001Uh the rest of the board is here and ready to ready to get started. So we will start with the pledge of allegiance. to the standy. >> All right. So, we don't have any minutes this evening. Uh there are no adjustments to the agenda. So, we will move right on to item six, good news and recognition. our uh student board rep Moon will provide us with an update. >> Hi everyone. Um so I guess a lot has happened over like the last couple weeks. Um so I guess Active Mind since it's May and I guess it's for mental health month, Active Minds has been doing a lot of activities to help uh students with their mental health. And so last Friday um Active Minds hosted like a bird feeder um making session and a chalk
002art session in the bus circle. Um and then also yesterday they also had a taco bar for all students. So that was really nice. Um and then also they've been asking students every Wednesday to wear green in support of mental health and so it's been really great to see that our school is taking initiative to really um make sure students are having like a great time especially during APS and whatnot. Um and also on May 20th we have a charity walk um for the Barbara Bush Children's Hospital. Um, we had representatives I think last week or the week before come in uh with hostel staff and also representatives who talked about um like why how grateful they are for us to I guess support this charity but also talking about what they do and sit
003at JMG committee who's helped lead that um and we had a person named Laya who shared her personal stories with it. So that was really cool to hear about what they had to offer and so I'm really looking forward to that. And then also on Thursday, May 14th, the guidance department is taking all 11th graders to the University of Maine August College Fair. And so students have the opportunity to talk with I think around 100 college reps. And so that'll be a great opportunity to see what school opportunities that these schools have to offer. And then also school has sent out forms for the I think the ADI I guess the the school cell phone committee. And so if students want to talk about the cell phone plan that has now been uh mandated, I
004think that'll be a great opportunity to see I guess next year's plans. And then also on Saturday, May 2nd, some students help clean the peace garden. Busy for sure. Thank you. All right. So we will move on to item seven on the agenda, which is our first of two public comments. So, if we had anyone who'd like to speak, we ask you uh please just come up to the podium, give us your name and where you live, and uh comments are three three minutes a piece. If >> I have a quick one, >> all right, I got help with this mic last time. >> Usually, it's Colin's job and he's not here. So, >> all right. Yeah. Um I'm I'm Mark Douly um from 196 Merell Road in Pano. Um I have a daughter at
005Pano Elementary School. Um I'm I'm here today uh to listen to the weighted values discussion. Um I performed the exercise uh provided in the agenda and um and I had a little bit of a difficult time um understanding how to apply the waiting. Um, I've only ever seen the weights reflected as as like a percentage. Um, but um, I'm I'm interested to see how other people went about this and what changes are recommended. Um, and um, I I think the concept's a good one and I think there's a lot of potential and it's worth putting the time in for this um, this ranking criteria. Um, and to get it a little bit more clear and comprehensive. Um, it can be a tool not necessarily just for this project but for a lot of decision- making.
006Um, with respect to the criteria for evaluating a change to the RSU5 school district, um, I think attendance areas is really important is a really important criteria to include. Um, when reviewing the 2008 RSU5 formation documents from the main state DOE, um, section 13I provides guidance for establishing attendance areas and maintaining established neighborhood groupings is one of the explicit subriteria in that section. And I wanted to point this out because value number five um listed in the agenda is one aspect of the broader attendance area category. Um other subriteria including busing, shared staff travel, parent involvement, civic connect, excuse me, civic connection, and student belonging. Um those are some of the other items that could kind of fall in in with that. Um, and this historical document, it has a lot of detail um, that
007might inform anybody who's curious about what to consider as important when evaluating options. So, I just wanted to bring that up. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mark. >> Any other public comments? You know the rules, John. >> Hi, I'm John Morris. I am the chairperson for the town of panel select board and I'm here just to speak a little bit to definitions and as you work through your weighted values worksheet which I strongly approve of. I just want to make sure that everyone has a clear understanding that definition of community is very different for each of us each one of us. Um, and as a member of Powell select board for 20 years, I need to say that community and the school in Pel um means a lot more work to me because since we've
008been talking or you've been talking about looking at the RSU differently, um, I have been privy to bi-weekly meetings from about 30 families. Um the town warrant has been adjusted to include $50,000 for legal fees for potential withdrawal from the RSU5. So I strongly want you to think if you're willing to of what community really means to you. Not a word that is going to be workshopped, not a word that you've read in some kind of document, but where would you really like to live? because that I think is the essence of what community really means. So I just wanted to pass that along from Pel. Thank you. >> Thank you, John. Any other public comments? All right, then we will move on to item eight, report from the superintendent. >> Good evening, everybody. So
009I just have some hires to report tonight. We have Brian Cummings coming on as a bus driver and custodian. So, actually I have one hire but several resignations. Um Eliza Bowen is a edtech at Mass Landing School has tendered her resignation and Andrew Chassie who is an office secretary at Freeport Middle School has tendered his resignation effective the school year. Both of them. >> That's it. >> That is it. It's your quickest report ever. >> Well, I could get going, but >> No, no, that's okay. All right. Uh, so we will move on to item nine on the agenda, which is administrator reports. And under that, we have one presentation this evening. It is the student leadership team with principal Gulko and uh a variety of students who are here to present to us. Yeah.
010>> Yeah. It's not yet. Yeah, it can't come off. Actually, >> I don't think it can wire. >> It's just like double clip. >> Yeah, you just have to fine. I'll just adjust it. >> I mean, it's really high right now. >> Yeah, it'll be good. like all of our names and then >> Hi everyone, we're the student leadership committee. Uh we're the student leadership committee. Uh my name is Moon Gatusing. >> Um I'm Mera Goldman. I'm a senior. Moon's a junior. This is Annie Shelin who's a sophomore. Jaden Staltz a senior. Elellanar Williamson a sophomore. And Grayson Hill who is also a senior. Um, and we're here tonight to give kind of an update on what we've been doing so far this year and what our further steps are ending out this year and
011moving into next year. Um, so as student leadership, our main our little update on our main goal is we are student voices for student change. Um, we work with students, teachers, and admin to listen and problem solve. And our main goal is to change how decisions are made by including student voices in the process um through admin decisions. Um our main goal this year is to work towards bridging the communication gap between students and teachers as well as students and admin by actively listening in through conversations with students and teachers while deciding our topic and gathering opinions and data on what people actually think. Um, and through all of our work, we hope to organize effective change to create a better school community by upholding some of our values like honesty, respect, communication, empathy, kindness,
012and responsibility. >> Okay. So, um, this year we have shifted to basically truly uh a student driven group. Um, we definitely have a lot of help from Miss Goko and Miss Naha. um our teacher advisors. Um but it's mainly us that's like kind of organizing things and Meera and Phoebe are our like kind of leaders um and they like organize everything and plan everything. Um, we've also utilized uh yearly and weekly agendas where we have like a document in a Google classroom where we keep all of our notes for from each meeting um which we meet every Thursday and um we just like keep track of all like our timeline and just like all of our documents in that um Google doc. Um we've definitely uh shifted also towards like smaller group collaboration and kind
013of like splitting off um to work on um like each uh task that we need to complete. Um and we've uh started consistently communicating with other leadership groups like student coalition um which includes student council, student advisory leaders and I think like yeah that's basically it. And um we meet with them on Tuesdays. I can't remember what like the frequency of it is, but we usually I think meet like a couple times a month or so and just talk about like what we're doing um and just like what our plans are for um the rest of the year. So um okay. So I'm going to talk a little bit about like our process. So, we start with collaborating with the other leadership groups that Annie just talked about. So, like the student advisory leaders and
014um the student council, student government, and we kind of like have a big meeting and talk with them about what they think the major issues are in our school. It kind of just gets like a bigger group of students, a bigger um input of ideas to just talk about like what do you think is going not so well in our school? What do you think is going well? What do we need to talk about? what do we need to change? Um, and then once we've kind of finalized one of those ideas, we all have like a big meeting where we talk about who we want to get information out of. So this year, and this happens like every year, we make a big whiteboard drawing with all the different like groups that we think are
015kind of present in the school. So we have like student athletes, um who um like AP class students, um theater people. So like we try and like make sure that we are aware of all of those groups so that then we can reach all of those groups. Um and we kind of have like the amount of demographics that we want to reach and then we look at our calendar and we decide like all the time that we're going to all lot for each step of our process. Uh then we go into hosting our student conversations. So we make a conversation guide with um a researcher from another institution who helps us create questions that will get what we want out of students. So if we're looking for this year we were looking for communication. We
016made a conversation guide that had specific questions about how students communicate between each other, with teachers, with administration just to make sure that every conversation we had with students um got the data that we wanted from them. Um and then we used a platform called Cortico. We uploaded all of our conversations into there and we go through and we highlight everything that we think is important which is pretty much everything except for people when people say like yeah um I don't know like those kind of filler words but we basically highlight everything um and then we use codes uh which are kind of like big themes we categorize everything into those themes so that we can better see and organize our data. Yeah. Um, with everything organized into codes, we can then see how like
017what the main themes were that came out of the conversations, like what did what were the things that people said the most. Um, and that kind of guides us into what action steps we implement. So, that's kind of where we are right now is we're thinking about what do we want to do at school now to fix the problems that we heard from students. So we use the data that we collected to make action steps moving forward. Um and then we implement the action steps through talking with administration and talking with teachers and other students. And then we try to keep consistent communication with these different groups to see what's working with these action steps that we've implemented, what's not going well, what do we need to change going forward, and like how is everything
018going. So that's kind of our process. Um, and as Jaden kind of mentioned, our big theme for 2025 to 2026, um, is communication and connection overall at Freeport High School. Um, and so we initially broke up into three subgroups of studentto student conversation, studenttoteer conversation, and student to admin conversation, which is where we really kind of focused our conversations around. Um but we also we also held teacher conversations this year and through that we got information about teachertoteer relationships as well as teacher to admin relationships. Okay, I might have to adjust this a little bit. Um so some of our findings from student conversations um we found that students feel a slight disconnect from their friends and peers. Um, so they lack a like general form of communication where they can just interact without the
019feeling of any pressure or anything like that that forces them to um feel like they have to say something a certain way. Um, so students, we want to kind of open this up and let students feel like they can talk without having um talk like effectively but also like uh maturely about things that are happening within the school but also just like anything um in itself. So, a possible action step for this was to like adjust the options for communication um within uh FHS. So, like some physical spaces that aren't being used um which I know a good one that students sometimes like to use is like the the um FPAC lobby is a good space for students to like communicate and have time to meet up. I know like open gym or open track
020sometimes is a good place for students to meet up but that becomes unavailable sometimes with um things that happen during advisory and other like moments like that. So we just want to open up the opportunity for students to actually informally communicate in uh physical and maybe even uh other spaces. And then um some findings from uh studenttoteer uh conversations. We found that students also wanted to communicate informally with teachers. Um many had felt that Gmail um was just like too formal. They had to like write up a whole paragraph and explain exactly what they wanted to to like let them know and you know a big thing just to like ask I don't know when something is due or if they have a test next uh next class or anything like that. So we felt
021that um platforms like Google chat or other things like that were informal ways that people were able to communicate in the past um and things like that would be uh like very um well to implement uh in the future. So like things like reach my teach or even like um some kind of announcement channel uh where admin can post certain things that are happening within the school around like um during advisory or uh free periods or anything that is important to students um to get in more information out there of like extracurricular activities or things that are happening within the school. So it creates both informal for students and teachers but also creates a form of communi communication between students and admin as well. Um we also noticed that students feel a disconnect across uh
022individual teacher policies. So this happens between different classrooms and things like that. Um especially talking about like uh the phone use in classes. Um I feel like the varying um policies kind of uh creates like different intentions for students um when in a certain class period or anything like that. Um so we are currently exploring uh individual classrooms and trying to collaborate with teachers to kind of figure out an idea of like uniform uh policy that might work for every uh teacher so that students don't feel like different about certain class periods and can like focus when needed. but also have like a way of informal uh like communication or informal like connection with teachers. So in addition to um finding disconnect between students and their teachers, we found that there was also students feel
023um a disconnect between them and admin. So, we found that students feel that their opinions are not taken into account um by admin and the decisions they make. And we kind of found that this causes a cycle of students not wanting to share their opinions because they feel like um even if they share them, they won't be taken into account and um things won't be changed by admin. So, in order to kind of break this cycle, we um kind of like everyone else talked about are trying to implement other action steps that will help students voices be heard and um create tangible change. And um additionally students we found that students are also um unaware of like how um decisions and changes are being made and um where to voice their opinions. So um students
024don't really have an understanding of um what decisions come from the state or from individual teachers or from you guys. And we found that um if we create a way to sh um share where those decisions are coming from then students will have a better idea and um it will positively impact school culture. So, something new we did this year was we hosted teacher conversations in addition to student conversations um to kind of broaden our um body of people um we are hearing voices from. So, we found in these teacher conversations that sta staff expressed experiences of varying uh department and admin admin policies and a lack of connection between staff. Um, and we found that staff um had varying experiences with policy and student responses. Um and a possible action step we found was
025um while student leadership primarily focuses on students, we're also trying to gather these um teacher voices and um do similar steps we do with student conversations to implement action steps that will help teacher communication as well. And this will be kind of done outside of student action to not take away from um what we do with student connection and but we're we will try and find the time to focus on this these student or these teacher conversations to see what we can do with them and what um we can find and if this is something we will continue to do. Sorry, excuse me for a second. Um, so I guess like the big thing about like that we're trying to answer is like why does this all matter? And so like a big thing we've
026been trying to focus on like as people have earlier have mentioned is that like there's really a big disconnect between like what students are feeling and what's actually happening where students feel as though like their decisions as many said before like isn't being heard or taken into account. And so like we really and so then that means that they're not going to share their voices. And like this year we kind of really struggled with getting students to participate as it feels as though they're nothing's going to happen. Nothing's going to change. And so then when these changes don't happen then it really reinforces the idea that like talking to us or really like trying to see if anything will change is like not going to be an option. And so we're like we notice that
027this is really like a self-feeding cycle and we're really trying to like kind of cut that. um like the snake off the head I guess and really trying to show that like students voices really matter and how like like there's really I guess the really big thing is that there might be a gap like the gap will widen and how students will feel as though like to like I guess might resent admin and so we're really hoping that like any a like any actions that might like I guess widen the gap will be like taken more into consideration and I guess really the big thing is trying to figure out how we can um like make sure students voices are being heard as I believe that like as you guys are really trying to hear
028from student voices but I guess sometimes when students might not share how they're feeling it's really hard to gauge whether or not the decisions are the right decisions or whether or not they're working correctly or as intended and so that's really a big thing is trying to I guess really root out the negative emotions the students are feeling and really trying to create those action steps that students can feel empowered by and I guess like the next steps. Um, right now I guess like as everyone has said, we're really on the action step. And so we're really trying to figure out like how can we truly express that students voices are really being heard because they are being heard, but students a lot of students have expressed that there's no tangible effect. And so we
029really want to figure out how their voices are being heard and that they really do matter to us in the school. And uh, thank you for your time. Uh, any questions for the team? Uh, Anna, thank you so much. That was really interesting and um I just very much respect the work that you put into this. Um, I learned a lot. Um, one of my questions was around the finding of with students that they felt a lack of informal communication options, which I thought was uh, yeah, really interesting and noteworthy. Um, I'm wondering, you know, I think with the cell phone ban, one of the things I've been thinking about is that's such a huge communication tool for everyone, but particularly high schoolers. Um, and so with the ban going into effect, like I personally
030feel like we need to do something else um around strengthening informal communication while at school. Um, and just because we're taking away something that you know is you're used to using for socializing with your f talking with your friends and all the things you do. So, um I'm just wondering, you mentioned using physical spaces as a possible um solution, and is there anything you feel as if the board could um help with or support with in terms of uh utilizing a physical space in a better way to have students be able to have that socialization time? Well, um I mean I think you guys are like doing a pretty good job. I mean, uh let's see, how would I answer this? I guess it's like I think we already have like the available spaces, but
031it's really trying to figure out like how can we safely use the spaces as like a lot of students sometimes there's always those couple students who are like ruining the experience for everyone else as like the FPAC lobby. Usually it's like it used to be a fun space to be around but usually students can't be. So I think it's just like figure out like how can we sa find provide safe places for students. Um but also like giving them the freedom that a lot of students want to have. And so I think that I think I think it's really just more like a school thing that kind of needs to be I guess teachers and students really need to tackle because I think we already have the space to do it. Um just thinking about
032space and when you were talking about the spaces, one of the one of the priorities when the high school was renovated six years ago now I guess um was to create some some of those spaces and then I know when COVID came we kind of had to close off a lot of those spaces because you weren't allowed to informally congregate. Um curious if those this might not be a question for you but more for Jen around whether those spaces have reopened to students. I mean because that was that was kind of a design perk that I'm not sure we ever fully got to um take advantage of before they kind of got shut down. >> Um yeah, that's a really great question. Uh I'm someone that definitely uh like uses those spaces throughout my day,
033I would say. Um, I come to the library a lot, but one thing I do notice is like because we also have the orange passes and I feel like teachers are definitely a lot more strict about leaving class or like not even leaving class, just like using that their free time either study halls to go. Um, and there are also like uh like the science wing, there's some tables out there. Uh, I like I've definitely asked to go out there sometimes and teachers will just like be like, "No, I can't allow you to do that." Not because they don't want me to be or like other students to be able to do that, but like it's kind of hard because it's hard to have those spaces when there's not um like supervision and they definitely
034like always want students to have a teacher around. So, I guess having that is hard and also having teachers to like watch over those students. So, I definitely like to see like more of those spaces be open to students and like trust that they can be productive and use them well. I guess Annie did a great job. She basically answered for me. I think um one thing that I just wanted to know and I also just want to share how proud I am of these students behind me and what an incredible job that they've done. Some of them have been on the team for three years, four years and have just done outstanding work um and have really changed the way that we listen to students and and um engage students in conversations. I think
035one thing that's a challenge for me which we actually only got to talk about a little bit is sometimes the conflict between students perspective and parents perspective because the last time that we did a survey we had an exorbitant amount of parent feedback saying that they wanted tighter protocols, more safety in hallways, more supervision, questions about the bathrooms. For those of you who have been on the board, you've known how many years we've talked about bathrooms. This year we have not because we have hall monitors and we have digital passes and when you go into a bathroom it's something I would love to get some feedback from students. Generally there's not a lot of people in there. Um there's still issues there but so there are some places as Michelle mentioned the renovation was actually
036nine years ago which is crazy. Um, so there's some places like uh it it used formerly known as the 700 wing, which is the social studies wing. There's like a kind of al cove of windows. Um, we don't have any supervision there and we're really struggling. Our custodians were struggling because students were there and they were not listening when the custodians were asking them to leave. The FPACK lobby is a wonderful space. We don't have any supervision there. So, it's this balance. What we what we will start to talk about is what are some solutions to that? We have the ability to go outside for open track and open gym because we've set up supervision every day. So, are there some possibilities for teachers to volunteer to supervise some of these spaces such as during
037it would be a little bit hard during the class periods, but during advisory, we have this wall right behind you is the Zen room. We struggle a little bit to have that supervised but we moved it here so it would be connected to the library and really it's under been underutilized. So I think we can get more creative but it is a factor for us to balance those two things. How do we maintain supervision and safety but allow students to feel like they have some flexibility? We we did have some questions this year about open campus. I think the students behind me would say that that's a very important part of our culture for students to have uh 11th and 12th graders if they have demonstrated that they're successful academically that they can have open
038campus and then they have the option of where they're spending their time. They still cannot hang out in unsupervised locations in school. So, it's it's some of those things that we have to manage um competing priorities. Uh but I definitely think their research this year has made us think a lot more about how instead of just saying we can't do this, how do we think about are there some ways that we can do this? >> Michelle, >> okay, >> I just want to echo. Thank you. Um, and also, um, I found the, I guess, disaffected youth portion really relatable. As a former disaffected youth myself, um, I I think when you see people in their middle age, it's hard to think about them as also having been teenagers at one point. Um, and so I
039I really relate to them, the students as as a whole of feeling unheard. Um, I would like to potentially give some fodder for that as is I know that I personally was swayed to be more liberal with our cell phone policy after hearing from the students after Maria went to RSU1, after we discussed those pouches and said maybe we don't need them after all. Um, so I would point to that as a voice being heard um for the student body to to know that their voices were heard, that we asked and were answered. Um, that it's not always a losing situation and that it's worth at least saying something because it you could affect change. Um, and that's a hard example of or not hard like unfortunate but hard like concrete example of it worked.
040So, um I think it's a lot easier to understand and relate to those times when you've created change when you see it happen. And so, um I would encourage you to share that back to the students. >> Can I say something? I think that's something that we're that we really want to work on. Like that was something that we mentioned in our presentation about like students aren't aware of how this is happening. Like I didn't know that until you just said that just now. So like I think that that's something that we want to work on in this whole theme of communication is like what are the students doing like saying that students did come to the board meeting the board did listen to them and here's what came out of it. I think having
041some kind of outline or something like that that students know what happened with what they said would be really helpful. So thank you. >> Right. Another thing is like I feel like students are so busy nowadays. I can't hold this up. Um it's hard to like watch the board meetings. I would say they're all usually like about an hour long and I have to like hold this thing. Um >> they're very Oh my gosh, I can't get this. Okay. Um, yeah, they're pretty long. And even like 30 minutes out of the day feels like a lot for I would say like busier students. Like all all of these people here like are in so many clubs, so many sports and stuff like I don't think we really have time to like watch very long like
042reviews. So, I guess definitely some kind of um like anything online like maybe building a better website would be super helpful to have or like any type of platform where students can just look and like see um like decisions that admin are making or like just so it's easier to access. And I think it was perfect that you were here when we were talking about this before the meeting today during the Q&A was like, you know, you're not alone in the desire for more information, but without a ton of time to go digging and looking for it. So, um it is always a um it's a neverending battle on how do we share the right information, the right amount, how do we get it out to people for the people who are interested in it.
043Um and even the ones who aren't because they probably should be interested in it. Um it's it's just know you're not alone in that in that in that struggle and we are always trying to find new ways to do that and we are always open to you know any suggestions or feedback you guys have on you know what's a great way to reach you you know is it you know is it social media is it the website is it you know popups somewhere I don't know um but it's it's always a challenge um even for board members to stay involved and the idea of closing that loop around, you know, we said something and did anything happen with that? For me, the thing that resonated with me was the piece at the end there where
044you said, you know, we we don't always know the reasoning for the decisions, right? So, we might have an opinion. We might have shared that opinion, but we don't know that, hey, this came down from the state and there's nothing really anyone can do about that. Um, but if you didn't know that, you might think, well, I said it and they didn't care. Um, so I thought it was really um, thoughtful that you guys recognized that there's a lot of a lot of competing things that are at play and the more we can share that and I think that's one of the things about the the cell phone policy that we really wanted to to to make a big piece of it other than just know it's a, you know, off and away during the
045school day is is the why. Like what's the research? What's the impact? what are we what are we trying to um you know what change are we trying to affect other than making your lives harder because that's not the goal. So um I really appreciated that that was one of your one of your goals was to try and see the full picture. Sorry, Kelly. I think you said a lot of them already. >> Yeah, I think uh you you you reached a lot of my points already and I think that what I'm hearing is there's sometimes there's a disconnect between the intent and the impact and how it's received and I'm just thinking um from the administrator's point of view and and even from a board point of view like what can we be doing
046to to make the receipt of this information the impact received in a way that that you feel heard. And so, um, obviously explaining things so that they we understand reasoning is really important. And so, I'm sort of curious to hear from the admin side of things how you feel like you're already trying to address some of these concerns. >> Do you mean how are we trying to address this communication gap or are you talking about specifically policy? >> Um, not one specific policy, but just in general. Um, obviously, you know, trying to help people understand when we make a different decision than the one that you might have wanted for for to us to make for you. Um, h how do we sort of help people understand that we are listening and we're we're trying
047to in include your voice in our decision-m? >> It's a great question. I as our team, I don't think we've talked a lot about how could the board do that. We've really tal thought about at our school level. Um, so I appreciated Valerie's example. I think something recently that just happened, I shared with the board uh or sorry uh the student reps shared with the board uh when we were talking about what what information for the updates was that the week before April break, we had a workshop for students with a group called prevention action change and then we had a workshop for teachers. Uh and the workshop for the students was with um student uh advisory leaders and student council members and class officers. Our wonderful team had missed too many classes. So they
048were respectfully asked not to participate in miss class for that uh workshop because they were working on um this data and some other things. uh and so those students what and I think that this is something that comes directly from you know these students get a lot of time with me too and I do a lot of listening of this team I'm their notetaker when they're leading their meetings and uh helping them with whatever they're working on but a past Monday I asked all of the students who participated in the workshop to come back and meet again during advisory just to share their feedback on the workshop. And I was very clear with them that later that afternoon I had a meeting with a faculty team and their input was going to that faculty team
049to decide what we do next. And I think you quickly see a response from kids. They were much more engaged in that feedback. There was a Google survey and then a discussion in small groups because they knew exactly where that feedback was going. And I think a lot of times we as adults decide what the assemblies are. And so an outcome of that workshop might be that the students say we need an engaging workshop where students know why we're doing this. Why is it important to be an active bystander? And the whole school is participating. That's just not something we've done. We've really done a lot of adults driving um the planning of those things. our student advisory leaders plan what we do in our advisory workshops um or um individual advisory activities. But so
050I think to your question, we're trying to say in really concrete ways that this is how we heard you and this is what we're doing. I think our beloved students have been very clear with me that they rarely read my emails. This team does, but so I know that that's not the most effective way. We've struggled with I I certainly hear the pros of Google chat and you can imagine that that was disabled because there were a lot of cons to using Google chat during the day. And so I think we're really trying to see how can our students understand these tangible impacts that they have. One of the things that this team has worked on which I I think has gone well is for them to share out with students here's what we're doing
051with what we heard and then for me to be doing that and then to find ways um for decisions that come from the superintendent or come from the board. How do we get those out in a way that makes sense uh and that students will read it and hear it and know that? And I think this team, whoever is the members of this team next year and the rest of this year can help with what's the format for that. They communicate very differently. >> So just to follow up with that on decisions like the cell phone policy where we did hear a lot of impact from students, but the board ultimately decided to go in a different direction. I I can see why that would come across as us not listening to student voice. Um,
052is there even if it's in an email that they don't read, is there feedback coming from the admin side sort of trying to explain rationale? I I think that we are constantly trying to do that and but again this kind of tangible piece is that we've opened it up to the whole school for all three grade levels who are staying. We didn't our beloved seniors are about to leave us so we didn't include them but that any student can join the cell phone committee and hopefully we're getting out the word that we don't have a a a process that we're trying to convince them of. They're going to be a part of designing the process that falls underneath the um parameters that have been set by the board and by the state. And I think
053what we then need to figure out it it has become very clear through my work with this team that student leaders have direct access to me. These team members had me in a van for five hours as we drove to MIT and they can ask me anything they want. And it's finding out ways for other students who are not student leaders, who don't feel like they can just, you know, come into my office and say something or talk to me at lunch about a a question that they have that's not immediately related to whatever we're doing that day. And I think trying to find venues for that is going to be really important. And how do you get the message across that um because we didn't agree doesn't mean we don't hear each other. And
054I think that we are constantly working on. We work on it as adults, too. >> That's great to hear. Thank you. >> Well, first I just want to say excellent job. You are all leaders and you're showing what true leadership looks like. So, thank you for that. Um, I'm I was reflecting earlier before today's meeting on how we can better let the community know that we hear them. And so this is timely. This is very related to the the idea of making sure people know that that you are listening. Um, because we get a lot of input. uh we have received re received a lot of input this year and I know that we all very carefully weigh that input but we don't communicate that very well. I think we we probably could do a
055better job of of um helping them feel heard. And that will certainly be an important um thing to consider over the next year too, the next six months to a year is making sure that even if we're not making decisions that are what um folks in our community want us to make, um we have very carefully weighed their input. Um, so thanks for for allowing us to have more of that conversation tonight. >> Um, our group leader talked about this a lot, but she'sn't here tonight, but um, we were talking about how our our senior we feel like our senior class this year is really well connected. Like we have we have a group chat on Snapchat of every single person in the senior class. Um where there we send out like our class president
056sends out stuff about events that are happening for seniors. Um anything that like seniors need to attend like senior fees, anything that needs to happen. Um we also have like a student council Instagram page that has been really helpful. Um, and in the past we've had quite a few like problems with social media and like people being rude on social media, but I feel like this year it's been a lot better. Um I I'm not if someone else wants to talk about why I'm not entirely sure why that happened I think but um >> but um I feel like it was a like noticing that we had a good way of communicating with everyone and having kind of that connection between every single student um was really helpful in like getting things across. Ross and
057could be a place of inspiration for grades to come and just like the school culture in general. >> Yeah, I think you guys I mean you guys have taken on a lot. I mean you're like oh it's it's just communication and connection. That's everything, right? Like so much of of what makes a school like a place you want to be is that communication and that connection. And you guys have are tackling it from all sorts of different angles which is highly commendable and super impressive. And I mean not only you know the student to student and student to teacher and admin to student like you're trying to help the teachers connect with each other. I mean hugely aspirational. So um every time you guys present I'm always uh highly impressed and today was no exception.
058And uh please tell Phoebe that we expected her here this evening. She promised us she would be back for this. That's why we let her get off the board. Um I'm just teasing. But um but thank you guys very much. This was great. I just want to add something to They might have something to say before we um walk away. Um, I just wanted to remind the board that we are incredibly grateful for the board's support because our budget has included funds to work with Jennifer Chase who has joined us at some previous um, board meetings. Um, she leads the source school and she's connected to Cortico and the Center for Collaborative Communication at MIT. We had the opportunity to go to MIT again this year. So, um, and it's incredibly, uh, inspiring for us
059to be there, but also the fact that we are the first high school that connected with the center for collaborative communication at MIT. Um, and so we are able to continue that work. The way that they code the data and the platform that they use is supported by MIT. we are able to connect with um some of the graduate students who do their research there. They've worked with our students. We actually were able to hear some of the graduate um project presentations when we were at MIT. And so just wanted to remind the board that we have had financial support to do that um and are very very grateful. And um Jennifer's support for us has been outstanding. Um, I wanted to say one final thing kind of to your previous point about like how
060we're taking on like a really big topic. And I think one big thing that we kind of realized this year that's kind of shaping how we look at things going forward is kind of we can't fix anything else until we fix this. We've taken on definitely different topics throughout the past years, but they've always kind of tied back to this general students aren't being don't feel like they're being heard and that's changing how they interact with us and how they interact with admin and everything. And definitely we need to address this general topic before we can fix other things. Thank you. >> All right, you guys. Good. Well done. >> Thank you guys. Okay. So, I believe we are moving on to item 12. Yes. Our weighted values. Indeed, we are >> workshop. Okay. >>
061Well, hi everybody. >> Okay. So, the students have done a great job sharing their perspective and now it's your turn. So, I want to just share a little bit about what you have in front of you, what has gone out to the public. Uh this is an exercise that I adapted from several exercises that I used to use when I was a teacher. And the original genesis of it was decades ago when as I think I've mentioned at a certain point in time I very early in my career we had an empowerment initiative at Camden Hills High School where I was teaching and I was sent along with another colleague to become a certified ethics trainer and then to work with both students and faculty around framing conversations around ethical values. And a large part
062of how you then get from identifying values to decisions based upon them is to how figure out how to contend with values that come into conflict with each other. So that's how I'm hoping that this conversation will be framed. So um all of this is in your notes but for the benefit of those listening um this is so that the board has an opportunity actually let me take that back. This is for the public to have an opportunity to hear the board process this weighty conversation and whole set of issues that were came to the four when I presented options back in February. Um, as it states in your packet, this is a discussion about values. You're not voting on anything tonight. This is not a decision about anything. It's a chance to share your
063thinking, hear the thinking of others and um perhaps through conversation allow your thinking to change over time. Um anything anybody expresses is legitimate. Um the goal is to understand each other and to f more deeply understand yourself. And if I think about something, if I paraphrase Socrates, you are both you are all through disagreement partners in reaching the truth. So there's no this is not intended to be an adversarial conversation. Um so when we get to the share out point, please listen to each other without responding and then discussion will come after that. Please speak for yourself. TR um you are elected officials representing constituents, but this is really a time when you are presenting as you and um remember that it's a public meeting and we're all on camera and it's all going down
064for posterity. So you have a worksheet in front of you. So, where this starts is with some silence. And maybe you've already done this, a dry run of this on your own since you've had the materials ahead of time. But, um, I'm going to ask you, even if you have done a dry run, to go through it again. I don't know that it needs to take a ton of time. But, this is for you to look at the priorities that are listed, but also to identify any that you feel are missing and to weight them. and then to identify your top three. I hope the instructions are clear. So before we go through before we begin that, are there clarifying questions about how we want to handle this? >> So um I guess and and
065I don't know if my questions about the waiting are similar to our our uh public comment earlier, but um is there any target like we shouldn't make them all fours presumably, right? or we shouldn't make them all what there's no prescribed how many fours, how many three like should we try to evenly distribute things should because if everything's important then >> I don't think I can answer that for you but I I would say the point is these are competing values and often they don't fit easily into the same space. So it's to really get you to recognize what comes up against what as you can consider the decision in front of you. Okay. >> So, you you can all read and this has all gone out to the public in the board packet, but
066just be because some people out there listening may not have that in front of them. So, the ratings that the board members will be using are to list something as a one is a relevant priority, but it's a low priority in this decision. A two is moderately important. I want it considered. Three is very important. Should be weighed heavily. And four is essential. I would be reluctant to support a decision that compromised this value. And then the values that are already enumerated here are student educational equity, quality of educational programming, early childhood investment, middle school experience, community and town identity, financial sustainability, operational efficiency, minimizing disruption to families, equitable distribution of change, and long-term enrollment sustainability. So that's oh sorry there's a couple more um staff and professional community and transparency and community trust and
067then there's space for board members to add their own. So as you can already tell there are lots of factors to weigh in this in this decision. So, what I'm going to ask you to do now, if you wouldn't mind, board members, is to take take some time. I've allocated 12 minutes. Let's check in after 12 minutes. I think that if I were advising you, as I would advise a class, don't overthink them because if you overthink them, you may actually disrupt your thinking. So, just go through it. Rate them how you rate them. You're not going to be bound to this forever, but it's a starting point for you to think and to talk. So, I've got 7:33 on my clock right now. Let's go 10ish minutes and I will check in. And I
068know that the instructions I put here said maybe I'd play peaceful music or something in the background. I will refrain from doing that. Although I will tell you that if I were in my history classroom, I would either be using a soundtrack on YouTube called Scottish Moors or I might be using Skyrim background music, which is really, really good for thinking. But >> I mean, I've got my laptop, but >> Tom, do you have a preference of which one we fill out that you're going to take, the blue or the white? >> It doesn't matter. I just wanted to make sure you had a copy there in case you left one at home. I mean, we actually had that conversation for our evaluation system. Um, I mean, you can do a 0.5 if you want.
069How's five more minutes? Okay. Okay, we'll wrap this up in just a minute or two. Okay. So, where I'm hoping you'll be at the end of your individual reflection time is that you'll have gone through and ranked or weighted each value with a one to four. And then you'll put a check next to the three that are your most important. And that's what we're we're going to go around and ask about what your three most important ones are and what weight you gave them. And then there's reflection questions which I hope you've had a little time to think about and those will be what frame the discussion and um we'll just go from there. So I'm going to start with my left if you wouldn't mind and Valerie if you would just share which are
070the uh the three values that were your top three and how did you rank each of them? >> Sure. So the three that I ranked top were 2, eight, and 11. And I did, >> can you name those for me just because I as I >> So quality of educational programming. I also wrote an addendum to this one. I hope that's okay. >> Couldn't help myself. Um, I I wrote this also includes appropriate and sufficient accommodations for students with IEPs and specialized learning needs >> because that wasn't specifically called out and I thought it was worth doing besides MTSS which I didn't think was sufficient. >> Um, I I really wanted to call that particular piece out. Um, and then uh eight is minimizing disruption to families. Okay, >> I also gave that a four.
071um we have a broad spectrum in our district of affluent folks and less so and so I feel like this is a different framing of equity that I support. Um and then my last one is staff and professional community which I also gave before. >> Okay, thank you Anna. >> Okay. Um, I had a very hard time. At first I seemed like my top three values were one, two, and three. Student educational equity, quality of educational programming, and early childhood investment. >> Um, but then I realized that all of those things that I value so highly are not possible without value six, which is financial sustainability. So um for that reason that is my number one. Um and then uh my number two is quality of educational programming. Like Val uh I had a little
072indendum that uh all communities feel the uh overall depth, richness and rigor of what RSU5 offers students. Um and I very much like that MTSS was included there. Uh and then for number three, the early childhood investment. Um I just really think that our communities um would benefit and so much both working parents, parents in general and um biggest yet is the little people. Getting them to full day prek earlier um could just be a game changer. So >> did you give them all fours? >> I did. How did you know? >> Just check it. >> Thank you. Thank you, Chris. >> Um, it's it's hard not to give all of these all fours. So, you have to prioritize because like I think you said is you don't prioritize any of them, you don't prioritize
073anything. >> My um my ranking was two for quality of education. Um I feel like that's kind of the reason we're here. Um but I I think that's an incredibly important thing. Um and then 12 which is transparency and community trust. I think that the the people who are paying our bills and the people we are serving is important to be transparent and um and open with those people. And then for my third one, I I struggled quite a lot, but um I put community and town identity number five. And um I think that understanding that that the communities use their schools differently um and and how those schools are connected to the to that community is really important and they were all fours. >> All fours. Thank you. >> Okay, Malik. >> All right,
074so my first run through this I gave everything fours and we did everything top of the list. Um and I did have to go through many I mean I worked on this at home. I had to go through many times and I used my pencil because I kept erasing and um revaluing. Um but where I ended up is um number one, student educational equity. Um I think it is essential that all of our students um have an equitable education regardless of what school they are in. Um and I gave that a four. Uh my second was number two, quality of educational programming. Um I think that should be um top of list for our students. Um education is the most important thing we do. Um so that was my in my top three. And then
075I'm going to quote Anna. My third was financial s sustainability. Um because we can't do any of this work without um without that. And that was four as well. Thank you, Michelle. >> All right. I limited myself to one four because I could have given them all fours. So, my top one was number two, quality of educational programming, but I think at the end of the day, have my mic on. Sorry. Um, so my number one was, uh, my top choice was number two, quality of educational programming. I gave that a four. I think that is the core of everything that we do. Um, hard stop. Um, and then, uh, my other my other two to fill out my top three were, um, number one, student educational equity. Um, I think that's, um, incumbent upon
076us to make sure that that we are consistent and equitable um, and in all the ways that looks um, across the district. And for my third was financial sustainability. Very similar to Anna, without that um I can prioritize everything, but if we don't have sustainability, we're going to have to make choices we don't want to have to make. Um so I think that always needs to be at the top. >> How did you weight them, Michelle? >> Um I gave uh number two was a four and the other uh the other two were threes. >> Thank you, Kelly. Yeah, similar to everybody that I've heard from so far, my number one was the quality of educational programming for all of the same reason. That is our product. That's what we're here for. We want to
077make sure our students get the very best educational experience that they can. So, I did give that a four. My number two was financial sustainability. Um just because if we can't pay the bills, if we can't over the long term keep our taxes reasonable, um it's going to be really difficult to keep operating and keeping all of our neighbors happy. So that's really important. Um especially I think as we go into the future and we know that costs are going to continue to rise, we're going to have to make some hard decisions. And then finally, I really struggled with number three, but considering all of the conversations we've heard from the public recently and um some of the concerns from certain communities, I really felt like number 12, transparency and community trust, should be in
078our top three. Um because in the end, we're all neighbors and we want to all get along and we want this to be a joyous experience for our families and our students and it's difficult to do that if we don't trust each other. So, >> how did you um >> I ranked all of them four. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Thank you, >> Karen. >> Okay. Yes, this was very difficult. Um and hard not to give them all fours. >> Um and I actually have kind of a question because my first one is number two quality of educational programming. I think that is why we are here. Um, however, this the student educational equity to me, isn't that built into the quality programming? You would think I I I think they're kind of one and
079the same. So, I kind of feel like we should just lump those together as one. That's my feeling. So, that was my first one. Um, >> did you give it a four? >> Yes, I did. Both of those. >> Just trying to find a way to have four. >> Uhhuh. I am I am. Um and my second one was the transparency and community trust. I do feel like I mean we are all part of our community sitting up here. Um we do know what it's like to not sit up here. I think you know that we are an RSU5 so we are together and I do feel that is very important and I gave that a four. >> Thank you very much. >> Yep. And then my Can I do a third one? >> Sure.
080>> Um I have done a lot of thinking about what has been proposed and listening to and reading emails um of the community and I feel that my third one will be equitable distribution of change and I gave that a three. Thank you, >> Carara. >> All right, I have a tie, >> right? This was this was challenging >> is clearly sneaky. Um, my my first one though is number six, financial sustainability. For the same reasons folks have already said, it's the foundation. we uh it's a prerequisite really to anything else that we want to do. So that was my first and then I gave that a four. Um my second one was quality of educational programming. Um and uh I also gave that a four. Um and I I just remembered I have a
081question about number 11 staff and professional community. Mhm. >> I'm not sure if this includes staff voice and experience or if that would be another category because I I or if that is part of the community trust, but I feel like how do we value our teachers is uh is something that we might want to add. And I'm not sure how I would rate that. So I that could be part of our discussion maybe. >> Yeah. Um, so my my tie for third place um is student educational equity unless we can combine that with the quality programming, right? And and the transparency and community trust. I think that is that I value that significantly as well. So those both got um actually when I rated number one, student educational equity got four and the transparency
082and community trust got three. >> So that sounds like student educational equity and I don't have to bring out the thumb screws to make you decide. Moon. >> Um, I guess for uh the first I chose number two for quality of educational programming. I guess I thought that was like the quality of what I guess education that students are getting would be is kind of very important and I guess something that we talk about a lot. Um, so I gave that a four. >> Mhm. Um, and then I guess for number two, I guess I guess for my second one, I chose number six, uh, financial stability. I guess really to like as everyone has said, um, I guess like we can't really do any of this without like money and whatnot. Um, and then
083I guess I chose number 12 about uh, transparency and community trust. Um, and I guess I gave that like a three. Um, and I guess I did that because I feel like um everyone should have a like I guess opinion should feel like valued and I guess I guess for like more conversations to be um done and I guess for like decisions to be made I guess everyone has to feel as though like they can contribute and I guess feel respected I guess. >> Moon what what ranking did you give financial sustainability or what waiting did you give it? Um, I gave it a I gave it a three. >> Okay. Thank you, Steph. >> Going to try not to break the rules. Uh, my top value was student educational equity. Um, if we don't
084if everyone doesn't have equitable access, it's not high quality in my opinion. So, that's why that's my number one. I ranked it a four. Um my second is quality of educational programming. Um I ranked it a four also. And then my third value was staff and professional community. Um because I don't feel we can execute quality without that. Um and I rank that a three and a half. >> So I broke one small rule. >> That's okay, Lois. So for me, I think I took a little bit different perspective on this. No, >> imagine because since I've been on the board in February, the topic has been >> pel and what I've been talking to people about is imagine if it was the Durham Community School that was closing. You'd be up in arms. Imagine
085if it was more street that was closing and we were shipping all those kids someplace else. So that's my perspective >> and because of that my number one was number 12 which is transparency and community trust because I think we have to be talking about >> what the possibilities are. >> Did you get four? Yes. All three of mine got a four. >> Okay. >> And number two was community and town identity because particularly well Freeport 2 because I lived in Freeport for a while. Um the schools are the primary identity in my opinion of the towns. Durham has the getandgo and we have the school. Pel has the corner store which I'm not sure >> short stop and the school >> and the people hang out I don't know about panel but the people
086hang out in the Durham getand go and have their coffee every morning and that's it. And so to me community and town identity is the school. And then my third one is long-term enrollment sustainability. >> Um because although today we might have more kids than we did I don't know five years ago I've looked at that population but in five years we might not. And we might not partially because of the decisions we make tonight. >> Okay. But no decisions tonight. >> Not tonight. >> No. >> In in the in the next in the process few months. Sorry. >> So if I if I just sort of take stock of what I've heard so far, >> um I don't have averages tabulated here, but the the value that got the most dings was quality of
087educational programming. That emerges as a clear number one. Um number two is financial sustainability with six of you. A close second to that though is student educational equity. There are four. And then last f actually the second one is transparency and community trust with five of you. Um so and then the others are scattered around um the other indicators listed. So, what didn't get any votes or any mentions in the top three, anyone's top three, was the middle school experience, operational efficiency. That's it. Those two got no mentions and nobody added any additional values at this time, although that was an option. And it still is an option going forward. Um, we may even do this again if you feel this is useful when it's all done. So now it's time to just talk about
088this freely. So if you kind of look at your your prompter here, your instructions, I'll get it started, but this is really intended to just be somewhat free flowing. And then between Kelly and me, we are going to try to discern themes that that emerge when you talk about this and then we'll reflect those back to you. So any surprises? Anybody want to jump off of that? Is anybody surprised by something they heard or felt or observed when you went through this exercise? >> So, I'm going to say something that I know will be unpopular. >> Um, actually, >> a procedural thing. So, >> I'd like to I'd like to frame this as I likely would have a student discussion, which is Valerie is bravely going first. If you'd like to speak after Valerie, please
089raise your hand and Valerie will choose her successor and so on. And I may only I may only jump in if I notice that somebody's been trying to break in and just doesn't get called on. So when I speak as myself, not as board member Valerie, but as person Valerie, I grew up in a community in Maine. I grew up in Oxford Hills. My elementary school was a combined elementary school for two towns. So if I'm being extremely honest, I actually don't understand the uproar for Powell and I have to keep being mindful of it. Um because I do respect all of the residents in Pel and I respect their feelings and their outcry. I don't relate to it. Um which is a struggle for me. Um because we had two towns that shared a
090school my entire childhood. I believe it still is occurring. Um and I don't think my education was worse for it. Uh it increased my community. I had friends in both towns from a very young age. Um so while I don't Oh, I don't want a double negative here. So while I do value it, um I don't relate to it and I think that's why it scored as low as it did for me because I don't relate to it. Um that doesn't mean that I think anything less of the panel residents that feel so strongly. I hear them and I am considering their feelings. Um, but I confess that my waiting is biased because of my personal experience of having gone to a community school that was Multitown and not feeling negative for it. Steph, >>
091this feels like um a good time to share, unless I'm going out of order. My the value I felt was missing. Um and I typed and so I'll read because that's easier for my system. Um I said a value I feel is miss a value I feel is missing is RSU5 identity and community. And I believe we're missing an opportunity to to view community in a broader, more robust and strength-based way. Um, and when I think of how we as a collective community could um come together and view that as uh a unified, integrated, connected group of people um who really care about the education of our students, it that's I get start to get really excited and hopeful um and interested and I wonder what's possible. Um and so I I think that that's
092a value that I'd like to see considered. um it didn't rise to the top three for me because I think there's others that are more important, but um I think it's something that could be really helpful to start discussing as well. It's not a community identity that we've been discussing at all very much. >> Yeah. I just wanted to talk about the two um values that didn't get chosen at all. And I almost feel like that maybe part of the reason for that is that in my mind they sort of fall underneath um a couple of the categories that did rise to the top. For example, operational efficiency. Um I see that as part of financial sustainability. So I definitely want to make sure that that's captured even though that nobody mentioned it as one
093of their top three. I do think it is does fall under that other category and we definitely should be thinking about that. And then the middle school experience similarly I see that as part of the um student educational equity it kind of is a subcategory of that. So I just want to make sure that we are still recognizing that those are being captured maybe in our minds under these other categories that did rise to the top. Um, I want to touch upon something that Valerie said and something that Stephanie said and um, I really appreciate how you framed that you value something but you don't relate to it. And with that one in particular, I think it was the um, identity piece. Um maybe that's not actually the one though that I'm I'm thinking of.
094Um the disrupt the disrupt minimizing disruptions piece. I can I feel like I can relate or I have a little more compassion and empathy for the folks who have come and said that they moved to panel for the school. And that has been really hard to hear and think about that school not being there for them anymore is really um I feel really sad about that. How I valued it in this exercise was was rather low. I actually gave that one a two, the minimizing disruptions to families. And I think that um I'm looking that as change is disruptive and we will find out if change is necessary through the study. Uh but if we are going to be making a change, it can be hard, it can be scary, it can be seen as
095something that we need to avoid. But I would love to be able to look at it as you know instead of a negative disruption. How can we how can we find it? How can we look at it as a more positive disruptive change? And which kind of connects to what you were saying, Stephanie, too, which is how can we what can we then achieve together as a district? It might look a little bit differently, but how can we then value the district and uh what can we achieve together as a result of this change? How can we lean on one another and support each other throughout? But I think that we've heard a strong strong community from a strong strong community in Powell in particular and um I trust that we can that community and
096we as a district community can get through any change together and I I want us to be able to look at it that way. Were you looking to jump in, Anna? >> Oh, well, I was going to say this is where they teach you in teacher school to just give some awkward wait time for a little bit. Um, so the floor is yours. Um, that is uh a great point, Cara, and it really also ties into what Stephanie was saying about RSU5 identity and community value. Um, and getting excited for that, thinking about even if it is a big change, um, and kind of framing it in a different way. Um, two things that I noticed from the share out was, um, I felt we were missing a value of, um, staff and professional culture.
097That was pretty different than how I read the value listed in here of basically that being like teachers and staff want to work for RSU5. um they have good pay, good benefits, they value the parent community, and their input is respected and utilized, and they feel like they're working in a culture of joyful learning. Um that didn't make my top three because of all the others, but um I definitely thought that it should be included. And then um I also found it noteworthy that I was the only one that uh listed the early childhood investment as the top three. And I was just curious um how people were thinking about that. And I think for me it was also interesting that no one included the middle school experience because I know we've talked a lot
098about that as part of why we may need to look at a district reconfiguration. To me, the the quality of education really got to the middle school experience. Like, it needs to be of high quality. And so, that kind of took care of the middle school. For me, the early childhood investment is like a program we don't currently have. Both the statemandated IEP for three-year-olds, but also a yearning for full day prek. Um, so yeah, just curious other thoughts because I really do want to be open about um learning and changing my thinking. >> Waiting for you to call call on me. >> Yeah. >> Um, so I those were actually really high on my list. Um, and they I felt that they felt both kind of fell under that equity of education and quality
099of education. Um, which is why they weren't necessarily in my top three. Um, and I found that with the a lot of these values is that I can almost bucket them. Um, but with those two specifically, I felt like they were actually part of that equity and the the quality um, education piece, quality of education piece. Um, and I just wanted to um kind of go back to what Kelly said about the two that we didn't mention. Um, and I just that I agree with Kelly that they were they were actually really high on my list um but not in the top because again I felt like they fell under that. The middle school um programming just the the equity um of education and operational efficiency really I felt like it was part of that
100financial um sustainability piece. It's hard when you give us 13 values and only three choices. You how can I who's >> well and I I think I have to acknowledge too the win. So a a power in doing something like this is that it can it can be a conversation starter and it can be a way for thinking to start coming out. But then you run up against the limitation is that the thinking and the problem is so complex that these 13 boxes which are somewhat arbitrary are they can't be seen as the end point that they're limiting in themselves. And so it's just a way to get get it out and then hopefully we go beyond the way it's presented here. and Kelly. >> Yeah, I was almost thinking as I was going through
101through this exercise that I wished we had a way to maybe rank more than just the top three. like if we could have captured I don't know five or six of them or something just that some of the ones that that do fall lower on the list get captured and we don't lose track of where they do rank in the in the >> well if if it helps with that I'm going to collect all of your everything you wrote and we're going to tabulate it and I'm going to bring it back to you next time so the full the full results will get shared And I bet we'll talk about this again. >> I'm sure we will. >> So yeah, I I did the same sort of bucketing technique to, you know, and my top
102three ended up being sort of broader topics. Um, but I think part for me the the one I really struggled on was that community and town identity because I think community identity is potentially different than town identity and how do those interplay with each other and um sort of how I came down on on my ranking on that which I gave a two as important to be considered but not one of the top is when I think about equity I think there is a piece of equity in you Equity can be a lot of things. It could be the middle school experience, right? It can be access to the prek, but it can also be, you know, the ability to go to school in the town where you live, right? If two of the three
103have that but one doesn't, like, is that truly equity? And where do we draw the line on when we're weighing these things um on, you know, where does the benefit outweigh the the cost or the potential change? um you know the very similar to Cara around the minimizing disruption that was the only one I actually had as a one because I I think that is a byproduct of any change. Um and if we're doing it for the right reasons to elevate all of the quality and the equity and the change may be difficult um but if we feel like it's in the best interest of the district um that's disruption worth having. So, for me, it's important, but it's obviously relevant. Um, but it wouldn't it wouldn't keep me from doing what I think was
104the right decision for the district as a whole. So, Kelly, >> yeah. Um, we were having another conversation earlier about facilities here in the district and I was thinking about that as I was looking thinking about this community and town identity because we were talking about how much something would cost and what were the what were the co, you know, what is the cost versus the benefit and we don't know what the savings would be for any of these options yet. So it's really difficult I think to to rank it until you know exactly what what it would cost for us to do this or what savings we would have. So this is so it feels very nebulous at this point to be making to be having this kind of conversation because it it it
105is important but until I know what I would be giving what what would you be gaining what would you be giving up um it's it's difficult for me to wait that um yeah I I hear that and That's something I consider when thinking of early childhood investment. It's early childhood education and early childhood development is hugely valuable to me and I value that highly. But in the context of this exercise again I have thought that I would like to see uh us prioritizing before I guess before opening up early childhood outside of what's being required what's being asked of us and what is required of us. Um, I would like to see us feel more confident that we're meeting the needs of the other grade levels first. And that's what played into my um, ranking
106of that one. >> Can I ask about points of tension? So, um, where did you find a significant tension between values and how did you contend with that? Is there anyone here who feels comfortable talking about that? I mean, I think for me it was that that identity question, right? Because I do think I I did try to, you know, as Lois said, put myself in the shoes of like if this was the school next to where I live, would I rate that higher? Um, I don't know. Um, so for me that was, you know, like Valerie said, I understand it, but I I don't necessarily relate directly. Um, but I'm trying to, you know, leave space for that. Um, so for me that was that was the hardest one to to value. And as
107it relates to sort of competing priorities, I mean for me it's two and six, right? Like I would love to have every program, every opportunity, every every everything for our kids, but there are financial limitations of doing that. So to me that's always the push and pull of of the tension that we do every year. So >> yeah I um I'm surpris I wanted financial sustainability to be in my top three and I sort of in this exercise disallowed that for myself um because I too know and acknowledge that if we can't afford to to do things we can't do anything. Um uh so that was a tension for me. I continually wanted to put it top but sort of um gave myself that restriction um particularly knowing what's happening in Maine with budgets and
108infrastructure and also costs that keep going up and up and up. Um so that was a point of tension for me. Um early childhood was also a point of tension for me because I think uh there's like the short term and the long term there. I think uh if we invest heavily in that, I think our long-term vision and our long-term experience for students could be substantially improved if we can have earlier interventions and more robust programming earlier, which a lot of data to support that perspective. So, there's tension there for me. Um and then this is another um potentially unpopular perspective that I'll share my own tension with. I think we're in this and it kind of goes to the RSU5 identity and community when it's our job as schoolboard members to support educational
109experiences and equitable experiences for all students when we talk about town identity. There's a lot of tension there. Um and so I think that that's in inherent in an RSU. Um, and where the tension I feel the tension in particular is that especially when I'm holding financial sustainability, I don't know if it's the RSU's responsibility to maintain town identity. And so that's a a really hard um it like makes me almost want to cry. Like it makes me really sad to say that knowing and listening to all of the perspectives um and how important some of these town schools are to people. Um it's really hard to say that and like that's why there's tension there. So, um, yeah, because I I don't think that it's financially sustainable to as an RSU be providing a
110community resource. Um, it's our responsibility to provide education to all students in our district. Um, this isn't, I guess, a tension necessarily, but your your comment kind of made me think of one of the the values that I would have I would have tried to add and then um how that kind of incorporates into that. But one of the things that I didn't necessarily see on the list was the I don't know exactly how to word it, but the support programs that we as a district provide for those most in need. So things like our life skills program, things like our ESOL program, um things that are tangentially related to education, um but that for example a private school might not provide. Um, and so I think that those things are things that I would
111have ranked quite high that I don't feel like necessarily fits into any one of these categories, at least not neatly. Um, and that I would also use as an example of the RSU providing a community program um, outside of our community programs. um the RSU providing a community asset and a community program in addition to providing an educational program that I think is really incredibly important that the RSU continues to provide. So personally I think that that is the responsibility of what we're doing here um is to provide those community places and those community programs that support both those in the bottom as well as those that are doing you know doing well in our community too. So, >> so that last comment you made actually made me think of uh the public comment at
112the end of last week where we there was a panel community member who um I believe was child-free but wanted to participate more in the community and specifically the school and ways that he felt removed moved or ignored ignored um by his community and ways and wishing that he had been reached out to. So that I think that makes me think of ways the school district is a community builder, but also if we circle back to Steph's point of we're a community builder as an RSU. I mean, when I think of growing up, I didn't think of my elementary school. I thought of Oxford Hills. When I say that's where I'm from, I say it's not always my town. I usually say my region. But we don't have that luxury here because our region is
113the high school, which is Freeport, which is not Powell and not Durham, which we have that push and pull happening again where we don't have a unified identity of our three towns. The way Oxford Hills is eight disparate towns, but when you say Oxford Hills, everybody more or less knows what region you're talking about. >> Really? >> Oh, I can list. I mean, obviously list all eight. Um, so I think I know that's not included here anywhere, but it would be nice if we had a district identity that we could maybe also include somewhere of maybe taking a look at some kind of unifying identity. I for lack of a better word, identity that is shorthand besides RSU5, which is clunky to say. In a committee meeting we were in recently, I I said put
114in the U and RSU. Sounds like that's what we need. Sorry. Maybe you should have gone with an enter on this. Jenny says, "Yeah, yeah, it's kind of on the daily, but Lois, >> thank you. >> So is a different perspective than what you experienced in Oxford Hills. I grew up in Freeport. I grew up in South Freeport. South Freeport had its own school where the French school is now. We were then brought at the end of third grade to More Street. We did not integrate well. We went through school with our small little clicks and when we got to high school, Panel and Durham joined us and it was difficult for them and we made it difficult quite honestly. It didn't. There was no integration of let's all come together. Freeport remained Freeport. Panel
115remained Panel and Durham remained Durham. And I didn't really pay any attention to it until I became part of Durham. And so I think we need to be careful that we let the towns maintain their schools and don't artificially put the kids together if we don't have to. On the other hand, and this is something I haven't heard anybody talk about in the time that I've been here, and that is what I've heard is that it might be that there would be a lot I believe this is what I heard, there might at some point be a lottery to get kids without IEPs into the programs. and I'm not even going to say the panel school because that's not decided, but into the programs with IEP peers. I have a huge problem with kids with
116IEPs being segregated. If in fact there isn't the space for nonIEP peers to join, it becomes a special ed school or a special ed child development center, whatever you want to call it. That's a danger in my opinion. It's also not least restrictive environment. So, if it sounds like I'm against doing three year olds and four-y olds, I'm not against that. I have a master's degree in it. What I'm against is the segregation that comes along with it. And my it's my opinion that if each town has the opportunity to have a preschool or better yet, in my opinion, if services are provided to the local child care centers, the kids maintain that local community and still get their services. I just I don't want to ever think that it's going to become panels of
117special ed school. That's not a good picture for me. >> Thank you for that, Lois. I feel very similar to that. Um, I have a family member who was in a special education classroom but within a school that all the peers were there and I feel very uh strongly about that too, keeping kids with their peers um and not separating and segregating. So, thank you for saying that. I feel very similar to that and I feel like my tensions were around that town identity and the early childhood investment and I feel like we could find another way to invest in early childhood IEP um prek and still maintain identity of towns and I feel that's very important. I've heard so much and just have really thought very long and hard And my opinion has been
118swayed from potentially, yeah, that would be a great idea. And sometimes towns have change. And you know, like when I went to school, I was the the grades only went up to fifth in our elementary school. And over the summer, they added a sixth grade. So I was the oldest twice. I was in the fifth grade and the sixth grade. So we we rocked the school twice, which was great. But, you know, there are going to be changes within communities and within schools. I I think that we need to find a way to not make one town supercharged with change and other towns not so supercharged with change and I feel very strongly about that now. >> Yeah. Come sort of along those same lines, I was thinking about the tension between the student educational
119equity and the equitable distribution of change and the town identity. And it's easy for us as board members to sit here and talk about these the tension between these two and some of us have more or less investment in the question. And I just want to kind of keep in mind that there are 11 of us on this board and there's we represent, you know, we don't necessarily represent um or we do, but there are lots of voices out there outside of this board that we need to keep in mind and that's um why this process is going to include uh listening and an opportunity to hear those voices and and and get their input. And while this is one piece of the process, um there is definitely going to be ways for the community
120to also weigh in about these values. >> If I could say a little bit about that just um that picks up on a thread from the last meeting. Um, so there was a public comment at the last meeting toward the end of the meeting about where in this process we're envisioning community input to happen and I did go to Powell to the select board meeting there and amidst a whole crowd of people and assured people that a community engagement strategy would be part of the study. And so we've completed the RFP for the study. It's uh it's been put out there. It's on the school website now. It will be uh posted in the Portland Press Herald and the Kenbec Journal um on Friday. But what we have delineated is there's really two parts to
121this. So what we've asked for is that the study itself when they conduct it will have community engagement so that they can in formulating their recommendations weigh community sentiments and then after we get their report we've asked for a deliverable of uh suggestions for us to continue to pursue community engagement so that we can weigh their recommendations. So I just want to make sure that that's somewhat clarified. We have taken the feedback and we've we've tried to make that a robust part of this process. >> Can I ask did you say that they will be weighing the community input in their recommendations? So yes, in the first phase they we we've asked them specifically to base their recommendations in part on community feedback and then we have to consider put it out to the community
122what they've recommended. Okay. Well, we have about reached or exceeded the 70 minutes that we allotted to this. And 70 minutes sounds like a lot, but I keep coming back to when I was teaching. That's the the roughly the length of a class period. >> So, we're dismissed. >> Well, not yet. We have more things to do. Um, so Kelly and I are gonna We've have taken notes. Kelly's taken a lot. I've taken some. We will um we will go back and try to capture the themes of this conversation and bring them back to you and to the public at the next meeting. And when I say the next meeting, I'm noting in my mind right now, the next meeting is actually a very short meeting just before the annual budget meeting. It may not
123be next meeting. It may be a subsequent meeting before the end of this year. um when it's easy, when it fits into the agenda. But we will not let too much time lag. Um but I appreciate your participation in this and anything that you wrote down at the end of the the night before your executive session I'll collect so that um we can do our work with it. >> Is there a way to make sure Collins is captured as well? >> Yes, >> I'm sure he has some thoughts. >> Yes, >> he usually does. Great. Thank you. and thank you for this process. Um, this is certainly, I think, new to any board that I've been on and I think it was helpful to kind of have a framework and um, without a decision looming,
124but just a conversation. So, >> I hope it's helpful now. I mean, right now we're in the abstract. I think it's going to change a lot when you get more from the abstract to the concrete and you're up against the decision point. But my aim is that that will not be a cold decision. It will have been talked about a number of times and the thinking will have had a chance to shape and evolve. >> And it's a good opportunity to push back on us if we seem to be moving towards a decision that completely counters what we've said is important to us. Like that's a fair question to say like, hey, eight of you said this was really important. How does this fit into that? And maybe it's we've changed our perspective, but it's
125a fair question, right? So, >> all right. Yeah. >> I was just wondering, Tom, if you could comment a little bit on how you envision balancing this discussion with budget because just my past two years on the board, it seemed like the budget has just taken over. And I mean, we've had some pretty contentious budgets the past two years. So, I just it feels really hard to talk about anything else, let alone something as significant as this. Um, so >> I think that's a great point. I I think my honest answer at the moment is I don't know. >> But here here's what I hope. >> I really hope that we are set up next year to have a much easier budget conversation. I think you did a lot of hard work in the budget
126that you adopted and that and truly the hope is that that means we don't have that hard work later. Um I hope we have the study in hand before we get into the budget. Um now I hope we have it by November or December and then when I'm bringing a budget to you in January, you have had time to to chew on this already. Is there ever a time at this at this board for us to ask a question that one of the constituents has asked that I can get an answer from to take it back to them or maybe they're watching it? >> Not typically. Um, yeah. Yeah. I mean, are we talking about this or is this completely unrelated? >> No, it's about the reconfiguration, >> the process. >> Yeah. Um, how I'll
127ask the question. You can answer it or not. >> Okay. >> The question came up. If a child had um an IEP for speech and the speech recommendation was two times a week, would the child still be able to get services two times a week if the parent felt that the three that the five day full day if that's what it ends up being and I know that's a big question mark still but let's assume that it's a fiveday full day child facility. If the parent only wanted the child to get services for the 30 minutes twice a week, >> would the services still be available? Would the parent take the child to panel? Would the bus pick up the kid and take the child to panel >> or wherever it was >> or whatever
128or whatever. Correct. I've got it in my mind that that's >> I can answer some of that right now. >> Okay. I mean, I can't I can't there's so many factors that could weigh in upon that. Y I can say that if the IEP requires transportation, we would be providing it. If the I if the transportation is not in the IEP and they needed some kind of the parents felt they needed some kind of special transportation to and from at times when we're not offering regular transportation, that's not something we would necessarily provide. Um, and then in terms of I can tell you how we're offering FAPE next year for the four-year-olds, our offer of FAPE will be within our precase. So, in other words, if you want to take us up on our offer
129of FAPE, which is a fair offer of FAPE, it's you're in our preK. But I think like don't we have students now that like go to a go to say a private school but they qualify for those services? I believe that like if the parent wants to transport them for their speech twice a week they can do that. >> Um which I think would be similar to what they're asking. Yeah. >> Perhaps the way I took it was let's assume it's a four-year-old then. Yep. >> Because by the time the program's going, it probably the child probably will be four or maybe even older. But um I guess I think the question was is this if there's an IEP and the parent decides to only take advantage of half an hour two or three times
130a week to get the speech services that the child needs. Mhm. >> Does that child Does the child who takes the part-time services eliminate a spot for a full-time one or it can a come part-time and get the services they need without impacting a full-time? >> That those are great questions. I don't want to get too far out over my skis in answering them, but I can tell you what we're envisioning now is that students who we have to serve with IEPs would have dibs basically and that that any other students would be on a lottery system based on the space that we have available and we would not be forcing parents to bring their kids to school for anything that they don't want to access. So they would be able to choose the whole
131program or only the parts that they want to fulfill the IEP and because we have to provide that service by state law, we would have to give them a priority spot. >> Thank you. I think that will answer the question. >> Okay. >> All right. Uh All right. So, we did not have any new business. Um, we do have personnel. So, does anybody remember? Do I usually read all these names or do we just do it as a slate? >> Do I? >> Great. Do you remember, Kelly? >> I don't. >> She's like looking seen it done in other districts where I've worked is done as a slate. >> That's as as attached. >> Yes. >> Okay, great. All right. So, do I have a motion for consideration and approval to accept the nomination for
132the following personnel and to authorize the superintendent of schools to issue contracts for the 2627 school year for both the slate of uh educators for a secondyear probationary contract as well as educators for a continuing contract. Malik and Chris, thank you. Any questions or comments about what this is? So, our staff are on a two-year two-year probationary contract year to year and then once they finish their second year, they move on to continuing contract. So, then they don't show up on our agendas every year going forward. Um, all right. No questions. All those in favor? Opposed? Okay. All right. And Karen was absent for that. >> She stepped out. >> Okay. >> So 91. >> Yep. Got it. >> Not 91, 81. And she makes 10. Okay. >> Yep. All right. Uh so we are
133back to public comment. We did have folks that hung in there with us. So uh same rules apply. If you'd like to speak, we ask you come up to the to the podium, tell us your name, where you live, and three minutes for comment. Matt Alier. I'm from Panel, proud parent of three RSU5 students. Um, just a couple of observations. First, I want to express my gratitude for the exercise that you just went through. Um, it's hard to do. I I have no doubt and I see the deliberateness and care with which you're approaching this and I just really appreciate that. Um, a couple of things that I didn't hear. One is sort of I think subsumed into some of the things you did talk about, but a value or a consideration I think you
134ought to have is just certainty and flexibility going forward. um if the scenario two takes place or a significant reconfiguration happens, you can't unscramble those eggs, right? Um and there was talk about like full day prek or serving students who uh maybe are three and four year olds without an IEP in the future. And if those are objectives, would count fit as an early education center for 250 students or some larger group or would it fit for a full day? Um, and those are considerations that I think are really important. The other observation I'd make, um, I appreciate the sort of discord and and discussion around town and community identity and I personally put a lot of value in that. Um, I recognize just like Valerie observed, I have a lot of bias there. Um,
135and appreciate obser the observation of bias. On that point, I would note that it's not just town and community identity. It's a it's very closely tied to student educational quality, right? And I've observed this with my own kids who are shy and quiet and reserved and they've blossomed uh by being a part of a community school where they look around and see neighbors and parents who they treat basically like neighbors who they treat like parents and it's a really beautiful and wonderful thing. Um, and I think that's consistent with everything we know about early childhood development, right? Attachment theory is you start in the home and close and if you feel safe there, you move a little bit out and you get to know your neighbors and you get to know your community and then
136gradually you become comfortable the farther and farther out you go, right? Um, and that's how we currently have our schools set up. Um, and there's a question about middle school and how that will work. Um and and I'm all in favor of finding an equitable solution that ensures that Durham middle middle school students um adapt well when they come to the high school. Um I encourage you not to let that get in the way of sort of the early childhood experience. And my last point, um I I just want to reiterate that for Durham and Freeport students who are three and four year olds with IEPs, so our our sort of highest need students, um scenario two would involve at least 25 or 30 minutes extra of transportation time every single day. Right? So I
137just I I don't think you should lose sight of how important that factor is. 25 or 30 minutes a day for three year olds with IEPs unstructured on the bus. That can't possibly be what's best for the student. Thank you. >> Thank you, Matt. >> Thank you, Mark again from 196 Merrell Road. Um, yeah, I just wanted to piggy back on what Matt was saying. Um, and I tried to discuss that a little bit about the be at the beginning and I didn't hear hear it addressed too much, but to community identity, I mean, for me, I don't have it. I lived in like 30 different houses until I was 30 years old. So, that's not that's not something that I know or even would know how to value. Um I'm I'm I tried to
138um to point you to the RSU5 formation documents and I think that it is important for the board to consider these attendance areas when they're evaluating an option and it's not necessary identity is one thing that a lot of people do value and so that should be kind of a subriteria under that but you're talking transportation. So when you buy a house, like location is like the most important value that you that you put into it like and budget. And so yeah, you get the conflict. You don't get to have you don't get to live right downtown if if that's what you want. You got to live out in the suburbs because it's cheaper. But location is a super important value for a lot of different reasons. So being close to your school is pretty
139important. I just wanted to re reiterate that. Thank you, Mark. >> Hi guys, again, Taylor Steel from Pano. I was I think like most of us so uh inspired by the students who got up here. It's hard for me to get up here and I'm much older than them. Um, so I was so impressed by them and I think like we're all doing something really great by these kids, right? Um, this community and you guys and our staff and the teachers. Um, I think from if I'm going back months ago and hearing about the integration at the middle school level and the high school level as part of this this discussion and how do we better do that? um there are leaders in these in these communities these kids right and um I think how
140we can I I was when I was listening to them I was like this is what this is what this is this is they're listening they're talking how they're speaking to the groups the theater kids the sports the this what about the kids who don't have the that right and who are coming in and getting them involved and I think that there's a really great opportunity there to involve the students more um at the middle school level at the high school level as well. And you know, I have friends across all of the RSU and adjacent towns as well. Um, my kids are involved in sports and they'll continue to do that and the community, you know, we go to the farmers market and see people and it's a wonderful thing to to say hi
141in familiar faces. Um, so it's not for me uh the the hesitation of like more combining at an earlier age or coming together at an earlier age. Um, but really what what Matt was saying and that the early education and keeping the kids, you know, closer, less travel time, all of these things that are disruptive to their days and as their world expands, expanding that community um within the school as well. But just that the the these students at the middle school and high school level, I think there's a real opportunity there to leverage them and their incredible skills and clearly better public speaking than me. So that's thank you so much. >> You did a great job, Taylor. But yes, those those kids were very very impressive. So all right, do we do we
142hear from everybody for public comments? >> All right. >> Can I say one more thing? >> I just want to ask if you would commit to doing this again. I think this is such a great exercise and I think it would be really better informed once we have the data, right? I don't think there's much uh debate that if the study showed that there was like a 15% drop in the budget if we did if we reconfigured, we would all probably leave like like I don't think there would really be much question there. Um but I think once the data is there to inform you all, this will be a much more concrete discussion. So I want to encourage you to do it again. Yeah, thank you for that. Yeah. I mean, I think that
143one of the one of the reasons I think it's important to do an activity like this before you have all that is to like get out there and say like what's important and then when you to like I said earlier like if we chose a a path that's completely counter to everything we said tonight then it's a fair question to say like well have your values changed or you just you know when you're when you have a specific opportunity in front of you you just throw all those out the window and look at just money, right? Um, you know, not to say that financial sustainability wasn't one of the top ones, but you know, the I think I think it's helpful to sort of have the conversation in the abstract first and then put those
144those responses, right? Not that we can't grow and change and whatever over time, but kind of put those up against h how we're making our decisions with concrete opportunities in front of us. I think that's really where the value comes. I'm guessing that's why you had us do this. >> I mean, that's that's what I believe. And I if I keep coming back to the way that I used this as a teacher, I often used it at the beginning of a unit, at the end of a unit. If you're thinking of, okay, you're coming I I'll choose one. The communism in China, you think about you put yourself in the as a student, you put yourself in the position of a a a rural Chinese person in the 1940s. what's important to you and then
145you learn about what happened and you think how did what's important to you change um based on what what occurred and it led to powerful learning and good discussions and the learn the the learning of the historical events was far less important than learning to talk about them and think about why people make the decisions that they make. >> Kind of wish you were teaching history here. I >> Well, I just did. >> It's true. Thank you for that. We all We all learned something. All right. Um All right. So, I will move on to item 16, uh which is do I have a motion for consideration and approval to enter into executive session as outlined in one MRSA section 4056A for the purpose of discussing the superintendent's evaluation? Cara and Steph. Thank you. All
146those in favor? None opposed. Wonderful. Thank you everybody. Just a reminder, everyone needs to come out next week 6:30 for the annual budget meeting. Yes. >> If you leave all the things that you wrote on, just leave them right here. I'll collect them and then you'll get the purple folders. >> Yes. >> Okay. It