MSAD #51 School Board Meeting, March 5, 2026

001All right, welcome everyone to the MSAD51 School Board of Directors meeting this fine Thursday, March 5th. Can't believe it's already March. Um, we are going to kick off tonight with some recognitions. I am thrilled to um celebrate some state championship teams here this evening and I'm gonna uh welcome our athletic director David Shapyro to the podium. >> Sure. >> Well, thank you. Thank you for taking the time to recognize some of our student athletes here who have succeeded admirably and uh represent our community and our school very very well. Um, I have here in my notes that these teams, our Nordic team and our track team, that I always say they toil in anonymity. Well, that's no longer the case because you have a nice crowd here to recognize your efforts, maybe more so than

002you had in the past. So, uh, it takes a lot of skill and effort for them to succeed at the level that they have. And, uh, we really appreciate all that they offer. And, uh, let's bring up our, um, Nordic team right now, please. And thank you. SO YOU hear me okay on that? Two out of the last three years they have been state champions. SO, >> so what I would like them to do again, we want to on that framework of not being anonymous anymore to please in come on up here, introduce yourselves, say how many years you've been skiing and then folks, if you have any questions of our our stellar athletes here, feel free to ask away. So, no particular order, come on up, introduce yourselves individually, one big happy family. >>

003Hi, I'm Clara Wentling. Um, I've been skiing with Gley Nordics since sixth grade, so I think that's about five years. Um, which I just love it and it's pretty awesome. >> Um, hi, I'm Skyler. I've also been skiing with Gley Nordic since sixth grade and yeah. >> Hi, I'm Ama Jackson. I'm a junior. I've been skiing with Gley since seventh grade, so five years. Hi, I'm Amelia Wk and I have also been skiing with Gley Nordic for since sixth grade. So, yeah, five years. Uh, I'm Stevie Leven and I'm in 10th grade and I've been skiing with Gilly Nordic since freshman year. So, >> hi, I'm Rowan. I'm a senior and I've been on this team for seven years. Um, and thanks I want to thank you guys for recognizing us today. We've been building

004something pretty special with, as you heard, a lot of the same people for many years. So, we're just really happy to get a win this year. And thank you. >> I'm Jean Burr. I'm one of the assistant coaches for the team. On behalf of our whole coaching team, um I want to thank everyone for this recognition and I also want to take a quick minute to say how proud I am of this team. uh and also to recognize our two individual state champions. So in Nordic skiing there is a team championship. There are also three different races where we crown a state champion for an individual event. Um so one of our state champions is unable to be here tonight. Evelyn Lease. Uh she was our state champion for the classic race and for the

005pursuit race. Uh and our other state champion in the skate race is Rowan Barry. Congratulations, girls. >> Thank you for representing Gley Athletics so well and that's incredible. I'm sure the snow helped this year. Were was this one of the earliest years that you were able to be on snow? Yeah, that's >> Yes. Thank you everyone for putting up with the snow so we could have a great season. >> Great. Any questions? Great. We're so grateful. Congratulations. Well done. And just so you know, they traveled all the way to Fort Kent. So they went Fort Kent to fire trucks here in town. That's a great way to end your season. So well done. Uh next up, we have our boys track team. So if they would come forward, please and thank you. So the the

006Nordic team and uh two of the last three years they were champions. Uh this f these folks here uh with me tonight uh represent a a repeat. >> So that is three years in a row. Well done. And just to give you a little bit of a background on what they accomplished this year, uh up until two weeks before the season start, uh before the state meet, uh track is very easy to quantify. You know where they are, their times in each of the events, and you can do a virtual meet and say, "Okay, this is where where they are." So, two weeks prior to the season, uh to the state meet, they were ranked ninth. A week prior to after our Western Maine Conference Championship, they were ranked fourth. And then they really went

007gang busters uh to come in first at the state meet. And so and that in itself also went down to the very last event uh the 4x two before they clinched their state championship. So uh they hit their stride at the right time, pun intended. So come on up, fellas, and if you would introduce yourselves uh to the crowd, that'd be great. >> Uh my name is Miles. Um, I'm a freshman and I've been running with Gley since uh sixth grade, but uh I've been running track since first grade, so I don't know how many years that is because I don't feel like doing math, but uh it's it's a pretty long mile. And I did the 4x8. >> 4x8. Great. >> I'm Gavin Guay. Uh I've been doing track since kindergarten and I'm now

008a sophomore. So, couple years. And uh for Gley, I do shoput. >> I'm Diego Lester and I'm a freshman and I started running in seventh grade. >> Jackson Walton. I'm a sophomore. I've been running at really since sixth grade and I was in the 4x2, the lawn jump, and the 200 meter dash. Um, my name is Tony Babian and I've been doing track since like sixth grade, seventh grade maybe, and I did the shot put in the state meet. >> I'm Mike Maransis. I've been doing track since I was eight years years old. It's uh I don't want to tell you how many years, but it's been a long time. But no, no, seriously. Uh I'm the assistant coach. This is my first year coaching. Uh so it's a pleasure to see the fire trucks

009run into town and be escorted in. Uh these guys did great. Uh like David said, uh you know, our expectations were were set s sorted down here and uh you know because a lot of seniors graduated last year. Uh Dave Dalling, who couldn't be here, the head coach, he's done a tremendous job with the kids. But uh you know, expectations are here, but the effort was always here. and uh and they did a great job and congratulations. Good job. >> Incredible. Like, thank you so much uh for coming out this evening to be recognized. This is probably one of the the best parts of of being on the board is some of these be the the recognition that we're able to do for our athletes as we get into that stack of budgets over there

010and start talking about, you know, one of the line items is athletics and and to be able to be here and recognize and see the impact. And I know you guys graduated a ton of seniors, so this is just incredible for for this team. So, congrats. >> Thanks again for having them here tonight. And you know, you're well, you're welcome to stay as always. >> Thank you guys. >> I'm sure you have homework, right? >> Thank you. >> Yes. >> Yeah. And please, if anyone wants to grab grab a seat, got rearranged. >> I know we're getting set up for the next presentation. Um, I'm excited to welcome Principal Monte Sylvie to the podium to talk about life at GMS68. >> Thank you. You need your presentation up there. >> Thank you. >> Hi everybody.

011Uh my name is Monty Selby and this is Jason Law River and we are the the principles at Gley Middle School. And what we thought we'd talk about tonight is that um one campus is definitely on people's mind even though it seems a ways off. And uh there's there's a lot to think about and there's a lot of work to do, but we were thinking about all the small steps that happen to try to keep that energy going and work together because we're basically in the middle of this year while we're planning for next year while also planning for the year after that. So um so just as one example we're navigating today while also looking at with the staff and increasing numbers of kids. So the assemblies just get busier. There's more and more

012kids and where where do they go? So we're planning for that for next year because we have the new portables. it the next year will become 5'8 and that a truck will come back in and pull those things out of there and and those all create changes and those are those are very tangible. So it's just one example of looking at where we are um for the board the SIP plan or school improvement plan if that's not familiar. So again, things just going on within the building while we're also working on some of those things that we shared with you earlier like um falling in line with the MTSS district plan and we have our our school MTSS team and planning for PD and use of data. So actually yesterday and and the early release

013day that's that was the topic. And so we kind of we have our things going on that are immediate to today. Um but then we're also looking further ahead. And again, our big big thought for tonight was what are some things we can do on a daily basis as we're doing the work to to keep pulling us together as a staff and and with kids. So I'm turn it over to Jason to talk about some of that. Hey, good evening everyone. Um, so yeah, just wanted to share a couple things that are going on and and highlight some of the great work that's that's happening in our school. Um, so you know, up here are some some bullet points that our transition committee have kind of put together. Um, and I will say just under

014each of these bullet points is probably 20 to 50 more other bullet points that we're that we're uh sub bullet points that we're we're we're working on. And um I won't get into all of that, but just there's there's a ton of of great stuff that's that's happening. And um and just wanted to say that we've got some great momentum with this 58 transition committee and I'm really excited for the um the work ahead that we have. Um, with that being said, I think the that this may seem um like intense work and it is intense work and part of uh like with with the higher the intensity of that work, I think the more um the more we need to bring people together as as Dr. Selby was was mentioning and wanted to kind

015of share with you tonight some of the things that we're doing to bring people together. So, um, so we'll show you some pictures of of some things. And, uh, after after a long winter, I know we're still in it, but, um, students need some playful breaks. So do staff. Uh, here's just some great pictures of of kids playing outside. Um, this was actually the day before February break. Um, we have a a school climate committee in our school and really this committee I think uh oftentimes is look at at how we improve the culture and climate for staff in our school but really it's about staff and students and making sure that uh GMS is just a great place to be for all. Um we have some pictures here just of like assemblies that we

016do. Um, next week we have um, uh, spirit week for staff members. Um, that just a way to bring fun into the into the day. Um, so it's it's a it's a really awesome committee and actually some some members of that committee are in this room. So I appreciate all the work that um, people do with that with that committee. Um, on Friday mornings we have open mic and this is just a a a nod to that and how uh great of a way it is to start a Friday and um highlight some some of our kids' talents and um as you can see it's kind of a a popular thing and kids are gathering around and there's been some amazing acts uh in in the morning and so it's it's um it's been fun.

017We like to have our opportunities to move together, you know, just a great shot of the Gaga ball pit. And that's just been an awesome addition to our to our uh playground space. We want kids to have fun. We have dances throughout the year. All that stuff is is important for um just the the vibe in our in our school every day. Uh several things throughout the year that staff also surprise students with. Um, and I won't get into those because I see some students in our in the room tonight. But, um, some fun stuff for for uh, students and and um, staff are hard at work at making sure that there's always something new and surprising and fun for students to see. And just as you walk around the school during the day, I'm

018always amazed at just how rich the instruction is. kids are constantly doing really awesome activities and the teachers are so engaged and the kids are so engaged. I mean, um it's it's really evident and I just want to recognize the the staff for their hard work on um on a day-to-day basis with the students. And um you know, I think as far as uh student recognition goes, that's happening as well. And um one thing that we we do with with kids is we have something called Gley Greats. And this is uh one of our products of school climate committee to recognize positive student behavior. So that's happening as well. And um teachers are able to recognize uh kids doing good things uh each trimester. So um just a a little bit on inclusion in our

019school as well. Um, next week we have uh some in inclusion movies that we'll be showing to our our students on on next Thursday, which is the day before the PD day. And we've we've done that for a couple of years now. Uh, great way to uh get kids thinking about how to include others. We also had uh right before February break, we had what's called No One Eats Alone Day, which is a national uh initiative and that was just an awesome thing put on by our Safe Promise Club. Uh and really just making people aware that um you know, we we should be including others, making sure no one else eats alone, and just that was that went off with with um great success on our first year trying it. So, nod to Save

020Promise Club for that. uh have some kids celebrating birthdays in Mr. Gillingham's room. Thanks, Mr. Gillingham, for doing that with with your students. Um and of course, our kindness crew here with um you know, just always uh making sure that kids are are included and having fun. Things like Best Buddies Unified Basketball is kicking off pretty soon. Um we have Unified Mastery going on now. lots of just lots of um things around inclusion and really just a culture of making sure everybody feels welcome at our school. Um next Friday on in our PD day, we have um some some very intentional things happening around trying to make sure we're um getting our four through eight staff together. um we have limited opportunities to do that and this is extra important as we transition to our

02158 community in our in our school. Um, so you know, we have uh like a a lunch planned for grades four through eight and um in the GMS lobby and really intentionally trying to get staff to mix with each other, talk with each other um and grow as a staff because like I said, we don't have, you know, we can't do that every day. Um, so the the the clock has started as to how many times can we get uh opportunities for staff to do those types of things. And I just wanted to kind of leave you with with this picture and and and this message that um you know really middle school is an is an amazing place to work and for students to go to school. Um the work that we're going to

022do now is going to impact our 58 school and um we have an opportunity to preserve the awesomeness of Gley Middle School and extend it into fifth grade and um really looking forward to that transition and um I'm confident that we can we can make this even a better place for for students and staff. So thank you for listening. >> Thank you so much. Um, thanks Jason and thank you Monty for being here this evening. It's it's a little bittersweet where um we've really appreciate your leadership over the past few years and I know this will be the end of this school year will be your last um with GMS. So I just want to thank you. Anything else? Great. Thanks for coming. Okay. The next item is approval of minutes. Can I have a

023motion to approve the minutes of the February 5th, 2026 meeting? >> Thank you, Kim. Can I have a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Jessie. Any questions or comments on the February 5th meeting minutes? Okay. Hearing nothing. All in favor? Okay. >> And Tim would abstain. He wasn't here at that meeting. Okay. So, now we are moving to the public comments section of the agenda. I know a couple people had maybe come in a little bit after. And I just want to make sure if you were interested in making public comment, there is a signup sheet and I will leave that out if anyone um does want to to come and sign up. Um the board um welcomes and values uh the public comment and to en ensure public comment is fair and orderly we

024follow procedures outlined in our board policy BEDH and we ask that all members of the public do so as well. We follow this policy to help keep the meeting civil, respectful, and productive. We also hope that this allows for all community members who would like to speak to be heard. Um, and this is one of many ways that the community um can connect with the board. Um, please always feel free to to reach out to us um as individuals or as a group um through email. Um, we're always happy to hear concerns or questions for public comment tonight. Um, as I mentioned, we have the sign up list. Residents and staff members will be given priority and students will be given priority uh over non-residents within the allocated time frame. Our policy allows for 30

025total minutes of public comment, although this can be modified at the discretion of the board. I will use the list to welcome the speakers to the podium. We ask that when you're called to use the designated podium when making comments and speak into the microphone. Comments by individuals are limited to a maximum of three minutes at a meeting. A clock will be visible on screen to help keep track of time. After the 3minut timer uh is up, please uh wrap up your comments when you go to the podium. Please state your name and town of residence before beginning your remarks. Lastly, keep your com please keep your comments respectful and civil. Um, we are neighbors here. Be kind and that includes members of the audience. Please do not interrupt or respond to speakers comments. Um,

026we also ask that comments are addressed to myself, the the chair. Please do not direct comments at or about individuals in our schools and community. Excuse me. So, I would first like to welcome um Alex and Hunter up to the podium. So, if you want to go right up there and just tell us who you are and where you live. >> Um I'm Alex Johnson and I live in Cumberland. >> I'm Hunter Wra and I live in Cumberland. >> Great. and then yeah, please share your comments. >> Um, hi, I'm Hunter Wrench and I'm Alex Johnson. We are here to present the idea of four day school weeks. The plan would be give all Mondays off and increase the school hours each day, but not the length of the school year. Before you think that

027this change is impossible, many countries in Europe have adopted this idea. Here in the US, 6.73% of districts now have a 4-day school week. That's 875 districts that have made the shift and they're still meeting their state requirements. Um, this change is possible and in fact, Superintendent Porter said, "I'm in favor of 4day school weeks for many reasons, including mental health. This would be a huge lift because it involves the entire community, especially parents and their work schedules. Hopefully, we can get there someday as Europe has done. If we take the school year as an example, we already have seven weeks that are four days in length because many US holidays fall on Mondays. Removing the remaining Mondays would increase the school day by 1 hour and 36 minutes maximum. This would give us the

028exact same number of contact hours as we have right now. It may not even be necessary to increase the school days by that amount of time. There are many creative solutions to decrease that time, such as adjusting our vacations and re-evaluating professional development. A way we could do this is by teachers coming into school one Monday a month for professional development. This would replace Wednesday afternoon professional development. Another thing we could do is take our early release Wednesdays and turn them into full days. Then students in 6th through 12th grade at most would have school go from 7:30 to 3:06. But after we move vacations and professional development and early release Wednesdays, we got 54 minutes added to each day. We know that there are many concerns that arise with this idea. We want to

029address those head on. Um you might be thinking about child care for younger students on Mondays. Child care is expensive. One possible solution would be to use our district facilities and hire high school students and recent grads to provide care. Um, a model similar to summer camps and afterare. The details would need to be ironed out, but this idea benefits the community and the young adult population. Additionally, longer school hours would help parents currently needing after school care. We acknowledge that extending school days would impact um after school commitments such as sports and clubs. There are many possible solutions to this concern. Opening up Mondays gives room for athletics and personal appointments to be scheduled. Events that would normally pull students from class. We could follow in the footsteps of Yarmouth and have a rule

030that all games that we play um have to be scheduled after 4 so kids can prepare after school. We welcome hearing from any of you if any other concerns arise. We encourage you to email us. >> I say don't worry about the clock. Keep going. The positive effect of a 4-day week are numerous. One article in Newella listed the following. Staff recruitment, increased student attendance, stronger retention, and fewer dis disciplinary problems as the result of a 4-day week. We want to take the next few minutes to dig a little deeper into a few of these items. A study led by Lamar University showed that students benefit from longer class periods involving more hands-on learning. At the middle school, we could be adding about 15 minutes to each class period. But after we adjusted, we adjust

031vacations, professional development, and early release Wednesdays, we could add 7.7 minutes to each period. There are countless mental health benefits for students and staff. One study conducted in the UK found that 81% of educators reported suffering from mental health symptoms directly related to their work. Teacher burnout has a dramatic impact on student learning. Having an extra day off reduces the likelihood of students and teacher burnout. The financial benefits is tremendous. After Duval County School District in Jacksonville dis Jacksonville, Florida moved to a 4-day schedule, they saved 0.7% overall. While that sounds like a small return, it actually meant $7 million reduction in spending for the district. Imagine what those funds could be used for. By slightly extending school days and making Wednesday's full days, we can meet all the required hours without adding extra school

032days onto the summer. students would have longer class periods for deeper learning and hands-on activities. This is not an unfounded argument and many leading countries have adopted the 4-day week. The data is profound. We encourage you to look at the data from UK and Japan. The bottom line is that a 4-day week would benefit students, teachers, and families overall. This plan gives students more flexibility, less stress, and better learning opportunities. We believe that a 4 day week is smart and realistic improvement for our school. Thank you for your time. >> Alex and Hunter, that was that that was truly uh convincing. I mean, I know we're talking about the school calendar today. So, >> calendar and the finance. >> I know it's the perfect agenda to have this at. And I know Hunter had also

033emailed the board. Please, I would love for you guys to send the comments that you made tonight to the board as well. So, thank you. So, appreciate you being here. >> Great job, both of you. That was that was very brave, too. Yeah, I'm in front of this group. >> There's opportunities when you get to high school. You could also be sitting right up here, right? be on the board. >> Right. Awesome. All right. Um, next up I have Kelly. Um, and I'm sorry, Kelly. I'm >> Kite. >> This always makes me nervous with name pronunciation. >> Good evening. My name is Kelly Kite. I'm a resident of Grey Mine, but I have been an edtech at Mabeli Wilson School for 19 years. Before that, I was a classroom teacher in Portland for 19 years.

034So, you can tell that I love my job and I love children. As you know, secretaries and edte have been without a contract for nearly 250 days. And although I'm sure it's not your intention, it makes us feel disrespected, unappreciated, and undervalued. That's not a much that's not very fun to way to feel coming to school every day. But thankfully, we have your wonderful children who appreciate us and show us appreciation every day. And tonight, I'm going to read a couple notes that they have written, not about the contract or anything. Um, just written over the past month. I'm going to leave out names to protect privacy, but I wanted to let you know that your children appreciate us and show us that they appreciate us. This is a letter from a parent first. Thank

035you for making such a big difference in our daughter's life. Since she started working with you, her whole attitude about school and learning has changed. She told us this morning that you say she's smart and she believes you. This is music to our ears. I love you and I'm so glad that you are my group teacher. Thank you for letting me come to have lunch with you. We invite the kids to have lunch with us sometimes. Happy Valentine's Day. Thank you for making the lunchroom quiet. We had so many memories together. I love you. You are so kind to me. You are a great teacher and everybody loves you. We had a great time together. Getting a little teary eyed. You are the best. I hope you have the best Valentine's Day ever. And you

036are the best. And everyone loves you. Happy Valentine's Day. Thank you for keeping the lunchroom nice and safe. And without you, the lunchroom would be crazy. It is anyway. Um, and lastly, there was a note from a teacher. I am so grateful for you and the connections you've made with the biggest bunch and especially the students that you work with. You are awesome. So, I'm hoping that the words of your children will resonate with you and let know that we are important and we do matter. >> Thank you. Pete Gillian. >> Hi there. Thanks for giving me time to speak. Pete Gillingham, eighth grade social studies teacher. Um, I have taught for 34 years in a variety of districts and I've taught for 12 years here. And last week I took all the maps on

037my wall and flipped them upside down and put a sign saying change your perspective. And I'm going to ask that we change our perspective here a little bit. I often say to the kids, we don't want history to repeat itself except for the good stuff. At this point in negotiations, in the last round I stood here, I don't come right off the bat. I expect negotiations to be bumpy. I expect them to be a give and take. But I think we're repeating ourselves. Last time I was here, there are three people who aren't sitting here that I know left for a higher salary and they are still working in education, but they probably should be working here. We took the time to train them. you took the time to inst give that institutional knowledge when

038there's a crisis, how systems work, etc., etc. I see the edte and the secretaries in my building, and I wish my administration were still here. Super positive people, smiles on their faces, more importantly, knowledgeable. They're caring. They know how to work with kids, and they can teach. I've worked at districts where we've had to hire people and I'm sorry they were nice people didn't have those qualities. I feel like the negotiation has changed. It's not an active even aggressive negotiation. I just feel it's disrespectful now. So I felt the need I had to come out and speak. I also feel that positive negotiations are fine, but I think we're creating an atmosphere. That slideshow I loved and I was in one of those pictures, so I thought that was kind of neat. But what that

039doesn't show that was up there is discouragement. When people come through the door, if they're discouraged, when they come into my classroom to help students, your students, students at home, if they're discouraged, they're not going to help kids learn. They're not going to help those two young men who probably aren't discouraged, who can speak better than I'm doing. Good job, boys. Um, it's discouraging. So, I'll just end with I think we're repeating history, but not the good kind. And I would ask that we really step up and change this so we don't lose these people and the people who couldn't be here tonight. Thanks. >> Thank you. Kristen McGlenn. >> Hi. Uh, my name is Christa McGlin. I live in North Yarmouth. Uh, I am a prek atte. Uh this is my third year with

040the district. Um I will start by saying this is out of my comfort zone. I can talk to a classroom full of kids, four to five year olds preferably. Um but talking to a room full of adults is really uncomfortable, but I am here. And I'm here because I also have my son with me. He's a third grader at MIW. Um, and my husband and I have tried to instill in our son that if somebody's doing something that's not right either to you or to somebody else, you stand up for yourself or you stand up for that person, no matter how hard it is. So, I'm here to stand up for the ESPs because we show up every day and we put everything we have into it to help these kids learn and to grow.

041We care for them and we give it our all. And to feel that we're not valued enough to have a fair contract, that we're not respected enough to have a fair contract. It's disheartening and disresappointing, frustrating. So, I'm just here to say please do what's right and give us a fair contract. Thank you. Thank you. Margaret McDev. Yeah, sorry. Good evening. My name is Margaret McDevitt. I've lived in Cumberland for 30 years. I'm a district employee, a taxpayer, and a voter. I want to thank everybody who is here to show support for the ESP's effort to receive a fair contract with a fair wage. I also want to thank you, our school board, for the work you do for our schools. I've worked for MSAD51 for 23 years. As an NTEC, I currently make $27.7

042an hour. It took me completing 21 years at MSAD51 to reach that hourly rate. If I was in Yarmouth, I would be making $30.25 an hour, a difference of $3.17 or 11.74 uh%. Also, it would have only taken me 12 years to get to that rate. If we want strong schools, we need to invest in our staff who make the schools run safely, smoothly, and successfully every day. Our edteexs and secretaries are the staff who accomplish the successful running of our schools. Try having school one day without edte and secretaries there. It is truly a scary thought. Competitive wages are what recruits and retains dedicated staff and provides consistency to us to our kids. I respectfully ask the board to immediately prioritize raising wages for the edteex and secretaries. Supporting us is an investment in

043the safety, stability, and success of our schools. What's best for kids is our district mantra and you need to respect and reward those taking care of the kids so we can continue with our roles of taking care of those kids. They are our future. Thank you for your time. Heather Bowman. >> Um, hi, my name is Heather and I've been a Cumberland resident for 15 years. Um, I appreciate the work of the school board and your time. I wanted to speak on my concerns about halfday Wednesdays and remote snow days in the school calendar. I have two children at Mayai Wilson and have spoken with many parents who share my concerns. I grew up in New Hampshire and frequent use of half days was not and is not a common practice and many feel blindsided

044when they move here. First, the hardship that half days and remote snow days places on families cannot be dismissed. 75% of families with children in this county have two working parent households. The school does not provide half-day child care. This makes living in this school district inequitable. The wreck program offers afterare but at a price in a lottery. Most importantly, the children are not getting the in-person school time that they so desperately need. Maine fourth graders ranked 44th out of 50 states in reading proficiency with only 26% reading competently according to the NAP NA data. Maine also now ranks in the bottom five states for the number of hours it instructs students each year. Comparing ourselves locally for in-person teaching for the 2526 school year, Felmouth had 10 half days, two in service days, and

045three snow days. Cape Elizabeth had four half days, five professional days. Yarmouth had two half days, one teacher in service day, and three snow days. May I Wilson had 24 half days, two professional days, two flex days, and two snow days, then went remote. This brings me to remote days. For elementary school children, packets are sent home with just a virtual check-in. There is no instructional education. The packets are so supposed to be practice, and we're told if it causes frustration to skip it. At this age, homework is not 100% independent, and frustration is frequent. We learned during co that virtual education days don't work, but yet we've increased them. I realize that half days have been in place here for over 30 years, but a lot has changed over that time in our society.

046not only family structures but advances in technology that should allow for better use of teacher development time. I understand that the argument for next year is that changes in school buildings will put a strain on staff, but I failed to see how half days would alleviate this. I hope these issues are handled by administration and not forced upon our teachers. The disruption and confusion of a new school would only seem to reinforce the need for inperson education. Lastly, on a personal note, I have a smart, capable child who struggles with reading, but I am lucky enough to recently be able to get our tutor outside of school. And it's not much, but this small amount of extra schooling has helped tremendously. Add that financial strain to the half-day child care costs. Our district might do

047better than other districts in Maine because of its great teachers, but I also suspect some of it has to do with the financial advantage many families have. But not all families have that, and it's not right to place the burden on them. Our teachers, aids, and the school staff are great. That's why I'm upset we don't get more time with them. I totally support the wage increases. Um, and I ask that you address these concerns to the 26 27 calendar year, provide three snow days instead of two, and further reduce the number of half days. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Heather. Camdenburg. >> Uh, hello. My name is Cameron Burke and I'm a senior here at Gley and I'm a resident at Cumberland. When some of teachers here at school asked me to

048share my thoughts about the ongoing contract negotiations, I felt really sad and honestly pretty frustrated that our district hasn't been able to offer edex secretaries a fair contract. During my time in this district, I've had so much support from these incredible individuals who really are the backbone of this place. Whenever whether it's getting help with stuff I don't understand or one-on-one support, they've always been there for me. That's why it really frustrates me that MSED 51 won't offer a fair contract to staff who just want to help students succeed when they're in school and use what they've learned once they graduate. This district couldn't survive without any of them. Ever since I was a little kid, I've always wanted to work. I've wanted to work so badly that when I get in trouble at home,

049my parents actually take work away from me as a consequence. I've been lucky enough to have a bunch of different jobs already. At one of them, I make $22 an hour plus overtime. During the winter, I make $50 an hour shoveling snow. I'm 17 years old, still in high school, and I don't even have a college degree. An edtech here in at Gley has a starting pay of $20.90. It takes them 22 years to reach an allergy hourly rate of $27.7. I found that in Yarmouth, edte start at $24.56 and just after 12 years they are at $30.25 an hour. Both districts require at least two years of college degree. It honestly feels sickening that as a district these essential employees have to fight for what's fair. Why are these negotiations been going on since

050June 30th? That's nearly 250 days if you're keeping track. Why does it always seem that the wonderful teachers, ESPs, and secretaries are having to fight for their contracts? Do our administrators in this district have to fight for their contracts? As I'm finishing my last few months here at Gley, I want our district to be recognized in the news for something positive. It feels like every time I see Gley mentioned, it's for something negative. Let's make the news for having the best paid ESPs in the state and being recognized for all the incredible things our students are accomplishing. Thank you. >> Thank you, Camden. Amber Harrington. Okay. Good evening. My name is Amber Harrington. I live in district with my husband and my two children. This is my 10th year working as a secretary or admin

051assistant, whichever you want to call it, at MIW. And first of all, I would like to say thank you to the board. I know most of you from being a member of this wonderful community from preschool, MIW sporting events, and it's not lost on me the immense amount of time and brain space you devote to our children, to our schools. So, thank you. I really appreciate it. I speak on behalf of myself and my two amazing co-workers in the office, Dearra Hogland and Julie Perkins. MSAD51 secretaries play a vital role in keeping our schools running smoothly each day. We are often the first people students, parents, teachers, administration, and visitors interact with, and we work very hard every day to create a welcoming and supporting and supportive environment. Our responsibilities are endless. We are the

052first layer of security as gatekeepers for the outside doors. We answer calls, handle student records, coordinate schedules, and support teachers and our administrators. Our or our organization, communication skills, and attention to detail help to ensure that our schools operate efficiently and safely and allow for our staff to focus on teaching and supporting students. We are the first call parents, teachers, and support staff make for any questions or issues. Forgotten boots, a clogged toilet, jammed locker, broken copier, dismissal change, six student, a child taking the wrong bus. What time does my child's after school activity end? Who will cover my class when I'm out? When can I take my lunch? Can you schedule a meeting with admin for me? Not to mention worried parents who are getting used to sending their little child off to kindergarten.

053With over 100 staff members at MIW and well over 600 students times two for their parents, you can imagine how fast-paced our days are. While these calls may seem simple, every situation requires vigilance. Knowing school, grade level, and allied arts schedules down to the minute. What to do in case of a lockdown or an emergency. which families live together or separately and how to effectively communicate communicate and empathize with staff and parents. There has been a lot of talk lately about the 8% increase teachers got in admin may receive. As a taxpayer of this community, I do not begrudge them their raise. In fact, I'm happy my taxes are going toward a worthwhile cause. What I cannot understand is why that 8% increase cannot be extended to include secretaries. I know I'm not the numbers

054person, but if you think about it, an 8% increase for the secretaries would amount to significantly less than an 8% raise for teachers or admin, especially considering that they have a substantially larger base salary. By neglecting to offer the secretaries anything less than what you have already extended to the teachers, you are signaling that secretaries are valued less. Ask any administrator and they will tell you that secretaries run their buildings. I will tell you that we do it happily. and with pride and love and a sense of purpose that you get from doing your best and from helping others and to educate our children. We all of our secretaries love our students and families and our job. We appreciate and respect our teachers and administrators and we are just hoping for the same love, appreciation

055and respect in return. Thank you. Next up, I have Pam Dunn and Joanna Foster. We can easily share the three minutes just because my speech is extremely short. So, good evening. My name is Joanna Foster. I'm a 42-year resident of Cumberland and a 32-year secretary for the district. I spent the first 10 years of at the district office in the past 22 years at the high school. Secretaries are a very small group in the contract. 11 secretaries and 80 plus edte. It makes me sad when I whenever I see any support for the contract on social media. The edte get the recognition we don't seem to be heard at all. We all play an important role in the dayto-day operations of the school. We are often told that the schools could not run without us

056and we are the backbone of the school. Although we love hearing this, we definitely don't feel the respect we deserve because of not having a contract and being paid considerably less than the neighboring districts. I would just ask that you would consider giving us a raise a a wage that is competitive with others. Thank you. Members of the board of administration, my name is Pam Dunn. I'm a Cumberland resident and I've been a secretary in the district for over 30 years. 1998 I think. Julie and I have been co-workers and friends for many years and everything that Amber just said. Um I'm trying to keep it light and very across the board. But what she said just hits everything. What we do for kids and staff and the district in general is just um well

057well said, Amber. I just really appreciate that. Mine is uh I'll start off with um I'm here tonight to speak about the ESP contract negotiations. The secretaries um which consists right now of eight full-time secretaries and three part-time positions are also part of this contract as well as the edte. I cannot begin to list the various duties that we perform each and every day for faculty, staff, students, parents, and community members of MSAD51. Most people see us in the office unlocking doors where we're quietly assessing every individual that comes in whether they might be a potential threat to our students and staff and what do we do about it all the while while answering phones. Although every school has certain things that we do the same attendance working with our children that we love and

058triaging most of the time um we also have very particular duties as the schools. So at Wilson's school, Amber and her team are every year they take 150 to 200 new students in and that is putting things into power school. It's also verifying every student's um birth certificate, their proof of residency, it's an overwhelming task. It's it's a lot. Um when you move on, you go to GMS and you go to the high school, it's a whole different set of issues. Uh we have things like um parking, which is one of our biggest issues most of the time. uh senior privileges, call it visits, fairs. We have a um our lovely person in guidance that takes care of sending your child's transcripts to colleges. Uh we order caps and gowns and diplomas. We're even part

059of the graduation ceremonies. We also support nine administrators with various duties such as placement of substitutes to cover classrooms each day, maintain maintaining their daily calendars, assisting with student services, scheduling teacher teacher observations and new hire interview views just to mention a few. Three of us maintain activity fund accounts which is making deposits and issuing checks for school related clubs and events while the athletic secretary collects all the paytoplay fees, pays referees, etc. The list goes on and on and we would be more than glad to speak with you or provide additional information. We respectfully request that all members of the school board and administration review local area contracts which now acknowledge those secretaries as administrative assistants as well as the pay scales which reflect a deficit in wages for our district on an average

060of $2 to5 per hour depending on individual steps and years of service. Thank you for your time and consideration. >> Thank you. Kevin Donahghue. I am Kevin Donahghue. I live in Portland and I teach French and Spanish at the high school and as of this year I also teach at the middle school where I depend on an edtech assigned to my classroom. it would really be too much. It's a already a thin stretch, but it's manageable because I have support from an edtech. I've enjoyed I've worked as an edtech in the high school as well. Um, when I came to the district as a part-time French teacher, I appreciate everything they add in our school here at the high school. They're indispensable at the middle school from what I can see and from my own

061experience. and I rely endlessly on our secretaries in the high school day to day, week to week, reminding me to put in attendance first period for sure. Um, I want to appreciate all of their work. I want to appreciate the work you do. I was last at a public meeting just over nine years ago when I decided not to run for a fourth term on the Portland Council. Don't do it too long. You'll thank me later. Um, just show them the appreciation they deserve. They do a great service. our secretaries, the edteexs, and all the schools. I've done their work. I've seen their work. I rely on their work. Please provide them the contract they need and deserve. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Lan Bzano. >> Oh, sorry. I didn't keep reading. I know

062>> you did. Good evening. My name is Lan Balszano Brooks. I'm a Cumberland resident and an edtech at Mabeli Wilson School. Um, this is my 24th year at MIW. I'm here tonight to advocate for a fair contract for edteex and secretaries in MSAD51. Edteexs and secretaries are essential members of our school community. EdTES provide critical one-on-one and small groupoup support, help meet the needs of students with special needs, substitute in classrooms, and step in wherever and whenever needed. We professionals do far more than our job descriptions suggest. Secretaries keep our schools organized and welcoming, supporting administrators, teachers, students, and families every single day, all day long. EdTES EdTE roles require skill, patience, dedication, certification, and continuous professional learning. Yet compensation and working conditions have not kept pace with the responsibilities we carry. Our wages are

063not competitive with our neighboring districts. So we risk losing experienced staff and creating instability for students who depend on trusted adults. A fair contract is about respect, retentions, and ensuring consistency in our schools. Investing in ESPs is investing in student success and the future. I urge the district to reach a fair and equitable agreement that mirrors the true value of our work. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. And now I have Jeff Brooks. >> Quite a duo. >> Good evening. My name is Jeff Brooks. Uh I've I've worked in the district for 45 and a half years now. 39 as an elementary classroom teacher, five as a special ed adtech, and this is my second year in food service and transportation. You can't get rid of me. Uh, as you just heard, my

064wife's in her 24th year working as an edtech at Wilson School. We've lived in Cumberland for 40 years as as as of this fall, and our three kids were lucky enough to um be educated in this district. Our lives have been all about MSAD-51 for many years. If all this doesn't give us credibility, I'm not sure what what would. So, please believe me when I tell you that what's going on now with the ESP contract is not good. It's a real low point in our experience with this district. And for the life of me, I can't understand it. What's the problem? Why would you not take this opportunity when negotiating a new contract to show that you value this important segment of your workforce, which by the way would most assuredly improve morale, retention, and

065productivity? Why would you instead do the opposite by offering increases that don't even keep pace with inflation? Why would you do this when at the same time you're giving administrators and others seven and a half, seven and eight% raises? It's an insult and it's poor management of a valuable resource. It needs to be rectified. Members of the administration's negotiating team and others need to stand up and demand an end to the shortsighted, irrational, and obstinate nature of the negotiations being done in your names. Thank you. I want to say thank you for everyone who came and spoke. I did reach the end of my list and I just wanted to confirm that there was nobody else. Um I'm always hesitant to say anything just because I respect every everyone in who works in our schools

066and especially this this unit. Um the board is in agreement with the association of our desire for a contract and unfortunately obviously we haven't been able to agree on those terms yet. Um I the board values the edex and secretaries. We we all know many of you many of you are friends par parents of our kids friends we see every day at the schools sometimes uh very close friends to our people on the board. um uh your contributions are valued and um your commitment doesn't go unnoticed. And again, I feel those words can be hollow without a contract. Um but the board continues to engage in the process in good faith and this proposed pay increases that the we feel that will give the bargaining unit members meaningful raises while offering a compensation package comparable

067with similar and neighboring districts similar that we've done with the other units um in the district and the association exercise its right to file for factf finding which allows a neutral party to weigh in and provide recommendations. that panel will meet this month and we look forward to continuing working through this process and we really hope that we can work towards a right resolution. Again, I thank you for your work in coming out this evening. And please take a copy of the budget on the way out. Thanks for coming out. Killed it, >> guys. That was great. >> We're gonna go pick up his sibling to me with the outing content >> and then make sure that that sibling watches it on YouTube. >> Oh, well, I I recorded it, too, >> but you can

068get it on YouTube. >> Yeah, my parents sometimes watch these things. You can get them right on YouTube. >> Oh, perfect. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, good job. Yeah, good job. Oh my gosh, >> that kid was adorable. >> Oh, that cool air feels good. >> That was so good. >> All right, >> Superintendent Porter, are you ready? >> I'm ready. >> Are you just leaving, Scott? I'll be right >> moment. >> Jeff, was this your pen? >> All right. So, tonight's presentation for the sign up. >> I'll always take another pen. No, it wasn't. >> Oh, will be the superintendent's uh fiscal year 27 budget. >> Always say I know how to clear a room. I know clear it for sure. We are here to talk about the budget. Um this is perhaps I

069would say probably the most important presentation not because I'm giving it but because it encompasses um everything that we talk about when we talk about schools if we don't have the money to fund them. Obviously we do not have our schools. So this is why it's so important. The budget is a statement really about the priorities, beliefs, and hopes for the community's youngest citizens uh in MSAD 51, which encompasses both of our towns. And I'll be talking about the budget review uh starting with that, which is the current budget that we have, the strategic priorities, um that have been uh developed, uh expenditures, and then talking about revenue and tax effects. So, what is the value of your investment? Um, MSAD51 has long been recognized as for its academic, athletic, and arts accomplishments. Uh, we

070offer rigorous educational experiences and our outcomes are evident by exemplary student performance. We are always at the top of any high a list of high performing school systems in the state of Maine. So, this investment that the community makes is not in vain. You have much to be proud of and celebrate uh our students success as if they were your own. And I know that in many cases they are your own. Just demographics. I'm not going to go through all of this, but we do um just some basic information to start with. I think is important when we're talking about the budget. We have 2,239 students this year in the district. This has been um continuously growing over the last few years. 445 staff members in the district. Those are permanent staff members. We have

071about 100 temporary staff members. Uh in addition to the 445, we have 2,742 parents and guardians. Um we have four schools, three buildings, soon to be four buildings, two towns, one campus, and the one and only Ranger Nation. Currently we have a budget that is 53,827,222. That is the 202526 gross budget. Uh we brought in or we're anticipated to bring in 17,63,669 in revenue. And the tax effect for the town of Cumberland this current year is 3.9% and 3.1% in the town of North Yarmouth. And that was percentage on the mill by the way. So a budget roadmap. Um just start if we start at the bottom of the page and work our way up. Um just giving you a quick idea that the budget process is honestly about a 12-month process. We roll the

072fiscal year over um in the month of July and it really we start the the development of the new budget in earnest um in November. So, principles and directors in the district start developing their school and departmental budgets. Submit those by the holidays after the holiday break um or the winter break in December. Um, uh, Scott Puland, the finance director, myself, Christine Gerard, the finance manager, meets with all of the, um, principles and directors in the district, um, and review their budgets. Um and then simultaneously we start developing um a budget and start bringing the finance committee into that process um usually in late January as we're starting to develop that budget or mid to late January um where the finance committee has several meetings to start uh reviewing those priorities u with us um

073and kind of bouncing ideas off of the finance committee and giving them information. And so right now we're really about halfway through the process. So you can see where the UR here is on the right hand side. This is the recommended budget from the superintendent is this evening. So we're about halfway through the official process um in the in the budget development phase. We begin the public process now um as of this uh presentation where the board then has um several weeks u to deliberate on this budget in public and then to eventually adopt the budget um whether it's the presented budget tonight or an adjustment of the presented budget that I present tonight might be adjustments that come forward from the board either way um that is there's an adoption phase that the board

074takes in April and And um the board will be sending this budget to the voters uh for two different steps. One is the district budget meeting on May 7th and then the second step is the budget referendum in June. There's several budget drivers uh in developing the FY27 budget. Um I think these are familiar pieces. They've been talked about um quite a bit over the last couple of years. The one campus project, this is year one really. of bringing on the the debt uh for the one campus project and I'll be talking about that in a few moments. It's also the one campus transition planning. So you'll see there are positions in this in this budget that reflect uh not only enrollment um but also planning for the what I consider to be the momentous

075transition in about 14 months 15 months that we will be making in this district. the largest change in the 60-year history of the SAD will be occurring in 14 months. Continued enrollment increases um over the last decade, salary and benefit increases um a lot of inflationary pressure on salary and benefits as it is in every sector of the economy right now. We're certainly um experiencing that in schools and in in our district. And then there is a state uh state subsidy flattening and I'll be talking about those numbers in just a moment as well. Um we have seen years of state subsidy increases in our district. Um and this year um we're starting to see a a flattening of that state subsidy. And then finally um you'll also see several items regarding athletics um and

076some Title N areas that we are hoping to make upgrades in if you accept this budget. So the next area is strategic priorities which will be new proposals and just a reminder that we do have a strategic plan. It is expiring in June of this year and um obviously as you as the board knows um there is a a large development of a new strategic plan that is underway. um the curriculum committee and Anukica as the chair and and the curriculum committee with Mariro Belcock have been very busy and uh developing and getting community engagement around this process. So I want to just um with priorities u take us back a few decades, seven decades in particular to 19 the 1950s. in the 1950s. Um, and I did not sit in a classroom in the

0771950s, but it it wasn't long after that I did. Um, this is essentially what you would see in a typical classroom in the 1950s. What you don't see is that there are probably about 30 children in this classroom. Pictures cut off um, and instructed by one teacher and and children are all facing the front and doing the exact same thing. Doesn't mean that that doesn't occur in our classrooms on occasion where all the students are doing the same thing and there's direct instruction. Absolutely. That's what also occurs in our classrooms today. U but this was a routine thing that you would see throughout the school day in the 1950s. So just a reminder just in case we all need a reminder um Ike is not in the White House. I know some people would like

078him to be back in the White House but he's not. What's changed? Um, a lot has changed. The 1950s, my grandfather was a potato farmer in this state for 45 years. And um, agrarian culture was not only a main thing, but a national thing in in the 1950s. Um, much more prevalent and prominent than it is today. Family unit um was more or less two parents, kids. Um, that was the family unit that was more typical than not. And the schoolhouse was considered to be almost sacred in the way that people treated it, the way people treated uh the people who worked in those school houses. Um and basically um if a student got in trouble, it was always the students fault, for example, and never the school's fault. Well, you can cross that little

079red bright line there and a lot of things have changed. And some things have changed for the better. I'm not saying they're all it's a mix of of change, but it's certainly been a lot of change over the last 70 years. Um, Congress has gotten very very involved in public education. They were handsoff in 1956, 2026. There have been decades of congressional laws, Supreme Court decisions um that have occurred um including ADA 504 um ESA and special education have been huge areas of litigation and uh and lawful changes in our country. Many of them good. By the way, the main legislature has acted as well on things like the learning results and making sure that all all students in our state have the same or at least have the opportunity to reach the same standards

080uh learning standards before they graduate. And we all know technology has really become a huge part of um the the way that we look at our schools and the way that we look at our lives. And finally, brain research. We know so much more about brain research than we ever have. Um, we probably only know a tip of the iceberg still as to how the brain really works and how um, people actually learn. But at least we know a lot more than we did in the 1950s. And because of that, we've had to make changes um, in order to keep up with the good information that we now have. So I think the important thing is and it is easy to go back to the 1950s and say you know why aren't schools looking the

081way they did in the 1950s. Again, there's been so many changes in the way civil rights laws, federal laws, state laws, legal protections of students over the last se seven decades. And then just this research about how students actually learn um has advanced so rapidly over the last seven decades that there's no way to just look at uh per pupil cost anymore and say that that's that alone is the factor that we should be basing our budget on. just take a couple minutes um to go through what this is a more typical classroom. So if you go into a classroom today, you're going to see more of this than you would see um of the classroom from the 1950s. So if you look at student number one, they're numbered. Um student number one, I'm not

082going to use names. This student receives uh MTSS. We call it multi-tered systems of support. Used to be called response to intervention. We've now phased that term out RTI and now gone to MTSS um for mathematics. So she receives support outside the classroom for math. Part of her plan is having access to multiple modalities for processing math problems and showing her work. Student number two is on a 504 health plan for diabetes. Student number two sees the school nurse twice a twice a day to check her glucose levels. And the new nurse works with the student's parents in developing a comprehensive plan for the student to become more independent while at school in order to manage her own diabetes. Student number three. This student was referred to a school social worker after he started crying

083in class. His parents recently were divorced and he lives with his mother and he sees his father every other weekend. Student number four. This student receives MTSS support. Again, multi-tered systems of support for given and talented after being dy identified in the areas of social studies and science. Those are recent identification areas. They didn't that didn't used to be recognized under GT. Now they are. She participates in small groupoup extension projects both in and outside the classroom. Student number five. This student is on an IEP, individualized education plan, and receives specially designed instruction for reading support outside the classroom as defined by his IEP plan. The IEP plan determined that he has a specific learning disability, and after a year of little progress on an MTSS plan, he was referred for special services. Student six.

084This student receives MTSS support from a behavior specialist due to frequent outbursts and emotional dysregulation. As these occurrences have impacted the students ability to access learning experiences in the classroom, a referral was recently made for special education services. So these are real examples of what our classrooms really look like um in the way that we cannot design our classrooms as we did in 1956. Um for and and I only gave you a small sampling of um the ways that our classrooms are different than they were seven decades ago. And I'll end this part of the presentation with this. We can't send the blueberries back. So Jamie Vulmer was is a retired business executive. He was a big proponent of restructuring schools so that they look like businesses. Felt that um public schools in particular were

085largely inefficient, poorly run nationally um and went around speaking in writing as to that effect that schools need to be more like businesses. He was at a meeting um at one point where he was had there was an audience. He was speaking in front of the audience about this topic and a teacher stood up. He didn't know it was a teacher. And she asked um Mr. Wulmer a question. She said, "You know, I know that you ran a business. It was, "What would you do?" It was an ice cream business. I think very profitable uh business. What would you do if you got a batch of ice of blueberries that were bad? What would you do with them? And he immediately said, "I would send them right back." and she said, 'Well, I'm a teacher

086and we cannot send our blueberries back. We take all of them and we educate all of our kids. There's no exceptions. And Mr. Wulmer um at that point wrote later that he had an epiphany moment that he realized that schools are not businesses. They cannot be run like businesses. and he became one of the leading advocates and still is I believe today of um a proponent of recognizing that public schools are very unique um in that the way that they run in the way that they operate um and he's written actually several books um in support and defense of public education. So, as we build a budget for a 21st century learning organization, and I put 21st century learning organization in there on purpose, uh, because we are talking about a budget. If I was

087superintendent 1956, I'd be providing a different kind of budget to you. But it's 2026 and it's important um that we distinguish that that we have fixed costs like you would see in any school district, existing salaries and benefits, debt service, utilities, operations, and certainly inflation has a a huge impact right now on this budget as it does on budgets everywhere. Um and then we look at strategic priorities. what are the priorities of this district and this community right now and then we have to account for those changing conditions um that come up and that we have to respond and be responsive to. So let me start with some categories um of what you will find in that very large um paper packet on the floor in this room um that contains all the budget lines

088of our budget. I'm going to talk to you about the changes. Um the ups and downs in this presentation. We'll start with the obvious is the debt service and land acquisition. Um so new proposals advance. That's really the the crux of what I'll be talking about for the next few minutes are new proposals. So debt service and land acquisition. We all know this was coming. This was the one campus project. We start taking on the first part of the bond uh in the debt service increase. So next year's or FY27's increase will be $516,74. We also uh purchase land as part of this project which was approved by voters as well and um we have a few years where we have to continue paying on that uh purchase of the land and it's $150,500 in

089FY27. So the increase uh in the budget for de debt service and land acquisition uh would be 666,574 for next year. Now thanks to Mr. Puland in the financing plan there's a tiered approach over the next five years for bringing the debt on and then uh we also have some debt that will be naturally coming off the roles that Scott has talked about in his plans. Um so setting us up setting the district and the community up well so we're not taking on these massive increases um in any given year. The next category is new proposals advance enrollment growth. So as we continue to respond to enrollment uh the budgets for the last eight or nine years have responded uh to enrollment growth and we will continue doing that. Um transition committees. We have transition

090committees in place. Three committees. Um prek to 1,24 and 58. Um we have staff members and parents on those committees. All three of them. They've been working since um November and we'll continue working until June of of 2027. Um next year those committees will continue. We pay our staff because they're after hours. Um we just have a small increase for hourly staff that participate. Moving costs. So this is moving costs for additional uh staff pay. In June of 2027, we will be making a massive move. Well, I'd say 80% of our prek through 8 staff will be moving in our district. They'll be moving to either another building or another place within the building that they're in. and it might be more than 80% at this point. We also are responding to enrollment through um

091small increases in staffing where we need to. We have been short on a school counselor at the 68 level as that enrollment continues growing. So we're uh proposing a 2 FTE which is 20% of a guy of a school counselor. U we also have continuing enrollment at the 68 school next year responding to that. Um we have an extra team that was started uh this year in order to account for the enrollment in grade six. So these two teachers would be grade seven teachers. Um and we'll still need the grade six teachers for enrollment increases. So these are additional um two FTEEs and teachers at the GMS 68. We also have two classrooms that will be um new at the fourth and fifth grade in addition to two more classrooms at the sixth through 8th

092grade school. We need desk and chairs that actually match the kids. We can't just move small desk and chairs up. U we actually have to purchase desk chairs that fit kids as they're growing during the middle years. So that's 60,000. We have a 0.2 2 uh FTE for uh it's actually 0.1 for STEM and 0.1 for art. Um again um we've had large increases in grades four and five over the last um couple of years and we are catching up on those allied arts offerings that we have for students. We have not been keeping pace with administration, especially at the ele elementary level. And as we move into the transition a year from now, um we are going to need more administration. So, we're going to get in front of it. We have a lot

093of planning and enrollment, responding to both uh by proposing an a new assistant principal at the elementary level. This will be an assistant principal that will cover grades preK through five next year and the year after will be the assistant principal assigned to the grades 2 to four Mabel I Wilson School uh with Carol MacArthur as the principal. We're shifting two teaching positions from MIW to GMS45. We've been seeing the enrollment at MIW flatten and we've seen the enrollment at the middle level and now starting at the high school a little bit um starting to increase. We're bringing more students in. We might have we've had a couple of years of small kindergarten classes as I've mentioned this uh in previous years. And what we're seeing is that students move in in first grade, more

094kids move into the same class in second grade and so on and so forth. Um we are also um responding though to class size and looking at our class sizes um as we can and we are going to shift two teaching positions from um MIW over to grades four five which will not increase the budget. That is simply a transfer. I put it on this list simply to be transparent about that. Um and but show that there's no increase. We're just moving staff. We do this all the time um in trying to be responsive to um changing enrollment at changing levels. kindergarten. Um we are looking at a slightly larger kindergarten class coming in this year and um again we have an unfilled position in our budget that we deliberately looked at the class size

095in kindergarten this year when we had a lower class size come in and we did not fill um we actually did not fill two positions at MIW after looking at class sizes. One of them is reflected here. I'll talk about the other one in just a moment. Um, but we are anticipating that we're going to need the kindergarten teacher because we have a larger class coming in. Again, it will not increase the budget because we have an unfilled position in the current fiscal year that we will apply to this position. We also know that a year from now in June of 2027, because we're moving so many teachers and so many staff members in a very very short period of time, when school gets out in mid June, um by the time August, you know,

096third week of August comes around, we need to have everybody in place. Our maintenance and facility staff cannot do that. It is too massive of a move. So, we are going to have to hire a moving company to help us. there's no way around it. So, we're proposing in this budget, and again, this is something that the board can continue discussing, is not putting it in the operating budget, but I put it as a placeholder just to be transparent, that it might be an item that needs to be it would need to be an item that's in the one campus um project itself, that budget. The board can decide. I know there's been discussion with the finance committee as to whether or not that's the proper place for it or if th those expenses belong

097in the operating budget. For now, I have moved it to the one campus budget and not put it in the operating budget. And then the last item comes out of a joint meeting. Obviously, the board is well aware of this um which was a few weeks ago between the SAD board, the town of Cumberland and the town of North Yarmouth's boards um and around an enrollment and development study. Obviously, the need is great to understand what the future of this community looks like in terms of enrollment, but more importantly, development because that drives student enrollment. Uh where is our development happening in the communities? We need to get a handle on it. We need to know about turnover housing. It's been 10 years since a really comprehensive joint study has been done in this community.

098And um at this point the SAD um budget reflects uh the study in its entirety uh in this budget. So we're not asking the towns to budget for it or at least I'm not proposing that at this point. Um and I'm proposing that we absorb the cost in the SAD budget. So total request for enrollment growth would would be the proposal at this point is $578,652 for enrollment growth. And by the way, when you see figures for any staffing throughout this presentation, um they are inclusive of both salaries and benefits. Just want to make that say that right aloud. The next category, um new proposals advance or academic support. Um the first one is a zero. Again, no increase to the budget. Um again, I'd like to thank Scott. He sent some great financial management

099over the years um regarding lease purchases. This is not the first and only one you'll see in this budget that that shows reflects a zero. We have been carrying at least purchase. These are three-year lease purchases where we actually lease it, then purchase the equipment that we're per that we're buy that we've leased. And we are at the end of year three for the current um technology lease purchase. And we're proposing that we bring on year one um roll the technology that we need to purchase for next year into this existing lease purchase which reflects no increase to the budget. It's good budgeting at the high school. Um we have several um fees that have come up. These are in intermittent fees. You'll not see them every year. That's why they're reflected in this uh

100presentation and in the budget. So we have an IB evaluation fee. This is every few years that our international baloria program goes through a required review. We also have NIASK um which is coming to at the same time which again is every five years. Uh this is our accreditation for our high school. There are fees that go with that. We also pay some of our staff to help with that review outside of school hours um to do that. So that's reflected in this budget. We asked our administrators this year knowing that we were um going to be looking at a a very challenging budget development uh not to give us a lot of requests except for absolutely necessary personnel and other items. You will see a few items in here that we absolutely felt was

101important to put forward. We have cameras in our STEM program. We actually run a course at the high school called video production. Those cameras are now not working. They're not operable. some of them. We need to start replacing them. We also have a kiln at the middle school that we have been repairing. Uh we have two kils at the middle school. We've been repairing both of them for years. Neither one works at this point. So this year, this school year, we have not been offering um anything that requires a kiln in art classes at the middle school uh because they're not operable. So this budget propose uh proposes a replacement kiln. This is one kiln to replace. And the last item again is an item I think uh I know the finance committee work through.

102Um it is in this proposed budget and obviously will probably need more discussion. Um the ecology school grade 7 overnight trip um is a um a trip at the middle school where all of our seventh grade students are involved in that trip. um the cost of of doing these overnight trips has really escalated along with other inflationary pieces in this budget um where it's it's really I think um pricing out some of our families. Um even though we've tried to be responsive to families that need the money, um this would actually try to u provide an equitable um distribution of funds so that families are not paying much more than $200 for their child to be able to attend this very valuable experience in grade seven. So that would be the cost of bringing a

103family's contribution um back close as close as possible to $200 uh per student that they would be paying out of pocket. So the the total proposed budget for this category of academic support I'm proposing $33,163 new proposals advance in the area this category is instructional support. Um this is an item number one that probably is familiar to the board um as we've um had a a workshop recently around prek. Um this would be a proposal to have a prek coordinator. Most districts in Maine are hiring a prek coordinator in response to the state's shift in responsibility um for children who are um three and four years of age who have an IEP um and being responsible for those students wherever they need to be educated whether it's in our school or it is in a

104uh providers um setting in the community or outside the community. So this this person would be coordinating all aspects of special education logistics go with taking on the state mandate. At this point the state has indicated in our experience in talking or to neighboring districts that have already are a little bit further ahead than than we are um with taking on this shift is that um it is supposed to be revenue um neutral or I should say that revenue will come in to cover the cost of this coordinator. other districts that have a prek coordinator have build 100% of the cost. Um, however, we need to reflect this on the expenditure side of the budget. Um, we're anticipating that we will get revenue for this position, but there is no guarantee and the state could

105easily the state legislature could easily decide at some point not to fund uh positions related to this shift in responsibility. At this point they have indicated that they will be covering this uh these expenses. Um so that's why I put revenue anticipated. Special education um educational technician uh we have specialed ed techs um in our district many special ed techs who serve a very valuable um need for our students who are identified. Um generally we try to um look at all of our um students who need services. We reassign our edte annually. Our administrators get together before the budget process and look at all of the the needs in our district student needs, reassign um staff members based on that and then if there is any further need, they let us know. Usually we're able

106to stay within our staffing. This year we'll need to ask we we're asking for an additional edtech for special education. Um and this is an IEP ordered need special education equipment. We have two students coming into our district that are not with us right now. That's that need specially um designed equipment that we currently do not have in our district and that's not available. So that's another um cost you'll see on this in this category. And then unified cooking stipen. We have a um a club right now and we need to provide that stipen to a staff member who is overseeing that club for unified cooking. You might be familiar with unified basketball and unified other programs. Uh but we have started a unified cooking class for students after school and this will be the

107cost of um paying the adviser to be part of that. So in this category, I'm proposing $213,78 for new proposals in instructional support. The next category is new proposals of dance in operations. Um we are all well aware in the first item that we um there were two tragedies before the break in the state of Maine involving school buses. Two students who died Scott and I went down and met with bus drivers um all the bus drivers and then we also met with a small group of drivers after that to talk this through. One of the ideas that came out of those meetings was that drivers need to be focused on the road. It's very important but it is very difficult at times depending on runs that they are um certain runs where safety is

108really an issue and it's hard for them to um monitor all of the student activity happening behind them and they asked for help. Our drivers have asked for help and they've asked if there can be a rotation. They realized that budget resources are limited, but they asked if we could hire a couple of monitors for the purpose of helping not for special education where we are required to have monitors for specific students on our buses, but general monitors um that could be rotated to help with bus runs where there's the greatest need. So, this is an idea that came from our drivers. We support this idea and it's a proposal in the budget. We also have uh we have not been keeping up with van and bus replacement. We have rusted vans and rusted buses.

109We do our best to keep them on the road and keep them um you know getting um approved by the state annually and I think our mechanics and our bus garage does a great job with that. However, we need to start keeping up with those. So, this budget proposal again is a lease purchase over a three-year period of period. we'd be uh proposing that we start replacing our vans starting with two vans of greatest need. So 55,000 would be the least purchase amount for two vans. We also need to, as I mentioned, replace our buses and keep up with our bus replacement. Again, um through the a good financial management with lease purchases, we already have a lease purchase for buses. We're in year three or the last year of that lease purchase with other

110buses that we have carried through the budget. So, this I'm proposing that we start a new lease purchase um so that we can replace two more school buses in our district um and it would not increase the budget and therefore you'll see a zero there. The Cumberland Police Department um provides a lot of services for the district including SRO's but they also cover after school duty detail for events such as dances, athletics, etc. Um and we have um because we have so many more events going on and the and the need is increasing and obviously the hourly rates are increasing um this is a budget to actual this is actual expenses um for an increase in paying our Cumberland police officers to do those events. Um and so this is actually something we're already paying.

111We're just um making sure that we get this in the budget, the increase that we're we're actually paying to the officers. Town of Cumberland has also asked us to pick up more of the share of the SRO's. We were uh 5050 uh with the town of Cumberland Police Department around uh SRO costs. Um and that was a 50/50 not just for salaries for our one and a half SRO's that we have in our district but also around equipment um use of their vehicles etc. Um the town has asked us to increase that share to 68% would be the SAD share um and uh and that the town of Cumberland would pick up the the remainder of the cost. So that reflects the amount for our one and a half uh SRO of 33,638 is the

112increase. We also are keeping up with uh safety conferences for the SRO's. It's very important. Um and uh so we have a $1,300 expense there to split with the town of Cumberland around one of our SRO attending a safety conference. Again, these are all increases. And then we have three items. Um, high school, middle school, and then transportation. Uh, for for athletics grades six through 12. Um, we have some title nine areas that we need to address um in equipment, uniforms, and staffing at all levels. And in transportation. So, you'll see that we have at the high school just over 50,000 that we're requesting. at the middle school about 4,600. And for transportation, we need to increase transportation in order to um account for some Title 9 areas that we need to upgrade. So, it's

1134,500. So, you'll see for this category, I'm proposing $172,7 in increases uh for operations throughout the district. Now, se several areas that we did not advance. And what you're not going to see on this list is a lot of budget detail work that the administrators um in the district office went back and forth on where principles and directors submitted their budget. We would go back and say we're reducing your budget by this amount. You're not going to see that reflected here. Just know that's part of our process. These are some of some of the a little bit larger areas perhaps or items that came forward. Um, I just wanted to put these out there just so that you know what we're getting for larger areas and what we could not support in this budget or

114I'm not recommending in this budget. The first one is a technology support technician. At some point, we're going to need to add to our technology department. We just don't feel like this is the right year to do it. Grade nine Chromebooks. This was a proposal that came forward um to phase out the bring your own learning device. um grades 9 through 12 students bring their own machines to or devices to the school. Um whereas prek through eight we provide devices. So this was this proposal was to start phasing out B yol and uh devices in the hands of our ninth grade students first and start with them. However, we just don't we again feel that this was a credible request. we just didn't feel like it was the right year and we also feel like

115um we didn't want to get the budget ahead of a policy decision. So the policy committee um I know will be taking this or is starting to take up this issue around uh technology. Next one is I ready toolbox math intervention resource. Um, this is to complement our everyday math program, especially at the elementary level, but also we use it um at the middle school and high school level as an intervention tool. Um, we just weren't able to support it going forward, even though it's a credible request. AI detection tool. The high school requested $2,000 U tool to be able to um figure out if a student submitted something that was um where they used AI. Um, again, we're not uh we're unable to support this item at this point. Uh, an item that's been

116in the budget for several years, a band accompanist support. Some districts have that for their band, especially at the high school. Um, we're just not able to support it at this time. We run a a cycling class at the high school. um this electric bike would have been for for outdoor use uh especially for a staff member to be able to get to a student who might be in need um as they're cycling around our community. So that's why this item we just couldn't support it and there was a request um you actually heard from the teacher who teaches at both the high school and the middle school, one section at the middle school. Um this was a request so that that teacher would not need to go down to the middle school. Um and

117uh when we looked at all of our course offerings um we didn't feel we were able to support that request based on um class sizes and and capacity in the world language department. So we weren't able to advance um $247,626 in this budget. Um and again those are the larger items. We also made um a few reductions to the budget to the current operating budget. Um, I mentioned that there were two unfilled positions at MIW at the primary school level. Again, we looked at our class sizes. We made adjustments this year. We left two positions unfilled. One of them I'm reserving for the kindergarten teacher to account for what we assume will be a larger kindergarten class or what is shaping up to be a larger kindergarten class based on registrations that we have. The

118other unfilled position I'm proposing that we eliminate that position from the budget and uh reduce that expense subscriptions. Uh our technology department worked with our administrators um to look at all of the subscriptions and make sure that they're actually being used in our district and if they're being used by a good portion of number of our staff members with students. And we're able to reduce almost $10,000 in expenses there. And also we had some one-time uh startup costs for the new literacy program that's prek through 5 CKLA. Um we still have annual costs that we carry in the budget, but this is the one-time startup cost for um all the licenses and materials that we don't have to pay an annual cost on. So that reduced the budget by about almost $145,000. So total reductions

119to the FY26 budget right now are $280,324 from the current year's budget. So expenditures, just a reminder that uh the state of Maine requires that we um every single dollar that is spent in a school district must be accounted in what's called the 11 lines of the budget or the 11 cost centers. um we don't use other. So we actually only use 10 um cost centers uh when we budget anything in our district. We don't use others. There are districts that do use other. It's totally fine. The state recognize it. We just don't. We make sure it fits into the other uh 10 categories. So you'll see regular regular instruction, which is the largest cost center in our district, special education, career and technical education, which is paths. uh you'll actually see a zero there

120because the state of Maine about five or six years ago decided to directly pick up the costs of most vocational education uh programs and decided not to assess districts um directly for that. However, we still carry it as a line in our in our budget. Other instruction includes co-curricular, extracurricular, kind of think of anything outside the school day. Um, that's where you're going to find athletics, summer programming, student and staff support is guidance. Anything outside the regular classroom uh or special education classroom would be guidance, health, technology, training, libraries, assessment, safety. You'll find that under student and staff support. System administration is the district office, but it also includes the board of directors. um includes our legal costs um for um any sort of legal services that we need. Um our finance office, the superintendent's

121office, school administration is anything to do with the principal, the office, and each school assistant principal. Transportation I think is obvious, our buses, uh and um and the maintenance of our our transportation garage. And then um facilities and maintenance or custodial maintenance facilities and capital expenses that we carry for projects in our district. And then debt service obviously is anything to do with um long-term debt including the one campus project as I indicated earlier. So here's the numbers that we're proposing. And again you'll see on the budget driver on the right hand side all of the new proposals uh advanced. Not the ones that weren't advanced, but the ones that I indicated that we're proposing to be advanced. You will find them all on the right hand side. I know it's small and you can't

122see it. And this presentation will be shared with you and it will be posted on our website uh tomorrow. So you'll see >> and is this cover sheet was this available too? >> Was this a cover sheet? >> 60 copies. >> Okay. No, I just >> So if that cover sheet, if anybody didn't get one, it's over there in that pile. >> Okay, great. >> So looking at the cost centers again, other is not reflected on here because we don't use it, but regular instruction. So for FY27 we're proposing and again you can look across and see what were the changes or the proposed changes that are being made in that cost center reflected on this sheet as well. Again, I know these are small numbers uh to be able to read on a screen,

123but $25,822,948 is uh what we're proposing. That's a variance of 1,846,287 from the current budget, which is the FY26 budget. And that reflects a 7.70% change for special education. Uh we're proposing at this point uh 10,836,33 which is a variance of $69,969 from the current year's budget which would be a 5.96% increase for other instruction. We're proposing 1,171,548, which is a variance of $93,962 or an 8.72% increase over the current year. In the um category of student and staff, we're proposing 4,741,784. That's a variance of $194,870 or 4.2 29% over the current year for system administration proposing 1,830,23 which is a variance of $137,875 or 8.15% and again you can correspondingly see why the increase or most of the increase is there what I didn't put on the right hand side which is very important

124is salary and benefit benefit increases in all these areas. So that's just kind of a given. I didn't write those in all of them, but you can go down and every single one of these will reflect that. School administration proposing $2,352,774 or a variance of $25,13 or 9.55% increase over the current year. Transportation proposing 2,437 or a variance of $135,340 which is a 5.88% increase over the current year. And facilities and maintenance proposing $6,94 $94,446 which is a variance of $214,569 or 3.65% increase over the current year. And then debt service. Obviously, this percentage is going to look much larger. Um, we're proposing $2,643,975, which is a variance. And I, as I mentioned earlier, 666,574,000, uh, $574, and that reflects not just the debt service, but the land acquisition that I had mentioned earlier. That's

125a 33 uh.71% uh, increase. And again, this is year one of taking on the bond or the bond anticipation note for one year. Then we'll go to bond permanent bonding um in uh the fall of 2026. Um and that will become the permanent bonding for the uh 30 years going forward. So this proposed budget um would be 57 million 931,581 as the total. That's a variance of 4,14,460 or 7.63% increase over the current fiscal year is the number um that we're proposing to the board tonight for consideration. When we look at um again 10 lines, we call them the 10 lines of the budget, really 11, but we use 10. Um and we look at all the categories of the budget. We've broken them down as to what uh percentage you can look at. For

126example, regular education. Uh we have 44 44.6% of this proposed budget is regular education services. 18.5% of this budget is special education services. 2% is other instruction. 8.1% is student support. uh 3.1% of the budget is system administration, 4.1 is school administration, transportation is 4.2%, facilities is 10.4% and debt service is 5% of the total budget. And looking directly at the classroom, those are expenses that are not essentially a regular education, special education, other instruction, and student support. those categories. Um that is 73 that represents 73.47% of our budget goes directly to the classroom for services. Um and just as a comparison um the state average is 69.24% that goes directly to the classroom. We've always been well above the state average. um we always put more of our uh dollars in this budget to

127the classroom directly um and try to re uh make sure that our expenses match that. So getting now into uh the revenue and tax effects. So looking at the expenditures, we have the expenditure side of the budget which I just went through um especially all the increases and proposals advanced. I now want to get into what our revenue forecast looks like and then the tax effects. So, our revenue is um not it's not and I mentioned this right at the beginning of this presentation. It is not um in line with what we've been used to for the past five or six fiscal cycles. Our state subsidy um for FY26, the current year that we're in, we're expected to receive 16,824,564. So, in FY27, instead of um what we've been used to receiving over a million

128dollars in new state subsidy um over the last five or six fiscal years, uh we're not seeing that. So, we're expected to receive and we've received our preliminary numbers now. Um we're only expected to receive about $103,93 more in state subsidy in FY27. Now, I'm not going to complain. at least we're getting a little bit more and not less. There are districts around us that are receiving quite a bit less in state subsidy um this year in this immediate uh region, but it is different from what we've been experiencing for the last several years. So, I I really want to point that out. Um and I also want to say that we're very thankful that we receive as much state aid, receiving again almost 17 million in FY27. we're expected to receive that much and

129um it's still subject to the legislative approval and the governor's signature but this is the governor's proposed budget and this would be the amount that is um set aside for MSED 51 Shabig Island. So for years Shabig Island has been paying us uh the MSED 51 um a fee after they withdrew many years ago from not just MSED 51 but obviously from the town of Cumberland as well. Um and in order to pay for the assets um that they withdrew from. Um they're now off the hook. So, they're done with paying us. Um their time is up and they uh that's been dwindling. That amount of money has been dwindling for many years. Um it was just 27,000 or just over 27,000 uh for the current year, but um it now is reflected as a

130um a loss in revenue for us. We're not receiving that revenue anymore. And then miscellaneous revenue, we're not expecting any uh increase or decrease in that area. So we're expecting around just under 312,000 in miscellaneous revenue, which is a whole bunch of areas, whether it's facilities, rent, uh rentals or um main care or whatnot. We receive revenue in in various uh areas and um and that's reflected in our total revenue package or picture. So the whole variance um you know for uh f FY27 is 75,736. Um in previous years for those you've been on the board for a while you're used to seeing 1 million 1.2 million 1.3 million uh as a variance there and you're seeing 75,000. So it probably feels deflating. Um and it is quite different and it's it's certainly uh um

131again and other districts in Maine have re are receiving less state aid as well. >> And is this the um the aid based on the EPS formula? >> It is. So the essential program and services is where we get our state subsidy. Um part of the reason that we're uh receiving less state uh subsidy this year. Uh there's a couple reasons. One of them um is that the value or the growth in both towns has been uh going up a lot has been increasing and one of the major drivers for getting state subsidy in the state of Maine for school districts is the value of your community. Um and because both Cumberland North Yarmouth the value of those of both towns has been growing rapidly over the last year. It's catching up. It's over it's

132an average over several years. um and it's been catching up and um therefore the state looks at that and says well the district or the community has more ability to pay and the state does not need to provide as much money and that's again a very simplistic answer. It's based on over a hundred different variables in the essential program and services model. Um and even though our enrollment continues to increase, we're not increasing at the rate that we were increasing a few years ago. And again, it's an average over several years. And so that you'll see some reflection, not much um in this state uh subsidy. And then the other part of it, quite frankly, is just the way that the state budgets and whether they're putting the 55% in or not. Um they're also

133at this point there's a bill in the legislature to start looking at the EPS formula. Again, they've looked at it 20 times over the years. um and starting to look at the variables and whether or not the variables make sense. Um so I will say that there's more to come um around what the EPS formula looks like for FY27. Um or it's probably not going to be FY27. It be FY starting in FY28. The legislature will not act on that. So the number that we've gotten more or less will stay the same. Uh we expect it to stay the same. The number I'm giving you So, Cumberland's tax estimated tax effect. I really should have said something before I even went to the slide. Okay, so there's two things I should say. Number one, both

134Cumberland and North Yarmouth are going through a revaluation. So, there's information that is not available to us that generally is available to us at this point in the process. Um, that does have some impact on the information, all the information or gathering all the information. both town managers um have said to us very distinctly please please please keep that in mind and say it um so I'm saying it um they're going through revals things might change we're just not 100% sure so it's very important that we say that out loud um so that's one factor the other thing that I'm going to say that's very important is at this point in the process there is no new value or growth in this number so in other words both towns at the end of the process

135process, uh, the budget process when they're starting to commit the taxes for the for the year, and that usually happens over the summer. Um, they look at the county, the town, and the SAD, and they look at the mill rate, and they look at the growth in both communities, and both communities continue to grow at very substantial rates. Some of that growth is then applied to the tax uh effect and that will lower I'm going to just say this. I don't know if it's going to lower it, but almost always you can see that the tax increase that we're showing you in March is going to drop by the time it gets to the tax commitment in the summer. So this is I think it's fair to say Scott this is the worst case scenario.

136>> Correct. >> Okay. We give you the worst case scenario. >> Sorry it's March. Unless the board decid the budget is too low and we increase it by what's that >> I said unless we decide that the budget is too low >> unless unless that's a good point unless the expenditures change. So this is based on the proposal that I am going through tonight. So I think that it's fair to say the 7.54% increase on the mill is probably a worst case scenario. But I'm don't hold me to that but that's generally 99% of the time how it works. So based on this proposed budget, the estimated mill rate increase in Cumberland would be a $1.90 um or 7 54% increase on the current uh mill rate uh for the SAD. So that just means

137that for every $100,000 you can just say you can take $190. So, if you have a $500,000 home, um you can multiply 190 times 5 and that's what the estimated tax effect would be as of March 5th. >> But to be very clear in the assessment, everyone's home is probably going to go up, but that doesn't mean that this calculation is correct. So, your $300,000 house may then be $500,000. >> You mean because of the reval? because of the reval, you we're going to need to put out new calculations, >> right? >> And it doesn't mean I think everybody also knows that a reval doesn't necessarily mean everybody's house goes up. There are homes in a community where actually drop in their tax um with the tax effect. There are some that say the same

138and there's some that go up >> and also the mill rate goes down. >> The mill rate goes down >> and the mill rate that's another important point. The mill rate goes down as a result of a revaluation. In fact, that's the impetus for doing a reval is that you want your mill rate to go down. You don't want to keep it at the rate it is. Um, and I think um, both communities are obviously looking to do that. So, I think there's not enough information to be able to say that this is this is the number. Um, and I would dare say out loud on March 5th, this won't be the number. And I hope it's lower, much lower um, by the time we get to a certain point. But it is the number

139tonight. And this is the number I'm going to stand on tonight. So in North Yarmouth, the estimated mill rate increase again based on the proposed expenditure budget tonight is a $1.70 or 8.20% increase. And so again, if you looked at house uh for every 100,000 that of the assessed property value of a home, you can take 170 thou $170 and calculate it out um and figure out what the tax um uh the mill rate increase would be for your home based on this budget. >> That's also not the market value of the house. That's the appraised value which is lower. >> Another we should put this on the slide. So >> it's not the market value of your house. So, some people get nervous and they say, "My market value, obviously, it's the appraised value,

140what the town appraises your house at for tax purposes, and that is um almost always lower than the market rate tax bill." Yeah. >> So, I just also think it's important, and I've provided this information um every year as well, is to just look at the history of the SAD51 expenditure and taxes. Um so again for the proposal for FY27 would be 7.63% on the expenditures as of today. Tax effect would be 7.54% in Cumberland and 8.20% in North Yarmouth. If you look at that over a 12-year average um we're looking at 4.9% average over the 12 years uh on the SAD for the SAD for the tax effect uh on the expenditures. That's a expenditure increase, sorry, 4.90%. And then on the tax effect in Cumberland is 3.11% over the 12 years as an

141average and 3.04% average in North Yarmouth over the 12 years going back just to give you an idea. Now I will say that you know if you look at the last three or four fiscal years um the expenditure increases have been um higher and also the tax effect has been higher um than years prior to that. Um there's a lot of reasons for that. Part of it is enrollment growth. Um part of it is um the one campus project the the bond that we're taking on uh COVID also had something to play with that >> um in their modulars um temporary space there's all kinds of health insurance salary and benefits inflation um settling collective bargaining agreements needing to settle that um at higher levels than than in years past. There's a lot of reasons

142um why these expenditures have been higher um over the last three to four fiscal years. I also thought this might be instructive um for the board um just a different way of looking at this. I know that debt service and land acquisition it's important to talk about that this was a vote of the community but I also think we have to keep reminding people that that was not a separate assessment. I've actually have that question. I just want to answer it. No, it's always part of our operating budget. Debt service is part of our operating budget. So the one campus project is not a separate, you know, assessment or tax. It is part of our uh operating budget, part of our expenditures, part of our overall tax effect. It is is not something that's separate.

143And then I also just wanted to show a visual at this point. If you look at the percent of expenditure increase which was 7.76% um which is our overall increase on the expenditure on the expenditure side and you look at that increase um 79.6% 6% of that increase minus the debt service and land acquisition. Um that that accounts for the the everything other than debt service and land acquisition in our budget of that 7.76% increase. 79.6 is everything other than debt service and land acquisition. In other words, debt service and land acquisition accounts for 20.4% 4% of the 7.76% expenditure increase. Does that make sense? I don't I know it probably comes out kind of funny. In other words, let's put it a different way. Let's look at our total budget. Total proposed budget of

144just under 58 million. 98.9% of this total budget is with without the debt service and land acquisition. Only 1.1% of the 58 million represents the increase in the debt service and land acquisition. Not the total debt service, but the increase. um 666,000 debt service and land acquisition represents 1.1% of the entire budget. I don't know if that made sense either. We put the I put these visuals together and I kept working on I'm like I hope this makes sense when I'm saying it. Um does anybody have any question about that or is that does that make sense? >> I think the 815 aspect of >> it probably is. I think there's another key thing with the debt service that if you look at the 24 to 25 actuals you're at 2.8 8 million. Last year

145we're at 1.9 and then we're proposing 2.6. So we're actually less than two years ago. >> I was just looking at that same. >> I appreciate you saying that. >> Yeah, it's less than it was two years ago, which is >> almost almost like it was planned. >> So if I looked at over if I put the other year in there, we could show that. But I just wanted to show yeartoear current to proposed >> um to give you a visual um as to what that looks like. One area that I also um sometimes we talk about this now, sometimes we talk about in April. I thought I'd put it in now just to be really transparent about this uh capital reserves. And we are um looking at um ways to fund capital reserves. Um

146every year at the district budget meeting, there's a warrant article u that usually transfers money. Um we're looking at um some options there um from reserve money that might help with capital reserves. We'll have some more information for the board. um and being able to look at some options so that you're not increasing um the tax effect for capital reserves and we'll we'll bring those options forward. We're working on that right now. These are four areas that really um need attention in the district and again this is not part of the operating budget. I want to make that clear. This sits in a in a separate reserve account capital reserves um and it does not um you know impact the the expenditures for the operating budget. it does not impact the tax effect on the

147operating budget I just proposed. So, I want to just make that really, but it's outside of this, but um putting it out there. Um the intercom system at the high school um for a two-way intercom system replacement, it is incredibly old. It is very antiquated. It is not doing the job and it is not safe. Um you know, we're we've made it as safe as we can. We've repaired that thing a hundred ways from Sunday. It needs to be replaced. we've been repairing it for too long. Um it will cost about 180,000 is the estimated um quotes that we've been getting. Uh we expect it to be around 180,000. Um the board has already voted on the second item which is the uh capital contributions. So contribution from capital reserves for the SRRF project for

148the science swing at the high school. Um this was a project that was approved by voters I believe two and a half three years ago now. Um and we continue we had to continue designing it. The state approved an extension on this project and we were able to get it just about to where it was um bid out. Um however just with materials and inflation and everything over over a period of time. Um thank you to the board for um approving that expenditure. 131,180 will come from capital to um supplement that project. the commons floor. The commons floor. Um, we had water damage on the floor a couple of months ago. We went to insurance to get try to get insurance to pay for some of that. Um, they're paying for some of it, but

149in order to replace, they will not replace the floor. And so, the floor needs to be replaced. Um, and it is an old floor. It is uh very old floor. I know many of you walked across it or visited a game or whatnot and it it is completely outdated. can't get that floor again anymore. It's it's that old. Um in order to replace the floor in that in the commons, it will cost 127,000 um to do that. Um so we're proposing that that come from capital reserves. And the final item that really needs attention is the track. We've been kicking this down down the road for a while. Um that track is really really worn. Um we do not think that the track will cost 200,000 to resurface. we think it will cost less um

150until the company can come out and actually give us a a more um because of the snow uh come out and give us a better estimate um we put 200 as a placeholder hoping or believing that it will be less than 200,000. So at this point anyway on March 5th proposing that from capital reserves uh that we would be um using $638,366 um for to um you know address those items that were there. >> I believe John Habich sold us that floor. >> It's a basketball player. >> John basketball player. >> That's how old it. So the whole floor needs to be replaced. >> It does. You can't replace because there's just don't they don't sell that anymore. So if you >> style >> you can't put a little piece in. It won't look it's

151it has to be completely replaced now. >> And just a reminder we have an annual report. Um it's on our website. Um so and I only put this in here because so much of what we do again is tied to the budget and the budget is tied to the annual report and everything we do. So if you're interested in knowing more about MSED 51, we have this on our website. And then finally these are the budget next steps. So on the 19th of this month, the board will and these are full board activities or community activities. I know Kim will talk about a finance upcoming finance committee meeting, but on the 19th, the full board um will have a workshop in this room at six o'clock um to go through really the entire budget, especially

152the increases, decreases, and go through all the account lines and have an opportunity to do that. on the 15th, which is a Wednesday, we had to move the board meeting to a Wednesday night um because of we have an upcoming uh break and having a a meeting on a Thursday night right before the break would not work. So that meeting meeting was moved to a Wednesday night, April 15th, a board would um be taking up this budget for consideration and adopting the budget either as presented or with adjustments. On Thursday, May 7th in the GCA will be the district budget meeting at six o'clock. And then on Tuesday, June 9th, uh is the budget validation referendum. That is the proposed budget for FY27. >> Scott has something and one of the things as well is

153that this budget's a moving document right now. So even tomorrow, we'll have changes to the budget. We'll be looking at changes as we go forward, even prior to the workshop. Uh so there'll be more changes that'll be made as we parrow through every single line that we have in the budget. So within our office. >> And one thing for example I didn't say um is that the health insurance numbers have not come in for um which we have an 80% um of our budget is is you know staff um our health insurance cap came in at 14% which the state has capped it um at 14%. But we don't know our actual percentage in our d in our in our district. So in this budget reflects a 14% increase for health insurance which will be

154the cap but we don't have any other information and we won't until probably April. >> So what was last year's increase for health insurance? >> Do you remember? >> Sorry I don't worry about it now but >> we can get that >> I like to be accurate with it. I >> No. And I should I asked you some questions earlier today, but not that one. But the 14% that was included is a million dollars of the 4 million increase. >> Yes. Yeah. Our uh overall health insurance budget is close to uh 7.9 million and it's gone to over 8.9 million with a 14% increase, which is about a million uh a million $95,000 of that budget. So of that 4 million increase, over a million dollars of it is related to health insurance and salaries

155are about 2 million of that increase little over 1.9 million or 6.2%. So So of that increase that's up there, most of that increase is salaries and benefits. >> Okay, so about three of the four million are salaries and benefits. And just be to be clear, when we talk about health insurance, we're not talking about like individuals accessing like having impacts. This is like a percentage for the the district. And um I just want to be clear. I know sometimes you see those news stories about like the one expensive person, but we don't have that type of health plan. Um >> uh so this is just and my company's numbers came in and they were four times this. So, um, it's pretty staggering. >> We were at least glad to get the cap of 14.

156I know it wasn't going to be higher than that. >> All right. So, the calendar's up there. We have our budget workshop um, two weeks from tonight. I think now is an opportunity if people have questions to start asking them, but how we we really spend that next um, workshop getting into it. We also Kim will go over some finance meetings that are also happening where there's other opportunities to ask questions. Um, but I'll open it up to see what questions people have with the with our first first look. And thank you for all the work that went into getting us here because I'm sure these were hot off the presses because it's working. >> We were working on it right even right before this meeting. >> So, thank you. >> 420. Yeah. >> How

157about our students? Any questions? >> So many. >> No, we hit it. >> Me. >> We were just pointing and trying to make sense of it all and all that type of thing. >> Um, whenever it says miscellaneous. >> Oh, wait. What do those type of things usually entail for like Hold on. We had a good miscellaneous one that we had our finger on. >> Are you at the high school? >> Yeah. >> Okay. A lot of that has to do with some of the graduation pieces. There's the stuff for um NEAS accreditation. There's dues, there's fees, things like that that are okay. >> Uh IB fees is another one. Okay. So, so there's fees like that that are involved in those miscellaneous. >> Okay. That makes sense. Yeah, these are not the easiest to

158con consume. >> We're doing okay. >> She's like asking me questions. I'm like, >> I'm not the one. >> I I've been here four years now and I >> that anything that's miscellaneous. I ask question. I don't like miscellaneous. I don't even like supplies. I don't like the word supplies. Um so yeah, we ask a lot of questions around that. Okay. And it just rather than taking up that many lines in the budget, right? It's Yeah. >> Yeah. >> But we also have uh we also have a chart of accounts called handbook 2R that we have to follow by the state of Maine. So there's only certain places where certain things can fit within that handbook of account numbers that we have to use. >> Okay. Okay. >> Every quarter we have to upload our

159expenditures to the state >> based on every single one of those account lines that you see. So that's why. >> Okay. Thank you. I got a question about salary and benefits since that's the main driver. Are those so are those dictated by the collective bargaining and agreements that we have with the various groups? >> Most of them are. We have we also have people that our staff members that are on letters of agreement or not in a collective bargaining agreement. They're also obviously in there. So, I know there was a suggestion in the community that we cap any increases to inflation, but obviously we're giving people raises that are higher in than inflation and healthcare, which is sort of outside of our control, is going up more than inflation. So, is there any way we

160can pay people less or give them less healthare or is that in the collective bargaining and our hands are tied? >> The majority of what's in the in the uh budget is uh dictated by collective bargaining. >> Okay. So we have to pay people more and we have to give them the health insurance that we collectively >> bargain. >> We cannot change the health plan or the contents of the health plan without collectively bargaining. >> Okay, that's so there's there's no wiggle room to make that 14% go down. >> There's nothing we can do to make that >> were those that are collectively bargained? No. >> Okay. And we can't tell our teachers we want to pay them less or when we come to an agreement with the EPS. I >> tell them we don't

161want to give them a raise. >> I wouldn't recommend that. That would not go well for us. >> Okay. We're about if that's the main driver then so so that is locked in. So there's $3 million that's sort of like locked in and we cannot >> change. >> Yeah, you're governed by collective bargaining agreements. >> Okay. >> I guess to piggyback on that um what do we need to know about assumptions that are made about either a contract that is not settled or >> administrators um >> administrators salaries are at 4%. Okay. And the uh there is um money here to settle the uh educational technician contract as well. So >> if you look at the line item, it doesn't look that way right now. So >> on what the >> uh like if you

162look at secretaries for example >> um it yeah it's it doesn't look like >> well you'll see ups and downs throughout the whole budget in edtech lines and secretarial lines. you'll see ups and downs based on where people are and where they're located. >> Some of it is >> it doesn't look >> some of it is personnel are also we make assumptions about where they're going to be assigned uh based on student need or we move people around. So some of it has is not that the same staff are there for next year. They might have moved to a different place too. So we account for that. That may be some of what you're looking at. >> Transition is another issue as well. And sometimes if there is a few of the new positions added

163um you'll see more of an increase because it's actually accounting for the new position. >> Yeah. We're not using the budget process to reduce our collective bargaining money. That's not what we're doing here >> with healthcare. Um, is there a mechanism, maybe not as a school board, but we could advise our community members to advocate for within the community, um, that could change how health care is for our staff to better align with the current market design that the rest of us participate in. it would have to be collectively bargained and you would have to look at um competitive surrounding areas and what that might look like and what other other areas are offering. But it's really tied to collective bargaining and one of the things that um the district has done over the years

164to uh help and with the negotiations with the association is what are the contributions to single adult with child or children and full family plans or twoerson plans. So, so in our collective bargaining agreements, for instance, um somebody's spouse or significant other can't come on their our plan if they have health insurance offered to them at their own employer. Doesn't matter what the cost is if they have health plan insurance offered to them at their employer. We also spent time um number of years ago uh in southern Maine looking to control health costs by having our experience rating not factored in with the entire state of Maine. We had a large meeting with the with Anthem and the MEA trust and they started taking into consideration experience ratings for certain geographic areas so that we

165weren't experience a much higher experience rating which is you know claims paid to premiums collected uh for some place which is much higher as you get further you know further north of this area. So so those are the ways in which we've been able to do that. Okay. And so controlling cost would happen through how much you want to contribute as the employer to health insurance, but there's a balance against what's being offered what is competitive in other areas. So >> So what I what I guess I'm hearing is that a lot of it's dictated by the MEA trust and the plan that most all the teachers in within the union >> it it's a it's a union plan. >> Yeah. And um uh the difficulty of it is moving and collective bargaining off that

166union plant. The town of Cumberland was able to do some things there where um uh they were able to set up um health savings accounts for staff and then pay certain out-of- pocket fees and other things which reduced their premium. So they were able to get a lower premium and self-insure on uh health insurance savings accounts. So currently there's that's not something we've been able to do. >> And what I hear in general within that market, people pay less because that health savings account can be used for other things that necessarily your health insurance wouldn't directly cover. >> Possibility. >> So >> possibility. Yeah. So >> I guess my my thing is there's a mechanism within the state that people can advocate for to maybe change that. So, anybody that is listening, it would be

167interesting to propose that at the legislature or something like that. >> I had a question. Um, what or like how and why does retirement fluctuate so much? The percent change um like just varies between different schools and I'm just wondering if that like depends on how the teachers or what the like how old they are if they're retiring. If you retire one person, does it change that or? >> Well, you'll see that there's ups and downs in those salary lines. So there may be somebody that moved to another school. >> So now the retirement isn't in that account line, it's in another account line at another school. >> Oh wow. >> So the retirement would follow that employee to the other accounts. Okay. >> The other part is is also it depends on um you

168know the certain salary amounts that are are within that account of what is the percentage you would pay. So if the salary line is higher, retirement will be higher. If the salary lines are lower, then you'll see that retirement number as a percentage might look differently. >> Okay. Thank you. >> That's why. So, yeah, it's it's the main peers's retirement system. >> Okay. >> Um Jeeoff, I want you to know I got home today and my son was like, "Where are you going?" And I said, "I'm going to a schoolboard meeting." And he goes, "Oh, about the budget?" "Yeah, it's 58 million." And I was like, "How did you know that?" >> Maybe I gave Maybe I gave him the information. I wanted him to have something before his dad. >> Yeah, >> I just

169know I was late to the game which he he he definitely showcased. >> Um I have a process question I guess as I a lot of questions in here but I think it helps me to know a little bit of the framing. So this year I know you got you were very intentional about doing things a little bit differently um and approaching it based off of just feedback from previous years. And so I'm kind of curious like I know we have new software, right? And um and I know that I think we've started the process earlier this year and I'm just kind of curious what was like the philosophical approach. Did we do a little bit more of like a was it called like a zerobased budget or like starting from scratch and not looking

170at last year and just seeing like what we need? what what was kind of like our guidelines as we built this so that I know I think it just had kind of helped like how decisions were made moving through >> for software for everything >> everything I mean I think I'm curious about the software too because I know that's probably like very difficult to manage in a first year so yeah I think I and I'm also curious like well what level of access do we have >> to like dive into some of these things or aggregate them a little bit differently but generally just philosophically as an approach and Kim you can answer this just as much as Jeff is just how did we start building this this year compared to last year? >> I

171mean all the principles and directors start with um what they need, what they feel like their school needs and go from there. But we don't we wouldn't call it zerobased budgeting. >> You basically start with the current budget and what are the changes that are going to be made in that budget in order to reflect what is really needed in that school. So one area for example subscriptions made a huge effort this year the technology department and the administrators working together to look at all the subscriptions because we have so many subscriptions in this district. Some are used by groups of teachers for students and some are used by a single teacher who might just like that subscription and we tried to move away from that. So it had to be a subscription that multiple

172teachers find useful for curriculum purposes. that all teachers use it for curriculum reasons, but are there we want kids to have the same experience, too. So, we were able to, you know, reduce it by about $10,000 just looking at that and then looking at subscriptions where one or two teachers were using it and really question why are they using it and is it because they have a specialized program or is it they don't have a specialized program but they just like it. um and really trying to find what is u equitable among you know classes that are using that software. So I think this is probably the since I've been here was the most thorough look at software that we've done. So you know $10,000 is $10,000 but I also will say that we're able

173to move things around too within the software lines and there were some things that were added too like software that we need. So it was drop some software, add some the ones that we really need and then net out you know what we don't need. So and that's that really applies to all the entire budget the way we look at things not labor costs >> but um everything else in the budget what what is really needed and what is really not needed. And we did from my perspective back in I think it was November when we started talking to the administrators about all this. um this year please do not put forward proposals. This was something that came out of my mouth unless it is absolutely necessary. Now we already know the one campus staffing

174stuff that we had already you know talked to the finance committee about that are needed those are already automatically populated on the new proposals but everything else only put the things forward that are absolutely necessary. Um, not that we don't ask people to do that anyway, but even more so, knowing we're going into a challenging budget year. >> So, I'll I'll add to that a little bit. U, I'm going to start by asking you a question, not to put you on spot, but you but you you brought it up. >> In your mind, what is zerobased budgeting? >> I think I would have gone from we start absolutely at zero and build up from what our school needs. I think from like even from the number of staff members to the number of supplies that

175we need to what our supplies are. I think it's probably from a resource perspective and our timing like kind of unrealistic to do that entirely and so it probably needs to be some kind of hybrid. But yeah, I mean it would start off of just a completely clean slate of as if we were building a new a new school today. What would that look like? >> Okay. Okay. So, I mean that in a in a lot of ways that is what we do because you start with what what you can't get out of, right? Like you you have to have an electricity bill. You have to have the debt service that the community voted on. And then um I believe that we put in okay based on collective bargaining agreements right what what is that

176going to look like? Yeah. Now to your point about staff you can see that Jeff >> you know and we spent a lot of time talking about okay where are we going to need to add staff where if any can we take out um and a lot of that comes with either attrition or a position that wasn't filled. So as far as supplies um I think there's a misconception that you know we look at what was spent on supplies and just add an inflationary amount to it. That is not the case. Um I think that for the most part the administration you know looks at what the teachers have been spending. So, so there's this both end, right? Like >> when it comes to classroom supplies, um >> you could say, well, if you give

177a teacher a budget of $500, that would be amazing. Um they're going to use all $500, right? But at the same time, we're also thinking, okay, realistically, you know, is this amount a realistic amount? And then you multiply that by the number of classrooms, right? Give or take. There's the are there new supplies? Are what will we need in new books? Um I am very proud of the work that was done on the technology um subscriptions because that was one that it just I over the years um looking at that line it was like okay you know our when was the last time we really did an audit of that? Um >> Courtney's been asking me to do that for like like a year. >> Yeah. Yeah. And I mean it you know private I'm

178proud that we did it and I'm also proud that it showed that there really wasn't that much waste going on um given that you know $10,000 or under $10,000. So, it is it is definitely both and um but you can't just look at the budget and say, "Okay, well, we're just going to increase each of these lines based on inflation." But you also can't do a completely zero base because of the things that you are tied to, >> right? And then you start looking at okay what is this inc what is this ask this new proposal what would that do to the budget why is it a why is it an ask if we accept this what does that mean we can't accept that's the hardest part because you're saying yes to something mean means

179you're saying no to something else um but that's that's how we typically do it and honestly I I can't say that the budget process was that different because there really isn't room to do it differently. Again, it's not a business. >> Um, but I don't know, Jeff and Scott, would you >> I think you said a lot of what I was going to say or would have said. Um, it isn't we don't zero base everything because there are so many things that are just fixed costs. I guess it's going back to that slide at the beginning. you have all these fixed costs that we have to start with when you're building the budget and there's things that we just don't have a lot of control over whether it's collective bargaining agreements whether it's utilities whether

180it's debt service so you have all this stuff that is already there and then you have this very small amount of things that you actually have discretion over but a lot of those things are like kind of essential cost for the classroom and then we look at class sizes like I indicated you know we've done we didn't fill two positions this year that were in the FY26 budget and we had two people leave and they left late in the budget, you know, at the end of last year during the summer. And before I filled those positions, I said, "Let's look at class size and let's make sure that is there a class size." And when we look at class sizes, we were able to bump up the class sizes a little bit in those grades

181and then not fill those positions. And so now you're see starting to see the savings from us doing that on the back side going into the next fiscal year at least. So I think that's I don't know if that makes sense but >> no I think yeah it's a good question I think also for the community to understand like the length of process I think the amount of discussions you've had probably this year are more >> and probably like you've been on it this is your second year now and so I think there's like >> fourth year being on finance committee >> right but second year sharing yeah fourth year and I think there's just I think the amount of education going back and forth and knowing of like how you guys are building it

182together and the chemistry that you guys have to build together I think the community kind of needs to understand But also like I think it's really important to know like when like like the fact that you were working on this budget all the way up to the end like I don't know like how much like how much of a surprise was any of this to you? Like probably not much, right? >> None. >> Right. So I think I think that just being said like when how how involved the finance committee was in some of these numbers building up to it and your engagement in it so that it's not just the finance community but it's like our representative of our communities that are building up into it right and so it's not just the school

183doing it. This is just a this is a very groupled process based off of different priorities and now we've entered this phase. So I just think it's important to set the table of like what went into what we have in front of us right now. Well, and I do want to say again, it's both and um which as a math major like both and just doesn't work. So, I've learned so much. This is the superintendent's proposed budget. >> So, let's say for example, and and this actually is not a hypothetical. I push pretty hard against at least one of the staff positions thinking, okay, do do we really need it? Could we have bigger class sizes? things like that. >> Um, as superintendent, Jeff could not in good faith say that that's a good idea,

184right? So, this is his budget based on our meetings, our c um, you know, bringing up points that maybe he hadn't thought of, pushing on technology subscriptions, things like that. Um, but ultimately Jeff as superintendent has to advocate for the best education possible for our student. When I say best education, I don't mean the greatest in the land. I mean the most reasonable education, right? Considering taxpayers, but that's not Jeff's job, right? So if we as a board are to say no, we think that class sizes should be bigger. We we don't want to hire Xperson, then that is something that we have to say to Jeff. Does that make sense? Mhm. >> So Jeff would would be doing his job a disservice if he came back with a budget that he did not feel

185was um was the the the best possible budget for students. >> Yeah, Kim, you said some really important things. I just want to reiterate too um that statutoily the superintendent is supposed to recommend a budget to the board of directors or the school board and the community school committee, whatever it is. Um, and that budget then is deliberated on by the board and public and that's the public process. But in most in many districts, I I don't know if I'd say most, but many districts, the finance committee is usually not involved until after the superintendent has developed and presented the budget to the board and then the finance committee deliberates on behalf of the board. In many districts, it's the way it works in this district. I think, you know, and since I've been here,

186we've always and I think before I was here, the finance committee was invol has been involved during those kind of um infant parts of the budget development in order to help set priorities and be a kind of a bouncing off like, hey, what do you think? What do you think? At the end of the day, I still have to present a budget which I think is um the budget that I need to present as the uh superintendent and knowing that the board can adjust that budget and has the responsibility to look at that budget and review it and adjust as needed going forward. Um I do like our our setup here. I do like having the finance committee involved um early on because it kind of helps gauge where is before I even present the

187budget in March. I want to know kind of where is some of the board members thinking where where where are they on this and I think that's a very important part of the process but it is important to know that at the end of the day I have to present a budget that I think I can stand behind and and recommend to the board of directors and then you can decide what you think about that. Um those are good I appreciate Kim you saying that. Appreciate that. >> Yeah. >> Jeeoff I got a question for you. >> Yeah. So, I know sometimes we talk about class sizes. So, what are the and so we're going to be looking at preK and I know there's a regulation that the class sizes can be a maximum of

18816 children in a classroom. That's a state regulation. So, you know, in the 50s maybe they would stuff 30 kids in a room and let them run around. We can't have more than 16, right? So, we can't increase those class sizes. Are there other state regulations that that dictate outside of pre I mean I know of pre-k because I've been looking into it and it's 16 but you mentioned like there are 30 kids in a classroom in the 50s like how many kids are we allowed to stick in a classroom. Is there a state regulation or can we stick as many as we want or are there space considerations? I'm just wondering right like what is >> there's there's what we can think of but then there's regulations and I don't know what they are

189but I know prek it's 16. I don't know about the other grades. >> Good question. So, there are space regulations obviously and there's fire code regulations and things like that. How many people can be in a room? There is no policy in this district. Now, some districts have policies that say class sizes, you know, here's a range of class sizes. This district actually has no policy on that. There is an old guideline um that we continue to use or not use. depends on on what you know where we're at. But there's there's nothing in place that says you have to have this many students. Um except for prek. PreK is like the one place you we have to. Um so in this district we've generally been between 16 and 18 students for kindergarten. Um in

190first through third grade we've generally been in the 18 to 20 range. Um doesn't mean that we don't exceed that number sometimes in certain years. doesn't mean we're a little lower some years. Um and then the upper elementary grades were generally in the 22 20 to 22s and um in the middle grades we're about 22 to 24. Um again these are rough depends on the class size that we've got the whole class size coming in or out. At the high school um there's the most variability in our district. So, we can have anywhere from seven or eight students in an IB uh course um or an AP course or um and obviously special education is a different category. I just want to say that too because there are regulations around special education case loads, numbers

191of students, those are that is very heavily regulated. Um how many students can be on a case load for a staff member or at any given time. Um but for regular education, high school is anywhere from, you know, it could be seven or eight to up to 25, 26 students in a class at the high school. You'll see that very large range of of students. Um there is really no regulation around it. There are guidelines, but there's nothing that says you can't have 30 kids in a classroom, for example, in the state of Maine. Can I jump in on that or were were you >> No, no, I was Yeah, I mean because I I know there is a regulation for for prek. So I just Yeah. Like is does this does the state say

192like you know it's weird to me that the state wouldn't say there's a maximum number of kids eating stuff in a classroom but >> except for the fire code. >> Except for the fire I guess there's like a fire code. >> Yeah. And there's they have um again recommendations um you know for square footage how many students you should be that you should have in a classroom. Yeah. But again, it is not regulated. >> Okay. And we don't have a policy on it >> and there is no actual policy. >> If only we knew a guy in >> because I know there's a lot of talk of class sizes and it's just it's good to be honest about like are there what what is restricting us and what are the options >> if there are

193any. So prek can't be more than 16. It sounds like >> right >> the rest it's sort of >> up the district. It's we've historically had, you know, stayed within >> certain numbers for different grade spans in this district. Pretty long history. During COVID, um I will say that we reduced all the class sizes, >> especially at the elementary level. We reduced them across the board and we hired 10 more teachers >> to do just that. Um and we used federal money as well to reduce our class sizes. >> That was a deliberate and intentional thing that we did. But then we let those positions lapse. Those were one-year positions and most of them or people transferred to another position that was open or vacant. We moved people uh but we didn't retain those 10

194positions after the pandemic. >> Thank you. >> So something I I was going to add even before the questions. Um Jeeoff, can you go back to the 1950s June Cleaver teaching and heels and pearls and um everybody sitting so obediently? >> Do you want me to go back to Would you mind? Oh, the slide. >> Yes, I can go straight back to >> um so for one thing, while Jeff's doing that, um just putting this presentation together alone and then I think it took you almost an hour to present it. So, thank you for all the work you did just on the presentation alone. Um when Jeff showed this slide, one of the things he said is that we don't see the full classroom, right? We don't see that there's 30ish. I I can remember

195having 37. 37's my lucky number. I remember a year when I had 37 kids in my class. Um, so not only do you not see the other students, but what I really was thinking about the first time I saw this slide is we don't see what the other students are doing. And I think we all know that the likelihood that the rest of the students are sitting that quietly attentively to the teacher is pretty small. Um, we know about the kid who would stand in the corner with the dunce cap, right? We know about the kid who would be sent out of the classroom. We know about um just suspensions being far more common. Um because as Jeff said, the respect for the teacher was so high, of course, rightfully so, but there were good

196kids and there were bad kids, right? Um, MTSS is so so important and you're going to hear me say this probably at every meeting through the 15th because I had to hear it several times for it to stick with me. We cannot recommend a child for an IEP unless they have gone through the MTSS process. Now, it's possible that a parent uh could say, you know, clearly my kid is this, right? There are certainly exceptions, but the average kid who might need that IEP has to go through the MTSS process. That is state law, which means that they have to be offered all remember the next slide, right? All those different stations. The child has to go through that process in order for us to be able to say, "Okay, these things, you know, we

197tried some special or different ways of of learning MTSS, those different levels. Those are not meeting the needs. Now, we can officially recommend the IEP and start that special ed process." So, state law mandates that. And when you think about the impact that that then has on the number of staff, the staff ratio to students, the equipment that needs to be available for those kids, MTSS alone is huge, not even counting special ed. Does that make sense to everybody? Um, like I said, I had to hear that several times for it to really settle in. So, I just want to remind everybody why those two slides are really important. I wanted to piggy back on that a little bit. Um, >> we got a packet and I want to say it was back in October

198from one of the national organizations that showed a graph of child's educational test scores postcoid and there was a direct on that graph there was schools that used more funding for MTSS and schools that did not. And what you saw in that graph was that educational outcomes for the top 10% were straight across the board. There was no difference. And the next tier down about the same. But those kids that need the extra help, the test scores outcomes where there was not funding for MTSS, they dropped significantly. And I think if you look at our test scores in general that were presented this fall, they don't they align to a program that's fully functional and we're having good student outcomes. I think that's important to know. >> You know, this district has um very much

199invested and thank you to the board and community for investing in MTSS. And I think um those comments around MTSS are really critical because not only are they part of the regulatory requirement for for a child meeting the needs of special education and being referred and then identified for special services and going through MTSS. The only exception is if a parent makes that referral on their own. But when the school is looking at a student that might have a potential disability, we have to start with things that are outside of the IEP process without making a referral and trying things. And MTSS is very important and I and our test scores do show that our students have bounced back post pandemic. Uh we're still in the post-pandemic period. We can't ignore the fact that there

200was there was interruption. Huh. >> Six years this week. >> Six years. Um, the other thing, um, Ken, I Kim, I wanted to add to this picture about the 1950s is that not only are there children you can't see because you can't see the whole classroom, there are children that were not invited back to school because they had a an unidentified disability or was not recognized. Um, federal law did not recognize a stu student having a disability in the 1950s. Students just were not invited back to school if they didn't >> invited to begin with >> or invited to begin with if they didn't fit the mold. So that's the difference between you know we educate all um and how public education has really evolved I think in a very positive way over the last

201se seven decades. >> We don't even have to go back to the 50s. Do does anybody remember the movie Parenthood with Steve Martin? Yeah. >> There's a scene where the principal calls him in and says the teacher spends x percentage of time just on your student and they say you know you should go to a special school or to a private school. um that was what 1990 I think that that movie came out and that was certainly a common experience. So yeah, we we don't even have to go back as far as the 50s. >> One of one of the other things that um I think about a lot and especially as we're not only looking at, you know, what ends up in the news about what other districts are are doing to deal with

202similar challenges. Um I think you know most of our budget like other districts is is you know staff um we're seeing similar increases and some of the things that they're doing to reduce their budget um are also enrollment related um the opportunities that you have maybe to relook at things when you have declining enrollment versus increasing enrollment. Um, and this is just like another reminder. We are one of the we are the only district I have the the stats from the state website. Anybody can go on and and take a look at this since I I looked at the pre-COVID year first. Um so six years ago um we are the only district that has added a 100 students or more um in the state >> um state in the state regard like regardless of

203of district size 100 students like the percentage it's 5.2% of our school enrollment >> over 10 years we're the only district that's added 200 students. There's a few other much larger districts um that were a little over a hundred at that time, but we are an outlier. Um only 10 10 to 15 schools have grown at all and that could only be a few students over that time. Um, and so we have different unique challenges that, you know, frankly, aren't the ones that are being addressed for the most part with the conversations of the Department of Ed because it's all around school consolidation. Um, you know, needing to find opportunities to reduce cost. I mean, we went through it. We consolidated schools when our uh enrollment was declining. Um but we are in a very

204different position than a lot of the discussions that are happening like at the state level. Everything from you know the EPS formula to school construction um we are differently positioned um and the conversations that I feel like maybe districts that do have you know 100 less students which there's a lot of them a lot of them who have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of less students. um are are having that we are growing and we continue to grow. It the growth has slowed, thank goodness, as we're getting the new building built. Um but it does position us differently when we're talking about okay, what can we do differently with our budgets? >> It's a very good point. I mean has been declining overall mean enrollment has been declining. vast majority of districts have seen that

205and really it's in this area where there's been an increase in just some districts and that's it. But we are we are an outlier and I think that I I even forget to say that because I it's important 10 years of increase in enrollment um does have an effect on your schools and and your staffing at levels that you have to continue to keep up with. Um I think that's very important point. Thank you. So maybe I'll close out our discussion on the budget by saying that your presentation could have been two hours long. Um there's so much to this. This is so complex and so many different ways to look at it. So uh we are available for questioning. Please email us. Please um ask if you could sit down with us and and

206talk about these things because yes, this is this is not straightforward. Uh there there's a lot to this. Um so for the next month um plus uh through April 15th, please reach out to us. Please um engage with us. We have a meeting on Monday night. It is our one evening finance meeting that we wanted to specifically make sure that we are able to do that so that more folks can come and um hopefully our agenda will be such that there will be plenty of time for Q&A. Uh we'll see what happens. So >> Kim, when you say us, do you mean you, Jeff, Scott, either one? Because like over the next couple weeks if I'm diving into this and I'm like can you like give me a little >> No, I'm sorry. You can't

207be a board member at all. >> I'm wondering which one like which detail because you know I think I you know just transparently I've been asking I asked for a couple details and little up leading to this >> and obviously there's like everyone's very busy and we're trying to finalize stuff. So I want to make sure I hit the right cadence to like to be like yes this is open for us to start digging into or getting more details on or Um like are we was that just a point to like hey we're finalized now now we can kind of open up and be like this is what open like because this is going to be a dynamic document all the time. >> Oh absolutely. I would say this is the start of that. Um

208because again in the budget process very your son would not have known. >> He knows way more than I know right now. Yeah, >> you know, things got out because we we absolutely um wanted to legally we had to, but certainly we wanted to make the finance meetings um friendly for the community to to show up. So, this is the start of the board's process in the budget and and yes, there were some things I couldn't quite answer for you. That's right. >> Um so, I I will just go ahead and say, you know, if you want to just I'll be the point person, you can email me. I can always, you know, send some buddy to somebody else. But if you know a different board member and you feel more comfortable asking them then

209board if you get a question you can always come to me like one of us will answer. >> Okay. >> And I just I do also want to mention the importance of us talking about this in a public meeting too. um because I think our deliberations and considerations and the discussion that we have in the public so whether that's the scheduled finance meetings which again are on the calendar and you'll go into more detail again um when we do those updates. So that's a board you know when we can actually have conversations and then we have the workshop and then we vote the board needs to vote on April 15th. Um >> that's March 19th. >> No, the board votes >> on April >> 15th >> is when we invite the board. >> Yes. >>

210That that's will be our Yeah. our item for action. um things that I found helpful and I guess Scott and Jeff and Kim like if if I know I have I'll have specific particular questions um I will ask in advance like the health insurance number um and and then talk about in public just because I don't want to put anybody on the spot for something very specific that they wouldn't have the the the tip of their fingertips. But um that is sort of how I've been operating over the past few years. Important to talk about in public. What are we considering? How are we thinking about this? What's important to us? What's important to the community? Um but also if we if we think we're going to need to know specific things, um being able

211to reach out and make sure we we have that information in advance so we can be everyone can feel a little more prepared to have that discussion if that makes sense. >> Yeah, I think that's helpful. Okay. I actually um had a process question from what Jeff said earlier that I forgot that was on my list to ask. Um Jeff, you mentioned that we can't really use the per pupil cost anymore based on education. Um, I didn't know if you had thought about that and then had any guidance on what we can use because with a growing district, it's hard to compare our total number to another district's total number because, oh, we have this much increase. Well, it's easy to derive to a per pupil cost and know that they have 600 less students

212than us. So, we get this number, we have this much increase. It's an easy number to use. So, I didn't know of any guidance on what maybe a tool in the future might look like. So just to clarify, I I even though I said that we still use per people cost and we still look at that and we still take those seriously because I do think it is a good barometer. And in April um I do a budget summary um for the board if you recall that from last year. And in that summary, I do provide per pupil costs and I do provide a comparison of our per pupil costs compared to several other districts in the area um as well just to kind of it because it is a gauge even though it is

213not the best gauge in my mind um because it doesn't paint the picture. It does show you something. So I will provide that information >> um in in the budget summary um that I do in April. Do you have uh what you think might be a better tool or is that something that we should look at in general? >> Some of So there's different ways to look at this and it would be it is complicated because part of it we'd have to start looking at and I do provide this in the annual report. How many students are identified special education for example in our district compared to other districts. We also disagregate. And I'm just using special education as one example of many. MTSS is another one. Um 504 is another one. Um but if

214you look at our actual numbers of students that are identified in our district in those areas and we compare them to another district, let's say Felmouth or Yarmouth, and we look at percentages or numbers of students who are identified in those areas, that's another way of of looking at that. In special education, the state recognizes several different categories of disability. So depending on the disability, a student may may need a lot more um staffing levels and so or there's a lot of costs that are associated with a student for example in FLS that is not the same as being in a resource room. So we would have to look at how many students in you know if we're looking at another district or other districts have student how many students are in a a functional

215life skills program and um what kind of and usually generally those are more restrictive programs um that meet the LRE the least um you know restrictive environment for a student they need more services more staffing etc. But how many students are in their FLS program compared to how many students do we have identified in our district? Then how many students are identified for MTSS support in various content areas? How many students are in 504 plans? We generally are around 10 11% when you look at 50 just 504 in our district um academic and health. So I think you have to start with those numbers when we're comparing if we're going to actually look beyond just the total per pupil. That's where I would think we would want to look. >> Um, and see, you know,

216not just say special education, but what categories of special education are we actually talking about? Um, I don't, you know, and really look beyond the actual per pupil. I don't know if that makes sense what I just said, but >> Oh, absolutely. Because I would, you know, when you look at the numbers for per pupil and you calculate inflation, you look at it, you say, "Oh, the data database we have over the last five years, you have a 1,500% or $1,500 increase per student when you take in inflation. So, you have a 15% increase cost per student per pupil, >> right? >> But the numbers you just talked about may be driving most of that, right? We don't know based on that per pupil. So, I think that is an interesting rabbit hole to go

217down." >> Yeah. the other I mean there's other pieces too. I mean I could just rattle on for a while but >> how much do you want the comprehensiveness of your high school to be? >> How comprehensive is your high school and how much do you want and how can you compare our high school to another high school and how comprehensive the services are provided in that high school because high schools have huge variability of services depending on the high school um and what their programming is. So there's a lot of different ways we could look at this per pupil cost. Um so but I am going to just give you the uh I'll give you the per pupil cost, the gross and then I'll give you the adjusted per pupil cost. Um which take

218backs out the revenue and I'll give you those numbers and then we compare them to we used to compare to only three or four districts in this area. Last year we started comparing I think 10 or 12. So we give you a bet much better comparison. Right. >> But if if you're asking me, I would start looking at individual groups of students and not just per pupil as an overall indicator. >> Good to know because as was mentioned, we are an oddball right now. So to be able to communicate to the public and amongst ourselves, it's good to know >> a little more information. >> Yeah. Madame Chair, given that it is 9:15, may I make a motion that we uh keep going motion? >> Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Thanks, Tim.

219All in favor? >> Nobody's Is there no somebody not in favor? >> I mean, >> I just want to abstain, I guess. >> What? Anukica was against it. I'm also >> against it. >> Okay. All those not in favor. What? I don't even know what to say. >> Okay. Three. >> You can do that. >> You really You really can. It's actually a >> Can I make a motion that we do committee reports by email and do just do the policy reads? >> So, good news. one of the policy reads is taken off. I think the important thing, the time-sensitive thing this evening is this the calendar. >> Um, and I guess is there anything in the superintendent report that? >> Um, so there well there's a long superintendent report if you don't want to

220hear. >> Can you send that to us? >> Um, there's things in there but it's you know I can share the report with the board if you would prefer to do that. Yes. >> Um, >> but I agree. >> Well, I mean, our audience is overwhelming right now. >> Mr. Gray wants us to keep going. >> I want to slip and I wanted to say Katie doesn't have to do any homework. >> Okay. So the the motion did pass to continue. >> Keep it going then. >> But I will as chair I will use my powers as chair um to give us a goal to try to get through. Let's take 20 minutes. >> I think we can do it. >> 20 minutes. All right. >> Go. >> Let's go. Okay. So next is items

221for action. Um, can I have a motion to approve deleting policy I IAA non-school sponsored trips? >> Can we point of order? >> Okay. Sorry. >> Can we can we can we punt on second read deletion and second read for policy? There there were a few um suggested changes and they're small, but I'd like to make them so everyone can read with the suggested changes. So, can we just punt on second read till next? >> Okay. Get that one. >> Great. Okay. >> Give us time. >> We're good. Okay. Can I have a motion to approve the 2026 27 C school calendar as presented? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Sean. Thank you, Jesse. All right. So, um the school calendar was reshared. Were there any changes since uh you shared it with us last?

222>> Been no changes since I shared it last. >> I had a I shouldn't even say a I had more than I can count on. my fingers and toes. People come up to me and say, "Why don't we have professional development days on Wednesdays so the kids can go to school more days and not on Fridays right before vacations?" So, I was I'm just asking the question because it got asked me a bunch. >> Same. >> Second. >> So, um Sean, are you talking about um for example, which um particular days are you talking about? March 19th for example and January 18th or 15th sorry on the calendar those proposals and then we have um October 9th >> it it seems to be a theme >> January 15th >> so yes anything before a long

223weekend and or a vacation break >> yeah I mean historically we've done that I think part of it is that I what comes up and I'll be honest is that student attendance um if we around certain breaks and stuff like that generally drops dramatically. >> Um so I think we've tried to put a balance in there. Um for example, well like around the MLK day, that's a new one. We we added that 185th that's 185th teacher day which is a staff day on January 15th. Um, so I won't talk about that one necessarily. Um, but I think around the, for example, the um, Indigenous People's Day, October 9th, um, people tend to take a break, families take a break, and I think if we were to make that a Wednesday instead of a Friday, my

224guess is that we would student attendance would probably drop. >> Good answer. I think I can express that to those people. So, I appreciate that. >> They were trying to be thoughtful around in January, too, where that was placed. The other thing I will say that um to make changes like that at this point, I would have to go back to our regional counterparts. We're already at I think more than five dissimilar days. We had to get a waiver last year from the Department of Education. We were at seven. The department agreed with the understanding that we would try harder this year. And so we've tried harder this year. I think we're at five right now. So if I if I mess with this calendar, I don't know what the ripple effect is with the

225region and I would have to go back to the region. >> So most most other districts have those Fridays as well. >> They do. I worked with them. Well, the one that they don't necessarily have is January 15th because we added that one. Um but March 19th um I think Falmouth might if we have if we're in line with one other district it's not considered dissimilar or we're already dissimilar so we're okay because we're dissimilar and that becomes a dissimilar day. Um for example October 9th um that is definitely agreed to by the region. We all take that we negotiated March uh 19th originally we were at March 12th. I worked with three other districts so that we were not dissimilar and we moved we agreed to move to March 19th together. Um, so that's

226that's just how we do this. Um, >> yeah, >> I just want to put out there because we're trying to keep it in 20 minutes. Um, you know, I feel bad that questions came up and we're not giving this a whole lot of time in our meeting, but I'm just wondering if maybe we can think for next year about um some sort of calendar workshop or school, you know, to to really dive in um given that we have to approve this pretty much tonight um and it's just so late. Yeah, we are on second read. Um, and I know I've already preempted some of these conversations with Jeff, um, Superintendent Porter, um, in that this is my fourth year on the board and I said this will be my last approving this many half day

227Wednesdays. I do understand that we are under an extraordinary change next year with the the the getting ready to move to the the new schools um and and needing time to get ready and they that everyone's done an incred incredible job getting ready for that. But this is this is too many and we've been looking at you know adding teacher professional development days so we can create other opportunities. um but really needing a look in a longer community conversation um to actually make some some changes. And the same with the school start times. I mean that's something that I've also you know brought up a couple times that you know we we tried to move the high school back. It got moved earlier again. We have to look at everything when we're doing these schedules

228and looking at everything. Also it means the days and start times. >> Yeah. I would suggest um that one is a bigger nut to crack because we had a committee a few years ago when there was a lot of interest around moving the high school back to a later time. Um I think if you're if you're moving it to like 10 minutes, that's one thing, but if we're talking about moving it, you know, 45 minutes or something like that's a very different matter. And obviously that's a long conversation. We had a whole group that worked on it for probably six months looking at this, probably more than six months. um when we went to a later high school time and then unfortunately we had to pull that back a few years ago. Um I will

229say the other piece um I I heard that loud and clear um that there is you know obviously some recognition that next year is a huge year, big transition year, but that the year after um they really need to look at this again and look at what the calendar is. One thing I will point out is that January 15th um is a staff day as recommended on this calendar. It's 185th um day for teachers. It is not a day that um our edte right now in their collective bargaining agreement they don't have 185 days. So, it's really important to point that out. Um, because if you have a student day, if you decide to make this and the board can do this, if you want to make that January day the year after, for example,

230a student day, you would also have to be considering that you're going to have to have support staff here, too. You can't just open school with just teachers. Um, we need our we need all of our staff on a student day >> and that would be an additional cost because we haven't budgeted for that number of days for educational technicians because they basically work the student the student school year. Yeah. >> With some PD days. >> So, that would be a budget um be a budget item in addition to a calendar item. So, I've been just pointing that out and I know we're not really talking about that for next year, but if you're considering that for the year after, there's nothing in the collective bargaining agreement for teachers that says you can't make that

231a student day. We made it a staff day because we need the transition time. >> We can add it to Edex and other support staff. It would just have to be we'd have to pay them and have to budget for that. >> If you have budget item, >> we can set we can set the work here for that. >> Jeff, I think Yeah, I mean I think where we're at where we're at. Just a quick suggestion. I think it might be good to send something in a um one of your weekly notices about half day Wednesdays, the rationale and our plan to potentially like take a look at that and understand like the burdens on some families because I I hear it >> all the time. I'm sure you do. I think that I think

232that would just go a long way to know that we're >> Yeah, >> I think what the public comment was she was right on and I think reflective of a lot of reasonable people. So, that might go a long way, but anyway, >> I think we're at where we're at now. So, >> okay. Any other comments? Okay, all in favor? Okay, it's unanimous. Okay. So, is there anything um in the superintendent report that you wanted to say out loud? >> I don't know. >> Do you need to say >> I think most of it was stuff I can probably just send you. Let me just um >> we did the hard hat chats. I mean, I really encourage people to look at those, but again, that's in the report. Anyway, very good. >> Um, oh,

233this photo was courtesy of Tim Valente, just to let you know. >> Oh. >> Um, >> but yeah, I mean, obviously I think most of it I can just send you in a report. There's really nothing I need to say. It's great stuff going on. That's all. >> I know. It's all it's all the good stuff. >> It's all the good stuff. >> Okay. Thank you. And look forward to seeing it. Um, committee reports. Is there anything? I have one important thing from Megan just related to the school naming. I wanted to have a brief conversation on for about next steps is and then I also did want to mention um the prek committee work is underway. Um I want to thank Lauren for stepping up to chair that committee um for the board. So

234thank you. Um and we are going to make sure we get all the information posted on the website about the upcoming meeting. So, let's just make sure we check in to get um information to Jeff and Melissa posted so everyone the public can know when the meetings are. And I know the plan is being formed uh that you're going to bring to the committee about how we're going to do all sorts of outreach and information gathering. So, um and and we'll be posting the just information about who's on that committee as well. So, we'll get that up there. Um and then the other thing related to communications is is the school naming. As you recall, we had a public hearing. Um and we've got some great um information about uh different interests uh choosing between

235the two names. Um we don't have a vote scheduled yet on the board calendar. And I just wanted to ask the board if they um like where each of you were in your deliberations and if um there's been a couple ideas floated of whether we needed to have another public hearing or um if we just wanted to choose a date to have a vote and just encourage anybody else to reach out to us if they had any any thoughts um of when uh of when we should be deciding on the name. I think the date that we needed to decide was sometime. >> It would be great if you could do it by June. >> By June. >> I mean, I'd like this board to to to be able to vote on it, but is

236there any other public hearing or information gathering um that people felt we we needed. >> Okay. >> Actually, I was asked by some students today, when when is this going to be settled? When are you who's making the decision? when's it going to happen? So, I I did let them know. Okay. >> I think we should remind people in newsletters if they want to come to public comment or email us. >> Absolutely. >> And just do that. And then we have a couple of meetings where we allow that to happen. So, >> okay. >> I know. April, what's it's almost it's almost April. >> I know, right? >> Never mind. >> We have an April 2nd meeting that it doesn't have a ton on it. Um, is that April 2nd sound good? Can I flag

237something from policy that might need to get added? >> Okay. >> So, we have a couple first reads coming, but another thing we've taken up in policy is looking at the district cell phone policy. >> Oh, so >> I was going to suggest that at some point we put on a meeting putting it out there so that if similar to the school naming that it's a big thing and so Carl has asked folk kids at the high school to get feedback. But if parents have strong feedback, I think it's worth putting out there before policy continues its work because we took it up, but we haven't >> we haven't we haven't touched the policy. We're just thinking about it. But I think >> flaging that for parents and allowing them a chance to come. So

238if there's a meeting where we could put that on an agenda and just let people know if they want to come talk about it. >> Since Megan's not here, I'm going to volunteer her for a bunch of stuff. So, I think putting um things in the district newsletter from the board on these topics, I think would be really great to start, you know, making sure we get more information in that section. So, Megan, I I know you're you're listening. >> It was eighth grade. It was eighth grade parent night for going into high school. So, that felt important as having uh the first kid going into high school to be there. So, it's an excuse absence. Although, I'm sure it's done by now. Okay. Um, so work with Megan to get those types of things

239in the newsletter and if there's other ideas of things that would be important to highlight, um, that would be great. All right, five minutes. What do we got left? Where are we? Um, >> vote on the second. >> April 2nd. >> Yeah. Okay, >> April 2nd. >> Yeah, >> April 2nd. >> Okay, great. We'll get that in the newsletter. Um, and then the only thing else I had to mention, um, is that the the library is sponsoring, uh, interested in running for public office, um, with representatives from each of the the town council, select board, and school board. Um, March 11th at 5:30 p.m. or March 12th at 8:30 a.m. for people who need a day or a nighttime option. and we're just inviting anybody in the community who's interested in coming to chat about

240what the what this is like um to attend. Um and I I know I'd send it out to board members as well if they're interested um in joining. Um but that is coming up because paper papers are out. >> I pulled them so I'm discouraged from going. >> So lots of lots of opportunities to serve the community. three minutes. I I mean, all anyone has to do is make a motion. >> Do my report. >> I have one item, but you have one item. >> I don't want to leave this night stumped on the budget. It was 13% increase on health insurance. >> That's what last year was. >> That's right. I just looked it up. So, okay. >> So, that was probably almost a million last year. >> It was a big number last

241year, too. So, >> and so this is on top. Yeah. All right. >> There you go. >> There we go. Thank you. >> I don't want to be stumped. >> Mr. reporter. Will you share the superintendent report with me and Katie? >> I did. >> No, it's if when you send it to the board of directors, we don't get it. >> You're not on the board of I I didn't make that group. >> They don't include us. >> I am so sorry. >> It's honestly so that we don't get this. >> I don't know what you're talking about. >> Almost every slide from your presentation is typically has been shared on Facebook on the MS8 on the MS851 Facebook site or or Instagram. Okay. So, not in no way saying that we don't need a

242presentation, but if you follow Gley or MS851 on social media, you you will have seen most of this already. >> Any any student updates that we should know about, guys? >> Spirit week. >> Oh my gosh, Spirit Week is going to be so much fun. >> We're excited. >> Yeah, we've got Let's hear it. We've got monochrome or every color Monday, anything but a backpack Tuesday, Adam Sandler Wednesday, and class colors for Thursday, and then no school Friday. >> Fun. >> We We should do a schoolboard spirit. >> Can we schoolboard spirit? >> Actually, a good idea. >> Oh my god. >> All right. >> Everyone dress like Mr. Porter Day. >> It's my vote. It's >> Wait, what was that? What was that? >> Everyone dress like Mr. PORTER DAY. >> OH. OH, >>

243I WAS asked today if I always wear a suit like every day, and I said, "No, not every day." >> Not every day. >> No, I a suit every day. >> I'd like to argue that. >> All right. Anybody want to make a motion to adjourn? >> All right, Sarah. >> Second. >> I'll give that to Anukica. All in favor? All right. Unanimous. Thank you guys. Appreciate it.