001Hi. >> Hey Lonnie. We have Matt and you and uh myself and Karen. So, we're missing one member and we can start at 5:30 on the dot. So, I'll call this meeting of the North Bennington Credential Committee for Wednesday, April uh Wednesday Why is this April 8th? sitting in front of me. >> I don't know. Here's May 13th. >> It's May 13th. >> That's what it's supposed to be today. Um >> It comes to me. >> May 13th. >> Here comes May 26th. >> 26th, okay. Hello Katie. We're just starting. Um So, if there were a public to comment, we would have public comments. Now, but we do not have a public showing. So, we'll Our agenda has the consent agenda next. Minutes and warrants. So, um I will review the the warrant. We played
002their saying payroll warrant for uh Doug um payment for That's quarterly, right? Is it Yeah. Quarterly payment. >> Yes, quarterly. >> Yeah. That's for $2,972.48. Um Then, the uh warrant for other expenditures of the district that are non-personnel um is a total of $474,919 and a few cents. That is uh so large because it includes all the um all the tuitions for SBUESD schools uh the final payments there Sacred Heart final payments there, Maple Street final payments there, Island Hall same Grace Christian same um and or uh the final payment of the year for the village school. Uh it also has a few other items where we we received an overpayment from the village of taxes, so we are repaying them. That's $11,878 rounded up. And uh paying Catamount TV for televising our meetings. That's
003a $544 expense. And Lori is paid for minutes for last month. large sum, but it is the last major warrant of the year. Um we will have one in June. And that's when we will take care of the uh We'll vote to How do we do this, Doug? On the um the >> Yeah, so so what will happen is cuz you you're not going to hold a meeting in June, correct? Or is it July? >> It's July we don't hold a meeting. >> Okay. So, what what I will do is I will gather the payment information for the bond to be voted on in the June meeting because that has to be paid on July 1st via a wire transfer. So, they usually send me at the end of May, 1st week in June, they
004send me the form that has the exact information. So, that should be out before the June meeting. That will be approved at the June meeting and then July 1st I go to the bank and pay the what pay via the wire. >> Okay. And that totaled What's >> Um I believe it was it's around 23,000 if I remember correctly off the top of my head. >> That's plus plus some interest. >> Yeah. Yeah, I think the last one was just under 25,000, right in that range. >> Correct. And that's our next to last payment on that bond from 2011. >> Correct. >> Okay. So, um and then the minutes, you should have looked at the minutes the April 8th, 2026 meeting. And are there any issues with minutes that anyone sees? Shall we move Hey,
005move to accept the minutes and the warrants. >> I'll make a motion. >> Thank you. >> I'll second that motion. >> Thank you, Matthew. Um is there any discussion about any part of them? Minutes or warrants? Seeing none offered, I call the question. All in favor, say I. >> I. >> Raise your hand, whatever, or both. Like All right, so that's the um first order of business, consent agenda. Of finance is none except we do have a We do have You should have received the um treasurer's report in your packet. Do you wish to comment on that, Doug, before you depart? >> sure. I'll give a Yep, I'll give a couple of quick highlights. Um So, this was for April, last month's warrant, you know, wasn't wasn't very big. Uh we also had the final
006um state aid. So, you see that up there. That's a little 700, little over 748,000. Um and that is the final payment for this fiscal year. Um so, prior So, at the end of April, um the account balances had 1.2 million. Then we have the sinking fund balance, um the estate funds that are in there, and then a small couple of restricted. So, the operating cash available is uh 968,000, of which 475,000 is going out for this month's warrant. Um but as Ray stated, that's the last big warrant. Um So, the next steps um over the next 2 to 3 months, um we're going to basically finish up the transfer to um the Bank of Bennington. We were waiting for that last state aid to come in before we started to contact the state to
007to change that direct deposit. The next one doesn't come in until September. Um so, we didn't want to start messing around with um account numbers and things um and have something get botched up in the middle. So, we're going to get that changed over. Um, the other thing that will happen in June, July, more likely in July, uh, because we are in a better cash position this year is we will set up the tax anticipation loan that we've done year over year. Um, but now that's going to be done through the Bank of Bennington. Uh, the process is much quicker, much smoother, much cleaner. So, I do not need to start it in March as I had to the past 2 years, uh, with the prior bank. Um, so that will be a much smoother
008process going forward. Um, so that will be in place. Um, again, most likely we wouldn't need to use it till August, September, October, those months prior to, um, the collection of taxes. Um, because fiscal year, um, for for new members and anybody who doesn't remember, uh, fiscal year will start July 1st, so we'll start getting bills in. However, um, the first state aid, like I said, isn't until September, and then taxes don't get paid from, uh, the village entities usually until mid to late November. Um, so there's that gap there that potentially we could have a cash flow shortage, which is why we set up the tax anticipation note, um, to be used, um, to pay the bills. Um, other than that, you know, we're we're on our way with the with the transfer. Like
009I said last month, all the the two accounts have been set up. They're ready to go. Um, so the transition we're looking basically to consider it as of July 1st where we're going to try to use, um, the Bank of Bennington as the true operating account moving forward. >> All right. Are there any questions about that report? Seeing none. >> My only issue is that, um when I open the packet all the all the other information in the packet is from April or March. >> Uh-huh. >> I did notice that too when I tried to click on it, Matt. >> Yeah. >> I'm not seeing any of the you know, the warnings that we have to do and uh or the budget that matter. >> Yes, I have I have a April 8th. >> Yeah.
010>> As well as the current agenda. >> I get the agenda, but but then it I cannot get any of the the current reports, but that's fine. But I >> You couldn't access them on the website? >> When I click on the packet for this meeting, >> Yeah. >> there isn't any current documents related to the warnings of policy or the budget stuff. I'm >> I didn't have my computer with me. All right. >> Yeah, I think it's just I think the I think the link on the packet is wrong. My guess is if if you clicked on the link through the website, it's probably correct. >> Through the SDC. >> Yeah. >> The uh This uh budget control is for 5 11 26 2027. >> get I'll get that. I'll pull it up. >>
011Okay. Uh >> All right, if there's nothing else for me, I've got packing to do. We're heading to Maine. My son graduates college this weekend. >> Okay. >> Fantastic. >> Congratulations. >> Thank you all. >> Yeah. >> Going to be a nice weekend. >> Yes, it's the weather's been improving every time we look, so. >> My daughter's graduating from Tufts grad school on >> Excellent. >> Sunday, so same deal. Going down >> go. Great. All right, have a good weekend everybody. >> Thank you, Doug. >> Thanks, Doug. >> Yep. So, um Yeah, I don't know what happened. But, uh I know that so the documents I looked at on my computer my phone weren't accurate, so I Yeah, I had it was 5 11. budget controls things. >> I'll find it. >> Yeah. Um so
012Uh the next item on this agenda is for policies. And uh Bonnie attended the policy committee meeting. >> I did. >> Yeah, in May. And she has volunteered to report on the policies on this agenda or at least on the meeting. I'm not sure if they she's going to report on these policies. >> Yeah, you can you can see you know, I I saw what you were talking about, Matthew. And let me know if you can hear me because I'm sitting out in front of India right now, so there's a bunch of traffic. >> Yeah, can everybody hear her? Yeah. Okay. >> Um So, if you go to that SDSU website, then you can get to the policies that are being warned. Uh Uh so, the meeting was on May 4th. Essentially, they didn't have
013They had a meeting in April, but I wasn't able to attend because I was sick, but that was the first meeting that they'd had in a while because they were going through a policy audit by the VSBA, which is the Vermont School Boards Association. Um so, what's going right on right now with the policy drafting committee is we are going through um the audit results from the VSBA uh to get all of SDSU's policies up to date. And the way they are doing that is by going through state mandated policies first, and then after that we'll go through higher priority policies, and then after that we'll go on more regional policies. So, the four policies that are being worn today is what we went over in the meeting on the fourth. The very first one
014I think is the library materials policy. Essentially, they pulled something verbatim what Vermont School Board Association does is they have essentially like example versions of what the wording of your policy should say, and if it's not including these specific things, you need to find a way to work them in. So, we worked together to find um you know, wording that felt applicable to library materials to empower our librarians in the supervisory union to, you know, understand what they are supposed to be providing and to and to have language surrounding possible challenges that materials based on like a kind of like more not state per se, but federal look at what's going on in the Department of Education. So, there's that one, and then the next three policies, the substitution substitute teacher policy was kind of
015based on you know, what is required of substitute teachers and what leeway we can provide to teachers within the the supervisory union that may have like been teaching within our system for 20 years or so, and maybe like we can be laxed on some of the things that we're requiring of them to kind of get them through the process quicker because there is such a uh need for some teachers. The last two policies I believe were the um volunteer and student worker policy and the the drug-free and alcohol-free zone and a lot of that was just kind of tackling verbiage to make sure that essentially anybody that's working um directly with children within the SDSU um needs to you know pass by these certain standards and these certain tests and what that language means. Um
016I think all of the policies on there have the highlighted information of what's being updated um but uh yeah I feel I feel really good about where we landed on those specific policies and each month we're kind of trying to just tackle as many as we can get through. Some are more pressing than others. For example, there was a um policy that we don't have that was recommended not recommended mandated by uh the SBA that we had started to take a look at at the last uh meeting in regards to uh like behavioral threat assessment teams and that is a policy that needs a ton of attention and a ton of care. Um so that is something that we're taking a lot more time with and it's not going to come through probably until uh
017the next round or the round after that. So that's what we were going uh what what we were doing at the meeting previously. That's kind of an overview of the policies that are being worn today that we finalized and and put out to the different um districts. >> Yep. So um So it was a good meeting and uh did you feel comfortable being there, participating? >> Yeah, I definitely felt comfortable being there and participating. Definitely felt like, you know, I wanted to take a little bit of a backseat when I first got to the first meeting, but it I felt like I've had enough experience within the school board and having kids in the school and following the redistricting thing that I was able to kind of um I feel like I'm able to represent
018our district specifically in that policy drafting committee, which feels important to me. Um And it's a good group of uh it's a good group of people uh working hard together for the benefit of everybody within um our supervisory union, which is part of me. It's a nice group to be a part of. >> So, um I that I hopefully hopefully that means you're going to continue to >> Yes. Yeah. I think they have um their our drafting meetings are like the first Monday of the month and uh Tim is really good about um getting it down within an hour. We're just We're just hammering through right now the policies that we can get done within that hour because there's a lot to go through. Um but I feel passionate about staying on that committee and
019I'm grateful for that opportunity and grateful to be able to, you know, bring whatever we have here from uh from our district and how and and what we want to represent from our district to that uh to the policy drafting that's happening there. And obviously everything goes out to the districts to approve once we finalize it at that level. >> Well, thank you for going and agreeing to participate. Appreciate that. Um >> Can I I would just like to add Lonnie, I know that you I don't know if you I I'm over here. I'm Beth Lord, I'm the interim assistant superintendent, but I just wanted to say too that Tim really appreciated your insight and your participation in the committee and he was really excited to have you on board as well. So I just
020wanted to pass that along as well. >> Thank you so much. >> Great. Uh so, are you going to speak for the superintendent today? >> Yeah, I mean he mentioned two things that he wanted to um kind of update on is that the first thing is that there's a SVSU board retreat that's going to happen on June 22nd which is working on setting goals for the SVSU as a whole and then also board goals for the SVSU. And kind of and they set some goals last year I I believe but they want to refine them and take a look at them. So he wanted to communicate that that work is starting and that he hopes that that will carry over in all of the other boards as well. The other thing too is that on
021Monday we had a legislative breakfast with our local legislators who typically will give us a little bit of an update on what's happening with educational reform the educational reforms that are taking place or not taking place, but there was a lot of talk about the CSAs and I shouldn't say a lot of talk. There's that's kind of what the priority is right now for them and and and they were >> Would you spell that acronym out? >> Oh sorry. So the CSAs is like the I don't exactly to what the words mean, but it would be utilizing resources such as like special education >> I think it's community educational services. >> There you go. across multiple districts. So, on some level the SBSU has a smaller version of that. Um but when we're looking at
022areas across the state, um you know, in the certain school districts or can't, you know, they can't support um programming like they can at some of the larger districts. So, they connect with others local school districts and share resources together. Um it's a way of that the state is discussing um you know, moving forward with creating these partnerships uh within, you know, amongst area school districts. Um I think some of it is that they've leaned heavily on uh Brattleboro cuz Brattleboro is kind of leading the charge in uh creating this and they have had this created and so state legislators are looking at the structures that they have. Um The in this meeting, what was shared was uh Renee, our our, you know, business manager said that there are some challenges with that that come
023along with that financially and that she's had that conversation with the business manager from Brattleboro. Um and also Kate Abbott, uh who is a student services uh leader in our district in the SBSU, um also shared that when she worked in New York State, which has a similar uh structure, that there were a lot of administrative costs that came with that. So, you have to hire an administrator to oversee that programming, um to oversee the organization of it and uh, what we have in the SVSU, um, we've already kind of built in. Uh, and so having that structure in Vermont might be a disadvantage for us because it would have added costs that we already have, um, we already have built in. We already have someone that oversees uh, student support services. Um, we already
024have, you know, someone that oversees transportation and we've organized how to share that within our own uh, supervisory union. So, there really wasn't any progress necessarily made in that conversation, but it was just more of an update of that's where the discussion is. >> I think it's more intended to help the, um, smaller districts and smaller schools. >> Correct. Yeah. >> Um, and the one that you were the one that exists, I think it's actually a mountain, partly a mountain. Um, see, so it's for towns in the mountains between here and Brattleboro, maybe Brattleboro is participating as well. I don't think so. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Um, and um, I guess one question I would have is what's the transportation component there? You know, what's happening for children going to this this, uh, struc- this
025organization or is it organization coming to >> I think it's more, uh, an arrangement of taking the services, so whether that's teachers or um, you know, when you think of like services like occupational therapy, uh, speech services, they're going to the schools. Um, and so there is a a collective agreement that if one school district has access to, um, uh, let's say a teacher of the deaf, that that then could also be shared with other smaller school districts. Um, so not necessarily that the kids are having to, although that probably could be part of it. But that the resources are being shared. >> special education kids have my key codes. >> Correct. It could be. Yeah. >> Because uh I you know what years ago there was an example in our district where a child
026uh required services that could not be provided in state. And the one of the parents used to complain about the fact that there's so much transportation. Uh which was paid for but not by the parent. But uh it was uh the the child was out out of sight for months at a time. >> Yeah. >> Uh that person felt that uh it would be better if we could organize something locally that would do provide for children needing Kandos particular needs. >> Right. >> So I I would think that that's one thing that ceases to obtain. It would be great. So what else did they have to say? >> Well, that was the most of the time. >> Yeah, they didn't really yeah they didn't really have a whole lot to um say with uh you
027know, any kind of certainty but just that that's where the discussion has been recently and that's kind of where they're leaning towards exploring and and moving towards. >> Great. >> Yeah. >> Right. At the moment uh that legislation moved through Senate Ed without actual approval and went to the next committee because uh the legislative the Senate Senate uh Ed well, Senate pro tem I think him and whatever executive committee there is in the Senate decided to move it. >> Mhm. >> It just because they couldn't get uh they had a 33 tile passing their version of house the house 955. Which they made uh changes to but they're not changes are not conceptual. They're more uh there's an whole list of the change the house had a whole list of different groupings that would be
028uh districts that would be uh part of uh a effort to see if there was consolidation possibilities. And uh the uh the Senate rearranged all of them. Uh and uh the one that includes our districts here and also Arlington and I think there's one other district that's not in our issue now that was included. Uh has been hasn't really been reorganized but a number of the other districts were. Fairly substantially reorganized by the Senate. And uh so the question is whether the house is going to approve those and then further question is because none of this forces any districts to merge. It's it's all voluntary. Under both scenarios. Uh whether the governor is going to what kind of a fight is going to be about in this thing. All right. >> I think that is
029all I've got. That's >> Okay. >> That's all we got. >> All right. Um so um that pretty much uh deals with our education transformation legislation item under the chair's report for again the way because um um I can I can send you all the um draft that left the Senate Education Committee which shows in you know it lines out what changes the Senate made. Uh And but uh it and that that draft is very similar to 955 as it came from the house except for the the uh changes. Mostly the changes are at those groupings that the Senate put together. And uh that uh draft 95 955 uh will not produce any force cons- consolidations or district consolidations or school consolidations. That's all voluntary. But it will focus heavily on the CSOs to help
030generate some savings and uh better services. More equity in services for districts that need that kind of support. And um those are the basic things I can recall from um about it, you know. It's uh quite quite a distance from uh what the governor prefers. And um so uh that's where we stand. You know, we stand on the precipice of a vetoed budget. And uh, for the state as a whole, because that's what the governor has promised us. And uh, I don't I don't know what we You know, there's a provision for that if it is they call they get called back in the session like to attempt to override the veto veto, but given the composition the legislature, now I'm not sure they're going to be able to do that. So, I don't know
031where this is you know, how this is going to affect next year's operations, except I know they have to be going ongoing, you know. We can't stop the educational system. And um, I I had an item about the idea for an archive of North Bennington um, the transformation of North Bennington's education system, but I have I have sadly not been able to do that yet, but put it together. I have a a bunch of stuff stored on uh, thumb drives that I need to consolidate and I have didn't get around to doing it. Sorry. I'm sure you're all set. And uh, so unless there's some other under the chair's report that anybody wants to discuss or if do you want to Oh, I know what. Sorry, I'm forgetting one thing. Um, there the the rural
032uh, the rural education How do they say it? RS, rural All right. According to my memory, but it. The rural school community alliance, that's what it is. Uh sent out uh a a notice saying that uh they would would hope that um their members and others who are subs part of the mailing goes out would uh write some uh the boards would write supportive um statements and documentation of what they're doing to um send to the governor once the legislation is actually been adopted by the legislation. Um and to support their their um extended extensive lobbying for um uh one uh no schools could be closed without a community vote and uh that there would be no forced consolidations and that um the ceases. Those are basically the three items. There are probably some other
033minor points. Uh in order to show some public interest in uh going along with what uh the House 955 legislation uh puts forth as a as a reorganization of the system. And um I think I think we should do that. If um and um I I'd welcome may- you know, maybe we have to have a draft and then we can discuss it. Uh maybe in the next meeting. And, um I could circulate it. We can discuss it. And, um we'll see if we can support that. Another thing is that they're they they have hired and still have hired a lobbyist who's been making it possible for them to have an impact in the legislature. Um And they would like some money if if uh boards can feel they contribute something. So. Um we can't vote
034any money now, but um but I'll put that out there, you know, maybe we could send them like 500 bucks or something like that. Um I think that lobbying stuff is costing the group uh $30,000 or so right now. But, they need more money. Um and uh we're not really a member, but uh and they wouldn't accept us as a member if we tried to join. For for various reasons, it's not not to do with us particularly. Um but I still think uh they've been doing work that I feel like we can support. Now, maybe maybe we should have a discussion about that cuz you might disagree with that, but uh So, uh if you could think about that, I'd appreciate it. If you have any comments about um you know, I laid out their
035position fairly succinctly just now. Um do you feel that's uh something we can support or you can support? Uh we're not going to have a vote. I'm just >> I'm supportive of that um for sure uh and we can address it in the next meeting and put it on the warning so that we can actually do that. >> Yeah. >> Um I In a side, I don't think we properly do we need to vote to warn the uh the policy the policies that were on the agenda? >> Yes, please. >> Oh, yes. I'm sorry. >> I already put it in the minutes, but just do it. >> Yeah, yep. >> Uh I totally forgot about that. Yeah. Okay, yes, we do. Uh those are all for adoption. No, they're all for warning. So, um Uh
036why don't we put them all together even though they blank this for I mean Um so the motion would be to warn policy 6100 for library material selection, policy 4261 for substitute teachers, entitled substitute teachers, policy 4276, entitled supervision of volunteers and work study students, and policy 41 100 alcohol and drug-free workplace. >> I'll make a motion. >> I'll put that forward as a as a res as a motion. >> Lani seconds. >> I'll second. >> There you go. Lani Um we've already talked about them. I don't think there would be discussion. So, I'll call the question. All in favor of one of these policies. >> I. Okay, that's unanimous. Okay, so >> Ray, was there anything else from from Tim's uh email that would be pertinent to this discussion or did we pretty much
037cover that? >> He He He basically He it was uh maybe uh information from a few days ago. >> Yeah. >> Uh that you know, basically that they had they tied on the the votes that they hadn't voted voted it out of Senate Ed as a pass. >> Things are moving. >> But it's been circulating. And that was basically what what he said. What I didn't call. I'll I'll send you his email if if I didn't >> No, I got the recording. I got the email. I just I didn't What what whether there was anything there that was >> Yeah, I don't think it's uh I don't think there was anything else other than that. Um >> Then I would >> And I'd like to uh share I don't know if I sent this around
038before, but around the just after our annual meeting the floor meeting um I received some information from Tim, I guess. Uh that TEA had put out about um because uh the independent schools tend to get uh uh somewhat skewed information about them in the at in the uh presentation to the uh the redistricting committee that was going on at the time. Uh so there was a correct they they provided a correction to that pointing out that the uh what was presented as an alarming increase in the number of students tuitioning to independent high schools in the basically high schools uh Burr and Burton uh and St. Johnsbury and so forth in the state uh was actually misrepresenting the actual circumstances because a lot of students who had been uh tuitioning into schools prior to Act
03946 in 2016 were no longer tuitioning because Act 46 consolidations removed the option of uh tuitioning for them. Uh and so it reduced the number of students who were tuitioning to public high schools but the numbers of students who were already tuitioning to the uh independent high schools uh were the same or grew up or grew a little bit so it looked like there was an imbalance and uh that concerned people who were opposed to independent schools. Uh but there's some other interesting information there. Uh one of them is one fact is that uh uh the traditional academy St. Johnsbury Burr and Burton and uh Lyndon I guess maybe there's another one there. Um their tuition rates which people tend to point to is high were less than the actual um They pointed out that
040the there were a number of um public high schools in the state whose costs were much higher uh as reflected by uh end-of-the-year calculations that tell you what the uh allowable tuition was for by uh four or five thousand dollars in certain cases. So that they their um their costs are not particularly out of line with public schools some of the public high schools in the state. There are of course public high schools that are spending a lot less. You know, they have to one up them. All right. Uh I'll I'll send that along to you if I have and maybe I've already sent it but I'll just do it again. Cuz I >> to see that again. That'd be great. >> I I found it uh to be uh you know, a pertinent pertinent
041and big deal. All right. So we shall shall we adjourn ourselves? >> Motion to adjourn. >> Second. >> got it. Heads and hands up and Yeah. Okay. I I'll get it declared as adjourned. Thank you. >> Thank you, all. >> Yeah. >> Thanks. Yeah, I'll see you.