2025-04-30 Board Meeting

001in recognition. Uh before we hear from Phoebe, I would like to recognize it is Phoebe's birthday. Happy birthday, Phoebe. Thank you for joining us on your birthday. And I've been given strict instructions to kick you out once your report is done. So, there's there is cake waiting for me at home. So, I am excited. I didn't print my thing today, but hopefully you can see me. Um does everyone like my haircut? it yesterday. Okay. Okay. So, we are so busy at the high school and we're back from April break. So, it's like some short months ahead, but they're so so busy. So, there's lots to share. Number one, a humongous congratulations to Joe Morris, who was region 10 student of the quarter this quarter. So, nice work to Joe and all the awesome Region 10

002students. Um, our seniors have gone off on senior projects. So, um, they are hard at work doing all sorts of awesome things. So, if you have a senior in your life, definitely ask them about that because there's some amazing projects this year. Juniors took the SAT on the Wednesday before April break. That was so fun. Um, our math team competed in the state meet a few weeks ago and they got eighth place out of 24 teams. So, big congrats to our math leads. Um, we had an FHS alum, Joey Burke, visit um the Endeavor classes to share about his journey after high school. And the Endeavor program also got to attend the building trades convention which was at the Augusta Civic Center. and they learned about all sorts of different career paths and trades that

003are within the construction industry. Students in the outing club went to Harpell and Orts Island to do some hikes and spend some time outside. And students in Miss Draper's PE class met with trainers from the organization prevention, action, and change, which trains students in self-empowerment and self-defense knowledge. So students in Miss Draper's class got to learn about setting boundaries and some strategies to manage dangerous real life situations. Um and finally, members of the student leadership committee have been hosting trainings and presentations to other leaderships groups in the school um such as student council and our advisory leaders um to help boost leadership skills that already exist um at our school and inspire maybe some new leaders. So, we have lots of fun things going on. We're so busy. It's like I what like 35 more

004days or something. So yeah, we're we're we're doing well though. I wasn't sure if she was going to mention it, but I did get to see uh Phoebe's inaugural tennis career match uh the other day and it went well. You guys should all uh take in a match if you can. Very entertaining. You've never watched so much fun happening on the court. So well done, Phoebe. Yeah. And like if there's any tennis um college scouts out there like I am accepting offers. So um we do have a match tomorrow in York and on Friday um at Breer High School. So definitely come to that because I'm an exhibition player, which means that I'm um the matches that I play don't actually count, but it's just because I'm so good that they just want to give

005the other team a chance. So she was clearly having a blast. So all right. Uh and if you do have seniors in your life and you think they've gone off the deep end because you see them walking around with goggles on their head, it's a whole thing. Don't worry, they're okay. It's a game. So, I had forgotten about the whole goggle thing. Um, all right. We're gonna wait and watch Phoebe leave so I can tell Jen I've done my job. Thank you. All right. So, we will move on to public comment. All right. So, uh there'll be another opportunity if the crowd comes in uh for public comment at the end of our agenda, but we will keep moving on to item eight, report from the superintendent. Okay. 8A, resignations. We've received a resignation from

006Sha Moore, DCS STEM teacher at the end of the 2425 school year. Samantha Creech, Mor Street School grade 1 teacher, end of the 2425 school year. Julia Gratchel, DCS grade 1 teacher, end of a 2425 school year. And Steve Bakan Fuso, FMS educational technician at the end of the 2425 school year, and we wish them all well. Uh we have a couple of new hires of support staff. Rose Walker has joined DCS as an ad technician and we welcome Casey Earlbach to Panel Elementary School for the as an administrative secretary for the 2526 school year. So yes, we are beginning to hire folks for next year as well. And that's the end of the report. Okay, thank you. All right, so as mentioned in the adjustments, we are going to jump ahead a little bit.

007Uh so um we're going to move on to item 12A. Um I have two different motions. Start with the discussion and then there's a separate motion. That's a separate motion. Okay, great. So uh to start our discussion, do I have a motion for discuss? Wait, that that's not a motion. Discussion and possible action, but it's written as a motion. Let's just talk about it first. Okay. First of all, um I'd like to give a little history for members of the public and for the board to jog everyone's memory. Um on February 28th, 2024, the board voted to uh accept a gift of approximately $3.6 million from the Norman B. Stson trust and take the necessary steps for the district to receive the gifts which included authorizing the superintendent to sign associated and legal and financial

008documents. Um so we're very fortunate from a benefactor as part of their trust um to receive the scholarship money. So that was our first step in this process. On May 30th of 24, uh, all our financial documents were filed and we received an initial dispersement of $3,81,012. We discussed in June that there were really two options for how to manage this scholarship. One of those option was that RSU5 would manage the funds in the scholarship. Um and we work collaboratively with our our banking institution. Um which at that it was bank sav bath savings that's where the funds were distributed to to manage the financial aspect and freeort high school would determine the criteria for selection and award the scholarship. The other option was to have the free high school scholarship foundation manage the funds

009and the scholarship. my recommendation to the board at that time in June. Um I said both entities could manage the funds and they certainly could award the scholarship but the Freeport High School scholarship foundation offers something that we simply could not do as we didn't have the capacity to do and is the that is the mentor experience for the duration of the awardes postsecary education. For that reason, that's why I recommended the funds um be managed through the foundation. It's been a long time working here. You say, my gosh, that was back in June. So, we've been working uh with Drummond and Woodson, our attorneys, and also in collaboration with the foundation to draft some documents for the board to consider um this evening. and key factors in the gre agreement that you have before

010you. Um you know first of all in terms of management of the fund through the foundation do the size of that fund is going to serve our kids for generations of managed properly and the foundation has outlined that clearly in a document for you. There is a clause in the agreement that RSU5 has the ability to terminate the part terminate the partnership and have the balance of funds returned to the district for distribution. There's also a strong voice from the high school for selection of the recipient of the scholarship as the Freeport High School principal serves on the board. And the fourth thing is that's important is that the foundation will provide a written report to the RSU5 board of directors annually. So that in a nutshell is the history. Um that's what the the

011some of the salient points in the agreement. Um but we have with us tonight uh former board member, our board member but president, current president of the Freeport High School Scholarship Foundation, Jen Galetta. And I'm ask Jen if she can support me by telling the board a little bit about the scholarship foundation. Hello. Uh, funny being on this side. I don't think I was ever on this side before, but um, Jen Gulo also offered to come up and and share. So, if you want to come up and, you know, offer any um, feedback. But the Freeport High School Scholarship Foundation is actually a very young foundation. It just started in 2021, but it's grown immensely. Um, I just became the president in January, so I do give a lot of credit to the past people.

012Um Fred Palmer and John Patterson, who many of you know um if you're around for the track and field, were this was kind of their brainchild and they worked with former superintendent Becky Foley um to get this going. Uh the reason why I'm involved is because I I think it's amazing. It's an amazing opportunity for our students. Um and just to give you a little bit of background, it was established to lack uh to address the lack of post-secary scholarship funds for Freeport High School students. The mission is to provide substantial financial assistance and community mentorship to FHS students um who are seeking higher education. In addition to offering scholarships to students who are going to four-year institutions, we also have a technical and trade scholarship that we actually just amended to increase the amount

013um and the duration of that scholarship. So, just to let you know what the scholarships look like, every year, um, since 2021, we've given a scholarship to a senior and a junior. The reason why we choose a junior is it gives them something to kind of look forward to. They know they have that scholarship. So, when they're looking at schools and considering their post-secary, um, they know they have that scholarship. There's actually a student in the school right now. He's a senior and he was last year's recipient. And um Jen can probably speak that it it she she saw a difference in him after getting the scholarship and and his whole senior year was kind of had a little bit more uh you know spring in his step. So we give four for four years

014$5,000 a year. So each student receives $20,000 over a 4-year period. That's for the two that go to a 4-year institution. The technical or trade scholarship is for three years up to three years and it's $4,000 a year. One of the very cool things about the technical trade scholarship is that it's not just limited to pay for schooling. We have the opportunity to adjust and kind of do a a you know not one-sizefits-all. It's a very detailed scholarship for each individual that could include um tools or even transportation um books, you know, you name it. something that they might struggle with is what we want to help them do. Um, so we have our first graduate this year who received the uh the first scholarship as a senior. She's graduating from UNE uh this May

015May this May um as a nursing uh student. So very exciting and we are um extremely excited to possibly receive this money because it will create a situation where we can give five times the scholarships that we're currently giving. So um that is amazing for those of you that have ever um paid for college or had to uh look at college for your student. I have three that I put through college. Um it's amazing for the the community to have this. And one thing that I ask everyone leaves here tonight, whether this passes or not, is get the word out because what we're finding is people don't know about this and we need to make sure that every single student in Freeport High School knows that the scholarship's available and their parents give them the

016little nudge to uh to apply. So, Jen, if you have anything else to share. I think uh good evening everybody. Jen Gul from the high school. Um, I think that something that is so unique about this organization is the element of providing a mentor because there's very few scholarships that are available to do that. And this is a unique opportunity where particularly for the student who's a junior, they're matched with a mentor right away. And so the student that she was speaking about is someone who has now been connected with their mentor since last spring. And so they're able to establish this relationship as they go through the college selection process and continue the mentorship goes beyond high school and while they're in college. That's the expectation. I thought that was the plug you were

017going to put out there. If anybody's interested in being a mentor, we're always looking for mentors. Um and so this is just um I've been so fortunate to be a part of this since the beginning with Fred and and John and um Dr. Becky Foley. um and Dr. Foley is also now a board member and so it's um people who are deeply committed to this um comm the three communities the success of our students far beyond high school and I think in the initial conversations about how we could manage this incredible donation to us that element of mentorship was something that is a huge piece of that. I think the other thing that I have seen that in the selection process over the last five years, it's incredibly difficult because we are getting more and

018more students to apply and and we could make a case for every single one of them to receive this scholarship. That's the hardest part of our selection process. And increasing the funds would enable us to just uh increase the support that we're [Music] giving. Questions for Jean, Jen, or Jen? Jen G. We're both Jen Gene. Jen Gi, Jen Gi, or Jean. The email is very difficult. You can't just write Jen or Jen J. Yeah, I figured that out. But isn't one of you two N's? No, you're both one N. Oh, questions. Yeah, it's about this whole N situation and your names. Um, it's not uh what is the current idea that the funds that the the 3.6 6 million uh from the trust would support effectively just expanding the existing structure that you have and

019sort of the same same criteria, same usage. It's not sort of looking to establish a um a different scholarship with different criteria. It's really just to expand the two that you currently have. I'm not I'm guess not sure who you're supposed to address that to. That's a great question and the answer is is to stick with what we're doing because it's a really great model. But I will say that one thing that has been discussed is actually increasing the amount of the scholarship. So right now we do 5,000 for four years or 4,000 for three years. That may go up to, you know, uh overall 25,000 if that's what the board um decides is a good direction to go. But the model of the, you know, large support over the whole time when someone's in

020school and the mentor, that's kind of the meat of the whole scholarship foundation. Cool. Awesome. Thanks. So, that was going to be one of my questions too was, you know, is it different criteria? I feel like this gentleman who donated this was from the STEM field, but there was no restrictions that said they had to be STEM fellowship in the trust where there's no direction um in terms of the amount or what kind of school or what the criteria are. Okay, great. Um, so it's it's sort of wide open. So that was my question is is how how and who makes that decision on what the um what the scholarships look like going forward once we once we approve this tonight. Does that become the foundation's decision or is the board involved or it's my

021understanding at this point that it would be the direction of the foundation that we would go back and like I mentioned to Colin like potentially increase um but we have obviously Jung Gulko is the person on the board right now but there is also um a requirement from another donator that we have the principal of Freeport High School on the board. So there will always be someone from the schools on the board and any of you are welcome to want if you want to join the board. We're looking for new board members as well. Um so did that answer your question? Uh yes. Okay. Yes, it did. Um so then I guess it's a question for the board of the comfort level of basically um handing off that decision-m to another party, right? Because the

022other option is we could make the decision and make the uh the agreement subject to that, right? So, we want to do $10,000 a year for two different scholarships instead of four $5,000, you know, bigger bigger ones to be potentially more impactful to provide, you know, cuz 20 is fantastic, but when it's, you know, $100,000 to go, that's still a big it's still a big nut to to crack for for a lot of students. So, um I'm not saying I I have a strong feeling either way, but basically we are um uh signing off that decision- making with this. Thank you both so much. Uh I think I'm comfortable with that with with allowing the foundation to do that with the funds. I think that they have the experience and they have the folks at

023the table that care deeply about the the future of our students um as we do as well, but they have, you know, been at this and um done this for for a few years now. So, I would be comfortable with that and I just wanted to thank you both for your work on this. Does this the your your point, Jen, about um the principal being a required member? Does ours have that? It does not. The Cushing does. And Cushing is if is because Cushing is part of the foundation. That's why the Free Port High School principal is always on the board. And that is something you like that the board would like added specifically for Stson. That's certainly something we could have done as well. I think we should um just because I mean just

024like we have the ability to pull the funds if we wanted to if there was a change in I mean that I guess is our our our relief valve if we were uncomfortable with how the foundation may be making decisions like we're going to do 200 $200 scholarships instead and we like we don't feel like that's the spirit of it. We're going to take it back in house. We have that ability um in in this agreement to do that. Um, not that I think we would need it, but I imagine Cushing probably does as well. So, if they took it out and then the requirement for the principal no longer is is a requirement on the on the foundation, I do think it's probably prudent to include it in our if I feel like it's

025important because I feel like that voice of the directly from the high school in terms of like what are the needs for our students, what are the students, you know, seeing like I I think that's a really important piece of it. Um, and I know we try to make these these agreements agnostic to the people in the seats today. Um, and make them sustainable over time. Um, so I have no doubt about the people in the seats today, but you never know what happens over time. So I think it would be appropriate to include the principal if you guys all agree. I just have a question about the criteria for the student. So any student in the high school could apply for the scholarship, right? That's what we're saying. And right now just two juniors

026and yeah, junior and seniors, but any student there's not a specific criteria of need based of need base or anything like There is there is that's in our description of financial need that it's um in the description of the scholarship that has been an element of it of it's a student who is demonstrating commitment to their academics, commitment to the community and financial need. Uh and it's similar to um some of the other um scholarships that are out there that are that significant amount of money, but that is a stipulation in in part of it. Anyone, however, can apply. We we don't turn away an application, but it's certainly there's financial information included in the application and that is something that we take into consideration in the selection process because the original idea of this

027whole foundation was how do we make a significant difference in the life of a student who may not be able to pursue college at all without this level of support. Michelle, the only thing that I would say I I totally agree. I think the funds for Cushing will um definitely uh run out before the Stson funds do. I think it would just be um something to consider that right now um and it's okay with me um because of the stipulation of the Cushing funds saying that the principal needs to be a part. There's also a part that um I am a signature on all of the financial decisions. I receive all of the statements from the bank, which is helpful. I'm probably one of the less knowledgeable about the investment percentages we should choose for

028that. But um it it's just something to know that that is something that the principal was taking on. It's not it's not anything that um is a hindrance or an exorbitant amount of work. It's just that everything that goes through the bank goes through the um the board plus it also needs the principal signature on everything. Interesting. Okay. I I guess I wasn't thinking that we needed to get that uh prescriptive in it. Um or if we were going to get prescriptive on, you know, that maybe we could make it the principal or their design. So you could just make Kelly do it. Well, just also to add, um, I I can say that as a board member, we would we would always want to have the principal or a designate on the board because

029we we Jen has all the information, right? When we come to the table to make these decisions, she has a lot of information that board members don't have from just the application. So, we also do have a couple um former teachers on the board as well. That's great. Yeah, it's great. And just to add if if um Danielle to answer just um the criteria for the the scholarship is intent to pursue post-graduate education, a main resident, a Freeport High School student, significant challenges to post-secary education, exceptional financial need, a strong academic record, and community involvement. I think yeah, I I I think this is fantastic. I think one um um one piece I might just want to put in the mix is to have a um a relatively formal moment in the year when the

030board gets a presentation about about what about what's been happening. Um because I feel like there's a few things in the district that are kind of in that category where it's like we've kind of designated things or like people are doing things and then they say they're going to tell us what they're doing, but then we don't hear what they're doing. Um so I think just like having kind of a formal moment and I think like having that not be on the the principal's shoulders necessarily. It's not like the principal must report, but like just sort of if you if that was a way to build that in to basically just say like every every June or every September or whatever the time of year would be. Um, there's a a presentation with some documents

031that we can look at. Yeah, I I think that's a great idea because I think it gets the word out even more. I think that's a great idea. Yeah, I I'm um I'm definitely in favor of this. My my only hesitation is um you know I do think there and maybe this is the discussion with the the members of the foundation um you know I think there is a need for people who potentially don't have you know ex extreme what was it extreme financial need I mean these some of these highlevel schools are so I mean relative to $80,000 a year to go to the everyone has I mean most people have extreme financial need to go to a school like that. So, is it relative to the school? Is it relative to their situation?

032I mean, is there any discussion about that when you're having those? Or is it, you know, here's the threshold. If you make more than this, you don't qualify. I we've had a lot of conversation about that because I think we often see that it's families that fall kind of in the middle of the road that really can um find that the college selection process and financial part of it is a challenge because it's it's that their um total family income is too high to be eligible for some things. I think the other piece of this process is that we have significant need in Freeport and we are at the high school for all three communities and I think that we also have had this element of the application that the student has significant barriers and

033that is one of the things that we've looked a lot where students have been very vulnerable in their applications to say these are the challenges that I have not just in paying for college but in all of the different things that go with um leaving high school and going to college. So I think both of those things are are an important part of the process. The the the benefit I see of giving the board the decision-making power about how the criteria is set is foundation board. You mean the foundation board? Yes. Thank you. is um the ability to be flexible. Like I've already seen in these five years that we've changed how we're giving particularly the technical scholarship support where we gave it to a student. That student chose not to follow the training program

034they thought and then they were able to use the funds for some of the things Jen was talking about equipment that they needed that they would not be able to pursue a job position without. And I think that we are able to meet as a board quickly. We communicate frequently. Uh and we're able to make those revisions very quickly and say we can make this change. And so I think it could be something if we were the recipient of these funds to talk about do we expand the criteria? What does that look like? I think it would give the the foundation board the ability to do that. Great. And did your investment folks give you an idea of you know how many scholarships you could do based on just well maybe not your investment return

035in the last few months but on a typical year like what you know how much of the principal you would have to eat into and so we how we follow a 4% so we take 4% from each fund each year to put towards scholarships. So the number of scholarships may change based on what 4% is. It will 100% change. Um it will change regardless of this money because we did you know are we have had some other money donated. So you know it it's everything is kept kind of separate. So it's 4% out of the different funds that come together to then offer all the scholarships. So nobody gets like a particular scholarship under a particular name. No one's going to get the Stson scholarship or the Cushing scholarship. It all comes together for all

036the students of Freeport High School. So, it um it looks like which in a and I'm going to be honest, this is a a big undertaking, but it looks like it's going to multiply by about five times scholarships or like I said earlier, increase the amount of the scholarships because as you said, Michelle, I mean, I've put three kids through college. Even $20,000 over four years doesn't doesn't make a humongous dent. I mean, it it does, you know, it does. It's meaningful. meaningful and it's significant, but um it's definitely something that I think the board will look at increasing the number of scholarships and the amount of the scholarships as well, which I think we could do both. Okay, other questions? Yeah, I I I appreciate you walking us through the the criteria because I

037think I think that's important for both for uh this board um but also for our community to know in terms of if we do make this agreement that we are making it um with a current understanding that those are the criteria and like that is a that is a um that is a decision, right? That's a decision to say. Um it's a portion of our student body, a portion of our community um that is being um prioritized. And I don't I don't think that's wrong, but I think it's just important for us to to say to to say that and to acknowledge that. Um and then maybe as part of the, you know, as part of this yearly feedback, you know, maybe we could all as part of that kind of just sort of hear

038an update on how you're thinking about the criteria, right? sort of like you know how how like what what kind of feedback also are you getting from applicants or you know are you hearing that um because I think I think that would be an important part of our kind of like I guess a kind of yearly decision sort of informal decision to kind of re-up right to be like yeah sounds good keep going like let's keep this structure in place and I will just add that we have we we are so fortunate with the number of scholarships that we have available for students. I think that's the plug that Phoebe could have put in there, too, because the biggest challenge is getting kids to apply for them. Uh, but we have a significant number of

039scholarships that are not u based on need. They might not be this amount, but I think that that's just something for the board to know that there's a huge variety of the scholarships that kids are able to access. and um and and so it's not that we don't have anything for students who are in a variety of um you know brackets of financial background. Can I circle back for a moment about um the principal serving on the board of the foundation? in the question that and we we said that because of cushioning um the principal is a trustee but if you go to item 12A the I think it's white sheet in your packet page two um it says the principal and this is what we would be agreeing to the principal of Freeport High

040School shall serve exeicio as a member of the board of directors of the foundation the principal shall participate with the board of directors of the foundation in selecting scholarship awardees so it is in in addition to crushing this spelled out here. I I couldn't remember if I saw it in here or not. I knew I knew it was currently, but um I should have just flipped the page. So great. So then I don't even think we need to modify the proposal. Any other comments or questions? This is really exciting, but it also just reminds me Jen, we a couple years ago we were talking from a policy committee um perspective. we were talking about this question of scholarships and how students um and families learn about the existence of the scholarship and I think like

041it was a sort of suspended question then and I think it's still sort of a suspended question of like how do we as an RSU um communicate that um and I think that I don't know whether that's a um like a strategic plan kind of question or whether I don't know where it fits but I just want to sort of like um I don't think it should remain a suspended question of how is it that the the RSU communicates about the full range of scholarship opportunities that are available and as you said like you know what they are and the people that you're working with know what they are and like that those conversations happen but um I remember at that particular moment like we couldn't go to like a particular web page to see

042like here's what they all are you know so we could kind of simply have that conversation and I think we kind of agreed that that would be helpful to have and we can now So it's great. So we have uh our guidance team has done a phenomenal job of we have uh on the guidance website which is linked to the district website and the high school website is there's just a scholarship page where everyone is linked uh there's a description of the scholarship. There's the application there. So that's a digital way that's sent that lives on the website. It's sent to all families and to students electronically. Then we have in-person scholarship required meetings. the students aren't allowed to skip those. Um, where they receive the information on paper and electronically. And then outside of

043the guidance uh office, there's a physical wall with paper copies of all of those scholarships. I think the ones uh that continue to evolve are ones that there's consistently brand new scholarships that come up. We sometimes receive that information. We don't always know how we get on mailing lists. One that we are super excited about is that we have the opportunity to give some of our seniors uh a brand new laptop. That's a a new organization that's formed called Suz's Wagon. And so that has just come about in the last two years. And it's not some of those are ones that we just nominate kids. They're not able to apply. But the ones that people are able to apply for are on the website, sent via email, are in that in-person meeting and on that

044paper wall. Now, we're really trying to I because I have a particular interest in this scholarship, we also visit classes um 12th grade and 11th grade English classes and advisories. They have paper copies, they have phys uh electronic copies, and then they meet with students at region 10 as well. We still struggle. It's really hard to get students um in the midst of everything that they're doing with college applications and um their academic work and co-curricular activities to apply for them. Um and we just keep pushing them really really hard about that. I just want to say thank you because that was it was a a thing that we definitely raised as a question. So I just want to also acknowledge thank you so much for jumping on that and doing that. That's fantastic. I

045I also have to add that Jen is like a cheerleader for this at the schools. I mean, she personally emails students about these and continues to like nudge them to finish their their applications. Like, she hops on school buses to talk to kids going to region 10. Like, she's amazing. And that's another reason why it's really important to have that connection with the with a the principal of the high school. I might have scared a student the other day because I Jen and I were surprising her to let her know except she thought she had a really serious meeting with me and I kept a really straight face and then we had flowers and it was great. Okay. Well, I guess it's better than it could have been, right? Or she was expecting anyway. Um

046Okay. So, uh, do I have a motion for acceptance of the agreement entitled Stson Scholarship Fund agreement between regional school unit number five and the Freeport High School Scholarship Foundation be approved in the form presented to this meeting, that the superintendent be authorized to sign the agreement on behalf of the RSU and that the secretary file an attested copy of said agreement with the minutes of this meeting. Cheyenne and Colin, thank you. Any other questions or no? All those in favor? Great. Thank you guys. Thank you so much. All right. Uh we're just in a a a philanthropic mood tonight. We're going to carry on. We're going to move to uh item 13B. Uh, new business. Um, I will get the motion on the floor and then we will have a discussion. Uh, do we

047have a motion that the resolution entitled resolution to authorize That's not the right one. B. Here we go. Not A. Uh, I move that the Do we have a motion that the vote entitled vote to accept gift of basketball court repairs be approved in the form presented to this meeting and that an attested copy of the vote be filed with the meeting minutes? Mora, thank you. Second, Kelly. Great. So, I'd like to give a little context um that over 30 30 years ago, um Bob Smith led the Freeport Outdoor Recreation Group on a fundraising campaign to increase outdoor athletic opportunities for the community by building outdoor basketball courts at Freeport Middle School. and we all know it happens over 30 years. Uh sadly Bob passed away in 2022 and in honor of Bob some very

048dedicated community members embarked on a fundraising effort called Build It Back for Bob to raise community funds to res resurface the Freeport Middle School basketball courts. The engineering for the project has been completed and vetted by our own facilities director Glenn Reynolds. And the motion out of consideration for the board this evening is to accept this most generous gift of basketball court repairs. I'm certainly in full motion of this um support of this motion and express my gratitude for the efforts of these dedicated community members as this is clearly a project that is out of our current financial possibilities at that time. And I know one of the key members of Build a Bat for Bob, Alli McCormack, is here this evening. I ask Ally if you'd like to say a few words to to

049support this. My name is Ali McCormack. I live in Freeport. I'm invited to the Professional Women's Association every year because of Ali McCormack. I haven't sent them my mug shot yet, but um so I haven't been to a school committee meeting in a long time, but in this climate that we're in, I I just appreciate the service that all of you elected officials uh go through to become elected, most of us sit in the in the background and either praise or critique uh you folks, and I appreciate what you do. Um, so 30 years ago or so, Bob Smith and a couple of folks realized that there was no outdoor fullcourt basketball court in Freeport, Maine. We were from away from the Boston area where there were basketball courts all over the place and no

050school ever got built unless there was a basketball court. Uh, one of the most amusing fundraisers back then, which we probably could not do today because of political correctness, is the couch bingo uh, fundraiser, which was a huge uh, fundraiser where where the middle school court is now. There was just grass and it was gritted into f 50 squares and we sold the squares to uh, community members, I think, for 50 bucks a piece. And we had a cow come up from Wolfneck Farm and did his business or her business on a particular square. Anyway, uh the spirit of Bob Smith uh lives with all of us. Uh I want to thank uh Jean Michelle Glenn uh and oddly enough, Bob's spirit showed through uh Michelle because she knew Bob before we had the meeting.

051She didn't know that she knew him, but she now now knows that she she knows Bob Smith. Um, we met with the facilities me uh meeting maybe a year and a half ago and I don't know which two school committee members was on that facility meeting but we were pretty confident that we could do this and I was a little frightened myself because I never been involved in fundraising but uh you know the spirit of Bob Smith and I'm getting a little tingly now just even talking about him because we are in a gym and uh so I I on behalf of the friends of RSU5 build it back Bob are so happy to provide you with this money and hopefully the court is going to be built by the summertime and uh thank you

052very much and again thanks to Jean and and Michelle for your help. All right, any Questions for Ally? Do you uh so uh just so folks know the the raised amount is sufficient to complete the renovation. So this is they have done a 100% raise of this which is absolutely incredible. Um yeah you guys were confident. I was like wow good luck. I mean I was incredible. I I I uh will we'll definitely say that. But I was um when we that first meeting when when we were like gez we I don't know when this is going to fit into our you know our capital plan. And you're like all right well then we'll just raise it all. And you did. So thank you. Uh, thank you to all of the group that was so

053involved in that and all of the donors. Um, and um, he didn't tell you guys all the story, but my favorite story is, you know, the he said it, not me. A bunch of old men playing basketball and people would some of the people saw them on the highway driving by and like would pull off and be like, "Can I play with you guys?" Yeah, that was during COVID when the when the gym was closed. I also should mention two things. Fred Palmer and uh uh uh uh Mr. Madison are also donators to this particular facility. So that says a lot about them as citizens and also uh initially the initial funds are really the hardest to get. Once the ball gets rolling people, you know, Bo Bow Street Market was very helpful. Bass Savings

054was very helpful. And if I can use the word beer at a school committee meeting, Main Beer Company was a great corporate citizen in addition to all the Freeport Pel, the Durham people. Uh, it's been a wonderful tribute to uh, Bob Smith. So, all right. Any other questions? So, it the it was built 30 years ago. Well, 34 years. 34 years ago. So, that's kind of Are we thinking kind of that's would be our cycle for this one? Also, um, when you have to mow a basketball court, it's a little bit sort of far gone. I don't see what the problem is, but yeah. Okay. Um, so we're think Yeah, we're thinking like in 30 years we'll just need to have u part two of this. Uh, there's a Bob Smith lurking, right? Exactly. And

055the AR25 community. Yeah. So, if you're watching tonight and your name is sort of Bob Smith. Um, yeah, that's fantastic. I just want to say I also remember when Chris O'Neal talked to me about this uh initial the initial project and and also more in the the phase of um of have it be kind of more of a matching uh thing with the district. And again, I'm just so impressed by it and and thankful and um and what a great um uh way to honor um his life and service to the community. Thank you. All right, everybody good? questions, comments? We have a motion and a second on the floor. All those in favor? See, I told you no one would be opposed. Thank you, Ally. All right, Glenn, get on it. All right, so

056now we are back to our regularly scheduled uh agenda. Item nine, uh, administrator reports, finance. Kelly, can I close the lens? Do you want me to open it, please? So, included in your packet this evening are the expenditures for uh through March 301, 2025. Um, just a few highlights. We're about um 93.4% expended and encumbered and we are um about 74% collected which kind of nice because we're about 75% through the year as of that time frame. We are um monitoring the uh transportation article. That's the one that um we may uh at finance next at our next meeting at finance um look to maybe transfer some funds. Um, as you know, as part of the whole budget process, we talked about um getting into a vehicle replacement plan. Um, and so we've seen um

057a little bit more repair money than we had expected. So um we're hoping to address that um this year with the movement um from another article for this purpose. Um and then but then getting on to that replacement plan will help us um maintain our fleet so that we don't have to hopefully spend quite so much in repairs. Um, so that's the only area of concern that we're watching right now. We did, as I've mentioned previously, we've asked um administrators to look at their spring spending and get that done before April breaks. So, we're kind of um letting the dust settle on that and um getting those bills paid. Um and so we should have a better idea of where we'll be looking to land for the end of the year. Um we are um

058on track for um I know we we had discussed using some undesated fund balance to help um uh start up that project the vehicle replacement projects and we're moving funds uh into capital reserve from undesated and there are no concerns there um as far as meeting the targets that we discussed for future years as well. So questions for Kelly. Thank you. All right. So we will move on to administrator report 9B update from Po Elementary School. Principal Holly Johnson. So, thank you for this opportunity and welcome to Panel Elementary. Holly Johnson, principal. Um, Panel has lights and a disco ball. So that that school board is very comfortable here. Uh questions about why that is there. I think it's there year round. Um and right now we are in rollerblading uh season and it's the

059third time this year. And if you come in during PE students are rollerblading with the lights off, the overhead lights, the um color lights are on and the music is on and they're having a blast in here. So it's great. So thank you to uh Mr. T for that. Uh, so I'm going to share a little bit about Move it up. Yeah, I saw everyone else kind of hunched over too. That's great. Thank you. Um, I share again um this year about our whole school study. Um, these spring meetings always follow shortly after we've had our whole school study, which is usually in mid-Marchch um or early April. And um the month of March was uh really focused on students um uh developing um some new learning and this year's um study was on um

060space. I do have a pamp uh the brochure that was given out um the night of our whole school family share and um this year um we focused on space and teachers started the work actually the um uh right as January rolls around we start planning uh with the subject that we knew we were going to focus on um student uh teachers turn first to nextgen science standards to see which grades um had actual um science and standards that align to that. Not all did, but um three out of the seven um used those standards and um developed um the focus for the study. Grades three, four, and five actually did a lot of student inquiry. So students had some choice um in in what they studied or how they studied it, which was great.

061That was a little bit different this year than we've done in the past. Um and it paid off. So I'm going to focus on the learning, but I also want to focus on the teaching. It's not the teaching that the teachers did, but it's the teaching that um transpired as students shared their learning. Um and as the brochure said, I called it out of this world teaching and learning. Um in each of the photos or videos that we're going to watch, it it uh shows um students demonstrating their projects and other students are learning from them. Um, and I heard at the end of they do that um during the day and then in the evening the families come and they do the same thing. Um, and it was really nice at the end of

062the um, that first afternoon. Um, I heard a kindergartenner explained what they learned about I got to remember the exact Anyways, it was just amazing for them to share with not being prompted um, just wowed about some of the learning that they had um, uh, discovered that day. So, um, first grade, which is on your left, studied, um, uh, basically the sun in relationship to the moon and our earth. And they built um uh um a nice model that they could um use and demonstrate and show the orbit of um the earth, orbit of the moon and talk about what happens and the relationship um and describe what happens with an eclipse. It was just it was really great. Uh the photo on the right is kindergarten. They did um the entire solar system and

063um suspended throughout the classroom were all the planets. Um and they had telescopes that uh you could observe and see the different um elements and then they had uh posters around that described all of their learning. Uh both of these are in preK. The student on the left is um demonstrating um what happens uh when trees are tapped. And the focus in prek was about weather and um the impact um it has on um us and the different things it allows us to do. So they tapped a tree actually out behind the school. Um and then they built their own maple tree here. And then uh the student on the right is demonstrating um evaporation and um they had all the academic vocabulary to use for all of it. It was great. Um and here

064on the left is a fifth grade student explaining their project to a first grader. And I had a video on the right, but it didn't want to stay. So tonight we're not going to watch the video, but it was actually one of the first graders demonstrating their model of um the phases of the moon. And it was great. uh third grade um did a lot of inquiry study. Uh rovers had to be a part of that and they built a few rover models which was wonderful. And then they each had individual projects um that uh had posters um andor slideshows to go with it. Um we're going to get a little uh the rovers were a lot of creativity. Kindergarten did a couple different um projects. Um I showed their classroom earlier. These are some

065constellations that they made. Um and they they were just amazing what they built. Um we did have uh Northern Stars Planetarium here in the gymnasium. Um and students were inspired to make models of the constellations and label them. This is the kindergarten room as well. So they worked um together with um the art studio. Um, so each of the planets and the sun was modeled after um the artwork of Alma Thomas. So they studied the artist and then um built them in the art class and then they were suspended in the classroom and they're still there if you want to peek at them later. They're amazing. And I've got a couple slideshows from some fourth graders that hopefully work. I'm going to make this a little I don't know if I can get that bigger.

066What is gravity by that Cox? Can you hear that? Yes. What is gravity? The answer is gravity is an invisible force that pulls objects toward each other. Earth's gravity is what keeps you on the ground and what makes things fall. Albert Einstein described gravity as a curve in space that wraps around an object such as a star or a planet. You know how there are planets in space and they're floating? This is because there is there's there there's less gravity in space. If you were to go into space, you would start floating around too, just like the planets. But on Earth, you would just fall back down. Gravity. Throw it yourself. Throw a ball up in the air. Air. And because there is gravity, it will come back down. Gravity. The end. And this is

067another fourth grade slideshow. Most of it you're just going to have to read, but there's a a video in the middle. [Music] Wow. Heat. Heat. Heat. So the reason I wanted to share a couple of the fourth grade slideshows um it was the same in third grade, fourth grade and fifth grade but um the collaboration that the students teaching each other about the technology. So, not a little bit of the sharing of the actual science information, but if one person didn't know how to add a video or do this, someone was ready um and it wasn't the teacher, they knew much more than the teacher. So, it was really great to see them um really supporting each other um in putting together projects. I need and this is the actual end of the slideshow, but

068I'm going to borrow it also. Any questions? Thank you. That was really neat to see. I'm curious. Um, I just find it really neat how you have multi-age learning and so collaborative as you were talking about. Do you feel like that's really able to work here because of the small class size? Do you feel like are there bigger schools in the district that like what are lessons learned I guess that you could pass on? Do you feel like it's only because your small population that makes it work? Could this be replicated on a larger scale? I think the smaller size makes it a little easier. I think it it's doable. I mean, I think other um maybe the format that we have would definitely have to look different at a school, you know, would have

069to be more hosted like in a gymnasium and maybe be just a couple grades, but the size makes it doable to for students to share and interact on that platform. But even the the month of learning, I mean, I know last year third grade was studying a subject and preks was doing a similar thing, but they knew that like they were doing research about certain animals so that they, you know, joined up to share. So, it really is just everybody's really flexible. Um, and the kids know each other and they know they might know what their sibling is studying. So, it really just all comes together without we don't plan all of it. I'm going to let you know it happens. So, it's and it's great. So, um we do reflect at the end. So,

070um we'll meet to kind of um debrief and talk about um what were the great things that happened, what might we want to change or add for next year. Um and then we document all that so as we jump into it next year, we're ready to plan um and and make it even better each year. So, other questions for Holly? Well, I just learned about solar wind, so thank you for that. I do. Can we just watch that video for the rest of the night? Just one loop. That'd be fantastic. Yeah, it was great. Very soothing. Yeah. All right. Thank you. All right. Uh item 10, board comments, committee reports. We'll start with board information exchange and agenda requests. Oh, you have one, too? Yeah, I can go first. Sure. Um, I had sent the

071board a couple of weeks ago some information about a resolution related to um, immigration enforcement in schools. And so I was wondering if the policy committee could consider taking that up. Is it a policy or is it um, that's a good question actually. I'm sorry I said resolution. I do think it was a policy, a model policy that I think was very similar to um the administrative procedures that Gan had said we already had in place, just formalizing them so that um they can be more consistent across the district and maybe raise a little bit more awareness of them. And um in particular, the reason I'm wondering if we want to make this a more formal policy, I guess that would be up to the policy committee to discuss, right? whether that would make sense

072is um just because of some of the things that we've been seeing in the news about um some of the tactics that are used that can be misleading. And so I wouldn't want our staff to be put in a position where they're being basically misled about what they need to do in a certain circumstance or situation. Just wanting everyone to be equipped with the knowledge that they need to um protect our students in all situations. So I thought the board might uh or the policy committee might want to consider making them more formal. Yeah. And even if it's, you know, I'll leave it to the policy committee to make the distinction between a policy and a procedure, but it could be a formalized procedure. Like we do have formalized procedures that go along with our

073policies, right? Which um it maybe that's where it fits. Um I don't know if it's formalized now and if you looked it up, you'd see it. Um or if it's just sort of the practice. So um Yep. Um, yeah, I I guess I'll say as just a board member, I would be interested in in us uh pursuing this and as a a policy committee member or I guess also chair, I would say I guess what are we would just need a direction from the board um to look into that. Um and um the just the documents that Mara was referring to are um it's a pair of it's a um it's a pair of policies that oh sorry it's a policy and a procedure um that Kerry adopted um uh that does just what you're

074saying uh just outlines what the the policy is and what the procedure would be to follow it. I think in terms of process um I think we could certainly um discuss their we could certainly discuss their draft or we could discuss the policies that Kerry has put in place. Um but I think the next step there would be sending that to our um uh council legal council just to understand their perspective on that. Cynthia you throw something at me if I'm saying the wrong thing. Um, and I guess that would just also be my other question is just what uh what council kit got on that. Um, um, but yeah, so we're ready to look at it. Uh, just a question, is it a brand new policy or is it a revision of an existing

075policy and procedure? Um, I believe it is a brand new policy and I will apologize Colin because I think I did have a conversation with um, so the the person who on the Kery school board who shared it with me is also an MSBA board member. So that was where I became aware of it. That's how I became aware of it. So um, I do think I had a conversation with her about their council also being Drub and Woodsome, but I'd be happy to connect you if you want to find out further about that. Okay. So, uh I guess the question is is you know is the general consensus of the board that we'd like to direct the policy committee to um undertake a review and potential drafting of a of a policy like this

076for us. Yes. General nodding is okay. No, no, it's okay. I'm I'm I'm looking for just more consensus which I think the majority of folks are are comfortable with um you know yeah and I think also just to say what we are agreeing to is not we're not passing it we're saying we will look at it and understand and again part of that would be also talking to um well I mean Cynthia Cynthia is works with the committee very the policy committee very closely just I mean we would be beginning with understanding all right how does this relate to our existing um we're not going to call it a procedure. Our existing protocols, how about that? Another P word. Uh the existing protocols that are currently in place at the school um and what the

077formalization of that process really really means and and what um what that does for uh the school and what that does for the students. Um so yeah, again, it would not be committing to passing it, but committing to um look into it and see whether it makes sense for our district. Great. And just from uh ex expectation setting uh from a timing perspective, we would expect probably something in the fall. I mean, I think we could probably we could start we could certainly look at it. Um we glance at it. We could certainly Let's Yeah, let's see. We could certainly read it. How about I say that we can certainly read it. um and also pass it along to uh Drummond Woodsome just to to start that process. Um but uh I think we we

078have two more meetings. Is that accurate? Two more meet two more. The last meeting is that's the June meeting, right? Right. So we only So we have a meeting on Friday which is our last working meeting. Um and then our June meeting as a policy committee is a review of the the entire year but also a review of what is um what is upcoming. Um so we would not be in a position um to present anything to the board um before the end of the year. Just structurally we would not be able to do that. End of the school year. Sorry, the end of the school year. Yes. Thank you. Okay. That's what I figured. I wasn't I wasn't pushing you to do anything quicker. I just was trying to set some expectations. Okay, thank

079you for bringing that up. Now I'm looking at you, Colin. Did you have a Yeah, I think Did you have a comment? So, um, as um as the public may be uh may not be aware, uh the the board is only allowed to discuss things here uh together as a board. We're not allowed to have private conversations um as a board via email. Um so when uh board members uh send questions uh about certain things um they sometimes then get kicked uh here because this is the place where we should have be having this conversation. So here a general nudging not a kicking. It was it was a it was it was a nudge. Um it was a uh so here was the email that I I sent. Dear Michelle, how are you? How are

080things with your family? Mine is we are well thank you. Is it possible to get a very basic 411 on what the plans for the tennis and track and field reserve funds are? Is each being built up toward a particular project replacement or renovation on a particular timeline? When were these funds created? And are we on track to meet the goals on the original timeline established? Or have we had to accelerate, decelerate due to other factors? I'm also curious whether those projects are needed for student safety parenthetical versus generally having nice or improved facilities which is also good but a little different in terms of needs and parenthetical. Thanks in advance. Take care. Enjoy the spring. Love Colin. XOXO. Okay. So, thank you for the question, Colin. Um, so there's really two pieces. Uh, we

081have two reserve accounts that are set up. Um, and one of those was, uh, set up in 2019. Um, which I believe was the year after the track and field was completed. So, one of the concerns about the track and field project was that um the life of the turf and the life of the track surface um they're expensive uh to replace and the concern was that if um left left to their own devices, uh it would it could end up with a very large bill 10 to 15 years down the road when those things need to be replaced either in this, you know, around the same time or within a few years of each So, uh, one of the things that was done with the creation of the track and field project was the

082creation of a reserve account to start putting money aside to save for that 10 to 15year um, cost down the road. So, um, we have, uh, we have historically put $35,000 into that account every year. Um I believe in 2020 we paused all um uh uh contribution but transfers I guess to those accounts just given the the economic climate that year we just kind of anything that wasn't absolutely essential we just put it on pause for that year. Um but I believe we we re re uh instituted it the following year and have done that since its creation or somewhere around there. Um, so after next year's addition, that'll be about $280,000 in that account. Um, and um, so that's that's kind of the um, there is a purpose for that. It's it's uh, it

083was designated when it was created for the future track and field maintenance, repairs, and replacement. That was on the May 2019 um, annual budget meeting warrant. So that's the track and field. Uh, the tennis is more recent. It's a few years newer. Um, that one was created in July of 2021. Um, that one when it was created apparently did not have a specific purpose tied to it other than the obvious. It's called the tennis reserve account. Um, but the creation of it was uh a similar idea of um replacement of the tennis courts. So the tennis courts every I don't know 3 to four years I don't know I think Glenn left but um we have kind of re resealed them um but they really need to be um uh similar to the basketball courts

084dug up and redone. Um but it's a it's an expensive project. Um, so last year we got an update on the pricing of the project and it came in just about $300,000 um to replace to redo the full three courts that are there right now at the Freeport High School. Um, after next year's 2526 edition, we'll have $190,000 in that account. Um so um the the thought was um you know does is this something we maybe want to put to the facilities committee based on you know the interest that that the basketball courts got in their success in that fundraising. Maybe there is a fundraising campaign that can be coupled with the money that we have you know at this rate it's probably a few more years but before we have the funds available to

085do the full renovation of the tennis courts. Um but you know partnering with a fundraising campaign maybe we can get them done sooner. Um so uh right now that one does not have a purpose established. So we probably want to do that and probably can't do it this year because the warrants are already done. on next year's warrant, we may want to have one on there that basically says what the purpose of that that reserve account is and that the board could expend it, you know, for that purpose um in the future so that we are um ready to move if there is a donor or we come into some Phoebe goes D1 and has a Nike scholarship and so which is what we're expecting. Totally expecting. Yeah. Um, super. That's really nice. Thank you

086for responding to my letter. Um, my best regards, Michelle. Um, I that's super helpful. I think regarding I guess it's sort of regarding both of them. I guess I'm just curious. Um, I guess it's the funds, but it's more I guess the facilities or sort of management of it. What is the um who determines when the facilities are no longer safe to play on? Um in other words, uh you said you um we have been resealing the tennis courts. Um, is that kind of the way in by by sealing them then some tennis person comes and says these tennis courts are sealed and they look good and we can play on them and have other schools come and play. It's more than just looking pretty, right? And I think, you know, it's important to know

087that our grounds folks look at that that stuff including playground equipment all the time. And I know um the tennis courts the for example where the net is I know where the pole was in there like they reset that reset that every year they we would not have kids on it if it was not safe to play. I'll say that and kids we have kids playing right now. Definitely we know that there's going to need to be some more some pretty not just pretting it up but some significant work on there. Um but our but our grounds people um take that seriously and they they inspect the stuff. They're looking at, you know, our turf field is meticulously maintained. Um, as is the track to make sure no one's injured while there any student athletes,

088uh, as well as our tennis courts are are there other schools that have better tennis courts? Absolutely, they are that are more updated. Do we need to look at updating ours at in the in the fairly near future? Yeah, we probably should, but at this point, they are safe to play on because we wouldn't be on them. Okay. So I think just in terms of the um I guess what we'd be looking at is probably another five years before we'd be in a position to with our current um uh installment plan um to be replacing them. Is that AC? Is that accurate? I mean with with that because we have 190,000 and it's 300,000, right? So, another another three years. Another three years. Yeah. What what I mean that and that assumes that assumes no

089um no fundraising and it also assumes you know that that the the reason that that the the $300,000 didn't come out in the facilities plan is just in terms of prioritization. things like, you know, septic systems and failing boilers and those sort of things took precedence um to to um to the courts, frankly. Um same with the basketball courts, right? We would love to have resealed those too, but it just didn't rise to the level of sort of bumping something else off the off the facilities list. So, you know, if the facilities plan got to a point where um you know, there maybe a portion of the annual spend goes to that to fill the last gap, right? Um so maybe in the last year we we transfer some and then we also move some

090from the from the budget. Um so that's another way to do it. Um but yeah. Yeah, Colin, this has been a discussion that I've been having with some of the tennis players also and with some of the people in the tennis world that know about our our court situation and are also as equally dismayed. And um they did make me aware and I looked into there's a USA grant also available that we can apply for that will probably net us another 25 to 35,000 that would go toward that fund and could potentially get us there a little bit faster. Yeah. Um, you know, it's it's a tougher one, right? Because the the turf is used by so many sports, right? So, you've got the football and the soccer and the lacrosse and the field hockey

091boosters and, you know, they're fundraising. I mean, obviously it's a much bigger dollar amount that they raised for that. But um thank you Fred and John um for spearheading that. But um you know it's tougher for for tennis because it's a you know pretty much only tennis players use the tennis courts. So it's a smaller you know it's a smaller um community. Um but the fact that there are grants and you know the people who are in that community are also very committed to it. So, um, you know, I I wouldn't say that we we couldn't consider it until, you know, the full 300 was raised or, you know, we also don't know what the price would be in a couple years, right? That might change a little bit, too. So, um, you know, I

092guess I would just say that the board um, you know, if the board is interested or wants the facilities committee to, you know, look at, hey, should we try to move this up in the queue if possible? We can we can make sure that's part of the discussion. We did actually have a I had a discussion via email with Glenn and Jean and we did decide to put that on our next facilities and operations agenda. So that is something we'll be discussing at our next meeting. Wonderful. Yeah, that's awesome. Thank you so much. And again, I think I think just as long as the I think where I'm coming from is just the is more is the safety is primarily the safety perspective. And so just as long as that is the the primary um

093the primary factor that is that is being considered um for that then it seems like we're you know then we're balancing things correctly and and yeah I haven't seen what the um the impact of the tariffs are on on the import of tennis courts but um it'll be interesting to look into that after this meeting. Yeah, I definitely hear you, Colin, because I am a tennis player and I do play on those courts and I don't know who you're talking to, but I do agree that they're not super safe. So, I hope that we can be considering that when we talk about this soon. Yeah, I'll just echo that it would be good to do what we can to prioritize it and speed up the timeline just because I know the board has been talking

094about it for as long as I've been on the board. Um so like at least six years. Um two two uh ceilings in that time frame. Right. Right. Um so uh and so the price continues to go up too. I'm sure I remember when we were talking about it being obviously in the 200s um as we wait longer, but I know we'll get more longevity out of it. But um um just hearing from folks about how like you know if the ball bounces maybe you're not sure it's it's going to go the way you think it is because the of how the you know the structure of the court and that they're puddles that form on the court. So anyway I just I have I just will repeat what I've heard which is that you

095know some student athletes have very nice facilities and some have not had as much of a priority. And so it would be nice for us to update those and just like putting a call out to the community that it would be lovely if if some fundraising could happen and in addition to the board trying to prioritize it to get this moving sooner so it could happen sooner for our tennis um players. Yeah. Just so you're aware, there are parents that are interested in this effort and have offered to make it happen if we as a board can give them some more information. So, I will just I will just say that I think I um while I would be totally on board for us developing a like a an alternative tennis game that sort of

096relies on that kind of like confusing kind of like ricochet, um my father when I was growing up went to the um the dump in uh Walder, Maine, and brought home a um a pool table, like a billiard table that didn't have uh legs on it. Um, and it wasn't slate, it was um, it was wood. And so whenever we had friends over, we had to teach them how to like play it. Like you had like little rises you had to go over. Um, but I don't think that's probably appropriate for our uh, our school to have such a facility. It's home field advantage. Ex. Well, that's exact. Yeah, exactly. How do you think I'm paying for Anyone who's ever played on Gley soccer field knows that that's their home field advantage. Like there's literally

097holes in the middle of the field. Talk about dangerous. Yeah. No, I honestly it's not so much the ricochet of the balls that's the biggest concern. It's the fact that the surface is so uneven in parts that you you could literally trip on the bumps in the surface as you're running around the court. But I do want to say for the public that what's really super important to me is I don't want people walking away thinking that we're going to have a catastrophic injury right now because of our course because they are inspected. Jason Chisum inspects those, monitors them, and we would not have kids out there playing if it wasn't safe to do so. Now, I'm not saying we don't need to do the work. I'm not saying we don't need to maybe expedite

098this, but I just, you know, as worrisome, I want the public to know that our kids are safe there. Okay. Um, the other thing I wanted to just bring up for uh, information exchange for folks, I thought this might be a good spot to talk a little bit about the superintendent search. Um, in your packets, you have an item called 10A, which has uh, a couple of documents. Um, the first page is a is a draft timeline for the search. Um so hopefully uh members of the community, parents, staff um have received the um the well we'll start with the position was posted last week. So um MS we're working with MSMA on that and that they posted the position on the 25th. Um on Monday, a letter went out uh to the community members

099um seeking interested parties to be on the uh the the the initial superintendent search committee. So um so that'll be made up of uh a few board members, staff members, students, parents, community members, administrators. Um ideally no more than 11 because that's how many we can fit in the conference room. Um and uh that's the the group that will um craft the questions uh review the applications packages that come in from interested um applicants, select the first round of interviewees, and then um per uh perform that first round of interviews. And then um that that committee's work generally ends with uh moving forward um one or two uh usually to at least two um candidates for the board's final interview. Uh the full board is responsible for that final interview and then the hire of

100the superintendent. So um as you can see here, this is a the the timeline. So the uh the 28th that letter went out. So hopefully we will get members interested in serving on that committee. Um the key dates for that committee, if folks are watching from home, uh there is a a virtual mandatory training on um for HR purposes on what the hiring process looks like, legal obligations, things like that. It's uh May 28th at 5:00 p.m. It'll be virtual, so you can do it from your phone. Um you'll be asked to sign a confidentiality agreement. Uh and then between the 3rd and the 6th of June, the folks on that committee will have access to an online portal to review the application packages from um from all of the um all of the applicants.

101Uh and then the first interviews will be on June 10th. So depending on the time frame and how many interviews there are, it's usually, you know, early afternoon through early evening um for those interviews. Um and then uh they make the recommendation for to uh move forward the candidates to the board. So um so if we have you know we would look for a few members of this board if folks are interested in that um I would ask that you let us know uh so that you can be included on that um that search committee. And for folks at home uh or that are watching um we would love to hear from uh from you as well if you can be on that committee. I believe the um you have to have your letter of

102interest in to Jenny by next Friday uh the 9th of May um with uh who you are, what sort of uh stakeholder groups you may represent, whether you're a parent or a staff member or whatever you may be uh a student. Um and then kind of what you bring to the committee. Um and um and then we'll let folks know that following week who's been selected for the search committee. Um so that's that's one piece of it is the search committee. Uh the other piece of the process that I wanted to talk about tonight was um so uh this year given the timeline I've heard some concern about um the timeline for a superintendent search starting in April which is later than you would typically uh undertake it. But um based on this timeline, we

103would look to hire a candidate by the end of June. Um, most administrators have 60-day clauses that they have to give their notice. Um, so the new hire could be in place by the start of school in September. Um, so so um there's not a lot of extra room in the process, but uh there is enough time to get this done. Um and and we are we are very hopeful um that we will attract a really solid candidate pool and be able to select a great replacement for Gan to lead the district going forward. Um the other thing that we would like to do in addition in terms of opportunities for people to participate in the process uh in separate from the hiring committee uh we're also planning to send out a community survey. So

104last time we did listening sessions uh with different stakeholders that takes a fair amount of time and coordination. We were a little concerned about the tight time frame to get those done. We still have all the information from those. They were three years ago. I don't think you know major shifts have happened in our district in terms of where you know what are you looking for in a leader. Um but we did want to provide another option um in place of those listening sessions. So it's going to be uh a survey. So the document behind the timeline in your packets is the um is the draft of that survey. Um so I would I would just ask folks to take a quick quick uh scan of that document. Um because uh our goal is to

105send it out um our our goal is to send it out probably end of day tomorrow and open the survey on Friday to give people um you know two full weeks maybe more than two weeks. How many weeks is it? The 19th is when they're looking to close that survey. Um so two and a half weeks or so uh to to fill out that survey. So in order to do that, if we had any adjustments we wanted them to make to this survey, we would basically need to let them know tomorrow morning. So I will stop talking so people can take a quick glance. There's it's only a few questions. Yes. So on there like right away it says you know who you're representing. So are we sending this to the students? all the students

106throughout the Are they going to hit the high school students? What are we What are we doing there? I believe I believe the plan was probably high school. Um I don't know. We can we can talk to Eileen if they get any luck sending it to middle school kids. I'm not sure. You never know. Was more wondering if it was going to be an age thing, right? So if you had to be 18, you know, that's kind of I was looking for. Yeah. Cheyenne. Now, the questions that are asked on this survey, is that going to determine the questions that are asked during the interview for this new superintendent? So, what it does and how we use the information from the listening sessions last time is they basically compile all the feedback we're getting and

107if they're seeing common themes like everyone's really interested in, you know, can they grow cucumbers, whatever, you know, then then we might ask a question about that, right? like we might draft a question about that. Um, uh, you know, are is everyone looking for a change agent? Right? That's one of the one of the the the terms that's on there. You know, if there's a lot of interest in that, then yeah, that might drive one of the questions we ask during the interview process, whether it's the first interview or even the second interview with the board. So, it just helps inform. Yeah. I just had a question about the ranking. Do then folks have to have to order them. They have to put them one to eight because I was thinking well I would want

108to put how important like somewhat important not important very important. Oh I guess I just thought I didn't think right. I was thinking one is how like well that's a good point Jean. One to eight which one is the most? Which one is the least? But then I was also thinking like more of on a scale of 10 of how important or these are all important or five how important is is it to you but this is ranking so I would didn't Yeah I um I didn't even make that distinction. So um it seems like yeah it seems like kind of we're actually asking with this question is like the the the word change would be like which is more important and which is less important um because it's like at least sounds not like

109so yeah we are it's so um but it's yes I I I agree. I think it would be it would be maddening. I would stop doing this if I had to try to figure out like wait where do I put the thing like which five is here and then that would just be it is an interesting yeah the way they set that one up. Uh and then the next one is different right like you pick five. Just I guess I'm just wondering if it could be more of a scale and you can put like a 1 to 10 or 1 to five of how important this is to you. I mean, I guess you might end up with people putting them all as five, but right and and I don't I guess you want to

110come away with some like validity in the survey and good good information when you come away with it. I'm just thinking if I had to rank them one to eight. Um that I don't know if that's as meaningful. Maybe it would get more maybe it would force the thought process of it's also I worry that people get really confused with this stuff in terms of thinking one is the most or the least. So it's I think it's a lot better to have it as instead of a number like most important least important because even though the instructions say that that happens all the time in surveys I feel like and they yeah or or at least write it above the numbers too so that people see it you know one and have it say most

111important. I mean, I don't know if there's any um limitations in the the the structure like the technology behind the survey if they can do that or not, but um we can certainly we can certainly uh bring that up to them around the con to limit potential confusion. Um, just quick quick thing going back to Cheyenne's question about the way we used the feed and your and your answer. My recollection um from serving on the the last board and just to be clear, we did hire Jean because she grows really good cucumbers. That was the that was that was the reason. Um she she lied about that. Um but she turned out great anyway. Um, but my recollection is that we have to ask the same questions of each candidate or we have a or

112we have like a slate of questions that we ask. And so to that point, like I think I remember that being an important part of the process of of saying yes, this is we we take this information and then think about okay, what are we going to ask everybody um about that? Am I remembering that correctly? That is correct. Yes. Yeah. because you don't want to create bias by, you know, softball questions to one candidate and really, you know, challenging thesis PhD questions to another. So, and we'll go over all that in the training. So, um, so just so folks know, everyone involved in the hiring process has to participate in the training. Um but we are going to ask that uh on the 28th the full board doesn't all do it on that day

113just because that becomes a board meeting and then we have to notice it and then we can't do it virtually um because we're all convened and we're discussing board business which is the hiring of the superintendent. So um that was that was the read that we took of if we did that. So five people can do it that night. So my suggestion would be for um the members that of the board that are interested in being on the search committee that you would participate on the that virtual night on the 28th. Um and then um they will record it so the remainder of the board members could watch it after that. Does that that makes sense? at their leisure. Okay. Any other feedback on the survey? Thoughts on the timeline? I just have a quick

114quick thought. So, the 25th of June is going to be an extra meeting. Yes. Um it's going to be after the end of the school year. Is there any concern that we will have enough people here in town to make this meeting happen for of us? You mean? Yes. I mean, it only needs to be a quorum, but ideally, uh, I'm just wondering if anybody has checked that we're having that. Uh, no. Uh, we haven't checked. This is the check. So, if you could check your calendars. What do you mean? Uh, the the June 25th would be an extra meeting for the board. We'll we'll have two extra meetings beyond what we currently have scheduled. We'll have one on the 18th. Um and and that would be for the second interviews. So that would be

115the finalists that were moved to the board for consideration. So the board would meet on the 17th, excuse me, the 18th. Um I keep saying 17th because their original suggestion was the 17th, but that's the last day of school and we have other conflicts that night. So, and I thought keeping it on Wednesdays might help everybody for consistency sake that we show up on Wednesdays. Um, so the 17 the 18th and then the 25th would be um the meeting to hire. Yeah, it doesn't have to be 6:30. We can set the time uh generally that meeting would literally have one item on the agenda uh which would be to hire the superintendent. You out of town? I might be at a orientation for school for college. Going back to school. Yes, I'm going back to

116It's great. Going to Space Camp third time. Third time. So yeah. Yeah. Just to to uh I guess my understanding would be the 25th uh we will already have chosen. So that is really that is really fun like functionally we just need to have quorum because we have chosen it before. So the the the 18th the most important meeting in terms of of um everybody being present to be able to actively participate is the 18th. Correct. Yeah. I'm just thinking of the process previously. So as Colin said, we won't be discussing who we're hiring that night. We'll just be will well the meeting on the 18th will be an executive session. That will be um the interviews the interviews with the candidates. So then we will discuss them immediately after. Yes. Okay. And make a

117decision that day and then Okay. That would be the plan. Yeah. So we would do the uh similar to what we did last time. We would do the reference checks between the first interview and the second interview. So in addition to the to the second interviews, we would also have a discussion of the reference checks and that whole process. And all of that would be in executive session. Yeah. So, I just wanted to mention I will be out of town and probably unavailable on the 25th. Okay. So, maybe Kelly, maybe Danielle. Okay. Very exciting. Okay. Um, yeah. So, if other folks could check their calendars, they don't have to do it this right right this minute, but if you have a conflict, please let us know just so we can plan accordingly, make sure we

118do have a quorum. All right, everyone feel satisfied with the process to date? Other questions? Okay. Oh yeah. Um, will the board get the materials in advance of the meeting? So I think what they can they will do is they will open up the portal for the specific finalists to the board. So like if they send two panelists forward the same way the committee has access uh through the portal, you'll have access to go in and review in advance. But I'll confirm that. All right. I think that was the most robust board information exchange we've ever had. Uh facilities and operations committee. So, the F facilities and operations committee met on April 9th and we reviewed a couple of projects that we'll be completing soon. We had proposals submitted for the panel elementary school septic

119system. We received six proposals from different companies and used the following criteria to select the best value for RSC 5. Number one, the proposer experience and customer service history. Number two, the availability of installations and complete data date deadlines completion date deadline. And number three, durability, warranty, and ease of maintenance. And based on those criteria, um RSU5 chose COP excavating to complete the Panel Elementary School septic system, which we hope to do very soon. Secondly and related was the Panel Elementary School playground equipment proposal. We got proposals from Maine Recreation and Design and Ben Schaefer Recreation and used similar criteria to select um the contractor for that project which ended up being Maine Recreation and Design. Uh next we discussed the energy audit phase one project update. Um, our director Glenn Reynolds informed the committee

120that the projects have not gone out to bid yet. So, he has met with EMC to develop a tentative schedule for the projects um that's least intrusive to our summer programming. We have quite a few programs that are still in the buildings um over the summertime and we want to try to minimize disruption to those programs. So once we select the vendors, the schedule will be finalized and some of the projects on that phase are the Freeport High School boiler replacement, um, LED lighting upgrades and fire panels and device upgrades. Mora, thank you, Kelly. Um, just for the sake of the community, could you um tell us regarding the septic proposals, the ones that were lower? Um, cuz it looks like we accepted the one that was about in the middle. Were there, and I

121see the criteria that you used, but were there specific things that caused those to be eliminated like like you said, they couldn't be done over the summer or something when we needed done? Yeah. No, it was really it it really came down to those three criteria and and we waited those three criteria according to um how much uh importance we gave to each one of them. So the most important factor that would determine which one was chosen was their experience and their customer service history. So, if we got a lower bid, for example, but that particular contractor didn't have a great customer service history, then we we might um give them a little ding for that. Um does that answer your question? Yeah. So, where is the price factored in then? I can jump in

122on that. So, um, we actually looked at each proposal and looked at each of those items and they were scored. So, if you get to the point where the there's a tie for the score for for all those everything else is equal, then we would look at the price at that time because it's not always in a request for a proposal. It's not always about the lowest dollar figures. It's those other things too, including like the reference checks um, and so forth. So everybody was scored the same way and then anytime we saw a tie in that score then we would look at the lower bid. Thank you. Yeah, I just was wondering because the because the amounts were significantly different um how that was taken into account. So thank you Jean for explaining that.

123All right. Uh Beth isn't here. You want me to do it? Yes. Okay. since you just spoke. Uh okay. So I will do the finance committee. Uh this is from the meeting uh on Wednesday, March 26th. And um the first thing on our agenda was the cost sharing review. So what we did um based on the uh discussion last year and the agreement that the finance committee would sort of revisit the um the updated information um on the rationale or the or the methodology we uh agreed on as a board last year to make sure there weren't any major deviations. Um so uh director Wentworth provided the updated version of those calculations with the current information. Um there was um the committee members felt that the percentages remain consistent with the prior years. Uh and

124as such um we're not making any recommendations for changes to be made at this time and we will continue to revisit it on an annual basis. Uh we had an audit update. Um we at that point we had the draft of the of the audit. Um uh spoiler alert tonight the final audit was presented to the finance committee. So that will get um that will get filed with the state and so that is is completed. Uh the auditor Marge uh came and gave her annual update to the finance committee this evening to discuss that. Um and then other items that was uh discussed was uh at the public comment we had received um in Durham from the community member around the alternative health insurance plans uh and ways that the the district might have some

125savings from that. Uh and um our finance director is going to be seeking out some information uh around um other districts that may have explored alternative um health offerings. Um and uh that I imagine will sort of stay on the uh on the radar of the finance committee um around whether um the board is interested in um seeking out potential bids for alternative insurance for our um for our staff. We do have um contractual obligations for the level of of pro of program we offer. Um but um we actually got um the gentleman uh attended this evening as well the finance committee and gave us some some additional information um around other potential steps we might take. Um so so stay tuned for more on that. So no extension on the audit, no additional time

126needed. Well, they were due on on December 31st. So it was already extended. It was extended. Okay. Well, I was going to commend you on your persistence, but you Thank you. Thank you, Kelly. And thank you everyone who worked so hard on that. Yeah, it's a little earlier than last year. It did seem earlier to me than I remembered it. So, thank you for all your hard work. Yeah, and we did actually have a conversation about that. Um, you know, I think the CPA firms are feeling the same thing a lot of uh employers are. there just not a lot of staff and um they're obviously very complex audits to be done and despite my best efforts to hurry them along. There's only so much we can do. So, uh I think they are aware

127well aware of our goal of getting it done by December 31st. So, and they have already scheduled their time with Kelly for next year's audit to start. So uh any other questions on finance? All right. So we will move on to policy. Um thanks. So the policy committee met um via Zoom on April 4th. Um and we uh looked at two policies. Um we looked at uh policy IKC which is transcripts and academic achievement. Um, and just so folks know that was a that wasn't on our regular review. That was because that was something that the school had been working on. Um, and so we were making use of information and work that had been gathered um by the staff. And then we also um and we're bringing that before you for read tonight. Um,

128and then we also reviewed um GRCD uh private tutoring for pay. That was a part of our regular review process. Um and there were no revisions to that, so we're not bringing it before you. Um we have our next meeting um on May 2nd um at 8:45 uh via Zoom. The community is welcome to attend. Um as I always say at the beginning of the meeting, we'd love having the community uh join us. Um and we just uh want to make sure that that uh any public members of public who attend know that they are will not be able to contribute or speak at the event at the event at the policy meeting um because it's a really it's a really big party um Danielle always brings virtual donuts um because she works in healthcare

129and she knows they're good for us. Um uh just so that if anybody ha any members of the public have um feedback or um opinions about what we're discussing in the policy committee, we encourage them either to come to a full board meeting so the entire board can hear that or to email uh the full board uh so we have that information and in a moment we will talk about the things. But if you have questions about the virtual donuts or anything like that. Oh, I also just want to say thank you to Candi uh Dipkus who's a long uh uh standing member of the the policy um committee and at board member and um we we we brought her back into the process when she came back in um that sort of emergency capacity.

130Um and just want to thank Candi for all of um the work and insight that she brought to that. She'll be missed. Okay. Uh, I was wondering if I missed a board meeting since it says you'll bring it to the board on April 26th. I was like, was there one this weekend? It says the following policy will be brought to the first read on April 26th. Just t you know actually as we heard in the presentation by by um the uh principal of the Pel Community School kind of time and space kind of bend, you know, sort of like Yeah. It's all sort of like relative. Got it. All right. Um All right. You want me to get the motion on the floor for these guys before you? All right. So, uh do I have

131a motion for consideration and approval for the first read for the following policies? JOC, school volunteers, IKC, transcripts and academic achievement, and JLF reporting child abuse and neglect. Danielle and Cheyenne, thank you. Um, great. So, we're bringing three policies before you um for first read. Um, the um I believe all of these were triggered by um by policy change. Isn't that correct, Cynthia? No. No, it's not correct. Thank you. No, I like to sort of, you know, it can only go up from there. But it wasn't the um that was not true of IKC. IC was not part of regular review. Combination. All right. It was combination. Um Cynthia is right. I'm wrong. The first one is UJC, which is school volunteers. Um the only um changes that were made um there are striking out

132the final two paragraphs. um because uh we just needed the policy to reflect our actual practice um which is that the school reaches out and acknowledges uh volunteers on a more uh um more or less in the- moment uh basis. Um and uh there were no other questions that came up in our discussion of that one. Um any questions or things about that one? Did we get an I feel like we got an email from a community member. It was probably several months back now about um and and I don't know if it was tied to the the uh reporters the self um the other policy we're going to talk about um about whether volunteers are mandated reporters or not. Um was that just um was that related to your review of this policy at

133all or was there a discussion about that? I was just Yeah. Uh, no, I'm remembering what you my my recollection of that was that we received that email um and forgive me if I'm getting the timeline wrong. We received that email after this meeting, but we may have received it before, but my recollection of our um of how we engage that of how we thought about that was that our understanding is that it is not that they are mandatory reporters at a I guess it would be at a in from like a from a legal standpoint. Um but uh but the school still believes it is important to um to um uh for anyone that is coming into our schools to be in a position um to be able to um provide feedback on what

134they are observing. Is that a fair way of saying that, Jean? And there's also an addition to um the policy you'll be looking at this this evening um that says any volunteer who has reason to suspect that a child has been or is likely to be abused or neglected is also expected to make a report to the building administration. Yeah. But that is not also that's not a state mandate though. It's not a what? It's that's not a that's not a state mandate. That is a that is a that's an addition that we made. But it's but it's a dis it's a district decision that has been recommended. Yeah. Yeah. Also expected not shall may not shall should not shall. Um yeah I mean I can't speak to that. I mean, I think my my

135I think my my brain goes on this to um uh we should expect our community members to be good citizens and if they think something unourred is happening, they should speak up. Okay. I think the question was if we are require if we basically asking them to be mandated. Yeah. If if they've not been trained, should we provide training? Yeah. And I think I think that's I think that's an I think it's an that's an interesting question and I think um I guess um the way we don't think we Danielle we talked about it directly in terms of that training um that question of training but I think that um I'm going back to my just brain archive. I think the way that that I was thinking it through was that um the uh the

136notification of the school or the or the the the if if someone observes something and then they they bring it to the attention of the principal um that does not um in and of itself um uh for example I lived in Thailand and there's a king and there less magistate laws and anybody at any time if can go and to the police and say Kelly uh said something mean about the king and without any further evidence, Kelly can be thrown in jail for 30 years. That is not how things work here. So, I think if if the if the report if a if one of if a volunteer went to Gan and said, "I saw something that was concerning," then that puts it in Gan's court, it's no longer part of the um the individual

137citizens uh responsibility to do anything further. It just allow it allows Gene to have that information and then make a determination of how she wants to proceed, which uh I guess in my um in my judgment is uh appropriate. Yeah, I I would agree with that. I think the way it's written though is it doesn't stop at the report to the administrator may also report directly to DHS and the district attorney if required. I mean, again, I uh I mean, I guess I'll just I'll just I'll be speaking as a as a uh I'll be speaking at the individual board member, not as the chair. I I just have no problem with that. I I believe that if if any um uh if any adult has concerns about the welfare of a child, I believe

138that they should they should speak to um uh someone with the responsibility to um to formally pursue um an understanding of what is of of what is happening. But again, I'm saying that as a um as a an individual board member, not as the chair. Yeah. Do we provide training for staff about the is is it something that we could even if like I don't know maybe it's too simplified to be like a page or or I mean because I know that to be a volunteer you have to sign up you have to get cleared like could there be something in there that just provides a little bit of guidance so people feel equipped or in in this scenes Cynthia is coming to the microphone to perhaps tell us some information about that topic. IC.

139Good evening. Uh I'm going to answer the first part. You said, do we provide the training every four years? It's required mandatory training and we keep really good records of that to staff to staff, right? So every anybody who gets a paycheck and even coaches are supposed to get that. What about us? And so uh you're invited to come. We we do we haven't extended that. Um you do get a paycheck because you get what? $25 a Yeah. Big bucks. Yeah, big bucks, Cynthia. You know, and and I think just the like the spirit of what you're talking about, every adult in this community can be a mandate can be you should be considered a mandated reporter. If you see something, say something. Yeah. Because it then it goes into the hand. So, we have

140a designated agent, right? So, we do that on purpose because there's a conversation that happens with like the principal is usually the designated agent in the building and that that conversation happens with the staff member and then there's forms to make sure it did did get reported and then that form goes back and then if it's it's reported if they don't know that it was reported within 24 hours then they have to call themselves. Right? So there's all these stop gaps that are put in there so to protect kids from falling through the cracks, right? And so I think they included the volunteers for that same reason, right? And so they may or may not know what to do. They may share it with someone and they say, you know, you need to go talk

141to the principal, right? And we want them to do that. They can also, anybody can actually also report on their own, but we require our staff to report it to the designated agent regardless. Like they've got to do that. That's part of our policy and it's part of the the process the law. So, um I hope I didn't you look a little more confused than know I'm talking. Okay. So, it's really to like catch anything. I mean, and I remember when it was said at that board meeting um you know, and I'm like, you know, he's just not it was not interpreted in the way that the intent was. The intent was just to make sure there may be somebody that maybe that's a per the only person that saw or overheard something. And so

142they go and they say this is what I overheard the then the agent which this is the principal they probably know things they right all of those things right and so they make that decision to so there's a consultation that happens but it's really to encourage but I think your question became should you all have that training should volunteers especially volunteers that are in there all the time have that training I mean there's nothing there's nothing that precludes that prevents us from doing that I think it's a great idea. I think if it's a great idea for everyone to have suicide prevention training, right? That's why coaches I think are really important to do because they're with kids a lot, right? And they hear things more. So, you know, volunteers may hear things if they're

143working in small groups and stuff like that. It's not about they're watching. It's just if you see something, say something and put it in the hands of somebody that can Yeah. I think we just want to make sure because I I'm maybe I'm maybe I'm wrong, but I don't think all of our volunteers read our our policy book, right? Um so I want them to feel I want them to know that's our expectation and I want them to feel empowered to make that call and be like, you know, cuz I think sometimes people are scared that well, I don't know if I should say something. I'm not a mandated reporter. We want them to be like, hey, go talk to the principal if you see something. And we have a sub handbook and I can't

144remember Jean if it's if if there's anything addressed in there but it you know it's certainly that's certainly something that we should be looking to Yeah. I think we just want to highlight it with our volunteers. Yeah. I am just thinking um um I haven't volunteered in the classroom in a minute, but I remember doing so in Mor Street and I know that the the part of the it's not a it's not a training, but there's a orientation there's a slideshow there's something you walk through and and I remember there were a few I remember one detail that just stayed with me which is that um you know if if you as a volunteer um are talking with uh a child and you're having a really nice exchange with them about some project they're working

145on and and you see their parent at Bow Street, you're not allowed to talk to them about that interaction. Um, so that just again I just remember sort of that being a important part of that process. So perhaps it's just a matter of incorporating it into that sort of slotting it into that kind of that that level of um training. And I think each school does that with their volunt does does that what you're saying because I don't know, but does some orientation with their staff around, you know, procedures and they might shadow for a day, those kinds of things. So, I I think it's it's really a great idea to be a little bit more assertive about, you know, maybe having requiring that that extra piece because we don't require that right now. So,

146I think I just I would just add that I was just thinking and I've um uh unfortunately there have been three times when I have either made a call to DHS or contacted um an administrator or a teacher regarding concerns around um the safety of a child. In none of those situations was it in a capacity where as a as a school board member, it was simply as a community member. And I think in all of those situations, none of them would have required any training. It was just bloody obvious that that that uh something is not okay. And um that should be addressed. So it's yes, is there gray area? Of course there is. And but are there protocols for how this will be handled? Absolutely. Um but again, I think um just at

147a very basic level of human decency, um I think that should be the expectation of everybody in our community. Yeah, I don't I don't disagree with that. I I just wonder if you know if I was going to volunteer and I pulled up the volunteer policy, it doesn't reference it in there anywhere, right? We don't even cross reference it. So, I don't know if it's worth it to No, I think I think I think we should I think that I think that absolutely should be put in there. Um, I think uh I guess I'll just I'll own my um uh I think some of the spirit of the uh curiosity around this issue um does not come from a place of prioritizing the safety of of young people. um it's coming from with with other

148other concerns that have to do um with other aspects of our of our society. And so I think just to say that's again where I'm coming from is just very much from a um from a a a child first perspective and just to say that that is again that's how I've been responding this evening and that's how I've been thinking about it. Yeah. And I don't disagree with that putting that that perspective at all. I just want to make sure that we're clear that that's what we want from people like Sorry, I hijacked your update. No, it's fine. Daniel's going to do the rest of it. No. Uh Mara has a question maybe about that one. Uh yes. I was wondering if we have the Well, I believe we have a requirement in the district

149to uh do background checks on all our volunteers. Is that cross referenced here or I also or did I miss it? I didn't see that described in here either. Um, I don't believe we do background checks on volunteers. I don't think that's accurate. Um, which way are you nodding? I'm getting sort of Yes. So, we actually um through HR the Ashley Rand, our HR coordinator. Um, she receives the application and we actually submit to inform me.gov gov. Um a quick background check um and if it comes back clean, perfect. Um if it comes back with an issue, it's then forwarded on to the superintendent u for consideration. So we do it's not the CHRC fingerprinting background check that all of the employees of the district are required to have, but we do in fact do

150that and we do it each year. Yeah, thank you for that clarification because I was I was also thinking about um the times when I have been fingerprinted and I was like I was definitely not fingerprinted before I went into kindergarten to help Mr. White. Um that was not part of that process. But I did watch the video and submit my name and I'm glad to know that that went through that process as well. And we do also check the sex offender registry as part of that process. I was just wondering if that was in our if we need to have that in our policies that we will follow that that process. Um I mean I know the staff is very diligent about it and I know mine like for example mine's expired and they've

151been like you need to fill the form out again. We need to redo the this check. Uh I think it's like every two or three years or something. Um you have to do the process over again. So I don't know that we need to formalize that. I don't know if it's happening consistently across the district. [Music] See, it all goes through our office. So, we make sure it happens and then it's we've been really tight sometimes because people forget to have that done and they say, "Oh my gosh, I got this event tomorrow." And we'll say, "We don't have that cleared." And we do our best to get it through, then it then the volunteer can't be there. So, we're really diligent about that. So, if our goal is to match our our policy to

152what we're doing, maybe it should be in there. Yeah. I mean, I think Cynthia, I don't think it would it would take very much to add a a sentence that just says what Kelly just said, which is that um which is that every volunteer um when they apply to be volunteer um does the thing that you said, the inform me. Well, they they not that they do it, but the district does that part of our procedure for onboarding a volunteer. Right. So, again, that would just that would just be it would be in our it would be in our policy. So, um, both volunteers would know that, um, but also that the community would know that as just a an added standard practice, an added added. Yeah, I don't think you need to put like

153what the in case you change the methodology you use or what like but a background check will be completed. Um, Daniel, are you comfortable with that kind of us maybe looking at a sentence in that? No, I I do like the idea of that. I think it makes everybody aware of what's going to happen and no one can say, "Well, I didn't know." Yeah. Great. So, so maybe Cynthia um we can just go and look at the tape and get what Kelly said and type it in and do that. Great. So, that would be an addition that would be an addition to the current policy that we're looking at. Um so, thank you for that question, Mara. Um okay, if people have more thoughts about that, they can uh chime in later. But I do

154want to get to the next one. IKC because um Jen Gulko has been nice enough to um come out and hang out with us and talk to us a little bit about this one. So this one was um as uh Cynthia corrected me was a hybrid um of where it was sort of a um sort of a part we were we were on a cycle of wanting to regularly review it but also for the last year um a group of staff um at the high school um were looking at this question of um of what is included on transcripts particularly around uh the questions of GPA and weighted GPA Um, and so I think I'm going to just ask Jen to maybe speak sort of the the high level um on that and then we

155can get into the weeds as much as folks want. But you can see that um we are um the uh so let me say this the changes that have been made to this were suggested by the um the uh by Jen and her team um and went through the administration. So this was not um again Danielle and I um going rogue and just making some sweet observations about things. Uh this is come coming out of a of a year plus of work um and a lot more experience. So Jen, I think probably the first place to start is just um to share that in the policy IKC in addition to um thinking about and talking about weighted grades and weighted GPA, there are things that are suggestions throughout the policy that were made because they're

156outdated practices. this has not so when we're talking about it being a hybrid of um some things that have come up in the work of our guidance team, it's also that some of this language since it hadn't been revised since 2017 has changed significantly in terms of um some of the pieces about habits of work and um and how the dates and the um classes things pertain to and that is because of uh the work that we did when when I first arrived in Freeportter in 2015 um with the state mandate to move towards proficiency based grading. So some of that was outdated and needed to change and that has not been our practice in um in quite some time for some of these pieces. So I'm happy to answer any questions about that but

157I'm um thinking that it that the time should be spent on um asking any questions about weighted grades. Uh this proposal came forward with the work of the guidance counselors and we have said in years past that uh we felt strongly about not having a weighted GPA. Um because what we had been told over and over again by admissions representatives is that there are so many different systems of grading and waiting that when a college receives a transcript and then also the school profile which explains how you grade. those colleges were doing their own recalculation of GPA and grade uh grade point averages and and um grade standing class standings on their own because they know that some kids are coming from a school that scores one to four. Some are coming from a school

158where failing is a 59 and other um such as ours where it's a 69. some that um change that uh one to 100 scale into a four-point scale and that's how students talk about their grades and see it on a report card. There's so many different ways that they do that that we felt strongly that um it wasn't necessary, it wasn't a benefit to our students. Fast forward to the number of students applying to college being um you know exponentially higher now. And the concern is that in some of the larger schools, uh, something, one of them that came up in particular, which is a school that we just about every year have students apply to, is the University of Colorado, which if you know has, uh, Charlie Melon went there and I think it's

15925,000 kids that go there and thousands of kids apply. And in the last year they were explicit in saying there's a point where we can't sift through all of these and recalculate all of these things and we are looking at some of the very first glance at GPA weighted or unweighted. There's other schools that actually report out and say of the kids who applied here this percentage of them come from a school with a weighted GPA and this percentage don't. And we're starting to see those numbers, which were even skew much higher um into more schools having a weighted grade either side by side with the original GPA or standing alone. And the conversations that we had are that we don't want our students to be disadvantaged in any way, shape, or form. One of

160the other elements that you see in this um revision is we've had a ton of conversation as a faculty about whether we took habits of work off the transcript or not because again that came from our proficiency work starting in 2015 and started to realize we were one of the only schools that was still putting it on the transcript. Well, many schools still put it on the report card. and all of a sudden it changed the conversation to say what if there was a school that didn't know what habits of work was and didn't understand how it was calculated even though we've explained it in our profile and made the decision to take that off of the transcript which I had shared with the board um I believe that was two years ago. So um

161the proposal that uh the counseling team put together um worked with me to uh revise that proposal. We met with Gan and Cynthia in the summertime and then met with the committee is that after researching they' done extensive research of all the schools that are around us uh as well um in southern Maine. Their recommendation is to have both a weighted and unweighted GPA represented on a student's transcript so that when they submit it to a college they can quickly see both of those um um GPA that are there. there's a mathematical calculation that they do based on the courses uh that students take. And um for for members of the board who haven't heard me say this before over and over again, we've heard from admissions reps that they want to see that that

162they are looking at the actual courses that kids take because they want to see if a student has chosen to take the most rigorous course load that we offer. And so that still is going to be an element that's really important, but this would be an added piece of information that would be um that would be a part of that process. Um so um they the I'm not sure how much detail the committee if you want to um um share that they went through the schools around us who is um um has a uh they had a the guidance counselors um did the research and created a spreadsheet of all the schools around us and what their grade calculation is. Even in that you see that some schools have a slightly ma different mathematical calculation

163even like from us to Felmouth to Yarmouth to Cape to uh Portland. We we um are going to calculate it slightly differently, but our calculation that they are proposing is in line with the majority of the schools that are around us and feeling like it's a um it's a way to recognize the rigorous course load that students have taken while not inflating their grade because we didn't their GPA because we didn't want to do that as well. Thank you, Jen. That's super helpful. So maybe let's just pause there in terms of us presenting any additional information. Um questions from the board um about this. I think you just sort of touched on it and my question was how does the 1.05 is it higher than some lower than some in the middle the typical I

164was just curious. I don't have a frame of reference for how other people do it. I I fully respect the desire not to like overly inflate it though. Mhm. Uh, this is funny because I think I printed this in maybe like four font even with my readers on here. So, I'm going to and my computer's over there. Um, there are some schools that are, for example, Cape Elizabeth is a 1.1. Um, for for a some classes a 1.05, which is what we are proposing for other classes. Felmouth is a 1.04. Um, Gley is um a totally different system. Uh, so it it's it's a little bit of apples and oranges because it depends. Gley also is an IB school, so that factors in. Um, and so, uh, Mount Eer is a 1.35. So, we felt

165that it was which is a lot. Um, and Yarmouth is only one point. So, so I think we were they were looking at schools beyond as well, schools in New England, schools across the country, and trying to see um what they felt was a fair representation um to to give those students an increase in their GPA to represent those classes while not inflating it. Wow, that's a that's a wide range. Yeah. I mean, and we and we talked about that in in the committee um in the policy committee meeting as well. And I think uh my sense my sense of it was that um it's sort of two pieces in terms of of a lighting on a number is one sort of just what our administrators think um is is is appropriate and then the

166other is um how will that be perceived by uh the institution who is um evaluating it right like what is it um if we are again the if we are uh stating to a college that yes we do have a waiting factor of 1.05 05 uh one sorry 1.05 um they they will see that and at a certain part of of their brain recognize that as reasonable or unreasonable um and so so that would be part of our profile going forward that that's how we wait so so I think that that I think that's an important thing to understand is I think that yeah I mean we could weight it at like 7.46 46, right? Like we could we could do that in just every A's for everybody like but just then, you know, it's

167going to arrive there and then we're not going to be taken seriously as an institution. I think one other thing that I would add is that a really important part of this work and research that they did was um our whole team felt very strongly about not altering our um practices with class rank or saludiatoran or validictorian which we um do not recognize. And um we have looked at an extensive amount of research that's talking about the connection between hyperco competitiveness in high schools and how it drives that and the negative impacts on mental health. Um I've experienced that in in my past two districts of watching the students who are in that last uh are competing for those top slots. um that it has be I've I've watched kids have it become all consuming

168because they're down to it can be to the thousandth of a point that makes the difference between validator and saludiatoran or top 10 or whatever it might be and there's always someone who is 11th or 12th and feeling like that is something we care very much about promoting mental wellness and and positive mental health and don't feel that that is something that we need to take on while even though we're um suggesting this shift to include the weighted GPA. Yeah, I I appreciate that um that continued focus um because it if my soapbox moment uh you know we should probably make that wider because try to get it more uh the whole idea of the validictorian. I mean those high level schools um you know I have a kid who's like wow you know this

169thing they literally say how many kids that go there that get accepted are validictorians you know and then so now I have a kid who's like oh my god I can't get in I'm not a validictorian we don't maybe I am I don't know u she's not but um but yeah I do recognize the bands of magnaum laad and sum laad so that's a you can assure my my stress ball child yes you can assure her that that is a recognition that's important to kids and and it's recognized at graduation day with their chords and with the the program and um with the academic recognition that we give, but it's not saying I'm number 18, you're number 17, I want to be 13. I that's not an atmosphere that we have at Freeport High School

170and and we're very proud of that. I I am 100% in favor of that method. So, thank you for that. Uh you sorry, you're the chair of the thing. Um, thanks Jen for all your work on this and thoughtful conversations with your team. I was wondering if you could speak to the use of the weighted GPA in those honor bands that you just mentioned versus the honor role and also it looked like the bands had changed a little bit to add another one. Uh, can you tell me where you're looking? I'm sorry. On the letter F. Oh, yes. uh on the first page where it says uh in B3 courses are weighted only for the purpose of cumulative weighted GPA and will not affect semester honoral calculations. So no waiting in the honor role but

171then in the on page two it talks about the in I it talks about the honor bands. So those are the graduation. Yes recognition. So we don't if you look at um page two letter F that's how we calculate honor role. Um so honor roll is not related to a student's overall GPA. So a student can receive honoral for just one semester and then have another tough semester or they had a tough freshman year and then have a great sophomore year. They're still recognized for honor role. For letter I on page two. that is only something that is calculated um at at the end of the first semester of their senior year. So that's not something we ever talk about with students. It's funny, it's probably the number one question I get at graduation rehearsal,

172like what the heck does this chord mean and what does magnum mean? And so we we that's not a part of our culture to talk about that at the younger grades. That's something that they start to think about really when it's calculated in the middle of their senior year, which is January. Okay. Thank you. So, was there and I see the difference in like GPA versus the grades that they just have that semester. Was there a conversation about whether there should be a weighted uh calculation of honors or not? We have not had that conversation and because I think the the purpose of that was more for the colleges to communicate what the students total academic profile has been over the course of multiple years versus just doing the calculation for the um classes that

173they're currently in. Um I also I'm not sure if this was one of your questions but in uh when it says letter F academic honor rule all course grades are 3.75 or better 3.25 that came from the proficiency 1 to4 grading. So we never changed that was still I laughed when I saw that I was like that was still in here. Never changed it. So, just to make it a little more complicated, that was not a GPA number. That was a different I think it was. Yeah. Thank you. That wasn't confusing at that time. Um, just as you're thinking about other questions, you might have just a few notes that I found in my notes that I thought I should mention. The other thing that came out of our conversation with um with Jen and

174um uh Dana and Liz was um the question around how transcripts are used for scholarship funds. Um and that scholarships have been asking for weighted grades. Um and I think that was that was really helpful to to know that. Um, I think also we we had this conversation, I think Danielle, you might have brought it up of the question of using um of how we're waiting whether it's for whether we're distinguishing between an honors class and an AP class. Um and I think um what we what you all communicated to us is that that was part of your research and that the standard seems to be um in the communities uh surrounding us is that um the same waiting is used for an honors course or an AP course. Is that accurate? That's accurate. It's

175also um the nature of our us being a small school. So for example, for the juniors, there is no honors English 11. There's either English 11 or AP. So AP is our version of taking an honors class. So that was the other reason. It was both of those things. Yeah, Danielle, did I accurately speak? Yes, because there was some schools that I had looked up that had a different for honors and AP, but then again, when I went back after we talked, they had a lot more honors classes offered at the same time as AP. that you could really choose to do the basic class, honors or AP. So, yeah, I think it makes sense to keep them consistent because I know some schools have a lot more AP offerings. So, like you can take

176an AP class as a freshman in some schools, which seems crazy, but you can. We are going to next year. Oh, really? Cuz we're crazy. Cuz we're crazy. Geography. Um, interesting. Okay. Um, yeah. So, you know, keeping them consistent, I think seems fair. I did have a question about the transcripts and things we were striking from the transcripts. Obviously, some of it was related to specific classes, but the um the significant academic awards or recognitions, is that like kumla sumakum laudy or is like so we're not including that anymore or uh that was funny because no one could find an example of when we did that. Oh, so that I think is old policy language or I think that it is maybe from the um MSMA draft somewhere, but that's not something that we've ever

177had on our transcripts. So, we don't put that on a roll or anything like that. No, a student would put that on an application, but it doesn't go our transcript is just the um information about their historical grades. Great. Okay. Thank you. I think the other piece and then Danielle I want to make sure if you have any um thoughts or reflections on this that get those in there. But I think one thing that came up in our policy committee conversation was um was a question around whether the the decision to use um weighted grades um hurt anyone whether it like whether it hurt other students. Um maybe you could just speak like I really appreciated the way in which you responded to that. Maybe you could just speak a little bit to that. I

178I think that we were feeling that the calculation was fair. That was another piece of that. And um that students still have tons of opportunities where they can demonstrate their progress or they can be recognized for their academic achievement um without setting them at a disadvantage for for doing that. We also talked about that there are some students that it might be a motivator if they are um unsure of whether they're going to push themselves into taking an AP class that we are encouraging them to because some kids are saying I don't want to go into AP physics. I'll just take CP physics because I'm worried that my grade will be too low and I'm not going to take that risk. And now this is it's not going to be a a cure for every

179student who's unsure. But for some of them to say, hey, take the risk, push yourself, take this college level class because there's a little bit of a cushion there for for the grade if it is a little bit lower than you would hope that it would be. Yeah, thanks so much, Shannon. And I and I I I've found that that last point particularly really helpful to sort of think about how again as a as a motivating factor. So it's not only we're talking about kind of like once they're leaving us, right? like how but it's also like internal to our the culture of the school. Um how that could be um again not not a not a panacea but it could a potential um boost for some students and this will take effect this quarter.

180So like the transcript that's or this seme like so the close of this year will have a awaited or no? No, it would go into effect next year. Next year. Any other questions? Or Danielle, is there anything else that you remember us talking about that? No, I I had wrote down that Jen had said that it's not the grades that are changing, but that we're acknowledging the rigor, you know, of what kids are really doing, which I think is really important. So, so did um maybe this is a completely different discussion that you and the guidance team are having, but you mentioned it in terms of sort of the difference between, you know, what's a the band for passing being tighter for Freeport than some most other high schools? Was that part of the conversation?

181And no, I'm going to head I'm going to head that one off. We brought that up and they made very clear that that was not part of this that was not part of this conversation because it's about the transcript. Um, but it is still a remaining question that uh we might want to look at at some point. Yes. Okay, fair enough. Thank you. Because it's a kettle of fish. I figured um any other questions or folks feel generally so we will be making Cynthia no changes to this as far as I can see. Jen, thank you so much. Absolutely. Thank you for your help with that. And and thank you also to to Dana and Liz for for all their work, but also for coming to the meeting and chatting with us. That was really

182really helpful um to be able to have them there as well. Um okay, our last um policy is JLF. Um which if we've changed the name, it is now child abuse reporting prevention and education. Um this was driven primarily by um by law change. Um so I'm just going to highlight a few kind of like uh a few points. Um and then obviously any questions that folks have. Um the definitions um you'll see the definite we've ch we've uh changed and added definitions here. Um that's because those have changed at the state level. Um so again that is not us um uh getting poetic. That is uh what the state has told us that we need to say. um the child uh uh 1 C under definitions um the child sex trafficking that is a

183that's a completely new definition and inclusion um in this um document. Um let's see there was there are a few moments where uh you will notice that we um uh I don't think we caught them all. I think uh a friend of ours noticed some ones that we missed, but we were changing um from reporting to notifying um and I will be quite honest and I don't remember exactly why we're making that change, but that um that was a change that uh we were uh encouraged to make. Um and I'm trying to think of other things. I think that was the sort of top level. Um, oh, there was one qu I'll just flag it, Cynthia. Um, we had, uh, had a conversation about, um, there's a there's a line in this that I will

184not be able to point to it immediately. Um, but where we, uh, have the phrase when reasonably possible. Um, and we raised some questions about, um, why is that included? Um, should it be included? Are we required to include that um, by law? Um and so um we are um it has not been stricken currently but we will um get some uh more counsel on that. Um exactly. Oh, okay. um questions about this. Uh I'm trying to think if there's anything else that needs to be highlighted at the top level, but you will see that there's again there's a um there's a fair bit that has been changed. Um um sections uh 8 and nine are um uh completely new. Other questions? I mean, this is like just super simple, but why would they want

185you to change it from reporting to notifying? I mean, is it just do they feel like reporting is just like too heavy? I think it makes it clear. Okay. But it does make it clearer and because they are notifying and and can I also say the notifying person may not be the reporting person. So then maybe the notifying person I see something I go to Michelle the principal and I say I'm notifying you this happened and the principal guidance people they go through their process they report I didn't report but I notified and then there's an obligation on the person I I notified they have to circle back to me and say I reported it. So that's a distinction. Yeah, Jane, thank you for that. I think the other thing that I'm I'm now remembering

186is that um the use of that word is in its adjectival form and not in its verb form. Um so we're talking about the u yeah it is. We all have different professions and that's re relevant to mine. Um the uh um that um yeah, there's all sorts of things we're we're learning. Um um that Jean can't grow cucumbers. Um so we're describing the employ employee. It's modifying the employee. It's not we're not changing the the verb of what is of what is happening. We're not saying that the um the thing they are doing is different. We're just saying that uh technically uh this person is defined as a certain thing and that's what we're um u correcting for. Um but mostly I just wanted to say adjectival and now I'm doubting whether it's a

187word or not. But I've I've been called out at it before and just for the record when I what was the word I was called out for before it was the oh irregardless. I think I looked into that and it actually uh it can be used. It's sort of it's it's been it's been adapted. So I was given a lot of hell for that one. Uh, and I'll just say on the record that I was not wrong. Questions? Um, sorry, Cynthia's got a thing. Oh, it's just responding to the com the, um, if you look on page three, uh, at the very bottom, uh, C, that when reasonably possible is in that paragraph. So, it's when reasonably possible. Any internal interviews of a child who may have been abused or neglected will be conducted by

188a person who has knowledgeable knowledge of appropriate techniques for interviewing um alleged victims of abuse or neglect. And I think the discussion was can we remove that because we always want that to happen. And the answer was we're checking. We're checking we don't know but yeah I think yes thank you Cynthia for finding that. And again, yes, the spirit of that was also um again um just really centering the the the child there and making sure that um again they have agency um in that. Um yeah, other questions. Sorry, I think this might be for Cynthia. Sorry to make you come back up again getting your steps in today. Um on page five, can you remind me those aren't new requirements, are they? Because I remember us putting into place a policy before a few

189years ago when the law passed about um child sexual abuse prevention education. Did we already have that in another policy? Oh, we already do it. Oh, we already do it. Okay. This is this is specifically what you have to do. Oh, okay. Um for the might you say that into the mic so others wouldn't hear. Abs I'd be delighted to do that. So if you look on the back on page six um that was that discussed the um the training. Yeah. The what's now here is really specific on what that training is. It's much more train like the rhythm 6 months of hire and what what it needs. This the training about sexual abuse where it's impression is attended to. So it's more specific. So we did it. So they took that out because this

190is more specific. Thank you Jean. That was going to be my other question. Um, but we didn't have I thought we had the child sexual abuse prevention education for students elsewhere in policy, but maybe I'm misremembering. I thought we had passed that previously that had been part of state law for a while. Um, because I know that's something that we already do, right? We have like Right. Yeah. We get a letter home that says we're going to talk to the kids about this just so you're aware, etc. Okay. Thank you. Um I think just the other thing that I'll just add is just again um I think this is a an example of a policy that um again it's what we are required by the state to do but also that obviously it is a

191or perhaps not obviously but it is a very important um issue in um the National Children's Alliance reported that 2022 um there were 400,0003 there were 434,000 perpetrators um abused abused and neglected a child. Um and 76% of those children when it was evaluated uh were victimized by a parent or legal guardian. Um and um so the the the largest percentage of abuse um that is occurring um once it is confirmed is uh happening by um by parents or legal guardians. Um so again just for our wider community to understand um the stakes of what we're talking about here. All right. Uh so we've talked about three different policies. We have a motion on the floor and a second to approve all three for first read. So they will all be back again for a

192second read with uh couple maybe minor tweaks. Nothing major. It doesn't sound like um based on the conversation. Um did anyone have else have any other questions or comments before we take a vote on these? Okay. All those in favor? None opposed? Thank you. Okay. So, we have we've already done 12, so we will move on to 13A. Uh, and do I have a motion for consideration and approval for the resolution entitled uh uh for the resolution entitled resolution to authorize lease financing of a 3,421,157 energy conservation project at RSU schools. I'm going to say RSU5 schools. um be approved in the form presented to this meeting uh and that an attested copy of said resolution be included with the minutes of the meeting. Mora, thank you Malik. So, uh this is the yellow page.

193[Music] Uh this goes back to looking at um really looking at those en those energy um audit projects that we want to do and we have to have a formal motion here that we're going to be able to move forward with these things um knowing that that's not going to take the financial piece doesn't take place for another fiscal year. And Kelly, do you have anything else you want to add to this motion? I mean, for me, it's more the the legal piece of paper that we need in order to do the borrowing, kind of like the short way to say it. Um, the the board has has taken action and said that we wanted to move phase forward with phase one, and we did kind of that during the budget process, but this actually

194authorizes the borrowing of the lease. Yes. So, not a bond, but a lease, uh, a $1 buyout lease at the end of 17 years. Am I making them up? That's what we were looking at when we were doing the proposal. Yes. Um the if you if you read through the document, those terms and the interest rates and those kinds of things get set as part of that process. Um and you're authorizing um the superintendent and the director of finance to work through that. Okay. My only question was the very specific dollar amount when we were just talking about how they were still sending things out to bid. Um do they have all the bids and this is it or they do not? But that would be the maximum that we could borrow for the projects.

195Usually year round the maximum number, but okay. Yeah, we had EMC and the attorneys get together and this is what they delivered us product that we have. Okay, great. All right. Any questions on this? So this basically authorizes uh us to enter into the lease for phase one of the energy audits for LED for no what was the other two things boiler it was for yeah boilers and uh electrical panels right um fire access fire door access any questions comments on Yep I apologize because I think we probably already have heard this before, but could you just describe um briefly, Kelly, what the terms of an agreement like that look like and what the payout and then I assume then we own the assets like at the end of the 17 years. So, um the

196assets will actually be the improvements that are done within the buildings. Um, so the the lighting upgrades, the fire access panel upgrades, the door upgrades that we have um as well, and then the boiler um at the high school. Those were the bigger, larger ticket items for this. Um during the process, we did talk about a 17-year with a with an estimated um annual payment. All of that will need to be worked out as far as what that payment actually will be when the interest rate is actually set and the amount borrowed actually set because like Michelle mentioned, we're still setting it out to bid. It could come in lower than we expected and we wouldn't borrow the full full 3 million that's authorized in it. So, we will work those out and we'll definitely

197be reporting out to the finance committee which will ultimately come through then to the board as to um what we're doing with that. But um we all know um well at least the joint committee saw and for the most in the board as well saw kind of like the planned out expenditure timeline that we have over or that I developed for um the infrastructure projects for all the phases of the of the project as well as full implementation of the vehicle and equipment replacement. So, um we're really working trying to work within those constraints and hoping that um we will be able to meet um you know to come in under in under what we actually anticipated for a payment. um they were they were um uh modest, you know, they were trying to be

198modest, but at the same time they weren't sure of the market. So, they were trying to do a little bit higher on the interest rate than they thought we might actually land at. Um so, um those will be worked out and again, we'll go through finance and and ultimately report back to the board where it gets settled. Other questions? Great. Uh, all right. We have a motion and a second, right? Yes. Great. Uh, then we will take a vote. All those in favor? None opposed. Thank you. All right. So, we are now uh item 14. We didn't scratch that one, right? No. Okay. This isn't This isn't Oh, no. I know that. Uh, this isn't to actually hire some cuz I'm looking for salmon. Okay. Salmon. No salmon. I was like, I don't have any

199salmon. Um, okay. Great. So, all right. So then, do I have a motion for consideration and approval to authorize a superintendent to hire a special education teacher at Freeport High School? Funding uh to come from two unfilled special education educational technician positions at Freeport High School. Kelly and Cheyenne, thank you. Okay, you may recall a similar emotion we had um back in January uh because we were having a really hard time particularly at Freeport High School hiring educational technicians. So, I came to the board and asked if we could um use the funding from two tech positions to hire a one-year only special education teacher. Um we didn't get applicants. Our sense was it wasn't the best time of year, but we thought we'd try it. Um, we believe we'd have better luck because now

200is hiring season. So, it's there's going to be no addition to the budget. We just would like to do this again, but formalize the process so we could hire a teacher using existing funding from ED tax at the high school that we've been unable to fill. So, that's what the motion is. And if we are want um hope we get a great candidate, then I'll have a salmon sheet in there for you and we'll we'll bring that name to the board. But, this is just to create the position using that funding. Okay. So, basically what this does is it makes it permanent the one-year piece of what we voted on in January. Yes. Basically make it going forward. That's okay. Okay. Any questions on that? All right. All those in favor? None opposed. Thank you.

201Public comment. Have even fewer people now than last time. Um, all right. Then I would take a motion to enter into executive session uh for consideration and approval to enter into executive session as outlined in 1 MRSA section 4056D for the purpose of discussing administrator negotiations. Kelly and Danielle. Thank you. All those in favor? All right. None opposed. Uh 9:28 um library operates library. Okay. And take all of our stuff.