RSU #20 January 13, 2026 Regular School Board Meeting

001Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat up here. Heat up here. Heat up here. Heat. Heat up here. Heat. Are they looking to fix what is broken so we can continue to send our students to the Waldo County Tech Center or is it something that we as a board have to look to the future and if the building's in in that dire shape and we're number 40 down the thing it could be 20 years before we get a new school. >> I don't think that they've looked at that or are looking at that yet. I think they're just sort of focused on to go in debt for a new school. Is is that the >> that would be what I getting out of this? Yes. >> Thank you. in your report and I missed it,

002but who like will you be part of the group that votes on whether that is the path that they take forward or who actually gets to make that vote? >> Yes, I >> you would be on that group. Okay. And but you don't know yet when such a vote is likely to take place. >> I believe it's Thursday. >> You really think the vote's going to happen Thursday? >> Yes. That's why I want this to >> Are we I mean, I'm pretty sure I know what you'll vote, but are we able to suggest what this board would recommend that you would vote? And um I would certainly recommend that you oppose it. That would be my feeling. Right. And if if it's in such dire shape, then what are they expecting us to um send

003our continue to send our students there when when it needs to be fixed? So, what is that going to be a backup plan or is that something we're going to suggest or I guess that's what I would like to know. And what time is this meeting Thursday? >> Uh 5:30. >> Now, is this something that we can attend to listen to or not? >> I think you are welcome. Any thoughts? >> At 5:30? >> It's an open meeting just like this meeting. It's a public meeting. >> Thank you. >> Sure. Did something change with the roof between when I was at that big thing and they then because last time it was only part of it that needed something. Now it's changed. >> It they had the people come and do the test on the

004top and it wasn't as bad as they initially thought it was going to be. So, I think they are able to make repairs on it was my >> I I thought what they I thought what they said was that when they tested it, it didn't have a load on it, so it wasn't in that bad a shape, but if they had weight on the roof, it could be So, it's kind of like a catch 22. As long as it doesn't snow and make it difficult that it's going to survive. But if it gets a little snow on it, could cave quite that much about I don't think they worried so much about a snow load. I think it was more um infrastructure structure on top um because they said it really wasn't as >> in

005bad shape as they had originally projected out there that it was. So, are you going to represent us out there Thursday night? >> I am not. I have attended all the meetings so far, but I am at a super the it's the statewide superintendent conference. >> Oh, >> on Thursday. >> That's right. Got that. >> And I had already registered to attend. So, before I knew it was going to be voting. I can't vote anyway. So, it's really Yep. >> Do either of you ladies have a an opinion, >> Chris? Um, no. I I don't think we should vote to to take on that debt, especially if we're so far down the list of getting funding for support. >> Yeah, I really don't know how we could take something like that on. Um, and I'm

006wondering what their plans are for financing it. and and I have uh asked and invited uh the architect team to come and present to you. Um they uh didn't want to do that at this time. Supposedly that's in their time frame down the road, but as I tried to point out, it's sort of hard to make a decision for us uh if we don't have all the facts. about the drive. >> Yeah, I think this is the second time in recent months we've been asked to make a decision on something we have no information about. >> So, what is the motion right now? Did I hear a motion or just a is it a motion or is it >> discussing just discussing but a recommendation that will say no? >> What's the recommendation that she

007vote no? Do you think the strong recommendation is vote no on any proposal to request to build an you know a new school to take on debt to build a new school to do any of those types of things >> without especially when we have no information about what any of it looks like not a single detail. Could we do a follow-up letter >> um in regards to that first one that we sent out and we told them why we voted no for different things. Could we um do a followup on and this one and and >> I mean we've asked for information. We don't get it. >> I mean I think a follow-up is a good idea. I would especially given it's Tuesday and this is going to happen Thursday. I think I would

008argue for waiting until after Thursday and then send it as a sort of >> this is the reason for our representatives vote. >> Thank you. >> I concur with >> I don't think we had buildings and grounds and since then have we have nothing or yep neither one of that. >> Any other committee meetings that we should have? old business. You guys aren't that old, but um presentation from EMC. >> Someone wants to walk home. >> Yes. >> Can we hook into >> Oh, no. They didn't tell you that. Yes, you can. Sure you can. Heat. Heat up here. Heat up here. Heat up here. Heat. Yeah, we're off. I was not hired for my IT uh I can't even think of the right word. Um skills. Thank you. Um I'm Jeff Jagger um with

009Energy Management Consultants. Um we are back here. We are the outfit that did the um all the upgrades in the high school over the last year and a half. Um I'm here with Tom Seekins who uh did a lot of the driving on that project. I know. So his face is probably familiar to all. But so just to kind of set the table, we we met last month with the building and grounds committee. Um we had the privilege we walked through the elementary school. We we showed in real time some of the things we're going to talk about tonight. Um, we have that the results of that initial audit. I'll go through step by step of of each of the measures that we wanted to talk about, each of the things that we uh think

010you might want to consider addressing. Um, and then we have uh a recommendation based on the conversation we had uh last month with that committee. So, just kicking it off, the the VTOIC fittings issue is the same issue that we handled at the high school. Um, essentially you need uh over time there's a rubber gasket in each of those fittings. It dries up, it cracks, it causes leaks. Um, the best way to keep those leaks from spreading too too much is to keep the whole system hot, meaning you have to have your boiler running throughout the summer, wasting a lot of energy. So, that was one of the big recommendations we had. Um starting off again same thing we did in the the high school middle school we generally have two options for that um

011or two to fix it we can do a victic fitting which is what we or the the fix of the vtolic fitting the that's the it's sort of a collar that goes around that'll that'll keep it there almost like a clam shell um that that surrounds the fitting and and tightens it up uh so those leaks won't happen or we can just do a weld. Um, we generally look at uh the first option based on one, it's an easier solution to get through. It's a bit cheaper and when you're dealing with tight spaces up above ceilings um creating a lot of sparks um with some flammable materials, it's dangerous to both the school and the people doing the work, not to mention the people who may be in the school at the time we're doing

012the work. So, that's uh that that would be the recommendation there. Um, again, each of these we'll we'll bring back around to the end and talk about what the numbers are for each of them. At that time, I'm just going to fire through all of the measures right now. The second one is uh the VRF heat pumps. So essentially what we were told is there's a massive issue in that second floor with a handful of classrooms with it reaching up into the high 80s and sometimes even 90s. Even in those shoulder seasons where you know in in the spring and in the fall if you have a nice warm day you're getting a ton of heat up there. It's not a great learning environment. Let's face it. It's not a great working environment for the

013teachers. So, the recommendation was to work uh to work in a VRF heat pump system that would create that would provide um cooling, but it also provides heating in the winter that would allow you it's electric heating, so it would take some of the load off your boiler um creating uh slightly lower fuel bills for each of your uh for that space as well through that time. Um just a couple of this is just a the way we would design it. A small picture there. There's a compressor on the outside. We had talked about I think putting um a compressor array array on the back corner um uh I believe near the kind of opposite the the ball fields there uh that back corner of the school. You'd see compressors there. They can they vary

014in size um depending on how many that how how big the system is. But there's some positives there. They're they're very efficient. They provide heating and cooling if you have um that you can do heat recovery with them. Um allowing you to not be wasting energy and exhaust. It's there are a lot of uh they're very quiet. They it's it allows you to do a lot of things uh within the classroom to make that environment more comfortable um for the students and the teachers. Um, and we also talked about um that uh LC11 um legislation that had come out where the the state of Maine has decided that there is a you as a board need to decide a top and bottom acceptable temperature for each classroom. So this at least in this space would

015make it really easy to solve that. And if you wanted to go even a little further and do the rest of the school, it would solve the problem for the rest of the school as well. But that that was just looking at the upstairs uh that second those second floor classrooms for now is what we is what we were working on. Uh a generator option uh we did a generator at the middle school high school. Um it it obviously provides uh you know the backup for power outages. It it it ensures class uh class safety. I'm sure the new gentleman in it would love it if his servers didn't go down every time there was a blip. in in uh the power. Um and also not, you know, not to mention long-term power failures. You're

016missing school. You know, that parents, you probably would hear from a parent or two if you're missing school. Um if your freezer fridge goes down, that's loss of of food that's going to happen in that space. So, there are a lot of of big uh positives as far as providing that. Um it's a similar size system um that we priced out for uh for for the elementary school as the high school. A little bit smaller but um uh similar footprint things like that. This is just a quick look at where we proposed that's the kind of the rear entrance where the that dot that red dot um uh if you see where it says Searsport Elementary off to the left there it's kind of in brown. Um, that's where we propose to put it. And

017>> thank you, Josh. Uh, thank you, Vanna. Yeah, >> there's something different, though. I can't place it. Um, so, but it it's uh it's a the process it would just require it would require some trenching um through that space. Um, and and again, this is just a proposed area, but there's plenty of space out there that's not going to really affect parking or where kids are generally moving around, staff is moving around, things like that. So, this was just a small rendering of what we thought might work, but would be completely up to you. So, these are those, we call them cab uh cabinet unit heaters. Uh, they're in each of the entrances, specifically on the back side of uh where that twotory is is what is what we talked about. Um but they're at

018every entrance. There's a cabinet unit heater uh basically at every entrance to the school. Yeah. So essentially it's it's a good idea because it throws a lot of heat into a small space and when you've got kids and and students coming in, it heats them up nice and fast. You know, you're you're not at you're not at 72°. It might get it a little bit higher so that those kids can warm up. You know, snow will melt in that area as they knock it off their boots, things like that. So, um, but where we run into an issue, uh, with these ones, the reason we're looking at these is because those are either 100% on or off. And it doesn't allow you to kind of modulate for what the actual need is. Two things happen

019there. One, you're wasting energy if it's just on at 100% all the time. And two, uh, in speaking with Josh as we walked around, we feel that's one of the contributing factors to that second floor maybe gathering heat at a at a at a fast pace um, as those cold mornings turn into warmer days, creating that issue that we talked about with the VRF. So, the idea there was to put some uh, put a control valve on and a wall-mounted thermostat. Uh, the control valve would basically allow you to modulate your heat. So it's not 100% or zero. You can set it at 30, 50, 60, whatever you felt was the need and and you could control what the actual uh heat should be in that space. Uh lots of windows in this that we

020talked about. Um there are sort of two types of there there are a couple of line items when we look at the spreadsheet for windows. One is that window on the right side, the big round one. If you look at that when you go on, I know it's beautiful. I know we can find something that is similar if you like, but there's always moisture on the back of that. The seal isn't good. You're you're you're losing heat through that. Um, and in the summer, you're going to it's going to heat up very fast through that as well. So, we would find a fix for that. But there's also uh we found 55 a lot of the windows about half the windows have been changed out uh in in the recent past to a a nicer

021higher quality window that uh that allows you to to to save energy at just a better quality. Um but there are 55 windows throughout the school that have not been changed out. your seals uh the seals are going, you know, the uh there's moisture getting into there that causes mold uh that can if it sits there for too long. Um it it just creates a lot of problems and ultimately saving energy is what we're talking about. So the the big one is you're losing heat. You're losing heat through those in the winter time. So, we just we would have an I we would recommend or or we we just wanted to bring to your attention that there are about 55 windows that uh could be updated that would help uh uh make the school's life

022last a little longer. The other big window we looked at, the one on the left is in the library. That's a twotory window. Um we just uh you know threw it into a a a engine and and gave you an idea on the right there of what it could look like. Um, I think I made the joke the last time that we can put the checker back around it if you guys really want to. You know, that's your call. But, um, just a mockup of what you could see. It's it's a high quality window. Um, it's something that would have a higher R value. You're not going to lose the heat through it, and it provides that great daylight into the library that, um, can make that learning environment uh, better for students. A lot

023of the doors you'll see uh are are deteriorated as well. Just years of salt, years of water, rust, uh things like that. Um just like the windows, doors can be done. We can phase those if if it makes more sense for you. Um but it's just switching out those doors, making them safer, making them look better. Um give them that professional appearance. Um I got a picture of a door here. again switching switching out some of the doors and putting in new doors. If you look really closely, you can see daylight coming in between those two doors. Again, it's a it's a huge place where you're losing heat. Energy is being lost there all the time. >> Yep. Yep. And there's that cab unit heater that's that's throwing heat like it's like it life like

024it's life depends on it. Uh and and some of that heat's just leaking out through that door constantly all day. It's a little sift all the time, but after a while that that's that's causing you dollars in in heating bills. Um there's also the building envelope would also include um looking at the sealant around the windows um a lot of the penetrations. So some of the roof penetrations where like exhaust is coming up uh or exhaust pipes are coming up, things like that. It's just re going through and resealing those, making sure that you're not losing any heat. Uh again, just keeping the building, you know, tightening up the building so that you're not losing that heat through those places. Uh field lighting, um we talked about it's something that we definitely, you know, it

025seemed like something that was interesting to the to the committee. Um we've done a uh some field lighting projects some other schools and they've and they've loved them. You know, a higher quality light um for your spaces is good. Obviously, um, others have upgraded. You're looking to put some new lights in. There are a couple positives there. You know, we talked about the ability to maybe turn those fields into a revenue generator, hosting tournaments for baseball and softball, maybe even soccer. Um, it allows for some night games. Sounds like you're shaking your head as though. Uh, here's one for you. Um, if you've got night games, you don't have to use the umpires that can only make the 3:00 game. Um, and uh, and that ball that's 2 and 1/2 ft outside is not going

026to get called a strike on you. So, it gives Oh, more of a soccer guy. All right. I like that. I like that. Um, so >> my favorite. >> So, it's so we looked into that. We, you know, we wanted to present that as an option. Um it just and it creates a you know it creates a bit more of um a community feel. You know if you drive through a town and you say there and you see lights that are going up going on at a field I wonder what's going on at the school tonight. Maybe I'll show up. You know roll over there after school. I'll bring some kids. You get Josh to build a snack shack and charge $4 for a hamburger and and you're you're creating revenue all of the sudden.

027So sorry buddy. Um, but it it allows for, you know, it allows it it bring it draws people to the school. It draws people to your spaces um and and creates a sense of community um for them. And and I I played a few sports back in the day. Having a having a goodsized crowd of people that aren't just your parents um or your grandparents or your little sister that mom and dad dragged along, that can be really fun. So, it's just an I, you know, just something we wanted to present. This is uh uh a couple pictures from the Ellsworth project where we replace the lights um around their their track and field. So you you're getting light arrays there. There are there's a range of of arrays that you can use, quality of

028lights, the fixtures that you use. Um we were talking about I think in you said in Cumberland there's even some glare reducing where there are lights that point up so that the players don't have that glare in their eyes. I don't know if you're a goalkeeper, but if you ever tried to take a service, take a cross out of the air, that's what I was, too. So, I'd say, yeah, try and take a service out of the air and you can't see because the lights are in your eyes, it's it's it's there are a lot of options when you can go with that. >> A million different ways to price these things up. So, you know, you hear the big names like Musco is the big field lighting name. Very expensive quality stuff, 25-year warranty.

029um mostly metal poles with night sky reduction and they follow the IES standards and all that stuff and you can um these are 70 foot poles which is about as high as you're going to get and it's 50 foot lumens at the field level the minimum for standard is 30 and we they had been given a budget of like a half a million to do that field and we did that for like $175,000 so when we bid it out we bid out the poles separately we bid out the the crane work separately we build the controls and the lighting packages separately so there are ways to do it so it's a little bit more economical. That's you can control those lights remotely. The facilities director can turn them on and off when there's going to

030be a game. Um they're not going to do like the the glitter flashing and like you have for NFL games and stuff like that for when there's like a touchdown or something or a goal scored, but there are ways to do it so it's a little bit more economical. Uh when we were here last time, we threw budgets at it. I think we we're not expecting all fields. So our budgets were definitely off from that perspective. The end of the day, they're not our numbers. Our job is to make sure that we engineer the solution correctly, get you the bids and show you the competitive bids, and you select what you'd like to go with, right? So, they're not our numbers. And at the end of the day, if they're too high, they're just simply

031too high because we're going to get the best contractors to do this work and show you their bids, and you guys can select it or not, right? It's not our job to tell you what you want. You guys know what you want. So, this one just we happen to do a lot more cost effective than they had been given budgets for in the past. So, you can do it. they really feel was over a million dollars. They they they had big metal poles and they had a big family package musco lighting. Um >> they got a big tax base. >> So, you know, there are different ways of doing these things. Jeff also applied for a grant for you guys that was due by the end of the year. Um we filled out all the

032application paperwork for you, which is um wildlife grant. Yeah, there's a land and and water conservation w uh grant that's out there that will would cover 50% of the project. Um I have a meeting. It's actually late next week. It's a Zoom call to just do the introduction um and set up the the sitewalk for them um to come and do that. The the main the the the thing I want to make sure I'm clear on, there is a caveat to that money. anything that they spend that money on, specifically those fields and those lights, would would need to uh stay a public space into perpetuity. So, even if you sold the the school area, it would need to still remain a public space. That's that's the big catch to it. Um, and again, I'm

033and did the the the applications for it. So, in case that's the way you wanted to go, you don't have to. um that's a choice you would have to make. But when you're looking at some of the numbers and they can pay 50% of a project um that you know you you can decide where where you know where you want to be with with that type of stipulation for the money. So um there's more to come on that. We just wanted to make sure that you're aware we're we're try we're going to we're going to bat to find money. Um the more money we can find that doesn't come out of um the the pot here in the community uh the more we can do with it. So, that's just one of the things we're

034we're we're always searching for as far as money goes. >> Sorry. Were there questions about that? >> Are there any solar like obviously? No, there's no like I was just thinking if there's anything for solar things that don't need to be as lit up, right? >> Oh, for sure. Yeah. I thought you were talking about the the lights. They're just way the amount of energy they need to produce. >> So much. >> Yeah. From 70 ft up to get 50 foot uh >> foot candles or women's at the at the field level even 30. There's just no way solar could give you enough power. But um you can do other stuff like ancillary lights like parking lot lights and things like that. Those are now becoming very popular. >> And we've been warranting your parking

035lot lights for Josh for the past like 15 years. I'd love to stop averaging money for this guy. >> He's paid for his salary twice over the legs he's gotten out of our warehouse. So, full disclosure, uh, in talking with Josh, the things we I've just covered are the things that we were told by the building and grounds committee we wanted to focus on as far as the next phase of the project with the elementary school. Just wanted to show really briefly the additional things that we touched on. Um, we can and we can play with this in our spreadsheet for those that were here last month. We we we can certainly add these in and move around the numbers, but just really quickly, we did do a little bit of uh we we looked

036at the cost of a solar project. Obviously, solar cuts uh the school energy costs. Um it would allow for that full building VRF. It would make that the cost of, you know, offset the cost of that in your fuel bills. Um reducing carbon footprint, sustainability, um and that uh LD11 legislation that I talked about. Uh there's also the elevator modernization, improving safety, the ADA co compliance, energy efficiency, reliability, and a better user experience. Um that would basically be redoing the controls. We'd we'd uh pull out um change out the skin of the the inside of the car itself. Um we wouldn't necessarily be, you know, putting a new car in or rebuilding any of the structure in there. It's it's just to make it more compliant, a little more reliable. you know, getting a kid

037stuck in an elevator isn't or a teacher is not what you really are looking for. Um, so again, one of the options, uh, air handlers, there are four air handler units. I think we we for those that were here last month, they're they're they're up in that mezzanine above the boiler room. Um, they're very large pieces of equipment and they're very cramped in there. Um, I got a little claustrophobic when I was looking at them with Adam um, when I was there. But there are four units. They're installed in 1991. Uh general lifespan of those useful life is about 25 years. So you've you've certainly gotten that life out of them and some more. Um they they do seem to be doing their job uh effectively to date, more or less. Uh I I believe

038I don't think there have been any massive issues with them uh to date. Um but they are inefficient. Um they aren't they aren't you you don't really know how much more life they have on them. replacement parts are the further you get away from manufacturing they harder and harder to get. Um, and the fact that you're in a very tight space, they don't come apart easy and new ones don't go in easy. So, if you're going to do them, you might be looking at going up through the roof and then recreating and then re-roofing that section, which then leads to the recommendation of probably doing all four at the same time. A lot of times when we have multiple air handlers, if they're in a little bit better place, we can phase that and that's

039a lot easier pill to swallow. This would be a little bit tougher situation. So, just, you know, giving you all the information to work with there. Um, and then the walk-in cooler freezer. Um, it was also installed in ' 91. There shows signs of rust. Um, and there is moisture getting in, uh, in underneath the panels, in underneath the seals. Um, and that can get trapped, cause mold issues. Mold plus food. Never a great recipe. Um, just trying to think of a food joke there. I'm a terrible cook, so never mind. Um, what's that? So, anyway, it's just it's it's again, it's sort of similar to the elevator thing. We would pull the inside skin off and and recreate that. It's not a complete we're tearing this thing out and putting a whole new unit

040in. Uh, I do believe that the the the cooling units in there, the compressor um and the the refrigeration units have been replaced recently. So, I don't think those would need to be touched. It's simply that in that inside structure, the housing um sort of the panels on the walls that we would look at and and just get it nice and sealed up so you're not uh having that issue. For those of you that were there, that little window was all had looked like it had condensation in between it. It's probably, you know, not not the best look. So, um I I am very sorry. It sounds like there was a you guys had a little bit of a tough uh month last month as far as the bus garage goes. Um I just put

041a couple things together in talking to Josh. Basics of what a new a new building could look like. Um we've kicked the tires on a on on a little bit of pricing um as far as that goes. uh a a building with insulation and and some of the stuff you need we found is somewhere in about $270 a square foot. So if we were looking your current or the the the the previous building was 120 by 60. So you're looking at about $1.94 million to do that to do that building. Um and again those are very round numbers and just to give you an idea um we've worked with uh one of the architects that we've worked with is working on a bus garage right now. So this is obviously quite large but this is

042about what the product would look like from the outside and then inside you can kind of see uh what would happen as far as the development and the project itself goes. It's actually it's actually something that's very similar to how we put together any other piece of our project. It's it's uh an architectural drawing is made, the engineering is done, um we put a a building spec together, um and then it goes out to bid to prefab metal companies that do this all the time. Um so it's it's it's the same process. It just would have to it's not part of the project that we with the elementary school certainly but we you know knowing that you guys have some decisions to make in the near future if if we can provide any information around

043that. Um it is there are certain we we do have experience with this. Um Tom's actually staying he's meeting with Camden schools tomorrow. He has all the architectural drawings to do um uh some of that building material and maybe you can speak to >> we're just we're doing a whole building on wood project for the high school which is massive. It's almost 300,000 square feet. So, we broke it into three phases, but our our architect put together the drawings. We sat down with a client like we would do with you guys and figure out what do you really need out of this bus garage. You know, what is truly necessary there? That's a second floor unit. So, that per square foot cost that we gave you was a little bit higher than it probably needed

044to be or needs to be because what was there before was all one level. You basically would sit down and say, "Okay, what do we really need? You need a break room, you need an office, you need a bathroom, and you need how many bays? Like, how many buses do you have?" we don't have that information. And if you already have this covered, then absolutely do what you got to do. Um Josh had just said, "Is this something you guys could potentially help us with?" And yeah, we do kind of stuff like this all the time. It's no different than any other project. >> Would you say the square foot cost per square foot was 270? >> 270. But that's but again that that is considering having a second floor >> office area with a

045conference um and a conference room and draft room which you need more steel work, you need more support. that there's just more structural um work that needs to be done. Wouldn't be necessary probably what you guys will be doing and obviously it's going to really gear around what you're going to get for insurance money, right? You're probably not going to go bananas if you're only going to get a half a million dollars whereas the rest going to come from. So, we're certainly not pushing this, but we have experience doing these and if you need help doing it, we're here to support you if you need it. Um it's really no different than the other stuff. >> Question. This the second floor. I know that. I'm just just asking >> this second floor. What is on

046cuz that looks like a massive second floor. >> Yeah, that's that's a whole different They have they have their transportation and maintenance department as part of that school system. It's in New Hampshire. So, they had a whole separate like their draft room up there, a conference room, bunch of >> classrooms. >> Uh not really. maybe for just like their own internal training, but no classrooms for students, but their own training for their own um team and stuff like that, but >> and I don't know what your timeline is when you got you guys find out about your insurance money. I think obviously it'd be probably a little premature to start doing anything until you know what you're going to get and how that's going to go. Um, obviously that ship is sailed for right now

047anyway, so there's not much you're really going to be doing, but you know, the chances of you reusing that slab is probably slim to none because there's not a structural engineer in the state that's going to say, "Okay, that's great. Let's put new uh iron beams in a in a slab that was burned down, you know, so you're probably going to start over. But it's really not that difficult to come up with some conceptual numbers for you guys and sit down and find out what is it that you need, you know? um if you wanted to create something with classrooms and stuff like that, that's obviously going to be done. It's just obviously there's cost to it. But ultimately, it's as a partner, if we can help, we're here to help. We can do a

048little digging. This is this is the the process that we follow with a lot of things. So, let us know. We're we're here if if we're needed. So that brings us to the end of that. Let me >> Right. Let me see. Um I don't know if there's a display that should be coming up here. Trying to bring up the unug. >> Hey, there we go. Thank you. >> Should come back. >> You can do it. >> Screen resolution. >> Welcome back to 198. rabbit ears. >> I haven't seen that happen. >> No, I've never seen that happen here. >> Don't move. All right, everybody. Don't breathe. All right. It seems to be sticking here. So, >> what's that? >> I said to him, >> Tom's presence can can bring even the most technical stuff

049in line. >> So, for those of you who were here last month, you'll recognize this. For for those that weren't, essentially, this is how we would develop a project. If if you were part of the high school middle school project, it was it was similar. So each of those pieces measures that we just talked about in the slideshow has a line item there. Um we assign a budget cost to it. Any energy savings or rebates uh or operational savings that are associated with it'll put in there. Um uh just as I said at the beginning of the last meeting, I I do want to reiterate these are budget numbers. Um these are things based on similar projects that we've done in other places. Um, these are not fully fledged out engineering project, you know, but

050the idea here is we're in the ballpark of them because we've done enough of these things where we we we have a good idea. It's just it would be specific to yours. A Vtolic fitting project um would depend on the number of fittings that we have to look at, which we don't have. So, sounds like you've got a question right off the bat. >> I do. I thought we decided to bring in 2.3 million. >> I think he's showing the whole thing. >> Oh, you're showing the whole thing. Oh, this is everything. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This is this is all of it uh right now. So, um >> yeah. So, just again, we do a ton of windows, ton of boilers, VRF. So, we just take a basic on our our rolodex of projects that

051we've done and say, okay, really there's like a couple games in town that'll do custom glass windows. Portland glass being the predominant one that will do them. Carl glass, there's a few others that do specialized glass windows. So we just take what we typically see for a budget and carry it. If this is something just like the last project that makes sense for you guys, we want to do we then take it, engineer the solution, get an actual spec together, walk the contractors and get the bids and show you the bids and figure out which is the best number. >> Yeah. So is it cuz the window itself is round? So like if you get a square render and turn it sideways and cool little triangle, it'd be a lot cheaper than a round one.

052>> More than likely. Yeah. So you just saved a few dollars. Yeah. >> You already have a diamond. Well, it's kind >> Yeah, we don't we're not stuck with anything in particular, you know. It's this is this is sort of replacing like for like especially in the windows. So, um >> but R just so you know that that round window we've we were did not there was a glass company one of the glass companies in Bangor wasn't Portland one of the other ones and that Diggo had referred us to Durgo turned it down. they won't even touch it. And the one in Bangor said it's it's above their their uh skill set. It's a big window. It looked great 1991. It was a huge window. >> Um with failing seals and an R value of

053less than one. So I mean it heat just goes right out there. So >> that's why I was asking if you get like a regular square window and just >> I mean we we can certainly look into whatever options we can. Again, these are just budget. These are like for like. Um, so yeah. Um, the only thing I want to point out, I know Tom mentioned it, we we did this this number is is uh sorry, that's the solar number. Excuse me. The field lighting number is certainly uh more. I think we had carried 325 before um based on that Ellsworth project. Now, if we're look, this is this is a turnkey project to do baseball, softball, high school soccer, and middle school soccer as well. So, we can that's this is all encompassing the

054the the 735 um that we that we went out and looked at budget-wise cuz that includes all the fields. Um >> and that would be if we can do that and really efficiently let the Ellsworth field like I just said. I spoke I have a very close friend who works works for Musco. They bid on projects um and he knows he fully bids on projects because he knows that you guys see their numbers, right? So, he's very open and candid about their numbers. and the the Cumberland field he just finished was over a million dollars just for the soccer and football field. So to get that many fields done for that amount of money is going to take some work. Um it's not going to be state-of-the-art lighting. If you were to do that, you're

055talking a couple million dollars to do that many lights for that many fields. But there, like I said before, there's obviously creative ways to do it. So it makes sense to the general public. It's it's even a situation where you can potentially do one field to start and then add on. But a few of those poles that we spent some time going through it and there's a few poles you'd have lights on going this way for that field and on the same pole lights going that way for the other field. So there's some economies of scale to be had there and saving some money which is why probably we can get the number down. Um, but getting that grant would be obviously a mega. Um, >> so is that 735 if we didn't have any

056grant and potential grant is 360? Is that what you're getting at? >> That's what realistically it could be like a $400 400,000 versus 735. >> Yes. Numbers are not my strong state. So, so essentially, yes, the what we showed last month is is much higher, but with that potential, if we can pull that grant money in, if it's something you wanted to do, and if they and if they fund it to 50%. Then, we're we're back down at least in the ballpark of what we had what we had showed last year, and you're getting all the fields done. >> It's a grant that not a lot of people knew about. So, we're hoping that because he got it in on time for you guys that he had a chance. The fact you have an interview

057coming up that quickly kind of healed itself to believe that we probably have a fighting chance on it. Um I've been doing this thing for like 24 years. I didn't even know that money even just that Jeff found it. So um I'm hoping that not a lot of people knew about it. >> Um >> Yep. >> Yeah. I feel bad because we're we're looking at a field lighting project as well and >> I think they'll be okay. Yeah. But um we didn't get their application. their applications didn't make it, but yours. So, >> so that's the basics of it. The only other one I wanted to point out, one of the big reasons we we didn't look at the air handlers right now is that that's a pretty big price tag for something that, you

058know, you you don't necessarily want to wait till it fails, but it's, you know, that that's a big price tag to do all at once. So, >> that's my question. What happens if they fail? Then then what are we looking at? Um it would you need to replace them. It's that plus we need it right now. Um so >> and would it be more than that? Because >> if you're if you're replacing all four of them that the chances of all four failing at once isn't super high, I don't believe. Um however, you know, once one goes, the others are picking up that load. They're, you know, whatever they have left in them. It, you know, starts going starts going that much quicker. So, it wouldn't be a we need all four right now, but

059again, where you're in such a tight spot, it's it gets hairy to just try and do one. >> Um, >> I think that's a separate project. I think that's a whole separate project by itself because to be honest, we didn't have spent a ton of time figuring out, can we actually put the air handlers outside and into the side of the building, right? There's other ways to to do this. So, it's not just to cram air handlers. Schools in Maine love to be built around ventilation equipment. It's we see it literally every day. I mean, your old air handlers above the gym were a nightmare and a life safety problem in a big way. You had I don't know how many service mechanics fall through the the ceiling trying to fix those things. So, we

060took them out and we put an antler outside and ducted into the side of the gym and several people said that couldn't be done because of the uh the way that the built the gym was built and the hell of a ship, but we were able to figure out a way to do it. So, that's a budget number without spending a ton of time investigating other kind of creative engineering ways to make it happen. If you did it outside on a slab, covered them, no different than being on a roof. And so it could be a lot less money and >> conceivably you could leave the old ones there and just shut them down. >> Conceivably roof and just install >> if we don't obviously we're not doing those now, but let's say all the

061other things we do, right? And the air handlers like god forbid a year down the road I'll just is it going to destroy any of the other work that like is it going to negatively impact all the other things that we're doing potentially? We didn't even consider the solar lights at all at this point. >> Well, I meant like the doors and, you know, all that stuff, the generators, the lights. So, it like that those going isn't going to affect all that other stuff. >> Correct. And, you know, the nice thing is they're inside. They're above the boiler room, which it's really hot in there. So, they're tempered. They're not like they're in a really bad environment. Being close to the ocean, if they're on the roof, those things would have already been replaced by

062now, maybe even twice. So, they are 35 years old. They're a decade past their life, but they're an environment that yields itself to be quite a bit longer. So, you know, I don't they're not all four units fail at. If you if you lost a supply fan or something major as part of it, we can get you can get those parts and have it replaced, but it should be considered um so that you can get you can design it the right way and not re reactive and replace it with something that's on the shelf that's really something you wouldn't necessarily put in, right? If you take the time to do it right, come up with the best solution like a year ahead of time. That's the way we would probably recommend doing this. >> The

063energy savings per month, year, quarter, >> that's yearly. Yeah, that's annually. >> Those are very very conservative, >> Right. So, uh again, we've got each of these things. We can it's alakart. We can click and you know, put things in, take things out. So, essentially, these are the pieces. Those are the four things that we took out that we didn't necessarily want to see. Um, am I right there? I feel like I'm missing something. >> There was one more. >> Yeah, there was. Elevator. That's it. So, we then can run the cash flow. Um, this is how we direct that. So, we would take or this is how we um calculate what your uh what the project would be should you decide to move forward with that tax exemplies purchase that we've that we've talked

064about. the way you uh the way you did the high school middle school project. Um uh we use 100%. So this is the grant money um plus whatever other rebates are available for the measures we took. That's your down payment. Um for this um I calculate it. I think that's actually what I had calculated in there. What we've chosen is a $3 million147,000 uh sorry $3,147,000 project. Yeah, the light the field lighting was higher than last time. >> No, but it was we was at 2.3 and I think we didn't have the generator in there for the first time. >> I'm pretty sure the generator's out. >> Oh, no. Cuz remember Josh yelled at everybody. >> It was out, wasn't it? >> On Christmas. >> We We can look at anything. You want to You

065want to take it out and see what it looks like? >> We actually took the generator. I'm pretty sure that >> really So this is what we had recommended at the end of that meeting. This is what we recommended. >> It it was but >> again the the big change here being that field lighting piece cuz we were at 2.3 2.5 is what we were >> saying. I think you're remembering the second one, the middle one, and then we added back in things. >> Yeah, cuz we we had done 10 or 12 iterations when we were sitting here. So, I just sort of p pulled it down to the recommended and a couple others. >> When we ended that night, we was at 2.3 million. He was at 2.7 and you gave us another discount

066that night to bring us down to 2.3. >> Yeah, I think I changed the uh >> Oh, you did? Yes, >> did. Yep. Yep. cuz when we left that night it was at 2.3 million because you did >> you've got a bid bid contingency over there >> and so what we want to do is use that 10% is uh to give us a buffer for cost inflation and things like that. So if you put that at zero and obviously it takes away our bid contingency dollars but it's um you have to recalculate it. >> Yep. >> And then if you say 4.9, right? uh 4.9 over 17 years. >> Recent rates have been a little bit better. So if we use like 4.5, this sheet allows you to >> Yeah. >> So that brings Yeah.

067If we have no contingency and our rates a little bit better, that Yeah, that shows it is. So >> no contingency. >> Yeah. I don't know if we Yeah, >> it's it's just, you know, a CA for for everyone because the worst thing we can do is just we can't predict what, you know, costs are going to go up. If if things are too high, then they're just too high because we're showing you the bids from qualified contractors and then you guys just take things off the table if you'd like. It's totally your call. We could care less what you guys choose. But >> this um the annual budget change is 1.3. Yeah. 1.3. >> Oh, sorry. >> So, we that also we we put your budget into the sheet as long as it's accurate.

068>> I think 12 million is what we had plugged in the last time. Yep. Yeah. Um, >> and so this project would be a 1.38% change to your annual budget to do these improvements. So sometimes in the community that that that's what people are looking for. What's the percent change to our budget? Um, some are just what is the actual cost per year for us. And if you scroll up, Jeff, it shows you what that cost is. Um, >> that 170. Yeah, that's your well >> your actual principle and interest payment because at the end of the day, that's really what your the 178. >> Yeah. >> So then when you go into the option builder, as we select and deselect some things, we highlight that. >> Sorry. Y >> that one. And so you

069have your annual contribution which is about six lines down and it shows you what that cost is associated per year with the measure selected below. And then if you deselect some things, this is something that didn't exist before that is new is that this would be a much lesser project and of course your annual contribution drops. Um and then each one. So we usually we'll create like five different scenarios for you to look at as a team and decide okay I kind of like the thought of doing field lighting. Maybe person next to you is like not a fan of field lighting. So maybe that can wait, you know, whatever. So you can kind of change whatever you guys want on the project um through this tool. But that's pretty much all the nuts and

070bolts of it. And and of course you because of the tax exempl purchase which is geared for schools and you guys have been using that for years here. Um you have a year of no payment. So your first payment of whatever projects you select isn't due for a year until after you sign your contracts. So it wouldn't be until you know say you move forward things in in February or March. you said yes. Um, your first payment is due February, March of 26, I mean 27. And one thing that I like to do is if you go back to that cash flow, I I don't really love to say 100% of the incentives because there is absolutely no way we can guarantee those. We don't govern those. We don't monitor them. also get a lot

071more. >> You could also get a lot more. Correct. So, the nice thing is is getting a check that you weren't expecting u versus not getting a check that you were expecting. That's crucial to making a payment. So, I don't love to put those down as a down payment. I'd rather create the worst case scenario to be voted on and then bring it bring it down. Um, >> so what's the name of that break again? >> Wildlife. >> It's the land and wildlife management. I've got it. Um, I can't even schools. >> That's it right there. >> Land and water conservation fund. Sorry, I misspoke there. But yeah, it's through the National Park Service. Um, it's used, it is used by a lot of schools, um, a lot of, uh, parks and wreck, a lot

072of, you know, municipalities. Um, but I I I know some people who who have used it in the past and and do say that there are multiple other schools that have used it for their own lighting projects. So, it's not uncommon. >> It's not uncommon for this to be used for school lighting projects. >> Yep. >> I think both towns have been using the grants. >> Oh, okay. Yep. So, you know, this kind of thing makes always makes decision- making a little difficult to do it all together because you obviously don't want to wait. If if they after the interview they say, "We're not going to really know what we have for money until May or June." That kind of puts a damper on us being able to get the other stuff done for you

073if that's what you'd like. If you want to wait another year, by all means, wait another year. But if you wanted to get this done in concert with the other things like the VRF, the heat, the cooling of the second floor of the school, then then we would recommend this being a separate thing that you have money for in there. And if the money comes in from this, it's approved, right? That kind of thing as an if then proposition. But if you wait for all of it based on this and you don't get it, it's going to be kind of a bummer that you you weren't able to get cooling in the school because you were waiting for this grant to come in. So, it's kind of like labor lawn renovation funds. We never want

074to make make the whole thing hinge on that because you haven't you never know. It's a roll of dice, you know. So, what's the board? >> You've started the budget process, correct? >> Mhm. Um, I don't I think that we might have to um maybe have a second meeting this month or something and and see what we're looking for then because we're going to have to and decide as a board how much you want to actually go forward with this. >> Yeah. I mean, I feel like Sorry. um >> PS >> without an understanding of where we are in thinking about the budget and without having had a conversation about what direction we're going to give on the budget. I don't feel I mean I mean theoretically in favor of moving forward with some you

075know piece of this but it's very hard to know what that piece is without the rest of the budget picture in play. Um >> because we know we're going to have an increase. >> That's what we're we want to talk to you about that tonight. >> Yeah. I don't know the direction. >> Where are we at with um Heat. on the 55 W. Heat. I think that would be helpful to know what priority is for each of these individual things like is this really high priority? Do we need this sooner rather than later? >> Committee that did the long. >> Okay. I would say that with the exception of the field lighting, everything on here is >> high priority. >> Everything in that first list, >> yeah, >> is substantially high in terms of either

076we're wasting so much money or there's a health and safety or >> Yeah. building. Those were the things, right? Okay. Heat up here. Heat. I've got one in my head. Um, let's say we do this option three. Okay. And then, um, we do not do the generator, >> but >> that's in there. So, we have to take that out. That was the first one that >> whichever one has the no generator. Um and then let's say there is a power outage and we are worried about that. Is there a mechanism to take that food down to the walk-in here? >> Okay. So we had had to do that. So that requires staff and the whole kinds of >> and then putting it back together. >> Our final meeting that night all the building maintenance was

077going to be done except for the air handlers and that and we left the generator out. And our final conclusion that night is these kids need that lighting. They need to be able to play. What have we given them? And we wanted them to have the lighting and light up your fields for you. So we left out the generator and we put in the lighting and it came in at 2.5 I think it shows tonight. And we figured out of everything those kids deserve that. >> And is there any grants available that you're aware of for things like a generator? cuz I'm with you, but I just also don't want to be in a situation now that I, you know, >> you know, warming students, we're dealing with littles. It's not like you can take

078those kids and bring them down here easily to take >> Well, for the most part, again, the generator isn't necessarily to keep kids in school necessarily, unless it was emergency evacuation. It's really just to maintain the school >> um keep lights on long enough to get them home, to get them home. >> It wouldn't be to prolong keeping them in school. That's why we went the way we did with the >> whole building maintenance and >> we wanted the lighting. >> Yeah, Jeeoff, we should probably FEMA money cuz sometimes there's money that comes up with generators to answer your question for FEMA as some federal money. >> It's a pain in the ass to get. But >> well, what about like like is that rural development? >> I did dig into that a little bit

079and they're and it didn't seem at the moment. >> No, they're not. They don't right now. I know that for a fact cuz we're doing it for some other schools. >> It could pop up, >> but it could pop up. >> It changes. >> Um, >> also revolving renovation fund money is it seems it seemingly is coming back each year, but it's geared towards things that are very specific like this year was >> structural roof integrity issues for schools. Um, life safety and that that was priority one and then ventilation. And so we're very aware of all that money. And so when they come in and that comes in, we usually try to say separate it kind of like the field lighting project because if you can get half of that, that's a much easier

080cell >> um to to the general public. >> I like the option of the other stuff plus the field tableling the generator for now. That would be my initial inclination. >> Well, we'll dive into it and see what Heat. also like you said, you know, there's it it's a community. It sends a community message, right? Because there's just a one little field down at Mosul to play in the one little park. So, like other people can come here. Um it may bring more families in. >> Um >> we're seeing more and more of it. Almost every district we're doing analysis and that doesn't already have it is they're trying to look to get it. I mean, if Camden's tried 10 years in a row to get it, they keep getting voted down, but they they

081think they're going to get it this year just because so many other schools have it. >> Um so, 78,000 >> just and we uh we took the contingency money out. So >> I was kind of hoping that >> smooth all that track >> we could put a track in with the soccer. >> Yeah, >> it's it's connected to the pole. So yeah, how by the next meeting that we had a more definite when we came up with the dollar figures for what I'm looking at for the budget? >> Yes. Sorry, I was looking at some old documents that D had sent me. Um, yes. >> Does that make more sense as a board to wait until then for a final answer? It does because what what we would be looking at of lease even though

082it wouldn't be due until February 2027, that's still a FY27 budget, right? So, >> yeah, this would go along with the conversation that we'll have later about >> where you want us at. So, >> okay. >> And and some of this stuff we can do is um because it is pretty close to July, right? We could always kind of doesn't have to be decided on February. If we could get this into the next fiscal year would be July one of 27 that would probably look a heck of a lot better, right? Yeah. So, there are there's really nothing on here. I mean, some of the stuff that we could do ahead of time anticipating that the loan will come in. >> Um, similar to what you guys use for bonds, a band anticipation note. >>

083Yeah, >> we could do um we could work with you on that somehow. we could order all this stuff, hold the cost until you close >> to give you a little a buffer because if we're holding money for a couple months, big deal, right? >> Um we know you guys are going to get the funding. We finished a a boiler project, a $600,000 job for Hope and they haven't even closing the financing yet. We literally dump a whole new boiler room there >> because their finances are some not something's messed up. Point is is that we can hold some costs to get you through >> a few months because it gives you a whole another fiscal year. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> So that could be something we can do too. >> Okay. >> What's the

084timeline on that grant? Should you ace the interview and get it? >> So I don't that's part of the that's one of the questions I have to ask there. That was not provided to me. Um but it is for it is for FY26 cuz they do a whole new round in 27. So that's why I had to get it in by the end of last year so they know what they're looking at. applications for this year. So, the funding >> potentially could be this year. I'll ask the question about what that timing is as well as what the timing for when it needs to be utilized is. Can it can it wait till 27 to actually utilize it? >> Yeah. So, and and I I suppose if if it wasn't if we needed to push

085it off and we couldn't, we could just reapply at the end of this year for 27. >> Question. They're coming back again next year. So, then if you decide as a community like right now is another time for sports field letting you can wait next year and re You can reapply again. >> I was just asking like can you get the grant awarded the grant more than once? >> Oh no. >> Based on what we heard so far, but it's us question. Yeah. >> I mean unless it was a different project, right? >> Yeah. A a different project. Um and and even so if you guys had another field somewhere else because I did the initial stuff, you could add something to that. I just we couldn't put in something like we looked in for

086Camden to put it in for 26 and because we missed that date the answer was no. But he did say if we wanted to add something. So there's some there's some caveats in there that that I'll ask questions. >> Outdoor classrooms, right? If you're doing outdoor stuff and it's field stuff like if we got the grant for the field lighting this year, would they be willing to offer a grant for something else that's along that why that line? >> Great question. a year after we'll ask it. Like I just admitted earlier, I didn't even know this grant existed. So, >> just >> that's a great if it is an outdoor type community grant, then why not ask? I mean, for sure. And any other things you guys think of um shoot an email over and

087we'll ask and the interview. >> Absolutely. >> We'll let you guys know when we're doing it. So, >> yeah. So, we'll create some options and send them over and highlight the parts that obviously are the most attractive, which are the payment schedule, what we can come up with, um the the annual payment projected to be, stuff like that. So, so I'll send over the the options that we built and if you wanted to see something else, I can certainly do that. And then if you'd like if you if you are doing a meter meeting later in the month I don't necessarily need to present anything but if you I can I can be here and we can run some options some different ones if you want to see it um just just to make sure

088you've got you know you've got the information information we have to make sure we can do that >> yeah I've already given her a headache you know thank you for answering I have a lot of questions >> oh no that's what we're here for we're happy to >> I would say the only thing we'd have to move on quicker is the VRF because it just takes so long to get in to have it for next summer for cooling. But all the other stuff we could do because you get a year to do the construction, right? That's why you have that year of no payments. The VRF is going to be the most intrusive. But that's something we could carry at the cost for so we could start that construction before you even close your financing.

089You get close to July 1. So that helps you get through that. But everything else, just looking at real quick, I I feel like we could just wait. Doors can be done. Those aren't long wait times. Thank you so much. >> No problem. >> Good. >> Yes. >> Great. >> We're all good with this. I'll keep these and send them out to you guys. >> Or if I get them to you, Josh, you can distribute as needed. >> All right. Heat up here. Okay. >> Um, before we do the new business, I told Sabrina what I was going to do. I didn't want to blindside her when she wasn't here to vote. >> Thank you, Josh. You're very welcome. under new business policy first reading of ACAA student inclusivity. I this requires no action but

090I would like to give a little bit of history. Go ahead. We discussed this at length to the policy committee through two full meetings. We discussed this at length. We followed the MSMA Drummond Woodson recommended policy. Um, but we have both Ruth and I some concerns with the policy as it exists. Even though we tweaked it a little bit to be allincclusive, if you will, we still have some concerns. Do you want to talk about those concerns or do you want me to talk about those concerns? >> How about you go first? My biggest concern is that under this policy, boys and girls can share bathroom and locker room space and that is a concern for me. And I just want everyone to be aware of the process and the conversation and what the end

091result actually means as we consider this policy. Uh just to I think maybe clarify one of the things that we tried very hard in the policy was that it was not so specific to population within the school versus all students. um even so it does not sit well with me and I think I made it pretty clear that I was not um likely to support this going forward. I just I don't like the message. I don't like the potential situations that could arise within our district. So, I have significant reservations about this policy. Even with the best efforts of us to try to make it um more palpable, I don't find it. So, thank you. My comment is, and I did say to this to Dr. Miller, that I did not like the outcome of

092this policy. I don't agree with it as well. There's a lot of things that I don't believe in and I don't think it's in the best interest of the students as a whole and that's my big concern. I do not want to bring this forward as a first reading. I would either like to table it and ask that the policy goes back um to work on it again. Um, I just think that um it's in our best interest to send it back or to table it all together because I do not I have great concerns about the way it was brought forward. So, my recommendation is that I don't want to bring it forward for the first reading. Do you like some clarification on your concerns about the way it was brought forward? Are they

093more about the content of the policy? What does that mean? Concerns about the way it was brought forward. >> I also do not like the way that it is brought forward that we are allowing >> Oh, she's talking about the policy content. >> Okay. Because the way it just may it sounded like it didn't like you didn't like the way the process it went through. We went through the process. >> You did go through the process. >> So you don't like the content, not the process. >> I do not like the content and I do not Can we move to table it? >> That's what I'm suggesting. >> I move that we table discussion on ACA student inclusivity. Any more discussion? I would like more perspectives if we're going to It doesn't sound like we're

094taking it back to policy now. It sounds like we're tableabling it. I I have to table it tonight one way or the other, but I have to and and I have great concerns is I don't believe we're following the Title 9 law. I don't want to be discriminated against for the money. Um, I I I have no trouble with it going back to policy, but you guys had two full days reading on it and this is what you came up with. And I'm assuming that we um included Drummond and Woodom and this was their recommendation to us. Their recommendation was far more liberal than ours. Well, we more liberal. I didn't say far. It was more >> so the template that was used, right? And I agree with Chris that we didn't get we weren't

095given many options. That's the one option that was out there. And these are questions that we and I brought up. >> And Ruth worked really hard to try to balance this to the best of their ability based on >> the recommendations from Drummond. And >> it's not just recommendations, it's law. It's main state law. That's >> But it's not. >> And my concern that I brought up in policy multiple times is that federal law will supersede state law. >> Correct. All day long. And we are not following federal law with this the way we've presented. >> You would be following M. >> Correct. >> Motion stands. >> Her motion stands that we're going to table it. >> Still, I would like some more perspective. I'm It's too bad that um >> Sabrina had to leave,

096but does anybody else have any thoughts on this? I do know that Sabrina told me, and I'm going to let it be known, that she was okay with the way it was presented tonight. I asked her, that's what I went out and asked her. Julie, do you have any comments? >> I guess I need to read it again and give it a little more thought. I I think what would help us when we do come back to this is more direction from the full board and I don't want to put you on the spot but do you have any perspective the student read this if like you give me a debrief about it like is it so is it allowing men and women to use the same bathrooms and locker rooms. Okay. um >> and

097to participate on >> on other sports teams. >> Um well, from my perspective, um I'll say right now what we're doing is so varsity boys and girls and middle school games, too. I think I believe >> just be careful not to use your hands. >> Yeah. Yeah. I'm not going to. Um so when we are playing the boys and the girls, the away team is in the boys locker room. So, our boys are obligated to use a girls locker room cuz we don't have another locker room. So, we make sure to that there's no girls in the locker room when we enter the locker room and the boy there's no boys when the girls enter the locker room to avoid conflict. That's really the biggest thing cuz we don't want like say there's a boy

098accidentally in while the girls walk in and there's um some type of conflict going on there or a rumor spreads or >> something gets taken and exploded. Um, that's kind of my I kind of stand with the not allowing cuz I just don't want I don't like conflict and I think that like it would cause a a big conflict if something were to happen. Yeah, I think that's what we were thinking about when we were looking at how do we protect all of our students, right? We want to make sure everyone feels safe and is safe. And that perspective really sort of validates what we were thinking and talking about as we looked at this policy. We don't want anyone to feel uncomfortable. And you know, besides having separate bathrooms and locker rooms for everybody,

099it's hard to come up with a solution for that. I think in full transparency to one of the other concerns I had is there's a section and I I don't remember exactly where it was where um there was information that may not be brought to the parent upfront. It may be brought to the parent after the fact. And for me, um, I did not feel that that is something that this community would get behind. Um, and as a parent, I certainly would not. >> It was if a student disclosed at school but didn't feel safe disclosing >> any personal information at home. >> But I think we did wrap that in as quickly as possible. Yeah. >> Beyond the initial. >> Yeah. Heat. Is there a third option where we table it until we feel

100we have more information to address it at a later date? >> Of course. Is that what you want? You made the motion. I'll go with it. I would like to amend the motion that we table discussions on ACA student inclusivity until such time as more information is available for us to make a proper decision. Is that found? That is in the form of a motion. more information is available maybe because proper I mean some people would say >> this is proper >> that the proper information is already >> but it's not because there's there's lawsuits pending all over the place right now state and federal so we don't have a clearcut direction >> in regard to whether state or federal law applies to us. Well, I just thought you just said that federal superseded state

101and if that's a case that perspective on who you ask >> and I think the outcome of some of the cases that are currently taking place would help us at least determine whe what direction we want to go in because there may be implications either way that we can't anticipate right now. So, here's the thing. We can if if I were to amend my motion to we just table it. If 6 months down the road we wanted to revisit it, we could revisit it. Correct. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> You can revisit it anytime. And my original motion stands that we table ACA student inclusivity. >> Oh, I'd also I'd also like to add I'm not just talking for myself. I know a lot of people um cuz I'm a student representative. I know a lot

102of people in the other school. I know there's it's there are some people that would be like, "Oh, okay. I'm okay with this." And there are people that are like, "I would not be okay with this at all." And you could say protest it or just not feel uncomfortable with it. So I and the majority of people I've talked to not like like I haven't talked to everyone in the school obviously I do know a lot of people but the more the majority of it would be uncomfortable. I do know a lot of people though that would be comfortable with it too but from what I hear from other conversations and what I've seen and just heard I would say that the majority would be uncomfortable from other students. >> Yeah. And we want to

103make sure those students all students we want to make sure all students feel comfortable and safe in their learning environment. So that's what we're struggling with right now and I really appreciate that perspective. It helps and and I'm sorry that you guys worked on it two days and that you still aren't comfortable bringing it forward. So, it's a I don't know when the law is going to go down and and and it's whoever interprets it any way they want to interpret it, I guess. But I do not want to bring this forward at this time for a second reading. So, that was my point. >> How was the second? Sorry, >> we didn't have a second yet. >> I I just said that my original motion was due, >> but I will second it. >>

104I was Oh, you were. Oh, I didn't hear that. Sorry, Denise. Um, I was formulating a question. Oh, I'm curious about the implications of not having this policy in place in regard to our practices, our current practices and procedures. I don't know if Mr. T can talk about that. answer is to not having a policy in place then it becomes a procedure question. >> Don't we have a current policy that we're following? you have to follow along and I don't know >> a lot of schools don't have this policy in place that is what is >> but a lot due to right you're right I mean it's and I think the challenge will be until it happens and we move in one direction another will it be determined who chooses to push back or not

105push back on based on this I mean because we know there are perspectives on both sides so >> so my question is if if Durman and Woodson said that we're following the main state law. >> That's what they're saying. >> And then we know that what the federal law says. >> Mhm. >> It'll be a civil battle just like I mean just like other districts are doing right now. You in other districts that have the policy, it will be the discussion or the court ruling on which one supersedes and somewhere someone's going to have to decide. It really it won't be us. I mean it will be we had a policy based on what was suggested or recommended to us by our lawyers saying this is what we think and across Maine and Ruth's not

106wrong that some districts have said we're not touching it others I mean I think that we tried to find our middle ground we tried and then the policy to look at um this template and how can we make it equitable if we change the name equitable to all students we weren't just talking about trans transgender we wanted to make sure to the best of our ability that everyone feels safe. Um, but there's no one right answer. There really isn't. So, again, it's it's your right as the board to say, "We're not going to tackle this right now. We're going to leave it." But we it does open us up to the potential chance just like any other policy. We don't have it, which means if something happens, we don't have we don't have any backup

107as far as kind of figure it out. So, >> but that's >> the same for policies that people don't like. >> Correct. Absolutely. No. >> And so that we're not like >> No, no. I'm not saying I'm saying that. You're right. I mean, we already know there's a lot of other policies that we don't have in place yet either. We But we always run the chance of something could happen. We don't have policy to back us up right now. That's all. >> I would like this to go back to policy in the future, in the very near future. So, I I'm not sure if you're aware, but there's another school district that um adamantly said, "We are not following any of Drummond Woodson's recommendations." So, it would be And forgive me, I can't remember which

108district it was. Um >> they fired him and kicked him out. >> Um Yeah. Yeah. >> What happened? >> They fired them in because they said, "We're not going to follow we're not going to follow that policy that you're telling us that we have to." But the the bottom line, what was it? Did you know, Matt? >> No. Oh, okay. >> Um, but the bottom line is at some point it's going to come to a head and then that's when, you know, people are going to have to buckle down and follow it. But right now, you just have to follow the law, federal law, at this point. So, right now, we can say that at this point, we're going to follow the federal law. Period. And as long as you say that, then you have

109yourself covered, right? Am I correct in that? >> I I believe so. >> If you don't because if you have a policy, it can't go against federal law. If you have a law, the law is set. That's what it is. You don't necessarily have to have a policy. >> So, they could actually go back. >> It's not a bad thing to have it. >> So, they could go back to policy and say, "At this time, we're going to follow the federal law." >> Correct. That could be your policy. >> Then, can I make a motion to go back to policy and state that we're going to follow the federal law >> on hers? For amen. I need to just pause for a second cuz my brain just needs to hear this. Um, I just want

110everyone to understand that this is something that I have been thinking about exhaustively for uh more longer than what it came to with this meeting and we had some pretty extensive and robust conversations. I don't take any of this lightly, but I I am trying to do what I feel is in the best interest of the district and all the students because we have littles from 4 to 5 all the way up to older than that, 18, 19, 20. Um, and so what I hear the chair saying is that they would prefer that we bring this back to policy and that the recommendation out of policy B that we follow federal law and then see where the chips fly. Exactly. So, I'm going to amend my motion for the fourth time that I move to

111bring ACA a student inclusivity back to policy for review. And is it review and revision? >> Review and revise. >> Can I get a second? >> I'll second that. >> You have to do the vote. >> Any other comments? All in favor? >> Unanimous. >> Will we have one more here? >> It's still unanimous. >> Okay. Just making sure. That's how it goes. >> What do you want? I can't say what her vote is. I can't vote for her. I just know we have to put one asset. Nope. This is a required policy. >> Yeah. And it's first reading. So we have no action. >> This was basically what is the minimum what is the minimum temperature in a classroom? What's the max? and they gave us like a buffer. >> So in the policy

112you can see that they had recommended Wait, did we skip letter B? >> No, we just did. >> No, that's it. It's just first she just read it first reading. >> Oh, okay. No, no, no. I meant under new business >> strategic planning. That's C. Superintendent report. No. >> No, she went AC. >> That is C. That C. >> We need to do B, right? Oh, I thought the C is under strategic plan. >> I put C under the first one. >> No, wrong wrong C. >> Sorry. >> Strategic plan. >> Oh, I see what you did. Yeah. Heat up here. that it filled it out. >> How did that survey go out? I'm just curious because I don't think I received >> place. We put it on our It's on our website. It's on

113our Facebook page and then principles were sending it out to reach my teachers. Well, that would maybe today or tomorrow. >> Okay. Okay. That's where I would be looking for it. >> Excuse me. What's that? Heat. So, hope it's only Tuesday. We got a week. >> I bet you generate more interest through the reach my teach outreach. >> Absolutely. We It's kind of a busy time of year to be putting things like that out. So, I'm hoping now that the holidays are over and people are a little more focused on >> we're attacking it each week. So, what we're looking for Heat. Can you project at all what that looks like to the assessment? >> No, I have not done that yet >> because I think that's what people vote on. >> So, you want

114it on the assessment, not on the budget. And can you give me a percentage that So the the 4.6 um is would be a $12,600,000 budget. >> I'm good with that. >> Is that And the current budget that was approved this year is 12 million >> is um uh 12,47,192. >> I'm good with that. 600,000. Is that before that,000? >> Yeah. So what that is is it's an increase of $552,88. >> And that's if we're talking about a project, a big school project as well as >> No, that's not including the big school project. >> It's not. But if we work with them and get it in the next year's budget, >> correct? >> FY28, meaning Is it >> I mean I think that's something we can play with. >> Is it cumbersome to do

115what the percentage and the assessment cuz I think that's how we've had it. >> Absolutely not. >> Cuz I think the some people are percentage people, some people are assessment people, some people just want to know what the a dollar amount is and where it went. >> So like is it possible to do that like assessment percentage and the increase? >> Right. Wait, because the 4.6% is not that is not going to be 4.6%. 6% on the assessment. >> Correct. >> Right. >> I think >> I can I can um >> we can all agree that the percentage investment >> what did you say it was 500 >> 5528. >> Yeah. >> And remember that is is really nothing. But when you look at the assessment that's what people are going to be voting on.

116They're not going to be looking at that dollar figure and saying, "Oh, that's a drop in the bucket." They're going to be looking at the increase >> correct >> on the assessment when they vote. Yeah, I think that a big thing um And the reality is for what we need that amount of money. >> Yeah. Remind you we just had a a new car. >> Really not that. Heat. Heat up here. Heat. Yeah. And >> I think we did stress that, Laura, didn't we, in those two select lens meetings about the um uh the the raises and and the >> and Shannon and I have a really what we think is going to be a really engaging and helpful document that's really going to Heat up here. Heat up here. go two weeks and be

117done. We kind of like the idea that it's all >> dragging it out. It's fresh. >> It's It's fresh. We're not forgetting things. We're not miss We're not repeating things, >> right? But we want to make sure that once you receive my budget packets >> that you have time to go over it, to look at it. um when I print that off, I'm my notes will be included in that document so that you'll see what we're including in there. Um, but what's going to help move along the conversation is you really studying that budget and and seeing what we're talking about and then you know we can go from there as to okay what >> and you said you moved a few things around and you actually some budgets are going to look higher and

118some are going to >> put some articles going to be higher some are going to be going to be >> things are putting them where they should be >> where well that's part of the explanation right so when you do the budget just because my brain does not work like that. So when you do like this is I'm just going to say cost center town. I don't know what it is. I might have just made it up. And this is what it this is what it was last year. This is what it was this year because some stuff got moved. Exactly. Okay. Thank you. >> That will be very helpful. >> And I think it will make it >> because it's going to be right. And that's the president's meeting with principles to say why

119is this here? you know what's different, why is it different, right? So that they're giving their rationale for, >> right? >> I would just like to ask them not meet on Thursdays because that's my Girl Scout night and I can't be here. >> Okay. >> So again, Wednesdays, Tuesday, Wednesday, >> Tuesday, Wednesday, that's fine. That works better. >> And I appreciate the ask before >> Yes. the process. Hopefully that will >> facilitate things a little bit too. >> Exactly. >> Because it's nice to know that you're going in the direction that the board >> Well, so >> we are having our meetings with the administrators so we can support their choices. Mhm. >> You're having the meeting with us about this so you can support our choices. So, you know, without having all of that

120information right up front before we start with the act. I think that getting ahead of the wise is going to be huge because people didn't understand like, oh, we didn't actually have this or we didn't need this or this year, you know, 16 kids fed into this and that why cuz people just see a oh, it's a 500% increase. They don't realize, you know, that it's because something was moved in the wrong that we've actually been asking for that. We for a couple of years now for that. So that so that'll be very much appreciated. Yes, be very much appreciated. Heat up here. Heat up here. So moved.