001Okay, I would like to call this regular meeting of the board of education to order. The next board of education meeting is on Thursday, September 25th at 7:30 p.m. I'll start by welcoming everyone to the uh third week of school and the first week with five days. Um, exciting for a lot of parents around here. Um, I there's a lot to celebrate this week. We're coming up on parents nights. those start uh shortly. And I hope that all of the uh parents at first elementaryaries and high school and then the middle school will enjoy getting into our buildings and seeing our teachers and and what our a day in the life of our students is like. Um I hope all of our parents at Henley Homes and Royal will take a minute to go and
002look at some of the new spaces. Um they're really exciting to see and we continue to be really proud of them and very grateful for all of the work that went into making that happen. Um, importantly, beginning next week, we'll be taking some important steps in the first phase of a search for a permanent superintendent. Search consultants from School Leadership LLC will be in the district conducting focus groups with members of the DPS community to create a profile for what abilities and skills are desired in our new superintendent of schools. They'll be here September 15th from 9:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. and September 16th from 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. On the evening of September 15th, there will be a community focus group here in the boardroom beginning at 7:30 p.m. We hope that many
003community members will come out and share their ideas and thinking with the consultants. Additionally, we've launched a page on the board of education section of the website to keep the community informed of progress. All communications about the search will be posted on that page. And thank you again to Sarah and Dennis for um leading that effort. Okay. And with that, I will turn it over to public comment. Good evening. If anybody in person or online would like to participate in public comment, please approach the podium or use the raised hand icon and wait to be recognized. Once recognized, please state your name and address for the record and note that you'll have up to three minutes to speak. We have no raised hands at this time. >> Great. That will move to the superintendent report.
004>> Yeah. >> Good evening and thank you for joining us for the September 9th board of education meeting. Board committee meetings begin this week with finance on Friday at 8 a.m. Open houses will be this week at the elementary schools tomorrow evening uh September 10th and at Darian High School on Wednesday September 11th. Middle sex will be next week September 15th through 17th. Details have been or will be shared directly with families by building principles. Homes had their back-toschool picnic on Friday, September 5th, and the Hinley Bash is this Friday, September 12th at 5:00 PM. Darian's Monuments and Ceremonies Commission will hold its 911 ceremony at Middle Sex at 8:25 a.m. on Thursday. Next week is Construction Appreciation Week. We want to extend a heartfelt thank you to all the construction workers, especially those dedicated
005to building and renovating our local schools. Your hard work at Henley Homes and Royal Elementary Schools is shaping the future of our community, providing our students with safe and inspiring places to learn. We're incredibly grateful for your commitment and skill. And as I shared in my community update last Friday, I am proposing that or I have proposed that we show our school and community spirit and turn every Friday into blue spirit day when all students, faculty, administrator, staff, and anyone in the Derak community is invited to wear our school colors proudly. And I hope you'll join me in that effort. And that concludes my report for this evening. >> Okay. Thank you. Student representative reports. Ryan, we're happy to have you back. >> Yeah, great to be back. Um so our school year is very
006much underway. Our students are readjusting their work and sleep schedules accordingly. Um today our girl or our boys uh golf and boys and girls cross country both had matches and races today. So hoping the best for them. Uh reiterating what Dr. Burns said, our parents open house at the high school is this Thursday. And finally, our homecoming is September 19th where our football team will be playing Brian McMahon. >> Thank you very much. Okay. Approval of the minutes. May I have a motion to approve the following minutes of the special and regular meetings held on August 26th, 2025. That is Dennis, seconded by Dave. All those in favor? That is unanimous. Thank you. Board committee reports. We really haven't started yet, but >> we have you have finance. Okay. All right. presentations, discussions, and possible
007action. We'll start with the DHS class of 2025 postsecondary plans, Ellen and Kathy. Thank you. >> Hi, I'm Kathy Aster. I'm the director of counseling. I'm excited to be here tonight to talk about celebrating the class of 2025 by reflecting on their journey, which was marked by growth and remarkable success. Um, but before we start, I would I would like to just take a minute to talk about the Darian High School school counseling office. Uh, the school counselors and administrative assistants are really an incredible group of professionals who are deeply dedicated to helping students and families and each other in this exciting and sometimes stressful process of postsecary planning. So Leslie Lejoy and Laura Hyatt who are administrative assistants are nothing short of exceptional. Um they are the first points of contact and they often
008uh are the steady hands behind the scenes scheduling and organizing and communicating to ensure that everything runs smoothly. So I want to thank them for being the backbone of our team. Oh I wanted to say before we start celebrating I think this kind of says it all. This sums up the whole presentation. It's such a great picture. But I've been listening to a podcast by the authors of the truth about college admissions. And one of the authors made a point that really resonated with me. You know, in talking about this process, he said that it's really important to remember that 40 is greater than four. Uh meaning that we shouldn't focus on just the next four years that we need to focus on the relationships that we have um you know parents and students and
009uh celebrating the successes and really watching the students blossom and um develop hopes and goals and discovering who they are and what they're passionate about. So encouraging um students and families to really try and find joy in in the journey. Um and as professionals, we're very fortunate to be a part of that. We recently added up our experience and the school counselors and I cumulatively have uh over 165 years of experience in education. That's not to say that we have all the answers because the landscape is ever changing and each student and family is unique. Um but through the years of experience we have the opportunity to learn from each cycle observing trends and understanding what works and guiding students and families with insight that only comes from seeing the process unfold year after year.
010So this enables the school counselors to really meet with students and families like meet them where they are in the process um because the journey is very different for everyone. So whether someone's just beginning to think about their post-secary options or they're ready to implement their detailed plan um all the way to of course making that big decision. Um and we as a department work hard to stay informed. There are about 200 college admissions representatives who visit DHS each year. And each representative that visits has a one-to-one meeting with one of the school counselors for about 15 minutes uh to make that connection and learn about new programs or institutional initiatives or other exciting things on campus. And we also take advantage of counselor programs, visiting college campuses, attending regional admissions gatherings, and participating in
011webinars. So, all of this helps the school counselors uh deliver an award-winning comprehensive school counseling program. Um, which guarantees every student an opportunity to meet with a school counselor in a small group. It's actually five times per year. Um they talk about goal setting and relationships, effective communication, decision-making, exploring options, developing passions. This the school counselors also participate in post-secondary planning presentations. Um and they work hard to provide up-to-date information,formational packets for students and parents. They also meet with students individually a lot. They meet with a lot of students individually. Um, and they invite the parents of juniors in in the spring for an individualized junior planning meeting. So, it's an impressive department. As you can see, I'm very proud of the the work they do and the award they received in May. So, let's
012take a look at some statistics. As you can see, the average GPA, SAT, and ACT scores are very strong. Uh, they remain strong and consistent over time. Uh this year a note on the bottom is that 181 students reported that they submitted their standardized test scores with their app application. Uh that's up slightly from prior years. Is seeing a a trend in students reporting more. And this year our office submitted applications for 3,850 uh or we've submitted materials for um that many col for that many applications to 326 colleges. But every year there's applications that are either incomplete or withdrawn um when a student is accepted somewhere else. So the total number of applications processed by the department were uh 2,914 which makes an average of about eight applications per student which is up slightly
013from prior years. Um and I think it's of note that the number of colleges the students applied to is down. So we can see here that um again consistent over time approximately 95% of the class plans to pursue a college preparatory or two or fouryear degree. Um and I'm sorry on the initial chart that I submitted the percentages were off. They were actually copied from 2023 but this slide is updated and Cass is going to get you some updated materials. I think this might be my favorite slide because it highlights some of the special programs that the students are taking advantage of. You can we have a number of students doing some version of an abroad. Uh we're always proud of the the people going to the military academy. Um we have a barber, a
014mechanic, and an um an electrician. Um and a number of other very uh exciting and unique programs for students. And then the final chart I have just highlights the intended majors. I think it's important to see again consistently over time that a number of students are starting college undecided. I do prefer the term exploring. Um and with the second largest category especially in this area business finance and economics and then uh engineering and we clustered science majors biochem and physics together and now Mrs. Dunn is going to continue with some more words about the class. Kathy didn't want to leave me out even though this department puts all of this work together, but um we just wanted to make the point that the numbers and the statistics could never capture um the beauty and wonder
015and excellence of the class of 2025. And um we were so proud of them as uh you saw them in their graduation photo there at the end of the year. Um we're just very proud to be a part of their journey along with their families. um as they head out with these really important competencies that we have um as our focus. Um and we you might remember those of you who are there that they all gave me a wish for Darian High School and for one another. And so uh we end by saying that they take our wishes along with them for the continued great success. We're um they really were a joy to work with. So, we're happy to see them thrive and excel as they move forward. Thank you. Um, so I was
016glad to hear what 40 is greater than four means. Um, I certainly think that as a district, we want to make sure our students are prepared for next steps and are supported in this process. Um, I was a little worried you meant 40 applications is better than four applications, but I am in complete agreement that it that where you are at 50 years old and what kind of person you are is a much bigger measure of success than where you went to school. As hard as we work here and as hard as all the colleges work to make sure that they prepare their students, it's it's up to the the student to make themsel into the human being we want them to be. So, thank you for that. Um, qu questions. Dennis. >> Yes. So
017I have one that I asked your predecessor in years past and it kind of goes to this 40 to 40 and also the other quote you have in there. It's college is about being a match and not a prize to be won. So there's two things for me. One is I really dislike this separating out the Ivy League schools because the Ivy League schools are not this prize to be won and there are other great schools Stanford, Amherst, MIT that are as good or maybe a better fit than Ivy. So, I don't know why we separate those out, but my main question to you or ask is, can we find a way to understand how many students at least the first year stay on and don't transfer or don't drop out of the school that
018they've chosen to kind of see how well we're we've done with this match. Because to me, it's that's that's the our our job or the job here. We can't we can't control the next four years but can we control at least the first year and how well did we match them and understand why or why not you know if they decided to leave that school for the reasons why and maybe that will help in future generations to to put them in better schools. I think that's a great point and that would be very helpful information to look at for us to know how well prepared the students are or how happy they were with their choices. Although it's okay to transfer to that's part of the >> message but maybe to to understand the reason
019why maybe that helps decide. Um so we are working on that because Naviance which is the computer program that we use to manage applications um they have something called alumni tracker and we are trying we're we're trying to wrap our head around that to to see that will give us the information. So, um I I might be able to get that this year. Um but we're we're working on that and I think it definitely could be a part of the pro the presentation for future years. >> Would love to see that. Thank you. >> Anything you want to add there, Eric? >> No, just you know, I think it's an interesting statistic to think about and if we're able to get that information. And I I think learning from kids, I mean, I've heard from
020a number of parents that they their children have said to them that they felt incredibly well prepared when they left us. Um, having some data around that could certainly be helpful as well. >> John, >> what do you think about just reporting the IVs like we do every others? >> I'm certainly in favor of that. I I think you've got so many choices in schools and certain schools are great for certain kids and and like you said the match is the most important piece. I'm certainly comfortable with that. We could certainly look at that. Okay. >> When we do this in future >> relation's [Music] in the packet about the IVs specifically. >> Yeah. No, no. I guess I guess I think if I understood Dennis correctly, we break them out unlike any other group
021of schools. like we don't grow >> separate the SEC schools or ACC's the NESC you know it could go on and on so maybe we just report them as as is just like any other >> do we have any sense of look when we look at the number of colleges down from 400 to 326 um that may or may not be significant but my do we think it is and do we think there's any um and I'm not looking to know that we're shifting away from school A to school B. But is there just a general sense of large categories that people are eliminating or are they just is there anything behind that? >> I I don't think they're large categories that are being eliminated. When you look at the the lists of where the
022kids have applied um the the top 20 are pretty consistent. A couple shift here and there. So I think it would be the smaller schools that you know if we had a handful of kids or maybe one student apply to four or five different schools um that would reduce the number significantly. >> Okay. >> All right. Greg, >> thanks for all the work. My other question is just like I do think it would be also be helpful if possible to look at other like trends within the data whether it be like shifts from public to private schools or or vice versa or like geographic shifts like that sort of stuff. Just just interesting for me in terms of like understanding like some of the things that are happening um within the population each year >>
023and and and will continue to change. I think there's significant population uh differences in in New England specifically that are likely to change in the next year. So we we do have information about the geographic uh the percentage of students that go to the different colleges um in the packet. I'd be happy to look at that. >> I saw the data in there in terms of like this presentation that's a bit more summary like adding some of that would be helpful I think. >> Okay. So I I think Eric has indicated that he's liked to work with the high school staff to talk about how we talk about colleges. So kind of pursuant to the point of how do we which colleges do we report in? How do we do that? Are there significant trends?
024I my understanding is that's something you all will be looking at in the next year. Um so those questions should come back um in preparation for the next go round, please. >> All right. Any anything else on this topic? I'd just like to point out this is a cohort that went through COVID um just like previous >> classes but you know again year in and year out this district is producing some incredible results over six years that I've served before >> you know I've reached the age cohort where people are talking about where their kids are doing after college right and seeing them walking by them in the city now which is wild um but you know to Dennis's point you know I think sometimes we get lost in the communication of, you know, how
025well the outcomes have been, you know, for whatever reason, but they've been really consistent. Makes me really proud of the district. So, thank you. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Have a good night. >> Okay. Further discussion and possible action on 2526 board of education goals. Uh after our conversation last meeting, um Eric and the team went through and uh amended goal five and added a goal six um specifically looking at governance. You want to >> Yeah. taking notes from the conversation at the last meeting and talking with board leadership, there are a number of bullet points, but essentially goal six, which is about um governance. So it's establishing a culture of strategic oversight that ensures the board remains focused on governance rather than management and multiple bullet points that speak to that in terms
026of um the work uh of the subcommittees and organizing meetings for uh greater effectiveness and efficiency communication structures particularly between the board and superintendent. um unified direction, partnership, culture of collaboration and then aligning the work. This is a a significant part of conversation aligning ensuring that the and this is a huge piece of the governance that the district is aligned with strategic initiatives and evaluated using a balanced mix of performance-based metrics and qualitative insights. So if uh any feedback or thoughts um but I think we reflected from the conversations that we've had over the few meetings where we've been discussing this. >> Okay. >> Um thank you so much Dr. Burn for putting this together. I appreciate that you um that you heard us and you thought about it and that you came right back
027with it as well. This um this does reflect my thoughts. I did just want to say that um I think that these bullets make sense and I think that they are focused largely on the the work that the board does um and our relationships with administration and our oversight of the district as it should be. I do just want to highlight that I think that last um bullet is an important one for us to pay attention and to go into the layers on and and not just check it as a box. that's work for this board to do because there um how we work together um is is just as important as how we work with um others. So um I would just encourage encourage this board to to think about all the sub bullets
028that might occur within that and um and to not let them go by the wayside. >> And building on that in eight weeks we'll have two new board members. So making sure that they're you know that they're building that we're all working together to build that cohesion will be important because it'll be significant shift in who we are. >> Yes, agreed. And you'll notice in the master agenda that there is actually uh I forget which meeting it is at the moment, but there is a a an item to start talking about some more specifics on governance. So, actually taking some time in our board meetings um um to actually do some other reflecting and actively representing that now. Okay. Any any other points on this? With that, may I have a motion to approve the
0292526 board of education goals? Don seconded by Sarah. All those in favor? That is unanimous. Thank you all for the conversation um and the work that got these goals put together. Um and I look forward to working on them. >> Yep. >> Okay. first reading and possible action on board must board master agenda for August 2025 through January 2026. And Eric, if you'd talk us through what you were thinking. >> Sure. So, uh, a couple of really important points. Now much of the work that I've spent on the master agenda has been focused on the feedback that I received from the board throughout entry meetings um throughout the conversations at the July retreat and in the guise of trying to improve governance. So um you're going to see things uh just for example at the
030last meeting the consolidation of what was once four separate presentations into one. That's a theme that runs through uh the items that are here and and I'll get to that in a moment. But um uh so what I also think is really important is that this should be a fluid document. So there may be topics that are not on this document at this moment in time that based on conversations at this table that we bring them to the master agenda and add them on. Um knowing that this is the first half of the year, there are a few items that um were on the original draft that was discussed over the summer that aren't because I think strategically and in terms of effectiveness and having robust conversation would make better sense to be later in
031the school year. For example, there was a special education report um in the fall. I just think it's too early in the school year to have a robust discussion about special education. I think we should have some additional conversations about what that would look like. So there aren't things that have just disappeared. um you'll see and the consolidation piece for example if you look at the budget um budget forecast presentation so on October 28th what my intention when we talk about the budget is to be more global with the budget and take all of the components of the budget and discuss them as one. So rather than just sit and talk about percentages and numbers when we talk about a forecast for the budget, we're also going to talk about priorities as related to instruction
032operations, capital needs and really take those pieces including enrollment and include that all together. So in in my experience and what I would recommend is that when we talk about the budget, we're talking about the whole operation, not just individual components. There will be time later on in the budget discussion process where we break things down, but when we start talking about it and we're looking at it, it should be looked at holistically because you really can't talk about numbers if you're not going to talk about program. because we want your your budget to be driven by the needs of the school program. Obviously in a fiscally sustainable manner, but one that is responsive to enrollment trends and enrollment needs, but also in responsive to where we need to go instructionally. Um certainly uh any
033questions that anyone has in terms of topics or things you are wondering about um that would I would love to be able to do that rather than go box by box. I'm not sure that that's the most helpful piece. >> Question Joanna. >> Um yes, sorry one second. Um I I was wondering if we or what you thought about having a Middle Sex update the past couple years. Two years ago, you know, they started changing the teams to make them bigger. We were told that the sizes were all, you know, too many classes were too big, too many classes were too small. When we came back last fall, um even though they had changed, uh the number of teams, that problem wasn't really solved. They said they just needed more time and more training on
034Aspen. So, I just think it would be really um important to see if they've gotten it right and if they haven't um what you know if it really what we thought we could do we can't do and we you know what other what implications that might have. >> I I certainly think there could be value in that conversation especially since that's one that's been on the table but would um some kind of presentation or report by each level. So having an elementary night where we get some reports on things that are going on at elementary, one where it's a middle school report and one where it's a high school report. And there I know that there were some like in the in the original version like fiscal year budget priority reporting and thing or initiatives
035reporting. To me, you should hear about that in the context of the schools. So, if we plan for at some point, probably in the spring, um that we weave in between other topics that are already on here, an elementary update and we hear from the folks at the elementary schools, a middle school update and then a high school update, including Fitch Academy. I think that would be a good way of work if the board supports that. >> I I think that makes a lot of sense in terms of thinking about the long-term work. I think there Joanna may be talking about some questions she might want answered in the shorter term. um particularly visa v the middle school per perhaps we could look at maybe it's not a board presentation but maybe there's some information
036that could get to the board just to make sure >> work on that um but I think you could also tie that in and and that to me that kind of presentation or that kind of series of presentations should be an annual occurrence so that you're hearing about the the work that's happening in the schools and it's connected to the professional learning it's connected to the assessment work it's connected to the curriculum initiatives and all of that work that we're doing Yes, >> Katie. >> Um, thank you. Piggybacking on that, um, and you went right there. Um, topics that we've also talked about in the past include a review of professional development, um, which I think, um, does make sense to tie into the levels and the programs and, um, the budget. Um, and then
037also some of the nuances that affect that as well. um right before you came to Darian we had um received some information on students that were um leaving the district particularly at the middle school and I think that concept whether it's you know out of district tuition or just like how our numbers and enrollment change I think that could be good to tie into those levels as well for us to look at um so I appreciate the way that you're thinking about that um across the district I did want to ask um your thoughts on the special education presentation ation in particular um because I am curious about um timing understanding that um that it takes a while every year to understand where students are and that we have changes. Um but one thing that
038we had talked about in the past was that the special education presentation had happened in early December and we had tried to move it to October. where I think we wound up landing in November, but the idea was that we needed to have um some discussion going into the budget season. So, I'm curious how we will think about moving that review. Um and obviously, Shirley, I'm talking to you and to Dr. Burn at the same time. Um I'm I'm curious how the timing of that will affect, you know, what we know about our students and and how our staff are working with them and also the discovery of budget implications. So we're already working internally on what we believe based on the instructional side. So general education, special education, those budget priorities should be. So
039when I come to the board with a forecast and then present a budget to the board later on, it will be inclusive of those needs. So we'll certainly in the forecasting piece, there will be some discussion around. >> Yes. So sorry I um I have no doubt that you guys start the budget way before we see it. Um and I I know that a lot goes into that. I think that my question more about the presentation was how do we tie that back to the board and to the board thinking about it and you know this notion that we had talked about as well in terms of knowing what to expect what's in that in that budget book when we open it. So I'm just a little curious about maybe not having had that conversation
040and what might come out of. So part of that will be I know it's hard to picture it right now based on past experiences but much of that we we will be laying the groundwork on October 28th for those conversations and those discussions and there may be some smaller conversations that need to happen where you know a group of board members not a quorum it's not a formal meeting is meeting for a more in-depth discussion and we do rounds so that people can get all of the information they um with our staff and in my office and we can certainly plan those out as well. I know we talked about having those kinds of forums um in the past. I also think the reports to the board were we're being very comprehensive in those that
041we're giving, but I do think the the you're going to see a pretty comprehensive look into where we think the things are going to go and what we'll need in that early presentation at the end of October. >> Okay. Thank you. So, just to to restate what I heard and to make sure that our public is aware, too, what you're telling us is that um the information that we get about programs and about departments is not going to hinge on a single presentation in a year. That this is going to be an ongoing conversation. Um much more robust. Thank you, >> John. >> Um I think in the past we've discussed the bus depot discussion and then uh and maybe I missed them in the Middle Sex facilities. Where do those kind of land? >>
042Those are going to come in in the um in the forecast u when we're talking about the budget and then when we talk about capital needs. >> Thank you. >> So October 28 basically. >> Yeah. >> Anything else? This is just a first read. So if there's other questions or thoughts, it comes back next meeting and we vote next day. >> For possible action, >> we could if we want to not bring it back, we can. Go ahead, Joanna. the memo that precedes the list, >> right? I was gonna >> We would not be voting on that. Yeah. >> Yeah. So there So there are a couple of things. So in the following up on the notion of improving effectiveness and efficiency, um I wrote in the memo to the board about the use of
043consent agenda. Um what I envision when we come to you with a presentation or a presentation and discussion is a robust presentation that would be the main significant item for the evening for the board meeting. And then there are lots of other things that are more routine things. For example, committee reports or um smaller items that can just be approved with a motion and a vote and a little bit of discussion could live in something that's called the consent agenda. It's used by lots of school districts in lots of places and it helps to streamline the meeting and so that you're not having votes at every single item, but you have things clumped together that require less wholesome discussion and you put them in a consent agenda and there could be conversation because you take
044a motion to approve the consent agenda and following Robert's rules, you can discuss any of them there, but it just adds a greater degree of efficiency. So, uh, something that I would suggest and you can always a board member can always make a motion to pull an item from consent agenda to have a standalone conversation or if you feel it's something of significance that should have its own roll call vote, you could do that. There's flexibility to it, but it just adds a level of efficiency um, that could be helpful. So, we could trial that at any point. Um, if people are interested in that, I would be inclined to to try it. Go ahead, Dave. >> Yeah, I would just say um maybe we test drive it couple items slowly see if we want
045to ease into that and go that that route. >> Sure. >> So, it's so radically new to be efficient here in this district. So, really be a shock. So, we'd like to take it easy on this. >> Okay. We can test drive that if people are comfortable test drive it next meeting. Go ahead, Katie. Just want to ask one clarifying question. Um, if there was something that were part of the batch of the consent agenda that a board member wanted to pull out, you had mentioned making a motion. Does that mean that the motion would have to then be seconded and approved in order for that discussion to happen? So, we would still be bound by it's not that one person could say, "I want to talk." >> Well, one, you can discuss anything once
046there's a motion for the consent agenda. You can talk as long as you want about all those items. It doesn't prevent any discussion from those items, >> but if you wish to remove it and have it as a standalone item, you can do that. It doesn't stop any conversation. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> Another piece. So, I I know there's been a discussion with the board in the past about the use of a platform called um board docs. I I will just say something that again in a lot of conversations in my entry meetings with many of you and administration. There is a a way to organize the agendas and to to get a robust system to help us in organizing them, building them, getting you the information. They've changed their name
047from board docs to diligent community. Um, and it is a platform that I have used and many of my colleagues at the table have used and I I've discussed this with Rich in terms of cost and um I would make a strong recommendation. It also makes it very easy for the public to access all of our information. It has an incredibly powerful tool for dealing with minutes and organizing minutes there. There's two different options for the way you could do it. You can get the meeting piece of it for regular board meetings which is one uh component and or you can go the full route and you can have it for meetings for subcommittee meetings and you can have your policies on there as well which is a gamecher in terms of looking at analyzing
048using your policies. Um what I brought forth is for the discussion to hear from the board is use platform for the regular board meetings at this moment in time. Although I certainly could be persuaded to look at the other pieces because I think they are very valuable. Um the cost for a year for use of it for regular board meetings is is typically $6,000. And then the cost for the year for the full platform which includes subcommittees and um policies is $12,000. Although we did get an email from our rep yesterday uh offering us a special. So they are running a special right now. >> Hot deal. >> Yeah. You can't make this up. You can't make it up. >> It's for the the uh just the community package, which is for the general meetings,
049it's a cost of $5,400. Um and if we went to the full package, which includes everything, it's $10,200. So, when Rich had first looked at the money, just to be I'm throwing you under the bus here, Rich. Rich had looked at it at a cost of $12,000 and he said it was completely doable within savings we've had in other areas and then um I was I put in this that it was the $6,000. So, we could be a 5,400, we could be a 10,200, but I do think it it gives us an opportunity to really streamline, take advantage of the new website so that we would have a board doc section on the board page. And there it also on the administrative side, just so like what you'll see upstairs on Fridays is Cass running
050all over the building and a bunch of us sitting around until late on a Friday putting packets together. This changes that whole process. So everybody from the different departments you gets trained and you put the things into from your desktop computer instead of sending PDFs that have to be copied and scanned and everything else. >> Done. Let's do it. >> It's it's like we're making money here. This is great. Just saving all of Cass's time and everything else. Um so I would firmly support we go all in for the full package, especially while we have the hot deal. Um, a couple caveats. When we start getting the stuff pumped out in the system, can we get that in Excel's moving forward? And I would follow up on the December not a meeting. Can we start
051getting that stuff in Excel and not printed using diligence for that electronically for the board books? I don't know if that's an option. And the last thing I would say is diligence. I don't know if the option we're looking at has the messaging feature, but given our foyer requests, I suggest we disable that in the system. No, >> I can we can check that. >> There's an anoding. >> Um, >> so the Okay, the two the first question is whether or not you can use basically different types of of of um >> so >> I believe you can. Yes, but we can confirm that. >> Okay, great. Um, so in terms of a process, I does it require a transfer? >> It does. We have >> we have a recommended transfer for the 6,000 um
052for finance committee on uh Friday. We can always obviously modify that to the 10,200. >> Okay. We want to get two board members to volunteer to do a little test driving just to see what it looks like. You would do that. Okay. Anyone else who likes looking at software packages just to go see what it looks like? >> Yeah. Just a second. I was just going to see if two people and then I'll call on you. Someone else want to test drive. >> Is this what Ry used? >> Yeah. No. So I remember when I was investigating you like it's so easy on the website to just it is okay to use >> you do. >> Great. Okay. What were you going to say about >> So this is board docs. It's just a different
053name. >> It's just a different name. It's the same exact >> so it is searchable. Some of the things we Okay. And then the other question I had the historical documents meaning board materials that we currently have in our links on the board website. Would those then be migrated and also available in this new hosting? >> We can double check that with them. We would have to load it in at some point, but we can cast will confirm that with our friend Matt there at >> a huge effort to that's just one thing. >> So, it's an 8 to 10 week process to get it all set up and that includes the training of everyone that would be using it. So that's everyone at this table and then all the folks within the system that
054would be using it as well. So it's not something that we'd see for a couple of months because we'd be building that out. >> Okay. So finance will look at it on Friday. >> Well, go ahead, John. >> I was going to ask Katie question. I just wanted to check. So if let's say this 10,000 number that's an annual cost that we would incur, right? So each year Okay. >> Okay. So you guys will look at it. >> Yeah. I'd like to look at with the consensus of the board look at the $10,200 option. I mean that >> Okay. Okay. >> Sure. All right, Rich. So, if you'll update the package accordingly and then um and then I'll and then go ahead, Greg. >> I just couldn't help but notice that the Zoom question is
055next on the list. Is there potential savings offsetting savings associated with that? >> Yeah. So, um you done on that want me to go to Zoom? Um I just so at at the at the next meeting which is we have to actually talk about the date of that but the next meeting um >> you two will report in finance will report in and board can make a decision. Okay >> on the transfer basically >> on the transfer. Yes. Okay great. Thank you guys Greg. >> Okay. >> Or you actually >> so the zoom so the zoom question. So yes, >> after our experience in July and some conversations with folks in town where they've had repeated Zoom bombings as they're learned, as they're called, um I've been investigating ways to use whether Zoom webinar could
056help us to prevent those kinds of things. And essentially there is no way to to stop those things from happening. As long as you allow people in from outside of where you are, that's always a risk. So, if you if you have public comment in a Zoom room, there's no way to stop that. So, one of the things I know that came up a bit after that happened in uh July was the notion of whether or not um we continue using Zoom or we stream through our YouTube channel and then for the board to have some discussion about remote participation both by the board and remote participation by the public. Um that's something I think it's worth having a conversation about. Um there you can have remote participation by the board and not have public
057participation by the board. That's certainly allowable. Um that would still be considered an in-person meeting with designating specific remote participation of board members. So I've checked that with the attorneys. Um there are numbers of school districts that still live stream meetings. they live stream them through YouTube so that we'd be going out as we are now. You could watch us on YouTube as I imagine folks are. Um the Zoom piece is really for the participation. So if we did move away from Zoom as a a platform that we were using, there would be savings to answer your question. Um, it would reduce the uh need of a tech person on site for all of the meetings and it would reduce the it's a minor savings on the um cost of the Zoom subscription, but it's
058a savings of about $5,400 to take Zoom off, but but that Greg that removes participation. We don't then have the platform for board members to participate remotely if we eliminate Zoom. So, >> so I I my my guess is board members would like to be able to participate. I' we'd love to know what the model would look like if board members could participate remotely. I think I would imagine we'd be willing to talk about toggling on or off public participation. Um and then um and then what what technology has to be used. It's not clear for me if it has to be Zoom, >> right? So you need some sort of platform like Zoom to have any remote participation. >> Yeah. >> So if if you want remote participation of >> board members, although the
059law says they could call into a meeting >> and use some other way to do it, right? >> I'm not sure what I mean they can call in and just listen on telephone, >> but for us the platform for doing that is Zoom. >> It has to be Zoom. It can't be Teams. >> Um it it probably could be Teams. We can explore that, >> right? Can we just use Microsoft? >> Let's see if we can. >> Do we already have teams? So, we pay >> so like we're just paying for something extra just because >> Yeah, that would if we moved off of Zoom and just shifted to Teams for the board member participation. >> I think that would Yeah, we'd certainly be able to do >> you still have remote accessibility for board
060members. Would that have to be >> Yeah. >> Richard Wilson, you have anything to add back? >> So, uh at least for it perspective, the license is about $600. So if you went to Teams, you're saving $600. >> Okay. >> Um, you know, the cost roughly for technology support per meeting is, you know, about $250 a meeting. So depending on if you use Zoom or you use Teams and you had maybe 10 meetings out of 24, whatever it is a year, you'd be paying a couple thousand dollar depends on how many time. >> Okay. I think this is a little bit bigger conversation with a little more detail if we could. I'm happy to continue it. Um I just would like to understand it a little bit better. >> Sure. >> Okay. >> We can
061come back with more of that. >> Great. And just I think you have spoken with CDSP and PTO's and there are the public comment piece so that if they're okay with >> that was the conversation we had that but it was definitely the streaming through YouTube which would not change would still be available and that was something that CDSB was very much insisting that that still be available. Yeah. Okay, great. Um, again, it's a it's a first read or we can vote. Um, would people like to wait until next meeting or do you want to go ahead and vote? >> Just the master agenda is the only thing that's on for agenda. >> It's the only thing that's on for an actual vote. >> I'll make a motion to vote for it. >> I'll second
062it. >> Are we motioning to vote for it or you're just motioning for the agenda? So, do you have a motion to approve the board master agenda for August 25th through Okay. August 2025 through January 26th. Sarah just made that motion. John seconded it. All those in favor of approving the master agenda. >> It's just approving the master agenda, if you're ready to go. It's it's unanimous. Okay. Thank you. So, this won't come back for a second read, but of course, as a matter of process, if any board member feels like we need to bring it back, you know, you can always give a holler. >> Question. >> Yes, Robin. >> Something comes up. Um if if we have a meeting and we decide we do have a topic that we want to add, we
063can always add that then at some point to this particular six months of master agenda. Correct. >> Yes. >> The committee >> the chair always met and then has actually a presentation that they'd want to send to the full board that would then >> yeah be added. >> The chair and the superintendent own the actual preparation of the agenda itself or the chair really does by by policy. Um, but part of what we tried to do is using the master agenda is make sure the board members are aware of what's coming that they if there are things there are ways for them to actually actively say this is what I'd like to see. Um, but if at any point again we can bring the whole agenda back or people are welcome to communicate with board
064leadership and say we'd like to see XYZ. I'm just also thinking about consent agenda because I'm still trying to figure out how that works relative to that process and okay, >> you know, if we have to have a board vote every time we want to add or you know how that works with the consent agenda specifically, >> we can discuss it. So that's the >> Okay. Okay. Katie, I I just want to reiterate um Dr. Burn's point about um really using the master agenda as a fluid document. I'm not really sure that's been our exact practice in the past, but I really like that idea in terms of us just continuing to have that communication and addressing topics as they come up. So, I think that's great. >> Okay. We look at it, I think,
065every quarter or every third. Um, so, and just have adjusted it. But yes, I I agree. we've been adding sort of as we go um between the master agenda process and the and the action item at the end. Um okay, sorry I'm looking over there like they have it. Um next thing is review of the foil log. March I don't know if anyone has any questions. Uh John, >> so in the past you used to report how many pages. >> You know what that takes a lot of work. >> Okay. Okay. No, I was just I was wondering can you just call out maybe the more notable ones um that it required an extraordinary amount of work? >> So there there's a lot of um and Rich can probably explain it better than I can.
066AI induced searches because people want our purchase orders and um they're going to figure out how we can purchase more effectively. That's work for Rich and his staff. But, you know, they're I don't know. It's not a lot of work. It's it's when a parent gets something that they want, then it's tens of thousands of pages of emails because if they don't get it the first time, there's another request and it's that's just what happens. But most of them are reasonable. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Dave. And then Joanna, >> I think we've discussed this before when this comes up. Marge, there's no way to track like how many manh hours are going to this or compliance time or it's more work for you to track that than is going in. you know, when it
067when it gets really busy, we make um the uh we tell people that we will spend a half an hour that I will spend a half an hour a day looking at emails that will satisfy the Freedom of Information Commission and it doesn't interfere with the rest of the work of the district. So, sometimes it takes a while to get the 10,000 pages of documents, but on advice of our attorneys that it's a half an hour a day. >> Thank you, Marge. Um just along the lines of uh the purchase order I saw there were a couple like that. There's also a couple about um staff information. Is that also I don't know what they're doing for that but um the CA has gotten very interested in how many requests like that are made. So
068I think that they're going to try to do something about that. I don't think they'll be able to but they're not happy. But that information is all available to the public. >> It's not unique to Daria. those were happening to us with I don't know if they were vendors or whatever it was. We were you know >> I tried to look up a couple of those names and it did seem like it's data mining. I just thought it was a little odd. >> Yeah. >> Katie um just coming back to the idea of um you know sort of quantifying the the the resources that are used on these. I do think that's helpful in terms of us just understanding what this cost of district. So, I I wonder if, and I'm I'm not looking for
069an answer tonight. I just wonder if there might be something different if if getting an exact count of pages is too laborious. Is it maybe categories that we list? You know, something that's like under a 100 pages, 100 to 500, over a thou, something like that. Even >> I can I can put the approximate number in pages. That's not always indicative of how much work there is because sometimes you search and search and >> Right. So, so I, so I I certainly don't know what would the right number would be. I guess I'm just saying, Marge, that if there's something that you think might kind of give that board that quick glance to kind of know like, okay, this was a quick and easy check, no big deal, or no, this was actually something that
070took a matter of weeks. And um I I do think that that would be like a nice at a glance for the board to see. >> Sarah, I just always clarify when this report comes up and it says parent, it is not me. It is a parent. [Laughter] or Greg or Greg. >> Greg. Okay. Um, thank you. With that, we'll move on to the personnel report. That's you again, March. Um, the only good news or one of the pieces of good news is that we filled the special education teaching position at Royal this week. >> Great. That's wonderful. A couple other significant in there. Great. Thank you for the work. Okay. Follow-up action items. I think the only thing I noted was um just taking a look at the middle school and seeing if there
071was any sort of brief memo just for a point in time um from them. I didn't have anything else. Um oh well you two are looking at the uh due dilig diligent whatever. Um and um that's all I have for action items. So we'll move to public comment. >> Good evening. If anybody in person or online would like to participate in public comment, please approach the podium or use the raised hand icon and wait to be recognized. Once recognized, please state your name and address for the record. And please note that you have up to three minutes to comment. We have no public comment at this time. With that, I will take a motion to adjourn. And that is Sarah. Seconded by Joanna.