001I 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. >> All right, thanks for coming out um on this afternoon that looks a lot more like an evening because the time change hasn't happened yet and we live north. Uh, so I want to welcome uh Charlie Wear as our our new um student representative. If uh board members haven't had a chance to meet her, uh hope you get to, you know, right after this, but just a couple things. She's uh extremely involved um very well known around the school, very well-liked and is uh well, you're member of SCLC. Um, uh, Interact Club I think is is pretty important to you as well. And she's
002done, uh, two sports, two two season sports, soccer, lacrosse, and one of the big things she's doing this year, uh, it hasn't rolled out yet, has it? We Can. >> No, it's starting this coming Friday and Monday, the first. >> Okay. And do you mind just saying give give us a couple sentences what we can is? >> Uh, so basically it's a program that was started at Waynefleet. We're bringing it to more. So, there's a cohort of 40 students and they meet a couple times throughout the year to discuss a variety of topics, group activities, all that kind of all those kind of things just to break the barriers of normal friend groups, normal um political groups, everything like that that seems to ooze down to high school levels just to make sure there's interactions
003happening and we're learning things from people that we wouldn't normally. >> That's great. And so that's um starting up here. It's a big project. Um I know a lot of a lot of staff, a lot of students are involved and we're excited. So hopefully you can keep us updated on how that's progressing um at our meetings. But welcome. We're glad to have you and uh um it's really good to have you. And so now we have Charlie and Charles. And so that's how we're that's how we're naming it until we until you come up with some other other names for for Charles. Anyway, no, just kidding. Um, so if we could have uh the minutes approved or questions on the minutes from last meeting. >> Oh, I make a motion to approve the minutes as
004written. >> Okay. Do I have a second? >> Okay, that further any discussion. All in favor? And that's approved. Uh, adjustments to the agenda. I think we're just going to fit in after the student board report. Um, comments, questions regarding the board reports, you know, from the schools and the departments. Uh, give a chance for, uh, anyone to comment on activities that were going on. Those are, you know, really comprehensive reports. And so, we'll just call that 8.5. And I don't think there's anything else for adjustments. And we go to the public session. And I don't see anyone from the public coming up. So, we're going to move right on to our staff report. And I'm going to ask Patrick to introduce. >> Yeah, we're fortunate to have Micah Deer here tonight to follow up
005on the conversation around sustainability. And as you remember, I sent it to you, but the resolution that the board passed and supported last year, and we said we would come back in 9 months and 18 months, correct? With a report, an update. So tonight is really a progress report to tell you what we've done, who's on the committee, and really have done some some really positive work. So Micah, thanks for being here, and come on up. >> Thank you so much for having me. Um, and I'm going to invite Ren Coffinger and Charles Balen to join as well. They're members of our committee. And Janet, if you wouldn't mind getting that slideshow up, that would be awesome. Thank you. And that's pretty near the end. So, if you wouldn't mind laughing all the way to
006the All right. Excellent. Um, so I'm really excited to talk to you about some of our progress on the RS1 climate resilience working group. Um, if you wouldn't mind advancing the next slide. We're going to recap the policy. I know you all passed it, but it would be good to remind us what we passed and remind the public who's watching. Talk a bit about our group composition, talk about the strategy we've used as a committee to move our work forward. Uh Charlie's going to talk a bit about some of our progress from the first year. Uh Ren's going to give us a deep dive on our energy audit. Um and then we'll start talking about our goals for this coming year's work and ask for your uh feedback. So, go for it. All right. So,
007in June of 2024, RSU1 school board passed the main or the RSC1 won't wait policy resolution. And that name is a nod to the main won't wait climate policy that was passed um and then updated and presented publicly here at Morris High School last fall. Um and this policy um really represented a connection between RSU1 and a lot of work that's happening at our local regional and state level. So the goals that we outlined in this policy were indexed to the main weight policy but also the resilient bath plan that was put forward by the bath um sustainability committee and parallels work that's being done in our member towns. So, Woolwitch has a climate uh resilience committee. Arouse has a climate resilience committee. Fippsburg has a like a sea level rise and sustainability working group.
008Um and so we're seating ourselves right inside a movement that is consistent that is kind of coming from our constituents and saying RS1 is going to take part in that. It's a huge problem. K12 schools represent this massive infrastructure footprint in the public sector. If you think about the hundreds of thousands of buildings, um many of them in aging states, our massive fleet of diesel buses, um we're a huge part of the climate problem. And so I just wanted to applaud again the school board for taking the decision to to join that um movement to try and address the problem. Uh this policy created a working group to try and figure out how to address the goals of the policy. we serve in an advisory capacity. So we can't, you know, vote and say we
009have to hit a certain target. Um but uh the the policy kind of shows in good faith that we're we're giving considered recommendations to the board that to be included into the educational plan, the facilities plan, and so forth to help us meet these goals. And the policy, like Patrick said, gave us 18 months, 18 school year months to do the work and to give you a midway update. So that's where we are. The two headline goals of the policy were to reduce emissions and waste. Um so that includes looking across our system including but not limited to how we source our energy, our HVAC systems, upgrading our buildings, um figuring out ways to reduce solid waste, both you know consumer waste and food waste, etc., etc. And then the second goal is around literacy
010and workforce development. We're in a changing economy. Our students should be prepared to enter in and get into those jobs that are going to become an increasing part of the way we make a living in Maine. So um yeah, can go ahead and we uh recruited a group um of 18 people that have been meeting consistently. We've had great attendance at these volunteer meetings. We meet 90 minutes a month. Um, our RSC1 leadership includes uh Patrick, our facilities manager, Dennis Wulette, and uh Dyke Newell principal, Jen McKay. There are five teachers and social workers on there, myself, Flower Noble, Julie Stone, who's our GMG representative at BAT Tech, Brent Luis from uh BMS, and Katie Smith from Witch. We have six students who've been regularly attending. Um, four from Morris and two from BMS. We've
011got uh three community members. Um one who is a solar expert, one who's a department of fish and wildlife kind of public lands and ecology expert and a retired uh congressperson and engineer Jud Thompson from Fippsburg and of course Patty Mclofflin's been coming too. So, it's an awesome team that's been getting together with a lot of energy and a lot of great ideas. Uh, to strategize our work, obviously our big deliverable is a set of recommendations for you. Um, and so our initial step was to look to the past and go, what have we already done? What are we good at as a district? Where have we put our our money and our resources? Where are the gaps? What are the things that we haven't figured out how to do yet? and then really trying
012to think about them. That matrix is on this sort of how do they fall in impact versus complexity or cost. You can only do so many really impactful but really complex things and it'd be great to get some quick wins in there as well. So, we kind of mapped all of the ideas as a group onto that matrix and then started researching solutions to the big thorny problems like compost and building upgrades. But also knowing that it's really not too satisfying to just be in a planning mode for two years, especially with students at the table, we wanted to engage in direct action as well. And something that I think is really neat about this um this group is you can see that students are you know a third of the group and we meet
013around a round well rectangular table but uh basically around table in spirit and students are you know sharing their ideas I think with equal validity and weight as the adults in the room and uh that's just been really really neat to be part of. So, um going to talk about some of the things we looked at as progress RSC1 had made before we started working and just kind of applaud and acknowledge just how much this district has done so far in this direction. And this is by no means comprehensive, but uh investing into a community solar project anticipated to save over $700,000 over the lifespan of that investment. uh in equipping our new buildings with geothermal and solar tubes and um upgrading our systems, you know, the wood boiler at Woolwitch, LED lights throughout the
014district. Um and you know, exploring some switches to more reusables in food service. So that is a complex task to take on that really has more to do with student culture and education than it does with systems. And so that that's a bit of a white whale that but we've made some some efforts on that. Um Morse is practicing limited composting. That service is available. We've got a garbage to garden contract and students are taking part in that. Um EV chargers at Morse. And then of course there's a longstanding tradition of environmental education without throughout the district whether it's you know at our elementary schools you know at Fippsburg doing climate expeditions and BMS engaging in their 10th year of the green crab study our partnerships with Kel Fiser Mitchell sorting their trash for three
015weeks in the cafeteria. Um and that just seems to be how we do business here. So, it's pretty amazing to work in a district that has this much energy and to go great, how can we run with this? So, with that, I'm going to turn it over to Charles who's going to tell you a bit about what we did as a committee in the last year. >> Yeah. Um, our our big effort that we're really proud of is achieving an energy audit um with the building infrastructure management solutions, also known as BIMS. Um they waved a $50,000 audit fee based on RSC1's policy commitment to reducing emissions and track record of completing green projects. Um our waste audits at Bath Middle and is that Fisherman? >> Yeah. Um we found that nearly 2/3 more than
0162/3 of cafeteria waste was divertable either recyclable or compostable. So that's twothirds of our trash going to the landfill that doesn't need to be. Um we have explored composting options. Um and we found that we can't run an on-site any on-site composting sites. Um but we are working on a partnership with the city for additional garbage to garden contracts. Um and then a reformation of green teams at BMS and Woolwitch Central for that's starting up green clubs at the elementary school level or um the middle school level, excuse me. And then we are um exploring grant funding to remove single-use items from cafeterias. So that's the little packages of silverware and napkins and such. Um and then we have invited Cassella for a learning session about waste um diversion best practices. And now I'm going
017to tell you a little bit more about the um BIM's climate or not climate uh energy audit. So the goal is to determine how ROSC1 buildings are performing in areas of energy efficiency, ventilation and general function of systems. And then while this was initially kind of approached as how can we reduce carbon emissions and cost savings we found that there were really three bottom lines those being costa cost savings carbon emissions but also the health of the occupants within the buildings and then just some notes any work proposal would have to go out to bid and then BIMS offers comprehensive financial support with any work that does end up happening. So the BIM's energy audits. So the tools used there were CO2 loggers placed in classrooms and common areas in BMS, Morris High School, uh
018Fittsburgh Elementary School, Woolwitch Central School, and Fischer Mitchell. And then hands-on inspections of mechanical systems such as the boilers, air handlers, duct work, thermostats were all done. And then there was analysis of the energy bill so we could see how much money was being spent and how that really compares with the usage within the mechanical systems. So the results were that well the energy ventilation standard is that um CO2 level should be below 1100 parts per million and above that level congestion decreases which results in poorer focus drowsiness and impaired cognitive functions and asthma trans and transmission rates of sickness. And there was actually studies done that found that there's a direct relationship between test scores and the amount of CO2. So that poor focus is directly leading to the quality of education that people
019are get getting in the way they're able to apply that education. Classrooms in BMS, Fischer Mitchell, and Fittsburgh Elementary exceeded 2,000 parts per million on a daily basis over the sample period. and some classrooms in Morris High School exceeded 1100. That was likely due to the building not being commissioned prior to opening. And schools that improved ventilation, reduced number of substitute days required in student absences, and improved test scores. And that was found in other buildings that BIMS did work on. This is just an example of what one day of data logging looked like. So that time period is 24 hours in at the beginning of the day. So when the school is not being occupied, there's a constant rate of about 500 parts per million. And then when the school begins to fill up
020with people, we see a bump in the CO2 levels within the school. There's a dip down around lunch period where you've got seniors and people leaving the building. And then right after that, there's another big rise to um 2,000 parts per million in this specific classroom. And then once people leave the building, there's a drop in CO2 again. And this the kind of the 500 parts per million baseline really shows that like this is like the school on its own is like doing what it needs to do. But at the second there's a jump up the the systems are failing to really compete with the massive amount of CO2 entering. Um so what are the next steps with this? So BIMS is currently working with Dennis Uled and Patrick Emanuel to develop recommended projects that
021would be paid for with cost savings over a term while reducing district carbon footprint. And BIMS offers private savings based financing and assistant with state assistance with state grants and support with promoting and marketing the capital campaign. >> Awesome. Thank you guys. That was awesome. Can we get a little round of applause for our student? [clears throat] Um, just wanted to take a second to say that our we subjected the six students in this committee to two hour and a half long presentations from a panel of engineers [clears throat] and they went into room byroom details and like gratuitous detail about air handlers and boilers and um they were there for it, you know, like all right, we're going to engage with this. So, um, that's pretty amazing. Uh, just wanted to shine another light
022on the student involvement in this program. So, Ren and myself, we got to be part of the main won't wait kick up this last fall. Um, Ren got to address Governor Mills and a pretty distinguished panel of people. Um, and gave, you know, a blisteringly good speech about our climate change imperative. Um, again acknowledging that we're working as a round table, you know, students and adults in partnership. And just to shine a light on some of the work that our green teams have done at Woolwitch, um, their green team students took part in the Earth Day cleanup and picked up 23 pounds of trash just at Woolwitch in a single day. And it's to say nothing about, you know, down the road. Um, they're prepping the greenhouse there for planting. They've started up composting in
023their building that students are running. So they've got compost buckets in every hallway and cups in every classroom and they're collecting that on a daily basis and composting that on site. So it's really cool to see students taking initiative in that way. And then you can see on the bottom right there the BMS green team. Those students noticed that the recycling at Bath Middle School was ending up in the trash dumpster. And it's no one's fault. It's just, you know, everybody has a lot of work to do. and they volunteered to take over sorting the recycling. So, a couple days a week during their study hall period, they go around the school with rubber gloves on and sort everybody's recycling to make sure it ends up in the right dumpster. Um, so that's the power
024of Kids Unleashed right there. Um, and they, you know, don't wait around for us to do the right thing. They just get to it. So, that's really great. So, we've got, uh, the rest of this year to work on our recommendations. Uh the second goal was around climate literacy and we didn't really have a chance to address that in the first year. So uh I had an initial check-in with Katie Joseph about how do you approach the work of seeing if a certain type of content is being taught and at what levels. And so the suggestion was that we'll start working through teaching content teams and starting to have just roundt conversations. Where are you talking about climate change? Where are you talking about green jobs? Where are you talking about solutions? Because we really
025want to make sure that, you know, students are, they've been on a steady diet of gloom and doom for a long time. It's hard to feel empowered when that's what you hear. Um, so we want to make sure that solutions and opportunity is really where we're coming down on this curriculum. Um, so having those conversations at the teacher level, where are you teaching this? So we can start getting an idea, a map of if a student goes through Fippsburg to Bath to Morse or they go through Woolwitch to Morse, you know, where are they getting contact with this curriculum? And also talking with teachers about, you know, what professional development do you need to teach this effectively? This is intimidating. There's really high quality polls that have been done by NPR and Ipsos that say
026a huge percentage of teachers don't teach about climate change because they're afraid of either, you know, not understanding the content because misinformation is amplified at such a great level, but also afraid of stepping into that water and being perceived as acting politically when we're talking about teaching factual information, evidence-based science. Um so what you know curricula what professional development would help them do that work well um we've started some conversations with a national actually international organization called the climate initiative which was founded in Maine um and the city of Bath is also going to be working on them on climate literacy issues. They have really great field tested evidence-based standards aligned curriculum for teaching climate literacy. So we'll start exploring ways that we can deploy that. We want to make sure this energy uh audit
027process is completed. It's gonna happen. We're dealing with a super professional outfit that's done this work a lot of places. Um so I'm really excited to see the recommendations that they put together and then I think at some point they're going to want to present directly to the board on their findings. And then this is most exciting. Charlie talked about how we spent a lot of our time researching how to make compost happen. And it is one of those things that feels like it should be so lowhanging fruit. It's so important to do and yet it's expensive and it requires cultural change and it's complex. Um, but Cassella, who is our, you know, our waste provider, has waited into compost services. And so they're willing to start working on us and exploring how we could
028change our contract if we could demonstrate we were able to divert compostable material from our waste stream. possibly coming up with a budgetneutral type uh contract where we would add in that pickup service because we would have less weight on the forks of our uh waste dumpsters. So, that's going to be some work we'll look into as well. And then the last thing is uh the state is having its first green school symposium here a week from Friday at Thomas College. We've got a bunch of teachers and students from the district going up there. I'll be presenting at that conference about climate leadership in the education space and some collaborations I've had around the state that have helped us do this work and ways we've helped others do this work with the hope that it
029will become widespread. So, thank you for your time. [applause] >> That's fantastic. Thank you very much. Um, lot a lot of good information there. When did you say this thing is at Thomas College? >> November 7th. Week from Friday. >> Week from Friday. [clears throat] That's fantastic. Um, yeah, there's a lot a lot of good stuff. I'm sure some people have some questions. There's a lot of uh um great information that that you're So, how did we maybe I miss how did we get funding to do the energy audits or is that >> Yeah. So, that energy audit typically costs between 50 to $100,000. It represents dozens of engineer hours. They're not just looking at our bills. They were in our buildings. >> Um, you should see they've got diagnostic photos. is they went into
030our boilers and in into all our air handlers and saw that all of the, you know, hinges inside the air handlers in pretty much every room at BMS are rusted shut. So, they don't actually work. You know, um you can have a boiler that's working as well as it should, but that air is not getting to the places it's supposed to and therefore it's just leaking out the ducts and out the windows and that's taxpayer money right there. That and carbon that's just leaking out of our systems there. So, um yeah, so a very very hands-on, very thorough process, but it is because they have um have seen our demonstrated commitment to past green projects as a district. They saw that we passed a resolution that asks us to do our best to achieve these
031goals. They have a relationship with Dennis Wlette, who is fantastic facilities manager and has a history of doing this work in his previous districts as well. And so it's really a trust thing with no obligation that we work with them. Obviously, it's a public process that needs to go out to bits. Sure. >> Um but you know, we can anticipate that they'll be throwing a bid in to do that work. >> Of course, it's good stuff. >> So, did they did they wave the fee? >> They waved the fee. We haven't we haven't spent a dime to have this work. >> That's huge. That's that's a that's a big big deal. Um >> Who's got a question? I can wait. No, >> go ahead, Jennifer. >> Reputation. Excellent report. Thank you very much. Thanks, >>
032Jennifer. Uh uh so I think there's a wonderful educational opportunity when we look at the energy audit process and I'd be really interested if um along with our initiative if the students um wrote a correspondence to let's say Michael Stoddard who's the head of efficiency Maine and said this is all the effort that we're doing and efficiency main gets all this state funding and all this federal funding and what can you do to help us either incorporate that process to into our science curriculum or you know the ability because I It's got wonderful engineering and architectural. It's got so many applications to take that data we already have but also to address Michael Stoddard and say where does efficiency means responsibility go to not just with the energy resources that we have in our homes
033but also into our public spaces. And I don't know where that program is yet. I off top of my head um but I do think that that's part of the education is part of their required initiative. So it'd be interesting to see especially if it was a studentled effort to try to see if get efficiency main brought into that. Um you didn't talk anything about the you talked a little bit about the indoor air quality for CO2 but not radon. Was that ever part of what you were thinking about? Because if we're getting if we're not exhausting properly the CO2 that's being created by the humans in the building. It's interesting to know what the levels of radon might be because of these wonderful granite that we're all sitting on. >> That's a great question.
034I don't believe it was tested for, but I think that would be >> yeah, >> very very interesting to know. Yeah. I mean, we all kind of walked into this thinking about this having to do everything with carbon and tax dollars, and I think we were all kind of frankly gobsmacked by what we found about ventilation and effects on health. Um, >> and I would say though that we have been in touch with them about these are a couple periodic ones. We're going to continue >> those periodic ones and we did a lot of work with ventilation during CO uh in all of our buildings. Um so that's you know I I think there's some been some periodic assessments that have been done but I think we want to to recheck some of those as
035well to make sure we're doing our homework. >> And I guess my last question would be um about food waste. And I think it's wonderful that we're composting but have you guys looked at all about what's upstream to that? Like why are we having so much food waste? you know, is this impact of putting more food out that people aren't consuming? Um, is it the just the impact of uh not being able to say, "I don't want certain food if it's, you know, if the meal is just presented." Um and you know how do you incorporate that into uh those uh wonderful basic lessons that you could have anywhere in any mathematics program which I I started doing at Dyke New a million years ago just in the cafeteria there with those that that age
036demographic of students and measuring the liquid and measuring the food and and doing those things. So I think like there's it's just like a harvest full of of curriculum applications you could do. But I've also wondered as we're providing more and more food, how efficiently we are in that food actually being consumed. >> Yeah, you make a great point, right? It's all input and output. And uh you also highlight the issue that we're dealing with as a committee of 18 people that meets for an hour and a half once a month. You know, you start peeling back and you go, every one of these issues is huge and complex. Um it's interesting. I think Woolwitch has done some work to try and reduce food waste by having a basket system in their snack. So instead
037of presenting it as a complete thing, students kind of a variety pack. Um, one of the things that we're doing at BMS and at Morse to sort of recapture some of that potential waste is sharing tables and sharing refrigerators. So the idea is if everybody's obliged to take these different food options and you know there's some good thinking behind that. If students are aren't presented healthy options then they aren't going to take them. Um so it's a way of encouraging healthy eating but yes there's a lot of waste that occurs from that. Um instead of having students chuck it right into the trash there's somebody who's got a bin there of you know give me all your apples give me all the milks that you don't want and they put that into a refrigerator and
038it's accessible to students. We run that in our alternative program at BMS and that basket's empty at the end of every day. Um, and we're starting to teach kids how to take that reclaimed food and turn value ad into it. So, we've been making banana bread and apple crisp out of the otherwise wasted food from the cafeteria and pudding from the milk and things like that. So, those are things that can be done and pretty easily replicated in a bunch of sites. Um but yeah, there's there's little control that we have under current guidelines to change what stu foods are offered to students in order for it to be a reimburseable meal. We explored that with Melissa Cole. Um yeah, so much curriculum opportunity there though. And to your efficiency main question, we um BIMS
039when they're putting together the financing package to achieve this work, they're putting together efficiency main grants. They're putting together any state revolving school improvement grants. Um they're offering private financing that's savings-based financing. So, the idea of like based on the fact that we anticipate you'll save $300,000 on X, we can finance you for that over the payout period. So, they put together a suite of financial financial tools to to do that work. Um, and obviously we'll we'll see what they have to say in a couple months, but yeah, I thank you so much. I just want to thank you all for doing such incredible work and providing a very comprehensive um report to us on on time. And um I guess my one question for Charlie and Ren would be if you think back over
040the past couple of months of this work, what's the most impactful thing that you're taking away? whether it's something you want RSU1 to do or maybe just something that you learned that you were like, "Wow, that really stuck with me." >> Do you want to go first? >> Why don't you go first, Charlie? [laughter] >> Um, well, I think just the energy audit collectively was such a huge achievement. But to me, um, just pointing out that our ventilation systems are are legitimately impairing learning and just being able to have that information and then present it in this way, which I actually was unable to attend the meeting, the the BIM's presentation for those results. So, I learned that um in preparation for this meeting and it just like it jumped out at me first. Um,
041and then second, the fact that Cassella is offering a a composting program. And if this is a a district-wide like elementary school up um through the high school level, um students are going to we we will eventually be able to change that student culture of not sorting out our trash like as we throw it away from just from the bottom up. And eventually it's just going to be well, we've always done it this way. So everything everything seems attainable with effort. Um and they're very realistic ways to accomplish those things. >> Yeah, I'm going to I'm going to point out the ventil ventilation systems as well. And just as uh Micah mentioned uh like the fact that the boiler is completely working, but the flaps that should allow the building to ventilate and then the
042heat to get into the classrooms isn't working. And so the fact that it really is like we've got the major systems in place, it's really those little fixes that first off show how complex this is, but also that everything is, as Charlie said, attainable, like whether that's going in and kind of slapping the the ventilation systems a little bit to get the grades opening and closing again. um to larger fixes, but stuff that's cultural change. Um this is all doable work and it's not as far-fetched as it seemed when I originally came in to be like we can become like an incredibly uh like an amazing school in terms of our our climate literacy and our impact on the environment. And it's not going to it's going to take a lot of effort, but it's
043not going to it's not as far off as it seems. >> Thank you both very much. >> Yes. Thank you all. Really really well done. Appreciate it. >> I have one more question. Um, Resilient Bath is working with a group called the Siler Consulting Group and they have um a community panel that's looking at how the city of Bath will be implementing their resilient um plan. And I'm just wondering if anyone has introduced you all to that group um to see if there's anything. The reason I know of them is um you know the EPA grant that we tried to write for $20 million that would have given BMS lots of money to fix things like their boilers. Um all of that funding was pulled away by the current um administration but Syler Consulting Group
044was showing other different um grant opportunities that are available. So, I just want to make [clears throat] sure that you guys are connected with them in case there's any sort of um partnership that might benefit RSU1. >> Yeah. So, um thanks for bringing that up. So, we share a member um one of our community members is also a member of the Bath Climate Committee, Connor English. Um and then I'm also in regular communication with Rod Meansen, who's the director of sustainability for the city of Bath. So, he keeps me apprised of what the city's doing and I keep him apprised of what we're doing. There's never enough time. There's a lot more that we could do together. But yeah, it's very exciting. >> And also just wanted to say in no way are we trying
045to, you know, uh, throw egg on on the district for the state of buildings. This is very typical K12 education in the United States. It seems like this level of, you know, system function in buildings is very typical because when it comes to really hard budget decisions between people and boilers, people tend to choose people, which is really admirable. We want great educators in front of people and our board has done that time and time again. Um, and it's hard to finance these things when they might not pay off for a long time. So, it's it's difficult decisions and we wanted to just acknowledge that as well. Thank the board for, you know, sound financial management and considered decisions. >> Uh yeah, thanks thanks so much for for being a part of this and for
046talking to us and for presenting this great work, Charles and Micah [clears throat] and Ren. Uh you're doing great stuff as usual. Um couple things. One is if if there are issues with ventilation or with CO2 at Morris, it makes me shudder to think about a place like Dyke Newell where there's other students some students that live in my house go there. Um probably not even worth checking, right? I mean just based on the age of the building probably assume it's not ideal. Well, so um [clears throat] Morse was very close to the acceptable threshold and their theory right now is that we have incredibly modern systems here. But there, you know, was an understandable urgency to get people into this building as soon as the building was open. We're in COVID and old Morse
047was, you know, in a difficult state. And there's a process called commissioning. when a new building is made and all of the systems need to be tuned to work as best as possible with each other. And so that could be an outcome of this work is that they finally officially commission the systems and get them working at optimal efficiency in which we could anticipate this building achieving those targets handily. Um we didn't think they were going to do our elementarymentaries because we're number one on the on the list which I just every time I think about it is wonderful. Um, but they did do Fischer Mitchell just to understand where we're at. And they compared the original to the 70s edition. Um, and yeah, the numbers are consistent with BMS and with with Fippsburgs there.
048Um, you know, again, it's they stressed that it's not, you know, an agree the building is not actively making you sick, but could we have better learning outcomes if we had better ventilation? Certainly. Um so yeah, we're very excited about the new building and the opportunities there. >> Yeah. And that's this I'm sure this has been discussed, but this kind of a um thought of it right away is that will the committee have any role uh when the new building is kind of designed etc. Would you be interested in especially from students? I know it may take many years and students may graduate, but the idea that there's now a committee that may last for a while to be able to take what you've learned and what you're going to be learning in this process
049to [clears throat] inform and you know recommend for the next you know new facilities, new new infrastructure in the district. >> Yeah. One one thing that we have talked about that hopefully we can start this work on the new school soon is possibly talking to this group that we have because at at Morris we had a sustainability committee made up of community members and staff members and this would be I mean we might want to add a few uh staff members from Dyke New Official Mitchell that might have a passion in this area but I think it makes sense for this this group if they're interested to to maybe take on that component uh if the timing was right. >> Yeah, that'd be great. >> Yeah. So the as the resolution um is written once
050we've prepared our recommendations and presented them to the board that we'll continue to serve as an advisory capacity to the district on these issues you know making sure that work is still ongoing asking questions squeaking wheels that sort of thing. >> Yeah because every year you've got new students with new perspectives and >> yeah absolutely >> theories and stuff. Okay and last question what day are the apple crisp being made? >> [laughter] >> We're we're baking most days. Yeah. Swing by BMS. Just follow your nose. >> I just have a comment. Um it's not so much it is also the um the equipment, the boilers, the dampers, that sort of stuff. Some of it's older and stuck and not working, but it's also where the vents are in a specific room that um is causing
051part of this big CO2 spike. So if your if your intake is not uh set where the students all are, then that could be part of the problem where you're getting concentrations of CO2 because they did put them in just certain areas on the wall, not necessarily where everybody was. So it it is also a design feature which could be part of the older schools problems as well that some of the vents need just to be moved a little bit so that you have a better flow of air instead of just uh you know and and of course some of the mechanics aren't working. So that's part of the problem too. >> I also would add I'm not an expert in this field but CO2 is one component of air quality uh in a in
052any building or in a school. And so we, you know, we do test our buildings um for overall air quality um when we on a on a regular basis, but also when a concern may be brought up by a staff person, by a student, or by a parent as well. So >> thank you so much. That was great. Great discussion, folks. Thank you very much. >> Thanks so much for your time. Have a great night. [applause] Okay. And uh we let the students continue here um with the uh student board report. >> You should go get Ren and make him do it. >> Um first off, some good news. We have Leslie Trundy offering detention hikes. So um hiking as opposed to detention. Uh, Morse guidance counselor Leslie Trundy has been recognized by news sources
053internationally regarding her efforts to chaperon hikes in place of detention. The Washington Post, Fox News, and NPR have published individual articles on her effort. Um, she's also an avid hiker and lover of the outdoors, having hiked the Appal Appalachian Trail, obtaining her wilderness first aid certification, and running the outing club, and scheduling camping uh events here at Morse. Um students love the hikes and the school is seeing very positive results. Uh cross country uh recently competed in the regional championships with senior Levi Riggs placing second in the boys class B South race and sophomore Isabelle Chabbo placing 28th for class B girls. Um both runners are headed to the state championship on November 1st in Cumberland. Boys and girls soccer are headed into championship season as well. Girls seated fifth and boys seated sixth for
054Class B South. Seniors Christian Hollowell and Zoe Nicholson have been recognized by the Portland Press Herald as players to watch in these games. Um the Morse High Variety Show, also known as uh Mohiba. The preparation has begun as auditions have been occurring for the past week or so. Uh the show includes over 200 students this year reaching athletes, musicians, and actors. And then the Halloween discrepancy. I was asked specifically by my peers to mention um tonight that the students students are uh very upset about not being able to wear their costumes to school on Halloween this year. Many wish that they would have been given the option to wear their Halloween costumes at school with the expectation that if the costumes were thought to be offensive, they would remove them. That's all. >> Okay, any
055questions? Always always good to start with a little controversy. Um any questions for the students? >> No. >> All right. Yeah, go ahead. >> I was just trying >> but um why is this a district-wide policy around the costumes? >> It's it's been inconsistent in our district. Um and so we felt as an ad team that we needed to be consistent and just from a um a safety concern, disruption concern to learning. Um we consulted with some other districts in the area as well. Um, so I mean really that's um, you know, we we're not opposed to um, days where it is a theme day where it's something that it's a spirit day or it's a sport day or something that you can control where how someone is going to not control but you have
056a good idea of what someone is going to dress up as versus um, Halloween. So, I know not everybody agrees with that and we can certainly revisit it in in future years if students would like to be part of that discussion. We'd welcome that. >> Okay, sounds good. [clears throat] Thank you. Um, let's go with what we've put in. Uh, anyone who has any comments or questions about uh the reports from the schools and the >> Thank you. Um uh so just starting with the adult ed, I noticed that the item about that students if they finish their high school credentials by this December still qualify for the two free years of community college. I just hope that there's nobody I don't is there any way of knowing is there anybody out there that we
057could make sure has knows that you know is still available to them or encourage any student to do that. I just think it's such a wonderful opportunity. I'd hate to see it not fully used if if at all possible. So just a general question about that. Um uh I noticed that um two board reports said that they were uh the challenges that they listed were uh uh trying to be able to manage the um time between um academic classroom instructions or testing and um co-curricular things. And so I I know that's probably always a challenge for people, but I I was just hoping that if there is a continuing challenge for students or teachers that we can help them with any kind of prioritize prioritizing, you know, those two demands in their schedules. And then
058I was really happy to see that three of the board reports included um a response or information about how they're meeting their goals. And I just thinking about our own board goals. I thought, wow, how great it is to kind of have that maybe at the beginning of the year to have a goal that every school said, "This is what I'm we're going to focus on and here is our progress towards that goal." Um, you know, if it's an academic goal or a social goal, you know, it was really nice to see those are just brought happen to be brought up in three of the board reports. Um, and I just thought that was a a wonderful thing to think of just um in general. And um I guess my last question was that the
059special ed report said that one of their challenges was is trying to find staffing and the demand for their you know services uh around student behaviors. And I guess like I just had a question because I think that dyke the dyke report said that they're were able to really have very success in reducing I think it was principal office visits for student behaviors. I could be wrong about that, but I was just kind of wondering if our special ed department at whole is struggling with staff staffing for that. I think we've tried to add more staffing and I I didn't know if that's just a temporary one or it's a a bigger issue that we should be looking at across the board. Thank you for the chance to ask those questions. >> Um, all right.
060Anybody else? I just wanted to mention that I also noticed the um challenges with the special education and I hope we can just keep that in mind as we go into the budget season this year. >> Great. Thanks for highlighting. Um I'm going to hand it over to you Patrick. >> Superintendent report. >> Just Morris Community Service Day I think is worth mentioning and thank you to to Mr. Bishop here who helps to organize that. Um, we had students that went out and helped in a variety of organizations in our communities. And it was, it's kind of neat to I was at one of the schools, elementary schools, when a van full of high school students came off to go, you know, to get back at one of our schools and to see to see
061the look on the young students faces to see your old staff be like, you know, so happy to see you. And so it's it's just refreshing. I know it was a rainy day, but to see people actually doing work out in the community with their when it was, you know, raining pretty hard. Um, kudos to all the students that did that. We hosted the 2025 state championship for Special Olympics up back here and place was packed and I couldn't think of a better school with all that we do here um with our unified programming to host Special Olympics. Uh, Fippsburg Musical Garden. That was in Nah's report. Hopefully you saw the picture there. Um, it's it's neat. I It's a it's a new group in Pittsburgh called Fippsburg Cares. And um if you if you
062want to have some fun, go down on the playground and they have pots and pans on like I guess I would say strings and and wood and the the students are over there pounding them, making noise, trying to make trying to make music. So it's it's pretty neat to see. A reminder about the STEM plus M ribbon cutting is on November 6 at 9:30. All of you are welcome to come. There will be a lot of elected officials that will be there from our communities, but also from the state of Maine and from some um businesses in town as well. >> Manufacturing. >> Yeah. So, again, love to have you if you'd like to if you can steal away for like 45 minutes, that's probably what it will take. And then lastly, just a thank
063you to to Eric Barney, uh, Kitty Joseph, Willow Halpin, Charles McDonald, and Elizabeth Nukem who presented last Friday at the main school management conference. And I think had, you know, close to 40 people in a room and talked about our new cell phone policy. And of course, Eric and Katie did a great job. But for the last 10 minutes of the meeting, we handed it over to our students and they grabbed the mic and off they went and and answered questions um in a very uh professional uh very honest, very in some cases funny manner and it was um it was it was just great to see. Do you want to add anything on that Katie? >> So thank the students. I mean they missed a few classes and they got to go out to
064lunch um but we appreciate their efforts and that's it. >> Questions Patrick? All right, Deb, come on up. >> I have a little place here tonight to set my things. All right. Um, so tonight we're looking at the month of September. So, we're just starting um off the new year and all is going well so far. Um, we're just at the beginning. Um, but LA last month I let you know that I looked at the salaries that were um budgeted versus what we actually hired in for new staff and we're in in budget with that. So that's that's a good first step. Um, as far as spending, we've spent 13.08% 08% and we've received 22% in revenues and that is typical for the end of September of where we should be or what we where
065we normally are. Um as we move forward, we'll keep an eye on substitute lines, uh special ed tuition. We have a few more out of district placements than um what we had budgeted. So, we'll see how that works out. And transportation as far as out of district placement. Um, and then on the report that you'll that you have in front of you, the um there's a couple of more grants that are listed from what was listed last month, and they're basically the CTE grants um that have been renewed. And then uh there's a there's a $6,000 balance for homeless, preventing student homeless. And then we had a couple of more um Lincoln Health grants come in. So MOS now has three grants. Um more which has two. So all of that spending has started. Um
066and as far as enrollment um you can see that our enrollment is down about 47 students and um once again for especially Jen because you wonder about enrollment um that we'll have a better picture in November of kind of why that happened as far as you know was it just students moving out or was it a larger senior class leaving and a smaller kindergarten. Um, so we'll have more on that next month in November. And then I can also um give you some details of budget versus actual as far as tuition revenues coming in. >> Great questions for Deb. >> All right, it's great. Thanks for all the explanation. Appreciate it. >> Okay, we're just going uh we don't have anything else under old business, right? Um so 11.1 uh Katie you can give us
067an update. >> Okay. >> I have a few quick curriculum and instruction updates. Um first uh at the start of this year I know I shared that we would be having um main math and science come and coach teachers on the new curriculum. And so I just wanted to let you know that they have presented at the October PD day. Um and that went well. And then um all of the past few weeks, grade levels K to five have been doing a half planning day each as a grade level across all four schools of a sample lesson and then going in and watching the lesson together the following day and then getting to debrief and sort of learn about the best way to plan together. Um and so that has been a ton of coordination
068for um Beth Kaser, but it's I've heard great things about it. Um, and so they'll follow up with the next professional development for the Reveal Math program um, on November 10th. And I I would say like all new things, the first year of anything is hard because you can't just do it. You don't know the program and so you're learning it while you're teaching it. Um, so, you know, I think that all of this professional development has been very supportive for staff as they're figuring it all out. Um, I also wanted to report back on the new RTI model at BAF Middle School that we put into place this year. So, we have one literacy interventionist now and we have our three math interventionists, one for each grade. They all have a full load of
069students receiving services um and we have math um co-eing going on in some classrooms. And so far the teachers who are now doing intervention seem really thrilled with how things are going. And um I know I just feel um good about the level of targeted supports that some of our students are getting that they weren't before. Um so that's good news. Um, also Maine Maritime Museum um continues to work with uh the second, fourth and seventh grade programs for sense of place. Um, and we had sort of a reconnecting um Ally Travers is has been I think a year into her new role overseeing the educational programs there and is doing an excellent job. Um and so we had a recent meeting at BA Middle School just to check in on where um programming is
070there now that there's one team per grade level. So one I wanted to let the board know that in checking in with the elementaryaries second and fourth they love the field trips. The kids love the experience that's just going to keep happening. we're now going to move the sense of place program from seventh grade to eighth grade because it matches now that the it's not a loop. Um it makes more sense to put it with the eighth grade curriculum. Um so that's going to happen. Um but the the program is excellent. Um and they both come to our classrooms and also take a field trip to the museum depending on whatever the theme is. um that program just so to remind you all um we don't pay for except for transporting our students and so
071it is I believe donorbased through their museum which is extremely generous to continue a connection for our students um to have exposure to the features um that the museum offers. So, I just wanted to thank Main Maritime for the great work they're continuing and um let you know that there's really no change. Um everyone's happy with it and we're just moving one program up a grade. Um and then the last thing actually is something that Lou introduced um me to. I met with two women from the Ba Meadow Conservancy, which is a new group that's preserving an acre of land in downtown Bath to help with outdoor education and creating a pollinator ecosystem across small cities and towns in um this area. And so, um, I'm excited because there it just seems like they're really
072wanting, um, to sort of implement educational experiences in this, um, one acre plot. And it it seemed when I spoke with them to be a great thing for our um credit pathways program as well as potentially our life skills program as well as our um you know Carolyn Nichols who has the apiary and the bee club. Um you know so we're having a meeting on the November PD day all of us to start thinking of how um Morse can be connected with this new project. So, I just was excited that it could potentially be another great community connection for our students and our teachers. And that's it. >> Great. Thank you. Um, any questions for Katie? Go ahead. >> Does the bee program here at Moore sell honey? >> Yes. >> Can we are either
073of you in it? >> Um, >> it's delicious. I'm not officially in the club, but I have an independent study as Miss Nichols lab assistant, and a lot of the time is spent with the bees and harvesting the honey. And >> I think you might sell a lot if you brought it to a meeting. [laughter] >> I'll keep that in mind. I'll let her know. >> Yeah. Go ahead, Sh. >> Um Katie, does the PD that we're doing for the math program, does that do you have any plans to helping of parents get some assistance and training as we're looking at a new math program? because I remember when we rolled out the last one that was a big component that we I don't know if we had planned on before but I in helping
074with the program I I a lot of parents contacted me. >> Yeah, that's a great point. And so um our math committee is continuing to meet three times this year. We're surveying teachers before each meeting to see how things are going to make sure we're giving teachers the support they need. But one of our other project is actually to check in on how um we can better support the home math connection. And so we haven't just cuz it's also new, we haven't been able to other than um you know our rep showing teachers where the home packets are that can be sent if teachers think it's appropriate or giving something to to take um home to do as a family. So that's happened, but it's upcoming for this year to plan something better. perhaps a
075math night or um you know something with hyperlinks that families can do at home together. Um and so it's on the horizon but not done yet. >> Great. Any other questions, comments? Thank you for the update. It's very good, very comprehensive. Um okay, next is uh 11.2, the um overnight out ofate field trip request. This is an action item. We have one for uh Witch Central School to DC and another from Morris High School to East Orland Maine. Um there's any questions otherwise if I can have a motion. >> I move to approve them both as written. I don't know. >> I'll second. >> Okay. Any other further discussion? All in favor? All right. So, those are good to go. And 11.3. This is no action tonight. However, we have what do we have? Six,
076I think. Yeah, I'm just going to read through them real quick. Um, so JIC or the drug the drug and alcohol use by students. Uh, there's another one that's student drug use guidelines. Um, the very interesting temperature standards in schools. uh school unit employee references, a support staff positions and support staff employment. So those are uh some new policies I think for they're all there for various reasons. Some were required and are new. Other ones um as I understand we were already following and we're updating some policies right with our new new structure. So uh are there any questions about these this time out before we Yeah, go ahead. I I just had a question on the JCR. >> Do >> Yeah. For the like the consequences. >> Yes. Um do we is it typical
077to do in school suspension still? >> Which part are you asking about, Megan? >> Like um on a first offense could be well it said in school suspension. So I was once just wondering is it do we not really do inschool suspension now? Is it more >> you do >> I was just >> any other [snorts] questions concerns about the language? Yeah. >> I was just wondering >> I'll have to go back and look. I don't know Jen if you remember. I think this was something that a committee from Morris High School and from Bath Middle School and Witch the middle school component looked at this policy because they wanted to to reflect what they currently were doing. And so let me go back and um you know ask ask that question [clears throat] you're
078talking about on first offense. >> Yeah. Okay. Okay. Any other any do you have anything else? No. Any other questions regarding the policies as they are at the moment? Okay, great. So, you get back to us on that. Um, and then again, no action. We'll vote on that next time. Uh, 12.0, we got personnel items. Patrick, >> yeah, just one resignation. Jensen Fish who is an edtech at Fish and Mitchell like to thank her for two years of service and wish her the best um with she's doing an internship in speech pathology. So that's a reason for resignation. So she needs to do that on a full-time basis. So >> um okay, we've got board goals for today. >> Um tonight I think that we've reached our board goal um prek uh programming. I think
079that our our sustainable report um definitely focused on that as well as Katie's um report about curriculum. Um I I was thinking about um one of our board goals that says utilizing data analysis and I was wondering if our our um hiking our detention hiking had any data analysis with it that we could talk about you know is there been a reduction in um repeat detention for people that get a chance to hike? Are there, you know, uh, are there certain detention reasons that that are reduced because we're doing the hiking? I don't know how hard it is to gather that detent that data, but I think that might be good for going forward. Um, and then for facilities that we definitely we are looking at our policy to temperature thing and also facilities and
080getting the sustainable report. So, I've met a couple of those schools. >> Great. Yeah. I don't know about all the um stuff with the hikes. I just know that, you know, the kids they they don't have the detentions, but they're still going on the hikes. So that's that's a great that's kind of a fun thing um to see happen. Um all right, thank you for that. Um okay, so under 14.0 before we go here. Um I know that Jennifer is gone that Monday, November 24th. That is the Monday before Thanksgiving. Are people able to make that meeting otherwise? I just want to make sure we can have the meeting itself. >> Yeah. Okay. What I am going to propose though is let's just meet at six o'clock. Let's not do the 5:15 because I want
081Jennifer to be here for that goal setting. Um because she's such a big part of that um and she's going to be gone that Monday. So what we'll look at is if it is it's usually December, you know, it's we do it earlier. It's usually um a lighter agenda anyway. So I'm thinking we move that uh the goals to the December one. we can meet a little earlier and, you know, make it an an easier meeting. Okay. So, so you can cross that off and just plan on you'll get the info, but we'll plan on 6 pm Monday, November 24th um for our regular meeting since we can still have a quorum. >> Uh anything else for the good of the cause, the good anything? No. Okay. Well, thank you all for being here and
082uh adjourn. >> Yes. >> I make a motion to adjurnn. [laughter] >> Second. All in favor? All right. Thank you everyone. >> I'll show it's right next to it's at the end of North Street. You know where it at? You've seen it. So no.