001Check. Check. M check. I check. to the RSU22 school board meeting. I'm going to call the meeting to order 701 at least according to my clock and everyone is here except for Scott. Um, I will invite everyone who is able to stand and join me in the pledge of >> allegiance. I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. So for approval of the minutes, we have two separate um the regular meeting in the board workshop. >> January 27. Are the is there any discussion or changes edits to the minutes? All right. All those in favor abstensions. Any opposed? >> Did you get the vote count Tina? >> You're welcome. to approve the board workshop minutes
002of January 21st, 2026 as presented. >> We have a motion and a second on the minutes for the board workshop of January 21st. Any discussion or edits on the minutes? All those in favor? Abstensions? And any opposed? All right. Thank you. Any adjustments to the agenda? And I don't believe there are any recognitions tonight. Neither are there. All right. Before we go to public comment, I just want to summarize our um public participation at schoolboard meetings. Policy bet. Um so the policy sets forth general requirements for public comments during meetings. I'm going to highlight some of the numbered parts here. Comments by individuals are limited to a maximum of three minutes at a meeting. You may not relinquish relinquish a portion of their aotted time to another speaker and time limits in this paragraph um
003may be modified at a particular meeting at the discretion of the board. Individuals who wish to speak during public comment period are required to fill out the signing form available at each board meeting prior to the beginning of the public comment period and to review a copy of the policy. Um each individual be required to state their name and town city of residents before beginning their remarks. Board chairs responsible for ensuring the orderly conduct of board meetings and for ensuring compliance with this policy including the following rules of order. 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 superintendent for further action if necessary. Speakers are expected to follow rules of common etiquette
004and 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, talking over or interrupting others, offering repetitive comments, and offering comment on matters unrelated to the school unit's programs, policies, or operations. Discussion of personnel matters is not permitted during the public comment period due to the privacy, confidentiality and due process rights of school unit employees. For purposes of this policy, discussion of a personnel matter means any discussion whether positive or negative of job performance or conduct of a school unit employee. Discussion of matters involving individual students are also not permitted during the public comment period due to the privacy, confidentiality, and due process rights of the school unit students.
005Any concerns about personnel matters and/or student matters should be directed to the superintendent or another appropriate administrator outside of board meetings so that they can be addressed through an alternative channel and in a manner consistent with privacy, confidentiality, and due process rights. the individuals involved. The board chair 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. The board chair may request the assistance of law enforcement if necessary to address disruptions or safety concerns. That being said, our first speaker, >> we have two speakers tonight. First, we welcome Eric Jarby. Thank you. Um, I do have some recognition. I'd like to recognize the girls indoor track and field
006team for their uh second place finish at the class indoor class A meet. Our Hammond girls basketball team for their uh winning the class A North. And I know it started, but good luck to our boys hockey team who are playing Cres. I think it started at 6:30. I uh at a recent Hammond council workshop which I attended, the council amended the workshop agenda which does not normally provide for an open public comment period to permit a Hammond resident an opportunity to address the council and staff regarding failing relations between the RSU board of directors, the public, and the town council. Unfortunately, technical difficulties do not permit hearing the few minutes of what the first few minutes of what I and others in attendance viewed as a 5 minute and 30 second emotional rebuke of
007council partially evident on the video archive of that meeting. Ignoring the confrontational tone and what I believe is slanderous accusations such as spreading lies and after conferring with the Hampton town manager, I wish to provide some clarity to several contested statements raised by the speaker. First, the FY25 audit, while received just last week, has yet to be reviewed, explaining why it is not on the town website. Second, the town's undesated fund balance is about 10% of expenses, or approximately $2 million of the town's 20.55 million FY26 budget. This is lower than the main municipal association recommendation of a 15% fund balance. The reason it has dropped is because over the last several years, the town began to use fund balance to offset capital items in an effort to stabilize the mill rate, taking $475,000 out
008in FY23, 1.35 million in FY24 and 2 million in FY25. The $2 million was subsequently determined to aggressive, and in FY26, the town allocated no fund balance to avoid dropping below 10%. The FY26 town budget, driven by a voter approved education budget increase of 7.6% and a county budget increase of 6.7% resulted in a town budget increase of 17.3% or $2.163 million over FY25 budget. Labor costs uh represented 55.9% of that budget. As a financial tool, a healthy fund balance signals fiscal stability, improves municipal bond rates by strengthening the credit profile, leading to higher credit ratings and lower interest rates, acts as a cushion against economic downturns such as the town experienced by suspension of tax revenue when the fiberite plant uh facility closed and helps offset unexpected expenditures such as the culbert wash out
009that occurred as a result of historic rainfall a couple of years ago. I personally applaud council for making allowance to council rules to grant this speaker an open mic comment period, but encourage any member of the public who wishes to address council in the future to remember that per council rules of procedure, open public comments are only part of regular town council meetings on the first and third Monday of each month. Council also permits public comment before council debate debate on any regular business or workshop items. Thank you. Thank you for your uh comments, Mr. Jardy. And uh we'll move on to the next >> and we will Teresa Teresa. >> Good evening. >> Uh dear RS22 school board members, um my name is Teresa Blackadar. I am a resident of and homeowner of Newberg,
010Maine. Uh, four grandchildren who attend RSC22 schools. Thank you for your commitment and service to education. I appreciate this forum to speak on a critical matter. I've been a registered nurse for 34 years, which qualifies me to share the science of the concerns in which I bring here tonight. The issue of affirming gender is an absolute lie. Our schools harm children going through puberty by introducing them to this ideology. It is not science. The development and maturation of the prefrontal cortex of the brain is not fully accomplished until a person is in their mid to late 20s. This area of the brain is directly responsible for sound and rational decision making and not a young adolescent emotions while experiencing gender dysphoria. Puberty blockers and hormones given to adolescence are damaging and potentially irreversible. Administering testosterone
011to girls can significantly increase the overall risk of cancer, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and more. Administering feminizing hormones to boys such as estrogen can cause blood clots, high levels of triglycerides, high blood pressure, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and stroke. Long-term use to describe lifelong has a direct effect on the strength and density of bones. These drugs negatively affect bone mineral density. The two most common purity blockers drugs hyrolin acetate and luproolide acetate have various side effects which include headaches, seizures, dizziness, anger and irritability. Having knowledge of pharmarmacology and the science of these medications, I was horrified to learn that our students at Reed's middle books reads Brook Middle School are reading Lily and Duncan by Donna Gart, which introduces gender ideology as truth and encourages hormone puberty blockers for Tim, who is calling himself Lily.
012Parents are unaware that this book is being read. This book and any others like it should be banned from a place of education such as RSU22. Parents are irreplaceable and should never be overruled to file for an ideology based on lies and deceit. Why are RSU22 educators promoting such reading materials? Who is responsible for reviewing the class plan and syllabus? Our students are unable to comprehend truth and real life consequences of this trendy ideology. The destructive effects of medication and possible future surgical procedures permanently mutilates our children. This is not healthcare and it's certainly not education. Thank you for listening. Thank you, Miss Blackador. And um >> yeah, that's it. So, we will now move on to um board chair report. And I've got a couple of comments. One is um I encourage again I
013can't state it strongly enough the MSBA weekly briefs their legislative briefs the most recent one um included a link to the uh EPS report as part of LD318 and even included the calculations for school districts if the law were to follow the the recommendations of the report and there were two different that they simulated um in there. That being said, the leg the ed committee still has to come out with their rulings uh their law on this. So, it is just a report at this point in time, but it was interesting for those of you interested in EPS essential and programming services. So um uh a key part of our budget for the coming year. Um and then I want to draw your attention to a couple of meetings. One is a web um uh
014a zoom workshop on essentials of parliamentary procedure for school boards on Thursday, April 2nd. I cannot attend that. Um, if you register, you put the school district in there and the MSBA bills the district directly. So, there's no cost to to you as a um a school board member. Uh, and then the second are the regular um board support and development meetings. These used to be the regional MSBA meetings and they are will be taking place on March 9th, March 18th and March 26th. So for those of you looking for board development opportunities, um those are some good ones. Um, if you want some information on school board um, support and uh, development meetings, you can feel free to ask me or FA would be able to give you some information on them as well.
015And um, that's all I have. So, I'll turn it over to Nick for personnel. Uh, good evening. We have one resignation to announce and that is Sarah Chandler, grade three teacher at George B. Weatherbe School. uh one nomination uh and really it's not actionable. It's just for your information. The spring coaches for all of our schools are uh in your packet and the virtual packet that you received on Friday. Thank you, Will. Uh there were two positions that were cut off. Uh HA baseball, both varsity and JV, those are listed in the on the hard copy within your packet. Uh so again those are uh nonactionable items but at least you have the information uh in the event that you have a question as to who might be coaching a respective uh sport. All right.
016And now we will move on to superintendent's report and starting with Ellen. Our reading of the essential behaviors. Education enables all students to learn the skills, acquire the knowledge, and develop 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. >> Thank you, Helen. And the floor to Nick. Okay. Um, under the superintendent's report, the first thing there is our annual audit. So, we did just receive our final copy of our audit a few
017weeks ago. Uh, our auditor has met with the finance committee uh, and reviewed that audit. And since we don't have a number of policies to go through tonight, I figured I would spend some time uh to really analyze the audit for you folks and also for our uh citizens who watch it uh on YouTube and I think it would be good for everyone to hear it. So within your packet uh you should have received the electronic packet. You should have received the audit. We do have hard copies. Um they don't for some reason they don't send enough for the entire board. Uh but if you want to have a hard copy, you can certainly ask for one. We have some in the office. Uh there are not enough to go around for every board member,
018but I can assure you that everything you receive electronically is um within the packet. Uh there is a second one um which is what they uh titled the single audit report and then the other one are the the statements uh but all of which are part of your electronic packet. Uh first and foremost within our conversation and and certainly anyone from the finance committee um jump in if you feel a need. Um when we met with Craig, he said that quote overall the audit was great. Um he was very pleased with how things were done. He gave an awful lot of credit to uh the district and specifically our new director of finance uh for the work that she has put in. uh we had uh some deficiencies over the last couple of years and
019uh those deficiencies are gone. Uh we do have one deficiency that we'll talk about in a moment but that was simply a a minor mistake uh that we can talk about but he was very pleased with how things have gone with the audit. Uh we have done a nice job uh and he he just wanted to at least reiterate that. Uh the next part and and what one thing I do want to point out is that it's not up there today because I wanted you folks to see it. And the reason why I have the TV screen up is because I want individuals to know where to find our audit. So once it is posted and most likely it will be posted sometime uh by the end of this week. This is our RSU22 website
020and we made it very easy for people to find all of the budget information and it is simply right here. Oh, Mr. Savage, would you mind pointing the camera at the TV, please? Thank you. So, in the top right hand corner, uh, and thank you to Mr. Savage for the uh, website work, but the top right hand corner, you'll see RSU22 budget. Anything pertaining to our budget is, uh, within that page. And so, it starts off with the process. The next one is the fund balance information. And then the third one is uh where we find audits. So if you click on the plus symbol, you'll see audits from uh with the exception of the 25 which we'll have up there soon uh all the way up through FY20 uh 17. And so you can
021find everything there. All of the information that you have electronically and within these uh blue booklets, it's all posted right there. So anyone has access to it. Anyone can go read it. Uh it I can assure you it's probably not the most exciting read. Uh maybe for people that like numbers like less and I uh but it is not the most exciting read for just the average uh resident, but it is there and the newest one will be there uh very shortly. Um some updates when we look at our uh overall audit and I'm going to turn to page 17 in the uh financial report. One 17 is kind of the summary of the expenditures and if you have it you're welcome to turn to that page otherwise I will just indicate it. Um 17
022talks about their cost centers. So the cost centers that we spend money out of and uh the the part that I really want to point out here is that we did not overspend any of the cost centers. That's not out of the ordinary to overspend it sometimes uh because there is a process if we do overspend it we can transfer up to 5% from another account to offset that to zero it out but in the last year we did not overspend any of uh those cost centers. So there is no need to uh have a transfer this year. Uh but again it is not out of the ordinary to have a transfer once in a while. uh the overall balance I would say from those and that part's not on the screen, but the overall
023balance uh of last year's budget there was one just over $1.3 million left over. So when you're talking about a roughly $40 million budget and you have $1.3 million left over, that equates to about $3.45%. In the grand scheme of things, 3.45% 45% left over in a roughly $40 million budget is darn good. Uh I will just summarize it as in that way. Uh so I was very pleased with that particular amount left over. Um I do think that that's reasonable in the size budget that we have uh to have 3.45% left over. Sorry, I tried to go in order and I think I've already gone out of order from my book. Uh the next thing I wanted to talk about comes from the single audit and so it would be pages nine and 10
024from our single audit and I talked to you about a deficiency that we had in the last few years that we have cleaned up. That is referenced on page 10 of the single audit. So it just references that we had a deficiency specific to the grants and the recommendation that that finding has been implemented and that is no longer a deficiency. So I'm very pleased uh with that outcome. The one deficiency that was noted within the audit uh referenced the uh school nutrition program and uh we ended up having to pay back the school nutrition program because we were refunded more money than we should have been and that was recognized within the audit. What happened in that situation just to be very transparent the breakfast numbers and the lunch numbers were reversed. So when
025it was reported the the uh numbers that were reported for lunch were actually the breakfast numbers and the numbers that were reported for breakfast were the lunch numbers and so therefore there is a different uh refund uh when you deal with breakfast or lunch and so we were refunded too much money and so we had to send that back. That has been taken care of. Uh a plan has been put in place for more oversight with that to avoid that uh deficiency in the past. So that is a very minor uh deficiency and and really human error as we as we just uh transposed lunch and breakfast. >> The next thing I wanted to talk about um are the timelines. And as much as we'd love to have an audit completed on J uh July
0262nd or July 1st of our new fiscal year, it is uh impossible to do that. We are constantly closing out the books from FY25 uh and trying to finish everything up, have all the paperwork lined up, all of the uh budget codes corresponding correctly. uh and to do that and have it done in that amount of time is is not possible. Another part that is not possible is the lack of auditors. Uh and so the question that I asked our auditor, uh are we out of the ordinary when it comes to when we're having this completed? And he said absolutely not. Uh we're definitely not out of the ordinary. As a matter of fact, there are some schools that are still two years behind in their audits. Uh and as a matter of fact, the
027beginning of this month, I happened to watch a a friend of mine be appointed as a new superintendent and part of that in another district and um part of that meeting consisted of their audit report uh local district. So we're definitely not out of the ordinary. Uh one thing I do want to mention though, I actually learned this last year um from the world econ not last year, yesterday. Sorry, I'm working on obviously uh the World Economic Forum, the jobs for which employment figures are expected to increase or decrease the most in real terms by 2030. The number seven largest declining job accountants and auditors. >> So if we think we have a problem now, it is only going to get worse. And I know that uh Eric previously mentioned something about their audit just
028coming in. That's the same for for governments. No, we're using the same people. Um and there are very few of those now. And the prediction by 2030 that is the seventh most decreasing job nationwide. Uh so I don't anticipate that to um get any better. And our auditor did give us some figures and I I believe it was um if I remember correctly, there are half the amount of auditing organizations and companies that do school audits as compared to like 10 years ago if I remember correctly. Those of you that were part of the meeting, I think it was something along those lines. Um but I wrote that figure down when he was talking and it seems as though it's going to only get worse. So we need to bear with it. We need to
029be patient. Um it's certainly not something that we can control. Uh but we are c uh certainly doing our best with uh the resources that we have. Uh the other part that I want to talk about is the fund balance. So that's part of the bigger packet and that would be on page 14. So, as you are very well aware, fund balance has been something that has been uh discussed quite frequently uh in this district for a few years. And so, on our website, I just clicked on uh the history, the fund balance history, and it takes us back to the FY22 activity all the way up through the last uh remaining number of um FY25. And just some things to point out here. I'm going to go to the tail end of it first
030because th that is where we are at right now. So in our current audit as it is written and will be posted online here shortly. The number of our fund balance that will will be recorded is 9,452,981. Now, just to make sure people understand this fully, and you can see that number right here in the top right, 9.4 million. That number is not a true indication of what number we are sitting on right now. Why is that? Because first and foremost, the million dollars that we provided from carried forward money or from last year as carry forward money for uh to reduce taxes is not reduced out of the 9.4 4 million. So if you take the million dollars out, we're looking now at 8.4 million. Other numbers that are not included in the 9.4
031are the the dollar amounts that we have put aside as per our district budget meeting in June for the reserve accounts. So the capital reserve, the technology reserve, the athletic facility reserve, and the admin building reserve. If you take all of those out, our true unallocated fund balance as it stands right now is just barely over $6 million. So to be exact, if they people can't see it, uh it's $6,90,981. So you may ask, what does that represent? That represents 14.9% of the previous year's budget. So when we're talking about uh our fund balance, the state statute now indicates that we are not allowed to be above 9% of the previous year's budget. So when you were above 9%, you have three years to spend that down. Right now we are sitting at um we
032should not be over roughly 3.6 million. So we are $2,420,428 over the 9%. So I want to repeat that we have 2,420,428 more than the 9%. So that is the number that we have to focus on and have a plan to spend down in three years. I don't think that is going to be an issue uh especially if we continue to uh give back carry forward money to the towns 14.9% uh is in the r it's outside of the range for schools it is inside the range recommended for municipalities as Eric had mentioned earlier uh they also have a range uh their organization that offers that range is the uh MMA main municipal association. So that's within the municipality range, but it's a little higher than the school range. So to go back just to
033review this, and again, I I just wanted to spend more time on this than we normally would. If we look back even to the FY22 activity, so I'm looking at the fund balance history, how do we get to this point of having additional funds? If you look in this area where it talks about revenue greater than expected revenue and expenditures less than budget that is where you see the large growth. So in this particular case, there were it was over threequarters of a million dollars more revenue that the district acquired than they expected and there was over $3 million of expenses that were not expended that they anticipated. So right there you have a growth in that fund balance by almost $4 million. When you add up a couple years like that, that's when you
034see a large increase in your fund balance and it grows exponentially, which is the situation we were in. Moving down to the FY23 activity, very similar, but more. So, we had uh more revenue than anticipated and mo uh less expenditures than anticipated for a total addition of almost 4.2 million. Moving to the next one, that's where you start to see some declines. So, the revenue is still higher than expected, 460,000, but now the expense the expenditures they're they're less than the budget, but the number is coming down. So, the total overage, I will call it, or surplus or additional funds just over $2.1 million. Same thing for the following year. And then we move into the final year where we have gotten our um audit. So the more revenue you receive than you expect, the
035less money you expend that you budget for, the more money you will have left over. It's just like a a personal account. Um I will say it's very difficult to anticipate revenue. some of the things that are difficult to anticipate that we have had uh a lot of uh especially um deals with the interest rate or the interest on our funds that we have. Uh back a couple years ago, we didn't budget any for interest. We have now done that, but the number still is quite high. So, we're adjusting that. Um but I am pleased with the most recent expenditures and how that is much closer to what we typically budget. So, those are things that we're working on. We are certainly working on fine-tuning the revenue uh and we're certainly working on right sizing
036the budget. Another revenue piece that's more difficult to anticipate are uh tuition students. You know, if we budget for uh 55 tuition students, which has been a common theme, and we get more, then obviously that is 9 to $11,000 more per student that we get as revenue. Uh, and so when you multiply that by 10, um, 5 to 10, you're looking at a significant amount of revenue that you just never anticipated. You're much more advantageous to be in this situation than the opposite because if we're in the opposite situation, uh, there are many more than one community member sitting here right now. uh we are having people here left and right uh indicating and and complaining how we're not budgeting correctly. So although the number of our fund balance is still high, it is important
037as stated to to be fiscally responsible and to have something there in case of emergencies, uh we have done a nice job bringing that down to a reasonable level. But I'd rather be in this situation than asking the community for more money because we either did not get the revenue that we anticipated or we overspent our expenditures. Those are not fun situations to be in and I don't envy any of the districts that are in that situation. So that is um the audit and fund balance. Um I'd say in a nutshell, but it wasn't really a nutshell. Um but that just to give you some more context to the audit and our funds. uh so that people can understand it a little more. Um not that you didn't before, but I do think that we
038are in a good spot and I do believe that the district has uh moved in the right direction when it comes to our funding. Still a little more work to do uh but we're moving in the right direction. >> Okay. >> Can I ask a question? It's not necessarily in this report naturally, but we did get a preliminary for our ED279. I was going to say one not, but um how are we in that? >> Uh depends how you define how are we we're getting we are receiving more money uh from the state than we are this year. Um however, with what we've seen the last few years, the local responsibility has increased. um we have received a little more but our enrollment has declined too. So when your enrollment declines then you tend to
039get less subsidy from uh the state. We do we did receive a little more towns will be responsible for more and that's again nothing to do with RSU22 telling them they have to pay more. It's just based on the valuation of the state uh what the state puts on for the towns. So there will be a a larger burden on the town based on that document uh as compared to this year but we're hoping to work that out through the budget process. >> Thank you. >> Well and budget meetings start soon just a couple of weeks so we'll get to spend a lot of time with all of this. Um but I was pretty pleased with the auditor's report. I think I personally think we need really strong financial controls because if we can't get
040an audit. We got to be able to trust our own books. And it's not student facing, but it's so so important to have strong financial controls. And there are districts that do not have a strong business office and are in really deep troubles at a meeting uh in the fall about this like we have to stay strong in that business office or things can get really bad. So, we got to make sure we keep investing in that even though it's not student facing. Ellen, >> will there be child watch again like last year? >> That is the plan at this point to try it for one more year. >> All right. Thank you. If you have any further questions about the audit, I'm sure Nick would love to talk about it for hours. Um, so
041we'll move on to the next part. Nick, >> at this point, I would invite Mr. Lindam, Mr. Lindamman to the podium to present on behalf of uh, Webby. It's tough to follow audit discussion here with and sharing about Weatherbe. Um well, so I'm for those of you who don't know me, I'm Matt Lynman, principal at Weatherbe. Um and I'm excited tonight to share um some work that our fifth grade team has been doing with a different instructional model um with flexible grouping and and uh excited to share how that's been going. Um, back last spring when when I was making the transition from the Mc McGra School to the Weatherbe School, one of the first things I did was reach out to the teams and say, you know, I want to meet with you and
042and talk about, you know, your thoughts for next year. And the first team that reached out to me was the fifth grade team. We're really excited about something we want to try next year. Want to talk to you about it. So, um, you know, this goes back to work they were doing last spring. um you know looking at the their students, looking at the students that were coming from fourth grade and and wanting to explore different models to see ways that they could meet the needs of all fifth grade students. Um you know, they worked closely with especially the Reeds Brook Middle School, but both of our middle schools use um a math pathways model that they're really inspired by and hearing about that work. Um and so they they decided they wanted to try
043whole grade flexible grouping this year um as their model for reading and math. And so whole grade flexible grouping. And I would just say that, you know, all classes and all grade levels at Weatherbe are doing um some form of of flexible grouping within their their home rooms where they're taking students and regrouping based on on where they're at. But that's that's typically done within their their classroom of 20. What what fifth grade has been doing is that process, but on the scale of their entire grade level. So they're they're looking at uh just north of 80 students in fifth grade and looking at all of those students and regrouping those grade those students into um fluid groups, temporary groups, and that's all based around um current academic data to try to make sure we're
044we're targeting um students where they're at to best meet their needs. Um you know, the reason they they chose that again inspired by the back pathways, but there's there's research, you know, they weren't just willy-nilly deciding. they wanted to um to go this route. Um and you know, so they're looking at at models that they thought would best meet the needs, but also are backed by research. So we're, you know, looking at students learn best when when they're learning at their readiness level. Um and, you know, we're we're wanting to frequently regroup students. We're not pigeonholing students into one specific group. We're we're frequently regrouping each unit of instruction, each topic. Math and reading are very different. So So the groups are very fluid. Um and and collaborative models like flexible grouping, build a stronger
045culture, and we're definitely seeing that at Weatherbe. And I mentioned, um, data-driven grouping is is a huge portion, uh, and and super important part of of the flexible grouping. Um, so there's been a strong focus, especially initially on on NWA scores that we we do three times a year. Um, but also the the assessments that are done on a daily basis. um you know, teachers using their the classroom performance, their their observations of students to make sure that that they're doing their best to match the group to the student need. Um and and it's very collaborative as needs evolve, as subjects change, those group things are changed. And I think the the team has learned a lot this year. They've refined procedures. They they've changed procedures as they're noticing, you know, even math and reading
046and and from one unit to the next. Um what looks like successful grouping has been different throughout the year. So, they they work really well together. Um, and and I really want to shout not only our our fifth grade teachers out, um, but our our specialists, our interventionists, our our special ed staff. Um, to do this work has required a lot of really successful collaboration. It's not easy work to take 80 plus students and constantly reorganize groups. It's it's been a lot of hard work. Um, they've really shown some great communication. You know, not just they're they're meeting regularly, but they're making sure they're bringing in all the stakeholders. um you know, they're communicating with families as well. As groups are changing, um it's taken some a lot of calibration, you know, with their assessment,
047with their instruction. They want to make sure as groups are changing, they're on the same page. And then as we're working as a school to to continue to implement and refine our our positive behavior interventions and supports, they've had to really emphasize common expectations. As students are going from one classroom to the next, we don't want students to have to relearn expectations. So, they've worked really hard. Uh and I'm proud of that work they've done. um positive impacts. We have regular um leadership team meetings at at Weatherbe and um one of the things we do is is share positive positive news, positive things at each grade level. And our our fifth grade representative, Mrs. Anderson, every time we have met when it's her turn to share something positive, she comes back to flexible grouping is
048going really well. We're so happy we've made this choice. And we're seeing, you know, increased confidence. staff and students are are both noticing that um stronger connections, you know, where students are getting to connect with other students, learn, you know, learning from other teachers. Um and and it's been a continuous improvement process. So, so we're, you know, excited about those those anecdotal impacts we're noticing. Um you know, we're we're obviously looking closely at the the academic data as well to see the impact. This is this is one small snapshot and and we're going to do some deep diving um as as we get to the end of the year to look at the the scope of of how our fifth graders have done throughout the whole year. Um but as we've just finished up our
049our winter round of NWA testing um and this is a a report that just looks at averaging all of the growth across all of the students um from where they were at this time last year um to where they are now. Um but looking at that as we've just done that you know on the whole at our grade level in math you know projected we you know want students on average eight points growth and our average or across fifth grade we've met that target uh and and reading the projected growth across our grade level six and a half points um and we've met that as well. So we're happy with that and we're going to continue to to dive deeper and and I just wanted to end um I did a a piece about our
050flexible grouping as well with help from our fifth grade staff and in the link 22 and one thing I thought was important and I wanted to share with you all as well um was to give some of the the voices from the classroom from our students um you know our our teachers may think something's going really well but it's important to know how this is impacting our students um and so I interviewed several of our fifth graders to talk to them about how they've thought flexible grouping and this change has gone and and I picked out a few quotes um that I wanted to share so one student said that I like that I get to be with different students see different teachers and teaching styles another students said that they like that kids can
051go at their own speed. You know, previous years things at different times might feel too hard or too easy, but they're feeling like at their own pace. They're moving where they're comfortable. Um and and what final students said, you know, again, they feel like they're learning at their pace. Um and they feel like everyone is learning more. So, we're excited about this work. I'm, you know, proud of the work that the fifth grade team has done. I'm excited with how our fifth grade students have have handled this change. I think as we're we're getting ready to transition them to middle school, this work they've done this year um is only going to better set them up for for success at Reedsbrook. And um we're excited to share the impacts from our fifth grade team uh
052with the rest rest of Weatherbe staff as well to see if there are pieces of this model that that may be able to expand beyond just fifth grade. >> Any questions? I'm happy to answer. Um, do you know if Weatherbe ever did flexible grouping before or is this the first time in its history? >> Um, to to my knowledge, this is the whole grade. This would be the the first time an entire grade. I can speak from personal experience as a former fifth grade teacher that um, you know, on a twoperson team, I would do flexible grouping with my teen teacher for certain subjects. But I think this is to my recollection and maybe Mrs. can help with as well that the uh the first time a whole break has done. >> I just had
053a couple of questions. Um so I know you mentioned that you're measuring one of the metrics is your media scores. Um are you able to use anything else kind of in between those three tests? >> Yeah, absolutely. So you know each unit of instruction has a post assessment that students are looking at. Um we're we're regularly using EXL as a tool that um you know not just we do diagnostic assessments at certain points but it's being regularly used to measure growth. So there's a number of measures and those day-to-day ones are are definitely important. The start of the year NIA was the big one and then as we've gone through the year it's been more the the unit assessments. >> And I know you also mentioned um kind of setting the expectations to be the
054same across the Have you noticed behavioral improvements? >> Yeah, absolutely. I I I think um within the classroom in in fifth grade, students are are engaged. So, um you know, there's there's less disruption because students are are feeling like it's matched to their their need. Um and I think that was something that I um when I talked with students as well um that they mentioned that they might feel distracted or not vehicle focused because it wasn't matched to what they they needed. So, absolutely. This is more for the administration. Is this something we'd consider doing at other schools or in Winterport fifth grade? >> I'm glad you asked because I almost mentioned at Smith School, they've been doing it for a long time. It's called Switcheroo. When you hear your kid come home and talk
055about Switcheroo, they are using data across grade level. Remember the scale of that will be smaller. When Mr. Lindman talks about his 80 kids, we might have two or three home rooms. but they're still collaborating and grouping and regrouping to meet kids right where they are for their learning. So yes, >> um fifth grade is teaming and Mrs. Pratt, do you want to answer that? Not to put you on the spot. They are doing more I think if I'm going to speak to it. I would say they're doing more what Mr. Wman described he did as a classroom teacher with subject area specialties. Um, so they're grouping within that band of kids, but it wouldn't be across the whole grade level. >> Correct. >> Is that right, Mr. >> Yes, that is exactly it. >>
056Thank you, Mr. Lind. And I'll turn it over to assistant superintendent. >> I'm very excited to talk tonight about Project Reconnect. Thank you, Kristen, for mentioning it at the last meeting, but we've had a group of parents in Frankport and Winterport join the libraries. Uh, rec department members are going to be on board. Um, certainly our parent groups, Wagner Pride, Packac and Smith Group and Mrs. Pratt and Mrs. Moore have joined us uh for what we've renamed ourselves as Project Reconnect because we studied the book The Anxious Generation. And the last time we had a big brain dump basically of all the research that talks about how our youngsters brains are being rewired and why and the last meeting was what can we do about it. So we have a great launch already. We meet
057again Tuesday March 24th at the Winterport Memorial Library for anyone who would like to join us. Um, one of the takeaways that we've already started with, thank you, director Nickerson, because she got us some children's books called The Amazing Generation by the same author as The Anxious Generation. And it's a book for youth, a handbook, an illustrated self-help book. And they're going to run a book talk right out of the Winterport Library, and kids can get off the bus and go there. But they spent I mean they bought two copies themselves which is big for a small municipal library like that to be able to buy two hardbound books and then director Nickerson got the rest so that we can have a goodiz group and then since they're district owned books when we want to
058mirror that in other schools then we'll be they'll be able to do so and another thing that came from that meeting is a playground some playground initiatives. This is Brett Smiling Black back back there because we talked about what can we be doing for fifth grade at Wagner for play. And if you've read the anxious generation, you know the whole last third of the book is let kids go play like outside play. They recommend give them boards and hammers and nails and we didn't know that their insurance company would go for that. We are looking into more, you know, there are ways you can take fallen log in its balance beam fun ways and we reference that because during co uh McGrath school had an outdoor classroom and it was a bunch of stumps and
059it was interesting to watch the kids be drawn to that when they had thousands and thousands of play equipment but they would roll those stumps and move and jump. So we're very excited about what that might look like. might have some kitchen utensils as uh musical instruments. We'll keep you posted on that. But please feel free to join us for Project Reconnect. We do want to have a calendar eventually that joins all those groups and gives the screen free opportunities. So now let's talk about two more screen free opportunities in the month of March. in your folder on March 21st from 10 to 2. I'm asking for your help if you will take that flyer and either you can reshare from the Education Foundation page if you'd like or you can put that up in
060a local office. Where's the bulletin board that you go to that you see that people read? Please tag that up for us because the expo is back but bigger and better. It will help a wellness zone. You can sign up for um uh CPR or first aid, stop the bleed. There will be wellness education, everything from nutritionists to hopefully some balance checks. There'll be a car seat check. It's going to be fantastic, very robust. Thank you, uh Barbara and Britney for taking charge there. And the other layer, we have to thank our high school coaches and club leaders and some community members because we have Girl Scouts stepping up. Thank you, Carson. And little league. And we're going to have a kids carnival section. So, it's free to get in. So, we wanted to make
061sure some of the games were free. And UTC is going to have a huge life-siz Jenga game. But for uh it has a fundraiser for the RSU22 Education Foundation. So, some of the games you'll have carnival tickets and the sponsors of the games will split the proceeds with the Ed Foundation and you'll take those tickets like you used to have at Reedsburg for their carnival games to a prize table where if you have five tickets, you can get this level prize and if you have 10, you can level up and so on and so forth. So, we're very excited about that. If you win your carnival game, we're really looking to have uh Bolt be there, our Bronco from Hampton Academy, so that you can have your picture taken with Bolt. It's going to be
062a big deal. Saturday the 21st, please help us get the word out. Please put the flyer up and save the date. The other date that I'd love for you to save and you'll get more on this because I don't have a flyer yet, is the community table, eat, connect, learn, and thrive. And this will be March 26th and it's from 4:30 to 7:00. And there are a lot of layers. It's wellness evening at Wagner Middle School. And the first hour is a dinner, free spaghetti dinner. Then they'll have important keynote speakers. um Shelley and David Yanowski and John T. Broader Jr., he's the former Chief Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court. So, they both have very interesting uh their presentations that evening will be engaging. There'll be prize drawings along with a spaghetti dinner,
063games, and crafts, and it's really sharing community and mental health resources as well. So, is there anything you want to add on that, Mrs. Pratt? I know that's up your >> uh Nope. We do have a a newslet a news a flyer that's coming out in in the uh newsletter. Um but we're very excited. We have uh lots of uh community sponsors. Um they from food to prizes to then the speakers. We have uh Hampton Academy helping with child care. Um so it is becoming truly a big community event. >> Well done. Thank you. and um Brian Cartright, our education outreach community uh EOCC, education outreach community, can I get that right? coordinator. Thank you. Wow. Um has been instrumental in getting all these donations pulled together. He's very excited. He emails me regularly to
064tell me what's been up uh donated recently. And so I I hope that we have a really good turnout on that. So I'm asking board members to help promote that and save the date. And we'll get that out to social media for schools as well. Um and that's that's all three. project reconnect the Ed Foundation and the community table. >> So March will be a busy community related month and we hope to see you there. >> Thank you. >> How much did you make? >> Oh yes, thank you. >> Should have thanked Marsh Island. We featured Fay. I met her in the parking lot and took her picture. I don't think I've ever eaten that many burgers in a week and it was well worth it. U RS22 Education Foundation wants to thank Marsh Island
065for partnering with us. We raised $1,900. Um, yeah, pretty exciting. We launched for sure. And I do think that that helped us get the word out because we're getting amazing sponsors for the business expo and uh we'll be promoting those in the upcoming weeks as well. We'll have one more board meeting before then, so I didn't go into detail about that, but yes, thank you Marsh Island and thanks to everybody who went and ate burgers and elementary burger. Yeah, check out the Ed Foundation website because Matt Williams, who's a director on the Ed Foundation, did a great feature story of the teacher and some of the students from that class who created the pickleberger and um super fun. So, thanks for asking. >> All right, financial report. In your packet, you have the updated monthly
066budget um form. Uh just as a reminder, sound like a broker broken record. We have encumbered all individuals uh anyone who is currently employed. Their wages and benefits all have been encumbered within the uh financial statement. That is something we are watching uh very closely. Uh we want to be able to as we get closer to the end of the fiscal year have a better idea of what we will end up with. Uh as compared to what we've seen in the past, we are really more estimating at that point. Um we actually have spoken as a matter of fact as early as most recently as today um next year expanding on that a bit uh i.e. uh electric electricity costs bus contract things like that and covering those uh in advance when we know we
067have to pay them. Uh but that is something that has been very helpful to us uh as we've moved through the the um fiscal year. So we're doing well uh and we continue to monitor that monitor that on a regular basis. All right. And now we'll turn it over to Annabella Ashton for the uh student representative report. Okay. Thank you. Uh you've likely already heard the news, but the HA girls basketball team won the Northern Main Regional Final and will be playing against Chevress High School in the state championship game. The game will be in Portland on Saturday night at the Cross Insurance Arena. Additionally, a fan bus is being offered for Hampton Academy students wishing to spectate the state championship game. Also, as Mr. Jary pointed out earlier in his public comment, our girls
068indoor track team were runners up at the Class A state meet. This Saturday, several members of the indoor track and field team will be competing in the New England Championships in Boston. Um, yesterday was the district 5 show choir festival. Um, there was a week in February where HA welcome local military recruiters where students could ask questions and check out some equipment. Um, the military recruiters were also at lunch to answer any questions that the students may have. Um, the sophomores got to visit UTC and explore the different programs that UTC has to offer. and they also got the opportunity during advisory to sign up to go their junior year if they wanted to. Thank you. And up next is the questions of board members. I don't know I don't know if this is where
069you do it but under committee reports I was just curious as to an explanation a little bit more about the building committee and the HVAC system. I know you just had the meeting before vacation but I didn't understand what you were exploring other company another company to do. >> Well there are no questions we can move right to the committee section. So, uh, as you know, last meeting, uh, I believe the meeting before, we were a little chilly in here, uh, which then begged the question of really what was what had been going on. Uh, and so at the building committee meeting, we spoke about um, HVAC in general, some specific to the high school, other schools that uh, may have some needs. And so, we're looking into new units if needed. Um, and right
070now, as a matter of fact, I just spoke to, uh, Bill Booth, our director of facilities today. Uh, and he had he's, uh, soliciting quotes for, uh, a school for another unit. Uh, so we're looking into that at this point, >> making sure that it's comfortable for kids and, uh, staff. >> I don't see a need. >> Can I ask, >> is that going to address I know that the third floor here has some issues with heat. ulating like it gets really really hot here. Um so will that help address that situation as well? >> So that situation has really been addressed a lot already. Uh there may be some uh pockets here or there that still need some more calibration. But uh I would say a couple of weeks prior to or at least
071a week prior to February vacation maybe into a couple of weeks before and including February vacation uh we did have Honeywell here almost daily. of working on things and if they were not here present in the building, they were um watching it remotely. And so now we're at the committee part. Hey, I have a question for you. Um I can't remember what we're doing if we're just going to wait for the education report or if you were going to summarize this evening's meeting for the the group. If you're not prepared, that's fine as well. >> I'll just give a little piece. Um, tonight we had a presentation from um some of the group that went to involve its involvement. Uh, they did a presentation at the end of last year regarding their visit. Um, and
072so it was really interesting and I found it informative to see how they're moving forward in that process. Uh we did the meeting in the room that they developed. Um and so they gave us an example of what they've done. There'll be more in the minutes, but one of the things that was brought up or I think I brought it up, but anyway, it'd be nice if the rest of the board had an opportunity to see some of what they've done because um I think they have a nice direction and they're going um they're moving forward. And so, um, I was really impressed by what they've done and what they hope to do. Thank you. Um, if anyone else has questions, of course, we do have the the exhibits in our board packet. And you'll
073notice that Allan's still representing us very well at UTC. So, we're still getting those reports as well. There are no policy considerations this month because the policy um committee did not meet and I don't believe there's any old business to discuss. So, um, for new business, and I just want to kind of frame this a little bit, is to, um, direct the building committee on next steps for an administrative office. Um, so it would be protocol typically to have a motion on the floor before we engage in a discussion. Um, but would encourage people if they have ideas, thoughts um to attend a building committee meeting where the full committee including Bill Booth are available to to hear those ideas. Um and that's not to say we don't need to discuss some of them tonight,
074but uh I just want to to make that known that it would also be good for the entire building committee to hear that. Um, so if anyone wants to make a motion, we could open up a discussion on this. >> I was looking at Will to see if he was all ready to jump in. Um, I move that uh we direct the RSU22 building committee to weigh possible options for the district administrative office and report back to the board their findings with a recommended approach on how to proceed. >> So, we have a motion and a second on the floor. the building committee direction for a district administrative office. Uh is there any discussion? >> Yeah. So, will that agenda be sent out? When is this going to be the main topic? It's probably going
075to be the next meeting, but make sure to have the notification of when that when the building committee is going to have that. >> I mean, yeah. Um yeah. So yes u in summary the all of the committee agendas are sent out to the committee members and also the board as a whole. So you would see that pretty obvious on any agenda. Um the next meeting is March 9th I believe. I want to say March 9th. It's the beginning of March. I'm not sure I'll make that first agenda. Uh but certainly I would say within the next couple of months that would be on that building committee agenda. >> And and I will say I know that some of you can attend those building committee meetings. So if you can't and you have ideas, be
076sure to reach out to a member of the building committee and talk to them uh about that. They could present your ideas or email the group. Building committee I think is Kirsten, you're on it. Will are you on? No. Kristen and Holly. And then of course, Bill Booth is the chair of the committee. Jessica person. Um I do think that we need to put it on the next um agenda whether that's just so that we can create some followups to have bigger discussions later on with more information. Um but I think it needs to be something that we keep on our building committee agenda forward. >> All right. So I have a question Nick. Do you at this point in time do you need any more direction from the board? Um in my from my
077perspective I'd like to keep it fairly open so that we're not limiting our options at this point in time and then as we get closer I think it things will start to to coales a little bit more. Always want to use that coales. Um, no. I would say that with a positive vote that gives the direction. With a negative vote, it also gives it gives a direction. Um, because a positive vote means that the building committee will then investigate more. Uh, and a negative vote means that the topic will be dropped at this point. >> Thank you, Stacy. >> Yes. Um, and maybe this is to be decided at the building committee, but is there a date that the building committee should be working towards a goal for the public vote if it is a
078yes? Yeah. Should we give the building committee some direction or maybe that's a building committee decision like for a November vote or the following June? I think that would be a good building committee decision. Yeah. >> Well, >> I Yeah, I just I don't I just had this discussion with my father last night, another district where I went to school as having like this big really offcycle election like on a snow night. So, I just would like to keep and just I'll give my opinion like keep this standard election times because I don't want to try to sneak something in or anything. around that. So, we've got June, November, June, something like that. And then voting no for continued. I don't think anyone's going to vote no, but we can't do nothing. I mean, I
079don't think that's an option. Doing nothing's not an option. Something has to happen. >> Thank you. >> Does the building committee still have access to the previous quote and engineering plans? I don't think they will be the same um numbers quite honestly because those are older now. Um, but we we've purchased them, so we have access to all of that. And I don't know, um, I'm not sure if the modular company would still be involved. If there's no other discussion, then all those in favor of the motion to direct the RSU22 building committee to look at possible options for the district administrative office. Um, vote now. And that looks unanimous. Do any committees need to set meeting dates? >> If I could ask the um policy committee to just meet with me real quick after
080I have two possible dates for us that makes available. We can choose one of those this evening. That'd be great. Thanks. >> Okay. So, we have two possible dates. They are March 2nd and March 10th. So those on the >> Did you say I'm sorry? >> March 2nd and March 10th. >> We're still looking at the four o'clock. Yeah. >> Can you do the 10? >> I can do March 10th. All right. So, it looks like it's March 10th at 4. Thank you. >> By the way, it'll be the same agenda. So, if you kept it, that's a good thing. And we'll just do it this time. All right. So, we have no executive sessions tonight and uh there is no other business either. >> Motion to second. >> I don't think we have to
081put a chart.