001a lot of different lot of different areas and I appreciate that and I wish her I wish her well. Okay, so um so we have one current sheet that will be there until they appoint someone new. Uh but we will get started with the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Okay. Do I have a motion for consideration and approval of the minutes from the December 10th, 2025 meeting as presented, barring any errors or omissions? Thank you. Second, Anna. All those in favor? opposed adjustments to the agenda. >> I do have an adjustment to the agenda. Yes. Item 12A, which is consideration going early childhood special education transition. Um I'm
002going to ask to defer that vote, but I do have information about that. >> Okay. Wonderful. Um All right. So we will move on to good news and recognition and we will look to Moon for for that report. >> All right. So to start off um juniors last Wednesday had an assembly to talk about mental health and like how to help your friend if they're struggling with mental health. um and kind of just we also put up information around our schools with um with staff members so students know who to go to and who to reach out with contact information but also outside resources to support mental health. And then on January 9th, uh, Freeport High School sent seven students to the main, uh, Thespian Festival, which is like a day for main high schoolers
003devoted to theater. And, um, two of them, uh, Honor Reagan and Nick Mallet, both achieved, um, superior designations for their musical performance, um, which qualifies them for the International Festival this summer in, uh, Bloomington, Indiana. So, that's fairly good. And then also um coming up on January 27th is our 8th grade family and student night. And so we hope to um welcome the class of 2030 and you know help offer them the courses that we have and hopefully we they have a nice smooth adjustment. And then uh last last couple weeks um the track team got some new school records broken and so we have Tyler Burns in the triple jump uh Brady Weber in the high jump and 55 meter hurdles. uh Lucy Huggin 800 meters and then the girls medly relay with Ruby
004Smith, Emma Graham, Llaya Hall, and Mattie York. And then lastly, um student leadership is planning next month um when I'm back on to share information of what we've been up to. >> Sounds like you're busy. And add to all of that midterms next week. All right. Well, thank you for that. Um so we will move on to item seven on the agenda which is public comment. Uh so we ask if we have folks that are interested in speaking that they come to the microphone. Uh they give us their name and the town that they live in and um keep comments to three minutes. I don't know if we have anyone who Oh, we have a list. It's coming our way. Thank you. All right. So we do have a few folks and um so yep
005your name, your town and three minutes and we will we will keep a timer. So if you hear it just uh uh if you hear it go off just try to sort of wrap up your thought um so we can hear from from everyone who wants to speak. So we will start with Hazel Superintendent Gray. Madam Chair, Madame Vice Chair, members of the board, and others gathered at this meeting. My name is Hazel Gallet, a Freeport High School sophomore and varsity player on the Freeport High School girls tennis team. I'm here today to encourage the proposal to allocate funds to resurface and improve the tennis courts of Freeport High School. According to the United States Tennis Association guidelines, an unsafe court contains any of the following: uneven surfaces, cracks, raised lines, discoloration, debris, consistent wetness
006or moisture after rainfall, tripping hazards, or other abrasions that would cause poor footing. Ask anyone who is on the team or anyone who has stepped foot onto the courts during the tennis season or off seasons, and they would account for seeing most or all of these unsafe conditions present. Since starting high school, I, like many of my fellow teammates, have developed a passion for tennis. From having a growing tennis community my freshman year to dedicating my time in the fall and winter to honing my skills for the upcoming season. However, I cannot truly enjoy the sport when I am worried about for my safety and the safety of my teammates the moment we step onto the court. From warm-ups to game play, we are constantly in motion up, down, and across the courts. As we
007are moving, however, our attention drifts from the play at hand to making sure we do not injure ourselves traversing the court. There are consistent cracks, dead areas, weeds, and fishies in the court where the grass has made its way through temporary sandfilled cracks that were used in an attempt during last year's tennis season to make our courts appear safe for game play. During the seasons, I am relieved to play away matches as the conditions of our neighboring courts, our neighboring schools courts far surpass the conditions of the courts at Freeport. I should be able to feel pride playing at home, pride in our team and the grounds we practice on. But I admit the immense relief I feel not having to consistently worry about hitting the wrong spot or stepping somewhere that could injure in
008injure me or my teammates. Injuries that were unfortunately experienced by many of my teammates last spring due to the inadequate playing surface. I do not think that any team should have to at the lineup before a match apologize for the conditions of their court, ask players to mine their footing, and if they feel the play is unfair due to dead areas of the court or large cracks, to replay a point. Let us also think about the reputation of Freeport High School. We pride ourselves on having facilities that are safe and available to everyone, from our well-maintained turf used for soccer, field hockey, football, lacrosse, and track, and our well-kept baseball and softball fields. And let us not forget our $17 million performing arts center and money allocated to the swim team to use clean, well-managed
009facilities at the YMCA. However, the same cannot be said for the tennis courts. Not only are they smaller than all neighboring schools that we play against with only three courts instead of the usual five, but they are by far the least managed and maintained grounds at FHS. How do we look as a team, as a school, as a regional school unit if our courts are cracked, broken, and a danger to the teams we host throughout the season and members of the community who take advantage of the courts to play with their children, friends, and partners throughout the year? How are we supposed to feel as a team when we travel to other schools who welcome us with tennis facilities that are well-kept, allowing us to keep our thoughts on the game instead of being worried
010about rolling an ankle or having to replay a vital point because of an unsafe, unplayable tennis surface. I stand up here today with members of my team and tennis booster association imploring you to allocate funds to resurface and improve tennis facilities. By doing so, you are providing teams, coaches, visiting schools, members of the community, and anyone who wishes to spend time outside active the chance to do so worry-f free. Give us the means to take our minds off injury and worry, and allow us to focus on playing our best and representing Freeport in both play and the grounds we play on. Thank you. >> Thank you, Hazel. Sophie. Good evening everyone. My name is Sophie White and I'm a Freeport resident. I'm standing here today not just as a tennis player, but as someone who
011truly cares about our team and our community. Tennis has given us more than just matches and practices. It has given us friendship, confidence, and a place where we feel supported and motivated. For many of us, the courts are where we unwind after a long day, challenge ourselves, and feel like we belong. Right now, those courts are holding us back. Because of their condition, our team is unable to train and compete the way we should. Cracked surfaces and unsafe areas don't only affect how we play, they make it unsafe to play at all. We're losing matches and opportunities. We're losing match opportunities and watching a sport we love and care about become a lot harder to access. This doesn't just affect our team. These courts affect are affected and used by everyone in the community. They're
012where kids first learn how to play, where families spend time together, and where people come to stay active and healthy. When the courts are unable to play, everybody loses that opportunity. We have committed players, dedicated coaches, and a community of play players that value the sport equally. All we are asking is for a chance to play safely and proudly on the courts that reflect the passion and effort we put into this game. Investing in these courts isn't only fixing concrete. It's investing in young people in the community connection and a sport that brings people together. We love tennis. We love the team. And we deserve courts that allow us to play. Thank you. >> Thank you, Sophie Phoebe. Uh, my name is Phoebe Williamson. I'm a Freeport resident. Good evening, members of the board and
013Superintendent Gray. For those of you who don't know, I'm a proud member of the FHS girls tennis team. And, um, I think redoing the tennis courts would provide immense value to our athletes, RSU5, um, students, and the entirety of the community. The reconstruction of the FHS tennis courts has been something that the school board and the community has been putting off for many years. And while I recognize the reality of the fiscal and logistical challenges with the project, the neglect of our courts has led to dangerous circumstances for our teams and the refusal of other schools to play us at our home courts. There will never be a perfect budget year for a project like this, but the furtherance of the abandonment of our courts will only lead to a more expensive and difficult project
014in the future. Not only does having high quality and safe tennis courts benefit the boys and girls tennis teams, but the entire FHS and RSU 5 community. Students in all four grades at the high school utilize the tennis courts in gym classes for various net games and spend valuable outdoor time learning sports that they can enjoy throughout their lives. Taxpaying community members also use the courts for pickup games and as an inexpensive and accessible way to exercise and enjoy the outdoors. However, our tennis courts can only benefit the whole community like this when they're safe and free from hazards, which is not the case currently. While it won't be an easy project and surely not a cheap one, the investment in our schools and community that these rep repairs represent is one that is extremely
015valuable to all RSU5 students and stakeholders. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you, Phoebe. Colin still holding out for your D1 offer for tennis. So, all right. Um Schedua, I'm sorry if I you you'll tell us how to say it. Hi. Uh, good evening members of the school board. Thank you for this opportunity to speak. My name is Schwa Gway and I'm a Freeport resident [clears throat] and I have never played tennis. U, but last year as a parent of a new tennis player, I decided to go to a boosters meeting and support my child and just figure out how the season goes. And so now you're looking at the new president of the tennis boosters. [laughter] And I bet some parents can figure out how that went down. Um, so but I'm so
016glad that I was kind of volunttoled into this opportunity because I had uh I feel like I had a unique perspective to see how hard these players work. Um the passion that they have and what a great sport and lifelong sport that tennis is. And I got to see, you know, kind of a behind the scenes um uh uh view of how um supportive the coaches are for the students and the players. So it's it was it's been a great opportunity. and I'm so glad that um it went down the way it did. Um tennis uh serves is a sport that serves a wide range of students. It's inclusive, promotes promotes lifelong fitness and provides opportunities for students who may not be drawn to contact sports. So, it's um really vital for our school um
017for mental health and well-being of our students. So, um, regardless to say, while maintaining expanded courts will really encourage participation, allow our school to host matches and events that reflect positively on our community as well as support the safety of our students. Uh, we are a fairly new boosters. Um, I took over in the second year and the boosters had just started the year prior to me. And so, um, you know, I have a great group of, uh, other parents that have volunteered to work alongside me and have worked really hard to support the students, um, and fund raise with a tennis tournament, pickle ball tournament, bottle drives, um, whatever we needed to do. And we are able to um hopefully support the the students this year um just in the basics of you know
018helping them with uniforms, possibly snacks for for the um the teams in between and travel um and you know the awards ceremony. So we're fairly new and we're working on getting the funds. So, um really, you know, I encourage the the board to um support the investment that's going to be made for the community as well as the students. Um thank you. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you. So, that was all that we had on our list. Were there anyone else that didn't get the list? [clears throat] Hi, I'm Molly Meyer. I'm the Freeport High School girls tennis coach. Um, thank you Phoebe and Sophie and Hazel. Thank you Schwa for speaking on behalf of redoing the courts. Um, you know, as this is on the agenda, I just wanted to give
019some context to this project for those of you who are on the board who have not been emailing and talking to with um, increasing frequency. So, um, I, you know, I started with the team last season, and what I found was a high school tennis program that had had a lot of coaching turnover in the last few years, um, some less than ideal conditions for kids, and a group of athletes that were hanging in there, were committed to tennis, but, um, had definitely been affected by what they had experienced as a team in the past. Um, we also had a significant number of athletes who had never picked up a racket before or had any formal tennis instruction. Um, we didn't have enough usable uniforms for the team, so we had to improvise. Um, the
020school helped us buy some very inexpensive tank tops. Um, the boosters club had been recently formed when I started. Um, and they had almost no funds to support the team. So we had to figure out how to have team dinners and an award ceremony with very little funding. Um luckily we now have a wonderful boosters in place and um we are increasing you know they are increasing the funding for the tennis program which I'm really excited to see what we can do with that. Um, but you know, sort of slowly over the course of the season with some new energy and attention and kind of thinking carefully about what these athletes needed, I think I and my fellow coaches were able to build a strong foundation of a program, um, a really positive view of
021tennis and team competition, um, and a true sense of community and camaraderie among the team, which I'm very proud of. Um, I I will emphasize though that this is just a foundation. Um, and in order to continue to build on what we have started, to continue to bring kids to the program, to have there be a viable tennis program at the high school, we urgently need the board's support. Um, anyone looking at the courts last spring could see they were badly in need of attention. Um, and by the end of our season last May, it was clear to me and clear to I think many [clears throat] of our players that these courts were not safe. Um and you know that has been borne out by you know a company that has recently declared them
022not safe for play for this spring. Um you know I I personally feel um relieved that we are not going to try continue to try to put our players on these courts and and you know not put them at risk of serious injury um for this spring. that um you know because of that over the summer you know we started talking about having these courts redone um I talked to Jason Chisum you know the facilities lead for the high school Glenn Reynolds um the facilities director of RSU5 and in August I met with the facilities committee um of this school board and we agreed on a tenative path forward to try to start redoing the courts um That path forward included an RFP process to select a company to start doing the engineering and design
023plans for the courts. Um, with some significant work by Glenn and his team, you know, we're very slowly getting that uh process off the ground. Um, I think it's important to note that it's not just the high school teams that use these courts. Um they're used almost continuously throughout the times of the year when it's warm enough to play and there's not snow on the courts. Um we have about 35 high school players, boys and girls that use the courts in the spring um starting at the end of March. They're also used by the PE department at FHS. Um the Freeport Middle School boys and girls teams use them in the fall and in the summer RSU5 community programs offers tennis camps and group group lessons on the courts. Um, and as people have noted,
024they're also used frequently by members of the community as they're the only public courts in Freeport. Um, you know, in my opinion, one of the primary missions of public education is to give kids experiences they otherwise might not have access to and to build skills and confidence that help them go out into the world. And I see these courts as falling into that mission. Um, you know, the kids of Freeport, Powell, and Durham deserve your support in moving this forward and funding this project. Um, and I really appreciate the board's work so far on doing that. Um I I will add that um the number that you're looking at right now from my uh understanding is not a firm number um for this design process and that um you know we may need to come
025back to you and ask for more money. Um, I think it is worth discussing whether we should table this until we have a final number for design and then come back to you for full approval of that amount. So, in any case, thank you so much. I really appreciate your time and attention. >> Thank you, Molly. Anyone else before we move on from public comments? Did see a few more people walk in. Okay. All right. So, uh thank you as always to folks who took the time uh and the courage because it's not easy to get up and speak at the podium. So, thank you all for that. Um your your comments are um are appreciated. Uh all right. So, we will move on to item eight which is report from the superintendent. >> I
026do have some u staffing updates to share with you. Um, we have some resignations. First is Julia Adamo, who is an FHS food service assistant. Um, second is Christine Lions, whose name is not listed in your packet, but Christine has been previously employed here in the high school as an edtech and more recently at the middle school as an edtech. Um, but is resigning as an edtech at the middle school to come back to be the JMG teacher here at the high school. And since that is a JMG hired position, that's why you have not approved that. JMG approves that, but um Christina is still with us, just in a different capacity. Um and I have some retirements to share. Nick Whitty, who is a Freeport Middle School ELA teacher, Reena Frank, who is a
027Freeport High School food service assistant, Carolyn Favro, who is an edtech at Mass Landing School, and Mr. Pitten at Durham Community School, has announced his retirement. he's going off to achieve the dream [laughter] that we all hope to get to someday. Um, I also wanted to talk with you about the district goal tonight um and leave room for questions about that. So, I have um something written for you about that um that I will also share with you later this evening. Um and you also have it in your packet, but we'll talk more about it when we're um meeting with just me. Um I hope you've had a chance to read this already. Um we have made steady progress toward the goal of developing a five-year strategic plan. Um, I hope and I do feel
028personally that the process has been comprehensive and inclusive and it has certainly been deliberate in trying to engage as many stakeholders in all of the district's towns as possible. Um, that plan is moving towards some concrete steps including um a portrait of the graduate, a mission statement, a statement of core beliefs and values which have received multiple iterations of feedback and will be coming to be presented to you soon. Um, the next part of this process is to actually start working on the plan itself. And that's something that will unfold over the rest of the winter and the spring. Um, so I'd like to leave opportunity now for people to ask questions about that. Can you remind us when the board sees that sort of interim step before the final product comes to us for
029review and approval? It's within the next few meetings. I think it's either the next meeting or the one after that. >> Turn your mic on. >> It's within the next few meetings. I think it's either next meeting or the one after that. >> Okay, great. Thank you. >> Other comments or questions on that in the meantime? Sounds like we'll be hearing more soon. Um I will say about uh the retirement of Principal Pittton. um a uh committee, a hiring committee is being formed. I know an email went out to the board and community members uh for those interested in being on that committee. I know there have been um actually a really good response coming in, but you still have a few days uh before the deadline, which I believe is Friday, to get a
030letter of interest in to be involved in that hiring committee. Um, so if anyone was just really really excited to be involved with that, um, uh, there are still a few days to get your name in for consideration. Um, but it sounds like we actually have, uh, quite a few people who have applied, so that's great. Um, but I just wanted to share that as well, what that process looks like. So for a principle um for for community members and new board members how that looks is um uh generally how our administrative search committees look they the position has already been posted in all of the places that principal positions are posted which Kelly could tell us I'm sure. Um but uh and so that's open through the end of the month. Um the committee
031will be selected I believe at the beginning of next week. uh that committee will convene for confidentiality training um and review of the application packets the first week of February. Uh and then we will have um the hiring committee will select uh candidates for first interview uh which will happen I believe the end of that week or the beginning of the next um and then there will be a second interview process uh and uh assuming we have a successful candidate that the committee and superintendent want to bring to the board uh it would come to the board for approval in February. I'm not sure exactly which one it would be because of the vacation week in there, but um >> we're we're looking to have this wrapped up before the break. >> We're hoping to
032have this wrapped up before the break. >> Lord willing and the don't rise. [laughter] >> Give that some thought. Um >> um >> I hear you, Tom. I'm I'm there with you. >> Yeah, [laughter] sounds like a literary reference I don't get. Um, so, uh, I just wanted to share kind of what that process looks like, um, for folks who may or may not have been involved in in previous hiring committees. So, um, all right. So, from there, we will move on to, uh, item nine, which is the administrator reports, and we are starting off with the 2627 Freeport High School program of studies with principal Gulo. I do have to say I did a bit of a double check. No, don't stop coming. I was just filling time while you walked up. Um, [clears
033throat] did a bit of a double take when I said you were excited to welcome and I heard them mention the class or Moon mentioned the class of 2030. >> What? >> I was waiting for that reaction. I was like, >> "Yeah." Can you do anything about that? Is there a way to fix that kid? >> I wrote that a bunch of times today. >> Oh, good luck to you guys. >> Well, good evening everybody. I'm Jen Gul, the principal from the high school. I have this wonderful cold that everybody has had and I've escaped it until now. So, I [clears throat] apologize for my voice tonight, but hopefully you can hear and understand me. So, yes, class of 2030. I wrote that about 10 times today as we prepped for this um family event.
034We're really excited for the family event, too. We made some changes last year to make it more of a celebration. lots of students um current students that come um and so it's really great. We have music in the hallways. The families get to tour the building. We have um tables with clubs and sports and organizations and the teachers and the guidance counselors. And so yes, I wrote 2030 a bunch of times. It was like we are really there. Um, so I'm pleased to uh share some information about our program of studies for next year. For those of you who have um heard me present this before, you have a couple of documents. One is the giant program of studies itself uh which outlines uh all of our academic programs, our grading policies u and the
035courses that we offer and including the course sequences. And then um you have the memo that I create each year. So it makes it a little bit easier instead of a fishing expedition to see where in fact we've made changes from year to year. Um and so what I'll do is I won't go through every single one of these changes. Uh because some of what we try to document is literally any of the edits that we make. Um what I'll go over I'm um certainly able to answer any questions about this document but I'll go over the major changes that are coming for next year. I will start by saying that there are some parts um we are early in our timeline of some of the surrounding high schools to present our program of studies.
036We do that because we ho host a curriculum fair at the end of January which is like a career fair or a college fair except it's um all of our own staff in the gym and each table uh has representatives from every department and the grades come down one at a time from the bleachers and are able to find out about the classes that we offer and meet teachers and answer uh excuse me ask any questions. And so we've backed this process up. so that I can share this with you so that that curriculum fair can happen and then we start course registration very very quickly. So um some of the uh information from region 10 is not complete yet. That was the point of me saying our our timeline um they are still uh
037discussing some things like the credits assigned to the courses. there are some new courses. Uh and so that information will be updated. Um I'll share it with the superintendent and um some of you who are in communication with the region 10 uh might know some of those changes as well. But anything that's added to this I'll share with the superintendent who can share with the board. Um, so, um, one thing that you'll notice, uh, on page 15, this has gotten a little bit more complicated for students and parents and maybe the principal to follow, is that, um, the our school counselors used to have a set group of the alphabet uh, with which they worked. The trouble with that is that um, it was very imbalanced from year to year. So there's not the same
038number of students from last names A to H each year. And so we have altered that from year to year. It's a little bit confusing uh if you're looking at the whole school, but the guidance counselors work really hard to make sure each class knows who their counselor is. Um but you'll see that there's a breakdown by grade that it shifts um from grade to grade. Um on page 17, one shift that we made this year uh that has been uh um somewhat of a project for us that we are happy about is that we used to offer a class here for many many years since I've uh been here called and before my time called learning lab which learning lab was the smallest study hall that we offered. um we had some challenges with
039turnover in that position and so the learning lab situation wasn't as strong as it had been when I arrived here at Freeport in 2015 2016 those school years. So we've ch we also along with the change of that course. This is the first year that our teachers shifted to teaching five classes instead of six which I shared with the board at the end of last year. We worked really hard with um Paula Roberts and our department chairs and it's in line with the vast majority of the schools around us that teachers teach five classes and their sixth class um is a supervision duty or what we now call Falcon Lab. And so Falcon Lab is led by a classroom teacher predominantly. It's an English, math or a science teacher. Um, we keep this section small
040and it is a really small and focused study hall uh that where students are placed in there for half of a block. And so we're capping those at seven which means that those students get a ton of individual support. But what's wonderful is because we have been able to schedule this every block of both color days. We started the year with 119 students in one of these labs which is great. I don't think the students think it's great. Um, but because they have to have a 76 or higher in every class to be able to have the opportunity to leave that uh that se um support class and go into a general study hall. What has been great to see is that there are some students who have earned 76 or higher in all of
041their classes and they have chosen to stay because they know that that class is very helpful. It's small, it's focused, it's short, it's 40 minutes, and they're cranking work out, and we're really proud of them for doing that. So, we're continuing with that. As Moon shared, we're excited, not well, lots of us are not excited for midterms. Some of us are excited to see the new semester come. Um, and so the new semester starts on Monday, January 26th. we look at grades very closely and see who needs to continue in these labs and who needs to be placed in there and who has the opportunity to leave. Um so we're really excited about that. Um with the overall goal of seeing a higher percentage of our students with a 76 or higher in all of
042their classes which is you know midc range. Um so uh so that is information that's uh in there as well on page se 17 and page 18. Um one revision on page 21 is um that needed to be added in there. That's an error is that you'll see um with the grading information about the honors band. Uh again, something that we proposed to the board last spring was to shift to weighted weighted and unweed GPA on students transcripts. This was something largely that students really wanted. Um and that is in line with schools around us. Um, and so there all that's missing in there is that it needs to say um that the range for sumakum laad is 92.5 to 100 plus because some kids will go higher than 100. Um, they'll have above a
0434. We don't really convert to a 4.0 GPA unless we need to a four-point scale unless we need to for college admissions or for scholarship because we use a 100 point scale here. But so with the weighted GPA um and the weighted grades, it can potentially go. We just had our student first student the other day reach um an average that's over a hundred. So just a little plus will be added in there. Um we're really excited on page 26, we've added an AP class. Um it is the only AP class that the College Board offers that's a semester course. Uh and this is called human geography. Uh and we are uh have not begun that class yet. We are actually offering it second semester this year. So that starts a week from Monday. Um
044and uh it's adding to our social studies. It's really uh an elective at the AP level. And so it's open to all four grade levels, which is great. Um they just have to have a teacher recommendation to get into that course. Um and students can take that in conjunction with another social studies class. Um we have um on page 36 we have made the decision to bring back a course that we called unified PE. Um, for those of you who are familiar with our unified basketball team, which is um some one of the favorite fan favorite teams at the high school, um where our students uh it's through the Special Olympics where our um students with either um uh physical or developmental disabilities are paired with uh other students to play on the team. That
045is the way that we run unified PE. We used to offer that class. We um stopped offering that class uh because of uh we had small numbers in our life skills program. Um our numbers have grown with students who have come in in the ninth grade. Uh and feeling like um that will be a great class to offer. And so that's offered to the whole school. Uh and we're hoping that that's going to be a popular option for for PE. Um we have um page 43. We have talked about this last year as well due to smaller class sizes. We shifted this year um that we will be offering um AP biology and AP physics on alternating years. Uh and so this is the year that um we have offered um that this is the
046year that we will offer coming up. Um AP biology and AP physics will be offered in 2027. We have AP physics in person right now. Um and so we have tried to advertise that to students so that they can plan their course sequence because they do that well in advance. I should add that at that curriculum fair, the students who are not on the floor visiting the tables are up in the bleachers working on their four-year plan. They come through this document. They're supposed to um come through this document. We have adults in the bleachers making sure that they are doing that and looking at this and then they have their own document. Um and so we let parents know and encourage them to ask their student about their four-year planner. Their counselor has a
047copy of it and they have a copy of it. it's digital and they can um make out a a plan for where they're hoping to take classes. And so we make sure that they know that AP physics and AP biology are every other year. And we're hoping we see enrollment grow in both of those classes so that kids aren't competing between those two classes which was resulting in low enrollment. Um we have uh a new elective this year um and it was called main field studies. However, we also have another class if you remember me presenting this that is called the Gulf of Maine Field Studies. Um, so that was confusing. Um, and so we have changed the name of that course to mapping. Um, and that's um, the exploration of all different types of
048scientific mapping. Um, and so content will be the same. We've just changed the name of that so that it's clear. Um we were um really happy to some of the um theater classes have been renamed and this year as you know we had a shift in our theater teacher um and we had low enrollment with a course uh before prior to his arrival and then he uh [clears throat] decided to start a course that's called theatrical makeup excuse me theatrical makeup um which is just learning another part of the um the element of leader. And so that's been a popular course already. We have a section right now. Um and um we're excited to put that into the program of studies and offer that in the coming school year. Um we uh have removed our
049course on page 59 and 60 video production. Uh we again we had low enrollment in that course and at the same time we have another course that's called modern journalism and modern journalism is the class that runs our Falcon outlet website to give a little shout out to that website. Um and that's where we live stream our events um games and um events that happen at the high school. It's where students are writing articles all different medium and so a lot of the elements um were uh repeated in those two courses and so we have shifted to we will continue to offer modern journalism so they'll be exploring those pieces of um of video production in that um our description of May term we updated the description there May term um again I've shared this
050in the past this is the program for our seniors if they choose not to do a senior project. Uh, and students decide that for all different reasons. Uh, the vast majority of our students, our seniors, do a senior project. And we're so proud of that program. And the numbers have increased from year to year. Last year, I believe it was nine students out of over 150 who did not do a senior project. And sometimes it's a good decision for them. They have a lot of AP classes and the tests are at the same time as senior project. And so May term is a I would say uh the easiest way to explain it. It it has morphed over the last three years and it is a smaller less detailed version of a senior project that
051is here in the building that's guided by our staff versus senior project tends to be completely independent with an outside advisor and an inside advisor check-ins and guidance and things like that. But the senior projects make their own schedule. May term is appropriate for students who might need our help in scheduling their time and still want to do a project that is connected to something that they're passionate about. So um two years ago when we started mterm the reason for it was so that students were not sitting in a class if they were the only student who chose not to do a senior project and there was now one student left and the the teacher is adjusting content and and it was a challenging factor if they had more than one class like that. It
052was not a very engaging way for them to spend their last month of high school. we shifted to May term being standalone classes and there were some challenges due uh due to scheduling again with region 10 and things like that. So we feel like this is a semi-independent project where they're still doing something that integrates all the skills and the um that they've gained in Freeport High School and their interests but a lot more staff guidance and they're here in the building with us. Um and then um as I said the region 10 uh I'll share updates as we get those as um uh a lot of that is accurate as is um but there is some new um programming and some changes to credit information or the descriptions of the programs and we'll update
053that. Um on page 78 we have our club list which is everchanging. This is the most updated version. Um but one thing that we are um very pleased about is that you've heard about from our student leaders is that we have added another leadership opportunity. We have what we call student advisory leaders. So we have 40 advisories, 10 per grade level here. Um and each advisory has either one or two leaders that plan what uh the events are that the advisory does either by grade level or for the whole school. And we now have a group of leaders of those leaders. So they are called the student advisory leader officers. Um and what's great about that group is that they are now meeting with another group that we created that's called the student coalition which
054is representatives from uh student council, student leadership committee and the student advisory officers. And they meet together once a month to talk about what each other's teams are doing and how to support that work. So they actually just met yesterday. That was their monthly meeting. Um and so it's a great way for building leadership but also supporting the initiatives that each team um is working on. Um and those are the major changes that are this year. Oh, I'm sorry. I actually missed one. Um that is a really important one. If you could go backwards to page 51. Um we this is probably the most significant change to our course offerings. Um what we have decided to offer is a course called fundamentals of music. So right now what we have uh it's almost like an
055overabundance of choices for our performing arts. Um and what that can result in sometimes is very very small sections and also um uh a huge scale of students background information and skills coming into that class. So for example, there are some students who are entering our intro to guitar class and they already know how to read music because they took intro to drums. Um some kids who have never ever played an instrument before are in there with somebody who has played for a long time. Um what I met with um some of our um 6 through 12 uh performing arts teachers to talk about how do we maintain the numbers in band and chorus. We've seen incredible growth at the middle school level in both band and chorus and want to maintain that in the
056high school while still offering um great things and so we were seeing competition there. So a student might choose intro to guitar instead of band when they've been committed to band and we really want to help students stick with that if they can. Of course they have the choice to leave. Um but I think we have um some fantastic teachers here and really hope that they'll take on that um that challenge to stay in band. So we have come up with this idea that we're going to try out that's called fundamentals of music which is similar to our art offering which is called foundations of art. And so foundations of art, the expectation is that the vast majority of our nth graders, if they are choosing uh a visual art class, then they are choosing
057fundamentals, some a very small number, also go into photography. And so we then know that there are foundational skills that every student will have as they travel up into the visual art classes. And that's the same concept that we're trying to do for fundamentals of music. So this the choices for our ninth graders will be chorus band or fundamentals of music. Students in course and band could also take fundamentals of music. And um I think this sounds pretty awesome. It is going to be a little bit of guitar, drums, um piano and music technology which is like garage band on their computer. So then we have a second level in all of those classes. So once a student has taken fundamentals of music then they'll be able to go into guitar one, piano one um
058music tech uh and drums and so then the teachers will know that at least there is a basis of skill. Everybody will be able to read music. Everybody will have some sort of exposure to um to those courses. We also will as we do in many places um have the opportunity for exceptions. So if a student has played it uh guitar for a long long time and really wants to be in guitar one then that will be a meeting between the teacher and me and that student in order to place them in the right place. So, we're really excited about that class. Um, and see how that impacts. I would anticipate that what's going to happen is we'll see the numbers dis decrease in those discrete classes like guitar one and piano one in this
059first year and then the fundamentals classes will be bigger and then we'll see those upper levels grow. We're seeing that a little bit in foundations of art as we are really funneling our ninth graders to that class. I say nth graders but it can be anybody who takes this class. Um, some students choose to wait to take their visual and performing arts class until their senior year. And so those are mixed grade levels, but that's the information that we'll share with our our nth grade families as our incoming nth grade families. So if um that is the vast majority of this information, if there's any questions that I can answer. >> Thank you, Jen. I think your voice actually got better throughout. >> I think so. I was like, I'll just cough on the way
060home. It's good. [clears throat and cough] I'm curious um with this being the first year of the alternating between AP Physics and AP Bio, did you see that increase in the AP Physics enrollment without the AP Bio on the schedule this year? >> Uh slightly. Some students um didn't feel like they needed to choose between, but I think um most of our students take honors biology as a sophomore. And so if they're interested because there is some there are some students that there's a distinct difference like there's AP kids who for biology who have no interest in taking physics and so those students who were in honors biology last year now will have the opportunity to take AP biology as a senior. So that was on purpose. Um there isn't an intro physics class. That
061is actually that is their first physics class if they choose to teach AP. And so what I'm actually hoping is that we see the difference next year that when we offer AP biology that we will see the numbers from the 10th grade class from um that grow because they would know last year that they could take that class next year. >> Gotcha. Thank you. And um asking for a frienddaughter um is the first day next of the second semester a white day or a maroon day? I can tell you that um very quickly because it's on my fine I'll find it >> on my desktop. It it used to always always always be maroon uh but we are completely in line with the three the four schools with region 10 and Brunswick and Mount Aerat
062now. So that's not necessarily the case. It is a white day. >> White day. >> Moon you can advertise that is a white day. And the students all have they have a new student Google classroom like we have a staff Google classroom and that color calendar is in there and if they joined it which the vast majority of our students have um then they can find that color color calendar for the whole year. It doesn't change with weather. It it stays the same. >> I will encourage her to use that resource. >> I can resend that as well. >> Anna, thank you Jen. Um, I have younger kids, so this was my first time seeing the high school program of studies, and I was blown away. I was just like, "Oh my gosh, I had
063no idea there were so many offerings, and yeah, I was just really impressed." Um, the one thing that did stand out was just because we recently had that presentation on um, AI and what are we going to do about that? And I did I was just thinking how are you thinking about um adding in potentially a course offering or something in the curriculum about kids learning about AI and those kinds of changes. >> It's a great question because I think it depends. Um, first of all, AI is everywhere right now and so every teacher is addressing it whether they're addressing it how you use it or when not to use it. Um, and some of our courses like our STEM courses have used it for a long time. Um, and so it really we we
064have not discussed a standalone class. Um but we have discussed policies or procedures in each class to really help students understand when is it a tool and and when is it not appropriate to use it. Um and so I think we have to talk as a team about where we would have discrete lessons. Sometimes we've done that in advisory because we're lucky to have advisory every day. We have 45 minutes of advisory. And so there are times when we decide that we are going to hold a whole class. Typically our advisory is used for club meetings and callbacks, but there's often times when we say everybody's staying in their own advisory or we have certain grade levels come down to the um to the FPAC for an assembly. So we haven't discussed in detail how
065we do that, but I think right now um for our high schoolers, it's it's at the tip of their fingers everywhere. And so it's constant conversations about um when they can and can't use it, when they should and should not use it. And I think it's an everchanging conversation about how we support that. But I think that's a further discussion about but we have not proposed it as a standalone course. >> Is there consistency across even the um the departments around that? Like could you have a an English teacher who says you will not use it and then another English teacher who says well it's okay to use it in this scenario in this purpose like is it literally class by class is it department by department >> it it is um the conversations I
066think departments are fairly aligned but departmentto department is significantly different um you know how students are using AI in the STEM class to program a robot is very different than the concern that students are using AI not as a tool but as a replacement for their own learning and their own writing which is when it's never appropriate you know um and is plagiarism and talking about that and so it depends on the assignment and where they're where they're able to use it and when they're able to use it I think a lot of times for assessments we are when it's um individual thought especially for a written response. We're seeing more and more on paper and so that uh and trying to figure out when um students can use it as a study tool and
067you know if they're coding data for something. We in the student leadership team have been using things to code data for the last five years and so it it is really challenging to keep up with the changes while also helping students understand where it's appropriate and and where it's not. But I would say that these conversations are ongoing. I think lots of people have different opinions and feelings about it. Um and uh different teachers are at different skill levels. So um you know for example we had um a presentation to the ELA department two years ago about they actually presented to the administrative team um to learn how to use it uh in the planning end and as a a resource for for um sharing that with students. And so there are some things that
068they you would think that the ELA teachers are the ones who are just paper and pencil but there are some things that they are using as a tool um that they have learned from these workshops and so I think that's a big part of it of the speed with which it's changing and the professional development um is is vastly different from person to person and that's another piece for us to figure Thank you, Jen. Um, I recently went on an education day um through the district on Wabanaki studies and I was wondering how are we ensuring that the Wabanaki pieces are being met if they're choosing their courses. >> So, every student in the high school is required to take American history. Um, so that's actually a a graduation requirement. And so that's where there
069are some courses, global studies is another one required for every nth grader. Um, and then the two sophomore classes um, which don't tend to focus on the Wabanaki um, history or culture is modern world conflict and American government. And so um, those are classes that we make sure every single student has. The only difference would be um that some students take AP US history instead of American history. Um and so that's where that that content is embedded. >> Thank you. >> Um this has come up in the past before too about the personal finance class. uh and wondering if I guess with the math electives or that class in particular like what it would take to make that a required class. And I say that um not only because I think that would be a
070nice thing to have required, but because we also received a lot of feedback in the portrait of a graduate um community feedback um about the desire to see our students have be future ready and have real world re um real world relevant curriculum. Um, so I'm wondering if you can share more about when it's decided that it's required versus an elective and any if there are any new thoughts on that class in particular. >> Um, we have not talked about personal finance being uh a required class. I agree with you that I think it's great skills. Um, I think there are additional math classes that offer some really good opportunities. We have quantitative reasoning which is also our dual enrollment class with SMCC. So they get college credit for that. Um and quantitative reasoning has
071a intimidating name, but it's great content in that class. Um and so a lot of that is very relevant skills. Um many of our students get their math credit through region 10. Um so then that would not be feasible in their schedule. Region 10 is also considering um possibly partnering with uh CMCC for a technical math class, which would be fantastic. It's really about figuring out the logistics and things like that. Um, but to to require any class um would right right now personal finance is a an option for an elective or for students fourth math. Um, but it's a it's a small very small percentage of the school that chooses that. Um, and one reason would be students don't have space in their schedule to take that or they've chosen to take another class.
072Um, we have a new elective this year that kids have loved that's called business math. Um, and so they're trying to hit me up for some money so that they can, you know, start their businesses. But, uh, one of which, which which I fully support, but I'm asking lots and lots of questions of their business plan. Uh, they're making t-shirts and, um, talking about a school store and things like that. So, I think there's other ways that we have done that. Um we are very cautious about what would be a required course because what that means to students schedules as soon as we require that then that's a significant impact to the entire matrix of the schedule uh in saying that all students must take that no matter what and it would require an intense
073amount of staffing because you'd have to have enough sections for um every student to take it and then figure out what grade level it is. So, I think it's just a constant conversation about what's I, you know, I think it's there's lots of places in our um course offerings that I think are content that's relevant and that's um related to to necessary skills in life, not just personal finance, but I think personal finance is is um a great course. There's other courses like um the graduation requirement from the state is that everyone takes a semester of health which is another important one. So that one we ensure that everybody takes. Um but I think if you're speaking in terms of those specific personal finance skills, you know, the irony is that our highest achieving math
074students don't take that class. So they don't have those specific skills, right? they can do some incredible calculations in AP Calculus BC and and talk about linear algebra, but they might not be able to balance the checkbook. And I, you know, I think that's that's one of those challenges in figuring out what's going to fit, what's reasonable, and where do kids find these real life um connections. >> When I think about um advisory, right? I mean, I wonder if there's a way. I mean, you guys are building sort of content for the advisory. I mean, doesn't maybe it's not a full semester class, but maybe there's, you know, a couple of, you know, targeted lessons to your point of I mean, people don't balance their checkbook anymore. You don't need to um says the banker.
075um you know with online banking but um but yeah like maybe there's a way because I I think you know it's a great thought that everyone should take personal finance um but the ramifications you know the sort of the unintended consequences of of making another requirement like you said it prevents a lot of other things so um you know maybe there's other ways similar to the AI like how do we weave those skills into other places maybe I don't know >> I I think it's covered in JMG too. >> U what percentage of kids tend to take a JMG >> class? >> Um [sighs] currently we have four sections of JMG right now. Um and the sections run between 10 to 15 students. So it differs from year to year, but it's a it's a
076smaller percentage of our our overall population. But the students who are in JMG and stay in JMG, they have some component of personal finance four years in a row. So those students hopefully are are wellversed in that but uh but that's a smaller total population less than 100 students. >> So I know one of the things um a decision for the high school is not doing class rank. >> Um and so we don't have a validictorian, we don't have those things. Um, as I have a kid who's, you know, moving into like college thinking process, like what what do we encourage them to do when they're asked those types of questions like, you know, do you have class rank? No. Okay. What percentage of your class are you, you know, do you think you're in?
077My kid literally went through the yearbook and was like, probably higher than that, probably lower than that kid, probably. I mean, literally like, what are they supposed to do with when it's just not an option? We don't calculate that. So what we do calculate which is in the program of studies is those honor bands. So, kum laad magna kum laad sumakum laad and so even though we we don't publish and we feel very strongly about that the guidance counselors presented that all of the facts of why we don't do class rank um but they can say 10% of this class was in the magna cumlude band or 30% of the class is in >> so they should go to their types of questions yes >> because they wouldn't know it themselves >> um but typically
078if A if a college asks us if we do class rank and we say no, then they because they get our school profile which is at the beginning of this and so that is the school profile goes along with every student's transcript to tell a story about our our school and um and hopefully they see from there that we don't. And it was interesting I I um from my own college get get you know all the flyers in the mail for to donate money and um this time it's shared a percentage and it said now it's at 30% of schools that don't share a class rank um of the students who applied last year to that university. So I think schools are paying attention colleges and universities are paying attention to that too. But hopefully
079when they know that we are not a school that does that, you know, um then then our profile will tell that story. >> Yeah. I mean it obviously should not find college, but like summer programs that that's a question they ask that's on the application. >> You have to guess. You have to guess. >> Yeah. So that students could talk to their counselor to say is there is there a guesstimate of how much of the percentage of students fall in that? >> Okay. Um, and so this year is the first year with the weighted GPA. >> Yes. >> Last year did not have it. So we don't know how that sort of went with the colleges yet because they haven't done it yet. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> So I'll remember that question maybe next
080year. [laughter] >> Um, yeah. Notice that the cumloud numbers on page 21 are a little bit different than those on page eight. So, I don't know if if they just haven't been updated or if they're if they were just being rounded but not 100% accurately um under the grading scale. >> But Michelle just told us that we don't need to balance our checkbooks. So that sort of stuff I don't think that stuff >> you pick the higher [laughter] one what whatever one. >> And so if that hasn't been updated then we'll make sure that those match for sure. Um and so I think that that might have just been a miss when we were making this um when we were adding the edits in here. That also needs that plus by the hundred to make
081sure that that's in there as well. >> It also has this current school year's date on the top. Oh, thank you. Page seven. Okay. That could be an error in where I put this into there. Apologies for that. >> Uh, no. I think actually it's supposed to be that the 2025. Are you saying the class of 2025? Because that's the last information we have data for. Yeah. For their SAT scores. And >> oh, I'm sorry, Cara. Are you talking about at the top of page seven? >> Yeah. So, this is this is the information about our current year. So, that I'm sorry. I thought you meant the date below that. Um, so that is that is correct. It's the profile of our current year. Okay. Um, just one more question about technology. Be with the
082cell phone ban coming up for next year. Do you feel like the um proposed program offers the space for discussing with students about you know why the cell phone ban, social media addiction just kind of fully digital literacy? Is that also embedded in um the advisory period? So that would be yeah advisory is where we talk about like any of our SEAL topics when we are talking about um whole school events or things like that. So um it's less common that we would do a le a lesson kind of what we were talking about personal finance much more common that we would have um as Moon described we did the how to help a friend uh assembly with um grades 9 through 11. We had a mental health panel with college representatives for grade 12.
083Um and so that's where um that either would happen in their own advisory which like I said there's 10 per grade level or um sometimes we combine two or three advisories, sometimes we have one grade level in a meeting and sometimes we have multiple grade levels in a meeting. So we decide what's the topic and what's the best venue. But that would be the the the forum that we would use. You have another one. >> Two really little nitpicky things. Um Tom's name needs to be needs to replace. >> Okay. >> That's not a nitpicky one. >> I don't know. I don't I don't I don't think we're there yet. >> Fixed or not, but I just wanted to say that instead of >> this is the most helpful thing is the more eyes on
084this document because when we look at it a thousand times. >> Um >> thank you. >> Sure. Um, and then on page 25, >> I had to look up what CP stands for. It's college prep, right? >> So, I don't know if that's spelled out anywhere else. I see that AP is spelled out as advanced placement. Um, and honors is is also talked about in there. But I just wondered if if it well, first of all, just saying what college what CP stands for, but if there's any benefit to kind of spelling out the difference between college prep, honors, and advanced placement. >> Sure, that's helpful because I and I can search the document to see if we explain that anywhere. I don't know offhand if we say that before page 25 of what CP
085is, but um certainly we can clarify um that that term because it's used a lot. So it would be helpful >> and that is why we will never allow director Kaini to be leaving the policy committee. [laughter] Any other questions? How you feeling about it, Moon? Good. >> He's like, I've been just writing down the classes I'm taking next year. >> Great. >> Thank you so much. >> All right. Uh so we will move on to item 9B which is the report of early childhood task force. >> Well hi everybody. So this is going to look different than I thought it was going to look even yesterday. Um I am ultimately my message here today is hopeful. Um, but as I've emailed you, we discovered an error in a spreadsheet that the state had given
086for not only to us, but to all districts that were looking to either join cohorts three or four. And when I say we discovered it, it was not I, it was actually Kelly who discovered this error on behalf of all school districts. Um, but you know, the way that this process had played out, you do have a a a slideshow in your packet, which I'm going to, you know, I'm not going to show the slideshow tonight, but you can obviously look at it. Where these errors affect the slideshow really is in the middle when it talks about what staffing we would be requesting to join cohort 3. Um, I do want to say at the present moment I am still feeling that moving toward joining cohort 3 is our best option, but I don't want
087to have you vote on it until I have accurate information. And so, luckily, we have caught this before we've a made a commitment and b we still have time before any deadlines that the state is imposing, especially since yesterday when I spoke to them with some degree of constrnation about this error. They were I I have to say, you know, the the the folks at the DOE, it the DOE is is a bureaucracy, but it's also full of human beings. And they recognized the error right away. They were really mortified about it. They were deeply apologetic. I know that tomorrow I'm going to be seeing Megan Welter who's the deputy commissioner um at the winter convocation in Portland and I at this point I think they really want to bend over backwards to make this
088go well for us and you know they're aware that I had said you know I'm supposed we've already gone public with this information and I'm supposed to ask a board to vote on it tomorrow night. um they they're aware that this is super awkward. But um if I can put this in in terms that will be understandable to people who know even less of the lingo than I do, it's that they sent a spreadsheet that was supposed to calculate the way that we would be reimbursed. And they did this back in the fall when we were putting the task force together and trying to figure out what our recommendation would be. and we had them look at it as well. We double and triple checked it. Um, none of us knew that this error was
089in their formula. And when it gave us an amount of money that we thought we would have to work with, we thought, okay, well, we can ask for all the things we need, not just to take on four year olds next year, but really it's a what we're going to be asking and promising to do is take on foury olds next year and three year olds the year after that. So, our original thinking is, well, it doesn't it makes the most sense to build the architecture for the whole program. we want to put together, not patch it together one year at a time. So the numbers that you see in this slideshow reflect what we were hoping would accomplish that. What we're told now is that we probably have to rethink that. Um I don't
090have the exact figure that we will have to work with yet. I should forth with very soon. Um we've had um meetings yesterday, meetings today. We have more meetings tomorrow. Um I know that they want to get this right. So what I'm asking tonight is um well I will talk a little bit more about what I was going to propose um because I don't see any reason to keep everybody in the dark about the big picture and then just ask that we hit pause a little bit until I can bring you back accurate numbers to to make an informed decision. So what the task force had discussed and several of us here were on that task force so please feel free to chime in was >> we're not China >> no [laughter] >> so the
091overall picture is and what has not changed is that we have a law that by 2028 we have to take on responsibility for three uh special education for three and four year olds. So no matter what by 2028 we have to get to that point and there have been asurances from the state that money that has been currently going to support those services through CDS will come to us. Um and the state has also assured us that they will continue to meet 100% of the demonstrated need. Now I will say there in lie many subjective conversations but what is the actual need to build such a program and many of us sitting here would argue it isn't just what shows up in numbers when you say you have x number of kids with IEPs that
092translates to x number of speech language pathologists because this is already chewing up my time and Kelly's time and we've hired a consultant to do it and Alicia's time and Erica it's it's already costing districts money. Um but we h we don't actually have firm criteria from the state about what reasonable and necessary expenses will be. That is this discussion that we have with them about here's what we think we need. What will you pay for? Um so the decision to join cohort three which was universally endorsed by the task force was largely driven by the fact that we have to do this by 2028. And it makes sense to try to step into it over two years with four year olds first and then three year olds rather than do it all at once
093and postpone. And there are other factors that play into that as well, like the fact that if we step into it early, we have a better chance at hiring the necessary staff we would need to be able to support this and that's a huge factor. So there are really strong arguments to try to step into it. Now um then the second part of this that the task force decided was how we should step into it. So, what does it look like if we assume responsibility for special education for four year olds next year? Here are some things that have not changed despite the new news I have. We already have an existing prek program. In that existing prek program, we are already serving 75% roughly of the students who um of the four-year-olds in our
094district that have IEPs. There are and that's 15 kids. That's with this year's four-y olds. There are five more four-year-olds identified in our district right now who get services through CDS that we are not serving and that's what we would have to add basically to the number of kids we're serving in the future. So that's a strength upon which to build. We already have most of the architecture in place and for that reason it still really bears consideration for us to try to step into this early. What we've then had to fig figure out is what will we need to add to serve the rest of those kids. Um and as I said to add three-year-olds the year after that. Um and I feel like I'm missing something. Oh, I am missing something. The other
095DS uh decision that the task force had endorsed was that if we step into foury olds next year, how should we deliver those services to them? And there was strong um endorsement of the idea that our way to get services to those kids is through our existing prek program as opposed to having our people go out to local daycarees where four-year-olds are that our offer of FAPE would be in our own program. And there are many benefits to that. Largely, it's better for the kids to be receiving the services in our programs. but it's also cheaper and easier because we're not sending our people out of the community paying for transportation etc. So that is a broad brush of the what we were um going to ask for you tonight and the only piece of
096that has now been thrown into the works because of the state's error is exactly what kind of funding they will kick to us to support it. Um team am I missing anything big? Uh the only thing I would say um kind of two things that just popped into my mind that might be worth sharing. Um I I think the uh the focus on the fact that we're already serving a large portion of those kids is is really important, right? Um but I will say that it's not as simple by stepping into this as simply adding those five other kids to get them the services in the classroom. There are other components that stepping into cohort 3 includes which including writing the IEPs which currently CDS is responsible even the kids we serve we don't have
097to take that piece on for them. CDS is currently still responsible for that. So I mean that's kind of that um while we're providing the in-classroom services for those kids sort of the uh the infrastructure around how do we support the plans and the management that is really where um the uh the staffing need would come from to I mean we may need to add additional speech pathologists depending on the size of the program and those sort of things but um more uh systemic support from a staffing standpoint. point of the whole program. Um, and that's really where the question I think is going to come into play on the on the um the funding from the state on what they would support versus what we feel like we would need to do a good
098job at it. Um, you know, honestly, the the funding information that we had been given um looked very much like a no-brainer of like why wouldn't we do this, right? I mean, the funding was coming from the state. We knew we could deliver the services. um we get to the staffing quicker um you know before maybe some other districts are are on board. Um it it made a ton of sense and I still think it probably is going to make a ton of sense to do this for a lot of other reasons. Um but the funding made it like why wouldn't we do this? Um which is probably why they had to fix that that formula. Um and so that's one piece uh sort of the infrastructure piece from a systemic level and then the
099other piece around delivery of services and in doing it in the district uh in district in our schools as opposed to going out which the state would allow us to do if we said hey we want to go out to the daycarees and provide the services instead of having them in our schools. We could do that. We didn't feel like that was the best approach. um we would keep you know the prek programs in all of the schools. But the one piece that we did um include in the funding uh in our plan was a new special education classroom, one classroom in the district for um kids that had needs that couldn't be met um in all three schools uh existing prek programs. So, so, so maybe a higher level of need um and having
100all those kids in in one classroom. So, the the proposal here includes the addition of that classroom. So, that's >> which would mean that otherwise we'd have to send those kids out, >> right? So, once we Yeah. Once we take on sort of the ownership of this program, those kids either need to be if we're doing FAPE in the schools, they either need to be somewhere in our schools getting those services or similar to other students at other age levels, we would have an outofd district placement. Um, which we prefer to keep all of our kids in house if we can meet their needs. Um, and it tends to be a more cost-effective way to do it. Valerie, >> I'm not sure if this is a question or statement because it's finances. Um the state
101also if we join cohort three has some funds available for us to outfit that special room. Is that correct? Still >> okay. [laughter] >> It was a statement. It was a statement. Now it's a question. Everything's a question. >> The room itself we have to provide. But any kind of special equipment that would populate that room because we're in three and not four, >> right, >> would be partially to possibly mostly funded by the state. >> Yeah. Our hope is that um and I don't even think just that special ed classroom, but like any of the of the the classrooms that are might need additional materials, support, uh desks, chairs, I don't know, little little people things. Um, yeah, there is there there is there was uh a pool of funding um to help defer
102some of those costs as a incentive to get on board sooner. I'm I'm looking at Ted to make sure he's not shaking his head vehemently. No, which he's not. So, I think I'm okay. >> Chris. >> Um, okay. So, we said we're we're currently serving 15, but we're serving that with three positions. Uh, and we're asking three for eight more positions. >> Three three of which >> it says screening that CDS is performing that would now transfer to us. So, all the students would have to be screened as well. >> So, I I would I would imagine that would be assistant director and office support. >> Yeah. The biggest things that would be new >> are the early childhood director, which we'd like to frame as an assistant special education director, >> um, office support
103>> for the reasons Michelle was talking about, >> transportation coordinator, >> um, >> IEP coordinator, >> IEPs, uh, writing all the IEPs, doing all the written notices, etc. um some edteexs, social worker um and in large part for the other things we would be stretching staff that we already have. Okay. So just trying to understand that we're serving 15 with three and then yes we have office burden but if we take out our assistant director as well as our office support which is two positions we're asking for six more for five. No, but really it's not five. It's five plus 20 in theory. Three-year-olds. >> It it is. And yes, we were hoping that we could build this with the three-year-olds that were also agreeing to take on just the year after that in mind.
104>> Okay. And do we have any idea on the classroom costs? Because that wasn't in I see we have other costs kind of broken down in here, but as far as like >> costs to like retrofit classrooms, you mean? >> Yes, correct. So that's a there's a separate pot of money which is what Valerie was just mentioning that part of the incentive to join an earlier cohort is that more of this special money to help retrofit classrooms >> is available. >> But do we have an idea on what that might end up being? >> We did a facilities >> there's a certain amount of like wanting to kind of understand what we're getting from the state for this and and that too. >> Oh, believe me. Yeah, I know. We did a facilities tour with
105what was her name? Ly. Yes. So that was back in in the fall and we went through all of our prek classrooms and she identified all she made a list of things that she thought we could um justify getting funding for or just being given. Um and it was pretty extensive. So the entire proposition and I wish I had a better answer than this. It's just the answer that the state has given. we don't have a firm answer from them. We have asurances from them and that is really difficult to work with. I think it's also important to note that um our experts said that this is a relatively small um IEP group this year and that fluctuates from year to year and also because we're now going to be handling the screening ourselves and
106screening all kids, it's likely we'll identify more earlier. So I think we were more conservative on adding more staff knowing all of these pieces. um to try to get ahead of the curve. >> That's very true. So, we may need to make an adjustment on our ask. I am confident that we can still do this. It may just not be the way that we have originally talked about it. And I I want to make sure that you vote on what we've thoroughly talked about a benefit. Um this does come to mind. Many other school districts that have already adopted this are seeing the benefits of early intervention for kids, which is huge. And it's resulting in um increased, you know, or I should say decreased negative behaviors. It's resulting in students being able to be
107dismissed from special education at a much earlier age. And the payoff is down the line. And did they give you an estimate about when they might have their numbers fixed so that we have some better data to work on? I would be s actually I'd be surprised if I didn't have more concrete information tomorrow >> because this was literally Kelly could probably say it >> explain it was literally a formula in a cell in a spreadsheet and you know it was Kelly who looked at it and thought >> that just doesn't seem right and you know she was right. So, I'm I'm hearing from you that perhaps by our next board meeting, we may have enough information. >> I am very I'm very optimistic of that. Um, and one of the points that I made
108to them was that they had given a February deadline. Well, first they gave a January 2nd deadline for us to be able to join the cohort last month. I told them, you know, we're planning to vote on this on fe on on the 14th. Can you give us some grace? And they said yes. Then literally a day or so after that, they sent a broadcast to all districts that they had extended it to early February. And just yesterday when we talked this through, I I told them, "Well, I need to be able to have a full conversation. We may need more time than that." And they said, "It's a loose deadline, and that will be fine." They are trying to bend over backwards for us at this point, which is appropriate. >> Yeah. Um, I
109really appreciated the slides showing the least restrictive settings and the continuum of placement options. That's really helpful visual to see. So, thank you for that. Can you remind us what the plan is? Would this be full day care 5 days a week for four-year-olds? And then what would the three-year-old plan look like? >> So, the three-year-old plan, we we don't know yet. Um, the four-year-old plan is to literally step in with our existing prek. So, it's the half-day programs that we already have with the addition of one specialurpose classroom that's a special education classroom. And in that classroom, kids could stay all day or they could be there for just the morning or just the afternoon. But if an IEP required a student to be there all day, they could be there all day. the
110three-year-olds. We still have a lot of figuring out to do the four this this amount. What is attractive about this is that we really already have the architecture in place. It requires very minimal change. Um when it comes to three-year-olds, what we will be up against is we don't have any space right now. So that's that's the next task force, how to how to grapple with three-year-olds. Um, and it will also come up in my budget presentations. >> Can you say more about the transportation coordinator and what the needs are around that? >> Um, transportation is across the whole district. Um, an area that needs support right now. Um, the department is stretched really thinner than it should be with our existing need. And when we add in four year olds, it is very clear
111we're going to need extra support for the transportation coordinator for all of the kids whose IEPs require transportation. >> And that's also the the driver for well, no pun intended, maybe the pun was intended, I don't know. Uh the special education ed techs with driver hours, right? So, and I think maybe that comes to Chris's point about like if we're already servicing 15 of these 20 kids, how is adding five more kids adding eight more jobs? I mean, I don't think these are all necessarily full-time equivalents, right? So, um maybe they would be, maybe they wouldn't be. Um, but I think part of it is, um, to pick up that transportation piece. Um, because if they have IEPs that state, you know, they they can't take the regular bus or they need a van or
112whatever. Um, we have to accommodate those. >> Okay. So, when you say transportation needs, you mean aside from a bus, the school bus. Okay. >> Largely, it's going to be vans. >> Got it. All right. Um, and yeah, my question I also had a question about FTEES. Are these FTEEs or are these not FTEES? >> As written FTEES, >> um we can scale back on these requests and still be able to meet the need. Um what we the amount of money we thought we were getting, we thought, well, we might as well, you know, put in a robust infrastructure. So I don't need a vote tonight. Um but I I needed to offer you this explanation and I hope at least you have sort of gotten the general scope of the work that has happened
113with the task force which has been really huge um and involved a lot of people and really rich discussion and I do I do believe you know that we are headed in the direction of joining this cohort um and please stay tuned for further updates. I guess uh since we do have some time before we do have a vote um based on what you've heard tonight, does any uh are does any of the board members have um absent the funding piece um have issues sort of with the programmatic direction that is being presented? or are there additional questions that you would other than the funding that you would like to know before you had to vote on this since might as well take this advantage opportunity. >> Okay, >> I really need to give a
114shout out to several people who are sitting out there. This team of people, Kelly, Elicia, Erica, and Ted have worked really hard on this. And like Cara, who's never getting off the policy committee, Kelly is never getting off Excel duty. So, thanks, Kelly. We thank you. And all the other districts that you figure that out for before they approve this. Thank you. All right. So, we'll stay tuned on this. All right. So, we do not have any uh board comment committee reports or policy review tonight. We are uh tableabling item 12 which was the vote on the early childhood um cohort 3 decision and we will move on to item 13 which is new business. >> Are you doing this or is Erica doing this? The uh schedule. >> We have a school calendar to
115consider. If you would look in your packet it's green. Erica has done the leg work on this, running it by the other districts that we partner with, especially for region 10. Um, a reminder that by statute, we can have no more than five dissimilar days from other schools that share the same tech center. So, this was crafted with that in mind. So, usually this conversation uh centers around a few things. Uh it centers around when do they start school uh before or after Labor Day. That's usually one question. Uh the discussion around uh where the PLLD days are placed um and if there was um intention behind those other than just trying to align with the other districts. um how long the winter break is um and then um uh the early release dates. >>
116So there is I can I'd like to provide comment on a few of those. Um we are in fact starting early. So we have professional learning days on August 25, 26, 27. Then Friday the 28th is a day off and students are in on August 20 on August 31st. >> Yeah. So Labor Day is as late as it can be next year [laughter] >> with being the first uh being the first Monday of September. So the 7th is the latest it it can be. So makes sense that we're starting pre-Labor Day. And then we have a professional learning day on the Friday that precedes Indigenous People's Weekend, which is typical. We also have another Pday on Tuesday, November 3rd, and any of you who are very civically minded may see what that lines up with.
117Um, there was some very deliberate choice to have the professional learning day be on election day. um and actually to not have school on that day because that the the crossing traffic of voters here at Freeport High School, it it's really wise to try to avoid that if we can and we could. Um the holiday break in December um is not a full two weeks, but that does enable us to, if we look forward, it enables us to get out at a pretty reasonable time in June. And a note that Junth this year is actually on a Saturday and the legal observance of Junth is then on the Friday preceding that. Um, state offices are doing that. Other districts are doing that. So that's when we really need to observe Junth. >> So we couldn't
118just pick Monday. >> Now Jenny told me that this would come up. >> She and I went round and round. >> Oh, I heard it through the wall. [laughter] >> Okay. [snorts] Um, >> Chris has his hand up. >> Yeah. >> So, we're expecting students to come back for a half day on Monday. >> So, that Yes. So, the reason it looks like that is because we have never, maybe this isn't a fair statement, not had at least one snow day. So, where it currently ends as the last day is never where it actually ends as the last day. And so, if you do like a Wednesday, it's not uncommon to have three snow days and then you're in there on a Monday. So if you plan to end on a Monday, you hope to
119be out by Friday is usually how it goes >> because there's no snow days built in. >> Snow days next year. >> No snow days next year. >> My daughter, who will be a senior next year, is hoping for all the snow days because they don't have to make up snow days because they're done by then, >> right? >> I mean, just just like just doing a cursory look at this, like I can see that we're gonna have a lot of absences on the 21st and 22nd of December. Um, >> yeah. I mean, it's uncom. So, I'll give you some some uh color around that piece of it, too. Um, so I think it was a little more common to have kind of the full two weeks a long time ago. I don't I can't
120tell you exactly the last time we had a two a full two week break, but it's probably been six or seven years since we have. Um this year it just felt like it would have been like a one day at and like no then we would have had everybody out. Um you know I I think the um the thought process and maybe Erica has some um you know some details of talking with the other districts. Um I think sometimes the the two weeks is very challenging. Um we've heard that from principles. Um the longer they're out at that break, the harder it is to get them back into the schedule. And um I I recall I don't I don't know what principal said it to us but um two weeks is is rough coming back.
121Um so they they often try to actually avoid that. Um the other thing we have heard in the past is like could we get rid of February break? That was we had a board member who advocated for that every year. Um could we lump you know February and April into March like college? Um I mean all interesting ideas but have never I mean particularly given um our requirement to um to stay in line with um Brunswick and uh MSAD75. So remember we can only be five days apart but one day apart is really two days right because if we go this g day they go another day and that's two days dissimilar. >> Um so it's it really requires a lot of coordinating. >> Yeah. So Erica Mateo, assistant superintendent. Um, so we did, we
122worked together. We planned these meetings in October. We got it done in December. It was ready to go. Um, we felt pretty good about it. This was one of the easier experiences I've had with this. Um, usually when there are multiple districts working together, one district takes the lead on initiating kind of like the negotiation. [gasps] Um, there wasn't a whole lot of negotiation. There is one dissimilar day um which is nowhere near the five but that is that on um election day um Brunswick is indeed having school. So which is interesting because I feel like in the past they have been the ones who have taken that as a PLLD day. >> Not this year. >> What's that? >> Okay. So it's not at the middle school anymore. Okay. So that's why. So uh
123for folks information um panel votes at Mallet Hall. So, it's never in the school. Freeport votes here at the high school in the gym. >> Um, and Durham moves around their elections just so you have to stay on top of it to know where to go. Um we generally will only hold it uh in the school for the larger elections because we have historically not closed school. Um uh and um tried to keep it out of the school as much as possible because here at the high school you can kind of segregate it with a separate door. In Durham that's more challenging. So um so gubanatorial and presidential are at the at the school and the other ones are elsewhere. So um Um so that that makes sense on why Brunswick changed it. >> Yeah.
124And then um no substantial push back on the alignment of professional days or um holiday breaks. Uh everybody kind of came into the conversation having looked at the year and sort of assessed it similarly with I think the rationale that Michelle has offered that like we have been very seldom have we had a two week um span in recent history. So this is not an uncommon scenario. I will say that our graduation schedules are are interestingly scattered. Um, uh, Brunswick's got, um, the 4th of June, which is wicked early. Um, and then we have, as you know, the 13th and MSAD is the 13th as well. Um, so that's a pretty big stretch of difference between some of our districts, but um, yeah, there really isn't much here. like it was relatively easy and love
125to keep it that way. Um, and RSU5 initiates the conversation. So, >> yeah, we pushed that a few years ago because we used to get this and be like, well, the other two the other two districts have already approved it, so you have no choice. So, not that we wanted to change anything, but we just wanted the opportunity if we wanted to change things. >> So, I appreciate your your efforts on that. >> Valerie, >> I want to thank you for your work on this, Erica. Um I do want to say personally this school year's schedule was a burden for my family um because of the way camps work. There were no camps those two weeks leading up to school because school started so late and then there was a two week December break and
126both of the parents in my household work jobs that are not >> conducive to long stretches of being off. Um it was I'm just going to say rough. Um and I don't think we're alone in the district. Um I just being mindful that we don't all have um forgiving schedules and are still parents [laughter] um is just super helpful. It was really nice when Laugh and Learn uh offered some some gap filling days >> um to cover those in those two weeks. Really appreciated that for the working families. Um I think if we're going to have some challenges where we are very far off from the college schedule, who are the people that are employed at those camps and therefore not available? Um it would be really nice if we could find a way to
127try to make up some of that gap for our for our working families in the district. >> That is a great point. Uh and that kind of dovetales into why the early release is usually a comment because that's never a dissimilar day because it counts as a school day. Um, but there has been conversation in the past about the early release and it being challenging for parents um to um which I think is why there's probably only two in here. Right. Um >> it's also challenging for transportation. >> Yeah. >> When we've got region 10 buses running, right? That kind of right. Because those are not early release days, right? So >> usually No. >> Yeah. So, um, you know, it seems like we have in the past several years kind of settled on those
128two. Um, you know, provides some extra PD time for the teachers when they're already here, so it works with the contract. Um, but, you know, I I don't know about you guys, but when I was younger, like every Wednesday was an early release day, but that was a time where typically there was a parent that was able to get their kids half day every every Wednesday. I don't think that's necessarily the scenario anymore. And um while it would be great to have more PD day for our teachers, I think it becomes super challenging for for families that way. So um I don't know if you guys talked about more or less early release days or if this you just stuck with what we had and >> Yeah. So um what our task is amongst the
129districts in region 10 is to make sure that our dissimilars are reduced, >> right? Um, yeah. And so there wasn't any real conversation about specifically because like you said, erd those early release days aren't going to impact the count. >> Right. >> So that would be an inside job for us. >> Yeah. That's what I was wondering. Yeah. Less about the other districts and more about like if you guys had had discussion about the early release and if you were satisfied with those two days, if if they were beneficial um with the B team. I don't know. We we haven't actually discussed it that extensively but but um a theme that has emerged is that the amount of time we have for PD is not sufficient. >> Um and a large part of that is
130that it was negotiated away. Um so that has been a real crimp especially with strategic planning >> um to find the time to work with the staff to make that happen. >> So I mean I'm glad that we have them. >> So you're not willing to give them up? >> No. But you're not advocating adding more. >> Um, >> not this year. >> Well, not at the moment. >> Well, we're we're when we approve this, it goes up on the website. So, >> yeah. >> And it's up. >> It's up >> for the year. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah. You can't change a website. Um, >> Jenny seems to know how. [laughter] >> Kelly, I will point out that this schedule is almost perfectly aligned with what we have this year with perhaps the exception
131of the November PLLD being on election day. So, this is almost exactly what we're we're currently doing and it seems to be working. Well, of course, because the dates are on different the vacations fall on different dates. We have a shorter um holiday vacation next year, but other than that, it's it's really similar to what we're doing this year. All right. So, um any other comments, questions? This is something we vote on so it can go up on the website. Never to be taken down. >> Never to be taken down. >> Um, all right. So, do I have a motion for consideration and approval for the We do this twice. Do we always do this twice? >> Did we do it twice? Okay. >> I think maybe in the past we've um sent Cynthia back
132to change things. So, maybe maybe it'll be easier this time. Um, so a motion for consideration and approval for the first read of the 2627 school calendar. Steph and Cara, thank you. Any other comments? All those in favor? Great. Moon is also hoping for all the snow days next year. >> All right. Uh so we will move on to item 13B. Um and I will get the motion on the floor and then is Glenn still here? Oh, there he is. [laughter] >> He didn't want to sit too long. He was moving around back there. uh he'll give us the I imagine the scoop on this. So uh do I have a motion for consideration and approval to expend up to $30,000 from the capital reserves for the variable flow device VFD for those of us
133in the in the business here replacement for the two stage pumps in the fpack area of Freeport High School. >> Chris and Malik, thank you. Who's talking to us? Is it you? I guess happy to answer any questions. >> Well, you could start with what is a variable flow device and why are we replacing it? >> So, a variable VFD for those of us in the business, a variable flow device. So, there's there's two different types. So, you got a variable speed which you can control just the motor portion of the pump or variable flow which controls the amount of pressure in the system for a water system heating system such as like we have here at the high school. So currently up in the F-Pack in the boiler room, we have one pump fail.
134So that means we only have one running. So you it's a lag system. You have a primary pump, secondary pump. So when one fails, you have a secondary to keep the heat on. So we're down to that one. So this was on a additional phase project down the line. So we just took that one, moved it up where it failed, and brought it to everybody to to replace those variable flow devices. So that's why we're here to replace them. >> Okay. Yeah. So, um, so we could we could fix or replace the existing one that we have, but we would essentially be looking to replace that with this higher level system a year or two down the road. So, instead of kind of taking that intermediate step while it would be somewhat cheaper to do
135that, we're saying we know we have to replace these anyway, so let's just take care of it this year. And the way we can accomplish that is um through the capital reserve. >> And we'll also get some energy savings from that as well by upgrading to the to the new vehic. >> Any questions for Glenn? >> All right, we have a motion. We have a second. All those in favor? >> Wonderful. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you. You want me to stay put? >> Sure. [laughter] Don't go far. All right. So we will move on to >> Chris and >> we did the >> Chris and Malik. Um all right. So we will do the same. We will get the motion on the floor for item 13C. Do I have a motion for consideration and
136approval to expend up to $41,500 from the capital reserves for tennis court design services for the Freeport High School. Kelly and Valerie, thank you. Um, okay. >> Okay, >> back to you. >> Yep. So, uh, how'd we get here? So, uh, as you you heard from our students and speakers tonight, um, in my short tenure here, that the tennis courts are in pretty rough shape. Um, I think everybody here will will agree to that if you took a look at them. Um, so we we we had several meetings and then we we put out a RFP to to have a company come in and take a look at doing an engineer design and also uh from a facility standpoint to figure out how'd we get here, what caused it to be able to be in
137such bad conditions. So that means we're doing some core samples and so forth. So, we put it out to bid and the uh the company that uh was awarded it, the only one that bid was CHA, who was original company that did some design work here previously at the high school, uh was the winning bidder. So, we had a uh uh premeating, myself, uh Tom and Kelly, uh to kind of do a kickoff or what have you. Once we completed that uh meeting, we asked that same vendor to go out and take a look at it uh look at the current tennis courts uh to to determine whether or not they were safe to play. And that's how we got to where we are that they determined in their best assessment that the courts are
138unsafe to play based on their current condition. So, uh, what this proposal is for tonight, um, and we just brought it up at the facility finance committee meeting is for them to come in and do the core samples and also do the engineering and the design build for a post I want to make sure I get it correct here. Uh, post-tension tennis courts. So, I'm going to be upfront. I'm not a tennis guy. Never played tennis before in my life. So, I've done a lot of research on this. Um and the research generally leans towards a post-tension tennis court which is a concrete tennis court is the longevity is there for that. Um I got a brief write up. So the main difference between an asphalt and concrete tennis court lies between the flexibility cost
139and longevity. Asphalt is cheaper initially but cracks more easily and needs frequent repairs especially with uh freeze thaw cycles that we have here in New England. While rigid uh post-tension concrete costs more upfront, but offers superior durability, long longer life, 25 plus years versus the 10 to 15 years versus asphalt. In my research, I find that varies. So, if you look at a tennis court in Arizona, you're probably going to get a lot more longevity out of it than you do in Maine because they don't get the the frost like we do up here. Um the significantly lower long-term maintenance preventing uh from cracks common happens in asphalt both require resurfacing every five years or so. But concrete avoids uh costly crash crack repairs making the most making at the most economical over a period
140of time. So that's uh when we put the proposal together that's why we put that in there just based on that research. Uh at the facility finance committee meeting, they brought up a very good point that we ought to look at what the cost scenario would be if we stuck with the asphalt side of it. Uh so I reached out to my contact with that vendor and we're going to be working on getting that number as well. Um that's why you heard tonight that the number presented may not be the exact number. It may be a little bit more since they do their cost analysis on that, but that number will get the process started because we still need to do some engineering work. we still need to do the the core sampling and the
141overall engineering design around it um while they're working on adding for both the post tension and the the asphalt tennis courts. So we do may we may have to come back but uh once we get that information we'll be able to >> Yes. So the the 415 that's being requested here um provides the engineering um the engineering design for um both a three we have we currently have three tennis courts um and so I think we heard from one of the speakers today that is uncommonly small um I had heard four was more typical sounds like maybe even five um we don't I think we can guarantee we don't have room for five but there is thought that there might be a way to sneak a fourth one in there. Um so the 415 before
142us tonight is the um the bid to um put together the engineering and the plans for three or four. So they would look and provide the design for both assuming they could find a way to make the fourth one fit. >> Correct. um the post-tension project. Um the the other um the other component of why we uh suggested we also get the design work for the other um asphalt which is what we currently have. um is they um is there is a significant my understanding I don't know the facts yet but we will hopefully uh difference in price between the asphalt and um and the post tension um in the short term right upfront um potentially to the tune of double we don't know maybe it's less than double but um >> but we won't
143know that until we find out it correct so um so the suggestion was Um, you know, if if it's not double and we can find the fund raise the money and find the funds to do this and do the one that's going to last 25 years and be better quality, then great. Um, if if the post and >> I want to call it post and beam post tension postension >> post tension makes it cost prohibitive based on that the other alternative might be a good option so we can get courts in in play. Um so that's kind of the the backstory behind why the 415 is for for those two options. So um three or four post tension and then um Glenn will find out the additional engineering costs to add to the scope to
144say okay what about three or four asphalt just so we have all the information so we can plan um and and you know come up with the where we go from here. And the um the company who did is doing the scope they might also be who does the buildout of it or different? >> No. So they they don't install um they wouldn't be similar to the track and field. They manage the process. They manage the bids. They managed the design. They were not the ones who installed. So once we decided once we got back the engineering made decisions based on what type we want, how many we want, um they would send it out to bid and then companies who specialize in the actual installation of tennis courts would be the ones who come
145and do the work. >> Correct. Y >> we have a separate reserve for tennis. >> We do have a separate reserve for tennis. That's a great point. Thank you for mentioning that. Um, we th the this is not a surprise that these tennis courts have needed work. We have started putting money aside every year into a reserve account to start saving for this project. Um, they deteriorated quicker than we were able to save. So, we unfortunately don't have all of it sitting in a savings account. That would be great. Um but the reason we are asking for these funds to come out of capital reserves and not the tennis reserve is because you may recall how the warrants are written each year. Um there is a vote that allows us to expend from capital reserves.
146We did not get that vote to expend from the tennis reserves in the current year we're in. So we can't access that money unless we wanted to have an annual meeting of of Oh, Kelly's going to tell us how much is in there. Oh. >> Um, so, um, so what I would envision going forward is, you know, funding from that tennis reserve would likely be on the warrants at this year's annual budget meeting so that we would be able to use those funds um, next year. So, currently, as of the school year that we're in with the passage of the 2526 warrant, there's about 190,000 in the tennis court reserve. And the only other thing I wanted to mention when we talk about um the project itself is there there would be a second component
147for CHA in addition which would be the the construction management piece of it. They would be the ones that are making sure that whoever wins the bid is installing >> the the to the specifications of the bid and that would be a separate contract. but we didn't include it as part of this one because we don't even know if we're doing the project yet, right? So, we wouldn't want to include and build in a price for construction management if we don't know that we're actually doing the project. So, when when and if we come back with um you know, we decide on what what we're moving forward with and and there is funding or not funding those types of things, then we would come back for the construction management piece. Do we know how long
148the asphalt has lasted for this iteration? >> Uh I think I heard the mid80s was when the original uh original >> around that time frame, but it's been repaired several times. >> Several times. >> Yeah. Yeah. Recoated. >> Correct. >> Crack seal. Yeah. >> Yeah. Well, they they've they've tried all sorts of machinations on how to keep these things alive. Yeah. Chris. >> Um, first off, just thank you for the members of the public that came and talked, especially the students. That's very helpful information for us, for me at least. Um, a couple questions. one. So, if we were to decide, let's say we were to go through this process and we were to decide that asphalt was the right way to go, have we not wasted, wasted is the wrong word, but have we
149forgotten that $41,500 or does that $41,500 include also the design for the asphalts? >> So, it doesn't include specifically for the asphalt that that's the incremental part that that Glenn's going to come back with. >> Correct. Um, but it does include the core samplings that have to be done in either case. It does include looking into uh the the space and can we fit four as opposed to three. I imagine they're still the same size whether they're asphalt. So, I think they're the fundamental design is probably the same whether it's asphalt or or post tension. Um, but it really comes down to probably the timing and the cost of the different ways it can be built. So, it's not I would say no, it's not fully wasted. Um, I think a lot of that is
150going to get used in either scenario >> if that >> Okay. Do we have any idea what that breakdown is? I mean, is it possible for us to say, "Hey, CHA, we want we want you to design the space and we want to do the core samples, but don't design the the post-tension court until we get an idea of how much the asphalt court actually cost us." >> Um, I mean, I think it's that's it feels a little chicken in the egg because we don't know we don't know the difference in the costs. We don't know like is it double, is it 10% more? Um, I mean, I think the best road forward is is well, find out how much the additional cost is. I mean, I guess what we could do in that scenario
151if we wanted to, Chris, is we could find out we could table this, not vote on any of the funds tonight, find out the additional costs to add in the asphalt design. So maybe it goes from 415 to 50 or maybe it goes from 415 to 80. And then we can decide um you know do we want to get both? Do we want to choose which one? We only want asphalt. We only want post intention. We want both. Um we we could take that route. Um I just don't know. There is a very tight timeline um to try. That was another question I had is is I mean we have a spring tennis season, right? >> Yeah, they're out this year. >> I assume there's no >> Yeah. So they will they will find another
152place for them to play this year >> because they have deemed the courts to be unsafe. >> Gotcha. So >> So the when I bring up the kind of my original thought was like we've had longer discussions for less money. Let's say it's half the cost is the design, you know, half of this 415 is the design for the post tension. That's like still $20,000, which is a fair amount of money. So, kind of understanding I mean, I feel like we're we're spending money to get quotes. Is that what we're doing >> to get the designs? Because you can't get a you can't maybe Glenn can speak to this better than I can, but you can't get a bid on how much it's going to cost for a project until you have the designs for
153them to the specs for them to bid. So, that's what this is. >> Yeah. I mean, it's like um for any type of build, you're going to have to get a design build and there's a fee. There's always going to be a fee with that, but generally, so we did get a cost analysis for the three uh reconstruction of the three existing courts. And then we got the fourth, which was an add-on. So the site survey, the site analyst, the survey survey, the geotechnical inspection, uh the uh uh strummatic design, uh design development, and the permits that's going to be the same whether it's going to be for asphalt or it's going to be for concrete. That's part of that 415. So, um, for the three courts, yeah, that for the total of that, um,
154also the construction documents in the bidden is 33,500. To add in that fourth court brings it up to the 415. So, we're we're looking at the three courts for the 335. For that fourth additional court because there's nothing there. Um, the the design development for that one is the biggest portion of that. It's 65%. It's $10,000 750. Brings that up to the 415. So your design analysis for the three quarts or the four quarts, the processes is going to be the exact same whatever material you're going to use. So your 415 isn't going to go to waste. What's going to come out of it is either you want to have a court what's either concrete post tension or the asphalt and that's where the cost is going to be. So, he's going to give me
155analysis that either it's going to be for concrete with this or asphalt for this. And that we're going to notice the the analysis that we're looking for approval tonight is the overall design with the layout and the the site survey, the site analyst and so forth. >> Gotcha. So, this actually isn't relating to just the post tension. I mean, this is >> Well, no. So, the part of the spec was for post tension. That is correct. But we're asking for we'd like to get a price. So when you when they do all this instead of just having post tension give us also a cost analysis for asphalt so we can see the difference. So assuming the design isn't different, it should be nominal to increase to the scope. >> It it without without talking to,
156you know, the contact over there, I wouldn't want to speak, but um having done enough builds, again, I'm not a tennis guy, but having having done enough builds, it should be absolutely. >> She's just creeping up behind him. >> [laughter] >> I mean my only point is we're he he's already for 415 he's creating two designs right with post post tension concrete >> three or four >> that right either three quarts or four quarts that's two sets of conceptual schematic designs two sets of design development documents right when you think of like what we're going to get like productwise now we're saying in addition to this 415 we I want you to draw up a whole different set of asphalt for three and asphalt for four. So there's going to be conceptual and schematic design
157and design development for two different types of courts for two different options three and four. So we are asking him to come up with two more sets of design plans which are going to be different based upon specifications for asphalt courts and specification for post tension. >> Right? So that's what we don't know is like how much do they differ in their design. I mean obviously the materials they're bidding would be quite different. Um, but I don't I mean the the the the visual schematic of how they lay out is probably not that's probably the same for both. But we don't know. We won't know until we find out, >> right? >> Site analysis would be the same. Survey would be the same. Geotechnical investigation. That's pretty much where it stops, right? Then we're asking
158him to do four sets of conceptual and schematic design and then design development. permitting would probably be the same. Yeah. Right. Um and then but then construction documents would probably be the same because hopefully we would have made a decision by then and he doesn't create the construction documents until we have a choice. >> So that's why it's very hard for us to say what this might be. >> Um because part of it's going to be the same but part of it isn't. But we are asking him to do twice the work for two components of that at least. >> Right. So a portion of it, right? So it's not all wasted to your point. A lot of it is duplicated but um >> in in Michelle 115 for the three for >> conceptual and
159design and then um almost 15 for the four for conceptual schematic and design. So if he's doing that for both, >> right, it could be >> another 25,000, right? Yeah. >> The other Yeah. So >> can can I just get Colin's question first? um based on other tennis courts that have been built in the state of Maine in the last I don't know couple years uh what is the ballpark that we are looking at for either an asphalt or a concrete uh tennis court because the reason I'm asking is because isn't all of this sort of moot if um the numbers that we're talking about. Let's say for example, it costs a million dollars to make um the cheaper tennis court. [clears throat] And so we would do all this work and we would find
160that that information out and then um that would be somehow brought before the board uh as part of the budget process where we have $190,000 only $190,000 in there. And then we'd be asking the board to say, will you commit to $800,000 to pay for a tennis court in a year where we're proposing to cut um likely to be cut uh cutting a number of um staffing positions as a cost cutting measure so that we don't um pass on as much cost to the taxpayer. So, I guess like like I'm all for I'm all for expending this money, but at the same time like I I just I I don't know like do we have any sense of that because I think like if like we're talking like minimum a million dollars. I'm just I
161am making up numbers off the top of my head, but if we're talking about that then like we're not building a tennis court this year. >> Like we're just we're just not. So, I just sort of like we've gotten estimates multiple times in the past several years. >> Um, very sort of back of the napkin because we haven't done the work necessary to fully flesh out a budget. They I feel like they've been as low as 250,000 and as high as half a million. I don't I know one of them that Craig Sickles the previous um athletic director had gotten was for the post tension. This was several years ago and that one was the half million I believe. I'm I see you raising your hand Molly. We just don't engage back and forth. So
162sorry. Um there will be another public comment at the end. Um, >> so I guess are are we saying that in in if if we're committing to to to this um uh uh to this we're committing to this um funding um I guess can we also say to ourselves that we are doing that with an understanding that if that and also sort of saying to our community saying to the students and the and the um the coaches and the and the boosters saying that this is not a this is not a commitment um that we are going to be building this tennis court um the next fiscal year uh necessarily. Um but it is it is basically allowing us to know um the information that we really need to know which is what it's going
163to take to do it. Um, and then we develop a plan, whether it's a one-year plan, whether it's a two-year plan, a three-year plan, whether we do external fundraising or what have you. Is that what we're talking about? >> Yeah. So, I don't think this Yeah. I don't think this commits us to say that there will be new new courts in like ideally they would we would have new courts next fall. Um, but um to your point, we we just don't have enough information to definitively say that right now. I think one thing we didn't talk about tonight, although we have talked about in the past, is sort of the various funding sources for a project like this. So, we have 190,000 in that that reserve account. That is one piece. Um there have been
164discussions about local fundraising between the boosters and community members um that are are um invested in improving those courts. That is another avenue. There are grant opportunities with >> USA um that support communities that are building um new courts. Uh so that is another that is another avenue. All of those things are really rellyant on us knowing what's the what's the target that we're trying to raise and we won't know that until we do this piece. It is very much like the chicken and the egg. You're like, well, how much do we need? Well, we don't know. But we got to spend money to find out how much money we need to spend. So this is really that that first I mean we've we've sort of danced around this for several years getting back of
165napkin estimates but this would really be the first step to say okay what do we have? What is our ground support? What is our our land support in terms of the number of courts and what does that look like uh for cost? And then we can say, "Oh my god, it's $2 million. That's not happening this year." Or, "Ah, you know, it's it's 450 to 500 maybe between what we have and and what we can fund raise and what we can grant raise." Like, we're in the ballpark. >> Yeah, that's great. I just I just want that to be clear to to the community that that that is what we are that is what we're talking about and we don't we don't know those next steps because we don't have that information and so we
166are we are just very technically not making any commitment to to do that. um on any particular time scale just for very pragmatic reasons. >> Yeah. Kelly. >> Yeah. And I just wanted to add that that [clears throat] the reason why the facility and operations committee wanted to add these two additional pieces with the asphalt is that we were concerned about the cost upfront and we do we are sensitive to the fact that if it is too high it may be just too much for our community to bear to start this project right away. So, we are sensitive to that and that's one of the reasons why we wanted to get these additional options to see if that might bring it within a kind of a reasonable cost for our community. >> Yeah. Do we
167know if CHA um can provide any kind of indication of if they know about um the rates of inflation that have been happening to raw materials and things like that? I know as somebody married to a trades person, I can say raw material has been skyrocketing in price in the last two to three years, 5 to 10 years. Um, so I'm worried that this 250 to 500 ballpark is actually like quadrupled since that time. >> I mean, it's very possible. Um, you know, I I think that's the other reason we're going to get these, right? Um, you know, we we don't have we don't have the numbers we need yet. That that was kind of why I said it was several years ago. I actually think it was 450 the number we had the last
168one from Craig for the post intention, but that was a fair amount of time ago. So, I just round it up. Yeah. My my other concern is of course is >> every bid is a snapshot. So >> as we move toward getting a goal, who knows what's going to happen once we hit that. >> Sure. Right. Yeah. I mean, you know, if we say, okay, they give us a bid and we go, okay, it's going to take us four years to save that. You're like, well, then you need to save more than that, right? Like we worked on that with the with the phase, you know, the phases of the EMC audit, right? Um, so yeah, I think all of that gets taken into account, right? I I think there's there's a lot of different
169pieces at play. I think the fact that we currently don't have playable courts um will incentivize us to find a solution forward here. Um it's not like we have courts that are like they're okay and we want to save for a little longer to be able to get the really nice ones. Like that would make a lot of sense, but when we don't even have courts to play on at this point, that may make us that may steer us one way or the other. There's a lot of things that I think come to come to bear on this decision. So >> yeah, I guess just one of my things in recent meetings has been like kind of like like leadership and taking responsibility. So I think I just want to say that like without pointing
170fingers either at ourselves or to any particular like members of our of our staff that like uh eight months ago we were saying this is okay like we were that's what just what you said we're not saying now we were saying that eight months ago >> right someone had come in and told us that right yeah >> uh I just want to just sort of own that let's just I think let's just own that and let's think about um what other things uh are like that? Um what other things are kind of in the okay territory and we're kind of like um not looking at them closely enough. >> Yeah. No, that's that's a fair point. Um and I I think I think we've made some good progress on that front. Not specifically the tennis
171courts until this point, but just the whole um energy audit project. I mean, a lot of those things, you know, we have seen we've seen capital plans since I got on the board forever ago. Um, and none of them sort of laid out the system that we have now that you know, or the or the uh the transportation replacement plan. >> Yeah. >> You know, like I think we're making strides in that front. >> Just to be clear, absolutely. And like Glenn, the work you've done is like extraordinary and what the facilities crew has done is extraordinary. I just also want to say like again Yeah. And I think it also is I think let um I would I would really prefer it if we don't like kind of wink at that and we just
172more sort of like own it and kind of be like yep like again uh um mistake made lesson learned. Uh let's keep moving and um see if we can head some of those things off in the future. Can I just add I think you [clears throat] make a really important point and for me the point is that we were hearing a lot of voices telling us one thing but um [snorts] the official voices were saying something else and I think it's just important for us as a board to try to listen carefully to what our community is telling us. Okay. So we have a motion, we have a second. Um we have a well we have a couple of options. We can vote on this 415 today um to get that contract moving knowing that
173there will likely be uh an ask um for some amount of increase um to to add those two additional components. Mhm. >> We can table it tonight and wait for that information so that we can vote on it once having all of that. Um, I guess those are our two choices. >> If we do defer a vote, will it delay the process? >> Everything to Yeah. >> Let's vote. Let's vote. Let's vote for this money. Let's vote for this money. Get it moving. And then if we need some more money, let's vote to get that money and get these tennis courts going. It'd be great if we could just do the the energ uh engineering portion of it. You know, from my personal uh perspective, being a facility guy, I want to know what's going
174on underneath. I want to know how we got here because that question has never been asked and if it has, it hasn't been answered, right? So, I'm kind of the meat and potato type of guy. So, I want to get in there and figure out what's going on. So if we can the sooner we can start that process, the sooner I can understand how we got here and what the best course of action may be. >> No, I think that I think that's a good call because like we said, a lot of this has to be done regardless of which road we go. Yeah. >> So if we can start the regardless work now and hold off on the specific to which plan we want work until we know what the additional cost is, like
175>> maybe we decide we only want the asphalt cost, right? Maybe just >> just just do as just shift it to asphalt. See if that changes, you know, if it's too much to bear both. >> I mean, I met with Jason, a couple vendors out there. We did the walk tour. They they gave us a a napkin number, but doing the walk tour doesn't tell me anything because I can't see underground, right? So, until we can get underneath it, give me my core samples, then I got some data I can look at. But for right now, I'm just looking at a court that needs a lot of work. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, maybe what we find from the core samples is that asphalt is not uh uh conducive to >> Well, it may
176not be for that particular area, right? So, for what we have >> exactly. So, that's what we need to know and that that's going to make it for harder conversations, but at least we know that right now we're just >> guessing, >> spinning. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Valley. >> With that said, is it possible to carve out just the amount that's required for the pre-work or are we just going to go forward with the 41 just to have that as a spendable amount? >> I mean, my my thought is you would be able to be back at our next meeting with an updated amount. You think? >> Absolutely. >> So, two weeks. I mean, I don't [clears throat] think they're going to blow through, >> you know. >> I don't think they're going to get
177that much done. I mean, I hope they're super efficient, but I doubt they >> I'm hoping we're drilling that. That's what I'm hoping for. the rest of the stuff. No, but let's let's get some core samples and let me take a look at >> because that actually can be done right now. And like we've asked that question like it can be being done in January. >> Well, some of the frost is coming out. So, now is the the >> Now's the time to do it. >> Yeah. Okay. So, we have a motion. We have a second. Any other comments or questions? All those in favor? >> Thank you. >> None. Wonderful. Thank you. >> Appreciate it. And thank you for all the work of the folks in the in the audience uh that are here
178committed to this too. This is just the beginning of the process. So um thank you Moon. Um all right. So um that is all of our new business. We have no personnel. We are back to public comment because we put two on the agenda. So same rules apply. Can I make a comment? >> You can you can go again. Still three minutes, but yeah. >> Um I I just wanted to answer some of the questions that were brought up. Um my understanding is that um you know and and I have personal knowledge and have seen the estimates that we've gotten in the past. Several of them have been updated or done in the last year. And all of those previous estimates which were for the asphalt method of construction um were within a certain range
179you know I would say 250 to 400. There wasn't a huge difference in those estimates and I think we had four of them. Um, so, uh, what I will say about post-tension is I would really be curious to know what all of the other schools in the area have. Um, I know that York just recently redid their courts. Yarmouth has some pretty new courts. Um, I think it would be really useful to know from them what they did. Um because my personal just sense of these things from talking to different um you know professionals I'm you know part of a facility that just had their courts redone is that um you know post-tension courts are not really just best practices. It's more like buying a Rolls-Royce versus a Toyota. So, I really am concerned about
180that being a direction that we're going in and um especially when we are cutting staff. >> Thank you. >> Um hello again. I just want to thank you guys so much for um getting the ball rolling on the um money to take a look at what's under our tennis courts and get it started. And I just really wanted to like thinking about timing and everything just paint a picture. So for this year for our tennis season, we do not have courts at Freeport. We will have to find a way to practice at a location that's going to require individual transportation. And so students who cannot get that transportation, who cannot carpool with um other teammates in a safe way will not be able to participate this season. Uh we most likely will not have consistent
181access to those courts due to weather or um if we are practicing at say Pineland, we um they will have other people there who most likely book court times ahead of us. So our practice will not be consistent. we will not have consistent competition and that's very discouraging to myself including the many people that are working in the off season who are looking to um perform well this season and possibly look at playing outside of high school. And um all that being said, I would just like you, the board, to seriously consider when you get those estimates back, really thinking about um having a good timeline for this because you are leaving a small but very dedicated group of students without a sport that they very much enjoy. Uh and our courts have not seen
182real attention since, as was said, the 80s, which is unfortunately a very long time for where we're standing today. And so time is of the essence to make sure that um all of our sports at Freeport are accurate or equally represented and have um equal ability to play and to feel as if they're part of our sports community. Thank you. >> Thank you, Hazel. All right. So, um, item 16 is an executive session. Do I have a motion to enter into executive session as outlined in one MRSA section 4056A for the purpose of discussing the superintendent's evaluation? Kelly Karen. Thank you. All those in favor? I'm going to assume Collins in favor, none opposed.