001Any adjustments to this agenda? Any adjustments? No? Public participation. Tenny, did you want to speak? >> [laughter] >> The board also recognizes the value of public comments on school and educational matters. Public comment is limited to 3 minutes per person for those who wish to speak. This is a time for the board to listen to input from the public. Thank you in advance for attending our meetings and sharing your comments. This is policy BEDH. Thank you. You're welcome. Strategic planning review summary of RSU 20 community feedback for strategic planning. So I can turn it on. So I gave you a couple packet a couple pieces documents. Um so based on a number of things, we did uh staff survey. We did community survey. We did student focus groups at the middle school and the high
002school asking questions about our district and then we had the strategic night in January that in include community members. I took all of those notes, put them all together and it's so cool. Sorry. AI. There are some good things about AI. Plugged in all of my my notes and this summary popped out. And it's very similar to the summary that I had created on all my notes and I was just curious how if it would marry and and it does. So I'm sharing this with you. I think this could be helpful information but it is again at the top you can see of all the information the data that we collected. Um that kind of talks about what the where we are at a current state of analysis, areas for improvement that were were identified.
003Um the second section was about future goals and aspirations that they identified then strategic changes needed and then there we had included a lot of historical data a context and identity that when we did the timeline um in January. And then ideas for mission and vision and logo and branding identity. So that's that document and then I think that you're all aware that Josh Toothaker has been sharing with us his steps as far as NEASC and certification. One of the things that they needed to do was uh create a portrait of a graduate. What I was most appreciative, this is the work not of Josh and Bill. This is the work of their teachers of their staff. And then when they had draft one and maybe draft two or three done, he brought it down
004to the elementary school to the teachers there in a staff meeting to make it a K-12 portrait of a graduate not just and it was really interesting. Tenny was there as well. It was really interesting because the teachers are like, why are you giving this to us? They were really surprised and like confused. And Josh explained that it's important that as a K-12 continuum we're all working toward the same goal. The end goal of what does it look like to be a graduate of RSU 20. So they had um the power to give feedback and to make suggestions and things and again so this is I think the final draft. I think this is where they're at and that they're submitting. And I think it's really helpful because they also created um uh a mission
005statement and a vision statement which are really good. Um and it might be something that we say, you know what? In you know, we had some ideas I think at the strategic planning in January but Josh also used some of those ideas that came out of that with his team as well and I think that we it could be a potential possibility that we use these or something very similar to these. Um I think it's really important that what we do becomes the mission and vision of the whole district and of our schools and not separate. Not that we have something at the way. It should be that we have the same mission district wide. So Um do you need time to read these documents before we few minutes? And did you get a chance
006to see them beforehand? I read the mission and vision statement and I loved them. So I think step one if you go back to if we go back to the summary of feedback. Generally a strategic plan has three to five goals. Generally they say three is what's best and then update them but you can go as many as five but they recommend not going more than five. And that you pick a timeline so that you do say in the next three years or in the next five years. These are the things that we really want to focus on. These are the things that we want to accomplish um in RSU 20. So it really is your pleasure um to kind of identify and it could be based on this or it could be things that
007are totally missing from this that you think it's really important that we pay attention to and set goals for. But this will lead our work through budgets in the future through any any of the work that we're doing for through professional development and work with our teachers. These goals will kind of be the framework that supports the the things that we're doing. Somebody's calls ended. Somebody said this is the I mean, just one short in reference to this. That document, yes. And I looked on page So, they showed areas of improvement. So, those are the things that people identify that are working well now and areas for improvement. On page two, they If you look at, they talked about again from student staff and community future goals and aspirations. And then there's the the strategic
008changes that could be that you could focus on. So, um That's funny because one of the things I noticed that I thought was missing from this was something speaking about grit. Ah. Like this is going to sound harsh. This is going to sound harsh, but this seems a little like the the concept is lovely and covers, but it's a little soft. And I think that we need Is your speaker on? Yeah. It's a workshop. It's still with tape. Sorry. Um sorry. That's fine. On the with regards to portrait of a of a graduate and looking at the page two of the document you prepared, I remember being at that meeting and grit came up in every group that I went to in that library. And that's here, but it's not here. Oh, okay. And so,
009I think grit can also speak to cuz this is very lovely. Mhm. I agree. Um but grit also speaks to the behavior standards and teaching kids to work through difficult things that they're not used to doing big emotions and and rules and things of that nature, right? >> Okay, cuz Mhm. Sometimes you have to do things in high school that you don't necessarily like or middle school or elementary school, right? So, I >> Yeah, which prepares you for life. So, um if we can find a way to incorporate some part of PD and and development for the students in the curriculum that specifically resolve revolves around grit. Um I think that's important. And the public said that repeatedly almost in every one of those sections. And we have it in the desired student skills in
010the portrait of a graduate in this part right here. On this one, yeah. >> Yes. But not here. >> I know. That's why I'm saying the portrait of a graduate. It's in your part, but not Oh, there was yeah. >> [clears throat] >> Mhm. Character and soft skills. Yeah. Okay, so I have a note. So, grit working through things even when when it is a challenge. Is that Did I capture it? >> preferred like practice or activity. I think it goes under the self-awareness. Whoopsie. I mean it goes under part of that goes under the awareness of self. I mean, realistically, if you look at that, it it it should be an underlying component in each one of those, right? Cuz you need academic grit to keep trying when you don't succeed at first, right?
011And not uh ju- not stopping at the three, maybe thrive saying, "You know what? I'm going to try this again. Mrs. Speagle's going to let me try again and I'm going to go for the 3.5 or the four." Right? And that comes with uh self-awareness and grit. And I think an awareness of the world like we have created some very independent and encompassing thinkers here, but they're going to go out into the real world and people may not agree regardless of how nice and pleasant and whatever. Uh and so, teaching some of that I think is you're not always going to get what you want even when you work super hard at it, right? And so, celebrating successes, but also learning how to navigate the no's. I think needs to be part of that, yeah.
012both of them. >> Mhm. And I'm not a teacher, so someone walk me through >> [clears throat] >> the concept of This is where the weird part of me comes out. Fundamental academic skills. So, to me, because I'm not an educator, I hear the most basic possible, not competitive with other areas. So, someone walk me through what that means. Please. Which one was it, Ruth? That First one. >> Perfect. Yeah. Yeah, like fundamental cuz I mean, I think one of the things that we also talked about >> [cough and clears throat] >> Excuse me. >> And we've talked about this. I know the three of us have and I know you've when since you've been on have talked about this, too, is that we want our kiddos We want this school to be competitive cuz
013we want people to come here. Right? And we want our kids when they leave here to be able to compete with students from all across the state and New England when they start trying to get into colleges and jobs. So, is to me the word fundamental means just the bare minimum to pass the state standard. And I'm wondering, is that what that means? And if it is, is that where we want to lie? No, it is not where we want to lie. And I don't know if that's what it means. So, Well, the next line says who strives for academic growth. So, you start with the basics and you have a desire to grow from there. And I think and then going down to the self-aware- awareness of self, is that growth mindset? That you're
014always thinking about how you can grow yourself, how you can get better at something. But I think that they're not suggesting that's the be-all, end-all, I think, but they're saying that they have a broad set of fundamental academics, but I think then they're focusing on the niche, the things that they're most passionate about. But that could be sewing, it could be financial literacy, it could be all kinds of things that we have a broad, I think, range of skills that we're working on. But then we're picking the things that at part of your self-awareness, what are the things that really matter to me that I really want to get better at. But we want them all to at least to have this level of the I think of a the the the base, your basement,
015right? Your your foundation. These are The foundational skills are your thing that's holding everything else up as you build up. You kind of sometimes narrow those ideas as you get more passionate about something. That would be my guess. Mhm? I know about the board. And I also weigh in just a little bit. >> It's a workshop, right? Um the for me, a synonym for a fundamental would be functional. So, students are acquiring the functional skills to be able to then stretch themselves, to to investigate what they're interested in, to be able to stretch themselves. They've got to have, as Laura said, the foundation or the functional skills to then acquired at each grade level, to then build upon. >> now stretch. It's not basic. It's the acquired grade level skills. Tim, do you want me
016to have you have that mic right there? >> I guess that's all right. No, you can come up and sit if you want. Well, I Too late. >> I know. Just come sit at the Just sit at the table and then you don't have to do that. Yeah. See? I'll catch you on the next one. Do you Do you see what I'm saying? I do. I do. I just I think and I you may have heard you may have heard me say that the For some, not all, the message is that this is the good enough and as long as I do that, I don't have to do here. And I'm like, do we really want that as the message or do we want kids say, "This is the basic, but we're all going to
017leave here at here." Obviously, there are some students that may not be for whatever reasons That's what I'm just asking. Like, does that set the standard for the And I'll use [clears throat] my own as an example. The you know, we've had to we've had to we've had to we have to we've had to change the rubric at home. Cuz they say, "Is it a three? Well, then that's good." I'm like, "No, it's not here." So, is the So, so this is from using my trying to do my thing in my head. This is the This is the meeting the standard with regards to this, right? Is that where we want to leave? Is that where we Is that where we're going to No, I don't want to say settle. That's the word. That's not
018I don't want to use the word settle. Is that where we're going to land? Is that they've met a standard [laughter] or is there going to be some form of We want these kids to be competitive in the world regardless if it's sewing, swimming, farming, you know, landscaping, whatever it is. We want them to be competitive cuz regardless of what field they go into, whether it's a trade, into the work market, or to a school, they're going to be competing with other kids. So, I I want our students, regardless of their skill set, to be competitive in whatever it is they pursue once they graduate here. Do you see what I'm saying? So, like to to put that at the forefront like You You may not go to UMaine. You may go to a trade
019school. You may go to community college. You may go right into the workforce. You may go to journeyman school, which is thousands and thousands of hours. We want you to be the most competitive when you walk out this door. And I don't know if that Do you know what I'm saying? Like, I don't know if we can add to this so that that message is out there. Got it. Got it. For me, when I'm looking at that and like you, Ruth, I'm not in a classroom. You know, I'm on a different side of the the educational system, but I look at that and that's telling me we want to start at the basic at the bottom and we want everybody to have that same opportunity and then we want to provide to them the skills
020to move forward with where they want to go. I'm not looking at it as saying settling. Settling. I'm not looking at it at all like that. I'm looking at it as building a strong foundation so that they have that to build upon. That's the way I took it. So are you saying the foundation from where we involved the K through 12 and the foundation has got to be built at the elementary school level? >> At the pre-K level and then If if this is what you're saying, we have got to build the foundation from the ground up meaning from from kindergarten up or pre-K and and that's where that's our goal and and to push these kids so to say cuz once they get the basics then that's where the gifted and talented should come
021in. This is where this should come in. This is what we shouldn't stop with certain expectations. We expect them to excel. Exactly. That's but I wonder if the foundation is is what they're talking about at the um beginning. >> way to throw the word competitive or [clears throat] something in it like What about through academic and competitive growth? Well, I wonder if again, I don't think these are supposed to be stand alone. These are all supposed to be parts. So for >> [clears throat] >> the next one about self-awareness, I think it tells it has everything that you're talking about Ruth in there. A self-directed learner with a growth mindset who understands their own strengths and opportunities for advancement, takes ownership in their personal development and actions and their impact on others. I think they
022these all have to go together. They all weave together to make a portrait of a graduate. They're not stand alone this and this and this. They're all components of the graduate that we want at the end. But we still Sorry. If you look at the last one, future ready, intellectual curious lifelong learner who is resilient, flexible, committed, adaptable with a readiness to think critically. I think those are some of the things that you're talking about. That's that grit right in there. Talking about thinking critically, being flexible, being resilient, being adaptable. Ever evolving. Yeah. >> Yeah. We just have to get the word grit in there. Okay. And I think that grit is even in the first one because we're talking about fundamental academic skills and then developing a learner who strives for academic growth, embraces
023inquiry. That's for that intrinsic desire to be competitive. My my feedback to this was I would like either grit or perseverance to be in here. Cuz I get it. The word The word grit sounds rough, right? Perseverance may be more in line with the words like resilience and ever evolving and self-awareness. Maybe perseverance somewhere through there. Yeah. >> That's Thank you. Cuz I get it. When you throw the word grit in here, it sounds like two different people wrote it, right? And I and I just wanted That's That's the word. It's it's a key to all of this because I think that for our kids we we all and I I know he you would you see this every day, too. Um but we we always want to make our kid make the path for
024our children easier than it was for us. Right. But in doing so we take away that that perseverance, how teaching them how to persevere because life is hard. It's hard, but if we don't put them into hard situations they don't necessarily develop that perseverance that we want them And that's the word I'm looking for, right? Cuz I think I've talked very openly to you folks and I understand I'm sorry, you're probably going to be sick of me by the end of this meeting, but you know, we have a lot of students who as you know, come from some pretty challenging life experiences that children most adults should never face, let alone children, right? And what we're looking for, what I see as a community member is I want to strive to break that cultural chain
025of that, you know what, no one ever in my family has gone on past high school that where they barely made high school or whatever the deal is and that maybe that one kid sitting in that classroom may be the first one to ever go to a trade school or a community college or a college. And and without that perseverance and obviously I know we're going to support them, but sometimes kids stay within a slight safe zone, right? So if we start saying the expectation is higher set high expectations, kids will want to strive. We're not going to set them up to fail, but maybe not make the assumptions that they're going to go into the workforce or they're not going to go on. And so I think perseverance is the word I was looking
026for and I appreciate that. Thank you. Can I look at this? I'm I'm looking at this as oh, the academic part. That's that's the building. That's starting and then we're going to the next which might be, you know, fourth, fifth graders and then we're going to the next which might be the middle school. I'm seeing this as a progression to their their lifelong learning, their education starting at the very beginning where we're saying we're going to give you that foundation as a preschooler and then we're going to build on all of these other things as you progress through school. That was the way that I saw it. Again being on the outside and not in a classroom. That's the way I I kind of read it and I thought, wow, that's so genius. I think
027if just that one word would would Got to me would be that I think a nice a nice place to put that would be in future and then as an effective team within the district, teachers drivers, facility people, whatever that we're all working toward the goals that you're kind of identifying for this district. You say these are the things that need to be done in this district to make it the best district in the Midcoast. I think my first one would be and I think Chris mentioned this earlier is a call for higher standards in both education. Both the academic and behavior standards. Um with student behavior. I'm just going to interject here. Denise. I think that comes with expanding opportunities which is where my eyes go first in looking at some of the strategic
028What about the end? needed. No, it's actually on page two I mean yeah, page two number three, expanding opportunities, provide more leadership practice, outdoor education and experiential programming. It's been my experience that when you offer these kinds of opportunities to kids, there is there are higher standards inherently involved in that kind of learning and those kinds of experiences and student behavior decreases because it's all about engagement and when engagement increases, behaviors decrease. So do you want to um combine that as a result of that one? For me, I think engagement is the key piece. Okay. And it it addresses what you are I have great concerns about acknowledging as a concern. And I know you're a lot of hands-on. Um So I wonder if they can be combined in a way that wraps into one
029goal. But Yes. My concern though is that sometimes that takes not I mean you can have you know, hands-on projects and the few times I've gone in to volunteer and and you you know, the kids pick the topic and I you know, bring in the craft or whatever the thing is and the behavior is still so out of control that the teacher is not able to do the activity with the students that are engaged. And when you have that or you get the email as a parent saying, oh, I didn't address this with your kid because I was dealing with behaviors. Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot to get back to you on that. I was dealing with somebody else's behaviors. Um that I think that leads to teacher burnout. I think it leads to children
030not um necessarily getting along and granted you don't have to be friends with everybody in your class, but you do have to work with them. So I think that some I think quick support for teachers and PD around dealing with behaviors for you know, cuz not everyone that's not everyone's strength, right? Or you may be able to to properly redirect or appropriately redirect this, but this is a different behavior. And there's a whole spectrum of behaviors as we know. But if you ask the when you when you talk to the middle school kids, they were talking about like kids acting up is taking away from our time to learn. So if we make hands-on, that may be effective for some of those kids, but the kids who are struggling with their self-awareness and the behavior,
031that may not necessarily change, right? And so, I think that those things need to go hand-in-hand. But how do you do that? Cuz I mean I want to comment on a couple of things. I don't think experiential or project-based learning is as open-ended as you described it. I think it can be, but you work up to that, right? I think if we can increase engagement at every level and kids learn what that feels like, what it feels like to be engaged, they're not going to have as many behaviors. I mean, there are going to be that you're never going to eliminate all of them, but >> no, you know. But A good teacher knows how to engage all of their students. And it may not be the same formula. But not everyone within our realm
032has the same set of skills. So, if we're doing a basic fundamental skills for the students, I think it's important to make sure that all the staff, support staff, teachers, educators, everyone that's in there has that support that they need to effectively manage their class versus picking up the phone and sending down the hall or whatever the deal is. So, I I I really think that we want our teachers to be happy and if I mean, obviously you have to correct behavior and you have to pivot, right? But you don't want that to be most of your day. We think that would get exhausting. So, how do we do a and I won't say crash course cuz that's not the word I'm looking at, but like get the provide them the support that they need
033so that they feel confident they can manage the behaviors that are in their classroom so they can start doing more of this. They kind of go hand-in-hand, I think. Well, that's one. It doesn't mean we have to do it. What's the next What What else are we looking at? Look, we're just throwing out ideas out here at first. So, what else do you think Training for teachers. And not just throwing a video at them because it's you know, whatever. Like we know the we know the nuances of our district and so the training that our district may need could be very different than the training in a different district based on their um population of students and what that what that um I'll say profile of students, what what that student population looks like, right?
034The demographics. So, I think it's you know, reaching out to the teachers at the different sites and say, "What would be the most beneficial training that you you know, what would you like with regards to behavior and classroom management and experiential learning?" Cuz I I really do think that those two once you like you said, it will reduce that, but somehow if it's a little bit too chaotic, we may need to give them something more solid to work with before a big pivot. Plus we don't really know where everyone's at. Someone may be really skilled here and not skilled here and then you find out this teacher is excellent at this and they could do in-house PD and there's more buy-in cuz it's a peer they respect. I struggle with some of the ideas around
035programs or training working for every person. I think >> Right. Some people are just they they genuinely understand how to engage a kid both socially and academically. And other people don't. And sometimes training isn't necessarily what they need. So, how do you find a training that addresses every individual student needs or program, a behavior program, which you know, I'm not a big fan of either. Um it just takes really good people who know how to engage kids. I mean, not that training is bad. I In the work that I do, I provide training, uh but mostly around engagement, how to engage kids socially and academically. So, I think training is good, but it's not the end-all be-all for every individual teacher in the building. It's going to be tricky to address everyone's needs at the
036same time. And I think that goes to having teachers setting their own goals when they have their annual reviews and then, you know, the admin team saying, "Hey, Ruth, you're really strong in here. It seems like you may benefit from just like we would a student, you may benefit some one-on-one with Mrs. Spiegel about this." Instead of it being a video that everyone has to watch, maybe they partner up and they have mentorship kind of things. Um All that kind of stuff is built in or should be built in to their their What do you call it? Professional I forget. >> Professional development. Yeah, their own personal professional development. And I'm thrilled that they're finally going to be uh What's the word? Evaluated. Evaluated because there's so much that can come out of that individually,
037like individual growth and goal setting and all those things. >> first round, [clears throat] right? And kind of get a temperature pulse check cuz I'm guessing there's some teachers and admin in this district that have some super secret scroll-like superpowers like things that we're like, "Oh, we're going to pull this from Sabrina and would you mind spending time with Chris and how you know, like cuz it it always I think comes better when it's a peer that is super you know, that's very skilled in that. But I don't I'm not a fan of like we're going to watch this new PD on behavioral behavior management 101. Like I think that is condescending and you're not going to get a whole lot of buy-in. So, like maybe using the evaluations to kind of drive where the
038training goes for staff because we want to build capacity in all areas, not just curriculum, but like behavior and and teacher satisfaction and student satisfaction, right? So, they're all all these things. It's like a pile of spaghetti. One of them is always touching another. So, it's just trying to get the most noodles on the plate. And what Chris said is a lot of it is the first one that you enhance both academic and social expectations. And that's where you put them in with the um feeder program. That's basically just two different ways to put >> Where's the one you were saying, Chris? Right here. Increase um rigor, enhance both academic and social expectations. And that just I just took the first part areas for improvement and then over here it tells you the strategic change
039is needed. It's the same thing just in a different category. You see what I'm saying? But my original wasn't increase rigor, it was expand opportunities because I think increase rigor is part of expanding opportunities. But yeah, they all kind of work nicely together. >> I I see where one pot they think's going to um enhance the other. One's just worded different. One's improvement, one's just strategic changes needed. It's It's It's two separate categories filtering into one. I'm trying to think of big broad headings. Did you have We ready to go? She She was ready to go. >> I was going to say I didn't You go and then I'll go. I would like to see um enhanced community involvement. >> Mhm. Not only having the community into the schools, but having the kids do more
040within the community. I think that's a really important piece and I don't know exactly where it fits best. It's It's under It fits in both academic and social expectations. But it's a role for the schools in the community, too. That's exactly what is in that first one right there. And I am very much a believer in that. I For me, like all the things that we've touched on fall into that academic and social expectations cuz the social expectations are that you behave, that you work your hardest, that you're part of your community. You know, all of I think that all of those fit under A lot of the businesses in the past used to take students in so many hours um um a week. They could so-called and try it. And a lot of the
041businesses back a few years ago actually let them come in and try it. So many hours a week. >> Now that's changed the labor laws and stuff. I saw Well, yes, but I'm saying Yeah. Every one of these categories fall in as one even though they're subdivided, everyone comes together as one. It's just how we we're going to look at them to see which way which wording or whatever else because I think we all believe in the in the same way um to get better. Well, and and to Julie's point, community involvement also speaks to parent involvement, right? Or guardian involvement and getting those folks engaged helps with academic performance. It helps with behavior management. It helps with rigor, resiliency, consistency, all the things. >> But but I think what Julie's really looking at, I
042think, maybe I'm wrong, she wants the public, whether you have a child in the school or not, to be a part of our educational system because they're the backbone of the community members and I believe that's what you're looking at. A little bit of both, but yes, I I think that is really important that we um pull in every everybody whether they have children here or not. Um because they have to support our schools if we're going to move forward. Sabrina, do you have any? >> I was just going to say you're she's been pretty quiet. Nothing to add. Sorry. Nothing to add. So, I'm thinking broad headings and I know that there's some here on this sheet here, but I'm thinking that a lot of what you talked about would really is curriculum and
043instruction. And it's that we need to get better at. The standards, I heard standards mentioned, but I also heard heard about instruction. That the instruction that takes place K-12 in our district, that what you're looking for is growing those instructional strategies that move beyond lectures where sit kids are sitting and getting kind of thing, right? And increasing student engagement with hopefully the result of decreasing student behaviors, negative behaviors. You talked about professional development for teachers to increase their ability to actively engage students in learning and again decreasing behaviors and enhancing, I heard academic and social expectations and expanding learning opportunities for all. So, I that could all fit under that we want to and I'm not sure what the word is yet. We'll have to keep playing with that a little bit. What would that
044be with curriculum and instruction? It's not really enhancing it. It's I think it's a fundamental shift. Right? There's an expectation Expanding the What? To expand, right, from the traditional standards and a rubric like Ruth talked about and sitting and this is the work that you have and you need to do this. That Tanny and I just had a great conversation thinking about summer school this summer and we want to make it an outdoor learning experience. We want to She's got data that says exactly what elementary And again, that I think this is so important. These are the areas that we recognize that the elementary school is struggling in in math, it's geometry, geometry and fractions. And in literacy, it's um informational text and comprehension. So, how do we use our environment and plan an outdoor
045learning activity, a learn a summer school for our kids that's out outdoors for those 12 days every day um and we use the environment whether we're using the ocean, whether we're using the trails in the back and whether we're focusing on um we talked about gardening and could we build have three different stations? Could you have one group that's going to the ocean, one that's doing the woods and the fields in the back and one that's doing gardening and every week they switch. So, they get to experience, but they're doing all of their their academics through these fun activities outside and not doing summer school in the classroom. Well, I think Go go ahead. No, you The thing that gets that is not only that kids will be happier, the teachers will be happier. If
046you get up and you love your job, you're going to work harder. So, I think that, you know, when you talked about the training stuff, it it needs to be meaningful training, not just check the box because it's the newest thing that came down the pipe from DOE. Like our district is unique in a lot of ways and so making sure that, you know, soliciting some input from the teachers like, what are you really good at that you could share with somebody else and what is something if you could learn that would enhance your experiential teaching repertoire or whatever. What would you What would you like? And obviously we can't do everything, but just maybe solicit more versus like, I mean everybody gets that staff meeting thing you're like, here's another video or here's another
047mandatory whatever and I just, you know, maybe asking them. We ask the kiddos, right? So, maybe ask the teachers like, hey, what are three things you're really good at? >> We did that in January. So, I just In January we had um a workshop day and Josh and Bill really kind of led the charge and put out and said, any teachers that are interested in sharing some strategy or thematic unit or whatever it is that would went over really really well that again, even a high school teacher could say, we did this and a kindergarten teacher could sit in there and say, I can morph that to make it work at in my five with my five-year-olds. Um it was the first time I think that we've done it here in a in quite a
048while, right? I think or ever, I'm not sure. We didn't have there were believe it or not more high school and middle school teachers that signed up than elementary. But I think we all thought that there was value in the feedback we did receive from it said that it was good. So, we we know that we need to continue with that, but you're right. We have experts within. We have experts here. We just need to kind of tap them and help them feel at ease with sharing their their expertise. So, could you incorporate um our experts in the community? Mhm. Um You you spoke about we'll say the the beach and then you talked about the woods and then you talked about um Gardening. Gardening. Would that be an opportunity to bring in um the
049locals that that is their profession so that I I don't know I don't know I >> Similarly middle school did this fall, they had the Coast Guard down there. They had a Didn't they have a lobsterman down there as well? So, yes, there's absolutely those are That I think that's the way that we would have to begin to bring them a part of it. >> Right. And if I recall, we had talked at one point, I know you were here and I know you two were here. I'm sure. We had talked about maybe kind of been No, you guys were both here. We talked about the the barrier. I think Mr. D talked about the barrier of getting volunteers come into the school like cuz there's all these loop poops. But we have a lot
050of we have a an aging population here in Searsport and a lot of retired professionals that it'd be nice during SSR that you sign up a grandma or grandpa to come in and they do the reading. Oh, like I mean that is like one of the easiest ways I think to get the public involved in what can we do because there was there was barriers about background checks and fingerprints and getting in the building and >> We figured that out. We figured that out and our volunteer list is increasing. It's grown this year. But maybe we could do a call for volunteers instead of like a call for presenters is put it out there like, we're looking for volunteers that have expertise or a real great passion in gardening, fishing, walking, whatever. Um Audubon. My
051kids love that bird project. I mean, that was just beyond and and see if we can do that. >> idea. >> [clears throat and cough] >> I think thinking about partners in education, too, is just a an interesting way to think about that. Um you talked about Audubon. Audubon has some fantastic programs that um can be incorporated in in lots of different curricula. Um but who are our local partners that we can engage to provide that really applicable style learning that you are describing for summer school, which is very place place-based and teaches kids practical skills and has them actually applying the things that they're learning in the classroom. How can we I mean, you can do so many You can do it in so many different ways and engaging those community partners who have
052experiences and opportunities to share for kids to practice those skills and Yeah. I did I know when I initially um interviewed to be on the board, um the town council talked about the fact that fifth grade used to go down to the town office and and learn about city government and that in the parade, the local parades, our high school band would participate in it and that they don't do that anymore and they really were interested in in having that happen. So, Well, it just benefits us as a district to have those opportunities to shine a light on the kids, right? A positive light. So, putting them in opportunities where people can see them and understand what their tax dollars are going towards. going toward. You know? And maybe they're doing community service for or
053service learning for a particular project. Um I know that we used to do some of that over at Penobscot Marine Museum. In addition to project-based learning and different types of things that fit nicely into various curricula. The high school is very passionate about internships and they've been working hard to assign students to different places around the community for kids to go out and and see what is it like to do this and this and this. So, that is happening maybe on a limited basis, but I think that we can build that program. It's a great idea. Beyond curriculum. So, you also talked about supervision and evaluation. I talked about I put it in in the notes here um the importance of coaching. I think that what you're talking about is those those conversations that you
054have with someone about what not only what their goals are, but what I notice. I notice when I would go in I see a lot of students sitting and listening only to you or is there something else that you can do and suggesting books that they could read or suggesting you could go in Sabrina's classroom and watch what she does. She does it a little bit differently. You could I'll cover your classroom and tomorrow you could go in. So, there's a lot of coaching I think that can happen and that's part of I think what we're talking about is growing our educators, right? I mean that's and all of those things it's you're talking about curriculum and instruction, but you're really talking about growing our educators. That's what we want to see so that there's
055lots of new opportunities for our kiddos. Is there anything that you want to think about as far as facilities? Yeah, we need to revamp a little bit. I feel like that's always like something that the board is going to be working on through that committee. And we've got some big projects in the wings. It comes up to money and who's going to approve what. I mean, we've met quite a few times and we have toured the facilities. Um I think we really have to look in some parts of it that the upkeep has to be where the push comes to shove, but we're sitting there still. We still don't know what they said middle of April before we even got any more notification on the bus garage. But I do have some ideas I'd like
056to run by you later about that bus garage. Okay. Okay. Um Um I I think that we know what has to be done. We've been it's been brought to us, but we're still in a little bit of limbo because of the money situation. Um Shandra's been on the phone to them. We [clears throat] still don't quite know what they want and actually that was a question that the Stockton selectmen asked us last night where we were sitting with the um bus garage and the money from the fire. So, that was a question. We told them we couldn't answer them for another probably another month. But when I think about goals, I think about things that are transformational, things that are a shift in the way we do things or think about things. And I just
057don't know that for me buildings and grounds or >> [clears throat] >> just you know the structure, the I'm missing the word. What is it? The facility. The physical plant. Thank you. Is something that we continually work on all the time. I don't see like there's no major shift or We have to be do our due diligence as far as as updating even though we have met Sabrina and I and um I think Shandra was there and Laura and we toured the facility um several times. I don't want us to lose our accreditation by not taking that step because when we lost it before it had nothing to do with our Right. >> um educational um piece. It had to do with um the breakdown of our facility. So, I want to do due diligence
058and follow through with that because we know that um um buildings are getting older and um we've been very fortunate to not hold any debt at this time, but we might have to in the future. We just don't we keep putting it off and make without us making a decision it looks like we haven't come we really have a decision, but we're waiting for the money. Danny, I know you got your hand up. Um I was I was just wondering does our maintenance director have has he developed like a like a one-year, three-year, five-year plan for our facilities? Um yes and no cuz it comes down to the money pot. We we toured it. We can almost tell you word for word exactly what needs to be replaced. But until we financially know where we
059are sitting um if if we needed more money for the bus garage, we were kind of thinking that we would maybe lock it into one, but we're not sure at this time. We have no clue. I Shandra, you want to do a follow-up on that? >> I do. Um you know, maintenance is the easy target. Every time you need to cut something it's typically going to come out of maintenance. And I have seen a plan that's been put into place. The problem is the plan hasn't been kept up to date. Correct. So, that's that's an issue. It's great to have the plan, but a plan is no good if you don't follow through with it. Correct. And I think to receive public support for this, when we present a maintenance budget, we need to be
060saying exactly what we're going to focus on this year. Mhm. And do that. And we know that other little things you know, they're going to come up because like you said our buildings are old. But if we get to that point and we can cross off the list, okay, we got that done. That's going to go back to 10 years, we'll look at that again. You know, that's that's the way those lists are are meant to be. And so we kind of have to go back to the drawing board, look at the the list that we currently have and cross off what's been done, move stuff around because we know that the list was only good at that point that it was developed. Things are going to change and you need to adapt that list.
061Now, the other thing about [clears throat] the facilities is you know what? Most of our taxpayers, the only thing they see is the outside of these buildings and that is so important that they see that their taxpayers that their money is maintaining. And that's funny that you say that cuz I was just thinking why can't and and I know there's rules. There's got to be ways to get around it, but we have you know, the [clears throat] Eagle Scouts have come and they've done benches and they've done butterfly parks and blah blah blah. We have a lot of skilled hands-on students. Why can't one of the projects be that the junior and senior class as part of science is going to do the flower beds out front. The school gets the stuff and they go
062out there with their teacher and they get their hands dirty and they get outside and they could be doing something and even little kiddos can spread mulch. Like and it's part of being involved in the community. It's part of want to take stuff off of a little bit off of Mr. Brady. Um but I mean that's part of service learning too, right? Cuz this is your school. Like if you wrote on the back of the bus seat, you spent the next week cleaning off all the bus seats, right? >> Mhm. So, and I'm just wondering if there's a way to do some of the service learning getting the kids outdoor while working >> that would probably be an after school or a weekend project that yes, absolutely. I mean we can't be part of the
063day. It depends on what class it is and what they're what they're pulling out of and how it connects. Again, we do have standards. We do have requirements and if At the elementary level, I think it's really easy to do that. I think the high school level could be trickier at times, but it's also like you said, it's community service and they're we do weekend projects like that all the time. I used to have my PTG my you got pie over here group and and kids come in and we would have a big cookout, but we do all of our school all around the outside. We'd spend a Saturday and then we'd have a cookout afterwards for lunch. But we need benches for the my understanding was we need benches for the field. Is that
064correct? Perfect math project. >> Perfect. Perfect math project. >> right teacher who can facilitate. Facilitate the project and incorporate the learning standards that match their curriculum. The reason I was saying about doing it during the school school day and I understand what you're saying is that because the kids that are already intrinsically motivated going above and beyond are the ones that are going to show up. The kids that don't know they may have the skill and don't want to get pushed or haven't been pushed or haven't tried something different. If it's part of the class, even if it's they're measuring and they're marking the the wood for someone to cut later. Um there's things that because the Transportation might be an >> Transportation's an issue. Parents are working. Kids are working. So, if it can
065be part of an elective that they could get credit for or if they participate in this half an hour block maybe right after school while we're still waiting for the late bus that they can get you know a bump on their science project or their math project. I mean it trying to use things as two-for-one experiences. We're a very poor district, we're very rural district, transportation's an issue, trying to find ways to incorporate learning standards while involving the community, while working on the budget stuff and because you're right, people drive by and the first thing they do is they see the school, right? Not that there's anything wrong, but I'm just saying like, you know, I just You got to keep it up. We've got to keep it up and I think that And maybe
066it's a project for the tech center students that are going there. Mhm. Well, that's going to happen with replacing the roof exactly. I would suggest as the boards do shift and change, if you want this to be labeled as important. I know that facilities, you've been very diligent about paying attention to facilities, but it doesn't mean I've had experience with boards that haven't paid attention. If you make it part of your strategic plan that says this is a goal of this board and that that way we bring those goals, they're part of the board work on a regular basis and it says you've made, you know, you've made this a priority. If you let it go to buildings and grounds, it might not be a priority if you Sabrina's leaving and and we know that
067someone will fill the seat, right? After you know, for the two years and then again after that, it could be somebody else that says not a priority of mine. I want to focus on something else. But if it's part of your strategic plan, you're kind of holding ground at this point saying this is really important. Just like you're saying that growing our educators, increasing their their capacity is really important. We want to focus on that. But you might also say it's just part of what you think is typical business of the district, so that's all it This is the district, right? This school is is a lot to this community. Mhm. Mhm. And it's and it's the biggest thing within the community short of the tank things over there. Um The tank things. And and
068And it's it's a it's all of those things can be incorporated into our literally those three things or four things we've talked about all fit into our strategic plan. And and even if you throw in the maintenance and the buildings and grounds, that can be incorporated into this. It can be incorporated into reaching out to the public cuz we have all kinds of skilled people in the in contractors and painters and this that could would be willing to volunteer their time. You know, if the teacher can solicit three It's just reducing the barriers to getting those people in cuz teachers know people in the community. Right? It's reducing those barriers to get those people in to provide the extra hand to get the expenditure experiential learning and if your behavior's not good, then you don't
069get to go out and do these things if we can't if you can't be safe and they're going to want to, so they're going to work hard and teachers will be outside of the classroom and students will be learning in a different way. It all ties in. I think it's important that we include that. It does the facilities have to be into the plan. It has to be. At pretty much everything every It's just the way if you went if you went from um the front of the back, it's all the same thing. It's just worded different in different paragraphs and different numbers. It's all there. The other piece that I've heard you speak about and I'm just throwing these I've heard you talk about school safety. Which it goes into building too. Yes, facility
070safety is different than school safety. I'm saying they're twined. They are. Okay. I I They can be. And I'm going to challenge and say if we involve our community, Mhm. that adds a safety component, right? Because in other parts of the state and country, there's volunteers that are present at drop-offs and and um pick-ups to enhance that, to be extra set of eyes, to be, you know, watching, helping. Um when your building is up and running as it should be and you get the proper doors and all of those things, that enhances um safety and security in the school. When you have the community involved, there's an extra set of eyes watching. When the children are involved in in there's accountability in their behavior and all of that stuff goes into it. So, I mean
071realistically, holding our people in this district to a high standard, whether it be as a community member, as an educator, as an admin or as a student, will go to that for sure. And teachers being involved, they know the kiddos, the teachers know the kiddos, they know their families. I think that helps, too. Um There's things that, which I don't know that I want to do like in this setting, um that are in are inexpensive ways to quickly add some extra security measures to the school that could certainly be be looked at. Um but what ends up happening is all these things get funneled into their own little silo. When realistically, it costs more to do that. When if we pool our resources and we look at this from a a big like a overhead
072global perspective, we can do that. Mhm. Um by having that community integration and having those community partners and the extra education for the teachers and development and student accountability and all of that, I think that certainly adds to all of that. We need to make sure that we are covered financially for our um who whoever is up there for the SRO. Um we have to make sure that we coincide with the towns because of the um expense. Um we have to make sure that we're all that if we're going to continue with SRO and all that. Um I would hope that that we are with the is it the Waldo County um emergency management with through that. Um In the past, they did trainings um for the for the staff um protocols, what to do
073for certain situations. We just have to make sure that we follow all mandates and and go above and beyond if if at all possible, but that comes down to build buildings and grounds again about the doors and the windows and whatever and um it's training. A lot of it is. What are we missing? So, I have growing a lot of things under growing our educators, right? Curriculum and instruction, supervision and evaluation, um experiential learning, um lots of things there. I have community involvement as a second big heading, the role of our schools in the community and then facilities and school safety. What was the role of the I'm sorry, can you do the community one? The the role of our schools in the community that I was talking about engaging parents in the learning taking
074place in our schools, partnering with businesses and towns, um let's see, pulling in local community members into our schools as experts and then uh students and staff participating in town events, service learning, internships, etc. Anybody else? Nice haircut, though. Huh, thanks. I appreciate it, but I think it looks good on you. I noticed it right off the bat. I actually hate it. >> [laughter] >> I think it looks good. Ah! See, now he's just buttering up. I thought it I like the little ringlets right here. Can you reach it? [clears throat] Thank you, sir. Okay. Vision and mission? Want to start with mission first? Are you are you on this page? We can be or you can Again, this is something that the high school created. I like it, but it doesn't mean it's to
075be all end all. You can morph it or you can say we really like this one. What were the some of the other >> I like it. I don't know if it did examples. I didn't bring my other notes with me. Oh, right here. Um yeah, page three. They had two different ones. I really can't think of anything to add. I really like them as they as they are. You're talking about the mission and vision? Mhm. And you're looking at the portrait of the graduate example. Yeah. Mhm. Is there another one? No, I Well, they on the other packet, they were just some ideas, yeah. >> some ideas, yeah. Yeah, exactly. I like the idea of taking one of those catchphrases and putting it Right, but I think cuz they were two Dr. Miller was
076talking about possibly using this as our thing, right? So, um that's really helpful for the people that are listening. What do you mean as our thing? Yeah, sorry. So, >> [laughter] >> she is >> This is A FACADE. SHE DOESN'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE SAYING. >> I am. So, you had mentioned that we could either go with our you know, tweak some of the ideas that we had for mission vision and mission and then we had some some little catchphrases, one of which I really like, that had the logo/brand, but why couldn't we take one of those, plug it in at the beginning of because each one of those three does speak to the mission statement and the vision that is currently on portrait of a graduate. They could it could be a you know, that
077phrase colon or semicolon, I'm sorry, English was not my best. Um and then that way we would have our little catchphrase for the logo built into our mission and vision. Does that make sense? Mhm. I understand what you're saying, but it's not I mean it's just not a very standard way of approaching a mission or vision statement, which tend to be more I don't know, directional I guess in in terms of just actually articulating their goals, but I don't care. I think the catchphrase that you're talking about Ruth would be the motto. That's usually that little blurb. Yeah, that might be separate from the mission. But I think they do go hand in hand Ruth. But one is very specific, the other is more broad and general. And when I read both the mission and
078the vision statement, I think that they reflect the ideas that we have for the logo and the the What did you call it? The motto, if you will. But they are separate. They are separate things. I just like that they tie together. They were basically saying the same thing. That one's outlining it more specifically. I wish we could add um from what we did with the community gathering, um inspiring students to invest in their community long-term in the one that's on On this one? And then I I think that would be fantastic. You don't think that's covered in serve with compassion to contribute to their local and global communities? Cuz I was also looking for that and then I thought that last piece covered it. I think the word inspire is what's missing. Can we
079figure out a way to throw that into that sentence, Sabrina? It's there. We foster and inspire innovative problem solvers to lead with integrity, communicate with clarity. I don't know. I feel like it's done. Can you live with that, Julie? So accept both of those as is for the district, you like this? Okay. Thoughts of logo. We had lots of different ideas. I I really like the anchor and compass rose. So Jess actually was playing around her phone that day and found a compass rose that had an anchor in it. And it was really cool and I it it cuz I mean it's like we're this is their home. This is where they're going to be anchored, right? >> This is their anchor. >> Right. So she actually found one that had if you looked at
080it, it was the compass rose, there was a a wheel, a sailing wheel in the middle and then there was an anchor on it and it was really quite neat. I think being It may I mean I think we can incorporate all of those into one that would look nice and it kind of goes with fact that we're a coastal seaship community. I think one of the things we had talked about that maybe didn't get on this list was anchored in community. Oh, charting a course. >> That's what it was. For success or for the future or something like that. Yeah. Anchored in community, that's why we like the anchor so much. >> that's true. And the compass rose is a direction forward, looking to the future. Was it anchored >> say charting a course
081for the future. >> For the future success? For future success. Anchored I like the anchored in community though cuz we did we have community was it home? History I think was what one of the things we talked about, anchored in history. >> what the town motto is, right? I don't know. I don't know what the town motto is here or in Stockton for that matter. >> [laughter] >> I don't think it's official. >> [snorts] >> The signs have something about our maritime history. I can't remember exactly what it says. >> being officially there. >> think it's official though. Yeah, we tossed that around a little bit, anchored in history. I remember that because then someone's like, well, not all history and like that's not what we We weren't we were not necessarily talking about Yeah,
082I'm looking to see But I I like the community piece to emphasize the importance of that. What if we did anchored in our community or you don't need the word our I guess. You could put anchored. I like the anchored in community setting a course or charting a course for future success. Yeah. Okay. That's motto. Do we use charting? Right, is that the motto? No, that's not the motto, sorry, that's the Or setting, what do people like better? Charting is more nautical, I think. I like it. And so logo, you want to So do you want to if we have kind of like an idea like if you're suggesting the anchor and the compass rose, would you want to throw that up to students and the community and ask? I think that would be fun.
083Well, we're going to draw one. >> And what a way to engage them. >> Oh, I know the perfect art student for that and I bet if I Miss Harris Well, you will put No, no, I get that. Yeah, like yeah. Yes, I mean if we put out not a challenge, but we put out an invitation >> [clears throat] >> to anybody in the community and which includes our students, our staff and our larger community >> [clears throat] >> to develop and these are you know, that would be so much fun and that pulls in the community into something. And then we'll just call the newspaper and everything else and when you award the the the one you picked >> part will be picking. Not me. See [laughter] cuz Jess found a couple that were
084really good. Silly you. I think that's I really love that. That would be great. Yes, with no names. We will not attach names to It really needs to be That one's pretty, too. The one that she had looked like a wheel. All right. Maybe we can get someone that would do like a gift card for the person that's selected. It's a great idea, but we could >> Sabrina, is 5:30 okay for you tomorrow night? Thursday night? It's Thursday. I just didn't know this was 5:30 and I had an race scheduled. Yeah, I know you said that. Is 5:30 okay for It wasn't your fault. There were lots of There were a lot of conflicting options out there. It wasn't you. It's going to be very um And call Sandra. I don't know what I'm doing.
085>> [laughter] >> Well, there was policy that was confused with this three yeah. Someone's got to text me next week cuz I'm going to not remember that. It's Tuesday. It's next week. I'm coming back Monday night, so like work with me here. >> [laughter] >> Well, I'll be back We'll put a notice out for that. For policy? No, we'll put a notice out for the the logo and Yes. Yes. We'll do that. Date and time and location. Actually Thursday night we are here. Sabrina and I personnel committee 5:30. And I'm adding in after that March 31st. For what? Policy. Um [laughter] personnel. We have personnel Thursday night. >> But tonight we have another meeting and then personnel is Thursday. >> don't have another meeting tonight. There's no regular board meeting after this? This is it.
086This is it. Take a breath. I hope not. I have to go and pack. I'm packed, it just it weighs 31 lb and I don't have any of cats to >> So it's it's Thursday night we'll be here. Then April 14th is the school board meet we meet at 6:00. Chris, if something comes up, let us know for that on the 14th. Cuz we'll be 6:00 for finance. Okay. And then when's the next meeting? Anything else? >> So we have no So we have the 26th, then we have next Tuesday the 31st and then not until the 14th. I don't think there's The 26th is personnel. Right? Yes. Yes. >> Thank you then. So the 31st is policy. >> Policy. Right. Um let's see, the 2nd we have oh, buildings buildings and grounds. April 2nd
087I don't If we have any information Do you want to post it, Sabrina? Only if we have information will we meet on the 2nd. Right? Sure. So you'll let us know. Yeah, I still want those meetings. Okay. And is our Jess and Travis coming on the 14th? Are they? Yes, they're on the agenda. So remember the 14th, we're signing the warrants for the budget. April 14th? April 14th. So yeah, yeah. So I was able to get everything submitted to the attorneys today, so yay. I just don't know how long it takes you guys to to sign them, which it's going to be just a longer meeting. >> [laughter] >> So she goes last. I'll help pass things around. university you come up with a character outfit for your Oh, yeah. I'm sure that would go
088over well. You could borrow that one. MOTION TO ADJOURN. SECOND. All in favor, motion to adjourn. Thanks. Thank you, Tanny. Thank you. Yeah, I have no one so I