001All right, welcome. I'm going to call the meeting to order. We are um missing a couple of folks. I know where I heard from Fran. Uh perhaps Jim and Misty will join us, but we have a quorum either way. So, let's get going. Um please stand and join me for the pledge. [Music] All right. Uh, we're trying out some new equipment tonight, so please bear with us and enjoy our uh fancy theater mics. I promise Cam Meek, if you're watching, we're being very careful. Um, though he's graduated now, he has to have handed the baton to someone. Um, so upcoming meetings, we have July 24th, that is a Thursday budget validation meeting right here in the high school cafeterium. The meeting itself will start at 6 pm. The doors will open for voter registration at
0025:30. We also will have, thanks to some high school students from the community service club and um the National Honor Society, we will have free child care. Um parents can drop off children in the library. In the library? Yeah. >> In the library, there'll be some snacks, there'll be some games, they'll also use the um courtyard outside if the weather is nice. Um and we will have some adults um in there as well. So, feel free to take us up on that. July 30th, we will have a business meeting potentially to uh continue hiring staff. 6:30 place to be determined. We have added something that I'll speak to later, but August 20th, we will have a facilities meeting followed by a board workshop starting at 5:30 at the Dun Library. And August 26 will be
003our second budget referendum at the polls. Um 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. for New Glouester residents at the fire station and 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. for Gray at New Begin Gym. So um action relative to additions or adjustments to the agenda. I have one to get us started. The executive session on the agenda was um a holding spot that we do not need. So, we will take that off. Does anyone else have any additions or amendments they want to make to the agenda? Right. Great. Seeing none, I would welcome any comments from the audience. Anybody? Is that microphone on? Yeah. Well, is anyone going to use it? Okay. I would hear an action uh to accept as printed the minutes of our June 18th regular business meeting. >> So move. >> Someone want to
004second it. >> All right. >> Giving Lauren time. >> Giving Lauren a minute. Um anyone see anything in those minutes? Um credits. No. All right. All in favor? opposed. Maggie, can you see us? All right. About that angle. If any Okay. If anyone opposes anything, I'll make a big show of it so you'll know. Okay. Great. All right. Moving on. We have no old business. For new business, we are going to take up um our proposed budget. Before we get into a motion on that, I thought it made sense to invite Sam to give a little report. um to the meeting about the finance committee meeting that happened last week. >> Thank you, Penny. Uh hopefully this is not too hot. Um and I think uh most of the people here were also at the
005finance committee meeting, but uh for the general public, anybody who's streaming, just want to give a little rundown of a really kind of long and thorough discussion of a lot of data. Um and then we went through uh Superintendent Turner's proposed budget. So um so just as an example, uh David and Jen uh from the business office really put together um some great slices of our historical data. So we looked at uh three-year article expenditure balances, right? Um it gave us a great picture that you know there isn't sort of a universal trend of us always underpending every article. Some articles are overspent, some articles are underspent, right? So it it's not as though you know kind of the overage that we've seen is universal. Also, we see that we're getting closer and closer to
006the mark in the last three years as we've kind of escaped COVID and we have a little more certainty. Uh we've had a little more certainty uh in our budgeting and we've come really close. We spent more than again these are unaudited numbers because the fiscal year just closed on uh July 1st, but uh we spent more than 95% uh of our budget. I think it was 95.5% uh of the budget in the last year. Um, and that's still with maybe a couple bills hanging out there. Um, so, you know, we had a lot of confidence there that we're going in the right direction. Um, and then we've also, uh, gotten some feedback that, um, it's a little bit difficult to see the forest for the trees when you look at our 84 page thousand
007line item budget. So, the business office did a great job of looking at our expenditures by function area. And you can see that, you know, there's some function areas like transportation where uh we have uh budgeted more that we've used on a consistent basis, but that's something that we knew. We knew we can't hire bus drivers. We knew we had uh money from unfilled positions. Um but then you other you see other things like the um you know the school board contingency, the school board administration. uh we've overspent and that makes sense because we had a superintendent change in the last year and you know we had kind of overlapping superintendent expenditures for a little while. We had to hire a recruitment firm all that sort of stuff. So uh I think it gave the
008uh committee a really good view of uh how we spend our money in a couple of different ways and I think we had some some confidence that you know we were sort of being responsible and doing the right things. Um and then you know I think there's been a lot of discussion about uh the fund balances and you know what exactly is in each fund and so we have a great uh fund balance breakdown that we can look and anybody who wants to look at this stuff it's in the finance committee uh meeting folder from uh last week you can dive into all these spreadsheets yourself. Um but you can see where we've been spending down uh our funds uh in a way that maybe we are saying in a narrative function but we haven't
009necessarily shown in this manner in numbers um because you know we were told and it was prudent to carry a little bit more money during uh the sort of COVID pandemic when there was a lot of uncertainty and we had some federal dollars coming in legislature told us we could go up to 9% in our unassigned balance and now we are drawing that down we d We drew down uh by $750,000 in the last year. And we heard a report from Jen and David that if we sort of do everything we've outlined that we're doing, we'll likely draw it down by a little bit more uh in this coming year. We they believe we're going to spend basically every dollar available to us. And that's because the the last thing that we looked at was
010a little bit of our revenues. uh you know, Jen reminded us that those ED279 uh revenue numbers that we get uh we sort of think of them as set in stone when in reality they are sort of estimates from the state government. And this year we got about $200,000 less from the state than we thought. So when you kind of combine that with the amount of money that we're rolling over and the 95.5% that we've spent of the budget, you know, we really get to this place where there's, you know, nickels in the cushions. uh for this year's budget. So, uh we felt really good about the path that we've taken. Um and so then we looked at uh the superintendent's proposed budget summary, which hopefully everybody's had a chance to look at. Um and
011uh you know, as a result of being able to look at some things in July versus in April when we have to put together the first draft, um we found a fair amount of savings. uh when we saw the real selections by our staff for the health insurance for instance, we realized that it would come in about uh I think it was about $100,000 less than we had sort of conservatively projected. Uh David found uh some savings by finding a better interest rate on the HVAC bond that we put out there than we were expecting. So that saved us a little bit of money. uh we were able to save some money by using a private contractor for our uh family medical leave act uh provider. We shave about a half a percentage uh of
012spending off there. And so all told, we were able to uh find about $350,000 in savings and reductions, which would bring down the overall budget increase by a full percentage point uh from where we last put it in front of voters. And uh we took a vote on that. Um uh one of the committee members made a motion to reduce the superintendent's proposed number by I think it was $ 1.5 million. Uh that amendment did not get a second. And then we went to a full vote and it passed 4 to one. Um and then we went and looked at the revenue side uh and really just took a hard look at what rolling over $1.25 to 5 million from our general fund would mean for our fund balances. Uh you know we took a
013look at the committed uh fund balance and talked a lot about how we had been stashing money there in the capital reserve on purpose. Um, you know, one of the reasons that, uh, you know, we saw a million dollars move from our unassigned balance to our, uh, committed funds because, if people remember, two years ago, we or two years in a row, we took $500,000 and put it in that capital reserve with the, uh, intention of using it to kind of seed uh, a big bond and capital project that ended up being uh, defeated at the polls. But, you know, we was trying to be prudent with that money that we had left over rather than just roll it all the way over and then ask for it again when we went to the bond.
014Uh, so, uh, in the end, we, uh, no one wanted to make a motion to, uh, change that 1.25 rollover. Um, and so we, uh, still recommend from the finance committee that, uh, we roll over that much, uh, from the revenue side and that we support the proposed budget, uh, from the superintendent as presented in our packet. Happy to answer any questions about all that deliberation. >> Thank you, Sam. Does anyone have any questions about the finance committee meeting? >> Great. >> I think everybody's there. So, >> yes, that's helpful. All right. So, let's in the spirit of staying organized, um hear a motion on the proposal amount and get into discussion after >> I make a motion um to discuss the approving of the 2025 school budget proposal in the amount of $34,900,665 for
015public ratification. Second. >> All right. Discussion, questions, thoughts. Uh, yes. Um, there's a a slight uh number discrepancy. Um, >> a lesson in wear your glasses when you have them. Um, in a couple of spots that were not official documentation, I accidentally reported the total budget proposal as 34,900,662. It is 6665, which is very clear when one puts their glasses on. Um, so I apologize for that error. All of the official documentation has ha has had 665. I now put my glasses on when I double check that. Um, and the proposal in front of you is 665 also. I my deepest apologies for for that error. >> All right. Thank you. Anyone else? A lot of folks came out on a hot July night. We're not going to give them a a good show spirited
016debate. Sam, >> uh, you know, I just want to make it clear that, uh, I support this budget proposal wholeheartedly, not just as the finance committee chair, but as me, school board member who's been here for 10 years. Um, I just want to emphasize that I really, you know, it's it's not that our process um doesn't have flaws or or can't be improved upon. Shannon and I actually had a great discussion the other day on just sort of brainstorming how we might do things differently. You know, kind of one of the recurring themes of the finance committee meeting was we never thought to look at uh slicing, you know, by functionary. We we haven't actually looked at spending trends by article over a three-year period before in the 10 years I've been on the board.
017It is a good thing to look at things with fresh eyes and you know I appreciate you know you have new people in the business office they they are hey how about this you know I I love brainstorming I love good ideas but I really think that we have been thorough and thoughtful and have put in uh the appropriate amount of work on making sure that we have done our due diligence and I also want to emphasize just how much work gets done before it gets to the school board by our administrative staff and um you know just having Chanda, David and Jen and you know everybody who supports them uh in the central office uh you know just being so attentive as the finance chair I'm able to ask them questions to make sure
018I understand the documents uh they just really know what they're talking about and uh I just want to emphasize that you know it you know the number doesn't magically appear I don't think anybody thinks that but um it is the result of a lot of hard work and that 662 versus 665 is not meaningless. They have a reason for every single dollar uh that they put in front of us and I just want to send my appreciation to them for that. >> Thank you, Sam. Anybody else? Uh, one thought I would add um that's not very transparent to folks joining us or watching from home that everyone on the board is aware of is when we get an email, when we get a phone call in um to our group, they are shared amongst all
019board members. And this was probably the biggest um communication getter I've had since I've been on the board. And I will say that every single message we received was consistent in the request that we not impact students and changes to the budget, that we not um impact staffing, uh that we make um as narrow choices as we as we can to to give the kids the um the education they deserve. So we did get a fair amount of uh emails and phone calls to that effect as well. So going, going, gone. Anyone else want to chime in? Me. This was my first budget goround. Soup to nuts. And I really feel like Is it not working? >> Oh, did you turn it on? >> I did. >> Oh, there you go. >> I did. Here
020I am. There you go. >> Um, this was my first budget process from beginning to end. And I really do appreciate the hard work that Admin put in because when they present stuff to us, it really is coherent. It's easy for us to try to figure out what's going on. Yes, some of the reports are huge, but they've always answered a question or told me how to find something. And I really feel like that they did the work and then we as a finance committee did the work to try to find savings where we could find savings. We don't want to scrimp on our kids. We're cognizant of the impact we're having on our communities. And I just I support the budget and I appreciate everyone's hard work. >> Great. Hunter, >> can you hear
021me? Uh, I'd just like to add to that, you know, as being someone new to this whole sort of process, I think the central office has really listened to our requests. Um, they've come back with lots of helpful information, at least to me. Um, I know Sam said it best in the finance committee last week. Um, you know, there's not really much more that they can do. I mean, if you really add up the numbers, it's like what? 4.79 increase and 4.5 of that is important stuff for our teacher contracts and benefits. Um, so there's really not much more that we can take away from. um it'd be really nitpicking and but I will say that the finance committee and the board itself has really done a good job uh since the budget last failed
022and um really listening and uh putting their input into it. Thank you. >> Thanks Hunter Gary. >> Um I just wanted to add add that um I supported the original budget. I still support the original budget. I thought it was I thought it was fair. Um, I give the business office a lot of credit and thank them for going back and taking another look with the instruction that we not touch kids, that we not touch instruction, that we keep the core of our in of our mission intact. And they did that and came up with I mean $350,000. It's not it's not a small amount of money. It's, you know, it's a substantial piece. And uh I'm grateful they were able to do that without again going into and having to adjust any of the
023core stuff that we really we we felt was important. Uh so it's a long process. It was done really well. I think we've had more transparency this year than ever and uh we'll just continue to do that. I think I think it was really well done and I appreciate it. >> Great. Thank you. Good. All right. Well, let's move to a vote. All in favor? All right, Misty. Any opposed? You got that, Maggie? We're We're all in. Okay, great. So, now to move through all the other pieces related to this, we will want to hear. We have to decide on open or closed articles. As a reminder before we do a motion, uh open open articles will enable folks to at the budget validation meeting to make amendments both up and down. Um closed articles
024can be amended down but cannot be amended up. Uh traditionally we have done closed articles in the interest of um time and organization essentially. So I would hear a motion on that. >> So moved. >> Which one? >> The a motion for um the uh open >> closed sorry closed articles. >> All right. Any discussion on that Sam? >> Y >> uh for the first time in the 10 years I've been on the board, I think this is actually an interesting question. Um when you look at how narrow the so first of all the budget passed uh not like handily at the first validation meeting but I think was always you know 20 vote I think every article back passed by more votes at the validation meeting than our budget lost by in the end.
025Um, so when you talk about a 19 vote razor margin, I'm not a 100% sure that we have like, you know, rock solid information on the will of the community. And you know, this is the first time where if a community member wanted to roll in and say, you know, I move that uh we raise it back up to the number that uh we passed at our last validation meeting, which is actually the budget that we're operating under right now by law because it did pass at validation. I don't think that's a crazy thing to do. So, I think I am going to vote no on closed and uh I would just because normally I'm like, "Yeah, definitely closed." You know, I think we've got a good thing here and uh we want to make
026sure that we're responsible, blahy blahy. But, you know, this is the first time we've done this in 20 years and I am in favor of letting people make an a an article bigger if they want. >> Okay. Anyone else have a thought on that? I may have asked for a legal opinion on this in advance having similar thoughts and not being sure like why do we just do it that this way. Um the advice is you open the door to an extremely extensive meeting that may result in things, you know, veering wildly um from not necessarily the same amount of information that the admin came to this number and that the finance committee came to this number and the board came to this number and then we risk going to vote in August with a
027wildly different budget that then gets voted down again and we start all over. So, um, I personally lean towards closed because we didn't, the work that was done to change the budget was responsible based on having better information and, you know, was was pretty done with a scalpel, not a hatchet. So, um, you know, if we had gone and taken 2 million off of this, I would feel differently. I'm hoping for a a concise uh quick and effective validation meeting. So that's my concern. Although in the spirit of excitement, I certainly would enjoy it. So um anyone else want to uh throw in their two cents? Misty? >> Oh second. test. Test. Okay. >> So, I love where Sam was going with this. I agree with him, but at the same time, um I think
028that going back to the polls with the same numbers or the same budget number, um we would just be back for failure again. So, um I'm okay with the the closed. Anyone else? Is that a Is that a hand, Sharon? >> No. Okay. >> Okay. All right. Um, so, as a reminder, the motion on the table is for closed. So, let's go ahead with a vote on that. All in favor of closed. Okay. Pay attention, Maggie. This is going to be fun. Um, opposed. So, we just have Sam. Okay, great. So, that passes. Um, now next up is we need to approve the warrant for the budget meeting. Um, I would hear a motion on this item. >> I make the motion that we approve the warrant for the budget meeting. >> You have to
029read that. approved and that a district budget meeting can be called for July 24th, 2025 for the purpose of voting on the annual budget for the district for the 2025 2026 fiscal year discussion questions second. >> Okay, gotcha. Thanks. All right, all in favor? Perfect. Thank you. So, we will move ahead with that. And then, um, next up here, a motion on the warrant and notice of election. I make a motion that we moved that the warrant and notice of election for the district budget validation referendum be approved and that a district budget validation referendum be called for August 2020 I'm sorry August 26, 2025 for the purpose of approving the budget adopted at the district budget meeting for the 2025 2026 fiscal year. >> Second discussion on that just just we're going to call
030that referendum. All right, great. All in favor? Perfect. And then one more. We have to hear a motion on the notice of amounts. So, I make a motion to move that the notice of amounts adopted at the budget meeting be approved and that the superintendent of schools of the district be authorized and directed to complete said notice in accordance with the district budget meeting on July 24th, 2025 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 August 2026, I'm sorry, August 26, 2025 by district budget validation referendum. >> Second discussion? No. All right. All in favor? All right. Great. So, and actually we're going to take a a brief time out here and Maggie
031is going to have us sign the associated paperwork. Uh, please. [Music] Do we have to worry about signing on the same line? >> We have a name. Wow. You get better every year, Maggie. Thank you, Maggie. All right. And thank you for everybody both on the board, finance committee, and our community for taking so much time this summer to participate um and taking seriously uh the charge of revisiting our budget. I really appreciate it. And we're not done. So, the most important thing is ahead that uh budget validation meeting on the 26. Please um come and bring five friends with you. So, next >> and your kids. Bring your kids. There's going to be crafts, snacks. Um sorry, the 24th. I read down at the July 24th. All right. Moving into the best part of
032any of our meetings. We have some teachers to hire. I would hear a motion to consider Miss McGee. [Music] I make a motion that we consider Bailey McGee for our first probationary contract as a math science teacher at the middle school. >> Second. So I I um did tell the teachers and the principles normally we have them present given the nature of the current state of affairs. I I did not ask them to come. Instead we're going to have them all the all of the ones you haven't met will come to our meeting in September so that you can meet them and say hello to them and all of those things. In the meantime I am very excited to talk about Bailey McGee who's going to be joining our hopefully our middle school team. Um
033Bailey is a graduate of the University of Maine of Augusta and the University of Maine. She has a degree in wildlife ecology as well as um done some methods work and that sort of thing to get her teaching license. Um she's been an edtech 3 at Freeport Middle School for the last year and that's what made her decide to jump into teaching. Prior to that, she spent some time um as a wildlife conflict agent actually right up here at our own grey wildlife park, you know, wildlife um location. Uh she also has done um field trip environmental educator, that sort of work at Maine Ottabon, um teacher assistant there for a very long time. So, she is very excited to come on board with us and I couldn't be more thrilled to introduce her virtually
034to you. >> Great. Questions for Dr. Turnar about this candidate. >> So, we have hired a wildlife conflict expert as a middle school teacher. >> It's appropriate. >> Seems like that's a good fit to me, >> Missy. [Music] So with her animal experience, great. But what about math and science experience? >> Great question. So she is um certified in both and she has done Whoops, I flipped to the wrong person. Flip back. Um so she that is what she did her undergraduate in addition to wildlife ecology. She then um went back to do some more work around her teaching certificate. So, um, we are going to be using her talents at least at first, primarily in science. Um, but she does have those math skills as well. Excellent. Anyone else? All right. All in favor?
035Opposed? Wonderful. Uh, looking forward to meeting her as is my seventh grader. Next up, uh, Morgan Schwin. I make a motion to consider Morgan Schwin for a first probationary contract as a math teacher in the high school. >> Second. >> So Morgan is uh going to be joining our hopefully joining our high school u math department and she is a new grad teacher coming into the field. We're very excited to have um a new grad joining us. I think it might be one of our first actually in our hiring season this year. Uh Morgan is finishing up her bachelor of science in secondary education mathematics at the University of Maine. She just finished this this past spring. She did her student teaching at Oldtown High School um and JA Leonard Middle School. So she got
036a little bit um of both as well as doing field placements up in East Machias, which is the area that she's from. Um additionally, uh Morgan was a div one volleyball player. So, as we expand our volleyball program, it will be lovely to have that kind of expertise on our staff. All right, questions? All in favor? Great. Any oppose? All right. Fantastic. And now Russell School. >> So, I make a motion to consider Megan Brooks for a second probationary contract as a teacher at Russell School. >> Second. So, this one is a little bit different than what you're used to seeing. Um, Megan uh Brooks, formerly known as Pace, some people may know her as Miss Pace, came on board to take a one-year only position with us at Dun School this past school year,
037where she um was an incredible asset to our team. She has extensive uh experience in the math program that we were introducing at Dun School at the time and that we currently use at Russell School. So, she became a leader on her team and at Dun School in helping that transition go well. We couldn't be more thrilled. But the teacher for whom she was um replacing for the one year that they were on leave has come back, which we're also thrilled about because they are also a fantastic teacher. But it meant we did not have a placement for Miss Pace or Miss Brook, Mrs. Brooks. So, um we we we were very very upset we might be losing her. Um but she applied for the Russell school position. she came out as the top candidate
038in that process. So, we could not be more thrilled to keep her in our system. Um, so in this case, even though she is new to this placement under the teacher contract, she's nominated for a second probationary contract with us. Uh, as far as Megan's background, she has a bachelor's degree in English from Stonehill College and a master of art and teaching from Sacred Heart University. Uh, she has been teaching going back to I should have counted the years for you, but I was just so excited we were keeping her. I didn't. um all the way back to 2016 is when she first started teaching. She's taught mostly in Connecticut and a little bit in Massachusetts. And then as I said, she's been with us for one year and we could not be more thrilled
039to have the opportunity to keep her. >> Missy, >> uh what will she be teaching? >> Uh so second grade. >> Okay. So there's no specific sub subject, correct? All the grades. >> Yes. >> Okay. Just making sure. >> Anyone else? All right. All in favor? Great. Fantastic. Glad that we can keep Megan. That's it for hiring for today. Um, next item is to appoint a delegate for the main school board association delegate assembly. So this is that um correct me if I'm wrong Gary fairly lengthy meeting that happens but it is by Zoom for the purpose of uh you want to actually tell us a little bit about it instead of seeing if I butcher it or not. >> Uh tends to be about I think the shortest one I've done it for several
040years. Shortest one was about four hours on Zoom. Um between now and then there'll be multiple uh issues and proposals and things that the main school management um or main schoolboard association wants to support and they'll we'll see all of those ahead of time and u this is a uh basically a meeting amongst all the appointed delegates to hear a final presentation on all those proposals uh and to vote in favor or not in favor of them. And uh basically the our representative goes and represents us. We'll have a conversation prior to that meeting about in general about what those proposals are are are like and whether or not we support them as a board. And then your job is to kind of attend that meeting and uh and vote. Uh it has gotten shorter
041over the years as people have become more comfortable with technology. The first hour is usually trying to figure out how to get people logged in and logged on and and how to vote and um how to turn their microphones on. Uh it's amazing how even after COVID people didn't and all the experience we had with Zoom over CO that people are still struggling but uh it can be interesting. It can be a long day. >> All right. Is uh there anybody who's interested in doing a deep dive into the work of MSMA and being our delegate? >> I'd be willing to do it again if nobody wants to do it. >> Anyone? >> Okay. >> Sharon, >> you want to fight for this one? >> All right. So, uh, Sharon has expressed some interest in
042in learning and trying new things. Um, this seems like a great opportunity. So, >> get a Saturday in the fall back to for my own use. That's fine. >> Perfect. So, why if if it that >> I move we appoint Sharon as our delegate to the MSBA delegate assembly. >> I actually think we just have to appoint someone. I don't know that we need to vote on it. >> Sure, we definitely need to vote. >> Okay. Okay. Um, and then so all in favor of Sharon being our delegate. Great. Um, and then Gary, would you be willing to to back do the backup? >> Oh, sure. Uh, sometime will forward your name to the association and sometime between now, well, you were the alternate last year, so time so sometime between now and you'll get
043email information and they'll tell you what's going on. Great. >> And how to log in on stuff. But yeah, >> how to use it. >> Okay. Um, all in favor of having Gary be the backup just in case. Yes. Wonderful. Thank you. [Music] >> I bumped I bumped Gary down from saying he would do it. It was going to be Gary, Sam. Then we're gonna we're gonna bring Sharon in. So then Sam falls off and doesn't have to be the backup. Second alternate Sam. Great. It's amazing. I appreciate this enthusiasm for the work. All right. Great. Um, all next committee reports. We already heard our report from finance and nobody else has met yet. Uh, chair report, that's me. I sent everyone an email, but it was this afternoon, so I don't expect that you've
044all had time to see it. Um, it is in your inbox. >> Hey Benny, I read that. >> You did. Good job, Misty. Congratulations. Um, we have just some recap of upcoming meetings. Um, we already talked about the budget validation. I would really appreciate um helping spread the word. It is going to be hard, I think, to gather folks on a July evening. That is a big ask. So I don't take for granted that we will just have our usual 150 folks show up. So um I expect the board to attend and bring um some friends with you would be great. Wednesday is the July 30th is on hold. We do have the a new addition. um facilities does need to meet ahead of September um in hopes of uh considering application for additional uh
045revolving renovation funds that are um have a deadline on grant application. So we want to make sure that committee exists and uh takes a look at that. We're gonna try our new space at the Dun Library and we will have a workshop to follow hopefully talking about some onboarding stuff, some goals, um some plans for the future and we're going to have that in the comfortable space of the library as well. So, I'm not sure if folks got a chance to look, but I did link to the draft form of our meeting calendar for the year. Thank you, Maggie, for working on that. um subject to change and not yet posted on the website. Um we've made some juggling around. So I want to make sure folks see eyes to that and understand why. Um
046facilities meeting ahead of our monthly business meetings seemed tight. It was we were rushing to finish that meeting every single time. Um with the interest of giving facilities a little breathing room. uh curriculum is generally a committee that is able to meet within the bounds of their hour. We have a new director who will be eager to spend some time with and will likely be coming to some of our uh business meetings. So, putting those together will make um her life a little easier and have us get to know her a little better. So, we're going to move curriculum ahead of the business meeting. The second Wednesday, personnel and facilities by having facilities go second. Again, if facilities needs five or 10 extra minutes, we're not um running into problems there. And we have a
047fair amount of over in the lap on those two committees of folks who serve on both personnel and facilities this year. So, that puts those together. Um the third Wednesday policy is not as not looking to be as busy this year as we typically are. Knock on wood. um there has not been a significant um amount of material from the legislature this year. So that is um sometimes an issue on third Wednesdays because if there is a school vacation or holiday, we do not have a meeting. Uh so we think policy can weather that and we'll have board workshops to follow if as unless it's holiday week. Uh the fourth Wednesday we'll have finance again. uh finance may have um some substantial work to do this year. This will allow them to be the only
048meeting of the night and if it runs over, you're not um up against another meeting. The fifth Wednesday, should it occur, is a week off. So, um >> and and there is at least one. So, um as usual, first meeting will be at 5:30, second at 6:30 when we have two. um any questions? Folks could take a look at that at your leisure and get back to me directly if you have a major um conflict or issue there. But um I think for the most part we did a lot of work on how many meetings that means for people and two people took a hit and it's me and Jim and he's not uh here to defend himself. So, um well, everyone is is pretty confined to two or three um two or three Wednesdays
049a week. Um not not quite the case for Jim and I, but we'll survive. So, any any questions or thoughts on that? Okay, great. And then just looking ahead, um Chanda has I think started having some one-on-one meetings with the um goal of getting to everyone on the board. So you will likely hear from Maggie if you have not yet had that meeting or had that meeting scheduled. Um and then once that's finished, I think um Chander will come back and maybe share some takeaways um or themes with us as a group. And then I know we've brought this up before and I can't really remember what we did with it other than thinking it was a good idea. Um I would like to consider adding a liaison for Gray and New Gloucester. Um this
050would be a board member on the school board committed to staying connected to the town. So a a new Glouester board member to be our connection with the um town council selectman and new Glouster. And then the same one of our gray members be um that contact for Gray. I don't know exactly what that would look like. Um perhaps in our committee reports, we could could save time to hear from those folks. Not necessarily that they would have something every month. Um but I would like to see us sort of looking to build community and connection and we've had a lot of turnover. So, um, I would welcome thoughts on this, but I'm thinking policy might be the place to start to have, you know, just run through the policies. Do we need to make
051a change? Um, does this constitute as a significant change to our biler policies? Is it something we can add as an as an ad hoc? Um, and we have a joint leaders meeting coming up at the end of July with Gray and New Glouester that um, Chand and Lauren and I will attend. So if we do pick up those those leaison maybe we take turns going to that or whatnot. Sam >> uh it sounds like a great idea. I do think policy is the right place for it. Mostly I'm talking because um when you go to that joint leaders meeting on the 29th, I'm assuming this will be a topic, but if it's not um I've seen that um new Gloucester is talking about accepting some money to uh operate the former YMCA on the
052Pineland campus >> and I want a piece of that uh as the district. um you know there's a big gym space there that uh you know we need gym space or you know um so I'm just as a point of discussion the I think we as a district um you know whether we can kick in or whatever it happens to be you know that's an asset that I would certainly like access to if we can get access to it. >> Okay, great point. Um, just making a note of that for New Gloucester. That is current business of the New Gloucester Selectman. Um, so folks who live in New Gloucester also may want to follow that and or reach out to those folks um with your thoughts on that proposal. So, uh, so we won't look
053for folks tonight, I suppose, if we're going to kick this to policy, but if people want to be thinking about it, um, if it's something that you're, uh, interested in doing, uh, or serving as or being a guinea pig for that, um, I think there's a lot of opportunity there. Misty, >> can we get a list of when those meetings are because it might conflict with somebody that wants to be the liaison and has a schoolboard meeting if it's on a Wednesday? >> Microphone. >> Does anyone know Slickman? I think are on Mondays. >> Monday >> and I think Gray always meets on Tuesdays. >> Okay. But I think it would be good to know like what is the what are their schedules >> commitment I guess like are they looking for us are they
054looking for the leaison to be at every town meeting once a month. I think it would be good to know like what is sort of the >> commitment yeah the expectations >> and this was um just to be clear our idea. So I think that would also just be something to think about or bring to policy. How often do select men board meet? What do we think is you know what do we think this would look like? Um, so yeah. >> So, >> is this something you're planning to bring up at joint beaters? >> At least as the question if they'd be if they >> Yes. I actually brought it up at the last joint leaders. So, and it was at the time a a welcome idea. >> Of course, the leaders have changed since
055then. >> Yeah. So, I'll I'll bring it up again. Yep. >> So, >> great. And we'll u put that on the agenda for the first policy meeting. So, that is all I have. Superintendent, >> um, I wanted to just circle back quickly to, um, Penny's point about scheduling meetings. I know Penny, uh, Penny, I know Maggie is working on that. Um, I am driving her a little crazy on that. Uh, for those of you I haven't shared with, my family has a blueberry farm and, uh, we bring in about 30 to 50,000 pounds of blueberries in a 3 to five day period. And you never know when that 3 to 5 day period is going to be till about a couple days before. So she's got this like gap in my calendar that she's not
056quite daring to book because it might be blueberries. So as soon as I know that harvest, my schedule's going to open way up and Maggie's going to be hot on the phone. So thank you the blueberries. Thank you for your patience. Um and as does my family. So um okay, so the important piece, we have a couple new hires. Um Derek Dazzio is coming on as a second shift custodian here at the high school which is very needed and we so appreciate it. >> Um Kaylee Chase is coming on full-time as a van driver in transportation as well as a van aid. Um what you will see come up in next months is that's almost it's a transfer but it's not a transfer. Kaylee has been working part-time as a van driver and as an
057edtech for us uh for the last school year. She's going to move into being fully a van driver. It's not technically a transfer because those are two different jobs within the support contract. Um, so she's a new hireer as a van driver. That's going to be her full-time gig um, next year. So, we will miss her as an edtech, but we love that she is not leaving the MSAD15 family. We have two resignations, Suzanne Verrell, an edtech at the Dun School, and um, Izzy Wlette, our M one of our mechanics here at transportation. And that has been the movement since I last saw you. All right. Thank you. And that uh with the elimination of our executive session gets us to the end of the meeting. I am very delighted to adjourn at 7:21. >>
058Thank you everyone.