001Good evening. Welcome to our April school board business meeting. I'm going to call the meeting to order. I think we have a full house of board members tonight. Wonderful. >> Misty almost. Um >> I have not heard from Misty, so we will see if she um comes in hot. All right. Either way, we have a quorum. Please join me for the pledge. I pledge. >> All right. So, upcoming meetings, we have >> Sorry, >> number four. You don't want me to read the um upcoming meetings, please? >> Oh my gosh. Ignore me. >> She's really excited to get going. >> I'm so excited. >> All right. Um we have some upcoming meetings in April. Uh April 8th, we have personnel committee at 5:30, followed by facilities at 6:30. Those will both take place at the
002Dun School Library. April 15th, we'll be back here in the high school, the policy committee at 5:30. I'm willing to vet in the library. and then a schoolboard workshop here at 6:30 and that will start with a tour of the adult education um and technology. Then uh we will have no meeting the week of April 22nd for school vacation. April 29th, finance committee meets at 5:30 at the Dun School Library where they will be voting to recommend a school budget to the board. So that is our April and now I would be happy to consider any action relative to adjustments to the agenda. >> Um I don't know if you want me to put I have a comment only and I don't know if you want me to put it here or under comments from
003the audience. >> What >> and it has to do uh a message to the students um that I have something to offer. >> No. Well, if it's not on the agenda, >> it's not on the agenda and I have no place to put it. >> Well, then you need to see me about it ahead of time so we can add it to the agenda. >> Well, it's not an agenda item. It's just a comment, a notification. >> Well, you still need to check with me. We still need to >> Well, it was for the students. That's okay. >> Is like a community event or something? >> Pardon? >> Like a community event or something? >> Yeah, it's a big deal. Yeah, that's I thought I'd share the information with with you know everyone they might
004already know about it. It has to do with the brand new addition to the state of Maine, the new Maine maritime ship and I would encourage everyone I'm going to do it anyway. Well, I'm going to encourage people >> tell us about tell us about this community event. >> I'm going to continue I'm going to uh I encourage everybody especially students to uh take a few minutes and head down to Portland. and it's down at the Portland um pier and it came in uh last week. Uh it's a beautiful, beautiful ship. um um ceremonies with dignitaries uh were there on Monday night and um so I encourage uh the students who are interested in attending academy or even just seeing history being made um before the students go on the cruise which is um May
005uh 4th and so 3. Yeah, I I lost my thing in my phone here. Anyway, and so um yeah, that that's basically all I had to say because it is it was it's ve I want you to come in. It's very exciting to see it and um you know um proud of Main Maritime anyway. But >> all right, that's actually exciting historical and educational activity for folks to check out. Um comments from the audience. Okay, moving into some recognition of which we have a lot of exciting stuff tonight. Dr. Turner, >> we do have a lot of exciting stuff tonight. So, kicking off our recognitions tonight, we have a group of guests to come to talk to us about an event that the Dun School does every year. Um, and that is their March Madness
006books, head-to-head matchups on the best books. Um, and the kids take it get very excited. Mrs. Marzilla is here. She is one of the stewards of that as well as uh Mr. Robbins is here and some of our kiddos to tell you a little bit about their March Madness activity. You may have to get real close to that microphone to >> Yeah, we're gonna have >> pick up >> our current students stand over here. >> It's okay. >> Hi, I'm Kristen Marzili. I have a little mini presentation to share with you what uh March Madness even is. I have been reading a picture book a day to my classroom for eight years now and my first year and someone said, "Have you heard of March Madness though?" And I was like, "What is that?" It's
007um a So I have a little presentation literally right behind you on the screen that says >> we have it right next to you. >> Yeah, we have it here too. >> That's a good idea. So uh March Madness is a national reading challenge. So out of Ohio, this group of teachers, uh, they organized this 16 picture book bracket, the books are really diverse in their range of genres. They cover different social studies topics, science topics, they have different art integration, some highlight different countries. Um, here I brought some of the like popular ones here with me. And there's different voting rounds each. Uh, so once we read two books, we vote on our favorite, they move along, and then we get our ultimate favorite. and it's so much fun. Um, but this is really
008exciting because this is the seventh year Dun School has had participants, but it's our fifth year that every classroom teacher has participated. So, all 12 of our general education classrooms are doing this every year. We pass our books. It's a whole system like, "Do you have my book? Do uh where's the next book?" Um, we're passing the books around to each other and everyone gets to read them and the kids are all seeing them being posted and voted in the hallways and they're like, "Wait a minute, you guys like that one. We picked this one." It's really, really exciting. And then this year, we also had our GT uh participate in two of our special education classrooms. So, in a smaller group, there was a little more analysis of text, analysis of text, and our
009special education groups got to do a little more small group dive into some of them. This is this year's bracket that's posted right here. So you dog uh not dog, we have home in a lunchbox. Don't trust fish is on the bottom there. A very popular one. And all at once upon a time. The bracket tends to have kind of like a formula to it. Every year there's always some fairy tale version story. There's always some story that gets us some non-fiction science. There's always a biography. Uh there's always this one right here is pretty good representation of like art is the focus of that book. Uh there's either like a wordless book or a mostly wordless book so that we can really focus on the illustrations in in our text. And so now I'd
010love for you to hear like what they think about it. I have four guests with me today. Two of them are current fourth graders. This is Rory Howard and CC Gerette. And two are former students. These were my uh uh students last year and the year before. They're fifth graders now. Hazel Voss and Bryson Oliver. So, hey Rory, not to put you on the spot, but you want to share what your blurb says? We come over to the microphone and share what you think. I mostly like animal books. Ursula upside down was my favorite and I thought it should have won, but my other favorites are Don't Trust Fish, Dog Vers, Strawberry, and All at Once Upon a Time. She doesn't want to go next, so we'll save her. Hazel, will you share? It's okay.
011I'll stand with you. I'll stand with you. I'll read it with you. >> Hazel was So, Hazel participated for two years already. So, her favorites aren't from this set. They're from previous sets. And her first comment was that she liked >> I liked hearing a book every day. And my favorites were My Fet Pete my pet my pet feet from 2023 and I don't I do not eat children from 2024. >> Um my my one of my favorites was I like I liked I do not eat children from 2024. >> Can I hold up your book? My favorite book was Home in a Lunchbox. It I was mad when it didn't win on the record. And I liked it because and learning about different cultures and I like the details and the pictures. I like
012the book that almost rhymes, which was from last year. and they would say a word and then you think you know the next word but then they would say something the opposite of it >> and it was really funny. >> Thank you. >> Um Whoa. It's okay. You can hold it. So mostly I mostly our books are mostly this is for um like we obviously tie in a lot of learning to this but it's also fun and it makes literacy fun and um we're learning new things. Um Rory highlighted his favorite book this year was Ursula Upside Down. The actual book I wish I had it to share with you is about a catfish that swims upside down in Africa. And as you're reading the book, it gives you the direction to turn the book
013upside down. And you're turning the wrong way and you turn it back and the kids are like, "How are you doing this?" I'm just following the directions. But it just made our learning really fun. Um, and so here are some of the classroom brackets. I snagged a picture of Miss Rous's uh classroom in on the purple background. Her class was voting differently than my classroom was, which is in yellow. my class over actually it was awful. Every vote was a tie in my room and I'm like I need you to not be 11 to 11. Um and uh this book won by one vote. So there were so many really good books. They they go to vote and they're like this is so hard because they just loved all of them. And Miss Rous's is
014a little different. They actually picked this book over the fish book and then there's debate about why' you do that. Um, and this is our an exciting time because it's finals week. This is semi-finals week. So, this is currently the vote. If you go to the March Madness website, you can vote for Dog First Strawberry or Shadow and the Ghost and then All at Once Upon a Time and Don't Trust Fish and they post the winners. So, we did this in our classrooms, but nationally we're now participating and getting our votes in and then we see the updates and like I didn't vote for that. That's not what I wanted to win. Uh, so next week is the finals round. So, even though happy April 1, uh, March Madness will be wrapped up next week
015and it's been really fun. We started reading our books in February, so it's been a several monthsl long adventure, but really, really fun. And this uh, as the seventh year participating, the books are so good. Every year we're always so pleased. They try to get new publications. This book is winning tons of awards right now, and it doesn't have an award on it, so like we got to read it first. Um, very exciting. So, thank you all for hearing, but this is March Madness and we're all participating at DUN and we really love it. So, you can come and see it sometime. >> Thank you so much and thank you guys for coming in. Does anyone have any questions or comments about the March Madness? >> Oh, go ahead, Gary. >> Uh, just a quick
016question. You said come in and come in and see. So, these are all posted where where we can walk in and see them. >> Some of the brackets are posted right in the hallways. So, right now, mine's still out. Miss Rouses is still up. Some people do them in their classroom, but you can definitely see a lot of them posted or you if you just ask what's your favorite book right now that kids will tell you. >> Oh, I I think this is just great fun. What a great idea. >> And um in seven years, there's only been one book related to basketball, >> but Uh, so a program nationally, do the books come in through the library or like how do we get our hands on them? >> My I live in Freeport and
017my librarians know my children by name. So we go there a lot. I request this uh I request books and um from all the libraries in Maine, they ship them whatever I need to the Freeport one for me to pick up and we share the 16 book set. There's always one book I have to buy. And lucky me, I got to buy this one this year. It was the only one the libraries didn't have yet. It was so new. Um, and it I was like jaw-dropped. Wow, I own this. This is so beautiful. Um, so the library loan system is really amazing. We get the books for five weeks. So, we read them over those and then return them and and now we get to re recheck them out. So, >> great. Yes. Wonderful. Anyone
018else? >> Hunter? I don't really have any questions, just some comments. I thought this is a fantastic initiative. Um, I think it's a really creative way to get students excited about reading and sort of turn it into something interactive and engaging. Um, you know, it brings an element of fun and t even ties into current events, which I think is always exciting. you know, you kind of um it makes the students feel more connected to what they're learning and they can go home and talk about March Madness. And as someone who follows March Madness, you can kind of I don't have kids, but I eventually could relate to them like, "Oh, that's cool." Like, yeah. Um and I just think it creates a positive learning environment. Um and this is the kind of approach that,
019you know, I love to see in our schools and this is just great. So, thank you. All right. Well, thank you to Bryson, Hazel, Rory, and Cece for coming in tonight. You're very brave. We enjoyed having you. Thanks so much. Thank you. Most adults don't like to get up there and talk, so you guys did awesome. >> Thank you, Mrs. Marzili. And you don't feel you need to stay. You can anytime feel free to slip out. It is a school night. We recognize that no one is offended. Uh so a couple other recognitions, an update on our annual bus rodeo. Uh as we reported to you last year, John Stoultz did very well in our uh in the bus rodeo, state bus rodeo. The update we have for you is that usually only the first
020place winner gets invited to go to the national competition. Uh but this year, John did well enough that they have invited him to come to the national competition. So we're very excited. that's going to be in Texas in June. Um, and we will keep you posted. We also attached our full list of winter sports awards. I'm not going to go over that in significant detail, but I did just want to draw your attention to a couple of items on here. I always like to talk about that Western Main Conference all academic senior list. These are kiddos that in addition to doing sports maintained a GPA of 93 or higher. Uh, so calling out on girls basketball team, Ella Kenny, uh, Maddie Humphrey, Hope Hanley, Ryan Grant, and Bella Beers. Boys basketball was Jackson Libby, Carter
021Davis, and Isaiah Portoris. And indoor track had Piper Obi, Kalista Stratard, Leiden, Chase Lassard, Llaya Thompson, and Ghost Davis. We're really proud of those uh, athletes who maintain that very high level. Additionally, uh we had a number of folks uh who got called out for really special awards this year. Uh Hope Handley made the Western Main Conference All-Star team. Ella Kenny made um in addition to the Western Main Conference All-Star, was also the McDonald's All-Star and was a finalist for Miss Basketball, which is a pretty big deal. And then Abby Steele, outstanding player in the Southern Main Conference uh class B uh was the state foul shooting championship. And what was not on the list because this just came out after we posted it, but she was named to the 2526 varsity main all-state girls
022basketball team. And that is all classes. That's class A, B, C, D, all the way through. They name about 12 uh girls each year to that team. Um and Abby was one of one of the kids chosen in the whole state. So that's very exciting. Um in addition to that, the next item on the list, the Western Main Conference Citizenship Award, uh this year was awarded to Piper Obby and um Hannah Gordon. Uh that is a special award uh that recognizes high school seniors for their contribution not just on the athletic field but with academics leadership in citizenship as well. And then one more thing that is not on your list I wanted to draw your attention to. Uh since we published this uh it was announced that Novenia Comtois was WMTW's scholar athlete of
023the week. If you haven't had a chance to see that uh clip, I suggest you go check it out. It's on WMTW's website or you also can find it in our social media feeds. Moving on to Skills USA. Owen Taylor uh did really great in the autom automotive program. He earned a gold medal at the competition held in Bangor in the middle of March. And then our one act competition took place at the beginning of this month at Lauren High at Lawrence High School. There were a number of special commendations um which is which is really awesome. Uh we came in third. Um I we came in third. They did so great. Um all festival cast members. So these are actors uh that were chosen for special distinction. Lucy Collins, Isaac Colby and Asana Bell.
024And then additionally there were two special commendations. One was made for the musical accompaniment which was the Pinocchio band. That was Jax Learner, Oliver Hill, Chase Diffen, Jaden Greenlaw, Michael Barter, and Ellie Escobar. And then they received another award. Uh the the run crew of of the show received a pre precision and performance special commendation and that went out to uh Mia Riley, Elizabeth Lears, um Cooper Gilbert, Daniel Esinger, Miley Ray, Mason Puland, Sunday Magc, and Elijah Penna. And I'm just really excited that this whole realm of recognitions today uh is showing our kids showing excellence in academics, athletics, arts, and the trades. I think it just demonstrates what well-rounded opportunities we are able to provide to our students. >> Fantastic. >> I'll say it again. Fantastic. >> All right. Uh Misty, >> um yes,
025I just want to notice um the Skills USA competition. When I was actually there, um, I was asked to go up and be a judge and I judged the entrepreneurial, uh, presentation. It was kind of like Shark Tank where they were seven groups of high schoolers that presented their business plans for what they wanted to open and create and they were they blew my mind. I was so impressed by the You' think they were college students presenting these business plans. So, we had a really tough decision. There was I was on a judge panel and we asked tons of questions and they were on it. They had answers. They were really great and a couple of the businesses like, "Well, you could actually do this and actually make a lot of money doing this. Congratulations."
026And I had a really great time. I didn't even know this it existed and there were hundreds of kids all over the state of Maine there. Um, I was like, "Wow, this was like was really great day." So, it was cool to be a part of it. >> Nice. That's great. All right. Um, in moving into old business, I would hear a motion that we accept as printed the minutes of the March 4th, 2026 regular business meeting. >> I make the mo motion that we take action relative to accepting the printed minutes for the March 4th, 2026 regular business meeting. Second. >> Anybody find anything in the those notes? >> All right. All in favor? >> Perfect. I was absent >> and abstaining Fran because she was there. >> I'm just making sure. >> Yeah.
027Can you can you Yeah, just raise your mic just to hear. >> Yeah. >> How's that? >> Oh, perfect. >> Perfect. Much better. >> All right. New business. We uh the policy committee has been cranking along. Um we have several policies that have come to us through this uh recommendation of the policy committee. So this is a little bit this might be a little bit clunky in um following along in your um the folder and the links. So we'll just um take them one at a time and if anyone has trouble finding the one we're on, we'll we'll just take it slow. Um, so first up, um, I would hear a motion to adopt policy K, public concerns and complaints. >> I make the motion that we consider adopting the updated policy K, public concerns
028and complaints. Second. >> All right. And I'd love to hear from our uh, policy chair on how we got here if you have a if you >> um, so this one doesn't have too much of a backstory. Okay. Um this one was um it was recommended by administration to um adopt the updated MSMA sample because it provided some better examples and directing people. Any questions or feed discussion? Sorry, that's it. Discussion. >> All right. All in favor? Perfect. Uh, I would hear a motion that we adopt updated policy KF, community use of schools facility with KFR, community use of school facilities procedure. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All right. Any uh um so KF we stuck with what facilities had done um they reviewed it first. So we didn't make any additional changes on
029that KFR. We made one small addition um which is um on line 106 um about the estimate of usage cost. um it was brought up in our meeting that that had been discussed at the facilities meeting and so we added that line per their recommendation. >> So that's indicating that um anyone looking to uh rent space can will be provided with an estimate of what those costs will be seeing as the cost now will include anything that that the district would incur. >> More discussion on that? >> Okay, >> Gary. Um I just had a question on KF. Um under what item number seven there's a reference to no pets on on school grounds. Is there any do we need any exemption for service animals or is that assumed? >> We have a policy for
030um we have a policy for that. Um a service animal is not considered a pet. >> Okay. They're defined very separately and we have a separate policy specific to service animals. >> Okay. The my other question was on KFR. Uh and KF specifically you added vaping language to KF but in KFR the vaping language was not added. >> Say it again. What language? >> Around vaping products under no smoking on KFR. I just for consistency sake. >> Oh that's a good catch. We should make those match. I just thought they ought to match. But apart from that, I'm fine. >> Anything else? All right. All in favor? Great. I would hear a motion to adopt policy KLGA, relations with school resource officers. >> So moved. Second. Um, so this one was recommended from our legal
031team to adopt as it aligns with schools specifically that have school resource officers. Um, and we did have a very lengthy conversation about it. Um, and we made some minor um, changes to it, just some points that we thought needed to be clarified. But um that's about all I have >> discussion Fran. >> I I don't think uh the change was minor. Uh what we're including is uh the >> Oh, I apologize. I'm off to lunch. Okay. I don't think it was minor. Um what was omitted is all law enforcement, you know, all state and federal was omitted from this. So we added that. So that's kind of you know serious inclusion I think think um and there was a lengthy discussion but I I think at this point I'm satisfied with the way it
032came out after the lengthy discussion. >> Okay great. Anyone else? All in favor? Wonderful. So, as a result, I would hear a motion that we eliminate policy KLG and KLGR, relations with law enforcement authorities. >> So, moved. >> Second. >> Um, so essentially this is um the now extra policy that we have just adopted a different one for. So, any discussion on that? All in favor? Beautiful. Maggie, we worried about nothing. We're We're navigating this beautifully. >> Okay. I would >> I would hear a motion to adopt updated policy JJIF, management of concussion and other head injuries. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Um any the significant uh changes here if any? >> Uh nope. The DOE made some additional changes and um administration provided us with a updated policy. Discussion. All right. All in
033favor? Wonderful. I would hear a motion to adopt updated policy JLCB, immunizations of students. >> So moved. >> Second. Um again just uh we decided to update uh adopt the MSMA sample that was provided per administration discussion that all right in favor immunizations continue I would hear a motion to adopt updated policy JLCC reportable communicable diseases. is so moved. >> Second >> again updated uh per administration adopting the MSMA sample. We did remove one additional section from the sample as it didn't align with um the current procedure that administration follows and they didn't feel the need that it was needed to be added. So we removed it per their recommendation. >> Okay. discussion. Comfortable with that. >> All right. All in favor? Perfect. All right. Now, um we have a to discuss. This is not
034a voting item but to um present and uh talk about in a a tool that finance committee has been um developing at Sam's uh suggestion. Um actually Sam why don't do you want to just talk to this? >> Happy to. You know it's not like a giant massive initiative but it's something I've been thinking about for a little while. Um people might remember we had the ad hoc committee for uh transportation issues last year. One of the things I really liked about it is you know we opened up uh sort of a brainstorming discussion amongst everybody on the committee and just thought up a you know every possible idea for how we might solve some of the sort of busing crisis we found ourselves in. Um and then you know how do we decide which
035ideas are good ideas or bad ideas and which ones do we go forward or don't go forward. So we created uh an evaluation tool where we would score all of the ideas and then you know focus on those ideas that scored highest on the rubric that we created. Um and we kind of been throwing around ideas for creating revenue. Right? Obviously, in budget season, we tend to focus on expenses uh because those tend to always go up. Uh but wouldn't it be great if we had other sources of revenue uh other than just property taxes? How might we evaluate those ideas and figure out whether they're worth pursuing? So, I took that uh transportation committee uh idea vetting tool and just modified it for uh revenue generating ideas. And uh we talked about it at
036the finance committee meeting and we had a couple of extra factors uh that kind of come into play when we're talking about revenue versus uh solving the transportation crisis. Uh so I built a uh it's linked in the agenda and it's in I guess it's just linked in the agenda because it's just a it's just a Google form uh that you work with. Um, and uh, I put in a couple of ideas that you can kind of play with. They're ideas that I had to. So, it's kind of an interesting thing to go through. Are these good ideas or not by my own uh, evaluator of revenue ideas? Uh, it turns out that charging people for parking at our public events is a bad idea. Uh but I will I hold that charging students uh
037for a parking pass uh if they want to uh you know bring their own car to school might have some merit based on uh what the tool says. Um but you know so what do we do with it going from here? This is you know how might we use this? We could just use it every time we as a board come up with or administration comes up with a revenue idea. But I sort of have this uh I don't know whether it's a grand plan or what but I would love to put out an ide you know to the public to the students to the parents to anyone in great luster uh you know come up with a revenue idea that might throw uh dollars into our bank account and uh whichever one scores highest
038on the tool we give them a plaque in the entryway to the high school. I don't know what it is, but you know, I would, you know, everybody wants to uh, you know, talk about their brainstormed ideas for how we might uh alleviate the uh property tax burden. Maybe some sort of public contest. Maybe they identify a grant we don't know about. Maybe they have some, you know, we heard about uh Misti's genius students with their business plans. Maybe maybe there's a seventh grader at the middle school who has a grand idea for generating revenue and we just don't know about it yet. So, I was thinking maybe we could put it out through our various social channels, you know, give people a few weeks to get it in and then, you know, we could
039sift through what comes through. Uh, you know, I'm happy to do the leg work to put them into the tool and then maybe we as a board all score it independently. I don't, you know, just sort of brainstorming, but I thought it might be a fun way to just get people actually thinking about the various and sunundry ways we could raise money. >> Great. Uh we did talk about this already at finance. So those of us who are in finance committee got a chance to um kick it around. I think it was generally wellreceived. We added a few um extra questions around does it fit with our strategic plan or does it fit with our values. Um, and we'd love to hear um from other folks as if they have feedback or think this could
040be a um at minimum a fun idea or at best a way to identify some cash. >> Uh, I think it's a fabulous idea. Good work, Sam, on putting all this together. Um, there's just we have all of our heads that we collectively put together, but be able to access all of the many ideas that our community would have, all of our students might have. I mean, we have some smart cookies um that we're teaching and I was just blown away by the presentations that I heard. Can you imagine if they students got together and put together a business plan of how we could fund raise for the school and different ideas that they had? Doesn't have to just come from adults. It could come from our students. Um, so I think it's an awesome
041idea to throw out. I'll just um sort of second what Misty said. I think it's great to um engage the public and it seems like a tool that you can easily send through to get um to score it. So, yes, I like this. >> Great. Hunter. Oh, and then Fran. >> Yeah, I feel like I'm piggybacking off everyone. I generally really like this tool. Um, I think looking at ways to generate revenue besides relying solely on our taxpayers is honestly a positive step. Um, and I think it shows an awareness of the burden that's placed on them every budget season, you know, and I think this tool and I went through it, breaking it down into subcategories, really helps us evaluate the overall potential of the source and it honestly makes it easy to compare
042options and just track different opportunities. It doesn't just leave us at these two, for example. We could have endless. I mean, I have several that I would like to bring up. Um, and >> you might get the plaque. We'll see. >> I overall though, I think this tool will be really helpful and I really like the idea behind it and I'm glad to see it out there. Hopefully, lots of people, you know, use this tool and we can come up with some great ways to come up with some money. >> All right. Thanks, Fran. >> Okay. I'd like to offer a different perspective. Um, which I guess everyone knows I had I'm at the policy committee. I already brought this up. I mean, at the finance committee, excuse me. Um, and so um um I
043have I think a tool is good idea and coming up with some alternative um ways of raising funds. It's always happened. you know, we've always had um potluck suppers or spaghetti dinners or, you know, things to sport specific events. Um and so that's not unusual. But what is unusual is trying to tax people, you know, and then ask them for more money. And um you know, we have a lot of events right now that there is no charges for, you know, people to attend. And we do have some that allow people to attend and pay a fee. And uh again, this is all um you know, part of what we've always done. Um the idea of charging the students to park to help uh s help work on the bus problem is um might be
044uh contradictory because they might find the fees too high and have to leave their cars at home and then we'd have to bust more students. So that's the flip side of you know you know so we have to weigh that. Um and um and then if we're charging uh patrons to come to some events um again will that keep them back and and and not want to pay the extra fee um that we don't charge now. So um you know I think what we need to brainstorm on is ways of cutting this budget in any budget. We have to start looking for expenses that um can be um curtailed because the budget is really growing uh rapidly and uh we have to do some kind of um um addition um and then you know the
045the uh need of finding additional funding won't be so uh glaring. So, um, those are my comments. I think we really have to, uh, uh, attempt what's the problem and not try to keep on adding more bandages without having the the basic problem. That's where I'm at. >> Thank you, Frank. Um, that your comments give me a thought on a question we didn't um, kick around for the form. Might even be um, where does it come from? We talk about like the likelihood of the the money or cost to implement, but could do we look at is this bringing money from out of the community versus an additional ask from inside the community. Um might be a big score, right? So if we can get a grant from some national place to fund a breeding
046program, you know, it's not money from inside the community. >> Sure. Um might just might be I don't know at some point you know how many questions do we ask about every idea but um just a thought >> any other uh Hunter >> I just had a quick idea um I think honestly it's a great idea to charge students for parking um I had to pay for parking for three years granted I didn't go to grade and Gloucester but I had to pay for parking And I think it's an easy way to come up with revenue and I think it puts a lot less um wear and tear on our infrastructure. Um and you know I think that's a great idea. I also kind of wish we could charge, you know, for parking at district
047events, too. That'd be I >> It fails pretty badly. >> I'm I'm sure I'm sure it does. ever. I just, you know, >> keep us on track a little. We're not running ideas through the tool tonight. We're just talking about the tool. >> The tool. Oh, >> I like I like the tool. >> But all right, we definitely have fully exhausted Sam's samples at finance committee for sure. Um, and thank you Sam for being a good sport about ideas that you brought that we have been u thoroughly beating on for months now. >> I have lots of bad ideas. uh you know and another thing is sort of like the transportation process if ultimately we get a bunch of ideas and that we've done them or they don't lead anywhere that's also information right like
048we're do we we will have learned that we are doing what we can so or we pick up some new sources so >> so what's our next step >> so I guess our next step is um that we go ahead and give it to the administration and tell them it would be super fun if they decided to launch a little initiative with it. Here's the thing we made. >> Sounds good to me. >> What do you think, Dr. Turner? Put you on the >> mic on. Can you hear me? >> I can't remember if it's on or not. Uh, yeah, I think um I agree with Sam. But we've been kind of talking about this to a degree in the context of sort of doing that strategic long-term capital planning. Um, but I think it's
049bigger than that, easily bigger than that, is kind of reaching out to the community about what their ideas are. Um, particularly now that we have multiple avenues, including social media, we have more opportunity to reach more people. Um, it seems like it would be silly not to ask people what they think. So, we will um work with the finance committee and and Sam to finalize the tool for the team. Um, we we'll go back to admin team and kind of talk about like what timing might be best. I think at this point like probably we'll have to talk about I I have thoughts. I'm telling you probably not before break um would would be best to get the best thinking out of people. Um but also as you start to get to the end of
050the year and graduation and all that stuff. So we've got to kind of find the sweet spot. So, I'll work with the admin team to find that timing and then um I think what the process we discussed is that then as those ideas come in, it would be kind of a standing agenda item at the facilities committee that we would then have that committee evaluate using the tool any ideas that come in. Um and so we can do that. I mean, but probably not this year because we only have one meeting left and it's a pretty big one. Wait, what month is this? We have two meetings left. Um, so maybe we could do a few as a pilot in May. Let's see how it works. Um, and then it would really be a a
051big launch for the fall. >> Did you mean finance over facilities? >> Finance. Did I say facilities? >> You did. >> I do that a lot. >> Finance committee will own it and we'll bring it back to that group and have a standing agenda item to review any new ideas that have come in. All right. Exciting. All right. We're going to move on and take a little topic shift to um superintendent evaluation. Um just want to make sure everyone's clear up front what we're doing here before um Lauren walks us through this. So right now we are reviewing the tools for which we're going to do this year's superintendent evaluation. So this is this conversation is strictly on the process. Um this is not an executive session as it's just the process. So we're not
052talking performance. We're not there's no confidentiality here. But I would ask that folks stay um you know focused on the the goal of this discussion here which is to review the tool we're going to use this year along with the timeline which is um as all things here at the end of the year very fast moving and we're going to ask for your um everyone's participation in this one. So Lauren, you want to walk us through it? >> Yes. So as um our one um charge with employing um our superintendent we are responsible for providing feedback year-end feedback. We did a midyear and um our last uh personnel meeting committee meeting we did um provide that feedback to Dr. Turner. So, going into our year end, uh the way I set it up similar to
053Sam's with the Google form, I set up two different um feedback forms. They're rather similar. They actually ask the same questions, however, have a little bit of instruction up the front that um sets up those questions. So, the first one is the upward feedback. And so, this is asking um for the reports and those in central office to give feedback on Dr. Turner and then the second one is for the board to provide that feedback and you can see the um provided the link to the uh superintendent job description. So we took each of the sections A through M. So you can provide information um you can give the scoring criteria where I have um you know give an overall rating for that. So it's either exemplary, effective, needs improvement or don't know. And then
054um after that you can provide comments to that. And um so taking that for each section A through M uh I do encourage for folks to provide um specific feedback um as you're reporting this. And if you don't know, please just feel you know do provide the uh don't know checkbox on that. um schedulewise looking to >> so >> Oh, yep. >> So, one sec. So, before we move into the schedule, do folks have feedback or questions about the way that um the form is structured this year where it's directly tied to the job description. We spent a lot of time massaging that job description before this new superintendent contract. So, the personnel thought that made sense. Um, but does that make sense to the board? How do you feel about it? Is that the
055the way to go, >> Missy? The the backup documents would be that for the board to know or would there be? >> There will be. So, Dr. Turner is going to provide her evidence for that in a self- evaluation. So, and I can tell you um when I talk about schedule where that falls into place. So, that's what we'll have um to to gauge other Aside from our own experience, >> yeah, I think this breakdown is great. It's very clear. Um, a lot less confusing than it has been in the past. Um, I think the the item that was has been lacking in the past was that proof. Um, so um, it's good to see the change and to see that those things will be attached will make this way easier um, and less hair
056pulling for myself. So, thank you very much. >> Well, in and to be clear, it'll be Dr. Turner self-evaluation, you know, her her thoughts on her performance and it will very much be our job to draw the lines from the work she's done to the job description. And if we don't know, we need to say so. So then we can also identify areas of well, you know, seven of the board members did not actually know about this um piece. Yeah, >> Gary. Um, I really like the upward feedback tool. Also, >> uh, in the past that's been a problem trying to find evidence of of um, her employees feedback about her performance. We've had to ask for that separately and it's nice that it's part of the packet now in an organized way. And uh
057just for a a point of how that one will they'll run a little bit different. They do both follow the same you know follow the job description on the upward feedback from um central office and direct reports. the um we've structured that so that the link is only available to someone with you know specific um internal email address but they do not have to um log they do not have to their name is not automatically attached to their feedback the way it is with the board you're a board member when you fill out the form you're who you are is going to show um >> to to sort of encourage you know people feeling comfortable giving that >> that feedback so Sam um the goal setting and the um like evaluation against goals. Where are
058we doing that? >> The goals were part of the midyear um evaluation. So we were able to use that as a tool for providing that um that feedback for the year end. This does not talk about the goals. >> We Yeah, we should. >> Yeah, we Seems like >> yeah we should provide progress to goals. >> So yeah as >> because at the mid year we wouldn't expect the goals to be done. We were like >> commenting on progress. >> You know it would be good to >> Yeah. >> Did we accomplish the goals? >> So maybe we but maybe we add um we have all the ones tied directly to the job description and then add a final one of like progress to goals to leave spot for feedback on that. And then part
059of the packet with the from Dr. Turner will be >> her commentary >> commentary on progressy goals >> uh and just also thoughts on goals for next year is usually kind of part of it too. >> Yeah. Although we usually have that conversation after we've or do we do we solicit >> when we have done it well which is not every year. Um, you know, we when we deliver our evaluation, we both comment on the goals from the past year and establish goals for the new year. >> And if we're going to ask board members to sit down and take some time to do this, we might catch them at that same time and throw in a question of do you have suggested goals? So, that makes sense. >> Yeah. just in general because I
060think you know the evaluation form is great but ultimately I think it should be as practical as possible in terms like you know it's sometimes hard like oh communication exemplary you know whatever but like did the strategic plan get created like it was supposed to this year or not you know like those are the things that ultimately I think we want not that was a for example >> no that makes a lot of sense >> Dr. Turner, how many goals? I forget when we sent it out. How many goals were there? >> Three. >> There were three. >> Three. Okay. So, we could have >> we could call out. >> It's usually three or four, you know. >> Um and you know, sometimes the goal is to make progress towards XYZ or whatever, you know,
061but I think having something concrete, >> you know. >> Yeah, >> I think that's a very good catch. And then we if we do the individual goals, then we can also do the little ratings so that if a goal was blown out of the park and then one wasn't completed, you're not asking, you know, to hit them all at once. >> Makes sense. Any Oh, Hunter. >> Uh yeah, I this will be my first one, so I don't know what it was like in years past, so I'm not going to lie. Um, however, going through it, it reminds me very much so of my professional feedback that I just did a couple weeks ago, you know, my own job. So, I think this, you know, sort of layout will is clear and well organized. Um,
062I think it will provide Dr. Turner with meaningful feedback to support continued growth within the district. Um, which is what you always want with these. you don't want to just have her comment and then not lead it to anything. Um I I think this will provide that meaningful feedback. I am with Sam. However, I think to add those goals in um because that's kind of what you to me at least you're you are evaluating someone on is how did they meet their goals um versus sort of their competencies. Um, and kind of that allows them to build off of that. Like you don't want to judge them fully if they met their goals because sometimes it's unattainable. Maybe, maybe not. But I I do think that we should add those goals in here. That was
063the only thing that I saw missing. But I did like the format and the layout. I think it was very clear. Reminded me a lot of my professional, you know, year-end review. So, it was very similar and I I like it. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you, uh, Fran. >> Um, am I assuming that I have to open this document? Uh, because I can't type on it at all. >> It's not live yet. This is just >> So, we're going to make some improvements to it based on our conversation tonight. >> I see. >> And then it'll You'll be able to >> get a report from me also. >> Yeah. So, that'll go in the timeline piece. um which I think we're probably good to move on to talking about the timeline. >> So uh
064by April 6 then Dr. Turner is going to um provide us with the self-reflection and at that point is when I will send out the tool to both groups and ask for um that to be finished for us to complete them by April 15th. Um, in the meantime though, uh, before we get to April 15th, uh, during our personnel committee meeting, we're going to go into executive session and, um, without Dr. Turner and discuss the process and what we how we want to, um, sort of rank the feedback, not rank the feedback, the actual criteria that um, for each one of those sections, the A through M. And then we can also discuss the goals. Um and this is sort of going in without having any of the actual um responses. And then at that
065point um we will develop the draft e um oh receive the information and develop the draft evaluation and the data um and then present that prior or at the um May 6 business meeting that we'll have the draft um evaluation and we'll discuss that in the executive session. And then at that point on May 13th, that is going to be our um next the uh personnel committee se um bis uh meeting rather and so that's when we will finalize that evaluation in the executive session. Questions about that? Essentially the big ones for folks to know is on April 6 we'll get um that packet together and send out the tool and on April 15th we will look to have those forms back from folks. >> So we're going to deliver the evaluation in the June
066meeting. >> Yeah. So we'll do the talk about the draft in executive session in May and make sure it's people agree that it's what we what we feel is accurate and then we'll deliver it in June. All right. So please um be looking for that on those dates and make um getting that back a priority. We everyone will have I think that's around two weeks or 10 days um to get that done and I always lose the script when we turn a page. >> Committee reports. Wonderful. All right. Facilities. Adam, what do you got? So, we started uh off the meeting over going over our uh projects complete, in progress, and not yet started. Uh some of the ones not yet started are summertime only projects. So, it's kind of important to remember even though
067the list is kind of big, they have to be slated during the summertime. Uh we did a good job this fall kind of jockeying projects around so it didn't interrupt our, you know, co-curricular activities. So that's where that's where some of those pushed out projects are going to have to live is in this summer. Um some of the projects that we had anticipated using our capital reserve uh towards have come in higher than anticipated. So uh committee talked a little bit about how we wanted to rep prioritize those um and what to do with the funding. Um, we talked about our capital uh reserve status some more. Um, the committee basically left it as we're looking for an updated proposal list and uh looking for that pretty soon. Um, we moved on to talk about
068our long-term capital plan. Um, Dr. Turner kind of put the bones of a long-term uh capital improvement plan together and uh committee gave feedback around the structure of what that would look like. Um and then we ended talking um sort of about the status of our capital reserve balance uh and how we wanted to or how and what we wanted to recommend to finance uh for next year. Um, that's going to be on our meeting next week. That's it. >> Questions for Adam? >> Sam? >> So, the strategic capital improvement plan, the draft here is very enticing, but there are lots of missing pieces. Um, when are we presenting this to the public or the board or what's the schedule for this like going live? >> So glad you asked that question. >> You should
069see a So that's the working draft. That was the like here's the skeleton. Is this the right stuff? Uh we have since been working pretty diligently to um fill that out and really put meat on the bones. An updated uh more beautified, more deep content uh version draft should be going out with the facilities agenda tomorrow unless something terrible goes wrong. We are well on track for that to be the case. Um, ideally, uh, and this is Adam and I just spoke about this the other day, so it's a little bit of a news to the rest of the committee, but, um, ideally we are hoping that the facilities committee will feel confident enough in it to recommend it to the board at our meeting this week. If not, we'll take May to do some
070additional work on it. Um, but if they are feeling confident enough in the content, they would recommend it to the full board and you would see that at the next business meeting. And are we thinking of this as contributing to our decision making on this year's budget or is this more of a next year's budget sort of thing? >> Uh I think there are items that would impact the current year budget. Um I would say how we currently have it laid out it would impact your thoughts about use of capital reserve more than it would impact the the local budget. Both of which though you will be making decisions on in the short term. Hence why we'd like to have it in front of you. >> It goes into May >> as the first agenda
071item on the May agenda is would be ideal. >> Okay. >> Yeah. I I would strongly recommend folks who are in uh particularly invested or interested in this to see if you can find your way to the facilities committee. Um I think it's it's pretty exciting. Um and something that we would will really be looking to have the full board um adopt much like a strategic plan as we move through that process. >> All right. Finance committee. >> All right. We uh met on March 25th uh and we got our first uh the you know big business was that we got our first uh draft budget uh from Dr. Turner uh for us to consider. Um I would say that there wasn't especially a lot to talk about. Um, you know, there, as we've talked
072about a couple of different times, there aren't really any like major big ticket items um that radically change the budget, but there uh are, you know, significant increases in salaries and benefits um plus the addition of the HVAC bond debt um that you know do increase the budget. Um and we are going to have some things to talk about in workshop. Hopefully everybody uh gets familiar with this u before we get there. I think there'll be a couple of small alterations between uh this draft and the draft that we next talk about at the next workshop. But I don't think it'll be a big difference. Uh it's really just like a couple of uh little nibbles around the edges. Uh definitely I think it's important for all of us to also familiarize ourselves uh with
073the regional data that uh Chanda and team did a great job of collecting does a good job of putting uh our budget environment in perspective with everybody else's budget environment. Um we are not alone in uh facing increases. Uh I think we all know that 0% increase is very difficult uh barring you know major changes in your structure. Um but you know the draft is 7.83% right now which is you know law bigger than our 10-year average. Um and it's important that we do a good job of taking a look at why that is and making sure that uh if we do go forward with that kind of number we have a good explanation for it. Um but you know draft one would suggest to me that um there is a good explanation for it.
074I think the finance committee as a whole was kind of uh of the same opinion. Most of our feedback was about um just how best we tell the story and illustrate uh what the budget drivers are. Uh and I you know we also u two other things that are related but I want to just point out uh please do your best to uh follow what's going on with uh LD2226 uh which is uh the law that the state legislature is considering that would update the ED279 formula. It's not going to affect us this year unless they do something much different than I'm expecting. Um but uh it will potentially help us um in years future, especially in just the um the updating of the salary formula alone in the ED279 would put almost $40 million
075uh into school funding statewide. And that, you know, would be a significant driver for us, I think. Um and uh you know it's going to be a big ticket item and uh the other thing is we had a discussion just to make sure that we understand the carryover and um you know various sources of revenue that we have available to us right so we are going to have uh we've budgeted tighter than ever I can remember uh we're projected to spend somewhere somewhere between 97 and 98% of our budget. But when you have a $37 million budget, that means uh two and a half to 3% is about a million bucks. Uh what are we going to do with that million dollars? Are we going to roll it all over uh to make it revenue
076for next year or as some people on the committee, this was Fran's idea, uh are we going to take that money and, you know, spend it uh in this year on other things that we couldn't afford? Uh, so we're gonna have to have that kind of discussion and that's really going to be I think the meat of the workshop discussion because most of the other stuff there's just not all that much to talk about. So I would just make sure everybody is kind of prepared and if you have any questions about how that works, now is the time if you want to ask me as a finance chair or Penny or Chanda, just make sure you understand what we're talking about. We don't necessarily have to have a big long discussion about it tonight, but
077I I do think, you know, how we put money in our capital reserve, how we take money out of our capital reserve, how we roll money over, what's in our general fund, what's the appropriate level for our general fund. I think that is going to be where I want to make sure we are all on the same page. Um, and we can all talk about it uh in a consistent fashion when we decide what we what we want to do. >> Thank you, Sam. I think that um makes a lot of sense for how that workshop time is spent. Questions for Sam about his report? >> On the report? >> Yes. >> Yeah. I I'd like to make a correction. Um when I suggested the money be used, I specifically said capital improvements, not anything
078that we can afford. >> I I didn't mean to, >> you know. I mean, >> I wanted to correct the report. >> Sure. and um and so we also as a committee did not vote for you know the presentation so of the budget. So at this point uh there isn't a uh the board on the whole um because we haven't we didn't take a vote. So I just want those two things clarified. That's all. Thank you. >> All right. Anything else? >> Perfect. Um personnel Lauren, did we leave anything unturned? Uh so we met on March 11th and uh went through several uh policies. The first one we're just reviewing them. The GBN family and medical leave as well as GBGE return to work and light duty GCQ resignation of school unit employees and ACA
079hazing. Um and then we also passed um quite a few additional policies on reviewed them and sent them to the policy committee. Those include the GBO family care leave um as well as the uh GBP earned paid leave and discuss the removal of the GBP- earned paid leave and um the last one was the GBG workplace bullying and after that uh we discussed the the job fair flyer that um Dr. Turner and um staff had developed and then we went into the executive session at that point to review the midyear um evaluation with Dr. Turner. So >> all right, questions for personnel. >> Great curriculum. >> Uh curriculum met tonight. Uh there were two items on the agenda and both of them deserve more than a quick capsule. uh report for me. So, I'm going
080to delay reporting. One was on social studies standards and uh there's a lot of detail and and material in there that deserves more again than like quick summary. And the other one is the math program update at the middle school. And that was a long conversation with uh one of the instructors and and administrators. And again, that that that needs a lot more description than I'm prepared to try to describe in the last since we've tried like an hour since we met. >> And uh I need to review notes and actually create a report that's worth hearing. >> Perfect. >> So I'll be doing that next at next month's meeting. >> Love it. >> Uh policy shar >> um we met on March 18th and we covered everything already. that we did during that meeting.
081>> Wonderful. All right. Um for my chair report, I just want to give a um little shot across the bow here that the May and June board agendas are pretty packed already. Um so we will um include as usual background information for all the items and all the materials. um maybe give yourself a little more time on those and bring a snack and a water bottle. Um they might not be our quickest meetings, but you know, we've uh guessing on how those things go is you're wrong every time, but just a heads up there. Um some upcoming important events, we have high school graduation is going to be May 28th. Uh that's a Thursday night um to accommodate making sure kids don't have to pick between a very important track meet and graduating high school.
082Um at 5:00 pm at the Cross Insurance Arena in Portland. Um I push pretty hard on this every year. This year is no different. Um this is the sort of culminating celebration. This is what we are here to do. Get kids successfully to this um milestone. I uh encourage board attendance um and would like to hear from folks on their intention to attend um and if so um how many seats you need because we do um usually have a section and the um high school and the admin works to accommodate us. So I don't want to have them save too many seats or not enough. So please check your calendars and let me know um if you can make it. And then the retiree celebration June 3 at 5:30 at here at the high school.
083So that is immediately following our uh no excuse me immediately before our June business meeting. Um that has become less attended than I would like. I would um encourage folks I'll say it a different way. It is our committee meeting that night. So at 5:30 um please be there to recognize our retirees um in lie of a committee meeting and then we will have our business meeting at 6:30. Um moving on from that the I wanted to sort of similar to um working in some new ideas for discussion. This isn't uh put it here because it's not a voting item at this time. Um we have kicked around on and off over the last year or so the idea of wouldn't it be nice to have a student um member or two on our school
084board. Um we have some neighbors that do have student board members. Um this is something that uh Dr. Turner has seen in districts she's worked in the past and is um interested in implementing here as am I. Um, I've included a couple of sample policies, um, basically because one was extremely short and one was very detailed. Um, that gave some sort of ideas or framework on how we might do this. Um, so this is something I would love to see us try. Um, I'd love to hear from folks if you what you think about it. And um so it looks like how districts do it generally is through policy. I don't know that we want to kick a thing to policy that then might take you know um months to get on the table versus
085um deciding to perhaps do a pilot um and invite some you know work out the kinks of having student membership before um we go through the whole rigomearrow of a policy that may or may not work for us. That is um my leadup on that does, uh, Dr. Turner, do you want to say a few words about what you know about student um, membership or what you like about it? >> Yeah. So, uh, in my one of my previous school districts, we had three high schools and so we had, uh, three members, uh, one representing each high school and then we added later on we also had the arts and technology high school. So, we added a fourth student member. Um, and I found it to be a very powerful perspective at the table when
086we were talking about things that impacted kids and impacted schools. You had people right on the front lines that could report to you what that what that was. So, I found it to be very beneficial to the board members as well as the staff to get that um perspective. Additionally, it gives great experience for kids. So, for kids who are interested in some of that stuff, it's a really great opportunity for them as well. So, um I am I am a big fan of it and uh would definitely um support any movement forward in that in that work. >> Gary, >> well, uh Dr. Turner pretty much said what I was going to say as I start to raise my hand. Uh the district I work in uh has a a board representative from the
087student body. I think it's a really important perspective and to have that that person at the table. You don't have to guess about a student opinion during your meeting about what they might or might not think. You've got a representative right there who can speak to it. Um and a and I also agree I think it's a fabulous opportunity for one two however many kids we want involved to get some experience in public service and this school has a huge public service club and always has and I think it's just one more avenue that they get to explore where they get a real world experience and they're non- voting it's it's it's a participatory thing but it gives them a real experience of what it's like to do public service and and and experience one
088of these roles and you don't have to wait till you're you know established in all home and do all the other things have kids in the school district to get your feet wet and find out what committee and board work is like I think it's a great idea >> Hunter >> uh yeah I guess I'll just reiterate some of the ideas I strongly support the idea Um, I think it was kind of funny cuz I had noticed this when I was working on my budget notes and I was going through other districts and saw that they had student reps and I actually honestly almost wrote to you Penn Fenny and said, "Hey, let's explore this idea." And it ended up on this meeting. So, I think it's a great idea. Um, you know, I think
089students are the individuals who are most directly impacted by our decisions. And like Gary said, it'd be great to not have to guess on, well, is this going to impact them or is this going to be hurtful to them or is this going to are they really excited for this? You know, um, I think they can offer firsthand insights into some of the things we discuss all the time. And I I see several clear benefits to this. Um, and I think it also increases transparency and trust between us as a board and and this the school itself. Um, you know, because the student can go back and tell all their friends and say, "Hey, this is what we talked about." Because I I don't I don't know, and I'm not going to assume, but I
090assume that not a lot of high school kids watch our board meetings >> and know what we're talking about uh until things happen. So, I think it'd be great for to have that. Um I I did have some sort of more questions about how you know we're thinking about it being structured. Um which I know that's not really an important thing. More of just like I I question if we went with two students would we and I I don't know if we were going to give them voting or non- voting. I I noticed that it was in the um policies. So I don't know which way we were going to go. I know we're working on it. Um I I do think if we were to give them voting, you know, if there would be
091a way to potentially if there are two students at least have one gray and one new Gloucester student. Um I'm just thinking about the way our board itself is structured if you give >> two new Gloucester kids on the board now. >> New Gloucester has more representation. I was think of that. >> Yeah, I think generally we would be headed towards a they would vote, but it would not be a >> um and advisory members. >> Okay. Yeah. I just had some, you know, more kinks questions of like how are we going to ensure that they get proper training support and I know we do discuss some complex things. I know a lot of people have never even looked at a budget before or you know done public speaking. So just sort of thinking about
092that aspect of like a mentoring as well um I think would be great. I noticed that was in one of the the policies. So just putting that out there. That was pretty much it. >> Great, Lauren. >> I I think it's a great idea. Um I do notice each time when we go to the uh conference in October that the other boards when they always bring their students. So if we do go this route, I'd like to see those students as um attend the conference as well. >> Great idea. Um, I was just going to say I also really support this idea. I was excited when I saw it at on the agenda. So, I look forward to having um conversations about it whether it's um this year or if it happens next year. >>
093Great. Other thoughts? I know that um when I broach this obviously I'm in support of it. Um I just think it's an excellent way to grow our student leaders um and be in touch um with you know a direct reminder of of why we're here and what we're working on. Um we did talk about potential implementation if there was board support. Um should we move towards a two student model? you know, maybe we uh pilot bring on one and then another or you know, these are the the pieces that I already forget, but we I was excited about it. So, Dr. Turner, could you remind me what we were thinking a hopeful timeline was if um >> if we were to decide >> if we were to So, it's a little tricky. Um we had
094talked about a two student model where we have a junior and a senior each year. So essentially like when they're elected, it would be for a two-year term potentially. Um, ideally, and so like you would do an an essentially election in the school in the spring and it would be current sophomores and juniors >> um or or eventually it would be current sophomores um that then could be in place following the community election. So after, you know, the June election, we seat a new a new board most of the time. Even if you've been re-elected, it's still technically a new board that we would have those student members joining at that time. Um, that puts us on a very tight timeline to approve a policy and move forward. Um, and the ball I have dropped
095in this moment as I'm realizing I have not spoken to the high school administration about this yet. Um I have no doubt partly because I have no doubt in my mind that they will be so on board with this that they will say what time. Um but part of it will be engaging with them around a time frame and what makes the most sense to provide that support Hunter was talking about to kids um to make sure they feel prepared to what they're committing to and all of that. Um so as we kind of worked through that process and knowing the timing of the year we were in is what kind of led Penny and I to like maybe we should think about trying to pilot something during the coming school year. um see what
096works, get feedback from the students about how that went and how we could do it better and then, you know, look in the like sort of winter next year to adopt really a final policy and implement our final practices in time for that June seating of the new board. >> Yeah. I I wonder if as part of a pilot with um you know, active participation from the high school, Satie, if you're watching, we'll find out. um to start in the fall essentially with the student government stuff and you know sort of use the year to figure it out and then move towards the timing that would make more sense to the board. Um so something I just wanted to get folks uh feeling on. I didn't want to um trigger a whole bunch of work
097on it if the if the board as a whole thought this was a terrible idea. Um, but based on the feedback tonight, I think we will, um, take a closer look at making that happen. All right. Um, superintendent, uh, we have a new hire. Shauna Henry is coming on as a food service assistant here at the high school. Some people might be a little confused by that because Shauna has been a food service sub for us for a long time and she subs very often. Um, particularly given we've had an open position here for a long time. I think some folks will be surprised that she did not officially work for us, but we did finally, I hear, talk her into it. Um, and are very thrilled to have her uh joining us as a
098food service assistant. Uh, we have a couple resignations. Nicole Wixs, edtech 2 at Dun School. Uh, this does note effective June 30. Um, an update to that. Unfortunately, um, the family change of circumstance uh, has happened immediately uh, and not at the end of the school year as we had hoped. Uh so Nicole uh her resignation is effective um immediately, not June 30th as we had hoped. Uh we are also uh losing Juan, one of our groundskeepers and facilities members. Um I will miss him deeply. I appreciate Juan because even all of the snow days we have and delays I might call or not where they have to really work hard to make sure the schools are ready. Juan always does it with a smile and anytime I'm like, "I'm sorry I brought you coffee."
099He's like, "I don't mind it. It's not, you know, he he always he's always positive about it. So, I will miss him desperately. Uh we have a couple of transfers. Um these are for the coming school year. Uh so we have a retiree at Dun School, a third fourth grade teacher that's retiring. Uh we have a current teacher, Susan Carr, who is a special education teacher currently at Dun School. Uh has applied for and will be transferred to that regular ed classroom uh for the fall. and the other is a little music teacher shifting. Um, currently we have a part-time teacher at Russell School. And then we have Aaron Margaret Libby who works part-time at Dun School and part-time at Memorial School. With the retirement of our Russell school teacher, we are going to transfer
100and and Aaron Margaret requested and and is excited for uh where we're going to have that full-time music teacher be a K2 music teacher. So, she will be at Russell school three days a week and at uh Memorial School two days a week. And um the music teachers work really closely together, but having one teacher that does all of K2 is really going to help with that continuity of programming. So, uh we're really excited she was interested and willing to do that. Uh so, that has resulted therefore in a post 6 or three days a week music teacher at Dun School that is currently posted. So, if you know any music teachers who would like to come to Dun School, we are currently taking applications. We have no new retirements. And um I wanted to
101add some important dates along I know Penny had a couple, but I'm going to add a couple more. Uh our budget process is in full swing. Um and so I want to take every opportunity. There are lots of opportunities for public comment. It's on our website. Um click on budget at the bottom and you'll see the whole schedule. um lots of resources, but of particular notice, our district budget meeting is May 21st. It is right here. Registration will begin at 5:30. We will start at six o'clock. Um we will provide daycare. Uh we would just love to see as many parents and community members as possible be there that day. And then voting day on our budget referendum is June 9th. Absentee ballots should be available by May 11th at most town offices. Um so
102please get out there and vote. And then I have one other thing that's not on the agenda I wanted to add, which is that we are in hiring season back to our post and we probably have I think more teacher positions than we've had in a while. We have a big uh graduating class of retirees this year um which we're sad to lose but excited to bring on new people. Also, uh generally speaking, we have always invited board members to sit on those interview committees because it is so many openings this year. I didn't want to flood your inboxes with every principal. Um, so Penny and I chatted. If you are interested in serving on any of any teacher hiring or a specific teacher, um, if you would let Penny know, she will share that
103information with me and then as the interview process moves forward, I will make sure principles reach out to you if you are interested in participating in interviews. We would love to have you if you are willing and able. Um, but we also understand if you can't. And that's my report. >> All right. I would just um echo that request to raise your hand if you can for um hiring committees. It's a really excellent way to to get firsthand knowledge of the kind of candidates we're getting into the district um and support the school. So, if you have or if there's a particular area you're interested in, just let me know so we can channel the right emails to you instead of flooding everybody with um requests for every opening. Uh any questions for Dr. Turner
104on her report before we adjourn. All right. I would hear a motion to adjurnn at 7:58.