likes me to see um yeah, something in person, I'm happy to provide you. Absolutely. Sandy and I can do that for you. >> Will you send one over for me as well? >> Absolutely. In fact, I'll send my three in this direction. I have three and I'll here.
020I don't have enough, I'll be I'll make it up to you. I promise. Uh the other piece, um we had a convers- Sandy and I had a conversation about this. Just a piece of information. I should probably sit with this. We're all waiting for the governor to sign the update in educational legislation. Um I've heard different things. He may sign it this Friday. He may sign it next week. As we talked about at the SU board last week, there are two pieces in there that kind of start timers. One is uh a SISA, which is another acronym from the Agency of Education. But basically, what I'm telling folks is this is a study group that is mostly Rutland and Bennington County. The state is encouraging districts to talk to each other. Is there a way
021that we can save money by sharing services? The requirement for the SVSU is to have one representative. The SU board is will make the decision about who will represent. The law is pretty clear it should be a superintendent or a board member or a designee. So that we'll get some directions from the SU board. The other uh task that we'll have a clock starting to it is the voluntary merger work group uh which will uh require a representative from each school board within the SVSU to sit. There will be a facilitator coming from outside of this thing to facilitate that process. Uh that has a deadline of about a year year and two months that we would have to generate a report after having a conversation about any potential mergers within the existing SVSU. I
022share that with you because uh I shared this with the SVSU a document that has two pieces to it. The top part shows uh the number of meetings and I appreciate Sandy's feedback that it's a lot of commitment from a volunteer school board member. Uh between July when I came on and the current month we've had 74 warrant board meetings. It's a lot of time to ask for volunteer board members in addition to the anticipated work that's coming up next year. And so what I'm trying to what I offered at the bottom is a second chart and I talk about hey, could we structure meetings in a different way that would allow us to continue to meet as as local boards, but also do the work that the legislature's asking us. Uh I'm encouraging folks
023to look at both of those, give me feedback. I've certainly received some feedback already about that. But I'm just trying to get my mind to the 2026-2027 school year. We do a lot of work. You can see how many meetings these boards get together and you know, budget, negotiations, special meetings, hearings, all that good stuff. The state is asking us to do some more work in the coming year. So, we we um if the boards feel it's appropriate to revisit the meeting schedule, I would just want to share some data. And then the last piece for this board specifically, there is a document it's not on the column of the of the monthly presentations, but on the right side, I share this with you because the ESD has a document that some of you probably
024have a paper copy of it. I was left a paper copy of it. It is the best educational use of facilities at our committee. That is a work group that this board is responsible for. So, um and you know, so that's just one more thing that we're going to have to have a conversation. How do we do this and not overburden our our board members who again um do this out of duty and responsibility. I appreciate I appreciate that. So, um all of those documents are on the same page. So, you go to the superintendent's report if you want to go back and look at it electronically, you should find everything right there on that one page. Um but I also brought uh paper copy I have one paper copy of the best use cuz
025it's a sizable document. It's over 100 pages. Please don't print it at home. Uh and then I brought a couple pages of the uh calendar, too. Uh and then last but not least, um in preparation for uh this board is having a retreat and that with the chair. Um working ahead of time with we've met. We'll do a um we'll draft a warning for it. It is an open meeting. Um it has open meeting requirements for part of the agenda. Uh and so we will be posting an agenda and we will have to figure out a way to take notes. Not required to record it. I did verify that with the VSBA so you don't need to coordinate with Catamount TV or anything like that. Uh the one thing that VSBA, I talked to Debbie
026Singheiser, she is the director of board services at VSBA. That is your your professional organization. She's lovely. The one thing that she said, "Please remind board members that as you gather together for this, anything that you feel is going to be business board business being discussed, you cover yourself by just simply listing that on the agenda." So, board training not necessarily getting into the topics, but if you say, "We will come out of this conversation with draft goals for the school year." You want to put that on your agenda. But I will work with the chair to make sure that that reflects the um the intent of this board. And then last but not least, uh as I was talking to Miss Singheiser today, through the VSBA on their website under uh I think it's
027board services if I'm remembering correct, they host a I think it's twice a month uh session where board chair, and I will share this with all of you. You can register and pose your questions in advance and then they have other board chairs come together and she says it's been a really use- they've gotten very positive feedback from board chairs. Get your your questions answered in real time, pair notes with other board chairs. So, it's just an opportunity and I will make that available to you as going forward. And that's it. >> Thank you. I will share with you that the SBSU board is had a very similar agenda to ours and um what the superintendent shared tonight was also what was shared at that SBSU meeting. Um so that would be the board of
028that SBSU board update. So, pretty much mirrored tonight what you said. Um as for um um my report, I'm going to keep it very very simple. Um our board retreat will be on June 20th. I will send you the agenda after um I've worked with it with uh our superintendent. Um and um and um hopefully we will um come out being a a lot of great ideas and information. Um The only other thing I wanted to share was that we will not have a July board meeting. Um will not happen. Uh so we'll come back uh in August, um probably after your board your administrators uh retreat. >> Um it may be the same week. >> Okay. >> Cuz uh admin retreat is 1 week later this year. >> Okay. Um and I also wanted
029to um congratulate all of our students who are moving up as well as congratulate our superintendent for a fine first year. Hopefully many more. Um with this, with that, um that concludes our um agenda for this evening with the exception of I need a motion to see to go into executive session uh BSA 313 A1 um for the purpose of contracts. >> So moved. >> Second. Uh thank you, Chris. Thank you, Cindy. Any discussion? All those in favor moving forward into executive session, state it by saying aye. >> Aye. >> Just one question for your audience. Do you anticipate coming out taking any action? >> I do not anticipate taking any action. I do not anticipate this board will take any action coming out of executive session. >> Okay. Thank you, folks. >> So, turn
030them out and members of the public, I'm just going to move you into the waiting. >> I'd like a motion to move into executive session for the purposes VSA 313 A1 contracts and I would like to invite the superintendent of schools as well as the human resource director to this executive session. >> So moved. >> Thank you, Chris. >> Second. >> And thank you, Cindy. It's a first from Chris, second Cindy. Any discussion? All those in favor of going into executive session with our superintendent and our director of human resources signify by saying I. >> I >> Thank you. I'd like to make a have someone make a motion to exit executive session. >> Make the motion. >> Thank you, Cindy. We're in open session now. And a second? >> I'll second it. >> Corrine
031second, any discussion? All those in favor of exiting executive session signify by saying I, I, >> I >> Thank you. That's unanimous, none opposed. Um, that concludes the evening, so I need a motion to adjourn. >> I'll make the motion to adjourn. >> Thank you, Cindy. >> I'll second it. >> Thank you, Corrine. Any discussion? Meeting adjourned. Oh, all those in favor? >> I. >> Thank you. Meeting adjourned. >> Thank you, nice meeting. >> Goodbye then. >> Bill, I'm glad we could uh