May 6, 2026 – School Board Business Meeting

001to the May business meeting of the SAD15 school board. We have a full house tonight. Um, and everyone's here, so we can declare a quorum. Please join me for the pledge of allegiance. Okay. Uh, upcoming meetings we have in May the 13th, personnel committee will meet at 5:30 in the Dun Library, followed um at 6:30 by facilities. May 21st will be our district budget meeting here at the high school. That meeting starts at 6. Um, voter registration begins at 5:30. I'd like to remind folks that that is a Thursday for fun. We usually do Wednesdays, so that's a Thursday. If you come to one meeting all year, I hope that you make it that one. Um, folks who come in later, uh, the meeting will start at 6. Voters of our district can come and

002go at any time. Um, if you have to come late, that does not stop you from participating or voting. If you have to leave early, uh that doesn't stop you from voting or participating prior to leaving. So, please keep that in mind. We will have child care. We will have child care in the library um for those that need it. May 27th um back at Dunn. We have policy committee meeting at 5:30 followed by finance committee at 6:30. Any um action relative to additions or adjustments to the agenda? Great. Seeing none, uh comments from the audience. Have a nice group tonight. Anybody care to comment? Come on up. >> As long as it's relative to the visits of the district, you can talk about whatever you want for uh three minutes. Okay. >> And um

003if you just state your name in town for the Okay. For the folks. >> I am Judy Simino from Gray. And I just want to bring forward uh the cost sharing committee because I am on that along with Sam Fifel. And um we're a little disappointed that it's been so stalled on this and I understand that the DOE didn't have a facilitator, but now they do. And so we really are looking forward to getting this moving. It's been since November. And I think that people are pretty frustrated. So I would uh like to see this go forward as quickly as possible because it seems like it has been stalled. Um so your uh support on this or moving forward would be much appreciated. So thank you. >> All right. Thank you for that. And next

004is moving into recognition. Um, we're going to start with our class of 2026, top 10%. This is one of the most exciting things we do every year, and that's when we honor our upcoming graduates who will graduate in just a couple of weeks. Um, they're in the final stretch. We're very excited that they took the time to come tonight. I know you guys have super busy schedules and we really, really appreciate it. >> Uh, yes. So I want to echo congratulations to this group. I might be um a little bit personally invested in this class. Um this is just an amazing uh representation of this class and you know for just for the board to know and for for everyone here this is a massive achievement. um these young women um to even be in

005this group their cumulative GPA on a 100 point scale weighted over four years every single one of them is over 99.95 out of 100. Um, in addition to that, instead of just being at home studying, I happen to know we have three seasoned athletes, uh, performing arts students, uh, co-curricular student government leaders, um, a lot of volunteer hours. Um, so please do take your time. I know that you want to rush up here and run back out the door. Um, but everybody here is super proud of you. So tell us your name, where you're going, what your plan is for next year, and you know, maybe something you really enjoyed in your time at G&G or why you decided to pursue the path you're going on. >> Hi, I'm Hannah Gordon. I will be going

006to Providence College next year and I will be majoring in nursing and I also will be on their cheer team at Providence as well which I'm really excited about. Uh I have loved going to school at G&G. My teachers have been amazing here. I know Miss Light's retiring this year, but she has been a wonderful biology teacher and Miss Tennibum, my English teacher, has been so supportive, especially in the college application process. Uh, and just in general, and I've had amazing teachers helping me prepare for the IB exams that we're doing right now. So, that has been so good. >> Awesome. And Hannah is, in case you are not reading along, also our validictorian. So, well done. >> Thank you. Hi, I'm Hope Hanley. I'm going to the University of Notre Dame to study anthropology.

007Um, I think my favorite thing about coming here was the teachers. Um, to echo what Hannah said, they're just so kind and caring and really supportive. And along with that, IB has been such a huge opportunity for applying to college and trying to get into um, more competitive colleges. So, that's been really helpful. >> Awesome. Great. Congratulations. >> Hi, I'm Alexa Meek and I'll be attending North Carolina State University next year and I'm going to be majoring in animal science in the preveterinary bioscience concentration. And my favorite thing about G&G is the teachers and their belief in me has led me to be in the top 10%. Uh, Lex, is there anyone here up here who might be particularly proud of you tonight? >> My mom. >> Well done. >> Hi, I'm Charlotte Ta. Um,

008I'm going to be going to the University of Maine and I'm going to be studying kinesiology with the exercise science concentration. I think one of like the best parts about G&G for me has been the opportunity for dual enrollment. I've like been able to take advantage of that my past four years and so I'm graduating with I don't know how many but I think there's like over 15 college credits that I get to carry over which is going to be really helpful next year. >> Wow, that's great. Congrats. >> Um hi, I'm Ella Kenny. I'm going to the University of Maine Orno next year and I'm going to be studying nursing. Um, one of my favorite parts about G&G is the community. Um, the last four years I've played on the varsity basketball team and

009the amount of people that show up and support every single game and just like any sports outing, it's just a really great sense of community here. >> Awesome. Hi. Um, my name is Hamima Chisu. Um, I'm going to be going to the tooden college and I plan to major in biochemistry on the premed track. Uh, one of my favorite things about Green Glouester High School is probably the community at large. I like I came here like two years ago and I just want to say that this community is very welcoming and nice and I appreciated that. >> Wonderful. Thank you. >> Um you guys are allowed to say Aroma Joe's soccer, you know. I do I I am totally loving this. We did not feed you these lines at all. But Ella, >> hi, I'm

010Ella Diffen. Next year I'll be heading to the University of Maine Orino. I'll be majoring in psychology and eventually I hope to become a holistic therapist. Um I have loved coming to this high school. I know that to start I was just so nervous to make friends and uh collaborate with teachers, but everyone has just been so so supporting and it has allowed me to grow in ways that I never thought were possible. So yeah. Um, hello. My name is Michaela Gil. Um, next year I'll be attending the University of Southern Maine as a linguistics major. Um, one of my favorite things I think about G&G has been the opportunities both academically in dual enrollment classes and in IB classes this year, the couple that I'm taking. I think that's been really good experience going

011into college, but also in the clubs. Um, I've done drama and community service club, NHS. I think those have provided me a lot of opportunity to learn about myself. Thanks, Michaela. Hi, my name is Emily Carol and next year I'm going to the University of New England to major in psychology. And one of my favorite things about Greater New Glaster has definitely been the support system from my teachers. U Miss Landry and Miss Stanley have definitely got me through some of my college applications. So, I'll forever be grateful to the support system that G&G offers. Thank you. Hello, my name is Alex McVicker and I'm attending Sescuana University next year um with a major in history and hopefully a future career path in civics. Um, one of my favorite things about G&G is definitely the

012education I've received here. Taking IB classes and dual enrollment classes has like been a huge value to me. Um, but also the experience of extracurriculars that I've received here. Drama is one of my favorite things that I do in my life and I've been super grateful that I could experience that. >> Hi, my name is Brianna Waterman and I will be attending the University of New England. Um, I will be majoring in their pre-ysition assistant track in their 4 plus2 program and then will be going to their graduate school for their physician assistant school. Um, my favorite thing about G&G has definitely been my science teachers. They're caring, they're compassionate, they're patient, and all in all, they've helped guide me on my journey to pursue medicine. Well done. Hi everyone, my name is Piper Obi

013and next year I'm going to be attending Main Maritime Academy and I'll be majoring in marine systems engineering with a minor in nuclear engineering and I'll be also playing soccer in the fall. And one of my favorite things about G&G over the last few years is all of the opportunities we have here. like no matter what you're interested in, there's definitely something for you to find. And it's really great to see people find like new friends and like teammates that they can bond with and just be included no matter what they're interested in. And that's what I really love. Congrats. >> Hi, I'm Kista Stratard and I'll be attending RPI in New York next year on a biology or biochemistry track. Um, my favorite part of this school experience has been the theater program and

014distance running. I think it's been a really positive experience and helped me balance out all my IV classes by giving me something fun to look forward to in my day. I made a lot of my closest friends through the extracurriculars and I really enjoyed my time here. Thank you. Any questions or comments from the board? Otherwise, I All right. I think you just did such a great job representing yourself. Um, can we also get a round of applause for the parents who got you here. >> All right. a couple of whom work for us also. I would point to >> uh so our uh top 10% are here to personally invite every member of the board to graduation in a couple of weeks. It is May 28th at uh the Cross Insurance Center. Everyone is

015welcome. We'd be happy to have you. Of course, the problem by going on this set is you guys can't see the name plates. Feel free to call out a name if you're not sure. Um, they all have personally addressed invitations for each of you. >> And it's kind of a landmine here. >> And it is a little landmine. Please be so careful. >> Cords, cords everywhere. >> We appreciate your time and we appreciate you all being here. And it's 100% okay for you guys to exit at any time you would like. >> We know you have important things to do and test, IB tests to prepare yourself for. >> Super important. And >> they're amazing, aren't they? Cute. >> Yeah. >> Super impressive crew this year. I know I say that every year, but I

016mean it every year. Super impressive group of kiddos. Keep going. Okay. Um. Yes. So, our next recognition is a big congratulations to the Patriots players who presented the man who came to dinner last week. Um, I know a number of people who've been able to go and just have said the best things about the show. So, congratulations to Mr. Walker and all of the adults and kiddos involved in that production. Um, I unfortunately cannot speak firsthand. I was devastated to have missed it. Um, as is the case, all districts do their concerts and plays and productions and recital at the same time. So, I've been off being a mom a little bit. Um, and I won't lie, I kind of wanted to be here. So, here we are. Um, my child doesn't watch this. It's

017fine. Uh, so congratulations. I have just heard such great things. So, good job, you guys. Uh, we also wanted to say a congratulations to Carter Davis who was named Carter's here. >> Why don't you come on over and show your lovely face to the board? Uh, so Carter Davis was named the WMTW Scholar Athlete of the Week. >> All right. >> A couple weeks ago. Very big deal. You don't have to say anything, but you know, wave to the people. >> Carter is a three sport athlete in addition to maintaining his academics and that is what contributed to WMTW se uh selecting him. This is our second WMTW scholar athlete of the of the week. Uh, Naveenia Comto was named a couple weeks before Carter. So, that's pretty exciting. Nice job, kiddo. >> Well done.

018Thanks for being here. Okay. And I do have um one more recognition that is not written in um that I was planning on adding on the fly and uh Deb Carson and the PTO has made that very easy to do by um delivering all of these cute baskets um to as a thank you um to the board and they have included us in the teacher and staff appreciation week that's happening this week which is extremely genous. generous and um not who we should be focusing on, but it is kind of a neat way to show um some of the things the teachers have gotten goodies like this all week. There's lunches, there's donuts, there's um an ice cream >> ice cream shop >> um >> plants uh actually started in uh Deb Carson's home actually,

019I think. >> Um and all the individual school PTOs are putting on lunches with the supports of different classes and such all week. So, um, a big thank you to our, uh, teachers in particular this week, and I hope if you have a child at the school, you would take a moment to reach out, um, to your children's teachers and thank them for their work. I'd like to add on that um, Deb and her crew go above and beyond and not only recognize our teachers through this time, but they take the time to recognize central office staff. They've been at our office almost every day this week. um they go into transportation to make sure our bus drivers are included and they this year they took the step to include the board and thank you

020for your work that you do for kids this year. So um is she here? She was here. She's she's scooted she scooted out when she heard we were gonna talk about her. >> So thank you to Deb and all the Patriot parent folks who work so hard for this every year and they make this week so special. >> All right. Uh fun stuff behind us. Down to business. Um, old business. Any um I would hear a motion uh to accept as printed the minutes of the April 1st, 2026 regular business meeting. >> So moved. >> Any discussion? Anyone see anything in those minutes that we missed? Great. All in favor? >> Beautiful. in new business. Um, as we are fond of doing, we have um some folks to hire. >> Oh, right. Sorry. I would

021hear a motion to nominate Martin Graph to a first probationary contract as a school counselor at the high school. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Uh Martin is here along with his sponsoring principal Satie Gish. are going to come up and just say talk a little bit. Stand up, let the people see you, Martin. Um, and talk a little bit about this hire. >> Yeah. So, it's my pleasure to introduce Martin Graph. Um, Martin holds a bachelor's of arts in psychology from the University of Massachusetts lol and a master's degree in clinical mental health counseling from Leslie College. Um, Martin has a great deal of experience. Um, one year as an admission counselor at University of Southern Maine, um, and then nine years as a school counselor. seven years at Lake Region, one year at

022St. Dom's High School. Um, and he's been our long-term sub, uh, here at the high school for this school year. Um, through his time here, um, obviously working individually with students, but he's also planned, um, some college visits. Um, one was for the whole sophomore class to go to Central Main Community College this winter, um, to learn different careers and explore different opportunities. And then also recently last Thursday um a group of juniors um to University of Maine Orno um along with several other main students for the main college day. Um and also he's done a great uh deal of work on our master schedule which has been so fantastic um updating that and as many of you know we're rebuilding that process from the start up and um he's definitely done a lot of

023work on that. So we are very excited to have him as part of our team. >> Wonderful. Uh questions. All right. I I will say that I have already heard some positive client reviews and high school customers of the guidance office are not always the uh easiest. So um excited that that you're going to stay on with us. All right. All in favor. Great. Thanks for coming in. >> Thanks, Martin. >> Thank you. All right. I would hear a motion to nominate Rachel Haskell to a first probationary contract as a teacher at the Dun School. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Uh we have both Rachel. Rachel, get up there. And Mr. Robbins with us today. I've known Rachel a long time. >> She She was not big on the spotlight, but here she is.

024I'm very proud of her. Um, this is almost a kind of proud moment uh for me as well. So, Rachel has been an edtech in our functional life skills and gateway programs for the last 12 years at Dun School. Um, she graduated from Central Maine Community College with an associates degree. Um, and over the last few years, she's worked really hard to get her her degree in elementary special education. Um, and she has done fantastic work in those 12 years. and she is going to be taking over our functional life skills room. So, she has done just a a lot of work to in with our kids, some of our toughest kids in our programs, um but also to get her degree and get to this point of being the lead teacher in that program.

025So, we're super excited for Rachel and she's a G&G graduate. >> I was just going to say and the most important credential is that she is a G&G alum. >> Fantastic. Uh questions or comments? Yeah, very exciting. We always talk about wanting to uh grow our own and it's really um awesome to get to to vote on this hire. So, all in favor? >> All right. Thanks for coming in. >> Okay. And I would hear a motion to nominate uh Gretchen Haynes to a first probationary contract as a teacher also at the Dun School. >> So moved. >> Second. >> She's on her way. We said way. >> Um so we are really excited to have Gretchen join our school. Uh she holds a bachelor's degree in uh music education from the University of Hartford

026as well as a master of education and curriculum and instruction from Leslie University. She has 10 years of experience teaching uh elementary music and has also experience as a teacher in the Peace Corps um as director of early childhood music at 317 Main Community Center uh music center and as an edtech in special education. Um, and I think uh we are very excited to have her join our program and she's going to bring a lot to our music education program at the third and fourth grade level. So, fantastic questions or discussion. All right. All in favor? Wonderful. Thank you so much for coming. I know it's quick, but we do love to get to see your faces. >> Thank you. Um and um also do not feel any pressure to say go home to those

027babies. Um okay. Sorry. >> All right. And um I would hear a motion to nominate um the block of teachers as listed for a second probationary contract. >> So moved. >> Second. Do you want to give us some information? >> I would like to. Thank you so much. Um, so I did share with you in in the details kind of the process we go through um through the probationary teacher process. So these are folks who have been with us for one year and we are opting to give them uh bring them back. We are nominating them for their second year. Under main state law, all teachers new to a school district have two years of probation. the board has to vote on them to bring them on for their first year, bring them on for

028their second year, and then bring them to continuing contract. So, we are at the time of year where we are bringing forward our folks who have been here for one year um that we want to have a second probation. I' I've detailed to you um some of the steps along the way that lead us to make this decision. I'd like to also just kind of add this is a pretty rigorous process. And I will tell you that there there are people we don't bring forward to you. Not every year, but it's also not uncommon. Um I think a lot of people sort of feel like it's a rubber stamp situation and maybe in some districts it is. It is not here. Um it is not something it is something we take very very seriously. So,

029if we are um putting someone forward, it means that we we have put them through the paces and we think they're worth uh they're worth your vote. >> Thank you for that background. Um questions or discussion on the probationary contracts? Sam, >> uh, just super quickly, I had the, uh, chance to be on the hiring committee, uh, yesterday, interviewing some middle school science teachers, and Bailey was, uh, one of the interviewers, and just very impressed at how well she represented the district, you know, as a first year teacher. And I'm just continually impressed by the crop of teachers that we've hired lately. Great. Uh, anyone else? All right. All in favor? Perfect. And along these same lines, I'd hear a motion to nominate the uh block of teachers listed to a continuing contract. >> So

030moved. >> Would you like to give us the details here? >> So, uh, same feel as before, but I would say even more so. Uh it as so these are folks who have been with us for two years and we are nominating them for their third and beyond. Uh by being nominated for continuing contract, it makes them eligible uh for all of those things that the main state law affords to continuing contract teachers. Um so it's it's very very serious. Again, um there are people we don't bring forward. Uh so I think that's really important to point out. Uh it is something we we take very we take nominating probationary teachers very seriously. We take nominating people for continuing contract extremely seriously. Um people joke that it is a lifetime commitment. Under main state law

031it's pretty close. Um so we we put them through the paces. I have personally been in every single one of their classrooms at least once if not more than that this current year. Um and can tell you that I was just blown away by every one of them. Um, this is a a great group of folks that come forward to you with my full endorsement. >> Great. Uh, questions or comments about this group. Um, I I definitely know there's a few teachers on here that I see that I feel um excited that it works both ways that we've kind of got them now. Um, that have been great ads. So, all in favor? Perfect. Um, semi-related and to echo something Sam said, um, some of us have had the opportunity to sit in on, uh,

032teacher interviews in the last several weeks. I've done a few at the high school. Sam's done some. Um, anyone who had not raised their hand to be part of interviews, but is finding that they might have some free time or does want to see those opportunities, please email me and I will have you included. um it is our responsibility to vote teachers into the district and a really great way to have some skin in that uh vote is to participate on these um hiring committees. So if you it can be a big chunk of time and I know not everybody has the flexibility but if you do it's um they're pretty interesting to be involved in. So >> yeah, I just want to echo that. Um I don't think there's really a better way to

033get a feel for how the individual buildings operate than sitting on those committees because you see the questions that get asked. You see the answers, but you see the reactions and the discussion of the interviewees and what they value in our school. And I tell you, it's really cool when you know a middle school applicant asks, you know, so what's the deal with the handbook? Do you guys really follow that? And every single person around the table is like rock solid. We follow every letter of the handbook. you know, this is a policy focused district and just to hear them echo all the mission and vision that we talk about every day is just is just gives me so much confidence about what goes on in the building. >> And I don't I don't know

034if you're seeing this, but in the ones I kind of see a lot of surprise um pleasant surprise from applicants when they find out a board and community member is in the room. I think I don't think that's typical. Um, and I think that shows, you know, the community engagement to our applicants is is real. So, um, yeah. All right. Moving on, we have a series of policies. Uh, we did. Yeah, Maggie, we voted, right? Yes. Okay. >> Better to be sure. Um, so these policies have all been through the policy committee and actually probably at times other policies on their uh, excuse me, other committees on their way to the policy committee. Um, first one is to consider changes to policy GBN, family and medical leave. >> So moved. All right, Sharon, do you

035want to do the honors? >> I mean, I don't really have much to add for most of these um because we didn't make any changes outside of the personnel committee. So, I don't know if personnel has anything to add for them. They were pretty straightforward, either required by law changes or um other requirements. >> Okay, let's do this a different way then. How about these have been through personnel and then policy and everybody is prepared for tonight. So, does anyone have any questions or comments about the uh GBN family medical leave motion on the table? All right. All in favor? Perfect. I would hear a motion to consider changes to policy GBP, earned paid leave. So moved. >> Discussion or questions on thoughts on that? >> All in favor? I would hear a motion to

036eliminate procedure GB PR earned paid leave administrative procedure. >> So moved. Second. >> Discussion. All in favor? And I'd adhere a motion to eliminate policy ACF, workplace bullying, and replacing it with policy GB GB, workplace bullying. >> So moved. Second. >> Second. >> Discussion. All in favor? Okay. And I would hear a motion to consider changes to policy JLCD, administration of medicine to students. >> So moved. Second >> discussion, questions. All in favor. >> All right. Well, that makes quick work of policy. Thank you everyone for being prepared for that. Now, um let's see. We have the facilities committee. Um I know there's a potential motion here to adopt it, but this is a pretty big um chunk of work. So I'm thinking we we might talk about it first um in case we want

037to see it again before making a motion. If everyone's thrilled with it, someone can make a motion. So, um, the facilities committee's been working, um, actually throughout this whole year on, uh, do doing both the day-to-day work of the committee, but drawing our attention to a long-term capital improvement plan. Um, something, uh, more detailed um, and specific to facilities other than just what's in our strategic plan. um something that the board could adopt and provide sort of the direction and a plan for you know the next 20 plus years. Um it's a great uh deal of work by the district and the facilities committee and it's included in your packet. U facilities chair, do you want to um talk about this or lead this conversation draw our attention to anything in particular? Um, we had

038alluded to this a little bit uh a few weeks ago in our district workshop. Um, and it's been in our packet and it is it is kind of a heavy document um as we go through it. Um, I guess things to keep in mind um as we're as we're working through it. Um our current district strategic plan sun sets in 2027 and one of the major ingredients of the strategic plan is what are we going to do with the buildings. Um so one of our four current strategic goals is centered around kind of our our district facilities that all learners in uh our district will attend high quality indoor and outdoor um facilities. And I think we've done a good job following that mission with our bond work uh over the years. um reiterating what

039it says like in the very first paragraph of the draft that we have a long history of responsible stewardship of our buildings. Um there is going to be a point where the you can only extend the thing past its expected life so far and we're kind of at that juncture. So that's also part of the seed that grew into this strategic capital improvement plan. Um, another thing to kind of consider is uh the goals listed in the plan the very first you know they all start with to consider not you know to do. So this was not born with an end result in mind. Um this is sort of a plan to come up with a plan. Um yeah we can work through it as however we want. questions um reactions. So the facilities committee

040has uh spent a lot of time and had a good bite at this but that is only um a few of us. So would love to hear from folks who are just seeing it for the first time now. You all feel really good about it. We're ready to go. >> Just trying to give people a chance. I love it. Sharon, >> um I'll just say I I really appreciated it. Um definitely could tell the level of work that has gone into it and um I picked up right away that it was to consider, not to do, leaving it open. But I think it gives a good path to go down instead of um start thinking about something one year and then sunset it and then oh, bring it back up. I I thought it really

041is a good way to keep us on a collective gold. >> Great. Teresa, she beat me to it. I noticed the to be considered. Also, I really appreciated that so that nobody could say this is the done deal and come back to us. Um, it just seemed really thorough. I appreciate all the hard work everybody put in. And we do need to have a plan to have a plan. So, I really appreciate this, >> Sam. Um, so I don't want to uh say that I don't like the word consider u but you know we are this is a fiveyear plan here and the goals are to consider over the course of the five years consider and act on consider and you know um you know I I would like to think in the next five

042years we do more than just upgrading the existing secondary school infrastructure. I would like to upgrade the existing secondary school infrastructure. Um you know I would I I think goal two you know evaluate the feasibility and uh advisability of building a new facility. You know I think makes sense after five years like I would want an answer. Um I would want to do more than consider. So, you know, I kind of have the same thing there. I just it's a fiveyear plan. Um, I just wonder if our goals could be slightly more measurable and tangible uh and time oriented, but you know, certainly listen to feedback on that. >> I think that's a good point. um particularly on goal one where that is kind of picking up the ball and something we've been working on

043for a long time. We know that the goals and objectives, you know, we know we haven't met those needs and so maybe we say to establish a plan to to address it. Um whereas the the goal two I think we're looking at the further reaching um sorry I have to cough I think that's a good uh feedback other thoughts Hunter. Yeah, I guess I'll go kind of last because this will be my third time going over this capital plan. You know, from the draft to now, I think there were significant improvements. I think the draft was like bare bones and Dr. Turner really took our input back and added value to this draft plan. And I think this plan is important as we think about a you know revolving door with boards is this will

044keep us not from becoming stagnant but moving forward continuously instead of okay where where were we you know let's start over again. It's like no okay you came in this year here's where we're at in this plan here's where you're going to you know add value to and keep moving forward instead of um etc. And I but to Sam's point, you know, I did a lot of research on why plans fail and it's really down to the the words we use. And, you know, I think it's important that we don't represent a predetermined outcome of, you know, because we don't know we don't know what the options are yet. we we still need to fi find out is it going to be cheaper in the long run to do X or is it going to

045be cheaper to do Y um instead of we're going with Y and that's it. Um you know so I think this this capital plan sort of breaks down that outline and says here's you know the timeline here's where we're going to be and here's how we're going to get there etc. And I just I my biggest thing that I read was was the words and sort of a lot of feedback and research was if you make it to the public sound like we've decided already this is where we're going versus you know we're going to look at the options and then decide from there which to be honest we haven't really necessarily looked at the options kind of yet. Um I think that's part of the plan with this uh ask and part of the

046budget from facilities with sort of some of the money um that's later down the line. But you know I think um this is a very overdetailed uh plan I've talked about. I think it's phenomenal. Um you know I think you can look at each one of our buildings and see exactly what's been done to it and exactly what needs to be done to it and how old they are. Um so I think it's eye opening but like I said you know you got to be very careful with the verbiage in our plan etc. That's my big thing. >> Thank you. Uh Gary >> kind of long combining Sam's comments and hunters. Um and maybe I missed it but at what point in the plan is it designed to go from consider to u actionable? I

047mean, um, it's I can see consider in the first year, but at some point in in the course of five years, there needs to be a hopefully a targeted transition, I guess, to something actionable. Uh, because to to Sam's point, I hate to see us in five years still be considering anything. Um, >> I and maybe I just missed it. >> I think >> I admire the depth this goes to. I think it's a wonderful >> overall >> document and there's so much information here >> and like I said maybe I just missed that moment in time when that changes but >> I'm just curious. I think if you look at page seven, eight, and nine, it the charts kind of show, you know, the the seasons and the years, the phases that the district

048would move through should things be approved or decided on. Is that what you what you mean? >> I think to answer the question more specifically to it, Penny's absolutely right. the action steps on pages seven, eight, and nine are what break down the specific work of what we're doing. And and as we reflect on that and Sam's feedback, I I do think he has a good point that um we are considering the upgrades, but we move into action on that within the first year. Um so I it we may want to change, you know, I even wondered about say, you know, do we go so far as to say um to upgrade existing secondary school infrastructure? Part of that process is considering what projects to tackle in what order. That's the part we haven't figured

049out yet. >> There's going to be some kind of upgrade, >> but the plan is that as soon as next summer, we're moving forward with. >> Right. >> That's that's my only thing there. >> I think that's a smart No, I wonder if it's even as simple as to change consider to address, you know, like we we don't know what it'll be. Maybe it'll be this much. Maybe it'll be this much. But >> how about how about make recommendations regarding instead >> something we can vote on, >> right? >> It's more actionoriented. >> Yeah. >> You could consider something and really not >> produce any document and really show any work. >> I like that. other uh thoughts, feedback >> do >> um just my other feedback is um you know I really like these

050slides uh like the one sheets on our buildings um and I or I guess sometimes it goes into two pages. Uh >> they're all two pages a two-pager or whatever. Um, you know, I would like put these on the, you know, carve them up into one for each school and put that right on the landing page for each school on our website. It's like a great just thumbnail of the facility. Very digestible. >> That's a great idea. Uh, Fran, did you have something? >> I do. Um, so this report is pretty Y and and detailed in a sense and um uh it would take a lot to digest it and come up with some kind of um recommendation at this time. But what I'm looking at is um I would I would think that um

051we don't know what the community feeling would be uh regarding this and if we had the community involved right from day one like have an ad hoc committee maybe and I'm I'm not going to determine what it should look like or anything but something that would be uh included with some board members in some community and then uh look at it in in depth, you know, um for a presentation of um choices to for people to vote on as as time goes on, you know, for the different steps. So, um to wait until uh the board comes up with some conclusion or suggestion um and then give it to the bud. it'll always be that it's being given to the public and they weren't part of the process. They're being asked to accept whatever's being

052said uh that they come up with. So I would recommend uh to go any further with this particular project is to develop a um ad hoc committee that would um uh work and go through to through all these documents and and um so I just would point out that right in the steps this is not a finished plan but to say go figure it out and the the third item is to engage community input. So, this is not saying we know what we're doing, but just that we need to do it in an organized fashion and one of the most critical elements of that will be community engagement so that we have folks on board. >> Well, I know at the last bond issue it was the community came in after and even though they

053were involved, they came in after. And that's my point. And I don't know about the first uh bond issue uh back in 2016. you know, how that was set up with the public. Uh, but it was it um here's what we've concluded. Uh, what do you think? And, you know, let's go from there. I don't think it it sits well. Um, so >> I think it it again, that's just my opinion. I'm not here to debate it. This just my opinion. Thank you. >> Okay. So, do we uh anyone want to put a motion on the table or do we send this back for um some word smithing around the feedback and bring it back next month? >> That's I was going to recommend just do slightly more word smithing, you know, plus that gives

054it a chance to circulate in the community for a little bit longer. See if we get any more uh feedback from the community once they've seen it in the packet. and then I think we should be ready to vote to approve it uh at our June meeting. >> Okay. I agree in that. I think the the suggestion that's come up is a small word one but a big impact on the the plan. So to have that in writing again instead of as altered in discussion is probably worth bringing back. Okay. >> May I ask May I ask uh do another point? >> Yeah. >> Including this current budget, we have what am I doing? We have $250,000 for study that's relates to this subject, right? So, we're spend the money already before even, you know,

055and then we're asking public with no background in this extensive document with no background to approve $250,000 for a study. Um, again, you know, I I I I just feel that um uh the methods that have been used in the past have failed. So, it's time to do something different. >> Okay. All right. We will table this um send it back for a little um word smithing around on the goals as discussed here and um see it again in June. So appreciate the feedback on that. All right. I would hear a motion to approve the 2026 2027 school budget proposal in the amount of $36,988,442 for public ratification. >> So moved. >> Second. >> So um we will have uh essentially a little bit of a lengthy discussion period here in that I know we

056have all seen this several times. We've had a great workshop. it's been through finance. Um, but we're also hoping by showing the slides here again tonight on uh camera, it will give an opportunity for us to create a nice video that folks can watch ahead of um our public meeting. So, we're going to ask um Dr. Turner to walk us through that presentation before we vote. So, um yes. So, I apologize. This is that's why I'm going to stay at my seat because I know you all have seen my face talk about this before. So, I'm going to stay here so our audience and our uh folks at home can see. Uh moving into our introduction, I might point out that you met one of these lovely children this evening in our pictures on our

057introduction slide. I think it's important to understand that we build a budget based on our MSAD15 mission and that is that we prepare students for their next steps and we instill aspirations through rigorous and relevant educational experiences. Um and it was very opportunity that we got to hear about some of those experiences. Uh today we have a little overview of our schools including um our five we have three elementary schools, a middle school and a high school. their locations um and their enrollments as well as the students um who they serve. So this is what we are building a budget around. We also have um some information. It was requested that we put in some information about how old those buildings are. I will point out um that in the draft of the um capital

058strategic um strategic capital investment plan that we just were discussing, there is much much more information about the schools and their facility structures in the appendices. If you're interested, I really encourage you to go spend some time looking at that. We also provided an academic snapshot. I'm just going to draw your attention to a couple of things that we think are really important to know uh that we built our budget around. Uh first is that uh around our academic achievement. Uh at the end of the last school year, 78% of our students uh were at or above grade level proficiency in reading uh based on our NWA assessments and 73% of our students were at or above expectations in math. Additionally, uh we have high enrollment in our um challenging content. Uh you heard again

059some of our kiddos tonight talking about their IB um or international balora program. That's um uh rigorous classes available to juniors and seniors. About 45% of our juniors and seniors take at least one IB class every year. So more than half of our school is accessing really rigorous content. We also have great paths enrollment. Again, this is a program that's offered to some sophomores and juniors and seniors. About 22% of our kids take advantage of that program. Um and we're offering clubs and sports where a lot of our kids participate in that as well. Almost 40% um take advantage of those opportunities. Uh we deliver all of this while being lower than the state average uh per pupil in spending. Uh so we think we are a good value. Looking at enrollment, that's always a

060very important data point when we're building budgets is to know about how many students we're going to have. Uh we looking at our grade level enrollment um over the last 10 years it is down a little bit from 10 years ago but if you go back to 2021 and look at the change we've been pretty steady since 2021 and looking at the sizes of the grade levels we anticipate that for the next 10 years we're going to be at about the enrollment that we are right now. Additionally in the last 10 years while our enrollment declined by 9% our staffing also declined by 10%. So, we have been proactively responsive to the reduced enrollment to make sure that we are right sizing our staffing. At the same time, I will also go back and add

061that if you um are more interested in the academics information that we shared about um we did a full presentation, our director of curriculum and staff development um Kathy Martin did that on January 7th. Um, you can find that information on our website and also on our website under improvement of instruction, she has lots more information and full um, presentations about all of our academic information. And then additionally, enrollment and staffing if you want to know the full report. Uh, check out the February 4th business meeting where you will find more in-depth information. On January 28th, whoops, I went too far. On January 28th, we presented to the board uh, what we call our maintenance of effort. This is the figure that as of uh the time June 28th, the information that we had, if

062the district were to make no additions, no no reductions, do business exactly as we had in the current year, what would it cost to do it in the new year? Uh that number was a 6.7% increase. Um that is not a budget proposal. As I've said over and over again, it is a frame of reference for you that if we changed nothing, we would have been here asking for a 6.7% increase. The budget process and timeline, um it it's been a long road for the board. We started this process in December and we've already had eight meetings where we have discussed this budget um and elements that impact this budget in depth. Where we are now is at the school board vote. So, um, the most recent on April 29th, the finance committee considered the

063budget, um, and voted it unanimously forward to the school board. Now, it is the opportunity for the school board to consider. You will vote tonight on a budget to bring forward to voters at the district budget meeting on May 21st in the Grey New Glouster High School cafeteria. Registration at 5:30. You'll hear me say this a couple times tonight. Registration at 5:30. We're going to start at 6. We're offering child care. We hope everyone can be there. And then the final step is the budget referendum on June 9th. We encourage everyone to get out and vote on the budget on that day if not absentee ahead of time. So moving into our expense proposal, the current draft budget approved at the finance committee is 36,988,442. That is a 5.9% increase over uh the current year

064spending. That's 4.99% of local expenses and.99% of debt. Uh that is the um the indoor air quality funds. We have additional payments coming due. That's about.99% of this increase as proposed. breaking out that 5.98% increase, it is mostly contracts and benefits. So, our contractual annual um raises based on experience as well as increases to health insurance and other benefits. Um that is the vast majority of our increases. I did want to point out we have proposed no new positions in this budget. Um so that is not what this increase is. It is for existing staff and actually fewer because we have proposed some budget cut some um staffing cuts as part of this budget. You'll see the 98% there of the indoor air quality bond payments. Um and then the remaining costs uh and strategic

065investments that we'll go into in more detail and we'll share with you by article. Article one is regular instruction. That is where the vast majority of our expenses are in the district. That's for regular instruction, gifted and talented in English language learners. The additions for the current year are related, you're going to see in almost every article, related to contractual step and salary increases and benefit increases such as health insurance. We are also looking to invest in math materials for grades K through two and science materials for grades K through eight. We're also looking to invest in some um cardio equipment for the high school to be used both for the curricular program during the day and our co-curricular program and athletics. And then we're looking to add um some funding to match with some

066grant funding that we got to um bring back summer school uh supports for students. Reductions in this article um are the middle school math material. So, we generally try to invest in some level of materials every year so it it doesn't have an up- down increase year-over-year. Last year's investment was in math materials at the middle school. This year, we're suggesting K2 math materials and K8 science materials. We also go through this budget line by line by line and you'll find in your agenda attached two different versions of those books. It's a lot of lines. We sit with those folks involved and we look at every single one of them more than once and we look at a history of spending and we look at what the needs are in that area and we make

067adjustments to those lines as appropriate. Also in article one we've transferred out some software licenses to article 5 and we've transferred out some um our absentee management system to article 7 and you'll see those in those articles when we get there. So, article one increase is about 4% over the current school year. You'll find that all of 100% of those increases are related to the contractual salaries and benefits of the staff that we pay in that article. Article two is special education. That is all of our specialized classroom instruction, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech therapy, outofd district placements, extended school year, etc. Uh you see the salary and benefits increases. We also are proposing that all edteexs will work 6.7 hours per day. Right now they work 6.5 hours per day, which essentially has them

068arriving with kids and leaving with kids. We're looking for a little extra time with them so that we can um process with them uh when things happen during the day and also so that they're there when kids get there and they're able to not having to run out the door with the kids when they leave. Just a little bit of time on each end of the day to help us meet the needs of kids, particularly as our transportation windows are pretty wide for arrival and dismissal. Um additionally, we're seeing uh contracted services was a big increase for this particular uh group. Uh costs are going up families are experiencing it. We are not immune to it. Um as well as specific needs are going up quite a bit. Um we have more we have so

069the costs are going up for needs and the needs are going up. Um those are for things like uh onetoone RN support um speech therapy services those sorts of things that we have had to contract with more than ever as well as those costs going up. So that is a pretty significant driver of our article 2 expenses. In the proposal, we have reduced two edtech positions um based on need and we have an edtech 3 position that we are reducing to an edtech 2 position um again aligned with the needs. There are a couple investments we had proposed in the process that we are deprioritizing at this time in favor of some of these other things we thought were more important. So the article 2 increase is 6.6%. As you can see, the vast majority

070of that is contracted services um as it is a pretty big driver. Um again, increased needs and then the costs of those needs are going up significantly. Article four is other instruction. Those are our co-curricular and athletics at middle school and high school. um you'll see that our contractual salary increases and then um increases in dues and fees um such as paying for officials and um paying for sheriff's officers to be at games, those sorts of things. Um we were able to do some decreasing in benefits in this particular article just based on historic spending. Um as people change how they take their health insurance, it impacts our budget. So we were able to make some reductions um based on actual numbers there. And some things we shared with you earlier that we have depp

071prioritizing. Um we are still planning to get portable toilets for the high school upgraded here. Uh we are doing that out of our FY26 capital reserve funds. Um so no need to ask for that in the local budget. And then our tread uh we had talked about treadmills under this article, but we included it in our article one um expenses. So in article four, we're looking at a 3.6% 6% increase over the current school year. The vast majority of that is contractual salaries with the rest of it being those costs of officials and and regular ongoing costs that are going up. Article five is guidance, library, technology, health, and improvement of instruction. Um, we have our contractual staff and benefits increases. Um, the biggest probably addition I'm going to say to this uh article is

072uh an investment in technology infrastructure. We need to replace some of the Wi-Fi um infrastructure in a couple of our schools. Uh so you'll see those expenses in the request. Uh and then additionally, we transferred some software licenses from article one to article 5. It's one of those things where it's not right or wrong to have it in one article or the other, but we felt that it was more straightforward and transparent to have it in article 5. So, it shows up as an addition to article 5, but it's not an addition to the overall budget because we're moving it from article one to article 5. We were able to have some technology project savings that was able to reduce what that budget request was. Uh we're also uh no longer going to be using

073family communication software, school messenger. Uh we have replaced it with reach my teach. We maintained both for a little while. Um some of you may reme recall the debacle of when the reach my teach call wouldn't go out. So then I had to use school messenger. So then everyone got like six calls. My apologies again. That was awful for everybody. Uh but we have now had enough success with reach my teach that we feel comfortable letting school messenger go. So that is some savings. We also have a power school plugin we're just not really using anymore or using as much we felt wasn't as important as um upgrading the technology Wi-Fi infrastructure. So we have put those in as reductions. So that makes the increase to article 5 a 7.42% increase um over the previous

074uh over over the current school year. Uh you'll notice that contractual salaries um and benefits still are the vast majority of that. And then you'll see a big supplies, equipment, and purchase services. That's those um software licenses transferred from article one as well as the Wi-Fi replacement costs. Article six is systems administration. That is the school board, the superintendent's office, the business office as well as the board's contingency. Um the additions are contractual and benefit. Uh the big addition would be to be moving forward with a digital time card system. We currently use a paperbased time card system um that is incredibly um >> it's a lot. It's very labor intensive. Thank you. That's the word I was looking for. It's very labor intensive for uh the employees, for the secretaries who have to look

075at them, for the principles who have to approve them, and for our office to process them. So we're looking to come into uh the current trend uh of most workplaces and move to a digital time card system. So we are um suggesting that we would invest in that uh to kind of try to offset a little bit that ad of the digital time card system. We are going to de uh not no longer use a central office software system. um it was somewhat underutilized and we we did have some plans to use it as part of the um new strategic plan revisioning but we felt the digital time card system was a better investment at this point in time than that software. So we may reconsider it again in the future but for right now

076we are not we um have didn't we have said we are not going to contract with them next year to so that we could see that savings. Uh we also dep prioritize a uh some software to look at human resources efficiency, hiring um onboarding, that sort of thing. We want to try to use some of the tools we already have to see if we can increase those efficiencies there. And then also recognizing that the digital time card change is going to be very big for the business office. So not trying to drop too much on them at the same time. So we are going to um dep prioritize purchasing new or additional software for HR efficiency and look at using what we have to achieve some of those goals. So the article 6 increase is

077a 4.68% increase from the current school year. The vast majority of that are the contractual salaries and benefits as well as that small amount for contracted services um around the uh digital time card system. Article seven is our principles, assistant principles, and secretaries in all of our buildings. Uh the additions here are contractual and benefit. And then as we mentioned earlier, we transferred that hiring and absentee management software from article one to article 7. Again, it wasn't wrong to have it in article one. We just feel it's more transparent by putting it in article 7 which are the people that primarily use it are those folks um who are doing the hiring and managing the absenteeism. So the proposed incre sorry it's a little sluggish. There we go. Uh so the proposed increase to article

0787 is 7.2%. Again the vast majority is that contractual salaries and benefits. Um and then you see that contracted services which is that transfer of that software from article one. Article eight is transportation. That includes all of the transportation staff, our equipment, our vehicles, our fuel and our repairs. Um we the additions that we are proposing for the upcoming year include our contractual staff and benefits conceptually salary and benefits. Uh we also are looking to purchase two new buses. Uh last year we proposed to the board a regular replacement cycle where we would essentially look at replacing a couple of vehicles every single year so that we have a steady ongoing investment um in our uh fleet so that nothing gets so old that we suddenly have to buy four or five buses in one

079year which would really be difficult on the local budget. Um so we are in year two of that plan. So there is um an increase to um support the purchase of those buses. We also are proposing that we would purchase and implement new bus routing software. Uh that is updated software that should be more efficient and help us build better routes than we currently are able to do. The other important opportunity in this software is it includes GPS devices for all vehicles that parents could then access. So parents through the app could then see where their child's bus is. Uh it should cut down on the amount of time children have to spend waiting out on roads and particularly for our kiddos who have to wait on busy roads. It's a really important safety option.

080I would say as a parent who spent a lot of years waiting at the bus stop, it's also nice to know when it's coming on those rainy days and on those negative 30°ree days and those sorts of things. So, um that would be I think a huge benefit. Uh it allows us at central office uh and at the um at the transportation center to better keep an eye on where people are and know what's going on. Um and it's also would be a huge benefit for parents. The final addition which is small but I think important is the addition of a transportation safety committee. So it would be a couple extra hours for drivers every month where we would come together and talk about um safety. If there are accidents in the district, in the

081state, in the country, we would roundt them. What happened? What can we learn from that? Is there something that we should be doing differently in our district to help prevent those things? And then also being able to talk about what are the challenges here in the district so that they can communicate that with me and I can advocate with the Department of Transportation or the towns around issues we may have. Maybe it's um corners that are really difficult or places where people are speeding or passing the bus a lot. um it gives them a chance to compare notes and really identify what the biggest problems are so that then I can advocate on their behalf for changes um that we don't control but that we could advocate for. Uh you'll notice there's no salary uh

082we did get like we had additions in that everyone is getting their step and salary increases in that department. However, we have been I don't really want to say this out loud. We've been more staffed than we've been in a long time. universe, please don't kick me for saying that. Um, and so we haven't had when you have more staff able to take the roots, you don't have to pay as much overtime. Um, so as we're looking at our historic spending, we were able to reduce what we need for salary for next year, uh, because of our staffing level. And then some depp prioritized investments, um, anti-pinch door sensors. Um, we have not yet been able to figure out where you can get them. So, if they do become available, uh, we may come back

083in a future budget cycle to talk about them, but at this point, we can't get them. So, I'm I didn't include it in the proposal. Um, stop arm cameras, we are dep prioritizing. They are expensive, and we felt it from a safety perspective, the return on investment was better on the second two items. Uh, and those are bus stop arms, which are longer fiberglass arms that light up the whole length of them. Um, and we were able to use some of our FY26 funds to purchase those. So, we were able to take them out. And I heard today from two people uh who saw those buses on the road and how great and distinctive it was. So, I haven't had a chance to go over and see them myself yet, but I'm really excited that

084those are already on the road. And then the bus crossing arms, which are the bus the arms that come out of the front of the bus that have children uh cross further out so the driver can see them better, are included currently are currently included in the governor's supplemental budget. So we've taken it out of our budget as we believe we can um accomplish that without using local funds. So the increase to transportation is 5.74%. That is primarily benefits. Um and then you'll see that piece on debt which is for the um new vehicles that we are purchasing. Our contract services also are going up. Um we did our best job to predict that. I would say out of all the departments, this is the one I'm most worried about about how world events might

085impact what it is going to cost us next year. We've used our best crystal ball to see what might happen. Um so 5.74 is what we are um budgeting at this time. Article nine is our facilities management. Those are all our custodians, our maintenance staff as well as our um investment in our facilities. It also includes our utilities and any capital improvements that we would do. Um again, construct contractual salaries and benefits. Uh this is also where some added facility investments live. Uh we talked last year about establishing a long-term goal of investing 400 to 5,000 400 to $500,000 annually in facilities maintenance and upgrades and to move that strategically over time um using capital reserve to make up the difference. So in the current proposal we are recommending that we increase the local investment

086in our facilities by $50,000. that would bring the total investment to $250,000 and that is paired with some capital reserve recommendations that you will consider a little later in your agenda um to supplement that fund to that level that we talked about. Um this was discussed at length um in facilities meetings on March 11th and April 8th and if you're interested to learn more I suggest you look at the materials from those evenings article so article 9 facilities management it would be a 5.99% increase um with the con with the salaries and benefits you'll see the supplies equipment contract services and purchase services being the majority of that um as we look to invest a little bit more in our facilities maintenance and upgrades. Article 10 is debt service. Uh the addition for the coming

087school year would be the additional principal and interest payments that are coming due in the coming school year for the indoor air quality work that we did in four of our five schools. Uh depp prioritize investments. I am recommending to the board and the facilities committee um and and the finance committee have both been part of this discussion suggesting that we take $275,000 of those debt payments and we pay them using capital reserve funds. Um this allows a gradual impact of the B bond payments on our local expenses. it would be the same as last year. And so the total so the article 10 as well as the total request um for the budget includes 275,000 of payments that will be due from the district being paid out of capital reserve. This is new for

088the board since you last saw this. So in article 10, it is a sizable increase because of those payments being added when you look at it from the perspective of a percent. Uh but it was requested that folks see what the different bonds are and when their final year of payment is. So we have included that here for you. And you'll see in this list of debt uh the there are two different loans that we got for the indoor air quality work. And so it's the second one that's becoming that's coming due in the coming school year is why the increase um from last year from the current school year to next school year. So across all of the articles we are recommending a 36,988,442 budget, a 5.98% increase from the current school year. how

089that looks across the area. It is it's fairly close to what our neighbors are currently looking at. Um there are a few outliers. Uh RSU14 just built a middle school and their bills are coming due for that. I would say that their uh just right if you take out their debt payments, their increase to the local budget is very similar to ours. Um the the added is that debt payment. Um Lewon continues to stay at 11%. Um RSU 5 last I heard was still at 7%. So they're a little bit on the higher side. Uh keeping in mind that even these districts that have these very high increases also are eliminating many many positions. Uh the 11% increase in Lewis includes eliminating 30 positions uh 23 of which have people in them right now. Uh,

090so they are in a in a tough spot and I do not I do not envy them. Um, so as you can see like our 5.98 is fairly on par of what other schools are experiencing. Um, it it isn't a reason to approve or not to approve a budget, but I do like to use it as a as a guardrail to make sure that what we are experiencing in our district isn't completely different than uh what our area's school districts are and to make sure they haven't had great ideas that I missed out on. So um that is what the region looks like. In addition to our local budget, we have article 17 which lives outside of that number. Uh that is for adult education. We are recommending no additions or reductions. I will say

091it was $125,015 last year. I did round it to 100. So it is technically a $15 reduction, but it's because I I wanted to go with round numbers. Um, we originally had proposed reducing this number. For those of you that were part of those finance committee meetings or workshops, we were suggesting to reduce how much the local budget put into adult education. This because this was because ED279 adjustments took payments to adult education out of the ED279 formula. And so we were supposed to get a separate payment from the state that was more by quite a bit than any that we've ever gotten in ED279. However, since that time, uh there have been a couple other changes that impacted us pretty negatively. One is that the federal budget uh for adult education, the federal budget

092uh does not include any funding for adult education at this time. Uh so we got a pretty good chunk of funds from uh that that uh realm of funding. Uh it looks at this time like that we will not be receiving that funding. Additionally, the investment in workplace education uh funding has dropped quite a bit and the participation of companies in that uh has dropped. That has been a huge income opportunity for us that looks like is not going to be in the future. And then additionally, there were some changes. Uh there was a bill passed uh by the legislature this spring that won't impact our our funding for adult education through another stream this coming year, but it's going to have pretty big impacts the year after. So over a two-year period, we're looking

093at losing quite a bit of money of income that we traditionally have had for adult education. So my recommendation at this time is that we maintain we don't we don't add to but we maintain what we have invested in adult education. Um and we will be coming to you in the in the next school year as we learn more about these details of these funding streams to let you know what exactly we do get and are going to get for support and income for this program and how we may need may need to change what we do in adult education accordingly. Um so stay tuned a little bit. We think with a with a no change increase, we can continue to maintain our programming as is for with the income we know of for next

094year. Um, and then after that, we'll be talking with you all year next year. Whoops, wrong way. Sorry, first time I did that. Uh, so then article 18 uh is what will go in front of voters. Uh, but for you it is a separate agenda item tonight is expenditure of capital reserve. We have discussed this at the facilities committee on March 11th and April 8th as well as the finance committee on April 29th. You can find extensive documentation in all of those agendas. Again, if you're interested in the detail, I encourage you to go look at that. Uh we are recommending from the facilities and finance committee that the board and the community authorize expenditure of up to $700,000. That includes that investment in pro in local projects. Uh so we as we talked about

095before in facilities bringing it up to 250,000 in our regular budget and then using 200,000 of capital reserve to do some of that uh maintenance and upkeep in the district. We are suggesting 275,000 towards our debt payments and that then we include 225,000 for some of the planning work that we would need to do in order to make decisions to move forward with um capital planning projects. uh what would the board would a would authorize is 700,000 for a combination of those things. These numbers that I'm providing to you about what would be spent on what are estimations of what we're thinking but what the board authorizes is the full amount for all of these different things and we would have room to move it around to the different pieces should we get new information

096or there be slightly different needs as long as it falls into um capital projects and that ongoing architectural and engineering studies. we would have some flexibility to do that. We would clearly do that with full disclosure to the facilities committee and the board. Um but just to be clear, that's an estimation of what we think we would do with it. Um but as more information was available, we would check and adjust if necessary. This is not in article 18, but it is related to this proposal. You will find in your agenda later on that we are further recommending that the board vote to transfer $250,000 from the fund balance into the capital reserve. So you'll see two agenda items. One would be to authorize the expenditure of 700,000 out of the capital reserve and the

097other is that we transfer 250,000 into the capital reserve. A question that uh was brought up at finance committee was asking for just kind of a little bit more information about where we are with our unassigned fund balance and capital reserve to inform these decisions for you. Oh, there we go. Okay. Uh so our unassigned fund balance, those are the funds that remain for our general purpose. uh they serve as our operating funds for our district in the event of an emergency and the amount is limited to 9% by state statute. So I do need to own that these are very draft figures. We are still waiting on our final audit for FY25. So that balance for the end of FY25 is an unodudited balance. Um and then there are a bunch of pieces with

098our income and expenses that impact that number that we haven't included here. This is just to give you a bigger idea of of where we are with this fund. So, uh we are looking at the 1.5 million is what we had in carryover at the end of FY25 that would have been added to that unassigned fund balance. The last year the board approved using 1.25 of that uh it got transferred to the assigned fund balance to use for revenue for the current school year's budget. We are proposing that you reduce it by an additional 250,000 uh to go into the capital reserve. At this point, we are predicting we would have just under 1.4 remaining at the end of the school year. And then we are proposing that the board support using 1.25 25 million

099of the carryover or of of this unassigned fund balance for revenue for the FY27 school year. So if all of these things were to happen, the predicted balance uh at the end of FY26 would be uh just under 3 million, which does put us under that 9% limit for the state. Uh of further note uh the transfer to capital reserve from unassigned balance is a board decision. So if later in the year as numbers became more uh specific. If the board would want to make further moves in that way, they could do that later. A lot of this other stuff does have to be approved by voters. For example, the expenditure of capital reserve has to be approved by voters. But the movement of funds from the unassigned fund balance to assigned fund balance is

100the authority of the board and they can choose to exercise that authority throughout the school year uh if they see appropriate. So then the capital reserve and what we're saying is as of April 30, 2026 give or take again we have the FY25 unudited balance of 2.3 million. Uh the board and the voters allocated 800,000 of capital reserve to use for projects in the current school year and we predict that we will use all of those funds. We are proposing as before that $250,000 come in from the unassigned fund balance. Uh which means at the end of FY26 we would have 1,786,213 available. We are then proposing that we would use uh 700,000 in the coming year as discussed which would bring the um balance of the capital reserve to just over a million dollars.

101Moving into the revenue side, there's the the fund balance is a nice transition. It's a little expense, it's a little revenue, but now we're going to talk uh full revenue. Uh so you'll see here the proposed expenses at the top. Uh the proposed general fund of just under 37 million with the 125,000 from adult education makes the total funds that we need to raise be 37,113,442. Our estimated revenue from the ED279 is 12,441,864. That's up just under $200,000. We are recommending that the board use 1.25 million of carryover for revenue for the coming school year. We are predicting uh that we'll have about 561,78 in miscellaneous revenue. So that's things like um students who uh choose to come to great new students who live in Raymond who choose to come to Grey New Glouster High

102School. Uh RSU 14 pays us for that. Um so we're finding those numbers are a little bit higher right now. Uh so we're predicting that it'll be closer to 561,000 562,000 next year. So based on those three revenue sources, the local contribution including adult education uh that would need to be raised would be 22,849,870. We're going to talk about the tax impacts, but I would like to draw your attention first to the star. Uh we have been in touch with both towns a couple of times. They have told us this number will change. Unfortunately, we as a school don't control this and to a degree the towns don't either. Um valuation is what impacts the actual tax impact quite a bit. Um and both towns have told us that the tax that the valuation that

103they shared with us to calculate this number is not the one that will be used to calculate taxes when it comes time for tax bills. So, we're providing this information to you with the best information that we have right now. We need you to know it's going to change. Um, this is our best uh estimation. What we found last year uh is that we predicted um higher impacts on gray and the actual and then when we were looking at the actual tax bills, we actually found that that wasn't how it worked out. Um again, we had we made the best calculations with the information we had at the time. Um it's not how it ended up playing out when tax bill season came. So I'm sharing this with you, but I need you to know

104it's not our data and this data changes and we don't control that. So that local contribution of 22,849,870 uh per our charter splits 66.93% to Gray and 33.07% to New Gloucester. uh we have calculated the impact on the average increase per $100,000 of valuation in Gray and per $100,000 valuation in New Gloucester. Uh in the past we have given the data on an average home and that was really difficult for people to understand. It's something you then have to go look up. It's a little more enigmatic. We felt like per $100,000 of value was a little more um of a comparative to help people understand and to be able to use that to figure out how it impacts them personally. So, moving into our next steps, um board action tonight, the board votes on the

105budget total. Uh we also are looking for votes on transferring our unassigned fund balance to capital reserve and voting on use of capital reserve. Uh that vote of the school budget is voting to send it to voters at the district budget meeting. That's also true of the capital reserve. you're voting to send it to the voters. We then will have our district budget meeting that I'll say again is here at register 5:30 starts at 6, take care provided and then our budget referendum voting on June 9th. >> And that's me. >> Thank you. That was uh quite the lift. Take a breath. Take a drink. >> Oh yeah. Thank you. Um, so we are technically in discussion on a motion that's on the table. Um, Sam, as the chair of finance, I would throw the

106first bite at that to you in case you had any uh wisdom or thoughts you wanted to. >> I'm sorry. Um, so one thing I think Chandanda mentioned it, um, but you heard over and over again that one of the increases in each article was the salaries and benefit increase. Part of that benefit increase is also the paid family medical leave act which actually adds like I think three quarters of a percent of everybody's uh salary versus last year I think we kicked in like you know it's not exactly the whole 1% but you know because we kicked in some last year but that will not repeat so that's at least one growth area that won't sort of build on each other build on itself each year um so when you take that into consideration

107you you know, it's really this is really just uh basically a cola for the district. There there isn't a lot of investment. It's one of the things that it starts to get concerning because you know we do need to make investments. Um uh I don't know how we're going to avoid that, but um I do think it's possible in the future we can create some efficiencies with um some facility consolidation or whatever, but that's not going to happen anytime in the short term. So I think you know this is what we should expect when you look at inflation and any other factor to be under you know under 5% essentially you know when you consider the debt payments seems pretty responsible um I have some thoughts on the transfer from the um unassigned balance but

108I think we can do that when we consider that item. >> Thank you Sam. Uh, anyone else? Miss D, >> I think for the presentation next week, I this is awesome and I know so much work. We've been we've been putting so much time into this this budget. Um, and thank you to the administration for their efforts as well getting the numbers to where they are at. Um, I think next when we give the presentation to the public, it's really important to to note Sam's point about the increase in family medical leave, but also that we've chosen as a board to roll in some of our bond payments into that that we weren't supposed to do. I think that that's a really huge note to give them. Um, that if we hadn't chose to do

109that, this is what it would have been. I think it's just important to note that we that we have done that um and share that information with them as a reminder. Thank you. others grant >> on the um EDU79 um you know we did a local share increase and uh so I'm wondering is this because the U property values are growing in uh faster than in the state average and I look at this tax impact screen and uh the increase on a $100,000 home in gray 5734 and in the gloss it's 8259. So if my first question is yes, the answer to my first question is yes. Uh is it because the glosses average is growing and um value I mean um I'm not sure. >> So ED how valuation impacts ED279 is is the

110other way. As your valuation goes up the state gives you less. So our increase is actually due more to the the number of kids we have on top of the needs of the children. So you get multipliers for different things. We've also worked really hard to make sure that those numbers are as accurate as possible um more so than any year in the past. Making sure that every child who qualifies for um low income is identified in in the system. Making sure that every child that qualifies for ELLL services is in the system. every every foster care child, every uh homeless child that really working extra hard to make sure that it's making it all the way through to where they calculate the ET279. So, I would credit our increase in ED279 funding to that

111because what the what the state does in that formula to decide how much you get is the more valuation you have, the less you get in money. So any changes to valuation um unless unless it was going to decrease in value is not going to increase your ED279. It's going to be because of the needs of your kids or your or the number of your kids. >> So why would the average increase in the gloss at home um >> why is it more than in gray? So, this is something we haven't been able to well illustrate in the past is that the so Gray has the the bigger percentage of the bill, but what you have to remember is Gray has more property to spread that bill out over. So, New Glouster has fewer homes

112and fewer businesses. Um, so at the end of the day, my portion of the 33% might still be more than your portion of the 66%. And we haven't found a great way to illustrate the reality of that in the past. Um, so we're hoping this makes sense to folks. Also, uh, when you're doing the math, remember that the, um, value of the home, they're not talking about the value of your home on Zillow. They're talking about the value of your home on your tax bill per your town. Um, and there's always been a discrepancy between that and greater new Gloucester. Uh, so folks should be looking on their tax bill to do this math, not real estate markets. >> Sam, did you have something? >> I was just going to put a point on the

1138279 increase. That increase is only 1.5% which doesn't even keep up with inflation. So partly it's just the legislature does have a step increase uh in in each year of the two-year budget. So that's them giving us more on some level, but it does not keep up with the pace of cost growing. So >> yes, thank you for that. Anything else? >> Regional data on that slide. Um I I uh we um when last year when we were looking at this and now this year too uh we're doing this comparison but we take um over tax money I guess and um use it to offset the budget and I'm hearing that it's not a popular thing in a lot of districts. Some districts do do it including us but um So when we're doing a

114comparison, uh, are these all these schools having doing the same thing we're doing >> to lower that that percentage? >> I think it's a great question, Brian, and and a little hard to quantify. So there are a couple of things that people do with budgets that every school does differently. Uh, so there are some school districts that will reduce their next year increase by using current year unspent funds to buy things for the next year. So, um, if we were to do that, an example would be we would look at unspent funds for next year and we would say, okay, let's buy, you know, technically those science supplies are for next year, but let's use this year's money to buy them and and then reduce the increase that we're asking for from the community. Some

115districts choose to do that. Some districts you choose to use some amount of the unspent money from previous years to reduce the revenue that they're asking for from total from other taxpayers. So there are a lot of different strategies that all these districts use. Um some of them do both, some of them do all of the above. So um I think it would take quite a while to dig out which districts use which strategies to get their percent increase number down. um if that is something that is going to help the board make that decision, then we could spend the time to do that for you. >> So, I was just doing that me, you know, um I woke up one day and I says, "Wait a minute, you know, uh this is what we're

116doing." And I I hear like I say uh so um so this regional data thing doesn't really uh help too much because of the different methods everybody uses. If it was everybody using the same method, it would be an excellent uh comparison. But so I'm not sure how much weight this is for making this for this decision making. And uh I don't know how well better to um do that information. Obviously, I'm not in the business to do that. Um but um this is just something that I think we have to think about as a board, other comments, questions. All right, we have a motion on the table. So, seeing no further discussion, all in favor? Opposed? You got us, Maggie. All right. Fantastic. So, that will we will move that um budget proposal forward

117for public ratification. I would next hear a motion to approve transferring $250,000 from unassigned fund balance into capital reserve. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Okay. And we do have some >> I'd like to offer an amendment to the motion. >> Oh, exciting. >> I would like to change the number. I move that we change the number from 250,000 to 500,000 given the data that we were just presented about the unassigned fund balance. >> I didn't hear the bottom of what you said. I heard 500. I didn't hear anything after that. >> Uh given the presentation of numbers that we got on the size of the unassigned balance, I move that we transfer $500,000 from the unassigned fund balance into the capital reserve. Okay. >> All right. So, discussion on the amendment. Sam, would you

118like to speak to your amendment? >> Yeah. So, uh, you know, obviously that's a best guess number. You know, we haven't seen it till now. Yeah. If you want to go back to that slide. Um >> so you know I think we've heard a lot of talk and I have expressed the opinion that I think we should draw down the unassigned balance a little bit. Uh with our current plan the unassigned balance would actually increase a little bit. Um 9% is the legal limit but that's a sort of relatively new development. Um, you know, traditionally we have, you know, been as low as 2 or 3%. I'm not recommending that. Um, I don't know what the exact right number is, but I think, you know, uh, I don't necessarily want to be like dancing with

119the legal limit. Um, so I'm not saying that we should just spend it, but I think if we transfer it into our capital reserve, um, you know, it's prudent planning for the future helps us, uh, put yet more money away for whatever we do with our capital improvement plan that we just spent a whole bunch of time on. Um, and I think just shows to the taxpayers that we've heard them, that they want us to tell them what we're doing with their money. And I think uh you know because our capital reserve goes down to just a million dollars which is the lowest it's been in a while too. We've spent 1.5 million of it in the last two years if this goes through. So just um seems like we have the money. I I

120think we can do 500 instead of 250. >> Additional discussion. >> Teresa. So if we do that, where do we take the 250,000? Does something have to shift? >> We would take So right from here, right here. So see line four where it says 250, we that would change to 500. >> Okay. >> And then the number at the bottom >> would be 250,000 less give or take. >> Okay. >> And then the or whatever you know within the error bars of that. And then our capital reserve what on that next slide instead of finishing out the year with 1086 we would finish out the year with >> 10336 or whatever that is. I would say that I am glad to see us spending on facilities, but I was also a little chilled to see

121this come up and say, "Oh, we're pretty much going to have reduced by half our capital fund." Um, and what if we do have an emergency or we do want to continue to make improvements? Um, did I see Fran's hand and then Adam's or was that not? Um uh my thought is the um we're taking out 800,000. I thought it was 700,000. >> It was 800 studies and all that stuff out of the capital reserve, right? >> It was 800,000 in FY26. We're proposing 700,000 for FY27. >> All right, I'm catching up. All right. So, the 700,000 um and which is in capital reserves, but you know what? It it's not paying for capital stuff in a sense. It's paying for $250,000 of a study. Um, so you know, maybe the body belongs where it

122is right now and because if it gets in and increases this capital reserve, that just spends money on um uh not on um what I consider capital stuff like repairs and you know things that are large in nature. So um I don't like transferring um uh that money for that reason. It's not it's it's not going to capital stuff and and against that 250 I'm going to be talking about that later on but the 250,000 for study we that's how we studied this district to death it seems I mean it's my opinion because we just got through spending a whole bunch of money for this last project you know so anyway um when I go Babylon the 700,000 um uh drew my attention to you know non capital itms So, I don't agree with S's

123proposal. Well, I have a right to vote anyway. >> Adam, >> um I more of a I guess history lesson. Do we did we as a district ever did we have like a precedent on funding the capital reserve >> as like a consistent increase or consistent deposit. It looks fairly volatile over and I'm sure esser and co wrecked it but um and should we >> this is probably not a this year thing should we have some type of mechanism that if we come in with 5% left over on top of our uh predetermined unallocated you know whatever of 125 we come in at one Should the excess whatever go to capital reserve or should we come up with a consistent way of replenishing the capital reserve or has that ever been a thing? >> Um

124we have not traditionally had a consistent way of doing it. Um in general we've been opportunistic with it. Um, for instance, there was one time Gary will remember where like they just kicked in a whole bunch of money into the ED279 at the very last second and they said, you know, hey, here's I can't remember what it was. I think million dollars or something. We had already approved the budget >> and we decided to give half of it to the taxpayers and 500,000 went into our capital reserve. Um, you know, there's been a couple other similar occasions where, um, we've had, you know, enough roll over that we have rolled over like 1.25, uh, as revenue and then kept 250 or 500 sort of similar to what we're doing here. Um, we were very low

125in our capital reserve prior to the most recent uh bond effort and one of our previous CFOs uh sort of big guidance you've heard me talk about before is we did u systematically kick in about 250 a year. I think it was 500 and then 250 um coming out of the pandemic because we knew we had those federal funds to leverage and we set some aside thinking that we were going to do this bond project. We probably need some funds for ameliorating u bond payments just the way we actually have done it. Um so generally we have not had like a systematic kick in 100,000 or 150 or 200 per year type of thing. Um we have sort of served whatever strategic plan we were working under and tried to you know kind of stash

126for specific uh needs and desires. Uh it you know the big thing for me is seeing it at a only at a million dollars. You know that's the lowest it's been in a while and it just feels like we're stripping ourselves of some flexibility potentially. >> Jim and then Gary. >> Yeah. I have a question uh for Sam just I understand in this uh table here the second to last line the uh 1.25 uh for of the transfer of unassigned funds to the to to the FY27 revenue that remains unchanged. Correct. >> Right. Yeah. That's still the same rollover. Yeah. >> Yeah. So, we're just taking money basically that's uh unsigned that's built up over the years through, you know, positions that weren't filled and it's basically just sitting there in a kitty and we're

127saying we want to put a little bit more towards payment of towards a capital potential capital projects. >> Yeah. >> Which also includes planning. You got to plan something, you know, which you know, I used to that's how I made my living for 35 years. >> Y that's that's what I'm suggesting. Yes. >> Okay. All right. Thank you, >> Gary. >> Uh to Adam's point and Sam's response, uh traditionally going back a good ways, we always underfunded Capital Reserve. Um we had lots of discussions years ago about funding it better and didn't um we were able to maintain our buildings and get by somehow without it. And we were forever being criticized by our auditors at the end of the year that we were not putting enough we were not carrying enough debt and we

128were not keeping enough in capital reserve um by their estimations. Uh so in recent years probably starting like Sam said probably the year before pandemic kind of uh we started being far more aggressive with it and I as as weak as it feels at 150 or 250,000 a year going into that it's way more aggressive than we were 15 years ago. So um my and separate from that my thought is also on Sam's proposal is that by doing that it still keeps our predicted FY26 balance and almost what we started even though we invest that extra well or save that extra in the capital reserve and the projects we had proposed for the bond again to remind people haven't gone away. all those needs haven't gone away and if we have a chance to put

129a little bit more in the capital reserve towards the eventual accomplishment of that without going to bond because we still need to do it as a district uh I just think is it's good stewardship of the money >> I agree with all all the comments I'm not disagreeing with increase in the capital reserve account you know or capital items But when we ask the taxpayers to go 250, that's not a capital item. That's leaves a temptation, I think, to do other kinds of things like that. I want capital reserve used just for capital items. And um >> can we have that? >> Is that illegal? Take out them to take it out of >> order, >> but it is >> point of order. >> Yeah. So the the motion on the table is to add

130>> right >> to amend to the capital reserve fund. So we're not debating whether or not we're using it appropriately, but do we want to increase that? >> Okay. >> But amounts. >> So anything further on on the on the amendment? So we have an amendment on the table. Okay. So, all in favor of the amendment to change that amount to $500,000 opposed. Mag, you got us. Okay. So, now our current motion is to approve transferring $500,000 from unassigned fund balance into capital reserve. Further discussion? All in favor? post. Okay. Great. So, is that going to change any of the other things we're about to say? Shouldn't. Shouldn't. Okay. Carrying on. >> Well, we should probably get into discussion and then I can tell you what it changes. >> Okay. The motion the motions ahead

131still work, right? >> Okay. So, I'd hear a motion to approve including in warrant article >> 18 the expenditure of up to $700,000 from the existing capital reserve funds to pay the cost of capital projects, air quality bond payments, and ongoing architectural and engineering studies. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Great. And we have some supporting documentation on this. Yeah. So, uh we I included um handouts from the uh facilities committee to the finance committee about our proposals around capital reserve. Um and again, it was discussed at length at facilities over a couple of meetings. So, if you've been following those minutes and reports from um Adam, then you are hopefully well informed. Um and it inform and it will be um will be informed by any decisions made as you guys move forward with

132the strategic investment plan. Um so in the slide that we shared of the capital reserve earlier, how you would see this change um is that that proposed transfer from unassigned fund balance would now be 500,000. Um, so then if you were to approve everything that you see there with that new number, I'm going to roll on the fly and give you actual figures. Um, the balance at the end. Nope. This is why I shouldn't do figures on the fly. Um, would be making sure I did it right. I don't like to say numbers out loud without making sure I did it right. Uh would be 1,336,213. >> Okay. Uh >> I got a second from my finance director, so we're we're good. Um that would so if if you if you approve the expenditure of

133the 700,000 um following that transfer, the balance at the end of next year would be about 1.3 million. >> Okay, great. Uh similarly before we go around the table, Adam, facilities chair, would you like to speak to this motion? >> I mean, we pretty much have covered it. >> Great. I >> I have one question. If uh if something does happen and we are and our unassigned balance, you know, is is uh is lacking, do we have a kind of a clawback mechanism if we needed to to pull back that, you know, 25,000 $250,000 that we just added? I mean, is there a is there I assume there's some meth that we have some kind of a mechanism to say, oops, uh maybe we didn't need to do maybe we should have stayed with $2500,000

134$250,000. Do we have some kind of a clawback mechanism to move it back from capital reserve back into unassigned? >> No, >> we don't. >> No. I mean, what you would have to do is vote to spend the money out of the capital reserve on some sort of capital items that we have not spent out of our budget yet and then not spend from the facilities article. So, which would keep it in the unassigned fund. Okay. >> Which you could do, we could call a special we could call a special town meeting to spend that 250,000 out of capital and that would effectively come back into us. >> All right. Thanks. Any uh anyone else on the um details provided for the proposed $700,000 for capital >> just speaking to the spend on uh planning,

135engineering, studying, whatever that happens to be. Um just historically there has always been some sort of planning and engineering spend in any sort of construction project that the district has been a part of. Um, you know, I think we've heard uh from the taxpayers on a number of occasions that they would like to see plans before they hear recommendations and like to hear like to see the research. I was at the Glouester town meeting the other day and there was many many many demands for research. Uh people are going to want to have answers about the status of our roof and the status of our land and how many acres do we have at the Dun School. All that stuff we need to be rock solid on before we go out and ask taxpayers for

136their thoughts because their first question is going to be well what about the boiler at the middle school? And this is going to make sure that we have all of those answers on lock. I think we need a foundation of knowledge before we move forward again. And I think it's a it's a good and appropriate spend out of our capital reserve. >> It's not unusual for a 10% of any capital project to be part the uh design fees to be in in line with about 10% of the construction fees. So that's it's it's just a it's a fact of life. And I believe some of the discussion in even estimating that was to not under, you know, to to not throw out a number that was ultimately going to be too small and that the

137the thinking is this was actually fairly conservative on the on the high end to make, you know, to make sure that we have what we need and um are not failing to do the work. So >> on the um on the um bond uh 275 for the debt. Um it would be lovely if we use that 275 to decrease the principal on instead of taking you know um money out of the leftover money and using it uh as a check against the um payment. So We're not decreasing the principal. We're just, you know, um taking the money out of one pocket and also another pocket and putting it together to pay the payment. >> Right. >> I'm not sure I understand. Sam, do you understand? >> We are in fact reducing the principal with the

138$275,000 that we're using out of capital reserve. >> You're decreasing it. we are paying down the principle of our >> that's your payment. It's not like an extra payment. When people take home equities, they'll they'll take out uh um they'll try to get rid of sooner than later and so they make double payments, so to speak. So, that's not like that at all, which I understand it isn't, >> but it would be nice if we could pay down that debt sooner than >> That actually was a question I was going to ask David is, are there penalties for paying off uh the bond payments early? >> Could we have that number when we talk about this at a town meeting? because I remember I think that's the case because of the way the bonds issuance

139is structured but we should >> there's two bonds there's the >> correct >> so and one of those is a zero% >> right >> loan so >> so you don't want to pay that down >> so yeah um yeah but how what would happen if we paid off the one with interest early David um I feel like I remember that information being provided to us at the time, but I'm not confident to speak to it. I I feel like there wasn't, but I don't >> want to make sure. >> We should make sure. >> Absolutely. >> Yep. >> Okay. Um other thoughts? All right. And also um just a piece on the planning part and that those dollars um also could be part of the community engagement activities which um you know are not free.

140So all right let's uh all in favor okay opposed. All right motion passes. Okay, now we are getting into the uh action part of our agenda with some very picky language. Thank you to Maggie for to providing. So, first I would hear a motion um to have closed articles. >> Right. Did I skip >> the language? The language is right there. >> Oh, sorry. Sorry. I'm like there should be more. I would hear a motion to require the budget articles for the district budget meeting be written in a closed format. Articles can be amended down but cannot be amended up. >> So moved. >> Second. >> I thank you for the I thank you for the I thanked you for the language and then didn't use it. Maggie. Um any discussion on the having closed?

141All right. Sam, >> um, we have traditionally always had closed articles. Um, and I think there are good reasons for doing that. We've been, it's a, you know, safe option. Um, you know, especially when you consider the attendance at some of our town meetings and the age of the seniors in our school. I've often told the seniors in our school that they should, you know, all show up on MOSS and they could pass any budget they wanted to because especially when sometimes we were patching, we passed a $31 million budget one time with 28 people. Um but uh with the increased scrutiny that our budget has had recently, the larger crowds that we've had in attendance and uh the sort of I don't know maybe shifting attitudes, you know, we had a budget voted down

142for the first time in 20 years. Um especially after uh witnessing the new Gloucester town meeting the other day where every article uh is open. Um, I actually am going to vote against to this potion. I think, uh, I'm leaning towards, uh, open articles. Um, and, uh, I think it's an even larger community discussion. If the community votes to spend more money on education, uh, who am I to stop them, >> right? Discussion anymore? Anybody? Oh, sorry. Hi, friend. The district sent me to a seminar um in Augusta um regarding this issue and u the lawyer who presented the case had said that um uh it can turn into quite um uh quagmire I have an um open um and he said that all most all the districts are having the clo has to close

143because of that reason and um um to want to do that would I wonder what the motive would be. The fact that people come into a meeting to vote on their school budget and more more people I think we should all be excited and and glad that they're being part of the process however it turns out. So to try to discourage yet another um way of keeping them away I think um that uh because it now will become like we use the word zoo because you know I remember way back when when when that was like that um I I um I I think it would be a a crime. You shouldn't be punishing the people coming out and that's what I would call punishment. And I know what you're saying that, you know, if

144they want to spend more money, um, that they should have the opportunity to be able to do that, but that's not the way it's written up. And, you know, but anyway, that's where I'm coming from. >> Uh, I am quite certain that the lawyers who are paid to protect the interests of the school board uh would prefer that the articles be closed. I have no doubt about that. Um and uh the idea that it would be punishment to provide more rights and powers to the people of our district is a wild assertion. >> Who would upset them? That's the reason. >> Well, if the idea is to invite more participation and give people more options, then the open articles would be the very definition of that. Um so Sam, you're not proposing an amendment to

145the motion. >> I'm just saying I'm going to vote no. Anyone else want to weigh in? All right. So, the motion on the table is with the traditional closed articles. Seeing no further discussion. All in favor? You got us? Opposed? All right. Tradition carries. Next up, a warrant for the budget meeting. I would hear a motion that the warrant for the main school administrative district 15, the district budget meeting be approved and that a district budget meeting be called for May 21st, 2026 for the purpose of voting on the annual budget for the district for the 2026 2027 fiscal year. >> So moved. >> Second. All right. We don't have any. Wait, we do have a thing for this. >> The actual the actual warrant was included in your packet. >> Do you want us

146to sign? Okay. So, just sorry clarification for Mag for Maggie. Maggie, do you want to do these as we vote on them or do you want to have us do all the >> Okay. Okay. >> Do all the votes and then have them sign before we move to the next section. >> Okay. All right. Any discussion? Right. All in favor? Opposed? Great. We'll sign those in a minute. I would hear a motion that the warrant and notice of election for the district budget validation referendum be approved and a district budget validation referendum be called for June 10th, 2025 for the purpose of approving the budget adopted at the district budget meeting for the 2026 2027 fiscal year. >> Uh is it June 11th, right? >> No, it's June 9th. >> June 9th. >> The date

147is wrong. >> Hang on. Scratch that. It's last year's date. >> So, let's We did not Did we get a mo did? >> Okay, great. Then, >> so, uh, I'd hear a motion that the warrant and notice of election for the district budget validation referendum be approved and the district budget validation referendum be called for June 10th, 2025 for the per sorry, June 9th, >> June 9th, 2020. >> I just went and read it again. June 9th, 2026 for the purpose of approving the budget adopted at the district budget meeting for the 2026 2027 fiscal year. >> So moved. >> Second discussion. Seeing none, all in favor? Wonderful. It' be nice if we had the same voting day as the towns. I'm sure they'd appreciate that. Um, I would hear a motion that the notice

148of amounts adopted at budget meeting be approved and the superintendent of schools of the district be authorized and directed to complete said notice in accordance with the district budget meeting on May 21st, 2026 and to cause copies of said notice as completed to be delivered to the municipal clerks of each municipality of the district for posting at the polling places for the June 9th, 2026 district budget validation. referendum. >> So moved. >> Second discussion. >> All in favor? >> Wait a minute. >> Then you're reading number four, right? >> Yes. >> No, that's what I thought you just read. But in accordance with the district budget being on um 26, >> 21st. >> No, May 21st. 26. >> 26. That's this year. >> Oh, okay. >> We were talking about this thing on page six.

149I had the wrong date. Oh, okay. All right. Yeah, because I it never mind. >> The other page had the 26 as well. All right. >> All right. >> Almost. Thanks. >> Okay. All in favor. >> Wonderful. Okay. So, let's take a little time out here and sign. Why we're captive audience? Follow Maggie's instructions, please. They're very specific. >> Um, >> the pen thing. >> Oh, really? turns out is a fable. >> I have four documents. He can see me right now. Thank you. Oh, >> did you welcome We're gonna sign again. >> I signed four. >> No, but this Hunter saves it. >> Thank you, Hunter. is curriculum committee. Uh Gary was not there. Hunter filled in. Hunter, what do you think? Tell us about it. It's your big moment. I don't know where

150I put my notes, but >> we covered our ATSI plans and had uh each principal from the three schools that were involved come and sort of speak on on those plans and kind of where they were at and sort of um kind of gave us a brief description of each one of their plans, I guess. Sort of. Um, and then we covered, I believe, help me out. I I don't have it in front of me because I put it away. Uh, the funding for >> ESDA title. >> Yes. Yes. And there were no changes. So, um, I would say guide any questions to Kathy if you do have any of those when you're looking at them. Um, but there were no changes from from last year. Uh, and then we kind of did a really

151quick review of our year, what what we thought we did a great job in this year, um, what we'd like to see us focus on or see curriculum focus on next year. Um, and sort of had a thoughtful discussion around that. And I think everyone was kind of on the same page about what we thought went well this year and what we'd like to see next year. That's pretty much it. >> All right. Great job. and that will be um part of our next month's agenda to talk about those reports. So, any questions for Hunter? Good job, Hunter. All right. Uh personnel. >> So, we met up April 8th at Dun School and we had three executive sessions during that. So, nothing to report out. >> That's right. Thank you, Lauren. Facilities. >> So, we've

152covered most of most of the um large agenda items that we had covered. Um a majority of the meeting was around our capital improvement plan, capital reserve, and our school security plans. That last part was in executive session. So, won't report on it, but we're going to go over that in a little while. Um, we did go over some upcoming and in progress projects. Uh, so some of the big ones that I guess we had talked at length about obviously uh was our air quality project which was officially done. Um, we kind of did a little bit of a wrap up there in committee. We had t tasked admin with writing like a post project reflection on the whole process uh outlining our district experience as like as a customer. Um what worked well, what

153maybe to avoid for like our future selves. Uh should we handle another bond project? Um another big one is the bus lift. Uh some of the upcoming projects to keep an eye out for. Um we're going to reface some of our outside building. Uh, a lot of our facilities tours had highlighted those as needing some love. Uh, we're recycling uh replacing the cycllorama uh right behind us. Uh, snack shack will be a big project. Um, multiple sports fields upgrades and work. Uh, new scoreboard at the high school and our bathroom, our outdoor bathroom is inbound. Um, that was pretty much it. questions for facilities. Brand, >> I I I think I brought it up uh not too long ago about um the handicap button at the front of the door here that's not working. Has

154anyone thought about taking care of that? Seems like that would be on the priority list. You know, that automatically opens the door. >> Uh that is uh probably not the kind of thing that makes it to the facility committee level, but I will take a note and follow up. Usually we have a list of those things and they're in progress at all times. So I can look into that further. >> Okay. >> Yep. You're right. That would be something very important to get fixed. >> Yeah. >> All right. Thank you, Fran. Uh anybody else? >> Okay. Policy. um policy met on April 15th and uh we basically covered um what we covered um already. Um there were eight policies that we did review but made no changes to. Um seeing as how it's almost nine

155o'clock, I'm thinking nobody wants me to sit here and list them off. So, but they are in the packet. >> All right. Any specific questions for policy? Thank you, Sharon. In finance committee, Sam, did we leave any stones unturned? >> Nope. Um, and uh, also we did get our normal reports on uh, spending and revenue and everything is in line with where you would expect it. >> Great. Questions for Sam? All right. Um, so that brings it to me. I have just a reminder um for all of our committee committees to do the that end of year reflection process in your uh in time in your May in your May meeting. So um there is a link I think chairs have already received this document. There's a link to it here as well. was used

156tonight in curriculum. I think pretty easily. Um it was a pretty quick and effective way to kind of highlight some things. Um so please make sure that that's on your May agenda. Um and otherwise I think that's it. I'm looking at you like you would know what I was wanted to tell folks. Um please do get back to um the school, the high school if you are able. um to attend graduation. I know it is a Thursday night um which is not always working for folks at the end of the business day, but if you can get there, it this is where we celebrate the whole point of um what we're doing here as a school board. And uh the board is usually given assigned seats. So knowing that you're coming and if you're bringing

157anyone in a timely fashion is important because they are going to be doing those um layouts. So, um that is it for me. All right, superintendence report. Uh we have a number of new hires. Uh Barbara Nichols is uh come on board as our permanent sub at the middle school. Some of you may recall she is a retired Green New Glasser Middle School teacher who's been subbing regularly for us and couldn't get enough. So now she's with us every day and we're thrilled. Uh Cassandra Kaval Cavalaro has come on as our second shift custodian at Russell School. And then Briana Donano Duran is uh the person that we have selected to be the early childhood special education coordinator. We've talked about that position at length. The board approved that position earlier this year. Uh that

158will be starting for the 2627 school year. Uh resignations. We have a number of uh teachers who have given their notice that they will not be coming back to us next school year. Uh, so these are folks who are teaching the rest of the school year but won't be back next school year. That includes Rachel Burns who at the high school, Jordan Colbear at Memorial School, and Christopher Te's here at the high school. Uh, we also have Ronda Lamar, food service assistant high school, who has resigned. We don't have any transfers to report this month. And then, uh, we have a retirement to announce. Lisa Knightly uh who was a longtime teacher in the district uh who transferred to be an edtech uh the last couple of years is going to retire. Uh that is

159effective the end of the year and we will get to celebrate her at our next board meeting along with others. My other update is about the cost sharing committee. Since the last time I updated all of you, uh I have been emailing the board of uh education through January, February, March, and April, uh every 14 days saying, "Hey, got an update for me?" Uh and they would come back saying, "No, I don't." Uh however, so I haven't provided you that update because it's just not exciting. Um however, on April 22nd, so uh on Thursday of vacation week, uh the main department of education released a new list of facilitators. There are three individuals on that list and that list is posted on the website if people are interested. Uh on April 27th, I contacted all

160three individuals on those list and began vetting the vetting process to select a facilitator. I have received initial responses from all three candidates. They weren't a no right from the start. So that's fantastic. They have asked for some time to put together some information for me to consider in selecting them. So, I'm giving them a little time to do that before we move through the finalization of the selection process. And that's my update. >> Wonderful. Well, I am excited that the state list has gone from zero to three. And I feel free for us to take some credit for that. So hopefully that helps out other districts in doing the same work. Missy, >> just a quick question for Chanda. Um I assume I think this is a yes, but I don't want to assume.

161Do do you do exit interviews for those that are just leaving end of year, not retiring? I assume >> we do. We do offer exit interviews. Some take us up on it, some don't. Our HR um specialist, do I have the right Allison Dutton um conducts those for the whole district. >> You're not required. >> We don't require them to go. It's hard to require an exiting employee to do things, >> but you kind of know. I mean, >> but we pretty strongly recommend know why they're why they're department. >> Usually we do. Yeah. >> Okay. I will tell you for everyone on this list I could tell you why and for a lot of them it's really exciting and great reasons. >> Um any other questions? I had one and I lost it. Um

162all right well thank you for that update. Um we are now we have actually two executive sessions. Um just before I take a motion on one, I want to walk through the plan. Um the so the first executive session, I think it will probably make sense for us to um pause the feed. Uh stay in this room with the folks we invite in and ask other folks to leave. We will then come back to take action. um the second executive session we will not come back from following and there is not action to follow. Um so my suggestion is that the board will move to the library for the second executive session allowing um district employees to um get the setup out of here and get home um rather than waiting for us. So that

163is the plan. All right. So, first I would hear a motion to enter into executive session pursuant to one MRSA subsection 4056F to discuss safety plans with action to follow and include in that invitation uh Satie, Kathy, and Chando. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? Great. So, um, All right, everybody. We are back uh live in the meeting. So, we I would hear a motion to approve the district proposed safety plan. Second >> discussion. All in favor? >> Opposed? Great. Thank you for that. And we are going to turn around immediately. I would hear a motion to enter into executive session pursuant to 1 MRSA 4056A to discuss superintendent evaluation. >> So moved. >> All in favor? Great.