RSU1 Board Meeting, April 27th, 2026

001like posters. >> Good evening everybody. Um we please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay. Um, welcome everybody. Uh, coming out on a beautiful night. Um, I just want to logistically I hope everyone had a good break by the way. Um, I know it's hard coming back in and getting back to work, but uh, the way it's going to work tonight is we have some, uh, there's a board meeting, so we have some business first. So, when I get to the public session, the first one here, um, only come up if you want to talk about something else on the agenda. When we get

002down to the public forum, there'll be another opportunity obviously, and then if you want to speak to the budget, that's when will be the right time to come up. But we want to get through the business some other business first and then we'll get to that. So um let's start with uh approval of the minutes. >> I make motion to approve the minutes as written. >> Okay. >> And second. Okay. All in favor? We're good. You good? Jamie, you there? >> Yes. Good. Thank >> welcome. Um, all right. Then, uh, adjustments was really just that, you know, if you want to speak, um, I'll open up public session now. If you have something about the agenda, come on up. Otherwise, wait till the next time when we do the forum and we'll we'll open it

003up for everybody. Okay. Then we're going to get right into staff reports and I'm going to hand it over to Patrick. So, Alan Lampbert is here and Elise Revly as well. I don't know if Elise is going to come up, but um both of you come up uh come on up to the mic. And they're representing Mary, meaning adult education. And for those of you that may not know this, we Allan, I'm not even sure how many years it's been. >> Seven, eight, >> okay. All right. Eight >> at least. >> Okay. that we used to have um you know RSU1 adult education and then we had now partnered and part of Mary meeting for seven or eight years and that is with Topppsum SAD75 and Brunswick school system and tonight Allan is going to

004talk about the program give a brief overview but also talk about another school district that's come on or is going to come on board as part of Mary meeting as well. So thank you for being here and look forward to it. >> Thank you. Um again my name is Alan Lampard. I'm the director of Mary meeting community and adult education. I'm pleased to introduce Halis Revly as our new assistant director. She uh she has officially started in that capacity and is slowly transitioning her office away from Topsum to uh the Bath campus site here and uh she's a welcome addition to the staff in this new capacity and we're looking forward. She used to be our academic coordinator for for quite a while and uh she had an opportunity to join us in a different

005uh role and we're excited about having her do that. So I think some of you know Elise from her time here in Bath. So welcome. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Do you want to say a few words? >> Yes. >> Go. >> So as a resident of Bath and as a mom of RSU1 school students, I just want to say thank you for the opportunity and I'm looking forward to working with you in this capacity. >> So I do have a couple of updates for everyone. Uh the first one is I think it's probably a good idea just to do a very brief overview of the program. We have two large arms of Mary meeting. One is our academic side which includes um high school completion through a couple different tracks. It includes college transitions.

006It includes workforce development. We've developed a fairly substantial multilingual program as well that's run primarily out of the uh Uain Augusta campus soon. We're going to be moving though next week to SMCC classrooms. Um, and we do offer some uh ELO classes here at the Bath campus site as well. Um, and we also do workforce development classes as part of our academic programming. We've done a we for many many years we've done CNA programming and we're looking to maybe explore some new options as well. Um, the other thing I just want to mention is that we have a large driver's education program. We work with a lot of Morris High School students. Um, currently we have six cars in our fleet. We have three classroom instructors, five additional driving instructors, and we run at least

00710 classes a year in Topppsum, Brunswick Bath and Was Cassid. So, we cover a pretty large area offering a lot of classes over the year. Um, currently our community education is the second large arm. With that program, with that large program, we're running over 400 plus classes at 30 plus locations, 200 teachers. So, a Mary meeting is has become a rather large program. We generate approximately 6,500 enrollments a year. So, it's a big number. We we we put a lot of people through our programming. And of course, community education is a very uh popular program that we offer. It's important for us because it really is sort of our revenue generating arm as well. Um, all of our community education programs are self-supporting, but we also like driver's education have to generate revenue. It's entirely

008self-supporting. If we need a new car, Mary meeting pays for it out of pocket. If we need to make repairs or anything with the car, oil, maintenance, everything else, it all comes from our operating income. Okay. And the last thing I just want to mention um very briefly is our budget for this upcoming uh fiscal year. I met with Patrick about a week ago, maybe I think maybe about a week ago, and I I talked to him about some major changes that are happening to Mary meeting, one of which Patrick already alluded to. Um, effective July 1st, um, Richmond will be joining Mary meeting adult dead. Now, it's a modestly small community, but it's really going to help all of us because the lo interlocal agreement that we have with all of our partnering districts

009is that the districts pay proportionally to their population and and based on that number, Richmond will be contributing $30,000 a year in operating uh revenue for Mary meeting and correspondingly $30,000 will be paid less by our other districts. So that's one big variable that's really going to benefit RSU1 to start. The second one is, and I know probably Katie and Patrick are aware, but Deb too, the 16 to 20 money, I think it's EFM39, that money has is is no longer going to be going directly to um the school districts based on the report of 16 to 20 year olds being worked on. Um that money is now going to go directly to adult education programs. So we have factored that into next year's budget. So correspondingly, uh, the local share numbers for all of

010our partnering districts is going to go down in some cases considerably, like here at RSU1 based on that $100,000 of anticipated income for 16 to 20 coupled with the joining of Richmond to the program. So, we anticipate the savings to RSU1 for next year's budget will be a little over $40,000 less than what uh RSU1 paid last year. So, to give you a sense of the actual number, we're projecting um RSU1's uh local share contribution to be $80,138 in 2027. In FY2026, it was 122,134. So, I think hopefully it's going to um provide you with a little bit a little bit of room to work with. Okay. So, does anybody have any questions about our programming or what we're doing? >> Any questions? Jennifer, >> hi. Thank you for that report. Um, are are you

011involved helping kids get into community college at all in terms of that process? I just read recently that there was a new scholarship by the Alond organization that would provide more funding for kids who were trying or people trying to get into um industrial programs, workforce programs as long as they were over 18 and I believe only enrolled part-time in community college or something. And is that funding that's new this year or has that happened before? So, we do offer a college transitions program and I'm going to have Ely speak to college transitions because she helps run it. So, Elise, go right ahead. Hi, >> Jennifer. Yes. So, we do run the college transitions program and what that incurs is that we work closely with our community college partners, specifically SMCC in our coordinating area.

012The Harold Elon Foundation has actually been working with our co community colleges for a number of years on workforce trainings and grants and opportunities for funding their training, their materials, um, and working on these workforce skills that they have. So, this is in addition, what you're talking about is in addition to what they've already always been doing. What we do with Mary meeting adult day is we help students make that leap from finishing their high school diploma, finishing their equivalency and going into college, preparing them to make sure that they're ready for it. >> Well, I hope that the community college new funding or new process for being available to students is a welcome thing and that will help a lot of students achieve those workforce development plus also the, you know, um, additional education,

013too. So, I'm I'm hoping that's a big bump for you guys and for a lot of kids. So, thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Uh, other questions? Jamie, did you have any questions? >> I did. Um, I actually have a few. Can you guys hear me? Okay. >> Yeah, we're trying to adjust the volume's a little high. So, >> so what you're telling me is don't speak. So, >> there you go. There you go. Okay. >> Great. Thank you. Thank you guys for coming in and and sharing this information. Um, EFM39 for 16 to 20 year olds. That's something I've never heard of before. I'd love for an explanation for that. >> So, the EFM39 report is something that's been around for a long time. For many years, adult education programs had to report to

014their local districts exactly how many students in the 16 to 20 year old age group we were working with academically. And that number was then forwarded to the districts and they in turn forward that number to the department of education and then the department of education would provide a modest subsidy check representing the amount of students that were helped and that money went directly to the local school districts. That's no longer going to happen. Now, we're going to now adult education is going to report the numbers to the state and we're going to be re reimbursed directly as opposed to that money going uh sort of in a circular way back to the districts themselves. >> Okay. How many students from RSU1 in that 16 to 20 year old range are you serving right now?

015>> Typically on a given year we serve between 10 to 20 students depending on the year. Last year I believe we served 16 total. And where do those referrals come from? >> Most are walk-in self-referral. >> Okay. And are they do do we share with them the information about the credit pathways program? >> Are do you mean um which program? Are you talking about completing their diploma? Are you talking about early college? >> Yeah. just um are students that are living within the district who are coming into Mary meeting adult education, do they have the option for the high set andor the credit pathways program that has been proven to be incredibly successful at RSU1? >> Absolutely they do have the choice to do one or the other. For most students, when they make the

016choice to do the high set, it's because of time spent. They're looking to either complete it so they can move forward, go to college, go to the work and that's what usually factors in their decision. >> Okay, awesome. And then my last question is about driver's education. Um I don't think it's a big secret that I'm always looking for ways to make that more accessible for students that are um living at or below poverty level. And I'm just wondering what is the scholarship process for Mary meeting adult education right now? you said that you have six cars and three instructors and more in-class instructors and just wondering what the process is for young people who can't afford $500, $600 out of pocket. >> I think um I think we spoke about this a little while

017ago. There are times when Mary meeting has um access to a scholarship fund. Uh at this time though, I think we've utilized all scholarship funds for the for the remainder of this year, but we try to you access that fund when the funds are available to help out. But again, driver's education for us is self-funded. So we we pay everything out of pocket to support that program. So um it just it's very difficult. It's also very expensive. It's $575 uh for a student to go through the program. Sometimes we try to hand out maybe a partial scholarship. We see if the family can put some money in, maybe we'll subsidize a little bit. Uh but we rarely subsidize an entire amount of 575. We just don't have the resources to do that. Um I'm taking

018a fresh look at our scholarship fund in general and I'm hoping hoping that we're going to be able to have enough in our endowment to maybe add more scholarships uh each fiscal year. But at this time, we're still trying to assess exactly whether or not we can make that happen. >> Okay. Thank you. How many drivers from RSU1 have completed the driver's education over the past school year? >> You mean how many students from from Morris High School have? Oh, I don't I I don't have that number. It's It's probably several dozen. >> We'd love I'd love to to find out what that um number is. If you could follow up with Patrick, that would be lovely. >> Sure. >> Thank you so much. >> Okay. >> Other questions for guests, anybody? >> No, it's

019very informative. It's great to hear the update. Great to hear how things are changing with Richmond and you know, it'll be a nice new equilibrium and welcome aboard. We're glad happy you're you're a part of this and uh thank you for all the info. >> Thank you. So, next we're going to shift gears and we have a student presentation. So, we have uh Charlie Wear and we have Maisie Mains here who's going to come up and you guys want to come up to this mic or do you just want to Yeah, I think come up there. Yeah. And so, we have a presentation on the can we project. So, thank you both for being here. Well, Charlie, you don't have a choice, but thank you. >> Thank you for having us. Yeah. Well, thank you

020for having us. I'm Charlie. I'm a junior. >> And I'm Maisie. I'm also a junior. >> And yeah, we're talking about the CAMI project today. Uh so for some background information before we start, the program was launched in 2018 at Waynefleet Academy and now it's spread to roughly 20 schools in Maine and New Hampshire including Morris starting this school year. Uh our goal is to equip high school students across Morse with vital communication skills to actively participate as engaged citizens in a democracy. The Can We Project does this by focusing on productive dialogue across political and other differences through three yearly retreats for participating students. Uh so a little bit more about that. Can we ask students to think about these four questions? So first being who am I? What do I believe? And who

021or what has influenced my beliefs? Secondly, who are you? What do you believe? And who are what has influenced your beliefs? What matters to us? What questions can we ask to help us understand a topic, issue, or other viewpoints? What are some reliable sources for those information? What understandings can we create together that are mostly informed by our varied viewpoints? Are there actions that we can take together? Uh, and so here at Morse, we have a cohort of about 30 students with our two co-leazons being Don Lee and Carrie Emerson. And since we have such a big group, we actually divided our cohort into two groups. The first one having 14 members and the second one having about 16. And now that the school year is almost over, we have participated in all of our

022retreats for 2025 and 2026. So the first retreat is held at Morse High School. It was late October for group number one and early November for group number two. So the facilitators from the CAMI project staff led us through the day and come came to our school and that focuses on an introduction to the program and making sure that all participants have a bias for how to communicate respectfully before diving into deeper topics that might get a little controversial. So we did a story exchange where two like partnerships will share a story. So I might tell Maisie that when I was younger I had a pet who died and that really influenced my life. And so then Maisie after hearing everything I say tells that story back to me, but she tells it from my

023point of view. So Maisie would say, "I had a pet that I was when I was younger and they died." And so it really just helps grow understanding between the two people and help you see their point of view a little more deeply. And then similarly, we did a picture paddles activity which are little whiteboards and you're sort of rotating through different partnerships and there'll be different prompts like um draw a place that's important to you. And so you each will share out for about a minute. the other partner can't talk while you do that. And then they'll sort of repeat back what they heard, what they thought were some common themes about um what was important to you and maybe things that you two shared in common that you might not have noticed before.

024And we also just discussed program norms, wanting to keep everything understanding and compassionate moving forward. So retreat number two is held at the Augusta Civic Center in December and all schools attended. So we participated in breakout sessions with randomly assigned groups and both cohorts from Morse came at the same time for this. So retreat 2 focuses on continuing to build students basic communication skills but then diving into more controversial issues as well. So for the first half of the day, we did similar picture paddles activities and discussions about some lighter topics. And the second half of the day is focused on specific issues that are important to students. So someone might bring to the table an environmental awareness issue or a gun rights issue. Um but due to bus schedules, our cohort was not able

025to participate in the second half, which was kind of disappointing, but we tried to build from that moving forward. Lastly, the third retreat was held at Lincoln Academy for group number one and Mount Aerat for group number two. Both were in early April. Um, facilitators from the Can we project led us through the day again. They came to each school and this focuses on integrating more more closely with one of the partner schools since there are over 20 in all. Um, and so we did picture paddles. We did a civil tea where you're in small groups, maybe five or six students, and you're given a prompt. So ours was about if politics belong in the classroom or not and in what situations they can be beneficial or harmful and kind of just developing your position

026and understanding about a topic more deeply. And then we worked on a brainstorming session for creating cross school events. But we did have lower attendance at this retreat due to students busy schedules in April and some different conflicting events. And then besides the three retreats, we've also tried to focus on bringing back what we've learned into the Morse community. Um, and so the first thing we've done this year was visited the Morse freshman class for two 40-minute sessions to start off each of their freshman awareness days. So we had a member of Kim Lee who was matched up with an advisory group and they led them through picture paddles, um, questions and discussions like go to one side of the room if you like cats and the other if you like dogs, but then discuss

027what like where that opinion came from with someone who disagrees. and some other intentional games as well. And then once a month on average, we try to meet in a builder block period just to regroup since we only have three planned retreats. And these meetings have been used to debrief, play games, plan events, or talk about expectations. So, what does the future for Can We look like? Uh our next steps, we're hoping to recruit more students for the 2026 and 27 school year. uh we want to attend and possibly help facilitate the retreats next year, execute our goals and ideas of a community or lower grade discussion with like that civil tea or activity sessions that Charlie was talking about. Uh and lastly, we want to continue to grow and learn since this was our

028building year. >> Yeah. Thank you guys. You have questions? >> Sure. Uh questions. Who has questions, comments? >> Yes. No. Yeah. Jennifer, go ahead. >> Um, was there any discussion that was maybe not specifically involved? Well, was there discussion about public service in general? Like in any of the conversations, do people understand like the have a feeling about public service or public service in politics or public service in general? >> Um, I didn't notice it a ton at least. And I'm sure like with the civil tea and things like that, a lot of times we're split into separate groups and we'll sort of debrief and come back together as a whole, but you really just mainly want to focus on hearing the other couple people's perspective. So it's hard to know if other groups maybe

029were talking about that, but for mine at least, it wasn't super prevalent. >> Yeah, go ahead. >> I'm just curious, uh, so Lincoln Academy and Mount Arat are two very different size schools and populations and communities. I was wondering did anyone realize something different or similar between those two experiences? >> Um well we tried to come back in a builder meeting afterwards since there was two very different experiences and a common theme is actually that the two other schools ended up having much higher attendance for theirs than we could for ours. But even though there was kind of a discrepancy it still it felt very cohesive which was interesting. And I think a lot of people definitely brought back different opinions or ideas that they had learned, which is kind of cool because you're going

030to learn something new every time that you're talking to new people. >> Um, yeah. Go ahead, Patty. >> So, did you um did you guys come across any challenges when you presented your uh point of view? Was there someone that was adamantly against it? And then what what kind of uh strategy did you learn to deal with that? I think the biggest part of Cani is that everybody wants to be there and everybody really has open ears and wants to listen to what other people have to say. Um, definitely like you are going to run into some disagreement, but I think such a big part about what the program is is that everybody wants to listen and they want to learn how to have these discussions. So, you know, not too much like arguing or

031disagreeing, but you know, it definitely comes up. So, >> and have you been able to take that into the real world and use it effectively? >> Absolutely. Yeah. >> Yeah. And I think it's interesting because now after doing Can we sort of have the basis of all the norms that they provide us with and like Maisie was saying, when you're talking to other people who have those same norms, it's really you keep that respect and um communications there in like a respectful way. But it's definitely harder when not everyone has that basis for norms in the real world. But I think it's definitely taught me and probably Na too. Um just that even if the other person isn't necessarily going to bring the same type of communication as you, it's easy to control kind of

032how you want to talk and that's important. >> Other questions or comments? >> Uh go ahead Jamie. Uh my question is about the bus issue and wondering if you could tell me a little bit about that and what might help um next time avoid that situation. >> Yeah. So I definitely think that that was a bit of a bummer, but it was really just because the buses that we have access to had to be back for a certain time for um pickup and drop off of students. And so since Augusta was so far away and we had a group of at least 30 students, we couldn't just take vans or anything. And so we had to leave um at that lunch period. And it was agreed upon by the facilitators that we could have left

033a little bit later, but that would have been sort of disruptive to the um second half of the day. And so it was just easier to leave at that lunchtime. But I think moving forward it definitely was a little bit disappointing because that was sort of um the moment that you could talk about those more controversial issues. And so we would definitely want to try and see if we could look for any solutions moving forward. >> Thank you. Yeah. So, how so was that um the one in Augusta that was was that like the is that kind of the culminate is that a real it's when with all the other schools how was that interacting with the other schools? >> Okay. Was up so >> um it was really interesting. They have you even when

034you walk in before you're assigned into different rooms you're expected to just sit at a table without students from your school. So, when you're doing introductions and everything, they sort of have some basis questions like um what was your favorite movie and just stuff like that that's written on the table and you can sort of talk with others and then they'll split you up into different groups again and so it's just I would say very immersive since you're not with people that you know and I thought that was interesting. >> Great. >> All right. Anybody else? Uh Kurt? >> Yeah. Uh, thanks for thanks for the presentation and I think it's obviously a great idea that we can all learn from at any age, but it's probably makes better impact when you're younger. I'm just

035wondering the type of people from the schools that participate in this program. Do you feel like culturally or politically or in other ways you're kind of already aligned? I mean, were there were there some controversial topics? Do you feel like you feel like there was like real, you know, real tough work being done? You feel like people had some strong disagreements? I don't just mean like cats and dogs, but like, you know, things that are a little bit uh kind of more kind of in the news, that kind of thing. Did you get into some of that? And do you feel like you were at odds with somebody, you know, ideologically, but you were able to have like those kind of conversations that, you know, were civil, or do you feel like everyone was like,

036"Yeah, you know, this topic we all agree on because we're already here." Yeah, I definitely feel like a very interesting part for me with these conversations is I got to talk to a lot of people who shared maybe the same like basis of opinion but we all got there like for different reasons which was really interesting. Everybody kind of has their own motives behind what they believe in. And I think that's just as important to learn about somebody and to share out than it is just to get to that final point of like why we agree. So >> great. Well, thank you so much for uh presenting and I'm glad this has had a successful first year and is it going to build on this next year then when you come back in and still

037there's supposed to be three will it be a similar format or do you know yet? >> Yeah, it usually the Can we project as a whole keeps that similar three retreat format but we're definitely going to work on adapting our >> adapting it for you? Yeah, >> that's fantastic. Well, thank you so much for sharing. Really appreciate it. Great job. >> Thanks, guys. >> Okay. And uh continuing with the student theme, uh we're going to get right to the uh student board rep report. So, you're not off the hook yet, Joe. Go ahead. >> Okay. So, we are back from April break, but student athletes didn't have that much of a break. That's okay. We had lots of games and practices over the over the week. >> The uh graduation ceremony is 48 days away,

038but who's counting? >> Before break, students were split up by grade for a day. Freshman class toward Thomas College, while sophomores did main through the year testing. Juniors took the science testing and seniors had a day to participate in service projects or do as they please, I suppose. >> Um the AP exam season starts really soon. Uh it's run it runs from May 4th to May 15th. Uh and it came up much sooner than many students realized. >> The Interact Club is in the process of planning their lunch for leaders which raises money for sophomore students to go to leadership camps such as Rya or Hobie. Um so they create and sell bagged lunches. If anybody's interested, definitely talk to Miss Trendy. She will get you on the list. Um but those I know I

039went to one at Charlie. Did you go to Rio as well? And it was definitely an important moment for me. Um the main sale assembly is coming up too which is put on by SCLC to on honor a member of the community who's impacted the students um and community of RSU1. So if you have someone in mind that you're thinking of the only thing is they can't be employed by RSU1 you can submit an application form a nomination form for them online and that'll be reviewed by by SCC. Um, I'm not sure the accuracy of this next point just because they played today, but the boys tennis program was currently among the top three in the state class B rankings, uh, with senior captain Ronan Leafer heading the team. Um, and then the best buddies

040program is hosting a sources of strength spirit week where students are encouraged to dress up on theme to show their support for unified programs. Um, additionally, they are fundraising with Aroma Joe's. Um, all of proceeds from certain menu items will be donated to the Morse Unified Program. >> That's all we got. >> That's it. Great. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Any questions for our students? >> Okay, just hold on. You guys are almost there. We're almost through it. Um, okay. Um, superintendent report, Patrick. Uh, just a few items. Mary meeting adult education, which you learned a little bit more about tonight. Uh the graduation for those students will be on June 10th at 400 p.m. This year it's at Morris. It rotates between the three high schools. We anticipate 35 students will be graduating

041and it's just a very impressive evening to see the students come across the stage of various ages that have overcome a lot of challenges in their lives. So it's a it's an impressive evening. Uh I was able to go to the annual science fair at Fisher Mitchell right before break and it was neat to see the different topics and the students did a great job presenting and um had a good time with that. For the building project, the new pre-K to 5 uh elementary school in Bath, um we've narrowed down the options for the site to two different options. one happens to be between the middle school and the high school out on the back kind of I guess I would say back fields um and would come out kind of on the old bath

042road. So that's one option. The other option is the former Dagno site that the school is I guess you'd say half on at this point. Uh so those are the two sites that are being tested right now. They're being appraised, but they're also being um tested for vernal pools and other um other things at this time right now. So, Lavali Breninger, who is our architectural firm, will be here at the next board meeting and we'll give an update on the site selection, the visiting that we've been doing with the Dyke New and Fisher Mitchell staff. So, they'll provide you with a a comprehensive update. I think we're looking at probably late summer, early fall to do a straw poll vote for the sites. And again, anything could happen between now and then as far as

043which site or if we have to look for a different site. Um, so it's it's kind of um it's in process and I wanted people to know that. Uh, Battle of the Books was another fantastic evening that we had in March, no, beginning of April I think it was. Um the students were very engaged in this academic competition and it's just fun to watch and I would like to thank our K to8 library staff in the district and it's also appreciated to have the the continued participation of West Bath and Georgetown that come over as well as long as they don't beat us. Um last one I'll just mention is V VFW essay competition um winner of this nationwide um contest which is voice of democracy. it's an essay competition was a student at Morris

044High School. And so Olivia Drewzniaak is a junior and has already committed to the US Coast Guard and in addition to beating, you know, besting 49 other state winners, she's been awarded a $35,000 scholarship. So, we're going to invite her or she has been invited to come to the uh May board meeting so that she can do her speech in front of you. So, so congratulations to her and that's all I have. Um okay. Uh let's see. So old business we have um financial Oh, that's right. Financial report. >> It's always so nice to listen to our students. I think you guys do a great job. Yeah. Um, so tonight we're listening uh we're uh looking at the month of March and we've spent 66% of our budget. This is a little bit higher than

045what last year was. Um so basically if you a good way to look at this and I looked at it today is like our budget our $45 million budget 1% is 455,000. So, when you see a difference of 1%, it really does mean something. Um, and as you're looking at this report, everything looks nice because it says that we have 5.6 million left, but in reality, there's so much that is going to be spent down. And basically um there are four cost centers that do not show a negative on the financial report that you're looking at but that we're concerned about um as far as outside tuitions and main care costs um transportation out of district placement transportation and some operation and maintenance costs with uh electricity and um and then also So some gas

046costs because we pay gas for our buses and all that. So um it's going to be very close this year. Patrick has talked to our administrators and asked them to spend with caution. So um that's the way we will move forward for the rest of the year. Um revenues pretty much online. Jen asked last time how our tuition um was doing, but is the as we looked at the budget versus actual for tuition um we should be to the good on the revenue side for by about 137,000. Um so there we are. That's not real great news, but you know we we really have to pinch our pennies like most everybody does right now and at you know at their home level. So, um, so things are tight, but I think that, you know, we

047will push on and make it through. >> Um, questions for Yeah, Jennifer, go ahead. >> Um, so the appropriated surplus on this report is 1,100,000. >> 1,100,000. Where are you looking? >> Uh, on your report here underneath revenues. >> Oh, yeah. Um, so that number and I can wait for this. Maybe it's a budget question. It kind of goes into the budget report. So, do you want me to hold this to the budget? >> Well, it is it is part of the >> balance forward. >> Right. So, on the budget it says 1 million and this says 1,100,000. Does that mean that there's been $100,000 taken out of this before >> 100,000 was for the vocational beginning balance that we used on this budget last year. So vocational if they do not spend every dollar

048it goes into it's required by the DOE. It goes into its own fund balance. It's not a separate fund but we can't spend that on except for on vocational. So last year we had we used a h 100,000 for beginning balance for vocational and we did not spend that 100,000 but we can't spend it on anything other than vocational if that makes sense. We have to basically go over um the vocational cost center line in order to use that fund balance. >> So that's why it's not on our budget then >> that's why it's not on your budget. >> Thank you. >> I don't know what we're going to do without you. never gonna understand. Thank you, Deb. >> Um, who any other questions for Deb? >> No. Okay. I know there'll be more when

049we get to the forum. So, >> thanks, Deb. Okay. Uh, so old business. Um, we now have second reading of board policies. I'm going to read through them. These, this is an action item. So we have the uh IMDC the celebration of holidays, IMG animals in schools. IMGA service animals in schools, IMGB therapy dogs and other service animals. Uh JLF um child abuse reporting prevention and education and JLF suspected child abuse neglect reporting form. So those were ones we received last month. uh revised policies. Uh you've had a month to look at them. Are there questions regarding the language? No. Not hearing any. Then may I have a motion to pass? >> I move approval of all policies. >> Okay. A second. >> I second. >> Okay. All right. Uh hearing no other questions. All

050in favor? All right. that passes. And now we move into new business, which is again our um fiscal year 2027 budget public forum. So what I'm going to do is hand it over to Patrick to explain. Is are these the sheets that everyone's got out there? >> Yeah, I'm not sure I are the sheets there, Kim, or did you pass them around? They're here. >> So if people want to grab there's two two sheets over there if you want to grab them. You don't have to, but if you'd like to, you can. >> And uh so Patrick's going to explain a bit about what those look like, what they are, what it includes or what it doesn't. And then um we'll we can have a discussion. We'll open it up to the public to at

051that point speak to the budget. I just want to remind the board that we are not making a decision tonight. Uh that's next week is when we will need to to decide on a version of the budget that we are comfortable with going forward uh to put out to the voters and sign the warrants for. Um so tonight's the night to ask questions to be clear on what's being presented uh if there's something else that you know you want to see by next week or if one of these two versions are you know looking appropriate. Uh but that's what's happening tonight. So, we're going to have that discussion and we'll go from there. Everybody get clear on that? Yeah. Okay. Uh, great. Then Patrick, if you want to explain what we have in front of

052us, please. >> Yeah. So, from the last time we met to now, um, we received word from the Department of Education, and it was part of the supplemental budget that, um, includes a one-time funding to help school districts around the state that qualify for it. And so, it has to be you have to have a high proportion of students that are disadvantaged, which is determined by a formula. And so RSU1, it had to be 40% or more and RSU1 had around 41 or 42%. So um and then it's based on the number of students. And so it was a $85,000 in change um to help districts. Some districts received a couple hundred,000 or more uh and some received none obviously. So, it was an attempt by the legislature and the DOE to, you know, to

053to help this one time with school districts that are experiencing high budgets. And so, you can see on the one handout that doesn't have any highlights on it, that one has that $85,000. You can see on the top it says school funding one time. So, that helps lower this budget and bring that local contribution down to 5.70. And then overall increase is 4.23. And then that first boxed column if you're interested you can see you know that makes a rousic 2.81 81, Bath 6.91, Vippsburg minus 1.55, and Woolwitch 8.57. And then the other sheet is um as a result of the meeting before break there was um some interest or there was questions I asked about if we put back in um 50,000 which was approximately the amount for the part-time secretary so that the

054board could consider that as an option or at least have that information in front of them uh or see what 50,000 just in general would do to this budget. And that's what the highlighted um version represents. So, we didn't print off the other eight or 10 pages backup. Um, I think, you know, obviously for next meeting, we will. And if you have questions in the meantime, so I'll stop there. I mean, I think we just felt like the front pages were maybe all you needed for tonight. So there, just so I'm clear, because I know when we were talking before, this doesn't include when you added the 85 back in or what, this doesn't include any other cuts that we were considering or um anything like that, right? Because I know there was a few

055you had mentioned, but Okay. And then and you're saying if we the 50 if you added 50 obviously be used for anything but people had asked about the those positions and that's what it would take to put back in. Okay. And so those are the things we are looking at. Now, I want to before I toss it out to the public to to comment on an on the budget, I just want to ask if there are some clarifying questions or concerns or something from any of the board members first. >> Yeah, Jennifer, go ahead. I did notice that there was some funding um available to schools to help initiate um the cell new cell phone policy um I think to pay for yonder pouches and I was just wondering I did check with our uh

056main school board management but they didn't know if there was any of that funding if we would be eligible for it because we had already kind of started the program ahead of time and I would I know it's probably not big money but I'm just trying to find anything. >> No, I mean we've asked Robbie Fineberg from main school management is I think it's $6.50 50 cents a student. I'm not sure if that's just for secondary students. Um, and we also have advocated strongly that there's no reason why we shouldn't receive the same amount of money um, reimbursement. And also, uh, Eric and Katie, I think, are hosting a regional yonder conference here for other school districts. And we're also, um, politely expecting a discount on some of these yonder pouches that we have to

057purchase in the future. So, >> yeah. Go ahead. Yeah. >> Um, in in providing the student perspective here, um, as that is my role, um, if we were to avoid spending any money additionally on yonder pouches, I think that that could be a very easy way to just scrge a little bit. Um, because if I'm being perfectly honest, very few students use them at all. They they mostly sit in backpacks and people keep their phones either in the office or in their backpack or in their car or some even leave them at home. But the amount of students who actually use their yonder pouches is very very small. Um so like if it's if it's $6.25 a student and we can save that on 600 students at Morris at least. I don't know. Um, it's

058it's an area that I feel like we could we could save that money. >> Okay. Thanks. And Katie, I don't know if you want to speak to that because we're not we buy them one time for our students and we reuse them. >> It's a great and I think and even yonder the people talk about how um the idea of having them is more powerful than the actual use of them. And the original amount we paid was never local money. And that's the big upfront cost. It was almost I want to say it was $45,000, but it was from the COVID funds. Um, and so that upfront amount is has already been spent not by local taxpayer money and we won't have to spend it again. um we just pay for the sixth grade pouches

059each year. And because we have been um we have spoken about how um we're very aware most kids don't use them. Um but it's it's the power they have because they exist essentially. Um, and because we've promoted just the idea of a um, you know, bell to bell policy that Yonder has gotten a lot of publicity to be honest from us and Mr. Vney was able to get um, it's just going to be $3,000 for us this year. Um, >> yeah, total um, which would be paid fully by the state now anyways. So, I agree with you. I think your administrators are all very aware of that. Um, and as long as people aren't using the phones, that's really what the policy is about. Um, I think if if we were a district that was

060about to spend that original amount of money, I think that would be a great thing to do. I don't know if it would be worth it at this point just because that has already sort of come and gone. Does that make sense? >> But it's a great idea. >> Yeah. Certainly the concept of it certainly helped establish the culture that that is now been you know taken up. So that's good. Um question >> I feel like the middle school used it a lot more. Is that accurate? Yeah. >> Charlie's spot on. Um but there's something and I can't if anyone can figure out like what else in our society does this. I I've been working hard to identify what this is, but the existence of the pouches means the phones are nowhere to be seen.

061Um, and it could be the chance that if you know at this point we wouldn't need the pouches and the phones would still be gone. But I do connect with other school districts and say you should get the pouches. It's just been so efficient that we don't deal with phones. >> Great. Um, anyone else comments about the uh budget or where we're at with this? No. Yeah. Go ahead. Um, I'm so grateful that we got some additional money from the state. Um, and I am um grateful of all of the work that's gone into this. Um, I know the board probably will not be surprised at all this, but I'm really worried about adding any additional cost into um the budget. So, I I wouldn't be supporting the additional $50,763. Um, and I guess I

062was also just curious. Um, uh, and that amount, that amount covers, does that amount cover all of the employment related taxes and the salaries? >> Yeah. >> Okay. I was just looking online at all the taxes that go into every salary dollar that you an employer pays, and it's incredible. Um, and I guess the next thing I just wanted to do was um I think in terms of not supporting the additional $50,763. Um, I think the board has all received the note for the letter from the Woolwitch Select Board that everybody signed. I think this is a a first step that I haven't seen one of these letters come from our municipal select boards in the past. I think it indicates how difficult this year is. Um, I don't really want to regurgitate all the

063numbers in it because you've been able to read it, but it's it talks um specifically about this increasing cost every year about our struggle to try to pay to keep our municipal budgets low, but also how our tax residents are are struggling with these additional taxes. Um it talks a little bit about how wool which seems to carry more of that burden as a town a percentage increase as others do. Um and all those numbers can go into a formula. The things that I really was struck by this letter was that um it it asked for some very specific changes um in the budget and one as I've asked in years past um was about our balance forward. Um, and in the past when it was above a million dollars, we took that upon I

064think a lot of my kind of requesting is that we were able to take some of that and reduce our budget by taking part of that balance forward. Um, it remains at a million dollars like it has every year. And the letter specifically asks if this might be one of those very few moments that we could use some of that balance forward money um to help reduce the local impact. And I started thinking, I don't think over the 13 years I've been here, I've ever seen an issue of us needing that million dollars. Um, and I don't know in the past if we've had to dip into that million dollars. I know each year if we don't have that million dollars, we would need to try to fund that million up to that million dollars

065in the next year, but we're hopefully going to see some subsidy relief coming forward with the new EPS funding. So um one of that was one of the requests is that the select board like everybody's boards looks at that balance forward. They have their own budgets and asking if this might be one of those moments in time where we you know are able to use some of that. And the last item that really kind of comes home to me is that um looking at you know around where the BA budget is right now um it would mean most homes have a higher value than the value document that we usually get you know the $300,000. So if you look at the average home in wool which the and the calculations the the estimate is about

066that it might be $270 a year increase which what it would come out to. Again, you know, we're still working on all the budgets, but the letter specifically states that out of the 1,000 Witch residents aed 65 and older, many are on fixed incomes and even small increases add up to a magnitude that it's hard to support in their current budget today. So, I asked the board to consider the cost to to our elderly community on fixed incomes, our cost on new families, um, you know, trying to both afford a home and afford all the expenses that we know well too dearly, and that the, you know, the the select board finishes and saying, you know, we are in complete partnership in support of the RSU like we all are, but we're just really struggling

067in Woolwitch to how we can help this budget work. So, the the letter asks for even bigger decreases in some areas and I and I'm, you know, I don't know if that's going to meet the board's interest at all. I'm kind of guessing it won't, but I, you know, maybe there's some place to reduce some more. Um, but I would like to at least start out by saying that we can't really in increasing the budget anymore than it already is is a real difficulty for our folks. Thank you. >> Thank you. Um, does Patrick or Deb do you want to respond? >> I'll let Deb I'll let Deb talk about the balance forward, but uh, just to be >> I would just say, you know, I appreciate the letter from Witch and I always appreciate

068the working relationship we have with them as a board. Um, and a very professionally written letter. um maybe a few things that I'll just point out that were maybe inaccurate at some other time, but for the most part it was again we appreciate their support over the years. I I would just bring up and again I know it's percentages, but if you look at the bottom of those budget sheets and again I I get that this is challenging for for everyone involved. Um but just that if you look at the last five years that I know witch is you know the last couple years has been the highest but if you look at over those five years the averages over in that righth hand column at the bottom um you know I think that's worth

069at least looking at that's all. So Deb, do you want to talk about >> So um Jen, it would be nice if we could use some additional beginning balance, but what's happened is if you can remember many years ago, we always used $400,000 for a beginning balance. Well, we've shifted into a million dollars for quite a few years now. Well, in order to maintain that million dollars, we have to have um additional expenses that we don't spend from our current budget and additional revenues. Well, what's happened in the past few years is we're getting closer and closer. Last year, we had 300,000 left in expenses and 35,000 in revenues. This year, we'll be lucky to have that. So basically um what's happening is that gap has closed. I've talked with Hank about it. We are

070feeling that next year you you there is no way that we can use a million dollars for beginning balance next year. If we have additional subsidy, thank goodness because then maybe we can reduce that. But bottom line is in the in the outlook for the million dollars that we're using in fiscal year 27, we have 933,000 towards that. So we have to have a little bit of revenue, a little bit of expenses this year to close that gap. But that's that's what's happening is we're just we don't have um additional expenses and revenue left over to work on that million dollars every year. Um you if you looked at our audit, it says that we have $4 million, but what's happened is over two million is almost two million is for Department of Education. and

071we had to send back and that was remaining funds that we had from the Morse High School project. They won't allow us to keep it. They want it back because they're the ones that supported the project. And then we have um 424,000 in vocational fund balance, which like I had said earlier, we can't spend that unless it's on vocational create new programs or something big that they need to buy. The other million dollars is on special purpose funds, all the these little um additional funds that we have, different grants and that type of thing. That makes up that million and then that leaves what we've designated to use in fiscal year 27 is close to that million. So, um, next year if we don't have the funds, then, uh, yeah, that's going to be we're

072going to start out already in the in the negative, um, as far as the million dollars. So, so unfortunately, we don't have a lot of or any room there to increase that million to something higher. And so if that we started off next year with 800,000 um and our subsidies changed maybe dramatically then wouldn't the bottom line still be not as huge an impact if the subsidies go up and that starting number goes down? I mean I know it's a guessing game I know D but I mean like >> is there is there a projection there where we would be able to make up that difference whereas we might not you know where we're looking at such an impact on expenses this year you know is there a >> keep in mind those expenses go

073up every year every contract's going to be negotiated next year we've been basically the last couple of years increasing our budget at least $2 million each year um you're talking 300,000 is what they projected additional revenue um with this new formula in. So yeah, >> we're we're quite a still quite a ways away. >> Okay. >> But with with um what they're projecting for the 300,000 is that factored into what we're thinking for next year or No, because we don't know yet. >> We don't know yet. Okay. >> I mean hopefully it'll be higher. I mean hopefully I believe that the scenario was 300,000. If we had used it this year, it would have been that much more this year. So maybe they'll have more to add next year, >> you know. >> But but

074we're but everything we're basing it on is what we know, not what we happen, right? So So it'll be a good thing if it happens, but we don't know if that's going to happen. >> Okay. Anybody else have questions for Deb? Jamie, did you have a question? >> Well, I think you just answered it. I think my question was, it makes me very nervous to talk about taking any money out of that fund for this year, but it sounds like if next year subsidies come in, we know what contracts are, there might be opportunity next year to look at taking funds from that fund balance if we've done well. Am I understanding that correctly? um taking those funds to close the gap. So maybe we could use a million dollars in our fund balance for

075next year because that that would ultimately be the goal is to be able to start out exactly, you know, with a million dollars because otherwise we're going to be looking at, oh, we're starting this budget and we we're short, you know, half a million dollars already before we add any increases in expenses. So um >> Yeah. Okay. Thank you. That's that's my concern. Thank you. Okay. >> Okay. Anyone else have any questions on where we are or concerned about, you know, either what we're leaving out or what else we should leave out? I know um Jennifer's addressed that already with, you know, actually cutting more, but um anyone else? What? Go ahead, >> Deb. I see that we've got some um later on in the agenda, we're um going to be looking at some new

076teachers and each year where there's this little bit of a comfort because our new teachers come in at a different cost than our outgoing teachers do. Is there any way of acknowledging is there any more room in there that we can look for budget reduction? We we usually budget like in uh like a step 12 or something like that and some come in if they come in at step zero wonderful. We made out you know in one of our schools this year but we knew it so we were able to make some adjustments in this proposed budget based upon those new hires. Um but it's all it's all part of the process of interviewing. I mean, when they when the administrators and their team sit down with candidates, they're looking at the best candidate, and

077sometimes it's top of the scale. Sometimes it's not. >> So, we've got we've got several positions in in our agenda today. I guess my question is >> those have been already reflected >> reflected in that's okay. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. That was another one. Just >> Okay. Okay. Uh, so what I'm going to do now is I'm going to open it up to the public. Um, as always, uh, please keep your comments to three minutes if possible and, uh, just let us know your name and where you're from and, uh, let's keep it respectful and we're all in this together. So that's what we want to, you know, hear from everybody and that's what we want to do and that's how we're going that's how we're going to proceed going forward. So, um,

078you can start coming up if you'd like to, please. >> Um, my name is Romy Palazado. I teach at Pippsburg Elementary, Doug Newell, and I live in Woolitch. Um, I'm Yeah. Um, I'm going to speak about maintaining a full-time nursing position at PES. Having had the privilege of working at PS for 30 years, I have witnessed firsthand the critical role consistent full-time nursing uh support plays in the well-being of our students and families. In the past, PEES operated with only part-time nursing coverage, making it the only school in the district without daily access to a nurse. During that time, essential healthcare responsible responsibilities such as medication uh incident documentation, communication with families often fell to the school secretary. While our secretary is highly capable and dedicated, this arrangement is neither sustainable nor appropriate given the

079increasing complexity of student health needs. This model created significant challenges as office staff are required to balance their primary responsibilities with duties beyond their training. Without a full-time nurse, there is not a greater likelihood of increased absenteeism as students may be sent home when a licensed professional is un available to properly assess and support them. As student needs help continue to grow, the absence of consistent nursing care compromises both student well-being and the overall stability of the school community. Additionally, as noted in the last public session, school secretaries already managed numerous responsibilities, including multiple platforms and monitoring visitors. If a student arrives at school ill, the secretary may be un able to adequately supervise the office while also providing care if the 10 to2 model is used. our principal's morning responsibilities like duties, IEPs, um

080will limit her ability to assist. Outside of limited nursing hours, responsibility for addressing student health concerns, documenting and providing care falls back on office staff, increasing their workload and responsibilities. I understand that a portion of this budget increase is attributed to special education needs, which are often accompanied by significant medical considerations and ongoing health support. If this is the case, it is difficult to reconcile how reducing nursing staff aligns with effectively supporting these students. Um, it's also important to recognize student medical needs are not always known until the registration process. Students may require support for for allergies, seizures, diabetes, and other health concerns that demand timely and knowledgeable care. While staff receive basic training, vector training, a school nurse brings a clinical expertise, professional judgment, and preparedness necessary to respond effective effectively to medical situations.

081Nurses operate under established protocols and hold licenses and certifications that ensure both appropriate care and accountability protections that other staff members may not have in emergencies. That's oh, sorry. at one time. And right now, other districts are adding nurses or expand like sad 75 is extend expanding their nursing staff. So, >> okay. No, it's a good point. >> We want to keep our nurse. Sorry. >> No, that's fine. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. >> Brandy Tainter here again. Can you hear me? >> Okay. At a time where neighboring districts are prioritizing the health and safety of all their students, it is concerning that our district's priorities are slipping. If the budget passes in SAD75, two full-time nurses will be hired, which will ensure that each of their schools has a full-time nurse. I think

082it is important that RSU1 stays as one of the more forwardthinking districts. At PES, our interventionist has turned over three times in three years. We should be asking ourselves why this is. Kids at this young age thrive on stability. Having a nurse only part-time is yet another example of how we will be providing an unstable learning environment to our students. At the last meeting, you all acknowledge that our administrative assistants are tasked with one of the hardest jobs in the district, thus requiring more support at two schools. Yet, the administrative assistant at PES will have all the same responsibilities and jobs, as well as attending to the health care needs of students 40% of the time with no extra support at all. I fielded about 200 emails and calls in two days in regards to

083the asbestous exposure at PEES. Not one of those parents or doctors I corresponded with would have accepted a response from a non-healthcare professional. Everyone here has acknowledged the healthcare needs of students have dramatically increased as well as the expectations of parents. They're used to a certain level of care for their children and they are not willing to sacrifice that nor should they have to. Office visit co-pays with insurance can be $4 to $60 in addition to the time missed from work. With multiple children, that adds up. School nurses reduce unnecessary and costly visits. Parents do not want to wait until 10:00 a.m. when the nurse arrives to have their child assessed. They want their child to be seen at the start of the school day and to be reassessed throughout the course of the entire

084school day as needed. Just like all the other kids in the district, the inequity across our schools is being noticed. Our eyes are wide open. Parents, staff, students, the Hittsburgh community, and our district physician do not support a reduction in nursing services. So, if the current budget is the one that is presented to me as a voter on June 9th, my vote will be no. >> OKAY. >> Anyone else? >> Hi, Stella Perkins. I'm a resident of Pittsburgh. I only have one question because these ladies come forward with all of what I was going to say, but if we have a person that does an assessment and is not qualified to do that assessment, who is liable for that? Is the person that does the assessment or is RSU paying for it? Who is it?

085Who's liable? That's my question. Okay. How we doing? Anthony Gilman, Pittsburgh Elementary alumni. Patrick, how you doing? Good to see you again. Um, at the last meeting, you were at our school and it was pretty common that nobody really wanted to give up our nurse or any teachers aids. So, in Fippsburg, we've been limping our school along for quite a long time. It's not the most technologically advanced, but our nurse knows our kids in and out. Yes, we have a fire department ambulance across the road. They don't know our kids. They could be on a call. If if the ambulance comes over for a kid, who foots the bill for that ambulance? Us, RSU1, and they don't know our kid. Long story short, we want our school left alone. We want our teachers. We want

086our nurse. Thank you. >> Thank you. Melissa Riddell, interventionist. Um, I wish I had so many people here with me to support what I'm saying, but my partner at um, Dyke New has young children and she cannot be here to support me, so I'm going to represent both of us. I'm pleased to hear that you are considering maintaining the halftime secretary position at both DNS and FMS. However, hearing our interventionist position may might be restored as an edtech 2 rather than eliminating eliminating it is disappointing. To be clear, hiring an edtech is not restoring the interventionist position. The demands of the interventionist role have evolved significantly since I began in this position. At the start of the year, we assess students, interpret those assessments, develop RTI goals and plans based on that data, and monitor

087progress closely. While providing instruction, we continually observe student performance and use professional judgment to adjust our teaching in real time. As the year progresses, we continue assessing and tracking progress toward goals, interpreting new data, and revising or creating new plans as needed. In addition, we write student referrals, maintain detailed records, and prepare reports for families among many other responsibilities. At the last meeting, Jenny Burns noted that the two remaining interventionists would see their workload increased by 50%. The responsibilities that I have outlined are specific to the invent interventionist role and are not included in the job description or scope of an edtech 2. Introducing an edtech 2 does not reduce the workload rather it adds to it as interventionists would be responsible for planning for and supervising that position. Thank you. >> Thanks most. All

088right. Anyone else? you can time me because I have a tendency to ramble. >> Um, the time >> I wasn't really planning on speaking. Um, >> so I'm not speaking as an as administrator, as a principal, anything. I'm a, you know, my my kids went through the system. I'm a taxpayer. I live in the area. One of my favorite sayings is the only thing that likes change is a baby with a wet diaper. And I'm saying that I'm speaking at this meeting because this is less about all the people here, less about the board, and more about the communities at large that may or may not be watching this. Um, last year and this year, I felt you guys do an amazing job of trying to balance different perspectives um and different and different values

089and all of those are great. What I'm most the reason I'm speaking is is more about what often doesn't get said and is taken out of the equation. Um the per people expenditure at the schools is not the same. This is not a reflection of the district or the communities liking more schools than others. It has to do with the size of the schools and the efficiency of scale. Dyel and Fischer, Mitchell and Bath decided to um consolidate their schools. Uh we're able to operate on less per people expenditure. Uh Woolwitch and Fifsburg, what's never on the table is reducing a teacher or increasing a teacher because they have like just enough. like no Fisher Mitchell can go up a teacher and down a teacher because we have more teachers like per grade level which

090means our class sizes will always be and hover always higher than Fippsburg and Woolwitch. So you can make the argument that inequities start with the class size class sizes. I am not arguing for or against any of it. It's the it's but what needs to be addressed are the things that aren't talked about. Um, somebody brought up last time about uh fiscal responsibility and having to be accountable and talking about reducing programs in certain areas. What never gets talked about and I know nobody likes this and I realize I grew up in the military so I went to eight schools in 12 years. My perspective as you guys talked about what you call it our what? No one >> can we um I totally get that everybody brings their personal history of schools and what

091they like and don't like. Um but and this is not for this budget cycle, but I think the selectmen and the city councils and the towns people who grew up with K8 and all these small K5 schools need to come to grips that we're going to be in this situation next year and the year after and the year after. If we as adults don't confront the tough decisions that we may need to move beyond what we what our experiences of schools were. So if somebody wants to keep their taxes down are the same people who write emails about keeping taxes down willing to support closing a school willing willing to support making Witch a K5 willing to consolidate? Because if you're not willing to consolidate and you want your taxes down, that's about us wanting

092to maintain and holding on to old systems. Thank you. >> Thank you, Rob. >> Anyone else? Nope. >> Good evening. Uh my name is Amanda and I'm a resident of Bath, uh prior resident of Fippsburg. And I wanted to talk about the nurse position being cut to part-time. I think that what's important to look at is not just the monetary reduction of the budget, is what this disservice is going to be doing to the children. What a nurse is providing to students is not just medications and things that we see physically, but we don't know what's happening with a child behind closed doors at home. And they might need that nurse to talk to that maybe they're not comfortable talking to the principal or another student or the teacher. And I think with mental health

093especially on the rise that this is not the part of the budget that we want to cut. I think that that especially at the elementary age that the nurse could be helping even one student maybe change the trajectory of their life and how they move forward through middle school, high school and you know how they interact with other students. I see these high school students that I think they're so intelligent and impressive and that started from somewhere and you know they probably had that support when they were younger and I think that we want to see that for all students and it starts from a young age and I I think Fibsburg needs a full-time nurse. >> Thank you. Good evening. My name is Liz Hullbrook. I'm a taxpayer of Pittsburgh. I'm here yet again

094to support a full-time nurse at Pippsburg. Two years ago, you all agreed that a full-time nurse was a vital part of our school community. The only thing that has changed in the last two years is our school's leadership. Multiple times, it has been pointed out that these meetings that is the school's principal who makes these decisions. I do not have a child right now, but if I do, it will be essential to me that our child school has the community's best interest in mind. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Hi, my name is uh Ethan Morgan. I'm a resident of Pittsburgh as well. Um speaking on behalf of the school of nurse, too. But again, I don't envy any of you, the position that you have right now. But um the last meeting that I

095came to, the one takeaway that I really had was uh the understanding that you have a belief in the fiscal responsibility as well as the responsibility to the students. And that isn't something that's lost and it's not something to take lightly. But I do worry a little bit about the idea of the creation of a false economy and what that what that fiscal responsibility actually entails. There is a non-lilighted item cost to losing that school nurse that uh you know there's there's costs in parents having to miss work because they have to pick up kids that may not have to go home if there's a nurse present. There's a cost to increased emergency room visits, increased hospital expenses that parents may have to take on because there's no nurse present. There's also a lost cost

096in uh in the idea of what this school brings to the community and who this school brings to the community. I grew up in a very small town in Vermont. Uh hopefully my great grandkids will be able to call themselves Maynards. I've lived here 30 years, but uh my parents chose that community because of the school that I got the privilege of going to. And when my wife and I moved to Fippsburg, we chose it primarily because of a small school and a small community like that. So it is something that weighs on our choice and what's going on there. It's uh it's something that I feel that we and other parents have to reconcile is if the school system changes drastically, is it a community that we want to support and be a part

097of as well? So there's a lot more to the fiscal responsibility side than just the small budget for the nurse. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> Okay. Um I know this I know this is public comment, but I just want to make a couple clarifying statements. I mean, >> and we've said this before, but um >> none of us like to make these reductions. There were no reductions at Pittsburgh last year. It's not a competition, but we're in a we're in a place where we're trying to get this budget to a place where it can pass. Two years ago, it was recommended by the principal and the administration to reduce the nurse. Budget process are fluid. So, sometimes you do get some some money, some things change. You might hire teachers like

098Jen mentioned tonight so that a board can sometimes add something in possibly at the last minute. Um, but I want to be clear that again Pippsburg is small. We've talked about that tonight and that when we we're in tough times like this, you know, people have to look at where where can we reduce um, you know, Fippsburg and and I think the term and I'm not not picking on you, but you use a term limping. Um we we our goal and you may not agree with this in this room, but our goal is to make sure that all of our schools are well taken care of from a facility standpoint. Um you know to to the staffing standpoint and everybody at all of our schools wants more staff, more programming, but we try to be

099as equitable if if that's the right word to say because every school is unique. Um, so as far as I just want to make those those comments because I think um some of the comments that have been made tonight um may be a little misleading. That's all. So thank you. >> Thanks Patrick. Um yeah, there's a lot there's a lot to think about with all of that and Ross, thanks for your perspective that you know because it's it's not it's not all black and white. It's all you got to look at all a lot of different perspectives as to what's happening and um everyone can feel you know left out for different reasons um depending on you know size of the school what you know where it all is what the efficiencies are so thanks

100for those comments everybody for coming in um Katie did you have something >> okay I saw your mic was on >> Oh sorry I was talking >> No that's fine so I thought you were waiting to talk um does before we close out this and move to the finish our budget here or the board meeting. Do you have any Yeah, go ahead. >> So, I spent a little time over the weekend looking at the um main health funding for the school-based health centers and I I apologize if this is a redundant question, but I just um sometimes we can move parts of positions or we can find grant funding in different places. And so I just wanted to come back again and ask, is there any main mid coast main health funding or Lincoln Hospital

101funding that helps us fund the school center here at Morse? Is there any kind of funding within that programming that we can go and and try to find more funding that would help fund this medical nursing position in Fippsburg? Um, I guess I I know you guys look for everything, but maybe I maybe it's a question for Katie. I >> um the the short answer to that is no. Um it's a it's a multi-year grant that's written in a particular way by Lincoln Health. Um and the services that are currently allowable are written to be here with other kids accessing it. And I explained in another meeting that um part of the structure of it is um they have to use their own computers, their own secure software because it's actually a completely separately run

102medical center within here. And so, um, it's the grant that is written for us essentially requires you to pick one location for them to run things in a way that's particular to how Main Health runs things. Um, and so there's really no like satellite option, per se. I guess Katie, I was wondering about is there any other um uh is there any other funding that the at main health provides for nursing or Lincoln Health provides that? >> Not that I'm aware of. >> Okay. Any other comments, questions on where we are with the forum? So, just to reiterate, so you've got these two different scenarios in front of you. Uh, we're not making a decision tonight, but you need to think about if there's other stuff based on, you know, all the comments today, other

103things you'd want to cut, other things you'd want to put back in. What does that look like? These are the things that again we're going to have to come back and you really got to think about you know and the letter that came from Witch and all just all the commentary everything that came in um and what's being asked of us. So think about that. you got a week. And when we come back, we have to come up with, you know, we have to decide on either one of these scenarios or a third scenario that um we want to sign a warrant for and and put forward to the community. Okay. So, I'll understand where we're at. Okay. And no other questions as of today. Jam Jamie, you have any questions? >> I don't think

104so. Well, I think I, you know, sometimes it's a challenge because I leave knowing very clearly where some folks stand and where others I I'm not really sure. So, I think um I'm not sure how to find clarity around that. Um, and you know, I just I'm listening to a lot of the the different commentary um that has been addressed in the past few weeks. And so I would encourage folks to go back and read through the minutes um because a lot of the questions and just I guess things that maybe aren't 100% um accurate would be in those meeting notes. Um I don't I don't know that I have anything more than that. >> Well, like I said, we've got the two. I don't know if anyone's leaning anywhere right now. I mean, I

105um Jen isn't hiding what how she's feeling, but I don't know. She'd like to see more cuts. I don't know if people are thinking about, you know, they want to see what it would be to put some of the money back in. But, um, if you don't have anything else right now, then I'm going to close this part of the meeting. You can, we can stay in touch with Patrick and Katie over the week. Um, you know, feel free to reach out to me if any of you have questions or want to see something else that you're not seeing. and we'll communicate over the week so we really have some solid options whether it's these andor something else next Monday when we come together and just focus on this because we just you know we're

106doing our due diligence. We're doing everything we can. I appreciate everyone's comments tonight. Appreciate clarification from Patrick um and everyone coming out. So uh thank you for your time. Thank you for for being here and um going to close out the budget forum and we're going to finish up our uh meeting. Thank you. All right, we're going to move on to the personnel items and Patrick, you can go ahead. So, we have uh four resignations. Uh Zoe Pascuzo, who is academic interventionist at Pittsburgh, thank her for one year of service to the district. Elizabeth McDor, EdTech 2 at Fischer Mitchell. Thank her for one year of service. Uh, Jenna, who's here in attendance, Jenna Freriedman, uh, technology support specialist. Thank you for three years of service. And Rebecca Malburn, edtech 2 at Woolwitch for eight

107years of service to the district. Um, nominations, it's in your backup that you have. Um, I'll go through these real quick, but uh, we had two art openings this year, which is unusual. We had one at Morris High School. We had 16 applications, interviewed seven people, and our nomination to you tonight, our recommended candidate is Adam Corovo. Uh, and he's been at St. Dom's and he was at Scarboro before that. Then art teacher at Bath Middle School. Our recommendation is Sarah Fanning. We had 12 applications, interviewed four people, and Sarah Sarah is coming from Texas where she's been an art teacher and also an assistant principal. Um, oops, hold on a second. Then we have two teachers at Dyke Newell, grade two teacher. We had 12 applications, five people we interviewed. And for grade two,

108we're recommending Rachel Richardson, who is currently in at uh, Warren Community School. And then the last one, grade one teacher. We put down one application, one person interviewed, but that was really the pool that we used for the, you know, the second grade teacher as well. Yeah. and no. Yeah. Yeah. And so, um, we're we're recommending Katherine Smith for the grade one teaching position and she's coming from Virginia. >> Great. And that's is that that's an action. >> Yeah, that's an action. So, can I have a uh motion, please? >> I move to approve the nomination. >> Okay. We have a second. Second from Jennifer and all in favor. All right. Looks like a good pull and it's a lot of interest. I mean, those are a lot of applications for those positions. Um, okay.

109And then, uh, now we have approval of probationary teachers. This is also an action item. >> So, the handout I gave you has a list of, I don't know, two, four, six, eight, 10, 11 people that would go from probationary one to probationary 2 status. For those of you who don't know, there's two years of probationary status in the state of Maine and then it goes to continuing contract. So, I'm looking for um the top group to go from probationary one to probationary 2 and then the bottom group which is around 12 or 13 to go from probationary 2 to continuing contract >> and uh we can do that in one yes motion. Yeah. >> Okay. May I have a motion? >> I have a question. >> Yes. Um, >> the social worker uh in

110for is a social worker a special ed social worker or a non-special ed social worker? >> Uh, yeah, I'm sorry. Continuing contracts. I beg pardon. Uh, I guess my question would be for both. >> So, we have >> are they special ed social workers? >> Um, >> funded or not? >> I think I'd have to have Deb or Katie answer that question about where they're what what budget line they're under or what they're categorized as or Karen. Do you want >> it? I can read it to you. It's um Britney Merrill and Ashley Hail. >> They're both regular >> regular ed >> student support. Right. So, our special ed local special education budget, correct? >> No. >> Special education. student support. Got it. >> Thank you. I just I was looking I was looking back

111at a list of all the positions we added with COVID money, >> right? >> And I was seeing how social work positions have progressed through our district and that um that now these are continuing contracts which means these teachers will be be with us going forward, you know, without >> unless unless there's a reduction in force. >> Reduction in force, right? And um and I just I think of that as I'm hearing the struggle for other positions to fund other positions. And I'm thinking that that's these are now permanent new types of services that we have in our school systems now that we didn't have before. So we talk about not, you know, struggling to have that access to be in our, you know, in our uh uh balance forward. the struggle to fund school

112nurses, the struggle to find all these things. I'm always aware of how we've tried the number of staff positions that we've increased before that we didn't have in the past and how that impacts things. Thank you. >> I'm happy to reply to that. Um those were originally funded with COVID funds. However, when we realized um that that had been a grave need that was sort of out of whack with what social work other districts had similar to us in our size, um that's when we chose to pick those up with our local funds. Um, and you know, at the very beginning of this budget process, um, I was I understand what you're saying, but I was also under the impression that the board was happy with the direction things had taken for mental health in

113terms of making steps um, to improve that, which was something that was a very grave problem and actually continues to be. So, and so that the board was not in favor of touching what we had done to try to remedy that issue. So, is what you're saying I guess what is what is it that you're saying? Did I answer your question? >> Um, yeah. I just I'm looking at those I'm looking at how the makeup of our staff has changed and that we struggle with f fully funding some things and and how things have changed since COVID and I look at those positions that weren't in our local budget before and I'm looking now they're there and now they're at continuing contract level. So, you know, we're really making a permanent uh permanent, you know,

114position that these will be locally funded positions that started maybe out of a need during COVID with co money and now it's progressed and and I'm not doubting that we don't need them, Katie. And I'm not doubting that we don't need all of these services. I am responding to that struggle of being able to pay an everinccreasing size budget. And so these are these things that have changed us and they've added to us and they have added to the, you know, labor cost, which is the largest growing cost in our budget. So I'm just I'm looking backwards and looking at that and I'm looking at this again coming up now and I >> I just I'm trying to find a pathway through it. And it's not that I don't believe in the resources. I absolutely

115believe in them and not butter or and I'm looking at our labor costs and how >> we if we're going to increase that per person labor cost how do we balance that by maybe having less staff and is >> well I understand and that's but that's where right so but the explanation you know and and again that's because every time we come to the budget it's what are the priorities as we go forward And I think the the key what I'm hearing from Katie is that we were already at a loss. It's not like this is just hip and happening and now we have to do it. Other districts already had this. This was something we were gravely understaffed in. So you could pick on that one, but but another perspective is that this was

116something we should have been having all along. it was highlighted even more so by the pandemic um by all the mental health issues but we've also seen a turnaround since all this has happened and a you know overall healthier student body so that's another perspective I understand your comment about when you're looking at all the staff and what we've added or what's this and that but it's it's what's the new normal now so you have to go back and say maybe those are essential maybe something else isn't I don't know I'm not saying that's the case but I think she explained it well and I understand where you're coming from I understand exactly what you're saying. What um >> and Lou I think that and I I appreciate that but um what other districts do

117>> we don't wait for what other districts do. >> No, that's not what I mean. I'm talking about No, that's not what I'm talking about. I'm saying that because you can see what others are doing, what the norms are, where people are. That wasn't that was one that we could look at and say, "Wow, we really have been deficient in that." And so that's why we kept those positions. I'm not saying that those all will be kept forever like any other position, right? >> But I'm just explaining she had a good explanation for why they exist and why those are moving forward, >> right? >> An opportunity to speak. >> Um, yeah, go ahead. >> I you know, I think one of the things that I hear regularly, we we always seem to come back

118to this conversation at every single um and it's always, well, we paid for that with COVID money. We paid for that with COVID money. the board voted to pull these or create these positions. It wasn't be because we had COVID money and ran out. It was because our board of directors listened to the people that are on the ground who were burnt out who were saying we need help. We need social work. And we made that decision regardless of whether there was COVID money to begin with or not. So it really frustrates me to hear us or hear a statement being said because we had it funded with COVID. We just rolled it in as if it were some um you know not thought through intentional decision that the entire board voted and it was

119passed. And it frustrates me that when we get to these difficult budget topics, it's our highest risk students that seems to be on the chopping block with some of our board members and it's not fair for them to hear that message every single year. So, I think if we want to look at ways we can become more efficient as a district, I agree with something that Ross said and I felt like that for a very long time. Let's look at how we're operating as a whole as a district. Can other schools become K through five? Can we have better consolidation? Can we have better efficiencies that way? But every year we are sending some of us on this board are sending a message to our most at risk students that CPP, A, social work, all

120of these things should go away and it's just wrong. And I think at least for me, I'm just tired of it. I'm tired of spending tons of time on the same argument. Um and I would welcome further just discussion from other board members um around this because it I want everyone to feel heard but at the same time like how much how much time are we going to spend on this discussion. >> Okay. Thanks Jamie. Um and it go ahead Jennifer. >> Jamie if it's me you're talking about you can say me. It's okay. I don't mind you calling me and saying Jennifer you do this. that's not I'm not hurt by that and I and I'm and we did vote on these on these resources and it is important but we also each year

121have to look at what we have for availability in that year and in that moment and so each year there is this question of how do we best use our resources and this year you yourself have said that the budget constraints on our on our communities are worse maybe than they've ever been before in those some of the letters that you wrote. So, I I'm going to keep asking about it, Jamie, and I agree to disagree with you, and I'm not saying that we don't need these resources, and I don't think that we just folded them in. It's just that when we voted for them, we had a different economic scenario in our resources from the state and in our resources in our communities. And so, now is a different one. And so, now I

122look at them again and say, how can we not completely cut things? How can how can things change or get reduced a little bit but still provide some of these services? But Jamie, it's it's okay if you disagree with me. You can say Jennifer is the person asking for these things and I'm going to keep advocating and asking for them, but I I appreciate our ability to disagree. >> Jamie, do you have anything else before I move on? >> No, I've said everything. Thank you. >> Yep. So again, it's, you know, I I think if you you can separate the actual topic of a specific type of staff, um there's always a question of, you know, as staff grows or as things obviously that's when things increase, we're going to be coming up to contracts.

123I will remind people though that what will be different with the new contracts with this last contract part of the reason things continue to go up was each year we paid a little bit more of the healthcare to get it up to a certain point to get up to 91%. That most likely will remain at 91% unless that becomes some negotiating thing again. But I'm just saying so there was what hadn't always happened in the past where the salaries went up. This also was the salaries and the percent that we paid for the health care went up each year to get it to a certain point. That's what was agreed upon. So it may appear that it was in and in in actuality be a little more money than it would have been in a

124normal uh contract cycle. We'll see what happens next year when we sit down with the unions again and talk about all this and talk about where we are with everything and um you know where we are with with with folks. So, I think while it comes up with different topics, I I I hear Jamie saying, you know, something very specific about a certain part of the population and how that's affecting them. um that's what you're utilizing, but I also think you're trying to talk about specifically staff and whether it's that staff or other staff, but that's but but I you both have, you know, I see I see where you're coming from and you know, it is important that we try to be sensitive to to everyone as we're talking about this because it's it's

125people's livelihood and it's also um the students that, you know, are affected by it. And so we just have to be very aware and sensitive to that when we're talking about anybody's position um and how that factors in because um that's not always an easy thing to hear especially if you're that person or you're in that union or you're that student that's being affected that could be your teacher. So please keep that in mind. Um we still have this on the table. I still need a motion for passing. This is again going from year one to year two and year two to um because it used to be three levels, right? Or just two. Year two to >> continuing. Thank you. Continuing contract. I'll get there. Um may I have a motion? You got a

126motion. >> Okay. I move that the staff presented this evening be approved as listed to advance from probationary 1 to probationary 2 status and that those listed for advancement from probationary 2 be approved for continuing contract status. >> May I have a second? >> I second. >> Jamie seconds. Any other questions or discussion? Okay. All in favor? And that passes. All right, we move on to uh board goals reflection. Jennifer, >> um I think tonight we were able to u meet our uh communications and community engagement by having the public um respond to the budget and also to um Patrick started discussing always discussing a little bit about the next um uh construction project and where that's going. So I think we met goal one and goal two tonight. Okay. Um, next meeting date. So,

127we're back here, right? Next week. Yep. Next Monday, we're back here at 6 o'clock. And, um, the next regular board meeting is May 18th. Um, after that. So, um, without any other questions, may I have a motion to adjurnn? >> Okay. Second. All in favor? >> Okay. Thanks for joining us remotely, Jamie. Appreciate it. Catch up. >> Um