001meeting to order. Um we have Catherine who's absent as well as Shelley and Scott Clish and everyone else is here. But but oh and Ashton, yeah. Yeah. But she's not here now, sorry. >> [snorts] >> All right, [clears throat] thank you, Fay. Um Now we'll do the pledge of allegiance. I invite all those who can to stand and join us. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. Um you know, will you please note that Scott is here. All right, the first item on our well, the first the fourth item on our agenda is approval of the meeting of the minutes for the regular meeting of March 18th. So moved.
002Second. You have a motion and a second, any discussion or edits to the minutes? All those in favor of approving the minutes? Any opposed? And any abstentions? All right, so we have Stacy and Brooke abstained. >> [laughter] >> I I honestly can't We we should look at the minutes and see. >> [laughter] >> I don't recall, we won't hold it against you. You were absent. You want to abstain? Sure, I'll abstain. >> [clears throat] >> All right, we have two adjustments to the agenda. We will be entering executive session um to discuss negotiations um and we also will be signing um the announcement for the referendum uh for the budget in the four towns. All right, I'm going to turn the floor over to you, Nick, for our recognition ceremony. Thank you. Good evening. Uh
003what I would like to do is have Coach Cash and Coach Ditzel, please come up to the podium with your respective athletes. We're very fortunate tonight to uh honor some young ladies as part of our indoor track team and I will turn it over to the coaches to talk about these four up here. Good evening. >> [snorts] >> Now, good evening. So I'm Jason Cash, I'm the head coach for the indoor track and field team here at HA and I've got Coach Mike Ditzel over here as well. And it's our honor tonight to be able to introduce these four track and field athletes and the accomplishments that they had this winter. So for those unfamiliar with track and field, it's a a series of events, there are 14 different events in the indoor track and
004field season and amidst those events are the relays. So it's four athletes that have to work together in a particular race. So we have one relay here, this is our 4 by 200 meter relay team. So essentially they're running a half mile race. So they have worked very hard and I'm going to let them take over here in a moment to talk about what it means to be on a relay and to work through the season to earn a spot in the post season on this relay. Um so they made it to the Class A state meet. It's um it's a big meet, it can be very intimidating. 31 of the biggest schools in Maine are there and they certainly belong there, they were among them and uh they won the race. Woo! They In
005fact, it was just it wasn't even close. They did such a great job and uh it's the it's the anchor event, it's the last event, so a lot of times there's a lot of excitement around the event and uh they certainly did not disappoint. Um and unbeknownst to them at the time, they were also working in that last event uh to bolster their team into second place and they were able to do so. So the entire girls team placed second and that's the highest place in a state meet in 20 some odd years and certainly the highest in Class A since uh Hampden Academy in indoor track 2010-ish. Uh so I'm going to introduce them and before I uh get to the last one, um we also have an individual state champion here. So the
006entire relay ran a half mile, this individual ran a half mile and also won that race. So four state champions over two different events. So here they are. Our lead off leg is our ninth grader, Kelsey Ball. Uh the second leg is a junior, Bre Curtis. The third leg is our senior, Maddie DeCentes and then our anchor is also our individual event champion and that's Addie Alley. So here they are, our state champions. >> [applause] >> Um thank you for inviting us to this tonight. We're really happy to be here and we're really proud of this accomplishment. It was a long season, we only got to run together a few times, but we progressed so much, almost like four seconds between our first time and our last time and it just takes a bunch of
007teamwork, trust, we trust each other and we're confident in each other and we know everyone's going to pull through and that's what made us so successful and we're really really happy of our accomplishment. Does anyone have any questions? >> [laughter] >> I what In high school relay, do they Do they have that tricky baton pass like in the Olympics that you have to master as well? Yes. That's impressive just by itself. Congratulations. Thank you. I do have a couple questions unless Coach Cash was going to say something. I'm going to I'm going to get in trouble if I don't say this. So the time that they ran a minute 46 seconds was the is a state meet record. So it was the uh the the fastest time run by 4 by 2 at that meet
008and if you take all the 4 by 2s that have been run in the state of Maine, it was the second fastest team and the third fastest time. So that's going back into the 60s and 70s when indoor track started in Maine. Wow. So I do have a couple questions or a couple comments. Uh first of all, I did get to see these ladies run um in individually and as a team and they are extremely fast and Coach Cash, I don't think could even do it justice by uh explaining how fast they are. Uh they're phenomenal. Um very good athletes. Um we also have one in the group right now that was recognized just today, the one that's actually holding the microphone, about an hour and a half ago. Uh can you talk about that,
009Maddie? Uh yeah, so I just committed to the University of New England to run track and field. I'm really excited. I do sprints, mainly the 400 and 200 and I'm really excited to get to run with the new team, but I'll definitely cherish all my Hampden memories. So that was actually a new event uh that Mr. McAllen put together where all uh seniors, graduating seniors who were committed to uh college and did participate in athletics uh were recognized today. So Maddie was one of those uh 17 or 18, I believe, students that were up there today. Uh second question I have, did the four of you run as a team the entire season? No. We did a few times, but uh I don't know, they throw in random people sometimes, too. >> [laughter] >> I
010think it was only our third time running, so. It was an improvement of four seconds, which is really amazing, too. So, Bre, you have the microphone at this point, you're going to have the next question. >> Okay. How difficult is it to not run as a team all season long, but yet to compete in a state meet? It is very difficult, it definitely takes a lot of trust and practice and we worked really hard to accomplish it, so to see our improvement was really just a great moment for us. And I think that in and of itself shows how athletic these young ladies are because it is very difficult to participate as a team, but not having run together the entire season and and as they mentioned a few times. Uh Addie, you're the individual
011champion in the 800. And what was your time in the 800? It was 2:17. So to put that into perspective, the track out here uh that's twice around that track in 2 minutes and 17 seconds. I'm not sure I could drive that in 2:17, let alone run it. Uh and so my point being, Class A is extremely difficult and I will say Class A track, whether indoor or outdoor, is probably one of the most difficult sports in in my opinion in high school athletics and for Hampden Academy, which is if not the smallest Class A team, one of the smallest Class A teams in the state and to have a team and an individual champion at the Class A meet is outstanding. And so I will speak for the entire board and the district. Uh
012we're very proud of you and you should be proud of yourselves. You've done a phenomenal job and uh we're happy to see you here tonight. So thank you for coming. And I'll just say the 800 is like the hardest race. It's not a sprint, it's not distance, it's like make you sick. Thank you. >> [applause] >> All right, we were uh going to move on to the public comment um section of the agenda. Um before we call up the names, I'm going to read our um highlight some parts of >> [clears throat] >> our board's public participation at school board meetings, and then we'll uh have one comment after that, and then we'll uh get started. So, I want to thank the people for coming today. Um it's important to get feedback from the um
013from the board. Um we do have some uh limitations and rules. So, comments by individuals are limited to a maximum of 3 minutes in a meeting. >> [clears throat] >> Individuals may not relinquish a portion of their allotted time to another speaker. Um and we may modify um time limits particular meetings. With this amount of people, we're we're going to be fine with 3 minutes. Um individuals who wish to speak during the public comment period are required to fill out the sign-in form. Um everyone's done that. I'm responsible for ensuring the orderly conduct of board meetings and for ensuring compliance with the policy. Um speakers will be recognized by the board chair, and comments should be addressed to the board chair. Requests for information or concerns that require further research may be referred to the
014superintendent for further action necessary. Speakers are expected to follow rules of common etiquette and decorum, and refrain from engaging in disruptive conduct, including but not limited to using vulgar and/or obscene language, yelling, threatening others using words or by other actions, making defamatory comments, exceeding the allotted time limits, taking over or interrupting others, offering repetitive comments, and offering comment on matters unrelated to the school unit's program, policies, or operations. Discussions of discussion of personnel matters is not permitted during the public comment due to privacy, confidentiality, and due process rights of school unit employees. For the purposes of this policy, discussion of a personnel matter means any discussion, either positive or negative, of job performance or conduct of a school unit employee. Discussion of matters involving individual students are also not permitted during this period due to
015privacy, confidentiality, and due process rights of the school unit's students. Any concerns about personnel matters or student matters should be directed to the superintendent or other appropriate administrator outside of board meetings so they can be discussed uh with privacy, confidentiality, and due process rights um considered. I will stop any public comment that is contrary to these rules. And individuals who disrupt the board meeting may be asked to leave in order to allow the board to conduct its business in an orderly manner. Um The rest of it's good. I do want to point out um cuz I think a lot of you are new commenting um that we we do value your comments. We are listening. Um but we don't often respond because we aren't always prepared to uh on that topic at any time. So,
016please thank you for for speaking, and and um our lack of response is not indicative of our lack of care. All right? Um Superintendent Boone, can we have the first speaker, please? Okay, we welcome Linda Valcourt. Thank you. Hello. Um Someone asked me to come tonight. Um I know that we're having an issue with the uh parking at the McGraw School parking area. Uh my biggest concern was having people park inside of the guardrails, where uh where a lot of people were parking last year and this year. Um I've been working with the superintendent's office, uh working with Tina in particular. She's been extremely helpful. Um we've got some signs up now, so that's makes it a little bit better. What was doing happening was a lot of cars were parking in that area, and
017then you couldn't see the children coming in in around the guardrails. They were going in around the cars coming in the center. And then any cars coming out would be directly in the face of the children. Or the cars were parked there, and they're leaving their cars running, lots of times big trucks, and then the exhaust would be right in the child's face when they walked either way. So, that was a problem, too. We're still seeing it. People are still parking there, even with the mark with the signs up saying not to park there. Um Uh it's changed a lot. Um my children went to uh that school, um several of the schools, several children. Um and our culture's changed. Uh we never used to have to take the children to school. We used to
018have to put them on a bus. But because of the situation with a lot of parents working different shifts, um being there for their children, they are commuting and taking them back and forth to school. Um I take one at uh McGraw School, and then I have another one that goes to Weatherbee. So, I haven't been uh I guess I guess fortunate I don't have to be in that line and that's to go to Weatherbee. Uh so, I walk that child to school. But I I I can see that that's even more of a problem. Um having the the the mobile units on campus, we have more of those than we did way back then. I mean, my children are all grown up. So, that's eliminated space. Um having the buses on campus is really
019necessary, but there really isn't any other places. I If you stop and look, we're limited for parking for the um the employees, um and then the buses, and then when mix bringing in the mix of the parents makes it even it makes it even harder. So, um I don't have the answers, but I do know that I have been very fortunate to work with the superintendent's office and make some adjustments that have helped. But um I appreciate your time, and I and I know you're working to help and to take care of it. So, Thank you, Linda, for your comments and your time. Um for speakers, I didn't mention it. If you would just state your name and the town you live in when you um speak, that would be great. Thank you. And now
020we welcome Zahira Jabbar. Yes, thanks. Good evening, everybody, and thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. So, my name is Zahira Jabbar, and I live in Hampton currently. I'm a parent of a student at McGraw Elementary, and I'm also a critical care nurse with a background in biology, chemistry, and psychology. I approach this not only as a parent, but as someone trained to assess risk and safety in high-stakes environments. I'm here to address the ongoing safety concerns surrounding the drop-off and pick-up system at McGraw as well. Since the beginning of the school year, there have consistently been cars, buses, and young children all sharing the same space without a clearly enforced or structured traffic flow. While there have been visible efforts to improve the system, such as directing traffic, placing cones, and adding the
021signages as um she last spoke, these measures have not resolved the core issue. The reality is that restrictions have been put in place without providing viable alternatives. As a result, families are still forced into unsafe decisions simply because there's nowhere else to go. This leads to daily congestion, confusion, and unsafe conditions. As a parent, I'm often navigating multiple children, including a stroller. And I have on my along my side my 3-year-old and my baby. Uh there's buses going by us. There's vehicles going by us. Uh and that's very concerning. Recently, I will be honest with you all. This has weighed really heavily on me that at times I've had nightmares a child has incidentally been hit in this exact parking lot. That's the level of risk the environment's creating for these families. From both personal
022experience and conversations with other parents, there've been already vehicle incidents and frequent near misses. There's no longer a hypothetical concern. It is active and ongoing safety risk. From a clinical perspective, I can tell you exactly how these situations end. Someone gets hurt. There will be a time where we will look back and say, "Well, we knew it was a problem." I also want to acknowledge that this concern has been raised, and there have been efforts to explore the solution. I understand that some options may present financial or logistical challenges, but acknowledging that the urgency of this issue does not change. This is shared daily experience among families, and it is causing stress, anxiety, and fear during what should be just a routine school transition. We're not here just to raise concern, but we're here because
023this is a problem that needs to move toward a solution actively. The current system may have worked years ago when more children rode the bus, but it's no longer reflecting the needs of the family and the community today. What we're asking for tonight is not just acknowledgement, but a clear sense of prioritization and timeline for when families can expect meaningful steps toward a safer system. We're not asking for conveniency, we're asking for safety. Because if nothing changes, it's only a matter of time before a child is seriously injured. And that's something that none of us should be willing to wait for. That's why we're here tonight to advocate for the safety of our children. So, thank you so much for your time. Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> Excuse me. Thank you, Sarah, for that.
024>> [snorts] >> We welcome Alicia Harmon. Good evening. Um my name is Alicia Harmon, and I am from Hamden. Um thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak tonight. I'm here to address a growing concern that many parents, staff, and community community members share. The current situation in the school parking lot at McGraw Magnet School. Quite simply, it is not safe. During drop-off and pick-up times, the parking lot becomes [clears throat] chaotic. There's congestion, unclear traffic flow, and limited separation between vehicles, pedestrians, and buses. Parents are doing their best to navigate the situation, but the current layout and procedures make it difficult to do so safely. As a result, vehicles have already been hit. These are not isolated incidents, they're warning signs. It is only a matter of time before a child is seriously
025injured if nothing changes. We are talking about an environment where young children are walking between moving vehicles, where visibility is limited, and where frustration and urgency can lead to poor decisions behind the wheel. This is not about placing blame on parents or staff, it is about recognizing that the system itself is not working. I also want to acknowledge something that will likely be brought up, and that's the the simple solution uh for more families to utilize the school bus. While that may sound like an easy fix, the reality is that it's not that simple for many families. Some students face long bus rides that significantly extend their day. Others have after-school activities, sports, or commitments that make taking the bus impractical. And for some families, there are very real concerns such as anxiety, past negative
026experiences, or bullying that can make the bus an uncomfortable option. At the end of the day, families make the choices they feel are best for their children based on their individual needs and circumstances, and those choices deserve to be respected. The responsibility for safety on school grounds should not depend on whether a child takes the bus or is driven. The parking lot must function safely for everyone. While I don't have a single solution to present tonight, what I do know is that there are multiple realistic options worth exploring, and not and doing nothing should not be one of them. One option would be to explore re- relocating bus parking off-site during the school day. Many communities utilize nearby town properties, churches, or underused lots where buses can be staged and only brought onto school grounds
027during arrival and dismissal times. This could significantly reduce congestion and open up much-needed um space in the parking lot during the busiest times. Another important step would be to conduct a professional traffic study. This would allow experts to evaluate the current flow of vehicles, identify safety risks, and provide data-driven recommendations. While many of us are speaking from our own experiences, having formal documentation would give the district a clear and objective path forward. And if the root system is that the current layout simply no longer supports the volume of traffic we have today, then it may be time to begin discussing a longer-term plan to redesign or expand the parking lot. The point is there are options ranging from short-term adjustments to long-term improvements, but what matters most is that we take the first step in
028seriously evaluating them. That is why I am asking the board to take action by forming an ad hoc committee dedicated specifically to this issue. The committee should include a mix of stakeholders, school administrators, staff, parents, and if possible, individuals with expertise in traffic flow and safety planning. The goal would be to evaluate current conditions, gather input, and develop practical, effective solutions. This is not something that should be delayed or minimized. The risks are real, and they are increasing every day we continue with the current setup. We have an opportunity to be proactive instead of reactive to address this problem before an accident involving a child forces our hand. I urge you to take this concern seriously and commit to forming a group that can work toward a safer, more structured, and more predictable parking lot
029environment because our children's safety depends on it. Thank you. Thank you, Alicia. Next, we welcome Bethany Carter. Hello, I am Bethany Carter from Hamden. I will keep this short and sweet cuz I just I agree with everyone that spoke. I don't have much unique to add, but I guess my unique perspective is that I'm the PTO president at McGraw. And I've been the president for the past like 6 years, but I've been attending meetings for 5 or 6 years, and this traffic parking situation has literally come up every single year at a meeting. Someone's been like, "Is there anything we can do? Can we do something about this?" So, it's it's not just like the few of us here, it's like a widespread concern that a lot of people have brought up in a lot
030of different situations. So, I just wanted to share that and [snorts] I I I agree with what they said. I have nothing else really to add to that. Thank you, Bethany. And Amber McAvoy. I'm Amber McAvoy from Hamden. Um so, I agree with all of the other ladies, but I have um a different perspective. Um I'm a disabled mom. I'm not supposed to walk more than 100 yd unassisted, and with the issue of having all of these cars and no parking, there are times that when I go to drop my son off, I can't find a handicap parking spot. So, then I'm forced to park far away, and um obviously, I think the only solution would be to relocate the buses and um essentially have more parking for everyone so that other people aren't pushed
031out of their spots. Um and I'm not saying that it's particularly particularly my spot. Um it just is not fair to us that have disabilities um to not be able to utilize the things that are put in place for us. Um and I I'd be willing to, you know, throw my hat in the ring to um help with a committee um and and potentially help this issue. Um but I don't have anything other other than that to say, so I appreciate your time. Thank you, Amber. Tina said everyone? That is. Excellent. I want to thank everyone for taking the time and um coming to the meeting to inform us cuz some of us still have little ones in the schools, and some of us it's been a long time, and uh and ours are not
032so little anymore, and taller than us. Um but that's a that's my issue, not yours. Um so, thank you for for coming out tonight and letting us know about the the issues at McGraw Magnet Schools. Thank you. All right, I don't have anything in my report for this month, so um I'm going to turn it over to the superintendent for personnel. I have two resignations to announce. Uh first, I have Shade Francis, third-grade teacher at Leroy H. Smith School, and Deborah Phillips, Spanish teacher at Hamden Academy. Um that one is due to retirement. And we don't have any nominations or transfers, so I don't recall who's It's Jessica who's doing the I do remember um reading of the essential behaviors. Take it away. Education enables all students to learn the skills, acquire the knowledge, and
033develop the attitudes necessary for them to reach their potential as citizens who can meet the challenges of a changing global society. We believe that all citizens in our communities share the responsibility to educate our children and themselves. Our schools are community support systems and should welcome and encourage all members of our communities to participate, and our schools will have a supportive and empowering atmosphere for all students and community members. All right, and Nick, the floor is yours for the superintendent report. Well, I would like to welcome up uh Mrs. Shan Shaw, principal of the McGraw School for our monthly presentation. >> [snorts] >> I want to thank everyone for having the opportunity to come here and share about something that's really important part of McGraw School and what makes it so special. We are a
034PBIS school and I'm going to take the time to talk about what that means. I'm sure not everyone here has gone through months of training and read the research on it. So I think it's really important as supporters of the district and the school that this is something we all understand what it is. PBIS stands for positive behavior intervention and supports. And so there are some misconceptions out there so I'm hoping to dispel some of those this evening but it's an evidence-based framework. It's not a curriculum, it's not a program. What PBIS is is a an organizational system or a framework to collect best practices that reflect student need and school community values. It's based on being proactive versus reactive to the needs of the school and students and there's a focus on teaching first
035and reinforcing positive behaviors and there's a tiered system. And what that means is we have three tiers. Tier one should really reflect the needs of most of our student body. So we're talking hopefully at least 80% and these are the things that we provide for all students. Then there are some students who may require additional support and so that would be our tier two and we would look at maybe 10% of our student body may need tier two support. And then a few students may need more than that. So more of an individualized support system and we look to see that that's about 5% of our student body. We collect a lot of data and we look at this triangle report on a regular basis to make sure that we have the right balance in
036our school. So why PBIS at McGraw? It's a an evidence-based proven successfully program and it improves student outcomes. It helps us to align our systems, our data and our practices so that each one is supporting the other. So we're not doing all of these different programs or different initiatives in silos. Everything is working together to support our students. It establishes positive student culture and creates a safe and effective [clears throat] learning environment for students. So some of our systems and I apologize Stacy because you're on our district team so you know all of this but we do have a district PBIS team that is comprised of administrators, district level staff, a school board member, community member and parent so that we all bring unique perspectives together to reflect those values and the needs. Then McGraw
037has two specific PBIS teams. We have a tier one so these are the practices that are that you will see throughout the school that all students receive and all students are supported by. And then we have an advanced tiers team and so advanced tiers looks at tiers two and three. So those students who need more than what everybody gets. We meet monthly for those meetings. We look at our action plan and we use data to drive those decisions about next steps. We have regular professional development. We provide we have actually have a PBIS website for the McGraw School and teachers get like weekly tidbits or reminders or refreshers every week in their newsletter that they get and we talk about this regularly in staff meetings. We also do a significant amount of data collection because
038how else will we know what our decisions need to be unless we have data. So we collect different types of data. We collect student specific data around behavior and attendance. We also collect feedback from staff and from families when we do our our culture and climate surveys. So you'll see those twice a year. And those are shared out to the community. Jennifer Nickerson organizes the results of those and then that goes out to parents usually in the form of our school newsletters. What does the data look like? We have something called a tiered fidelity inventory. So we're looking at are we doing the practices in the way that they're intended to be implemented. We do this twice a year and we do it for each of those tiers. So we look at our practices in
039detail for the whole school, for those smaller group tier two students and then we also look at it for those students who need more intensive supports. And we use our results from those inventories to make our decisions on next steps, next practices, our goals. Teachers also do regular self-assessments at different points in the year just as a a checklist, okay, am I doing all of the things that we know are best practices in my classroom. We look at student outcome data. So we have Swiss and reviewed that data before. We do look at that on a regular basis. Check in check out is an intervention. And then next year McGraw's excited to add I-Swiss which really helps us collect data for individual student plans. It really help us to know and understand function of behavior
040and what are the next steps. And attendance. We also conduct a screener, a universal screener three times a year and that helps us to be proactive. We think about what are some students who may potentially need support before we're actually seeing some negative impact. So as I said, PBIS is proactive not reactive. Some of the practices include school-wide positive expectations and behaviors that are taught explicitly and regularly. School-wide and classroom-based matrices and I'll show you an example of McGraw's shortly. A positive behavior acknowledgement system and I say it's not just for the kids because this is what reminds all the adults to give all of that positive acknowledgement. We have a system in place that encourages this as our culture. Regulation spaces in classrooms. We're teaching children how to be aware of their emotions and
041their feelings and how they can self-regulate. These are great skills for all of us as we grow up and we emphasize the five to one ratio of positive feedback. So every one piece of constructive feedback that we give a student, we should be giving at least five positives. And we prioritize greeting students by name in the morning. So these are the things that we say that we do as practices on a regular basis. So this is an example of our school-wide matrix. As you can see, it breaks it down by different settings in the school and then what are the expectations? Our expectations are to be safe, be responsible and honest and be respectful and kind. We recite those every day together and every time we recognize a student we connect what we're recognizing them
042for to these values and to these expectations. And if you see a student walking around the school with a McGraw paw, they can tell you why they got it. And then we have throughout our school in the actual settings a poster that is also a great visual reference for those expectations in that specific setting. Some of the I think really bad media out there about PBIS is around acknowledgement systems and I really appreciate the way that McGraw has worked over the last few years to implement this because it's not about trinkets and it's not about prizes. It's really about that explicit timely feedback that we're giving kids and it's a connection. We know relationships are the single most important thing that we can do to impact students positively at school and so this reinforces that.
043We have McGraw Paws that we give out pretty liberally to encourage those positive behaviors. Those are the purple stickers and every time students are walking through you can hear the adult say, "Hey, congratulations. What did you do to earn that?" And they get to tell their story over and over about the great thing that they did. Then we also have Paw Power referrals. Those are really exciting and students when they really do something that stands out, they get to bring that down to me. It's like the highlight of my day. Get to celebrate kids, sign my name, put a smiley face on it and send back to their class. Then they're usually, you know, skipping down the hall. It's a really amazing interaction. We also have monthly assemblies where we come together, our all school
044shares. And at the end of the month all of the names of the students who earned Paw Power referrals go into the bucket and we choose 10 and they might get a gold coin for the book vending machine. So, very exciting and we had over 40 last month of these Paw Power referrals. So, that was exciting. That was our best month of the year. Something that I really wanted to make sure that you all knew tonight was that the state of Maine PBIS organization reached out and asked if McGraw, one of three schools in the state, would present at the Midwest PBIS conference which our team did last week and they were invited to go to the national conference in person next year. We haven't talked about that but >> [laughter] >> surprise. It just
045to be asked and to be recognized as one of three schools in the state, I think speaks to how effective and how fluent these practices are and how they support students. The presentation was around school wide practices used in classrooms. That's a real strength for McGraw. And so next steps, what do we do to keep the train moving and also to improve it? We always can look at our systems and improve. We're going to continue to monitor for fidelity, make sure that we're keeping up with the practices and we don't let them slide. We're going to continue to support and educate teachers and staff. And a real focus this year and moving forward is to really strengthen our advanced tier systems. So, those students who need extra supports, what are the best ways to do
046that? And looking at additional intervention opportunities and training our staff in additional interventions. And I have some resources for you if you're interested. I'd be glad to take questions or comments if you have any. Well, do you know how long McGraw Paws have been used? A very long time. I can I know 14 years. Yeah, I was going to say I have a a college child, a college age child who got McGraw Paws in kindergarten. So. Yeah, I have a a child who graduated from college so it's 3 years ago. So, it's been at least 17 years. Well, it's been in the concept has been in place for a while. It wasn't called PBIS. Yes, definitely there are some long standing traditions and practices that have been in place but 4 years ago the McGraw
047school created a team and sent them to training on a regular basis to really refine those practices and make sure that the systems, the data and the practices were all aligned. But you're right, there have been some really great existing practices for a long time. Ellen. I just wanted to say thank you. I have a child in your school this year and the McGraw Paw and the PBIS system is working phenomenally from what I can see this year and it's really great as a parent when they come home with McGraw Paws or these referrals and to hear things that they did. For example, she helped a friend tie shoes. That's just adorable and I'm kind of, you know, I'm shocked that somebody noticed her doing these things and that it's it's working. That is encouraging
048these acts of kindness and empathy and and I just see a lot of great impact it has. Thank you. Chris Chris Carson. Sorry. That's all right. Um and I just echo what everybody else said too about the McGraw Paws. I know my first grader comes home quite often with one and it's a good conversation starter for us. And my older daughter still has them plastered on her wall. Um I did have a question. The external data collector, is that the like family surveys that get sent out a couple times a year or is there some other kind of data you're collecting as well? That's a great question. I skipped over that part. So, part of our fidelity monitoring is that we have an external evaluator, meaning someone who is not employed at our school, come
049in and do a walk through and really look for the things that we say that we're doing because, you know, I am biased at this point and I know the things we're intending to do. So, I could go through and try to do that inventory and talk with students and teachers but it really tells us if we're doing what we're intending to do when we have an external evaluator come in. This year it's our parent our parent representative on our district PBIS team and she's coming to some of the schools to do that walk through and talk with teachers and kids to really get at are we meeting those goals that we have. Great question. All right. Well, thank you so much. All right. So, that brings us to the assistant superintendent's update. All right.
050I want to thank Mrs. Shaw and Mr. Lindeman for launching a project reconnects conversation at the Edith Dyer Library. You read a couple months in my board report that Mrs. Pratt and Mrs. Moore joined me and we initiated a conversation for our Smith and Wagner parent groups and we've worked with the rec departments and particularly the libraries and that conversation has launched for McGraw and Weatherbee as well. I went that first evening and got to speak with Mary and Aaron at the Edith Dyer Library and we talked about how the library might partner with us. One barrier that they mentioned to me was that transportation for parents who work after school prohibits those students from getting to after school programming in the library. Therefore, we we have spoken with Dustin at Cyrbus and he's analyzed
051which routes go where and he's found a bus that could go by there. So, I just emailed Mary and Aaron today that said if they promoted the library events early enough and could have enrollment that could we could probably fit 10 to 15 students on a bus that could go directly from combined students, McGraw and Weatherbee to that driveway at Edith Dyer and walk up that last they have to walk around the road that's adjacent to it but still it would open a lot of doors for those families. So, that parents could who could provide transportation for after school library programming would do so and then if anyone couldn't then we'd have that bus opportunity through Cyrbus and Shana and Matt both wrote back and they were pretty excited about that. The same thing is
052happening at the Winterport Memorial Library and Frankfort Libraries. Now, they can walk from Smith and Wagner to the libraries but in inclement weather and in the name of equity there's also space on those buses and at the Winterport Library they're going to co-author or help us format a new publication. Mrs. Pratt's working with students right now to generate content. Anything from what are our local favorite recipes to we've brainstormed interviewing the new town manager in Winterport so that we have a publication of student work that will come forward with only through the help of the the librarian and the staff at the Memorial Library in Winterport. And they are going to format everything and get it published out. We'll print it and then we can circulate it like the town crier used to be circulated
053in Winterport. So, we're very excited about that. And those things are happening in the name of our project reconnect initiatives. I talked to Tony Majors today. He leads the Katahdin area scouting initiatives and he's going to he had shared our our project reconnect notes and our goals and we hadn't connected with any direct scout leaders but I called him today and he wanted it. So, we're looking forward to that. Also in my report this month you saw the vendors for Leaders Among Us and it resonated with me even when Shana was talking about the Paw Power referrals that really our Leaders Among Us is exactly mirroring PBIS for that we do for kids, right? We are leading by example. So, with Leaders Among Us anyone can recognize any team member for showing our core competencies
054from our strategic plan and when you nominate someone their name gets forwarded so that they can be recognized with a thank you that our business sponsor gives for the month. So, we have F A P body now on that list, but they are sponsoring this month and then they I doctor in Handen again is going to give us really cool shades for June. That was a hit last year and so if you're a leader among us in June, you're going to start your summer with a a brand new pair of shades. Um, we want to congratulate and thank Nate for his work on this. You've probably heard all about it. Our community table event at Wagner School for Smith and Wagner families was a huge hit. We had a over 125 people for the very
055first time. Spaghetti dinner. The keynote speakers were powerful. Parents left saying, "Wow, are we going to do more of this?" And the answer is yes. So, um, it's hopefully going to be a tradition at the very least for the community table and then that they was initiated by the opioid trust grant education outreach coordinator. We had to do professional development, but they made it their own and they made it what they wanted it to be and I think it really resonated with parents. We got to feature the new mobile office and that has been launched. It is in use and so you'll hear more about that in the weeks that come as well. And that's all grant funded and I keep saying it again and again because I want to make sure our taxpayers know
056that when you hear mobile office for our issue 22, it's because we worked hard and we got a grant to go to families' homes and meet them where they are so that there are no barriers and they can engage in an IEP meeting or join a remote meeting if they don't have Wi-Fi or just have a heartfelt conversation so that we can say, you know, what what can we do to help you to come to school or whatever meet whatever need that is. So, great job to those team members that did that community table. We're very thankful and it was a hit. Thank you. All right. Up next, financial report, monthly financial report. In your packet, you'll have the most recent financial report. Some things just to point out. First and foremost, we have our
057first article that you'll see as a negative number. That is something that Chris and I are going to investigate a little more. Last month it was about six-ish percent left over. So, I'm not sure why that all of a sudden moved into the negative where all of the employees and their benefits have been encumbered. So, we're going to investigate that a little more, but it brings up a good point because even though it might be, if it does end that way, that's okay. That's actually not out of the ordinary because the board does have the authority to to move some money from one article to another. When the audit is done, that's when the process occurs. So, the board has the authority to transfer up to 5% of any given article into another article to
058zero it out. So, that's not uncommon, but we just haven't had it in the last couple of years. So, don't feel as though it's an alarming situation at this point. If in fact it does end like that, we can make that work and that's not an issue. Moving back up to the top of those particular articles, regular article one regular instruction is very much on par at this point. A higher one would be article two and much of that is due to many of our unfilled positions. The ones that we have predominantly in this district are involving article two for special education services. So, that is reasonable to have a higher amount. As is article number four right below that or a couple below that, that's at a little over 30%. With article four being
059by and large athletics, we are now moving into the last season of the school year. And so last month it was about 38%. So, a few expenses came out last month from that point to now, but you will start to see that really decline as we move into the months of May and June as we get through the spring sports seasons. The rest of it is pretty pretty on par. Transportation will still need more to come out with the contract that we have and the facilities management will have some summer items that we purchased in preparation for the summer cleaning that will come out probably mid to late May. All right. And I'll yield the floor to Annabelle for the student report. This month was kind of slow on testing, but quarter four has officially
060started. Um, and then ninth ninth and 10th graders had their NWEA testing Monday and Tuesday. And then 11th graders had their state science testing last week. And then SAT testing also took place earlier this month. Um, spring sports has officially started. Hampden Academy had their spring concert yesterday in the performing arts center. And then a group of students and teacher Dr. Evanoff attended the high school quiz show. And then earlier today, as Mr. Raymond mentioned earlier, there was a college commitment night held in the gym where students were continuing continuing their athletic career in college were recognized. Thank you, Annabelle. Any questions for Annabelle? All right. And now just in general, questions for board members. Any questions? I saw Fay move with her microphone. She's just getting ready. All right. Fay, I'm going to give
061you the floor and we'll go through our Oh, actually committee reports are in the your packet. So, there were several of them that I mean almost all of the committees have reports this month. So, hopefully you got a chance to take a look at them. And with that, are there any questions of committee chairs? Fay, the floor is yours. Before we get to policy, I want to talk about the education committee that met just prior to this meeting. Um, the only agenda item was AI. We had a most of Nate's presentation. We kind of went a little long because we had some amazing conversations about AI, where this district is going and what are the things that we're hoping to see as a board. We did not complete the meeting and so next month we
062will continue the discussion on AI. So, we had several board members who were not part of the committee attend, but they were guests. Couldn't talk. So, anyway, it was a great it was a great meeting and I wanted to thank Nate for all the work that he put into it and thank him for willingly coming back next month. Now we will go into policy. The first policy is in first reading. It is policy FF, naming school buildings and facilities. There were a few minor changes made to that policy. Therefore, the policy committee moves to approve policy FF, naming of school buildings and facilities for first reading as presented. Second. We have a motion and a second on the floor for the first reading of policy FF, naming school buildings and facilities. Is there any discussion?
063Not seeing any. All those in favor of approving policy FF for first reading. And that's unanimous. The next policy is policy FFA, memorials. You will notice that there was a complete rewrite of that simply because we wanted to put more information into how that works and who can and cannot and the process that goes through it. Also, some cross references were added. >> [snorts] >> The policy committee moves to approve policy FF A, memorials for first reading as presented. Second. We have a motion and a second on the floor for first reading of policy FFA, memorials. Is there any discussion? Fay, [snorts] I don't know why this one jumped out at me. Are we getting rid of the adopted dates on all of the policies? I can't remember what the No, we leave the adopted
064dates on and anytime it is updated, that date is also added. So, you'll see some policies with So, that's why this looks different cuz it's just got the one date on it. Okay. Thank you. >> Once it's once it's gone through second reading, then the approval will be added. Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> All right. All those in favor of first reading of policy FFA, memorials. And that's unanimous. The next policy is policy GCOA, supervision and evaluation of professional staff. A few changes were made and this does reflect what's in the collective bargaining agreement where instead of teacher we put educator. Reason for that is because it also covers people like our speech and language or our OT and PT staff. So, therefore, based on that, the policy committee moves to approve policy GCOA
065supervision and evaluation of professional staff first reading as presented. Second. We have a motion and a second on the floor for first reading of policy GCOA supervision and evaluation of professional staff. Any discussion? Um Jessica, then Brooke. Um under B, you say the same thing three times. It just says evaluation shall be made by an immediate supervisor administrator. Evaluation shall be Thank you. Just just running It's It's called a copy and paste, and therefore, thank you, though. >> [laughter] >> Well, I have a question I have a question I have a question. >> [laughter] >> All right, this is really just a question about probationary educators. Does that apply to everyone? And is like probationary an official word anywhere? First and second year. And that's all educators including Okay. That was my only question. Thank
066you. Seeing no further discussion, all those in favor of first reading of policy GCOA. And that's unanimous. Sorry, I'm a slow scanner, too. And I'm trying to write and raise my hand at the same time, which is not good for me, but anyway. The next policy is policy GBEA staff ethics conflict of interest. Uh again, you will notice that uh some of it has been deleted to reflect current practices. Therefore, the policy committee moves to approve policy GBEA staff ethics conflict of interest for first reading as presented. Second. We have a motion and a second on the floor for policy GBEA staff ethics conflict of interest. Don't recall if I mentioned this is first reading. Is there any discussion? All those in favor of policy GB first reading of GBEA. And that's unanimous. The next
067section is on deletions, and I did look up parliamentary procedure to see the best way to do that. Um and so, therefore, that's I'm going to do it as a slate. If you have any policies that I mentioned that you wish to take off the slate, I ask you to do that as I would include them. The policy committee moves to approve the deletion of the following following policies as a slate. Policy EF food service. Policy EFD pricing of school meals and payment for school meals. Policy EFE competitive food sales. Policy GBA equal employment opportunity. Policy GBAE hazard communication program. And policy GCQP retirement. Second. We have a motion and a second on the floor for the deletion of a slate of six policies as listed so confidently by Faith, and I'm not going to
068try to repeat them all. Um is there any discussion? It's a good point. Uh the reason why we're doing this is because let's take the food service ones. That is relegated by law, and therefore, the need to have a policy, and those change over time, and so to have a policy that we would have to change every time the government says we have to change, then that doesn't work. Uh the equal uh employment opportunity, uh that is in our collective bargaining agreement. I believe, right? Is that the one? It's law. That's true. It's law. Um the hazard uh communication program, that's in another policy that we we that we approved at the beginning of this school year at the end of last school year, I don't remember. And then as far as retirement, again, that
069is governed by law, if I remember correctly, and it's also in the collective bargaining agreement. Thank you for that, Faith, because I I did [clears throat] have a question about GBA about that, and I figured that was the case. That's why I didn't want to strike from the slate, but it's um thank you. Any other questions or discussion? All right. All those in favor of the slate of deletions as listed in the motion. >> [snorts] >> And those deletions carry unanimously. We move on to second readings at this time. Um the first one is policy EEAEC, which will be renamed. It's called Well, right now it's called student conduct on school buses. It'll be renamed to transportation vehicles. Uh no changes were made to this policy since the last time. Therefore, the policy committee moves
070to approve policy EEAEC student conduct on school buses for second reading as presented. Second. We have a motion and a second on the second reading of policy EEAEC student conduct on school buses. Is there any discussion or questions? All right. All those in favor of second reading of policy EEAEC. And that [snorts] carries unanimously. The next is policy EEA EEFA uh video surveillance on school property and school buses. No changes were made to this policy. Therefore, the policy committee moves to approve policy EEAEEFA video surveillance on school property for second reading, and you'll notice that there's also going to be a change in the title. Second. I'm I'll be glad when these EE ones are done. Um so, we have a motion and a second on the floor for policy EEAEEFA video surveillance on school
071property and school buses. Is there any discussion? Brooke. I just have a question from like privacy standpoint. The last paragraph kind of says that it puts the superintendent responsible for the development administrative procedures, so that basically the buck stops with our superintendent. What is the length of time that you maintain or plan to maintain video surveillance that's collected? >> I believe it's 30 days based on our platform right now, unless we have uh knowledge of something that we need to look at, and then we can archive it. So, traditionally, it's 30 days. And is that a third-party contractor that we use through It's through the cloud, yes. It's been vetted through the FERPA What I can't remember the acronym for it. COPPA, yeah. Yes. Okay. Yeah. FERPA COPPA. Any other questions or discussion? All right.
072So, I have to go back up. All those in favor of second reading of policy EEAEEFA. >> [snorts] >> And that carries unanimously. Brooke, your hand was up, right? The last policy is policy EEBB uh use of private vehicles for school business. No changes were made to this policy since the first reading. Therefore, the policy committee moves to approve policy EEBB use of private vehicles for school business for second reading as presented. Second. We have a motion and a second on policy EEBB use of private vehicles on school business. Are there Is there any discussion or are there any questions? All right. All those in favor of policy second reading of policy EEBB. And that carries unanimously. Thank you, Faith. So, in our packet, we have a paper copy and in our electronic packet, we
073have the um digital copy of the school calendar. Before Nick presents it, again, I want to stress that um our job is to make sure that we have the requisite number of days um as given by law. And um which is Is it Law is 178 days, right, Nick? 175 student days. Um we provide for more than that and we have the graduation in there and everything. Um that being said, I'm going to have Nick um discuss the changes and then we'll uh uh entertain any motions. So, what you will see is the traditional uh calendar, very similar to what we currently have this year. Uh the request from the last meeting was to relocate the December 23rd date, so that date has become a vacation day and that has been moved to the beginning
074of the school year in August. Uh so, what you're look Excuse [clears throat] me, what you're looking at right now is a calendar very similar to what we currently have uh in the existing year with 178 total days because we uh uh build in three snow days for students. Uh and that is the first school day of um uh August 31st for students. I move to approve the 2026-2027 school calendar as presented. So, we have a motion and a second. Do you have the names on that? Yes. Okay, excellent. Is there any discussion? Jessica. I just want to clarify one thing. RSC 26 does not have an in-service on the 23rd, that's actually our teacher comp day. That was just in the notes, so I just We also do not have school that day. Thank
075you. Okay. Does this now impact the students at the UTC? Thank you. Uh it the 23rd it does uh because UTC is in session uh and our kids are not in session, so they would not have school that day. Other questions, discussion? All right. All those in favor of the motion to approve the calendar as presented. And that carries unanimously. So, now we'll move to new business. Um it's the time of year where we choose leadership for the board, so board chair and board vice chair are voted on at the April meeting every year as per our policies. So, um everyone is welcome to either self-nominate or nominate someone. I would recommend if you're nominating someone else that you confirm that they're willing to serve um cuz I've seen that happen in the past, but
076um that's where we're at right now. So, I'm just going to without further ado, leave it there. I nominate Lester French for board chair. Jessica. >> doing both board chair and vice chair or just board chair first? Second. Oh, yeah, we'll do one at a time. I already gave to you. Second. Are there other nominations? All right. So, if there were um I would say we'd keep it as a uh private vote and I really have no strong feelings one way or the other Tommy vote, so uh we'll do it on a on a hand vote um if that's okay with everyone. If you prefer to go to a private vote, I'm willing to do that as well uh either vote. So, all those in favor of This sounds weird. Of me as the chair
077um Vote now. All right, and that carries unanimously. I nominate Stacy Haskell as vice chair. Second. Stacy, are you willing to to serve? Yes, I'm willing to serve. >> All right, excellent. Yeah, it's because I was I might have said no, so I was um Are there any other nominations for vice chair? All right. Uh any discussion on the matter? I didn't ask that for me either. That I did want to hear. Um [snorts] all those in favor of Stacy Haskell as vice chair. Any abstentions? All right, so we have not unanimous, but Stacy Everyone but Stacy voted and she abstained. All right. Um just wrapping this up My son's graduating this year. My This will be my final term uh on the board. So, if anyone's interested in a leadership position, um I recommend
078uh the the natural progression would be if Stacy were willing to to step up, but then the vice chair would be open. Uh if you are interested, I would recommend at the uh going [snorts] to the chair-vice chair workshop during the MSBA meeting in the fall. It's uh always worthwhile even as an experienced um chair-vice chair and uh so it cuz I will not be putting my name in there or accepting any nominations for the next April. Thank you all for for your support and uh we'll move on to the um next item of business um to discuss and act upon a new student transportation contract, which is also a paper copy in your packet. Nick, I'll turn it over to you for the details. So, you should have two copies in your packet, one
079of which would say on-site and one will say off-site. Just some uh history for anyone that's watching out uh from this meeting. We put the RFP out, the request for proposals, in February. We submitted that to three vendors, one of which is our current vendor and two of which who had reached out to either myself or Mr. Booth or someone within our office uh asking about our transportation contract, so we submitted it to them as well. And like we do with all of our uh proposals, we put those on our website uh and we uh had a deadline of April 1st. So, fast forward to April 1st, we had one vendor submit a proposal uh and that vendor is in your packet. So, part of the request was to submit two different proposals. One of
080which was to keep the parking and the building as is for the bus company and utilize that area. They would provide us a proposal for that particular situation and then the second would be an off-site location. We did not identify uh particular off-site location, we just simply said it needed to be off-site. And so, what you're seeing in there is the contract proposal from Sear Bus Company for an on-site proposal and an off-site proposal. The on-site has two options, a 3-year and a 5-year. The off-site proposal only provides for a 5-year uh contract. As you can see, the price is uh significantly different. Uh and I can give you Well, I don't know the exact details that went into the to the price, uh there is no specific property that is identified by Sear Bus.
081Uh they did not go out and uh solicit a number for a building, a piece of land because uh they did not want to do that unless they knew for sure they would not be here on property. Uh so, I can see that side uh and not wanting to go forward on a particular property. However, uh Sear Bus did solicit information from uh a realtor and did look for a realtor to help them out and that's where they came up with their price. So, um that's the number. It is about $650,000 more in year one over the total course of 5 years. It is just over a $3 million addition to our contract uh if we take the one that is off-site. So, that is a bit of a difference in what we're typically used
082to. Uh I move to accept the Would the 5-year proposal be within onsite or offsite possibility or We talked about that either on or off in that motion. There are two. So I need somebody else to make a motion. I move we accept the five-year onsite proposal from Cyr Bus. So we have a motion and a second on the floor for the five-year contract with onsite bus storage. Now, any discussion or questions? That's rhetorical. I'm going to just see who's going to throw their hand up first. Kirsten. So if we do choose this onsite now, would Cyr be open to looking at offsite solutions if we determine that that is the best uh option for us safety-wise with McGrath parking lot. Uh in a phone conversation with Mike Cyr himself, uh I asked him point-blank,
083"Is it fair to say that if the board were to approve that onsite contract on Wednesday, would you be willing to um relocate offsite and work with myself and the district in an alternative?" And he said, "Absolutely." I had more general questions about the contract instead of the proposed bid. Um and it stems from at the budget committee how I we found out that a lot of I don't know if a lot, but some number of students get to school late. Um whereas in the contract, you know, there is some clauses that I don't have in front of me to, you know, there's not a consequence if there's not accountability besides that we could cancel the contract, but you know, what what ideas do you have, Nick, in terms of, you know, making sure kids
084are at school on time? Um and you know, the other thing in the contract it said a max 45-minute bus ride. Is that are we doing that? Uh I'll speak to the first one. So yes, that is accurate about uh canceling the contract. That is an option. Uh quite frankly, I'm not sure what we would do in that situation. Uh there is part of the RFP that is new this time that anytime the bus routes are combined. So for instance, we have 20 buses that were being quoted for. If on any given day the bus company uh notifies me that they have a driver shortage and they have to combine two buses, then we the district will be reimbursed for that one bus that they're not using. So that could very well be a situation
085where the students might be late on that particular day, but the school district is getting a reimbursement back for that. So we're talking about accountability, that would be the accountability. However, does that change the the issue of them getting to school on time? No, it doesn't. Uh sometimes they might be late, but when I say late, that's not necessarily saying they're late to school. So if school starts, for instance, here at 8:00, they're they might be getting here at 7:40 or 7:45 instead of 7:30. So late doesn't necessarily mean they're getting to the school be after the school day begins. It might be just later than they typically arrive Uh the second question was 45 minutes. They do they, as in Cyr Bus, does have a a goal of keeping that limit to 45 minutes.
086There are some extenuating circumstances where it's a little longer, especially if the routes are combined, uh but their their overall goal in developing the routes is to keep them at the 45-minute maximum. Just a quick follow-up question. Um in terms of complaints that parents or students have when they're like at an experience on the bus, and that goes through the same bus director, um do you ever like catalog these complaints to measure like, "Oh wow, this year had like a 20% increase in complaints" or So the uh often times they might go to the bus company, but they also go to the schools. Uh and so our schools have a really good working relationship with the bus company, and they will work with uh the director and also the bus driver to help curb the
087behavior and change that behavior. So they do actually have records of uh incidences through the bus company. And when the bus company does a write-up, the school also gets a copy of that write-up. Do you have any data like how we would have like behavior data in that committee of like how often there's incidences? Uh I don't in my office, but the schools would have any behavior data that the bus company reports. Go ahead. So bullying, uh that was named specifically. We are legally required to report that, right? And if there are consequences around that, you can report it anonymously. Uh the law has a broad swath, so it's literally from a bus stop to the bus ride. This not only applies to members, it's been this way for many, many years. So when schools
088have bullying data, report that uh bullying data, and that also includes any reports that happen through transportation. Scott. Um was there a certain reason that the RFP was only proposed to three transportation companies and not publicly put out? It was publicly put out. It was it's put out on our website. Okay. That's how we do RFPs. It says right here it was only provided provided to three companies. But anyway, the way the way I'm looking at it is I'm involved in the main bid network. So every time a transportation bid comes out, I automatically get an email. I never heard anything about this until I read it when I read the agenda. And I truthfully think that it's in our best interest to put this RFP back out because the logistics of it, I understand
089the state of the economy, but it does not make sense for a 19% increase. And actually, if you look at prices from last year on the like logistics of this, they've gone down. I understand the state of the economy is so unpredictable, but I don't think it's really justifiable for us. And I think that I just think that it should be the bid should be better put out. You got Babe. Aren't there only so many bus companies in the area? I mean, you went out to three. I know of Well, I know of two of them. I don't know what the third one was, but I mean, there aren't very many bus companies out there in this area, are there? As a matter of fact, I know of Cyr Bus in this area. Um I
090I I can The one other company is a more of a local, it's a national company, but they have some services in this area. The third one I actually have never heard of. Uh they reached out to me. But the uh as far as in this region, the majority of them are either uh locally owned or Cyr Bus. Do we have Sorry. Oh. Go ahead. Do we have a reason why we didn't get bids back from First Student or DaT Co? Did I mean, did they respond to say yes, they received the the bid package? Uh one of them actually asked for the current Cyr contract to review it and never heard from them again. And the other one thanked us, and that was we didn't hear from them. They didn't submit anything. Like no
091reason, I couldn't tell you. Alan. Um do you have any idea how other schools in this area their contracts looks like in terms of pricing? Yeah. Um so in this particular area, we have Bangor, Brewer, Old Town, Orono, Glenburn, Veazie that all use Cyr Bus. Uh and we're the only one that had their contract renewed this year. Uh and so we were fairly equivalent with those districts in the past. We're a little higher now because we're newer to the contract, but I suspect as these others renew, it will be the same because we were equivalent in the past. All right. So we have a motion and a second on the floor. We've had discussion. Um I think >> One other comment. All right. Go ahead, Wes. Yeah, no problem, Alan. So I know that the
092three million that I appreciate the the bus situation at McGrath. At $650,000 a year, that's 1.6% of the budget. Like I can't go. I wouldn't want to go out as a board to say, "Hey, we're doing the budget's going up every single year guaranteed for for [clears throat] this one thing." And it is expensive, Scott. I agree with you. I mean, we're kind of stuck, unfortunately. And you know, it And I know the district is not since I've been around, but has looked at buses before and owning buses, and it's like not even it's like the horrendous. So. Well, let me respond to you. I think that's what it is. I think Cyr Bus even knows we're stuck. And it's it's it's kind of a strong-arm move on us, but again, what are we going
093to do unless we extend the bid out more and and try to reach out to more smaller private companies and really just try to work with what we have. Alan. Nick, at what point does it make more sense to take on the task again of owning our own fleet? >> [clears throat] >> Um it would be a lot more [snorts] than $3 million because because you have to hire your employees and when you have employees, you have your benefits that go along with it and the insurance piece. You have to buy your own buses. My Google search, I'm not a bus price expert by any means. So, quick Google search was about $100 to $150,000 per new bus. Uh new obviously that's not a previously owned bus. Um that would require us to have a
094mechanic. That would require us to hire our own director, have our own garage. I think the cost to having our own buses would be significantly more of a headache than what we're dealing with right now. Not only from uh just the the personnel perspective, but the cost perspective. It would be significantly higher. Stacy. Um and this could be more for a discussion later on as the district looks into [snorts] further solutions for the parking lot situation. So, this is probably a stupid question, but are the buses before we really get into offsite for the buses, are the buses actually parked taking up spots during pickup and drop-off? They're not out on roads. Some of them are. Some of them are parked. Um I mean, there are some that are out conducting the the routes for
095the Hampden Newburgh students, specifically McGraw and Weatherbee students. Some have arrived back. Some arrived back during the pickup time. Um so, it it's a mix. Carson. Um I also think that it might be beneficial to look for for us to look our own for like if offsite parking is a better option than going through Seer cuz I feel like we could probably get our own property for that much money. Brooke. Oops. I just want to speak to that. >> Yeah. I can say that there is one business in this particular area who has expressed an interest in allowing us to use a parking area. That would require us to have bus plugins. So, we have around the Weatherbee McGraw project campus area, we have electrical plugs for the buses to be plugged in on any
096given day. It would So, in talking to Seer Bus, they would need 25 spots. Why 25 when when our contract says 20? That's because we would need to have some spares. So, they're looking for 25 spots. Obviously, it would need to be somewhat level and reasonable to walk on. Wouldn't necessarily need to be paved or concrete or anything like that, but certainly reasonable to walk on. And they did request to have a building of some sort for their staff for their administrative staff. That way they could have their director and bus drivers move into that particular building. So, I can say I won't say publicly because we haven't gotten into many details. We haven't gotten into any details, but there is one business that has reached out and then this afternoon, I also spoke with
097another one who had heard of this conversation that we were looking to have and expressed an interest in RSU 22 or Seer partnering with them to have a spot as well. So, it would be an investment. It would be an investment to prepare the area, but that is something that um people are willing to do. I'm going to rip the band-aid off, people. I am adamantly opposed to any offsite investing on our own or in Seer. I sit there week after week next to a few folks on the board in budget and there's no way that we can sit there and ask community to use finances to solve this problem. I'm all for people thinking well outside the box. Hey, you want to all drop off your kids? Meet up at the gas station and
098one car goes in with five kids in it if you trust your neighbors. That's a solution. It has to be a zero balance. We sat there in budget last this past week and we talked about how we can't pave potholes that I nearly lose my car in every time I come to a meeting here because we're going to do cold patching instead because we're trying to keep the budget at a zero increase this year for the taxpayers who I think we've heard loud and clear, we cannot do this to them anymore. We've asked the admin to find zero increases in their budgets, which they did a phenomenal job. The only increase in any of their budgets is people, okay? And that's cuz we have to and we want to. For the sake we want to
099for everyone listening. But, it's because we have a contract that we need to abide by. We're cutting [clears throat] just over 17 positions in the district to right-size because it's responsible. When we don't have the students, we need to lose those positions and it's it's heartbreaking. And the last thing, we sat there and we've turned down as a community replacing the dilapidated admin building, which I think was around a million dollars or whatever it was. And now we are talking foolishly about investing potentially $3 million for offsite bus locations, which yes, if you buy the property, sure, it's an investment and you'll maybe if you sell it, you'll get your money back. But, it's still an investment to prepare the property, to pay all the positions that it would require to have somebody supervise that
100property. I'm sure there'll be surveillance, all those good things that go into it. It is a significant investment and we are just we basically said we weren't willing to invest in our admin and now we're going to say, let's turn around and and throw away $3 million over 5 years for nothing. And I'm I'm not disputing that there's a safety potential issue. What I am disputing is that I First of all, I don't understand why more kids don't ride the bus, but if you don't have that opportunity, then again, carpooling, perfect example. Find a community solution. And and and my last point and this is going to chafe some rear ends out there. Um every every time there's an issue with the equity, I I hear about, oh, we don't you know, we don't want
101to pay for the stuff down in Winterport, you know, it's it's a Winterport thing or it's a Hampden thing and people go back and forth over this. If we lost Title 1 money tomorrow, right, which funds a lot of the positions down in Winterport and the Frankfort kids, how many people up here in the Hampden and Newburgh area would be okay with picking up the slack in the budget that they're going to have to fund those positions? Or are they going to say, oh, we'll just bus those kids up to Hampden and put them in the district up here? You know, this is this is unfortunately, you know, where we have to kind of look at things from our responsibility to the community, our responsibility to the students and at the end of the day,
102this is not fiscally responsible and it's irresponsible because that money could go towards a lot of other things in this district and and anybody that came or wants to review the budget committee meeting where we've pinched and cut and skimped on certain things or tell those 17 positions that we've eliminated. All right. >> [clears throat] >> Before I get to you, I want to remind everyone the motion on the floor is for a 5-year onsite contract. So, at this point because of time, I want to try to limit the debate to that specific contract. Ellen. Thanks, Russ. I agree with Brooke on the point that the $3 million over 5 years is ridiculous. Um and that's not feasible at all on any level. And I'll just touch briefly on the issue at hand of safety.
103That should be primary over academics, over athletics. And you know, the the call to action years that there's going to be a tragedy. Our state already had two tragedies and you know, Carson and I have been saying it for years. The rest of the community is saying it as well. You have buses backing backing up where kids are walking. These buses, you know, they're aggressive. There's not space for everyone. And it's just we need a safe environment for our kids. So, I I I I agree with Brooke. There's no way we could vote for $3 million over 5 years. But, I think there's something that we need to do. Thanks. All right, thank you. Let's focus the debate to the parking uh not the park. Buses. Thank you, the bus contract. Scott. Uh has Seer
104Bus given us a direct date to accept or decline this bid? So, is it possible that we could reach out to more transportation companies to search for more bids on and act upon actually accepting or declining this contract in the next meeting? I personally don't know of any other transportation companies. Well, I know a smaller one right in Corinth, which they do like a lot of Herman stuff. Cormier Bus Service, I and I'm sure down south there's a car Cormier's I know does just RSCE64. Herman has their own. Okay, yeah, sorry, that's what I meant, RSCE64. But, I'm sure down south, I mean, it's a whole different ballgame and I mean, normally, yeah, I would say, yeah, well, why bother uh bothering with someone from down south, but looking at these numbers, I think I
105would bother with reaching out to a southern Maine company because if it's going to be even a little bit cheaper than this, it's definitely still worth their time coming up here to do the services for us. Ellen, >> [clears throat] >> is it possible to counter offer the bid at a less percentage than 19 at the increase? I think their subsequent year increases are around 3% and then the last one doesn't change and you know, that seems very fair. Um usual I can't say yes or no to that. Usually, when there's an RFP put out by the district, you either accept the RFP as it is presented or you decline the RFP as presented. And then if it's declined, then maybe there's another option to uh open that back up, but um discussions and negotiations
106could happen at that point, but it's you need to either approve or decline. Yeah, I think with any public procurement, you're not able to go back and renegotiate. It's not I think we'd have to decline it first and then renegotiate. Jessica, So, I'm just looking at my calendar here, being on the budget committee, and I feel like if we wait till May 20th, which would be our next board meeting, I think, if I'm looking at this correctly, that's going to be way too tight to be able to put out a budget, have it I I don't know what the words are, but you know, make sure we send it to the ballot, have it printed, all that stuff. We're not going to meet the timeline of getting everything together to have the vote in June
107on time. That is a major concern. Bill, the other question is that I have is what if they come back with higher numbers? And we have four months to bus kids in August. So, yeah, I mean, I I I can see that being an actual thing cuz we're dealing with a a central monopoly. And a lot of districts in the south own their own buses, too. I think of that I I grew up down there and there is not a Sealer bus that I'm aware of in in a lot of that region. I and I appreciate it. Trust me. Appreciate what you're saying. Carson, uh would Sealer still be open to discussing the offsite option if we only did a three-year contract or they only willing to provide? I mean, I I don't know that
108answer. I I didn't ask specific three or five year, I just asked the question if they'd be willing to go offsite if it were approved onsite to begin with. And in the motion on the floor is for the five-year onsite contract. So, that's what we're voting on now. We can >> [clears throat] >> uh vote for it or we can't vote for it. Those are our options as a board. Um so, I just want to not to stifle the debate, but a lot of the other options aren't what we're discussing at this point. Scott, I think if we have to do anything um with the with the the big increase that we're getting, I don't think we should be attached to it for um five years. I think we should be attached to it for
109the shortest amount of time that we can just for the in case something um something else pops up that can work out for us because I mean, at at the end of whatever contract we have, we probably the way it's been going is just to expect another increase. So. Luke, um >> [clears throat] >> I fear that if we do choose the three-year one, come the end of that term, it's going to go up significantly more by the time we have to rebid. Ellen, I think if we approve this, the five-year option is the best choice financially because if you're going to accept the 19% increase on any of them, the remaining increases are are better than the prior contract. Yeah, the the last the last year four and five, year three and four is
1103% and then flat, so I don't know if anything's going to be cheaper in four years. It's possible. But, being flat that last year and only 3% a year between is is pretty good. I mean, the the bulk of this is all up front. It's it's in the first year. All right. So, [snorts] the motion on the floor is to approve a five-year contract with Sealer Bus on with onsite storage of the bus. All those um before we go to the vote, Tina, do you have the spreadsheet ready? Yes. Excellent. All those in favor. All those opposed. And any abstentions? All right, and that carries. Thank you. The next item is Hopefully, everyone's Everyone's got a nice strong wrist because we're going to be going through and signing the uh What do we call warrants?
111Warrants for I actually have new business that I wanted to talk about. >> part of our new business. This is on the amended Oh. the amendment. So, this is item C um on the amended All right. So, here's this next. Um so, we're going to be signing the warrant for the um about the referendum, the budget referendum, and the budget meeting. I don't know if everyone's been through this before. What that means is that we have to sign in the same location um on each of these uh warrants as they go through. So, we'll start down at Carson's end and we'll move them around and go to Brooke and put our signatures on and just make sure that you put them in the same um spot on each of the warrants. Oh, yeah. Thank you.
112I move that the vote entitled vote to call and approve the warrants for the budget validation referendum be approved in form presented to this meeting and that a copy of said vote be included with the minutes of this meeting. We have a motion and a second to call the referendum. Um any discussion? Just to put it in layman's terms, um this is just notifying our four communities, so you'll sign eight times, two times per community. So, it's a notification that we're asking each of the communities to have a referendum to have a district budget vote. So, that's what it is. There's a lot of uh legal jargon on these pages, but that is exactly what it's telling you. The change of the time frame, we used to do this in May with all the other
113papers, but they've changed the time frame and we need to make sure we get it to um the towns in time, and so that's why we put it on today's. Yes, we do. Stacy moved, Luke seconded. Any question uh discussion or questions? All those in favor of the motion. And that did you have your hand up, Ellen? So, that carries unanimously. Now we can sign. I was trying to pass them. Does anyone need to make a motion to accept? No, we have the motion already. I was thinking that we have to accept. Here's my question. Can we have the All right. Go ahead. All right. Yeah, so we can go. >> So, um that's done. Um Kirsten, any new business? Yes. Um I move that the board establish an ad hoc subcommittee to evaluate parking,
114traffic flow, and student safety during arrival and dismissal at McGraw and Wetherbee and present recommendations for improvement. Second that motion. It's a good question, so I looked and since we follow Robert's Rules of Order, it comes down to the state regulations. We're wrapped in lots of So, according to Robert's Rules of Order, we can. According to the state, as a public board, I'm not Right. Lots of people agree. Yeah, this isn't on the agenda and you need to give notice so people can have input on the agenda. So, that that's my hesitation cuz it's and I think there might be other ways we could go about this other than in addition to the agenda. Like like last second. So, under new business, I'm not reporting a motion I mean, I'll call it a point of
115order if that's not on the agenda. And to Would you feel better if we tabled it, Will, so that you would have more notice? Yeah, it's not the it's not the the it's not the topic. That's not the issue. Yeah. >> possible for it to be next time, Lester? Definitely. Nice. And and for anyone who wants to do that, I'm open to any object [clears throat] I mean, I might say no, but I mean, I'm just the I'm just the board chair. I'm just funneling things, facilitating the meetings. So, anytime there is an interest in that, if you let me know ahead of time, I really as if it's by the Wednesday the week before the meeting, then I can discuss it with Nick and get Becky to get it on the agenda ahead of
116time. It also gives the public time to react if they have concerns, too. So, and again, it's not I From Robert's Rules perspective, it's fine. It's from a public meeting perspective that I have concerns about it as well. >> [snorts] >> Um That makes sense. Thank you, Lester. Um just a quick suggestion for anyone who wants to prepare for that. Um anyone is welcome to come to McGraw and Wetherbee during pickup and drop-off. Um try and find a parking spot, try and see what's going on. Um get out of your car, imagine you're carrying a couple of kids, maybe a baby with you. Um this is lower elementary, so it's pre-K, kindergarten, first grade. A lot of those parents do have a baby with them. However, if it's a safety issue, park across the street
117or frankly the other side and walk over to see how hard it is to find parking. We don't want to clog things up even more. And I don't know if I can say this, but we we do have a committee that handles these sorts of things for buildings and grounds. We've talked about it in building and nothing's happened, so I feel like more importance needs to be put on it. I think we need to stop discussion because this isn't on the agenda. We need to talk about this next >> It's a good point, so um we'll look at it. Um I've got it written down to add it to the next month's agenda. So, and then we can have discussion and that is the will of the board, right? So, that's why there's 14 of
118us. So, under just to add it to the agenda next Yes. Thank you. All right. Um now I've lost my agenda. All right. Do we need to set any meeting dates? Um no, I think we just kill it as a point of order. We'll call it a point of order, so we'll just say it it doesn't meet the the state laws. And I'm again, without looking it up and citing statute, I think we'll go with a gentleman's agreement to put it on next time. >> [snorts] >> Me being the gentleman, not Kirsten. All right. Um any meeting dates? Not setting one, but I want to put out a shameless plug for budget committee. Sorry, Will, but I hooked us up with a presentation with Eric Garvey on April 30th, so it's going to be a
119really excellent, informative discussion from him as to how mill rates are calculated. So, you want to know why your taxes are going up, you want to know where the school lies in all of this, and who to throw the arrows at, come to that meeting because he's going to go from all the way at the federal level down through to you and I at the taxpayer level, so that everybody can understand like where it is that your money is going. And it's going to be very informative. He is a very versed person. He has performed in a lot of positions in his in the community in Hamden, and I think a lot of people respect his his um knowledge on subject matter pertaining to this, so he's he's going to be doing a very I
120think easy understanding, but comprehensive understanding of how you get taxed. Yeah. And that's a I think a great idea. What day is the 30th of the other week, do you know? Uh I Yeah. It was on Thursday. Um It will be televised. Oh, excellent. I can do that. I'm I'll put on those meta glasses and teach calculus in one eye and watch the meeting in the other one. Um just so you know, Waldo County and Penobscot counties are both big part of people's property tax bills, so in our communities, depending on which county you live in. All right. Um So, we do have another item on the agenda um on the executive session, so Yeah, just the other budget meetings. The 30th, then another one the 13th before we meet again, and all the minutes
121are there and reviewed in lovely detail. You can go review that, send questions, whatever it is. And just to clarify, the 13th is a full board workshop just like we did last year. So those that are new, it's similar to this setup but it is a workshop with one agenda item. You're presented with the entire information and then the following week would be the regular board meeting which is where you would vote on the budget. Does someone have [snorts] a motion for me? I make a motion to go into executive session to discuss I think I have to say that too. Sorry, I don't have my readers on. For labor contract discussion regarding EA 22 support staff contract. Under 1 MRSA section 405 60. Second. We have a motion and a second to enter into
122executive session. All those in favor?