001This meeting is being recorded. >> Okay, >> there we go. All right, we'll call the Arlington School District board meeting to order at 5:30 on April 8th. Our first item on our agenda is public comments. >> Yep. for a question I guess but um I think that school will sur school will be conducting a survey um and I was just going to ask or request that um after the data has been collected if that can be shared in some kind of some report minutes or something >> we don't have one this two this year. Yes. >> Any other bullet comments? Anybody online? >> I don't see anybody raising hands. >> Okay. Next, we have the consent agenda, which is our minutes, mornings, retirements, resignations, nominations. We have the minutes from the March 11th and the
002March 19th meetings. We have our warrants uh which are included in your packet. We have no retirements, no resignations, no nominations, and no field trips. Chair entertain a motion to accept the consent consent agenda as presented. >> Make a motion. >> I'll second. >> Motion made by Dan, seconded by Terry. Any discussion? All those in favor? >> I. >> Anybody opposes? >> Great. Next, we have finance. And are you want me to present this? You going to talk about it? Go right ahead. >> Uh, we did receive a very nice donation from the Arlington Lions Club and that went to Mr. Cummings class. I'll find it in here so I make sure I get it all right. The Arlington Lions Club donated $2,000 to Mr. Cummings AMHS science teacher for his class to participate in
003the sea perch program. And that was very nice. And I'd like to publicly thank the Lions Club for that donation to our science program, science class. We need a motion to accept the donation. A motion to accept the donation from the art from the Lions Club. >> Second. >> Motion made by Nicole, seconded by Dan. Any discussion? >> Maybe Mr. Cummings could come in and give the board a presentation on what he's doing with his science class. >> Yeah. I was wondering what's the >> this is the second donation that he's received. >> Yeah. The birch study or >> Yeah. >> Whatever. Maybe the students could come in at some point and talk to us about what they're doing. >> It's good. Any further discussion? All those in favor? >> I. >> Anybody opposed? I
004think so. >> Motion carries. Next, we have policies. We have none. Uh, next is operations. U, we did receive a request. I'll let Tim go over that very quickly. So um there is a letter from Bluebird which provided the electric buses to both Arlington and San Gate. It dated March 17, 2025. Um, and as a followup, I had a conversation with, um, representatives from that company, in light of the tariffs that were enacted, um, as buses were being built, buses were being delivered, Bluebird approached us and asked us to revisit, uh, the total cost of the project and pay the $6,000 tariff per bus, which is an $18,000 ass of Arlington. I made no promise. I said I would bring that back to the board for consideration. The chair and I have talked about that
005in preparation. Um I don't expect any action to be taken. Uh but we'd put that to the notice of the board. And when the superintendent pay brought it to my attention, I didn't feel it was something that the school was responsible for. Felt it's the business's responsibility. There's nothing in our contract that determines that we have to pay this. But I did ask him to bring it to the entire board for discussion. Um, and if you all decided that you wanted to pay it, then uh we can bring it back at a at our next meeting. >> Is this the same company that like didn't do the bumpers blue like legally supposed to be and gave us the wrong size batteries? I can't speak to that detail. I can just tell this is the company
006that delivered the bus. >> Choose his hands up and maybe can answer your question. >> It's this is the same company. 5 elected buses and we only have two operating currently spent 11 weeks in holding the repairs. Just got it back and now it's got an increase. >> It's got what? >> An ending freeze le so currently we only have two of those buses in operation. Not been real responsive and getting things fixed really good. Furthermore, the diesel bus that we received from that back in the spring is out of condition due to the oil leak on the back of the motor and a death system problem. So there buses have not been relin um I'm personally wasn't involved with the ordering of it but I felt then our contract had already been signed and
007put forward or the tariffs came into play. I don't know where you're thinking that money would come from, but I would highly suggest not from the sinking from due to the fact that we do need another new bus and we should have a van as well or a small mini bus of transportation we're doing now with Southwest 10 back and forth all the way to BBA to um put a lot more on our buses. All three of the diesel buses we currently have followed are over 100,000 miles on they're are showing their age really really bad. Just wanted to put that out there and I wasn't involved with the ordering project some things done down here over the summer but there not been least this whole process. >> Are they under do you know if
008they're under warranty for all this stuff that's being done? A lot. Yes. Most of the stuff is done under warranty getting them to where they need to be. Two of them have been record out of a flat bed out here in the hallway. The second one is currently in hallway. It's been down there for weeks and weeks now. Um they haven't had a chance to look at it. They've only got one mechanic in the office currently lodge down there. They didn't work on them. So it takes a long time to get them through down there. Again, we're just we're waiting because just don't have continual problems day after day after day after another. One of them down there, it takes us like 11 times to hook it in to get it to charge up. >>
009Sorry. >> continually bring up. We have weekly meetings on Friday mornings. colleagues involved and and myself and Anderson down there and the same things keep calling up week after week after week and all trying but they not get on the way >> for future reference is we we got the buses from there probably because it was the lowest price I guess or >> without the federal bids. >> So there's other companies around there we could go to if we had to. I guess if we ordered another bus >> if we were going out to bid right now Anderson Blueburn. >> Yeah. >> Thomasville buses and then they'll cost a lot less. It's easier to maintain. rating on everybody that's got on now. It makes more sense. We also don't need a 77 passenger bus 45
010passenger bus with two 90% of our transportation. If we need a big bus, it's usually facilitating both middle school soccer teams or basketball or something like that. That's the only time set. Everybody else is pretty Well, any of us that are in the business with diesels know death is just a joke. It's a big mistake. It's costing millions of dollars. >> The both the new Bluebird and two of our older ones have their systems blueird through the exhaust doesn't have the child hand in it. wasn't put to bed, so they didn't get in there. We were electric buses didn't come with door locks, so they fly open in the middle of the night, fall snow, and get here and it's just it's been uncariff. >> Yeah, >> we're talking tariffs. Since um Holly brought the
011electric bus program to us as a proposal, it would be helpful to have a summary from her on what our out-of- pocket expenses were, what the arrangement has been with Bluebird, what's working, what's not working. um this was really her program proposal and I don't know off the top of my head what we have paid out of pocket and how that whole program has ultimately ended up working out. So it would be helpful to make a decision on tariffs in the context of the overall program and as it relates to the operation of our bus fleet. Again, if the director of facilities and transportation could provide us with an overview of current statuses of their fleeing and what needs to be taken care of, that would be helpful. >> I'd also like to know if
012they're taking any of the cost. >> Why are they putting it all to us and the company's not offering to >> They're just asking us to We don't have to. >> And >> I'm against paying the tariff. I'll just come out and say it. I feel that was put on us after the buses were already ordered and in the process and all of a sudden that gets tacked on and I just don't think that's fair to the the tax. >> I deal with tariffs all the time with Canada and I've never had anybody ask me to be retroactive and go back. I just can't believe somebody do that. So, I'm going to say I feel we shouldn't pay. I I I understand what Nicole's saying and that would be interesting. But I don't care what
013it says. This was a mistake. We we we made the decision, but it hasn't worked out very well. And they they're terrible to deal with. I mean, as far as I'm concerned, I would never buy another bus from them, even if it was half the price. This is what you got to deal with. >> You have an answer for me? >> I have clearly stated. >> Next, we have principal's report. It's cost Um, Sarah teacher group updates. Um, the PTG recently sponsored a successful bingo event for the community. Um, and is currently assisting with coordination of food and logistics for our upcoming prom for our high school students. Um and they have identified their next major fundraising initiative which will focus on renovating the basketball court um just above the pit um uh and putting
014in two new hoops um in that area for for the students. So that will be their next big push. We've met with um James Holly to talk about top coating uh actually ripping out what is currently there and top coating and then putting it into and I'll work with them. We already have some funds available for that. Um, and then we'll do a push with our letter in the upcoming batch. Uh, parent teacher conferences were recently held. We had over 96% of families attend at Fiser. Um, they provided families and educators an opportunity to discuss student progress, academic goals, and strategies for continued success. And we've begun our summer planning is underway for camp. Uh Fiser will have a summer camp again for our 21C. Uh we will be collaborating with the YMCA to provide
015programming and services at the Arlington Park after they finish with us here in the morning. And that program is fully staffed and it will be run by Jen Wright. Um and this partnership continues to provide valuable summer opportunities for all of our students and families. uh at a summer camp information folder has been shared with the community um by Missy and we have created all of the opportunities within the local area for families and and end of the year planning is beginning as as cold as it is. Um we're planning some end of the year events collaborating with Martha Canfield Library looking at field day community service projects. Um spring sports have begun. you'd like to recognize and thank uh we have two new coaches this year. We have Nicole Sandra who will be coaching
016our varsity softball team um and Kathy Berworth who is doing our middle school softball team. But I would be remiss if I didn't give us some winter it is stilling feel like winter um some athletic accolades to some some of the athletes uh and I've written them down so I don't forget anyone. So, uh, Kira Maynard was the division state 2 track high jump champion and represented Arlington at the England's meet of champions in Boston. Tobias was first for SVL Nordic championships, third in the state for division two, and represented Vermont at the Eastern Championships. And he placed 11 out of 5,000 in the Fi, sorry, in the 5K, seventh for New England, over a 100 qualified skiers. Um, so kudos to Tobias, who I say will we will read about him one day. Uh
017Ethan Pickering and Noah Wood were selected to the SBL first team. Ethan was also selected to the senior all-star game. Mia Aldrich was selected to the SBL first team and Abby Mackey Davis to the second team. And Mia was also selected to the outstanding underassman. RJ Bolski made it to the division one state championship hockey hockey game as through our memberto member with BBA. In our upcoming events, we have a very busy spring, but mark your calendars for May 13th will be our Arlington Art Day. Uh May 20th will be uh preK meet and greet for accepted families. May 21st is the Fiser concert. May 27th will be AMHS course and band concert. May 29th, we are participating in the SBSU coral concert for grades 3 through 12. June 3rd, our athletic banquet for all
018all athletes. June 4th will be senior dinner and June 6th will be graduation. And we currently have uh eight students and three staff members in China. Um and I meant to bring my phone and I so I um have been communicating with them. They have they arrived yesterday well they are 12 hours ahead. So, uh, last night about 8:00 they had a 24-hour of travel, um, are all with their host families and travel that was seamless. Um, so they are having a great time in China. Um, so thank you for supporting that. And in May, I will bring you a proposal for the French trip for next year, 2020. So, >> what time is the art uh, show on May 13th? because I think we have a board meeting that night. >> We do. It
019starts at 4:30. >> Oh, okay. We got plenty of time then. >> Any any other questions for >> And with the 21 Century Grant, I know where are you in the the years for that grant and it's that some point it needs to be self- sustaining through our budget. Correct. So, where are you? >> We're only in year two. >> Okay. Um, so we have we have another year before we have to start only partially being self- sustaining. So, >> um, we will see how we've we've kind of been down that road one other time and then, >> yep, >> we kind of push it aside and we couldn't find it. So, okay. >> Uh, we will >> year 205. >> Okay. >> Any other questions for Mrs. Lox? Thank you. >> Superintendent's report. Superintendent
020Payne. All right, I am going to navigate my way over. So, uh, first of all, folks needing to stretch their legs a little bit. I'm going to share something on the screen, but I also brought print out for those of you who are like me who like a nice piece of paper and notes and things like that on that. if you would like that I principal can provide that to you. Um my purpose this evening is to give you a snapshot. Uh this is not an deep dive. I am not a uh curriculum instruction and assessment expert. Uh what I bring for you is uh a moment in time for both Fischer Elementary and Arlington Middle and High School. uh some of the sources of data that we're going to be talking about tonight. Uh
021FastBridge, which is a uh an assessment uh map, which some folks are aware of, the VT CAP, which is the um annual state uh measure that we do. We also are going to talk a little bit about social emotional behavior and that is used uh we use a treatment integrity social validity survey. I just want to make sure I sound like I'm academic and starting off by saying that we have sources for this data. So, the first one we're going to talk about is Fiser Elementary. I know yours is not all marked up on mine, but I'm a visual learner. Um, as you look at this, and it's on the screen as well for folks who might be watching us at home. We tried to make this as straightforward as possible for you. So, this
022is Fischer Elementary. Gives you your address and your contact information, your principal, uh, the grades span that you serve. the bottom left corner where it says school snapshot. Uh if folks have uh looked that every year the state issues a report card, a school report card and you can go there and you can pull data. So this is one piece of that report card that was posted in February of this year, February 2026. And what you'll see at the bottom is his performance and it rates succeeding meeting approaching not meeting over a span of time 22 through 25. And what you can see is that Fiser is rated as approaching over the three-year span. I want to be really clear with folks who might be tuning in. State of Vermont when you measure along this
023isn't approaching over the last three years as well. So you are following along as far as Vermont state performance in that area. On the right, the grid, this is specific to Fiser Elementary. So, uh, folks in the audience, how many of you have seen a continuous improvement plan presentation? Okay, I will not be providing that this evening. I pulled out the three goals that Fiser identified for itself. I tried to strip out the jargon and then I will now try to do my best to explain what your original goal was. I'll give you the number in your goal and then where you are in this moment of time. So the first goal is uh do we have a decrease in a high risk for externalizing behaviors? This is a survey that teachers, classroom teachers take
024uh externalizing behaviors. Examples of that would be um it could be hyperactivity. It could be impulsiveness. It could be aggression. Those are kind of the examples that you're looking for. The goal, as stated in the Fiser CIP, is we'd like to see a decrease from the previous screening. So the most recent screening was taken in winter of 2026 and it was compared to the screening that was done in 2025 winter. And what you see is a decrease in that which is good. That's meeting your goal from 19% to 11%. The next goal down says are most students not at risk for their grade level foundational literary ski literacy skills with a decrease in second graders at high risk. So, the screener um will identify kids as a high risk of not meeting where you want
025them to be at the end of second grade. I had to have this read to me a couple times. Sorry, just to make sure I'm saying this correct, but it'll help you. Remember, this is taken in winter. So, by the end of second grade, is your kiddo at a higher risk of not making that goal of reading at grade level? Goal is that uh less than 30% that is at the end of the year. And you can see the second grade is well on its way. It's at 32%. So, there's definitely time between winter and the end of the school year for more and more kids. The goal is to be under 30%. So, you're well on your way to do that. Um, the third box, are most students not at risk for their grade
026level mathematical skills and concept skills with a decrease in the high risk? This is fifth graders. Uh taking a look at their MAP score. Uh which is the goal was to have fewer than 38% of the students in that area consider that by the time they get to the end of the fifth grade, they won't be at grade level math where you want them to be. That number is a a little bit farther away from the goal. It's at 44%. Um I got to ask the question today. Okay. So, if you're not meeting your goal, and again, these are midyear snapshots, so you can test map again at the end of the year and you could be closer to that goal. But if you get to the end of the year and you haven't hit
027your goal, now what what does a school do? Dan can correct me if I get this wrong, but every year, school staff sit down and they establish a yearly goal for themselves under the continuous improvement plan. So they can absolutely take data at the end of this year and say, "Okay, we got close, but we still know where we need to work in areas." And they will identify specific things they're going to do. And they'll also ask for resources. Hey, these are the things we need to close the gap, get those kids at the reading level or the math level that they're looking for. Okay. Did anybody have that question? Someone was going to ask, "All right, so I'm looking up here. The number's a little short." Anything like that? Yeah, I didn't actually know
028that we could ask questions, but I'd love to. >> You want me to for the purposes of the group, do you want me to finish the second slide and I can take questions? How would you like to structure that? >> This is your I mean, this is your show, so >> I'll stay on this slide. You can if is it pertinent to this slide? I can stay there or would you like me to finish and I can come back? >> I think that's I think you should have it. >> Okay. All right. Hopefully, I can answer your question now that I built in the participation. All right. So, the next slide is um sorry I'm looking at one screen is for Arlington Middle and High School. Uh again, it is the same format. So, you
029can look at the lower left school snapshot. This was published in February. You can see that um for the middle and high school, they are at approaching and similar to the elementary school, Vermont as a state has been rated as approaching over that same period of time. I want to point out that there is reason to celebrate in this little lefthand corner because what we don't put on this screen is that your students in the middle and high school who took this test and are being you know graded through this are less than 1% away from meeting the next step up which is the meeting level very very close so that's just something to be celebrated that will be I I would anticipate that students will continue to make progress and that next year you
030could find yourself seeing that Arlington Middle and High School will be rated as a meeting and that would put you above where the state is currently. So that's that's a positive thing I want folks to recognize. On the right side of the screen is the same format. Arlington Middle and High School have continuous improvement grant uh plan goals. We tried to break them out there with the least amount of jargon in them. So the first one is do we have a decrease in high risk for internal externalizing behaviors? Uh the goal is of course a decrease from the previous screening and you met your goal. So winter of 2025 to winter to 2026 you saw a decrease of 6% to 3%. That's a positive. Uh the next goal down are students meeting or exceeding their
031national grade level peers in ELA. This is straight proficiency. So these are the percentage of your students in class rated as proficient. I will point out that of all the presentations that I will be doing over the next couple of weeks, Arlington Middle and High School is the only school to choose proficiency and it's a very high standard. So, you should be commended for a high goal to achieve. 55% currently rated as proficient. um in talking to um my director of curriculum and uh assessment today, she pointed out Arlington can absolutely attain that goal, but that is a very high goal. That's an aspirational goal for many schools. Um but she wanted to make sure that I pointed that out that Arlington has set us a high goal for themselves. 55% uh currently in the
032ELA in mathematics which is the next one down. The goal again a very high goal it is attainable it's aspirational a combination of those things um 50%. Now when I looked at that I said all right so math's a little bit lower. What she did say though is again close to the Vermont average, close to the national average as far as level of students proficient at that grade level in mathematics. Just for some context for that. Um for folks who are at home, my goal for myself is I'm going to give this presentation today in Arlington. I'll be presenting in front of the Bennington Elementary School Board next week along with the MAU. And then there will be an SU uh presentation when we return from the April break. I will put all this on
033the website. Uh if folks go to the SVSU website, there's a tab at the top that says superintendent's office. If you've never visited, uh in full transparency, every time we've come before the board, those presentations get posted, so you'll see them from August all the way through March. And you can check us out there. monthly newsletters, podcasts, simple questions with Superintendent Payne, the YouTube links, my goals, oh, and our trusty school funding roadmap, which folks have seen as far as uh the budget conversation. So, if you see us here on the in front of the board and presenting information, I hold myself accountable and I post it on the board so you can see that, share that with folks. Okay. Um, I will pause there. >> Can I >> Oh, yeah. Okay. Um, this isn't
034what I was expecting. >> Okay. >> The continuous improvement plans are much more detailed. >> Yeah. >> And I was expecting more data that would help us understand what's actually going on. This is the first time we've seen any data in a really long time. >> Okay. >> And this isn't what I was expecting. Um Melissa had asked for feedback when she did the SU presentation and I sent her some feedback and not that my feedback needs to be gospel but >> I this is not where I thought we were I've been waiting for this and this is not what I thought we were going to get. Um it's really hard for the board to know from this where we are providing um appropriate resources and where the needs are. >> Um I would like
035to see it ultimately broken down by by grade. I'd like to see what the not just what the goals are, but what the tactics are and where we are in implementing those. Um it's it's just hard it's hard to know what's actually happening with this. And >> and I go back to um one of well a couple of stated goals, Tim. One was yours, which is the superintendent will work collaboratively with the school board to strengthen school governance practices by facilitating the adoption of a student outcomes focused board operating framework, leading datadriven meetings and supporting the board in selecting and monitoring two to three annual goals. It's really hard to monitor goals when we don't have the data. >> Understood. >> And this is not like we just we've never we haven't done this before.
036So, I'm just kind of asking for maybe a reset on those expectations. Um, the other one is um aligning budget investments to improve the board's capacity for data consumption and monitoring accountability. Again, it's really hard to do that when we don't know. We know that money is being spent. We know that our students are doing work. We don't know how, you know, if there's a return on investment, what does that look like? How are they doing? And I'm I'm I think more concerned about it right now because of everything that's going on with Act 73 and feeling a little um vulnerable and would love to be able to say with confidence that our student data shows that we are meeting and exceeding expectations and that we I mean anecdotally there are stories that can be
037told but we don't have any data to back that up. Um, and that would be my hope is that we can have the data to back it up should there be any question about our viability as a school and as a program that we can say here's what we're doing and here's how we're delivering. And then it's also a marketing tool, right? Here's here's how our students are doing. Here's how we our staff is delivering the exceptional staff that we have. Here's what they're doing and impacting in the classroom. That's a marketing that helps us bring students in. >> Um, so that's where I that's where I thought we were going tonight. >> So, um, as I will be presenting this to four different school boards with various understandings of the newest improvement grant and,
038you know, our plans and MAP scores and things like that, trying to find a common language to talk to all the groups. I am more than happy to come back with Melissa and tow and we can dig into it. I just like I said my purpose was to come and give you a snapshot >> which is at least it's a starting point like we didn't really about expectations. We really didn't talk about what was going to be presented. >> Sure. But we >> through this board we've already established >> well we worked on it every month for this school year to have a topic right working on it. So, we already have two marking spots in that calendar, which I'm going to carry over to next year and say, I owe the community performance data
039in the fall and I need to provide them uh more information in the spring. I'm happy to come back in May as well. Everybody knows the report card's coming up since February. Snuck up on us a little bit. The agency released it little fanfare. Um, >> I mean because what it helps us do like the two the two data points the presentation twice a year in the fall it helps us know where we need to be placing our priorities for budget investing. >> Um, and then in the spring it helps us come back and say are we having an impact? And maybe that's not enough time to have passed to know whether or not we're having an impact, but are we are we missing the mark somewhere so that we can see that in the
040spring to then in, you know, like if we had a twice a year cycle that tied in with the budget, it would be beneficial. >> Absolutely. Um I like I said my goal and I'm you know I'm trying to folks have been tuning in I'm uh I'm a big believer on one pagers. Um I've spent the last six months explaining the budget process in a one pager. I'm getting positive feedback. Folks are like thank god I don't have to listen to jargon and things like that. This is not my attempt to cover everything. >> I don't believe that it is. I just don't think we have clear >> Oh absolutely. I'm happy to take suggestions from the the folks who folks tuned in folks who are sitting here from the board and saying hey Tim
041will you come back I want to dig into I will be working with the principal that you know and and and support staff from the central office but we can absolutely come back >> well and I'm sure that that the administration and the staff is having you know that they're having these conversations and that they know where they stand and that they know where grade two and grade five are in terms of performance. performance and where they need to be focusing and what the you know what the stretch goals are or whatever needs to happen but we don't know that >> for sure >> um and it would be helpful to know that um and the other thing that I had provided Melissa in terms of feedback is my personally I think we should be
042shooting for more than proficient I was on the um committee that helped to set the middle and high school goals and they were stretched cuz they need to be if we want to remain again if we want to remain a viable program we need to be doing something special and so I that's the goal. goals have been set, they've been written, they've been, you know, but personally I I think we need to be shooting for something more than proficient. And I'm not I'm I'm not a bus expert. I'm not an educator. I'm not a like nor do I pretend to be one on television, but um I do have a you know a responsibility as a board member to make sure that the that what we're funding is effective >> whether it's buses or curriculum
043or special education or whatever it is. And without that information to really know it's it's hard. >> I will continue to try to break it down though. I'm not a big fan of jargon, so you're probably going to continue to see, you know, goals written in plain English, easy to understand graphics. >> Maybe maybe Melissa can help. Maybe we can drill it down into maybe it's something that she can present so that we can kind of drill down into a level of detail for those who who want it. >> Absolutely. >> My guess is that we have a lot to be proud of and this just really skims the surface. I think the one thing that confused me was on Fisers the way it was worded that most are most students not at risk and
044the 32%. I thought okay well that's that's good and then we go to the high school and it said 55%. I said well that's not good because of the wording is a little different and that confused me. I figured it out. But >> yeah, so those reflect every single building and every single building has slightly different. It's not uniform across. So when I presented ESD next year, next week it'll be five different sets of them. They'll all have been because they are created by your staffs. >> Is May too soon for you to come up with more? >> Oh, absolutely. >> I will be in touch. and these are, you know, these are >> these are new goals. So when we had talked about it initially, these are where we want to be. This is,
045you know, the stated goals for the SVSU and the superintendent, this is where we want to be. That doesn't mean that we're there now, >> but that's where we want to be. So, if these are our goals kind of tied to data and student achievement and student performance, we just need to figure out how we're how we're getting to those goals because if we were already there, super. But these are brand new goals. >> Questions from a public member of the committee. I do not appreciate jargon all that well either but I do have a background in assessment educational assessment data. Um so I think my questions are more technical in nature and since you've already invited you know feedback um via email I think I' I'd sort of save a lot of time for
046that. >> Okay. um and perhaps even um maybe even connecting with the director of curriculum instruction maybe in that regard. I think overall the real sort of confusing point for me um is when we start talking about NWA maps and proficiency because they don't report proficiency. So as I'm looking at this I'm saying so what are we saying? Are we saying that h the students are more over that are exceeding the 50th national percentile? Um which would mean that they're performing better than at least 50% of their peers nationally which is still not um where we need to be right but it's headed in a better direction. Um but I can't even tell really from what this data is saying whether that's what they're getting at. >> Okay. um NWA maps are also predictive of
047performance on state exams. Um, so basically, you know, our scores, while you know, Vermont likes to delay the proficiency rates, the board should certainly have an idea where the proficiency is likely to be based on NWA map scores. And I that's something that I really would like to see as well as remember, you'll see where we stand being able to say this is our consistent measure. It's telling us this is about where we can expect to be. Um, but again, I agree this is a start. I think it's it's critical to have data conversations in a transparent way. Um, dashboards are wonderful. One page can be too, but so I applaud the effort. I'm happy to follow up offline. >> Thanks. I I had a question on the um I guess it was mostly affected
048the high school goals, but you had said a couple times about them being very high aspirational goals. And I'm I'm curious, I guess, for clarification if if you're thinking of that in terms of where everyone's at state level and nationally that that makes them high goals or if you're seeing them as high goals for a highly effective program. um just because most of the MTSS frameworks that I've looked at suggests that um tier one instruction should be able to get about 80% of students at proficiency and then even more with tier 2 interventions and such. Um so I just think it's good for clarity to say that because I'm assuming that our goals kind of are based on where we're at currently and what we think we can achieve in a short period of time
049as opposed to suggest where we would like to be inevitably. But I think that that distinction is worth thinking. >> Okay. >> Um just because when I hear you say these are high goals, that's not necessarily where my brain goes to. But if you're talking about in the context of where we've been and where the state is at and where we're trying to get this short amount of time, then I understand what you're saying if that makes sense. >> Yeah. I from my recollection of the conversation and I had these conversations when I was still at the high school. It was where we were and where we wanted to be within a short period of time. Any other questions? Okay. Anything other than student achievements from superintendent? >> No, you folks have given me plenty
050of feedback. I should stop while I'm ahead. >> Uh, next on our agenda is chair's report. I don't really have anything solid. Uh there in terms of governance, there was uh a bill that came out of the um House Education Committee. It is now currently at the >> Ways and Means. Uh they have made some amendments that are not necessarily I think conducive to independent schools and some other things. So we'll have to watch that one to see how that comes. There is still a bill in the Senate Education Committee. um that hasn't been voted on or some out of that yet. Um there's conversations about moving the um class size numbers back supposed to take effect to July 1st. Uh and there's conversations now in the Senate ED committee about pushing that back. I
051plan on testifying on Friday uh pertaining to that specific aspect of their conversation there. The maps coming out of there have been a little bit all over the place. Um they've changed several times. So um nothing solid in terms of that uh information yet. Um but I do encourage you to pay attention to them and watch them. I do believe that the House and the Senate are still a long ways apart. Whether or not they're going to come to a conclusion this session is still up in the air. The current bill out of the legislation uh doesn't force mergers. It's more of a voluntary encouragement and it encourages um collaboration which we like and prefer. Um, but we'll have to see if that actually gains traction because it has to make it to the House,
052the Senate, and then the governor. Um, so, and they're running out of time very quickly. Anything else that I'm >> on that? Um I think the even within the House Education Committee, their piece of legislation and identifying sort of smaller supervisory unions or smaller groups, which essentially leaves the SPSU as it is and the BRSU slightly modified as it is, but then all of us being part of a CISA going up to Rutland. Um, but the first item on the agenda for the CISA before really streamlining services is consolidation. Um, and that whether that comes from the House or the Senate or the Governor, there's clearly a push for that. the I mean the CISAs could be really effective and I know that that's what the rural schools community alliance has really their feedback to
053the house education committee has been the CISAs are a fantastic concept it can be really effective you can save money and improve resources nobody's really talked about how that works with a current SU structure like I'd mentioned at the SU meeting you've got redundancies if you have an SU with special ed services and then you have a CISA that offers special ed services. Where are you saving money? It just seems like it's duplicative and not really streamlined. But if they're going to force the CISAs to first address consolidation, I don't think we know yet what that would mean for a district, a standalone district like Arlington within an SU structure. And that still really concerns me. And I emailed Seth after our last meeting and said I I think his request was um there's not
054enough information to be able to say where Arlington as a school district is best served in the BRSU or the SVSU because we don't know what the potential impacts would be. Um I feel very very vulnerable as a standalone district with small schools that we are um not doing ourselves any favors by not I don't know what advocating for ourselves would look like um aside from what we're doing but I am really concerned that sort of like the act 46 process that we're going to get told what to do and not have an opportunity to chart our own future. Um, I don't know what your conversations are with the BRSU superintendent. >> They're our nearest neighbor. >> You know, and are scheduled to meet Monday or Friday morning. >> Okay. You know, we have also
055say I sit in a meeting now every Monday with the state association of superintendent and the last two weeks has been a little bit of an exercise and frustration and that the house and the senate seem on two different planets. >> Yeah. >> The observation from folks who >> well and the governor is on a different planet entirely. >> They're not talking to each other which is at least from the veterans that I listen to is unusual. At least there were conversations and yeah, so it's very much still doesn't even feel like crossover happened. It's feels like they're still in the two chambers acting out ideas. >> Well, the tough thing is that you can get yourself all, you know, turned up in knots about something and then it could change at the 11th hour.
056>> That's exactly what we've been experiencing. I'm in re regular contact with our reps and senate senators and as soon as we think there's a direction it changes. >> Well, and we went through that with act 46. We thought we had a plan. We went before the state board of education and they said no. >> Right. >> That's not your plan. Um, >> in terms of advocating, I think that we all just need to continue to pay attention and reach out to our representatives because we can stand in M Pillar all day long, but uh, you know, you they're only going to listen to us so much. Um, they have to they have to hear from all of you to be honest with you. um you know, so I'm thankful that there's still a relationship
057there that they do reach out and do have those conversations still. But you're right, it's very uneasy. Um I don't have an answer as to which way it's going to go, which at this point I fully anticipated we would have answers, but I feel like we're further apart now than we were at this time last year. Well, and you know, I I keep playing out in my head, you know, what the different scenarios might be, and that's an exercise in, you know, driving himself crazy. >> But, um, with Don Keelin's lovely, um, commentary in the paper about what happens if Arlington loses its high school, we're not really having public conversations about what what the chances are, what the risks are, what the likelihood is of um and what the impact would be on our
058community if that was what we were facing. And I I'm concerned that we're not again I don't know how you influence the outcome, but if we're faced with a situation where we we've talked here like our goal is to continue to put all of our resources in to have an exceptional school that is viable and thriving and growing and all of that. If it reaches a point that that is no longer possibility, um what what happens um you know with what happens with what happens with our property values? What happens tax rate? H >> that wouldn't be all speculation because no one can no one can say like no one can tell what's going to you know you can come up with three different scenarios no one's really going to be able to give you
059a solid answer as to what the answers to those questions are awesome point you know for now I think you got to continue to advocate through your representatives that's what they're paid to do that's what they're elected to do um and watch and then when something finally gains a little bit of traction then we actually have to start having discussions about that. >> Yeah. reminder that >> that they do come. Kathleen and Rob Hunter, you know, we're in an unusual situation because when we go to the SVSU legislative breakfasts, it's mostly Bennington, but Rob and Kathleen do come. >> Um, which I >> made appearances, too. >> Well, because he's the whole C like he covers them, too. So, that makes a lot of sense. But Rob and Kath are really just there for us.
060>> Y >> um >> our next opportunity is this Monday. 8 o'clock. So board members would have received an email for that. You are more than welcome to join us an opportunity to give feedback. I'm not sure we're going to get much clarity out of them, but we can >> No, but I think publicly stating so that they're really clear. I my point to Seth is we are a small district and we're not necessarily high on anybody's radar, but these decisions could have a huge impact on our >> Yep. Yep. It's not like a Chittenden where you're a big district getting a lot of attention and people understand what the implications are. We are we're small. People kind of gloss over us but feel like the who and whoville. We are here. We are here.
061We are here. Please don't forget about us. >> Okay, that's all I have for chair's report. Next is FYI and closing your packet with your bud budget status report as well as your FY25 audit information. I encourage you all to to read through that audit. If you have questions, uh, let me know and I will get answers to them via the superintendent from Renee. Um, I've only perused it. I have not read it verbatim, but what I saw, nothing was jumping out at me. >> Says you guys did very well. Yep. We under Renee we've had very positive audits in the past and this one just like I said I perused it I haven't read it in detail but what I see is looking good. There any other items to be brought before the board.
062Okay. We'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> I move >> made by Nicole, seconded by Dan. Any discussion? All those in favor? Journed at 6:25. Thank you all.