001Good evening everybody. Thanks for coming in. Um if we could please rise for the uh 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. Thanks everybody. Thanks for coming today. Um, just a couple comments. Um, I know the students will have it in their report and Patrick probably will too. But, uh, great theater weekend here at Morris. Um, was a lot of fun. Proud of everybody. Proud of how, how the camaraderie that's created when making a production like that from backstage to on stage to everybody who helps out. Um, and uh, so congratulations to all of them and certainly Miss Coleman and Foreman for for everything they've done. Um, but
002I'm sure you'll hear more about that later. Uh, a couple things. Obviously, a lot of you are here or some of you are here as we go through this. Um, if you have an agenda, you'll see down the way here when we get to new business, we're going to be talking about first reading of the proposed school budget. And I just wanted to let everybody know, we know it's tough. We know whenever there are proposed cuts. Uh, I just want everyone to know nobody likes it, nobody wants to. We are trying to balance obviously um what the cost is going to be um versus you know what you know we we're taking all these each building has proposed something to cut each school we are going to look at all that we're going to have
003discussions about it this is the first blush of that and we just want everybody to know we take it very seriously no one wants to do this and we'll see where we are and a lot of what we want to make is that there's information given so that people understand what this might look like, how we're weighing it, you know, what effect this is having, and Patrick will give some good details about what that budget looks like and how it works per cost sharing formula and all of that so people understand. Um, also because I think there's some confusion out there regarding Fippsburg school. Um, we know we're having a meeting with the uh what? Select board, right? Next Wednesday. Oh, this Wednesday. Yeah, two days. Sorry, I keep thinking it's last week. All right.
004Um, yeah, on Wednesday. And then in I think early April, uh, more of a community forum. I just want to be very clear that we're just what we are doing is a due diligence from the state. You know, the good the good news about social media is you get information out there. The bad news about social media is the information changes very rapidly as when it goes out there sometimes. No one's proposing that Fippsburg close. Um it's about discussing opportunities that if Fippsburg community chose to and wanted to be a part of the the new elementary school. That's one option. Obviously there are pros and cons to everything. And we just want to make sure that when the Fippsburg community chooses whatever they choose that it's just informed. So, it's just going to be a
005healthy discussion about, you know, this is what we're hearing from the state. This is what we're looking at and um everyone will, you know, have be able to make an informed decision when they choose to keep the school. So, um or whatever they choose to do. So, um again, we take this very seriously. I I also would have to say that I think it is um kind of a hallmark of the the administration, the staff, the students, and of course their families that people are so passionate about their schools, about the staff and the programs in their schools because it means they really do think of it as, you know, that their home and they have ownership. And that's the really great news about this, which of course always makes if we do have to
006make cuts that much more difficult. But we're going to do it together. We're going to have the discussions. We're going to be honest and open and we will see where it goes from there. So given that, we're going to start our meeting. And as far as uh well, we got to do I think minutes first. So let's do the uh minutes. Does you have a proposal? >> To approve the minutes for February 24th as written. >> Okay, great. Um any >> second? All those in favor? Okay, the minutes are approved. As far as adjustments to the agenda, 7.1 uh staff report for Mary meeting adult ed. Unfortunately, Allan couldn't make it today, so we'll have him come back another time. Uh otherwise, I think we're good, right, with everything. Okay. Um then let's start with
007um public session if anybody wants to come up to comment on anything on the agenda. Now's an opportunity and just um when you come up, you just give us your name and where where you live and you just take a you know no more than like 3 minutes if possible. And again, this is to hear you out. Do not take us being silent as anything other than we're just listening to you. We're certainly there are other times and other places where we're happy to meet with you to have a discussion, but this is your opportunity to tell us what you're thinking. So go right ahead. >> Oh, perfect. Thank you. So, I'm Vanessa Waters. I'm from Bath. Um, so here's my little speech. So, I am deeply frustrated that I have to stand here again
008advocating for something as fundamental as a full-time nurse at Pittsburgh Elementary School. I am not only the parent of a child who attends PES, but also a bath taxpayer, a kid community member, and a special education teacher in RSU1 in my 12th year. I come to you with both personal and professional perspective with growing concern. There is no data that can predict when a child will become sick, injured, or need of medical attention. That is exactly why every school is staffed with a full-time nurse. PES should be not treated as an exception. It is inceptible to suggest that these responsibilities could fall on the principal or the secretary. Individuals who are not medically trained to make health decisions or administer medications. That is not a reasonable or safe alternative. A school nurse is not only
009an expandable position or just another body in the building. They are a part of a school community, supporting students throughout the day, assisting staff, and helping maintain a safe, functional environment. Removing and reducing this role undermines the well-being of both students and staff. As these budget discussions continue, I urge you to prioritize student needs above cost cutting measures. Over the years, I have watched education shift towards financial decisions at the expense of our students. I'm tired of hearing phrases like numbers are lower or enrollment is down just to justify the reductions. These figures do not reflect the growing and increasingly complex needs of the students. While CO may have passed, it is the academic and emotional impacts are very real. Once again, I ask that the community be given the opportunity to have a final
010say. As a taxpayer, I recognize that the costs are rising regardless, but I will not accept decisions that ne negatively impact my child's education and safety. Every student deserves access to the highest level of care and support we can provide. I sincerely hope to see a shift in priorities during my career, one where decisions are guided not by budgets alone, but also by what students truly need to succeed. Thank you for your time and for listening. Um, unfortunately unable to stay for the remainder of the meeting because I have to get my daughter ready for school tomorrow. But thank you. >> Thanks for coming in. Really appreciate it. >> Hi, my name is Melissa Collins. I'm a Bath taxpayer and also a teacher at Pittsburgh Elementary School. Um, I'm a special ed teacher and if
011you look back two years ago, I gave a lot of my personal experiences with how Brandy has impacted our school in a positive way and helped us. But right now, I'm going to keep it short and sweet. School nurses bridge the gap between health and education, individual and population health care, and address chronic health needs of individual students as well as prevention, health promotion activities of public health. This is personal. It's a sweet small school and we're all um so important. And Brandy does so much more than provide healthc care to our students. She's helping out all the time. And it's not about the individual, it's about the position. I know that she has a position that she could take somewhere else. Um, but it's not just about her. If she chose to do that,
012Fippsburg still needs a full-time nurse. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Well, they ripped the band-aid off. So, I'm Brandy Tanger. I'm a resident of Hippsburg. Um, the proposed budget includes a cut in nursing at PES. And I'm not going to stand up here and give you the data that supports a full-time nurse because you have it already. Um, I'm not going to ask our school physician for yet another letter that supports a nurse in every school. She did that in 2024. Instead, I stand here tonight as a community member, parent, and staff member to say that I am disappointed that once again, I have to fight for our students at PES to have the same access to healthcare that all the other students in this district have. >> Thank you. Hi, my
013name is Mandy Shek. I'm a Pittsburgh resident, um, taxpayer. I have two kids in the RSU1, one of them at PEES. Um, oh, here we go again. So, on March 31st, 2024, I wrote a letter, then read it very nervously, might I add, at one of the school board meetings. Why? Because Fittsburgh was in the midst of losing their full-time nursing position. I'll be honest, I thought this was longer than two years ago. I'm ashamed that the school board is back here proposing that Pittsburgh once again loses their full-time nursing position. My last letter expressed just a few of the key roles that the school nurse does. From providing simple first aid acts of care to early detection of disabilities, prevent an illness, track and health related data for the state, performance screenings, coordinating care
014with outside resources and education and health education. Again, these are just a few a handful of the many capabilities or capacities a school nurse provides. Also, in my last letter, I mentioned that per the CDC, more than 40% of school-aged children and adolescence have a chronic disease. Some examples are asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, obesity, oral health. Note, mental health was not included in that example. So let's briefly discuss this. To quote the CDC claims, childrens who experience good well-being and mental health have a positive quality of life and can function well at home, in school, and their communities. The CD CDC also explains that mental health is not simply the absence of mental health condition. It is also about a child's well-being and ability to thrive. Per the National Alliance on Mental Illness 2025 data, one
015in nine adolescents ages 12 to 17 have serious thoughts of suicide each year. 20% of youth ages 0 to 70 have experienced two or more adverse childhood experiences which are linked to mental illness and substance misuse in adulthood. Per the National Institute of Health, mental health can present as early as the ages of 0 to five and often present as de developmental delays. Data from the Maine Department Foundation showed that from 2022 through 2023, an estimate of 35% of Maine's children had a diagnosed mental, emotional, and/or behavioral condition like anxiety, depression, a learning disability, or autism. While the US average was 26, Maine is higher than the national average. You know who is trained to assess and monitor for this? The school nurse. Now I want to jump back to chronic diseases. Let's talk about
016diabetes. There are two types. One sometimes type there are two types. Type one sometimes called juvenile diabetes but but really the onset can happen at any point in life. Up until recently this was the more commonly seen diabetes in children. Obesity is an epidemic in American children. Due to this, type 2 diabetes is seen more in children. Depending on which type you have, your body either does not produce insulin or no longer knows how to use the insulin produced. Both result in uncontrolled blood sugars, either hypoglycemia or hypoglycemia. Children blow through their energy stores way more quickly than adults, making this blood sugar more labile all over the place. Children in grades K through five are often not able to express their discomfort, nor are they able to recognize when their sugars may be high
017or low. These symptoms are a bit different but with each but with the progression of hypoglycemia symptoms begin to look more like hypoglycemia. You know who you know who knows who had to assess for this? The school nurse. Who knows the protocol for an alert low blood sugar? Who knows what to do if they are not alert with low low blood sugar? Cells in our brains are not able to store oxygen like the other cells in our body. Oxygen is delivered to the brain by our blood. When our sugars are low, blood flow decreases. Limited in oxygen to the brain, every second counts. Back to my question. Who knows how to manage hypoglycemia? A school nurse. Who knows how to administer insulin? How to dose it properly? How to administer it? Subq. Insulin is a
018high-risisk medication. A small mishap can lead to devastating results. Who knows what diabetic keidosis is? This is what happens when blood sugars are uncontrollably high and is a medical emergency. Who knows the signs and symptoms? School nurse. I've only discussed one of the many chronic diseases that can present with a while kids are at school. Having a school nurse present only half time is not safe. Forcing the teachers to be school nurses is unethical as they have not been medically trained nor have they passed a national board to assess, diagnose, create a care plan, provide interventions, then evaluate those interventions. Removing a school nurse from school sounds like a gamble that I would not be willing to take. I'll end this like last time. I asked my children what they would feel like if they
019did not have a school nurse there. Well, I only asked my daughter since she's at pees. My 10 years old reply was, "I would feel like the system failed me." Thank you. >> Thanks for coming up. Anyone else? Hi, I'm a taxpayer from Pittsburgh and I live in Pittsburgh and my family goes to the Pittsburgh Elementary School. Um, I was going to say a lot tonight, but I am very impressed with what everyone has said. And my only biggest problem here is if we only have a nurse for two and a half days a week, who is responsible for making the decisions that these people just explained to you people to keep our children safe? And not only that, the privacy of a parent with a teacher having to explain the needs of their child
020if they have a physical or mental disability should be left with a medical person. So, I am so grateful for everything that they just said. And I think you really need to think about this when you're thinking about leaving us with two and a half days with children that cannot make decisions for themselves. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else? Go. >> Hi, I'm Zoe. Um, I'm a resident of Bath. I'm newer to Pittsburgh Elementary School as of this year, and one of the first people I connected with was Brandy, whose warm, easygoing presence and great sense of humor immediately stood out. She's an incredible nurse who not only cares for students when they're sick, hurt, or needs medical attention, but also supports them throughout the day. Beyond nursing, she helps with dismissal, office duties, and
021fills in wherever needed every single day. I just hope that you strongly reconsider cutting her position from 5 days a week to two and a half. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Hello. Um I'm the prek teacher at Fifthsburg Elementary. Um and one question I thought I want to make sure we're all thinking about is actually um just for uh safety ratios. So when I have a student in my class who is throwing up, oftent times with prek children and early childhood children, they tend to throw up, even if it's just a cold, not a virus. Even still, we have to deal with those bodily fluids in the safest way possible. And we need to keep those children away from the other children because when they're young, they spread germs like nothing else.
022And so my question is if we don't have a nurse um let's say it's a Wednesday and I have a student who's throwing up and nurse Tainer is not here. I might not have the staffing to seclude a child who's throwing up. Whereas that we're pulling from some other resource that is needed in the school. So, I feel like we may be, you know, lo saving some money, but we're going to be pulling from another resource because someone is going to still be with those children no matter what because we need to keep them separated or else they're they're all going to share their germs. So, >> great. Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> Okay, appreciate everybody and all of your comments. And as I said before, we are this is our first blush as
023recommendations we received. We're going to be talking about all that and appreciate everybody and all of their comments and we take it very seriously and we will be having these discussions as we go forward with the budget. Absolutely. So, thank you for taking the time and and coming out for that. Um, okay. So, we're going to close public session and let's move on to the staff report and I'm gonna pass it along to Patrick. So, we have a fairly large team with us here tonight and I just do introductions. You guys can come on up. I don't know if the whole team's going to come up, but I do want to introduce the people that are here. So, we have Brooke Wilth who's going to do most of the presenting today. We also have Karen
024Brackett, our director of special ed. We have uh Julia Darling who's also here. We have Alicia Pesh here and Kim Gray who's these are support staff in our our four-year-old program. And also, um, Jeannie Harrington is in the back as a prek teacher, so she's kind of part of the team as well. I know she doesn't want to come up. Um, but this is a very exciting presentation for us to do. I have told Brooke that she has 15 minutes. Um, she can talk fast, but she also has 33 slides. >> Um, so we have done a dry run of this, but this is very exciting because this is serving our four-year-old special education population. uh we've been able to serve all of our students um with all of the services in their IEPs and
025we took this over from CDS and next year we we'll be doing three-year-olds. So >> that's really all the information you need. >> So have at it and thank you for being here. >> This is my first board meeting. Hi everyone. Do I face >> everyone? I face the board. >> Yeah, because you're because you're on the camera for people who are streaming that way. >> Oh, excellent. Okay. Sorry. >> Hi. Well, I got 15 minutes. Here we go. Yo, ready? Okay. Um, early childhood special education. As most of you know, the state mandated that the district start taking over special education for 3 to 5 year olds. So, this is our special education team. So, to introduce our team, we have Karen Brackett, who's our special ed director. Um, Julia Darling, who's our social
026emotional learning coordinator. I'm Brooke Wilmouth. I'm the early childhood special education teacher and coordinator. And then I have the team extraordinaire Alicia Pesh and Kim Gray who really are just I could go on for much longer than 15 minutes about the two of them but okay. So our early childhood program overview. Our mission is to provide inclusive developmentally appropriate learning experience that support the unique strengths and needs of every child. Our aim is to partner with children, families, educators to ensure that young children with disabilities have equitable access to meaningful learning opportunities that foster independence, communication, social relationships, and set the pathway to a lifelong love of learning. Our guiding principles um are you we want children to learn at this age group through play playbased learning um collaborative teaming. We are as Jeie and
027Carly can probably attest it is definitely collaborative team effort. Um we want to use a strength-based approach. We look at what the children can do and we capitalize on that. Um, we continuously reflect and grow as probably Katie Joseph can attest to having her office next to us. We are constantly talking about how we can do better and how we can improve. Um, okay. I think I missed a slide, but that's okay. Okay, I think we're good. Okay. Uh, go forward one more, please. Okay. So the ear the roles in early childhood special education, we have the early childhood special education teacher, that's me. And my primary role is to ensure that students with disabilities receive specially designed instruction to and access their IEP goals. Specially designed instruction is when we take IEP goals and
028we look at how we can present it and teach the child the goal. Okay. Um the classroom teacher, the general ed early classroom teacher, their primary role is to provide the core early childhood curriculum and learning environment for all the students. The early childhood special education technician, Kim and Alicia, their primary role is to support implementation of IEP goals and specialized supports under the supervision and in collaboration with the team. Each prek classroom has a general ed educational technician and their primary role is to support overall classroom routines expectations and assist all students. So here we see that the child is supported by the edteex by the general ed teacher by the early childhood teacher the and then related services as well and ultimately the families who are the most important part. Okay so you're
029probably wondering what do we do when concerns arise? When concerns arise we ask the teachers to start documenting what they're seeing. We want them to look at, observe, see where they are noticing the challenges with the student. We ask that they document when, where, how often the behavior occurs. The teachers will then implement general ed classroom strategies, which I've always said back when I have been doing this for a long time that prek is basically special education. You're constantly adjusting for the needs of all the children. The teachers implement classroom strategies. They try developmentally appropriate interventions and supports such as adjusting the routines and transitions, adding visual supports, increasing structure during play, teaching communication or emotional regulation skills, and reinforcing positive behaviors. The teachers then after they have implemented all of these strategies can request
030additional support. That's when they would contact our team to consult with us. We would then maybe do a classroom observation, collaborate with specialists, the PTO speech, and the goal is to problem solve as a team to identify supportive strategies. We want to do a team-based problem solving. The team reviews observation notes, behavior patterns, classroom strategies already implemented, and developmental expectations. Together, we generate how we can support students with social emotional skill regulation, communication supports, environmental adjustments, and structured teaching strategies. There are times though when we do all of these things. We collaborate together. The teacher does everything perfect. And I will say the classroom teachers here are pretty perfect. Um, and the child still needs additional support. When this happens, we may recommend a a developmental evaluation. That would be a team decision in which
031we come together in what we call a step one meeting. Karen, myself, the teacher, and the families are present. We talk about the concerns, what strategies we've already tried, and that we want to move forward with appropriate developmental testing to rule out the possibilities of a disability. Which leads us to eligibility. How does a child get our services, you may ask? So to to become eligible for early childhood special education, it's determined through a multidisciplinary comprehensive evaluation which identifies whether a child has a disability or delay that adversely affects their ability to make progress in the general ed curriculum. A developmental delay or disability is identified through our testing and we look at five different areas when we're doing a developmental evaluation. We look at cognitive development, communication and language development, social emotional development, adaptive
032and self-help skills and physical motor development. The delay has to impact the educational functioning that you have to see an adverse effect that they cannot that the child cannot make progress without additional support beyond the classroom modifications. We determine if specialized instruction is needed and it must be determined by a multiddisciplinary team. While I got to come up after all the budget things, it's good that it's not just me because I would approve everybody and we'd just be packed. I've got to go. All right. Okay. So, so then once we determine that the child has a disability, we then will pull together what we call an IEP, an educational an individual education program. When a child is not making progress, we might determine that they need speech and language, OT, PT, or specially designed instruction,
033which is what our team does. As specially designed instruction is the adaptation of content, teaching methods, materials or environment and activities to address the students needs. We want to embed this teaching into the general routine as much as possible. If absolutely necessary, we may pull a kid out to pre-teach some skills to solidify some skills, but we really want to be in the classroom supporting the child accessing their curriculum and their routines as much as possible. Like I mentioned earlier, sometimes uh related services, speech and language, physical therapy and occupational therapy may be needed to make progress in the curriculum. They work very similar to similarly to us. They try to de uh deliver their services in the classroom environment. Again, pulling as necessary. So the key elements of early childhood special education and SDI
034and related service is that it's individualized. It's determined by our assessments, by our observations, and by the IEP goals. It's collaborative. We work together with the team and the specialists so that the child is getting multiple opportunities to practice the skills, not just 45 minutes a day. It's integrated into routines. So, for example, if we are working on social communication, that may be during blocks, that may be during arrival. uh it's we coordinate our supports with our related service and the goal is focused on participation. We want the child participating in their natural environment as much as possible. We also offer consultation in which we work with the classroom teams um to talk about what they have tried, how they've tried it, how we can support. And I got to I've just got to give
035a shout out to the classroom teachers who when we offer suggestions are so kind and say things like thank you for letting me think about it that way instead of like I already tried that. So thank you. >> Um the goal is to build the capacity like I said that the child is getting opportunity to practice these skills throughout the day. Okay. So once we've determined the kid the child has a disability, an adverse effect, and has an IEP, we develop goals looking at the the assessment the goal where the skill is breaking down and we identify the current level of of performance and scaffold the skills within the natural routine. So I always like to say that our expectations for students with disabilities are the exact same as the general ed curriculum. It's just
036how we get there might look a little different. So, we don't lower expectations. Um, we embed, I think I've touched on this already, in all areas of the day. Dramatic play, block, and construction are, and oh, I'm way behind. I skipped a whole slide. Okay. Um, snack and daily routines. The cool thing about prek is you really can target almost any skill, almost any time of the day. All right. And again, jumping all around. Okay, I bet a lot of you are wondering about behavior because behavior is a big deal in public education. So, our team likes to look at behavior as communication, not as willful disobedience. Our early childhood special education team, we look at disruptive behavior as through addressing teaching skills, adjusting the environment, and partnering with the classroom teams and families, not
037as punishment. We often will ask the teachers to observe when and where the behavior occurs. Look at what the triggers are. Is it transitions, frustration, communication challenges? And we collect classroom data. We collaborate with the team, therapists, and families to address the unmet needs. In early childhood, we want to prevent behavior through classroom design. Most intervention happens before behavior occurs. So the early childhood special education team can support the classroom with strategies such as helping develop predictable routines and schedules, clear expectations, engaging playbased learning centers, smallroup instruction, structured transition, and sensory and movement supports. Highquality early childhood classrooms are intentionally designed to reduce frustration and support regulation. When we've discovered what the unmet need is, we teach specifically to that skill. For example, teaching a child to say help if they're frustrated. My turn. All
038done. May I have that when you're done? Uh we work on emotional regulation, problem solving during play, and flexible thinking during transitions. These skills are taught through modeling, play practice, visual support, social stories, and guided peer interactions. You'll often hear people talk about prek and say they're just playing all day. It's true, but we are also working every second. Uh, as Patrick mentioned in our introduction, we are since taking over from the state, we are currently meeting all student needs for special education inhouse, which is really exciting. Um, all students with IEPs are currently receiving their required services. We do not have any unmet needs or weight lists at this time. uh and and there's an increased responsiveness and continuity of service for students, families, and teachers because we're in-house. The teachers, we develop a
039relationship, they can contact us, and we can work together. In summary, early childhood education plays a critical role in supporting our youngest learners during a very important period of development. At RSU1, the early childhood special education team, we strive to focus on strong early childhood classrooms, intentional teaching of social, emotional, and communication skills, and collaboration with families and specialists. Ultimately, the goal of the early childhood special education program is to ensure that every child has the opportunity to successfully participate in learning and play and to build the skills they need for long-term success in school. By supporting every child early, we can change developmental trajectories and create stronger outcomes for students and families. With that, let's bring on the three-year-olds. And now, do you guys have any questions, thoughts, concerns? Karen and Julia would love
040to handle those. >> Any any questions from That's an excellent presentation. Thank you very much. It's a It's an exciting new program. >> I just have to start off by I had I had no faith that you were going to do this in 15 minutes and exa exactly 15 minutes. >> Thank you so much for all of your incredible work. Couple questions. Logistically, where are you located? That is an excellent question. So, we are physically my our team is located right in central office down here, right across from Katie Joseph's office. You'll hear us before you see us. Um but we go into all of the schools. We go into Fippsburg um Woolwitch Dyke Newell Head Start which is downstairs in our building and the Bath Y. So, the the three-year-olds will go right into
041each school's prek. >> That is an excellent question that I will pass to Karen and Patrick. >> The three the three-year-olds will most likely stay in whatever program that they're in and then we'll collaborate with CDS as well as provide some of our own services depending on where they are. Some might be at the Head Start and some might be at the Y and we can provide those services there. if they're in other daycarees or things, sorry, then we may work with CDS to still provide the services, but it's our oversight of the three-year-olds. >> Okay. And so that you try to keep them in class and send the interventionist in with them while they're in class structure just to help them stay on on topic. And then sometimes you pull them out to the
042the um Miss Miss Smith's room to for extra help. So, we pull them into any space that's available. Um, and ideally really we want to be in the classroom. And so, when if you guys were to come observe, ultimately I don't want you to know who I'm working with. I want you to be able to say this person supports the classroom. We do have students that whose needs are more intense or some that are struggling with classroom routines that we may pull to pre-teach a skill to positive practice. And we had one student this year that we had to pull in the beginning quite frequently just to build a relationship. I've been told by a couple students, I don't want you. And I'm like, yeah. So, we build a relationship and then bring it into
043the classroom. The kids, a lot of times the general ed students want to come with us, too. So, we have to be careful. So, students be like, "Can I have a turn?" I tell them, "We we'll put you on the list." And like, "Start pinching your teacher and you're in." No, just kidding. Yeah. Um, other questions? >> Oh, Jen, go ahead. >> Well, hey, thanks. That was that truly was a wonderful presentation. I think I need to sit down and and read it again before I get all of it, all that information. But um just to clarify the the responsibility and the programming that that we're taking on from CDS is that with the current students that we have or will that be with with the students that are incoming? >> So another excellent question.
044Um so this year what we did is we are responsible for providing the services for all of the children identified in the choices programs. So, in those five programs I talked about, next year we will be taking over responsibility for all four-year-olds in the RSU1 district and at least fiscally the three-year-olds. Like Karen was saying, we're we're figuring out where they will be hopefully in their in their center supporting them in developmentally appropriate programs for three-year-olds. >> I'm sorry, but I guess I'm still trying to noodle this out. Um, so the the functions that we're taking over from CDS are those with our current students that we have and with the three-year-olds coming in. >> So yes, so the currently the four-year-olds are our current students that are identified for special education and then it
045will be our three-year-olds that are identified for special education. >> So C so CDS funding follows the four-year-olds at this point. system funding follows the four year olds in or the state I guess is a better way to say that the state funds four-year-old programs >> and I'm kind of wondering I mean it's amazing that you can meet all the special ed needs that are there. I think that's a a a wonderful high bar. I I I would be curious to see how that same evaluation across different ages in our in our district. Um, just a question for I don't know if it's for Brooke or who, but do you think that our students are receiving more services than they did with CVS, more hours of services? It's hard to to probably compare the quality
046or how they're delivered, but do you think >> um I would say that there definitely was some unmet needs with CVS and we currently are meeting all the needs for the students that we are working with. >> Okay. Um, I think that's it. I'm still just trying to understand it as much as possible and it takes a while to sink all in. I guess my last question would be um when we looked at identifications across the district, there was a huge section of um OI category which is seems to be kind of like a general category that most students fall in. Is that the highest category for identification at this level? >> No, it's mostly developmental delay. >> Okay. >> Or if it's really like a articulation speech and language, it might be speech and
047language. But a most of students are probably developmental delay unless there's a very significant disability present like autism or something like that. >> Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Um Kurt, did you have a Go ahead. >> Oh, yeah. Thank Thanks for that great presentation. Um there was so much information I'm probably miss, but I was just wondering on average, how much time do the students see you in a week? And then for those with the highest needs, how often would they see you in a week? >> So that was not in the presentation. That's a great question. Because it's individualized, it varies greatly. We have students who receive one hour of specially designed instruction. We have a few students who when they entered the program were receiving 15 hours
048of specially designed instruction. So it can range very specifically on the individual child's needs. >> Did that answer? >> Yeah. Go ahead. >> Yeah. So, so, so the IEPs or the special ed students, they're it's a wide range of issues with the with the kiddos, right? So, one of them, of course, is behavioral. So, um, from my experience when I was subbing um, with the littles, they they they're runners, right? They just take off. They leave the class. Some >> sometimes they're a little aggressive. So, in that case, if you have some kids and you have in your in your classroom and um like in Fippsburg, there's only one pre-k teacher in there, who takes care of the the runner or who take who do they call to help with that that student that might
049need some time alone or just some unwind time or >> that is an excellent question and I'm afraid I don't have a clear answer. I think while the children are in process for the evaluation often it's it's the school nurse it's you know the the principal or an edtech in the room each prek classroom also has a general ed edtech so that will often be the case and then and then if they are requiring more service and and meet all the criteria then we would develop a plan for support. Okay, thanks. >> Great. Thank you very much. That was fantastic. I appreciate it. >> Brook, thank you. And team, thank you for being here. Appreciate it. >> And Lou, I will say that I remember your children when they were four because I was going
050into their classrooms, not for them particularly. >> Yeah. I Yeah. Now they're college, ending college and going to college. Yep. All right. Okay. So, next is going to be the uh uh student board report. Charles and Charlie. >> All right. Um kicking it off with sports, the boys swim team recently defended their state title. Um standout performances were from Brady Chebuk, who is the individual state runnerup for the 100 uh breaststroke, and Fletcher Mcdana, who is a two-time state diving champion. And then we have spring sports starting up this week with over 200 athletes registered. Goalie week for lacrosse and then pitchers and catchers for softball started today, but every other sport or part of the team starts next Monday. For arts, we had our Jackal and Hyde performance this weekend. Three once on Friday
051and then twice Saturday. Um a few stats, there was 46 students who participated, including a live pit band. um a solid community attendance for all three shows and it took three months of effort and used over 400 costume pieces. Um Spark Dance Initiative has helped to start up a fully functioning afterchool weekly art club at Bath Middle School where students learn fundamentals of visual art techniques to have a stronger base when they enter high school. Um, the Morse High National Honor Society is hosting a movie night fundraiser to raise money for Project Relief Maine, uh, which is a racial racial justice collective that focuses on not only donations but also, um, raising awareness. Um, the outing club at Morse High is offering a grant-f funded um, wilderness first aid certification course through teens to trails,
052which covers everything from minor abrasions to muscularkeeletal injuries and head trauma. The Morse High School is running a blood drive this Friday. So, Interact Club has been working on student recruitments during lunches for students who are old enough or who have parent approval. Um, the eighth grade graders came for a step up night later in March. So, students from mix of National Honor Society and Interact ran tours of the school for them. And then for St. Patrick's Day, the Morse High SCLC ran a bake sale and sold felt fourleaf clovers with personalized messages. Leprechauns, including the school, delivered them to students throughout the day and they raised $200 for the Morse food pantry, which is great because it's seen a lot of use lately. >> Great job. Thank you. Any questions for them? All right,
053thanks. Appreciate it. Um, moving on to superintendence report. Uh, Patrick. >> Yeah, I like the tag team approach. Nice. Uh, so I'll try to have some different things here. Uh first Skills USA which is our BAT tech students that go to Bangor once a year. We had 24 students participate and proud to announce that we had three students earn medals. Miles Marshall a silver in medical terminology. Owen Smith a bronze in cabinet making and Elena Komega a bronze in nail care. Uh just a quick shout out to the welding students here and Mr. Carter because they're fixing our plow one of our plows in the district which is saving us money in this budget. So, I appreciate their efforts. Battle of the books, April 9th at 6 PM at BMS this year. A little change
054of venue. Uh, Jacqueline Hyde, I went Friday night. It was I mean, Ren scared me. So, a couple other things. Chris Van Dusen, an author visit at Woolwitch. Uh, thanks to the Woolwitch PTA, thanks to Abby Lukis, and, uh, also Grant through Maine Literacy Fund for making this wonderful event for our students and staff happen. Uh, shout out to special ed department. They designed and delivered a handbook and provided professional development to our staff and specifically Julia Darling, Julia Meyers, and Aaron Chabbuck. Two Woolwitch students are being recognized for their artistic accomplishments. I hope I pronounced the names right. Everett Lamar will have a piece featured in a clay exhibition at the Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts and the Barkin Gallery. and Leila Holm will have her artwork included at the Portland Museum of Arts.
055And lastly, uh Morris Unified students went to a I think it was an official prom at UNUNIM in Portland last week and uh with a lot of other schools and would just like to thank the Best Buddies program as well as Charlie Bingham for chaperoning that great event. Some great pictures on our website for that. That's it. >> Thank you. Any questions for Patrick? All right, let's move on to uh Deb and the financial report. >> Okay, I'll try to keep it upbeat after all you guys. But um here we are in in February. We've spent uh a little over $27 million of our budget, so about 60%. We've received about 67%, so a little over um 30 million. Um, last month things were a little bit calmer and you know, everything seemed like it
056was going on the right track, but this month things have heated up a little bit of uh definitely concerned about the energy costs. Um, we should be fine with our oil pretty close because of what we had gone out to bid, but our transportation, we pay for fuel for our buses. So, we're definitely going to be short in that area. Um, and once again in uh special ed tuition and also on top of that tuition now is the main care seed costs which is related somewhat to out of district placement. So, um we have lots of quite a few negatives. So, it's still going to we're probably going to end up being as close as we were last year to ending fund balance. Uh maybe even a little bit tighter than that, but and that's
057all my good news. >> Okay. Any questions for Deb? Uh Jennifer. >> Hey De. Um so that um how about anything on the revenue side? Um, is the revenue of our tuition is the tuition revenue coming in as you expected it? >> Yes, all that's coming in. Um, we're at 67.67%. Last year we're at 68. So, everything is on target with that. Tuition comes in a little bit slower because it's basically we're billing for what has already happened. So, but it will it will end up where we anticipate it will >> should at the end of the year. >> Well, that's a little helpful as long as that as long as the revenue is coming in, it helps a little bit with those unexpected expenses as well. At least we know that, >> right? >>
058That side of it is Okay, that was my only question. Thank you. >> All right. Thanks. >> All set. >> Nope. That's it. Thank you, Deb. Uh, okay. We're moving on to old business 10.0. Um, this is now the second reading of board policies. Uh, for the record, I'll read what they are. It's the, uh, safety program, insurance program, risk management, uh, return to work and reasonable accommodation, administrative procedure, family and medical leave, and negotiations, goals, priority, objectives. So, it's um, five different uh, policies that have been updated. You had them last month and now we need to vote on them. So, um, unless there's questions, can I have a motion? >> Somebody motion. >> Yes, I move to approve the policy. >> Unless you got questions, we can talk about it. Okay. So, do
059I have a second? >> Second. >> Okay. And Jamie seconds. Any further discussion? Okay. All in favor? Okay. The policies pass. Thank you. and we move right into new business. And so here we go. Um 11.1 first reading of our fiscal year 2027 proposed school budget. And again, I'll just remind everybody we're going to want to start going through some details, understand the formulas, the percentages, what effect if if reductions were made, what effect they'd have here. I mean, this is what that effect and you know, we'll see how that would change by putting when we start to put things back in. This is the first blush at it. I'm going to hand it over to Patrick. Thank you. >> So, I'm just going to make some opening comments. I think all of you have
060the blue and white form there with you. And I know it's a lot of different numbers, so I'll try to just summarize the main points of this and then maybe we'll go back and um address the blue and white form. Um, so the first draft reflects obviously our ongoing effort to try to balance the academic needs and emotional needs, all the educational needs of our students with the fiscal realities our communities face. So this proposed budget represents a 4.92% overall increase in expenses with a local contribution increase of 7.43. 43 distributed across our four communities. So the breakdown by municipality shows various impacts that you can see on that front page. So as of right now, a rouse would be at a 4.08% increase. Bath would be at an 8.77. Fippsburg slightly decreasing at.33 and
061Woolwitch at 10.43. These differences largely reflect changes in property valuation and cost sharing formula adjustments. So on that property valuations, just want to run you through this. I know you may have questions, but comparing property valuations year-to-year, Bath and Woolwitch valuations are up 14.3% for Bath and 16% for Woolwitch. Thus, even though the mill rate is down, it is at 5.654 versus 6.1 last year. The cap amount for these two towns contributions to EPS, which is essential programs and services, go up significantly. 6.4% for Bath and 7.4% for Woolwitch. So these increases in property valuations are the major driver for Bath and Woolwitch's increases. On the flip side, Rousei and Fippsburg's contributions are based on their per pupil count percentages with minimum receiver adjustments. The cap amount used for Bath and Woolwitch does not apply
062to these two towns because their percentage of pupils are so low and property valuations are high. Arouseik and Fippsburg are able to fund their pupil count percentage based shares of EPS without the need for that statewide cap. So I realize that the mill rate is going down and also on that blue and white form you can see the pupils in certain communities is also going down but the property valuation increased so much that it offsets these factors in those two communities. So enrollment has gone from has decreased modestly over the last three years. Gone from around 1,800 to 1759 this past October 1st. Um but as someone mentioned at the beginning of this meeting I think people in this room would argue that student needs have not decreased even though the numbers have. um you
063know the level of individual supports required by students in some cases has grown particularly in such areas as mental health, special education and academic intervention. So on that front page, it's confusing and maybe a lot of it is confusing to you, but if you look at state subsidy on the top piece of that blue and white form, um we did receive $400,000 more of state subsidy this year, but we also experienced a loss of one principal payment from the Morris High School project. So in other words, we had this school project here. We didn't spend $1.6 $6 million of the total project. Um the state is aware of that and so the state um you know that they feel like that's their money and so $800,000 this year is being taken from us and $800,000
064next year. So we were 400,000 to the positive with state subsidy but you take out that 800 this for next year then it's then it's a negative 400 in change. The major budget drivers for this budget, rising special education costs, particularly out of district placements, increased health insurance premiums for everybody, increase in some contracted service costs, I would say facilities and professional services in general. And then contractual wage and benefit increases as required by collective bargaining units. Uh Deb mentioned this before. other things that are on our radar that are concern is and this you know it may not last but right now gas and oil um for this budget but also for next year's budget possibly. So efforts to control these costs I just want to be right up front these this list that
065we're going to share that a lot of you already know about because we we've um we believe in trying to be as open and transparent as we can about when we have to try to make proposed reductions. These are coming from the administrative team. how that works as it comes from the administrative team. I know you may not agree with us in this if you're in this room tonight, but we try to look for things that um you know least impact students. I mean, we were here last year making cuts to and reductions. We don't like to do it. Um, and I know you don't agree with um all of the reductions that were being proposed, but how the process works is that it goes to the board um as a second reading after public
066forums and then the board makes a decision and they adopt the budget how they see fit um based on recommendations. And as you know, in some years they've accepted all of those recommendations and other years they they don't feel like we can go that far or they or in some cases um they could say go deeper because the tax increase to the taxpayers is is too much. So it's always that that balancing act. So to reach this point that you have on your blue and white form, we've cut uh or proposing to reduce by approximately $700,000. And all of the non- labor lines have come in at 3% or less. And um this follows last year's reductions which we eliminated or restructured several positions last year including four edtes, one English teacher here at Morse,
067two classroom teachers at BMS, one tech integrator, and one elementary teacher. So the proposed reductions for this year include the following list. We have at Bath Middle School uh elimination of one edtech 2 position, elimination of the library position and replace it with an edtech position. Uh combination of BMS and Morris, elimination of schedule B positions. We don't know. Um I think we're looking at three or four. Um but those aren't carved in stone at this point yet. Districtwide, reducing digital licensing, reallocating some title one staffing and reduction in our substitute line across the district. Dyke Newell um elimination of part-time secretary position and not filling an interventionist position. Fisher Mitchell elimination of part-time secretary position. Morris High School not filling a science position. When I say not filling, that means there's a resignation or
068retirement. Uh Pittsburgh reduce nurse position to halftime and at Woolwitch elimination of an edtech 2 position boat building program funds would be moved to a grant and not filling the halftime world language positioning and sharing that with the person that teaches world language at Bath Middle School. So, I'll stop there. I I I do want to say that this isn't something we want to do or um and you know the administrative team struggled with these proposed um reductions or eliminations of of positions or of non- labor things as well. And so I'll stop there and just see what questions the board might have. I I don't think there's anything else on the blue and white form that I need to point out at this point right now. So, does anyone on the board here have
069questions about where the budget stands at the moment? Need some clarification? >> Yeah, Kurt. >> Yeah, Patrick. Uh, thanks for that. You say these uh this proposed budget, these deletions is roughly $700,000. Is that what you said? >> The the items I just mentioned to you is around 700,000 and change. I would say that there are on your your back page um there is um you know IEP related there is an edtech you know addition in there or two and then obviously um also at Fippsburg the um prek program the ed halftime edtech was removed from there a year ago correct Deb because we didn't have I think eight is the cut off point we didn't have eight a couple years ago ago. So, we removed that from the budget. Um, we feel like we're
070going to based on the numbers we have now have to put that back in because that's required. Um, so that's that addition there. And then the one at central office for um half payroll. >> And do you think the schedule B proposed cuts would be available at the next public forum? I I think um you know I can tell you right now we're looking at a chemical hygiene officer that um we can I think have our new facilities director do that role and we were looking at um inter murals at Morris High School and inter murals at Bath Middle School as ones right off the top and then there was a couple other ones that were having conversations about Jennifer Um, Patrick, thank you for this and all the work the admin team does. And,
071um, uh, one of the things I really want to appreciate is being able to find different ways to fund things like moving things into grant funding. I've also wanted to say thank you to our student representatives. I've noticed that a lot of what they're reporting on is um, helping to identify all the grant funding that comes in to do what they're reporting on and the fundraising. And I just I want to I think that shows our great appreciation for this how this budget costs increase that we're using e every grant funding pro opportunity that there is and I just want to make sure the public um understands that. Um, I guess one of the things I was trying to figure out was, um, with this great new medical services that we have at Morse and
072the resources around that and then I look at trying to cut those resources down at Fippsburg. I'm sure you've already looked at this, but just in case, is there any way to transfer any of those resources that we have at Morse to fill in for if if the N school nurses reduced to half, can can we replace any of those services with somebody from any of the clinical resources that we have at Morris to physically be at Fippsburg? >> Um, the easy answer to that is unfortunately no. we can use um we can have students transported to go use the services there. Um but because they are actually running a main health um clinic um they use separate computers than us that we're not allowed to use that has all of their HIPPA um approved
073um software on it. They also do all of their work with insurance and billing um through that and have all their supplies there. And so the agreement we made with Maine Health is we service all the students in RSU1, but it is a placebased um center. >> That's kind of what I Thank you, Kate. That's kind of what I thought. I was just trying to noodle out any tiny nook and cranny, you know, to help help with that that nursing cut. Um, and I guess and I was thinking about the uh presentation that we heard today about the prek sped services being completely, you know, 100% serviced and um is is there any more money that we can allocate from any part of state funding or any money that gets funded through CDS to help
074us meet more of our prek uh edtech requirements. >> Yeah, I mean Karen and Julie are always in touch with them and we are I think being creative this for this next year to meet some of those needs um by using a combination of funds between us and also CD or state money. >> Okay. >> But could the if if what you're asking is could we pay for our regular education prek ed tax with the money? The answer we've been given is no. >> Okay. Thank you. That's it right for now. Thank you. >> Other questions from the board on >> Yeah. Go ahead. >> So the um salary and benefits what percentage of our budget is that? >> Yeah. If you look at page if you look at page eight, you know, take the
075first two lines on the top of page eight. See that? 52%. >> Oh wow. 17%. So that's salary and benefits. And you can see the number if you add those if you add the numbers up and you can see >> roughly about 70%. >> Yeah, >> 70%. So 70% of our budget goes to salary and benefits. the average be in Maine and actually around the country is 75 to 80% of salary and benefits um is part of the budget and then only what 20% 25% goes to everything else right so um you can see I guess every budget is pretty tight when it comes to that and if there's um unusual things that happen then you have to really look at where you can cut and what you can't cut so the um the superintendent's
076office there and the school principles look at who they think would um be the least impact, right? And that's when you decide what cuts you want to make or what positions you're not going to be filled, right? So, it's not just the um the office doing it. It's the it's the principles that are deciding who they if they have to who they can do without. Right. >> Yeah. I mean, like I said before, it's the administrative team. I mean, our principles know our buildings the best. Nobody likes to do this. Um, I mean, like Lou said earlier in the meeting, every facility or every cost center in the in the district um, you know, is is I don't want to say taking a hit, but is uh reducing costs in some way to try to
077get us to a a manageable a manageable budget. So, um yeah, I think again everybody can have varying opinions and we respect that, but just trying to um yeah, try to find these um places that we might be able to um bring this budget down because of where we're at right now. >> Yes. So, when you look at the the people we've are proposed for elimination, the positions, um these are all more or less approved by the the the principles or >> I wouldn't say Yeah, I don't know if I'd use the word approved. I mean, they're the ones that we um you know, were ones we developed um to try to get to the $700,000. >> Yeah. Okay. So, um, when it comes to the nurse at Fippsburg, um, I did do some subbing
078there back in the day before when they did have before CO, I guess, when they they did have a part-time nurse, just one day a week. And, um, all of that responsibility fell on the secretary who got no work done during the day because kids were constantly coming down there to, uh, when they just needed a ice pack or whatever. So, she was super busy. Today things are so different postcoavid um with the medical needs and again um when it comes to all the extra um special ed students we're bringing in with for three three and four year olds and um when you have kids that can't stay in class or never had to stay in class for half the day or all day they're running out and I know when I was down in
079the Fippsburg school they're calling the nurse they're calling whoever is not um busy or whoever can go catch that kid and um put him in a safe space and calm him down and talk to him. And I know in Fippsburg in particular, the nurse helps um she's a positive um positive adult, gives structure um and a trusted adult to most of those kids and the families. She's um very close with a lot of the families. Again, like one of one of you guys mentioned, um regardless if it's Brandy or not, that's what the nurses doing at that school and any small school or any of our schools. Um many uh special ed nurses, many secretaries, they have many many hats. So, if there's a need somewhere, they're filling it. So, we don't have to hire
080another another position, another IEP, because we have all these um wonderful teachers and staff that's willing to do what might not be actually in their job description. So, that's just my two cents. >> Thanks, Patty. Appreciate that. >> Other Go ahead, Kurt. >> Just clarifying question. I heard from um members of the audience that it would be two and a half days a week. Is that what we're thinking? >> I I think obviously it would be something that um you know, Nina would say. I mean, if it's important to have a nurse there every day, then it would be that would be the the recommendation. Yeah. I don't know if Nina I don't know if Nah's here where she is but you know I think she was thinking you know again not ideal but you
081were thinking um you'd like to have somebody there >> every day >> thank you >> thanks uh Patrick just looking at this list are these two different positions has not filling interventionist at dyke new that was grant funded and then interventionist adjust to 50% grant funded. Are those two diff distinct? >> Yeah, those are two different things, right? Title one reallocation. >> What one is just moving um uh our behavior interventionist into the title budget because we've reduced funds there to make sure all the numbers work. But the so that's not a reduction. That's just a movement of how something's paid. The reduction is there are currently three teacher interventionists there for math and literacy, one per grade and we would now have two there. >> One is funded by funds, >> right? >> Thanks.
082They're not enough. >> No. >> Uh I guess does it make sense to have any kind of uh dollar information at the next forum about certain things that have been expressed tonight like adding the like keeping the nurse app full-time what that would do to the budget? I mean, are there things that could we could highlight now to get a more better picture of of what that would be? >> Yeah, I was I was going to say >> I I can provide you with numbers at the at the next meeting or this by the end of this week as far as each each one of those on the list there. >> I mean, at what point do the multiple options come into play where in previous years we've kind of seen >> those? I mean,
083that would be up to you as a board. I mean, this >> that's what I was that's what I was going to suggest is that we can >> um you know, we can talk about it and look at maybe a couple different combinations because I think that's what I'm hearing from the board. They want to see well so what if you put one or two things back and or if we found maybe even if it's not as much something else ask them ask admin to go back and find some other reductions. I don't know. But if we can come up with a couple different combinations just so you can really see the dollar amount and what that how that affects the percentages. Um I can tell you this much because I I figured somebody would
084ask this question. Um so if you added if you added 100,000 in, you know, your overall increase is going to be over 5%. It's going to be 5.14. Local contribution is 7.86 and you're looking at um Arousic at 4.4 Bath at 9.23%. 23% increase. Pipsburg minus 0.03 and Witch 10.90. So that's with a 100,000 added back in. Those are approximate. >> You said 7.86. >> Yeah. >> Um well, so so the the thing that's interesting about that again is that's where you start to get into the whatever you want added back in. You know, look at content, talk numbers. Um, and you have to start when things are getting that much higher and I want to look back at, you know, how those caps work with Bath and and uh, Lulwitch. But when you start
085looking at that again, then you have to start saying, well, if we went to the public with this, are they going to are they going to vote for it? I mean, how high, you know, we've had very good luck. We've seen in the last year or two how some cities, towns have not had good luck because they put it out there and it gets voted down. We have a pretty positive uh community that tends to support the schools, but to what end? Obviously, you know, now gasoline is outrageous for individuals that, you know, I don't know how tolerant people are going to be um at what point they're going to say, I can't I can't vote for this. I don't know. And that's of course what we have to tease out. So, it's certainly worth
086um looking at, you know, adding 100,000 back in or even adding 200,000 back in just to see the numbers to see, yeah, it will go this high. How high as a board are we willing to go and what are we will what do we want to keep? And if need be, you know, I they've I mean, I have to say to the admin team, thank you for all you do. I know it's very very difficult for all of you to have done what you've done as it is. Um, but if we have to ask them to look for some other places to cut, you know, if we want to put one thing in or ask them for something else, well then we'll ask them and so we can have some numbers, we'll sit down uh
087I can sit down with, you know, with Patrick and we can figure out, you know, just some things to present because next it's just so we understand logistically next Monday is another public forum, right? Where it's more of a discussion with the community where people can come up and we can ask that. So, I think we want to have a few different maybe versions of things um and what those percentages look like so people know this is the the hard facts and you know how how far do you want to go when we present it to the public. So, um you know I have no issue with that. Does that make sense? Yeah, Jennifer. Yeah, I think um it's a you made a good point there and um if if we were going to get
088an option to add the nurse back in, could we also get an option how to make that budget neutral by a you know a cut of that much? Would that be possible? I guess if you were going to go to increasing the budget if that option if there isn't anywhere and I'm sure you guys have looked everywhere but I'm just to ask that you know like you know is there another area maybe another non-academic area that could be cut you know with services that aren't classroom specific but any of those other additional >> positions that could balance that out like making position part-time by making right right like that is that poss is that >> yeah I mean I think that's what we need to look at this week now that you know that's why
089this meeting is very important we have a first blush at these are reductions this is what they came up with we know it's been very difficult we know that for non- labor admin did a great job of limiting up to 3% I mean it's you know things we don't you know when you talk about the percentages of of salary and benefits one thing to keep in mind you know you when we you do the contract so we knew a certain amount the things we have no control over and is huge is the health health insurance. And so when that comes in at I don't think we have the exact number yet, but we know it's I think you budgeted for nearly 13% and it could come in as high as 14%. So those kind of
090things we have no control over and that always throws everything off. So despite your best planning, something like that gets thrown in and then we know the energy costs will probably be more next year as well. So there's a lot of things to to factor in. But yeah, Jennifer, I don't have a problem. You know, we'll again, I don't want to put anyone on the spot. This is something that that's why we're having the conversation now. So we can sit down with admin over the course of the week and ask maybe there isn't anything else or maybe there's something that it's even if it's not neutral, it's, you know, reduces how much of an increase it is. Who knows? But that's what, you know, that's why we're hearing from the community and we know what
091people are asking for. So let's see what, you know, what's possible. Go ahead. And that so just when we lose um and I think I've mentioned this in other meetings but just to be clear about it when we're talking about percent increases um a four a 4% increase this year is not the same as a 4% increase last year. It's actually a lot more money this year. So I think in one it's it's easy to compare year-to-year percentages, but I think the real impact to the budget would be talking about the actual dollar amounts because our budget expanded so much in previous years around the labor costs that I think you know you're going to as mathematically figures out every percentage is going to mean actual more dollars and so >> well we do right
092we do get the I forget when you get when you're able to give us that we had it as you know what the actual like what where you come up with a you know you come up with yeah whatever home at a percentage you know what those are in the towns or something so we'll we'll yeah we'll talk about that I can't remember exact it wasn't I don't think it was this early but it was more when we had some refined numbers and were able to say okay so this would mean you'd be paying x more in property tax >> no that's not what I was asking for Lou I'm I'm ask you >> I'm asking for the actual dollar amount increases, not percentage wise, but the actual dollar amount. >> No, I know dollars
093per for for individuals, what they would actually pay. Are you just talking about per town? >> She's talking about >> Well, we can have that in the town. >> I can do both. >> Jennifer, I don't know if you're referring to this or not, but on page, you know, the first page of your blue and white form, I mean, right there, it talks about 2.2 million 474 4733. That's the actual dollar amount. So, 2.2 and change, >> right? I guess I was asking that that dollar amount >> for last year it was 1 million843701 the dollar increase >> for for whom >> overall budget >> overall >> and this one is what >> 2.247 247. >> Okay. >> And change. >> Oh, I see. All right. I see where we're looking at. >> That Thank
094you, Deb. Thank you. >> Okay. >> My question, Lou, is this um target reduction of $600,000, this budget recommended from the finance committee? Um yeah, I mean this was again this was you know when we start out with a budget it's somewhat arbitrary to say you know where where is a good place we want to fall to start and see where this is. And so yeah the the committee comes up with all right if we can reduce it by x amount we can get it down to this. you know, this is this is again at first light what we would consider, you know, is this tolerable? Do we need to cut more? Do we need to add stuff back in? And so to do all that, we come up with numbers that say, okay, well,
095if we reduce X, Y, and Z, this is how we get here. And that's why we're having this conversation. So you can say, "Well, Lou, I I don't like that and I think we can maybe tolerate a little more or maybe we can't, you know, and or you know, you want to put this bag in, but maybe we still have to find somewhere else to cut." And so that's that's why we're having the conversation. But I but I do think when we talked as a finance committee talked about trying to come in under 5% and then instead of coming in higher and then >> and then cutting more >> and um you know and I would just say that this is you know Deb and I were talking I mean we just came in last
096year with $300,000 left in a $45 million budget, >> right? >> This year we're probably on par to do the same thing hopefully. Um >> next year you're going to be facing higher beginning, >> right? And so I, you know, we're, you know, the administrative team when we sit around a table, it's getting leaner and leaner every year. I mean, we talked about the the reductions we made last year. >> I realize there has to be increases at times, too. But it's getting leaner and leaner. >> And you've asked some questions tonight, which I think are good, but those most recent questions asked could lead to pitting one reduction against another. where this is the first night. Um, we could have next Monday night and again you have your opinions and that's what we that's
097that's why you're here. Um, and what your re final recommendation would be, but next Monday we could have somebody come in about something else that or write to you about something else that's on this list here that they have a concern about. Um, and so it's a process that we that we go through, but we can provide you with any any numbers that you want. But if we again, if we were to change some put something back in, but you still want the the increase to be the same, >> something else, >> we have to go try to find something unless you know that's going to be just as painful as the ones that were on this list here. Um, I can't tell you what that is now. And sometimes I don't know that that's
098um this is tough enough for morale um and to you know to um go in other directions is is challenging as well. But that's >> right because every time every time it's brought up it's if it's something else then someone else feels like what's happening now. I understand >> but they're positive discussions to have. >> Yeah. I mean, but this is yeah, this is the discussions we have to have so people understand why we're trying to figure out, you know, what the appropriate percentage may be because certainly we want the budget to pass. We want people to vote for it. Um, so we can continue. But yeah, this is all it's all important discussions. Now, like I said, I appreciate all the work that's gone into this. This is not easy. Um, yeah, Katie and
099then Patty. >> Mine's quick. >> Oh, Patty, go ahead first. >> Uh, quick question. Patrick, when you said property values went up, who who valuated them? The towns? >> No, this is state. It's a three-year average, but it's a state valuation, not like a reassessment that you would have in your town. Yeah. Which is confusing. I was I was confused by that not too long ago. So >> Okay. Yeah. And so we we don't anticipate say Fippsburg or Rouseic to go up. It's just it's done. No, theirs could go up as well, but it's a we get that on what's called our ED279 form from the state that's on the state website, and it it shows you the valuation, you know, from previous year to to the, you know, to the next year. Okay. Um,
100and they can and they have a formula that they use based on selling of homes and, you know, property again just property values. >> So, so when uh, so when the state says Bath and Witch are higher >> or it came up a significant in value >> then how does that because you kept talking about the cap so I get confused so >> they're eligible for state subsidy and a rouseic in fittsburg are not so >> okay >> that's why all right that makes sense >> and that that form you said earlier you put a house value >> yeah I mean that's still so we will work on that it is good to have because you know when you talk percentages even when you talk about you know obviously it's even more money >> but
101just a reminder that's for right Deb that's for the education It's just the education side, right? It's not counting what part the town is still, right? >> But it does give you an idea, a more realistic idea of what that percentage is. Is it 50 bucks? Is it 500 bucks? What is it? You know, that kind of thing. Um, is it, you know, more? Um, okay. >> And go Katie, you did you wanna >> you have a comment? >> Sure. I just want to um I'm going to say something not popular. Um I I would really urge the board when we're talking about each and everything on here. We're really there is no fat. Then all of this is bone and they're all people we care about. And so when you're throwing around, well maybe
102we'll add something back, it's truly picking another thing that we need. And um the reason why I bring that up is because I think part of what I would really urge you to think about is um what things will have the most when you're talking about needing everything that you're give you're taking away, right? Um what h what we have to think about isn't what's like the easiest things to do. It's what impacts the fewest students over the long the long haul. So if you think about like one of the biggest things that's really expensive for us is special education. And if you don't have intervention for instance, guess what happens? You end up with more kids in special education. And so one thing just to think about when you're thinking of what people want
103to add back in versus what has the biggest impact on the most students and the budget overall over time. I think that's worth thinking about. I also think that while it's really hard to hear that all of us who sit in the room and make we literally have a list that says um like the list of bad decisions. It's just picking the least bad of all the bad. Um, we can't think about the people in those roles. And I know that the nurse has come up a lot here. Um, and I I think one thing is really important to think about is we have to think about that as a position and not a person. Because when we're talking about all these things, one of the things that came up is all the extra things
104that that person is doing, but we have all the people on this list who don't have people coming and speaking for them that also do all the extra duties we ask. And we really need to make sure that when we as administrators are making choices of what to cut, we're making choices based on what that role is essentially doing for how many kids. And it is such a horrible thing to have to think about. But I just I wouldn't want anyone to leave here thinking we're like, you know, this is easy to do and we don't care about health care or libraries or we're truly thinking um of so many other things. And so as you're thinking about what you want us to take away or add back in, this is not a problem that's
105going to go away year after year. And so if what we're talking about is people every single time, we really need to be thinking long term for what conversations are we not going to keep having over and over again because they're not going to keep coming up because what we're keeping feels like the most essential pieces. And I don't have the answer to what that is. I just think if I were you, that's what I would be trying to think about. I don't hopefully that makes sense. >> Yeah. Yeah. No, it makes makes perfect sense and you know I think we realize that the board you know we've been most of us on the board have been through this enough to know how difficult it is every year and when we reach these points and
106you know we know that you know these were not just randomly picked. It was it was a long process and and no one wants to do it and that's why I prefaced the meeting with that. No one wants cuts but >> this is where we are and I think you said it extremely eloquently and I appreciate it very much. Thank you. >> I agree Katie. Thank you very much for that insight. You know what? I'm looking at this and even with these reductions, we're talking about almost a 5% increase. >> And this is I mean that's staggering when you compare to previous years that we have done this. Um, and I I guess my concern is I'm already hearing from people that they cannot afford their taxes and and how are we going to turn
107around and look at the people that we sit next to at church or or go to the supermarket with um when they're already telling us we can't pay our bills. Um, so there's all of that that you have to balance with with these very difficult decisions that not one person up here wants to make. not one person sitting in that audience wants to have to make um and it's just a really terrible thing and the burden of leadership unfortunately um when these very difficult things come up. So, you know, I really appreciate everything that's gone into this and I trust the administrators and I trust the finance committee and everyone that's saying we've looked at everything we've can possibly think of. Um, and this isn't what any of us want. Um, but it's maybe potentially
108the least damaging. It's true >> about what can we get by with it. >> It's not about what's best necessarily. >> Um, okay. Are there any other Thank you very much, Katie. Um, Jen, you got another question? Yeah, I just um >> uh I've been out there searching, you know, and I know you guys are doing things. So, the the the latest thing I've been trying to talk to more people about um the people who are doing the EPS reevaluations, um candidates for office, um anybody that can help me understand this better is that um instead of cutting people, I've been trying to figure out a way to cut some of our cost. And I've been asking everybody why the state doesn't take back the employer percentage of the main PERS. Um, so reduce our
109labor costs by not by taking back something that they always had before and they've pushed so many things back on to us. I've asked them to take this one back and I'm one voice and I keep asking everybody and I understand a little bit more about main pers because I worked in the legislature, but I it's just something that I'm saying they could do something across the state and it would really help schools a lot. Um, so that would be reducing our costs and not having to reduce people. Um, and the other thing, if anybody's interested, this legislature is so worried about the tax property tax burden on people that they put together this special task force and really brilliant people and they um produced a report. Um, it's not totally complete, but they did
110reproduce, but and one of the things that they talked about was that it's great to have a higher value of your house, but that's not money in your pocket, and that's not anything that you can access to be able to pay ongoing increasing property taxes. So it's I the val it's the valuation is the formula that we have right now. But I think it just helps to understand that um just because somebody says your property is worth more, it doesn't help you pay for your groceries or your heating oil or anything else. So I've just been trying to look at anything that costs us something that the state could fund maybe through their budget process a little easier than we can on the local level. Um and I'll keep asking those questions anywhere I can.
111That's great, Jennifer. I appreciate that very much. It's a good point. So, I think what we'll do is we'll we'll talk about some things that would make sense um this week that you know would any if anything that makes sense just so people can see numbers next week just in terms of numbers. You don't have to worry about yet what that would be if it's this list if it's what. But just just so people understand what the real percentages are, what the real money is. Um, so we'll try to come up just just to clarify when we have a discussion next week. Um, we have have a few more numbers to look at. I think that just, you know, it adds to the to the conversation so we really understand what we're all up against
112here. Um, anything else before we move on for tonight. Okay. Thank you. Great discussion. Difficult discussion, but um, you know, I'm glad we're we're having it and uh, we're going to keep doing that. Um, 11.2 to the new high school course. Who's up for that? >> Yeah, I don't know if you have questions, but Matt Gordon is here, our teacher. So, Matt, you want to give us a quick overview? >> Yeah. Okay. >> So, this new course is one that I've taught before when I was a teacher in Cincinnati, Ohio. I taught it a a kind of version of it at Wisconsin as well, but it's a digital music production course. And what I'm hoping for is to offer another um teaching opport or or learning opportunity for our students who maybe don't fit in
113the coral program or or or the band program, don't like to be on stage, don't like to be in the spotlight, but still want to produce or learn how to make music. Um what it is is a it's a digital audio workstation. So essentially, they're going to be music producers. We'll teach some basic music theory. Um some basic musical concepts, but it's going to be all on a digital plat platform. um and allowing students to kind of learn what it's like to record, produce, mix, um make, you know, rap style music, electronic music. And students, um are already showing a lot of interest in this course in our school and are coming up to talk to me. Students that I've never taught before, they're just excited to make music and learn about music in a
114different way. So, I'm hoping that it gets approved so our students can have that opportunity. Thank you. >> Thanks. >> Are there any costs involved? >> The platform is edu.banlab.com bandlab.com and it is free. >> Oh, there you go. >> My favorite word. >> And he already works here, so that's a that's a plus. Um, you all had that in your packet, right? Did anyone have any questions or comments regarding the content? >> Okay. >> I'd move to approve um the new class. >> Okay. Can I have a second? Second from Patty. Any other questions? Okay. All in favor? And it passes. Thank you. so much. Appreciate that. That's going to be exciting. Okay. Um it's back to you, Katie, for an instruction update. >> I actually gave my minutes for the prek presentation, so
115because I knew this would be longer, so I don't have any update that I prepared. >> Oh, okay. Great. Way to go, >> Katie. Kate, another another home run there. Um okay, 11.4. Uh this is a first reading of some other some new policies um updated. Uh I'm just going to read through them. Uh this uh one is the celebration of holidays. Another is animals and schools. Uh service animals in schools, therapy dogs and other service animals, child abuse reporting prevention and education, and suspected child abuse neglect reporting form. So, those are all some there's some heavy stuff in there and some interesting things. So, um did anyone have any questions about what you've read so far? We're not voting tonight, but if you have anything, yeah, Jamie, >> um the only thing I noticed
116is on the JLF under definitions, >> I think that's the child abuse reporting prevention and education. Yep. >> Says child abuse or neglect is defined by Maine law as and it says a threat to a child's health. But then two and three make absolutely no sense as related to that first part of the sentence. So I don't know if that's really >> it's the first page of the um JLF policy two and three. >> Yeah, two and three if you read it >> with this and it just doesn't make any sense. >> Oh, so that's like that's the new language and and it doesn't match the original introduction. Okay, I see what you're saying. >> That's all I noticed. Okay. So, they'll look at that. Um, anything else on any of the other policies for
117right now? Okay. Well, we'll get clarification on that, Jamie. And, um, again, not voting on that right now. So, we'll move on to the next. Uh, overnight field trip request is 11.5. Um, this is an action item. You've got uh Morris High School to Orno and Morris High School to Newport, Maine for two different activities. Um, do you want to address just >> Yeah, I think you have it in your packet, but the first one is for state honors festival for music and band and then we have uh CPP their culminating uh trip at the end of the year. Those are the two. >> Great. So, can I have a Yeah, Jennifer, >> I was just wondering um uh the funding source was given some kind of code number on one of them. I have
118no idea what that code stands for. Can I Is that grant funding? No, that would be budget funded. >> Okay. >> Any other questions on those two trips? If not, can I have a motion? >> I move to approve the out of state. Not out of state, overnight. >> Overnight. Yeah. >> Overnight field trip. Sorry, it's late for me. Past my bedtime. She's ready for overnight. Um and Patty seconds. Um all in favor. Okay, that passes. Thank you. And 12.0. Patrick. Personnel items. >> Yeah. Two resignations. Uh Selena Reid, who just happens to be here tonight. Not for this purpose, but um so I won't embarrass her, but we certainly will miss uh Selena. She's been with us for five years at Fittsburgh and Dyke Newell uh as our music teacher. Thank you for everything.
119And Melissa West, librarian at Bath Middle School, and thank her for two years of service. >> All right. And then 13, more personnel items. >> Yeah, >> this is an action. >> So then we have two nominations. We'll have some other nominations coming in at the next board meeting. It's just about timing, but two that we'd like to have you consider tonight. First one is uh we're pleased to nominate Kate Sheerer for our science teacher at Woolwitch Middle School. And Kate's been with us as an edtech in the district. And since around the holidays, she's been our science teacher filling in as a long-term sub. And the uh other one is our sixth through eight social studies and a little bit of writing teacher. And we're pleased to the committee um you can see who
120was on the committee who um and Josh Bentinger uh as a nomination uh for that. And uh Josh actually went into business as an MBA, but then decided business wasn't for him. And so we're excited to have him and he's coming from um doing his student teaching in the Bangor area. >> Great. Um let's take these together. Can I have a uh this is an action item. I have a motion. >> I move to approve the nominations. >> Okay. And a second. >> Second by Patty. Any other questions, concerns? Um all in favor? Great. That passes. Um 14.0 board goals, reflections. Jennifer. >> Okay, here it goes. Um >> here it goes. >> I think right off the top, um our uh number one, communication and community engagement. Definitely our work around the budget. Um
121trying to be as transparent as possible, making sure lots of opportunities for public comment. I think we're doing really well on that. um kind of just as a tangential thing that when it comes to um facilities and operations, you know, we did take a look at the safety program policy and I think, you know, making sure that we are up to date in all our safety pro process and procedures are important and so we do that through our policy work. Um and um I didn't really know where I that I loved that our presentation today about the early childhood special education. I just don't know if that fits exactly into a goal, but I think it's really important that we understand that programming. >> Great. Thank you. >> Um, okay. 15.0. It's so our next
122meeting dates. So, are we going to be right here next week? So, next week, Monday, same time, 6 o'clock. Uh, we will be back here to discuss the budget further with the public forum. And our next uh scheduled board meeting after that will be the 27th. Is that right after spring break? Yeah. So it'll be the Monday after spring break. Everyone comes back and uh if I can have a motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> All right. All in I know she's just ready to go. >> All in favor? Okay. We are adjourned. Thank you all and thank you to the community for coming out. I think we virtual for that one because I