MSAD#51 School Board Meeting, December 18, 2025

001We ready? >> I think. Did we lose anybody along the way? >> Sarah went to the bathroom. >> Okay. Good evening. Um, this is the MSAD51 school board of directors meeting uh on this uh Thursday, December 18th. Um, I am thrilled to kick off our recognition with the Gley football team state championship team. Um, it's so great to have so many of you be able to join us tonight. And I'm going to welcome David Chabro. >> You don't you don't miss a second here. Thanks for popping in right away. So, uh, welcome everybody and thanks for taking the opportunity to hear about our football team. So, I have uh just a quick note about uh our team as a whole here. I have a little three-part story about their remarkable journey. Uh, remarkable journey part

002one. So, year one, we started off uh having our own program after several years of not and during that first year we won zero games. So, that's year one. Year two at one point we played a handful of games and at that point we were one and 10 and during year two. So not an auspicious start in the win loss record. Uh but then year two uh after that 1 and 10 overall start we played in a state championship game. Didn't win that one but we played in it. Year three they went full circle and played in the state championship game yet again and won that one. Year four, which is our current iteration, uh we not only changed from eight player to 11 player and needed to learn a new system, new rules, etc.

003Uh but during year four, they went undefeated and are our current state champions in class C. So that's part one of our remarkable journey. Part two I need to recognize uh is our coaching staff. So research tells us that in the educational circles it takes three to five years to become proficient in your craft as a teacher. You all probably know this. And those folks that are teachers uh they go to school to be a teacher. They do a practicum to be a teacher and they do it for 180 days a year when during those three to five years to become proficient in their craft. Well um our coaching staff in particular coach King has has uh put that on its head. Uh they've really done a remarkable job. Um, I should tell you that

004coach came when we hired him had zero years of experience as a head coach. So, for all we've been able to accomplish during that time when what it really takes to be proficient in your craft is remarkable what we've been able to do. So, kudos to coach King who was the coach of the year this year for u our football program. SO [applause] >> and I'd say he and his staff are now the benchmark of what it means to be an exemplary uh coaching staff in the state of Maine. So uh good for them. So that's part two. And then part three is not only have we excelled on the scoreboard. Uh clearly we did so but more importantly they are an exemplar of educationbased athletics. So that we had we have a program that

005is welcoming to so many kids and they really are a cohesive unit and we to have this many folks here after we have hockey going, we have basketball going, they got a million other things going, but they're still here to represent their team. That's that's outstanding fellas. So thank you for showing up here today. But they they really have a culture of success and so much so that we have grown. So we had 40 plus players this year, which is more than we've ever had in the history of Gley football. So, and that's it's a sport that's not for everybody candidly. They work hard and they only get to play one game a week. So, kudos to you for creating that culture and being part of that culture. Uh that is a that is a

006winning culture and that allows, you know, 40 plus uh student athletes to reap the benefit of our education-based athletics program. So, great job on that. And then the final piece that I want to add is the manner in which they do so. We play a violent game and we have high school boys who are asked to play a game that is super physical and violent at times and to do so with dignity and grace. So much so that uh not only were they state champions on the field by virtue of their success on the scoreboard, but they were also recognized as the sportsmanship award winners by their peers. That's all the teams that we beat up on all year rated them as the best exemplars of sportsmanship. So, they did it great. [applause] Great job.

007You don't want to hear any more from me. I'm sure you'd like to hear from one of our student athletes about what their experience was like. And I think you anointed a couple of them. So, introduce yourselves when you come up, fellas. [clears throat] >> Hi, I'm Sean Justice. I was a senior captain this year for Girly Football. Um, we had a great season this year from going defeated my freshman year to undefeated this state champions this year and it was really special. I wanted to say thank you to the school board for supporting the turf. I think it was a better experience this year because we had the turf field. Without support like this and getting our football program back. I I believe that 40 of my friends and I would not have had

008a fall sport to play. So, thank you. [snorts] [applause] I'm Ben Kyles. I was also a senior captain for Gley football. I want to start by thanking all my teammates for an unforgettable season. The bond our team had this year is something I wish every high school athlete could experience just once. Coming to practice was honestly my favorite part of the day. And nothing beat playing in front of my home crowd on Friday nights. And thanks to you guys, um thanks to you guys, we were able to play eight home games on our amazing new turf. Winning one state championship was something me and most kids dream about their whole lives. And to go on and win two in a row is truly a blessing. But none of this would have been possible without the

009coaches who pushed us every day and believed in us even when things got tough. This program gave me more than just championships. It gave me purpose, unforgettable moments, and people who I'll call family for the rest of my life. THANK YOU GUYS. >> [applause] [laughter] >> I'LL BRAG ABOUT this team a little bit. Um, sorry. Um, first I wanted to just reiterate, I think these guys know it, but how proud um, us as coaches are and your community are of you guys. Um, like you said, it's kind of been a story. We started off rough for a lot of you. Um, but you guys put in the work every day. Uh, in August we had a team meeting where we sat down and we kind of defined our goals. Um, and who we wanted to

010be. Um, and you guys remember me saying it all the time is be who we say we are. Um, so we wanted to be tougher than everybody else. We wanted to be relentless in our pursuit of greatness and we wanted to be more disciplined than everybody else. Um, and we did that week after week. Uh, we didn't hide from the fact that back in August we wanted to win a state championship. Um, that was our big goal, but we broke it down smaller. We had to win every week. We had to have great practices every day and day in and day out, these kids did the work. Uh, football's a long season. It's 14 weeks from the start of preseason in August until November 22nd when we play the state championship game. Uh, and it's

011even longer for the guys that come to the optional summer workouts. Um, so all the success is really their their efforts and uh hoisting a gold ball is kind of a great way to um get uh paid for those efforts. Um I think you know the seniors especially Sean BK uh you guys we were 0 and seven. Um but you guys didn't give up. I think there was 12 or 13 of you uh as freshman. I think we finished with eight. Um, so to go from 0 and seven to finishing 11-0, uh, we have a 20game win streak, the longest in the state. And if you exclude those seven games, we're 25 and 31. Uh, so a really big turnaround. Um, but it's all because of these guys, uh, they continue to work hard and

012hopefully we'll be back here next December or we will be. So, thank you. [applause] >> We we do hope to see you again. And I just want to again thank you for coming and sharing tonight your experience and how meaningful it is for us on on the board who you know also have seen the vision of what a turf could help do in support for this program, but more importantly our student athlete leaders and our coaching staff. Um, it's just been such a meaningful experience to bring football back to Gley and you really do make us proud. So, thank you. Great. >> All right. Um, you are welcome to stay for as long as you want and you can see all the exciting things um that we do uh on the school board. [laughter] >>

013Thank you. Yes, there's other games going on, right? Enjoy. [clears throat] Thank you. >> Good job, guys. >> Yay. Well, this is another um update that I really enjoy hearing about um from our Gley PTO and Foundation 51. So, I'd like to welcome Tara Nelson and Lindsay Nato to the podium. Thank you. I'm a little shorter than them, I guess. Um, thank you so much for having us tonight. I am Tara Nelson and this is Lindseay Netto and we are the current co-chairs of the Gley PTO. Most of you are familiar with what we do, but our mission is to support the MSED 51 school district by enriching the lives of students pre-K through 8. We do this by funding field trips, hosting guest speakers, author visits, and other and offering student involves event involved

014events throughout the year. Part of our mission is also to inform parents through our parent university series and to create connections with parents, educators, and other members of the school community. We meet monthly from August to June. And we've had a busy year already. Not only are our board members parents and teachers, they are active members of our community and love to volunteer at our events and the school events like the book fairs and dances. Our events so far this year have included kindergarten coffee in September, followed by the hugely popular Grandparent event at Amabel Wilson in October. And we've also had a number of fundraising events including a new year-round gley gear store um with a recent flash sale for the holidays along with student events like the mariners's takeover game and as always

015our parent power appeal through the fall which raised $14,000 this year. We are so excited or we're so excited to be part of the Gley craft fair this year for the first time and we took over the concessions and we also provided free face painting for the kids which they loved. Uh we have been able to find playground equipment for both MIW and GMS. And this year we were super excited to provide a Gaga Ball court for the middle school. Um it was positively received by the staff and the students. We had a lot of good feedback from our own kids and just on social and everyone just was really excited about it. Uh we're also looking forward to talking with Corey and Mallerie and MIW about providing one for them once the school construction

016is complete. Upcoming fundraisers and events include a readathon at both the schools GMS uh new this year and a spring gley gear sale along with a booth at the craft fair. We also look forward to hosting events like trivia night, bingo night, a sledding day. Um, in addition to filibusty and staff appreciation events in the spring, there are a number of field trips we've already funded this year, including a trip to Main Wildlife Park and a presentation uh from Sparks Ark for the third graders. Uh, the Cromwell Center visit for the fourth and fifth graders and the very popular fifth grade Boston trip. We look forward to providing future support with ACES Day t-shirts, field day equipment, and volunteers while also helping with the school dances for 6 through 8 and other field trips for

017other grades this spring. That's a pretty quick glimpse of what we're up to. Uh we always welcome questions, suggestions, recommendations. We truly love what we do in collaboration with the school community. Um appreciate the supportive relationships with the district and uh our community partners. Thank you for having us. >> Great. Thank you. And I you do so much to enhance and support um not only our kids experience but certainly the the teachers and I so appreciate it. Does anyone else on the board have any questions or >> Thank you. [clears throat] >> Great. Um I'm going to move uh to approval of minutes. Can I get a motion to approve the meeting minutes from our December 4th, 2025 meeting as presented? >> So moved. >> Thank you, Sean. Can I get a second? >> Second.

018>> Thank you, Anukica. Any comments or questions? Okay, hearing none. All in favor? Great. It's unanimous. All right. Um, we welcome public comment. Do we have [laughter] we we have one individual here for public comment. Um, we follow policy BDH uh for public comment. Um, we have a threem minute timer um that we have for public comment. Uh, and I just ask that all your comments are addressed to me as the chair. And if you hear the buzzer go off or see the time go out, just please work to wrap up your comments. [laughter] Thank you. All right. My name is Linda Googans. I live in North Yarmouth and I'm here regarding the lack of the ESP contracts. It is quite disturbing to the town residents that this is happening again. These employees deserve more

019respect. My feeling is that there are two types of employees. Those that do just enough to squeak by and those that go above and beyond. If you find an employee that does an exceptional job, you should pay them what it takes to keep them. I myself worked as a recess lunch aid here for three years. I left that position two years ago. My rate of pay for all three years was $15 an hour. No rates for all three years. Not much incentives to stay. I'm currently the director of the afterare program at Grilly Middle School. My job is a lot like theirs. As many as 10 different children with 10 different personalities and 10 different issues come up to me all at once. Each of them feel that their situation is imperative. As it is

020with the school employees, it is challenging, but it is also rewarding to build relationships with these kids. The difference is I do feel appreciated by my employer, the town of Cumberland, and I'm well compensated for my position. I wish these folks who have devoted 10, 20, 30 or more years to the schools could feel the same way. These people comfort your children, your children, when they're hurt, scared, sad, or sick. They're loving, kind, compassionate, nurturing, patient, and calm in very difficult situations. To make them beg for a fair wage is shameful. My mom, Judy Maddox, taught second grade in this school system for 35 years. I remember her coming home completely drained. But she recalls her students would often mistakenly call her mom. That is how close these children get to the adults in the

021schools. It's priceless. I've been thinking of one particular employee here who is going through a very difficult time. Personally, this person is bombarded by kids one after another all day long. This person always has a smile for all of them. Always. I want this person and all of them to feel appreciated. I am sure most of you have had birthday parties for your kids. They invite all their friends. It's loud. It's chaotic. And when it's over, you're like, "Phew, that was insane." That is actually what the environment that these people work at in every day. I also bet the majority of you have spent $150, maybe $200 on a meal at a restaurant for your family recently. I doubt many of these workers can do that despite having college degrees just like you. I suspect

022there is one major player in this who's not here tonight that can resolve this problem quite quickly. [laughter] Please do the right thing and next go around I hope it's done on time. Thank you. And I also want to thank you all for your volunteer work. >> Thank you. >> I appreciate it and I appreciate you looking at me because the North Yama Select Board does not do that. They ignore. [laughter] >> Thank you. Thank you. And I appreciate you being here this evening. And um yeah, I mean you're welcome to stay. [laughter] >> Come on. >> Okay. >> All right. Now we are going to move on to presentations and um Jeff has or Superintendent Porter, sorry, has the 2024 25 annual report. Yes, good evening. I do have it. It should be up

023on the screen soon. Hopefully. >> I'm so not trained yet to look this way. >> Unless I did not I might not have mirror screened it. Let me just mirror screen that again. There we go. All right. This is the annual report you've all been waiting for. 202425. So the annual report as you know we go back a year because we have all the statistics and information um from the prior year and um this time of year I um come to you and present that information and it becomes part of a public document. It's put on our website and will replace the uh 2000 or will become part of the record of the u the annual report on the website. Um so I'll start with a preface. Um school and school districts are complicated. um

024they're not um easy organizations to understand internally or externally. Um and that's because we have a lot of human beings that are part of our organization and that's what makes it complex and and at the same time wonderful. No one data source uh will tell the story or predict the out the overall health of this organization. So looking at one particular data point isn't it obviously but looking at things comprehensively is obviously important. Healthy district relies on multiple indicators for determining student success. And this is just one snapshot of the district. You'll notice that I we've added in this year um two years going back. You can also go back and look at our annual reports and go back uh 10 years and look at data or more data [snorts] points that provide more detail

025about the accomplishments and challenges facing the district, its students and its staff. And this is also a good way of looking at trending over a period of time and seeing how we're doing in certain areas. So, we'll just start with some numbers. Um, this is demographic information. Um, this is not comparative at this point. I've done that enrollment uh report for you, but right now we have 2,234 students in our district, 444 faculty and staff uh regular faculty and staff, parents and guardians. I'm always asked, "What's that number mean? Won't you double the number of students you have?" No, because some some of you have many kids in the district. And that's why there's not as many parents. You have so many. >> Um, some have more than others. Four schools, three buildings. That will

026be soon four buildings. It's 3.2 buildings right now with a foundation. um two towns, one campus, and of course the one and only Ranger Nation. So, our staff um an upgrade we made this year is to actually put the percentages um actually I believe that came from the board chair um is to make sure that those percentages were seen. So, you can hover and when you um have this report and I think it's in your packet at this point and also on the website, you'll be able to hover and see the percentage um in each staff group um that we employ in the district. So you can see obviously the lion share um of our district is our instructional staff um in the district. And right now I'm having a little trouble bringing that up

027>> um with the percentages 758% of our total staff um works uh as instructional staff whether teachers, specialists, edte um and then the percentages go from there. Um and you can kind of hover above that and look at those percentages as you go. Also, our our staff is um you know have many degrees um and 231 of our uh total staff have a master's degree or higher. Um bachelor's degree uh 115 12 have a doctorate and four have a CAS or certificate of advanced study which is between a doctorate and a master's degree. So well educated staff members in our district and these are just a few of the photos of our staff um in our schools and um enjoying themselves. So student data um these numbers are really important to look at over time

028and you've got two years of data now. Um we have a lot more than two years but we've just wanted to put two years in front of you so you can compare very quickly those data points. 50% of our students at the high school are taking um at least one AP or IB course. Um and that's up over the last two years where we had um in the 40 45 and 42%. So that's good news. That's always a number we want to see trending up. Students are taking advantage of taking more rigorous courses at the high school. And then enrollment in three or more AP and IB courses is at 16%. Again, that number is up um from 14% last year and 13% the year before. So again, we're looking at those numbers going up

029and it's very positive development and actually post pandemic, we've seen these numbers generally go up as students are um you know taking more rigorous courses. 95% of our students um were taking some sort of or going to some sort of post-secary enrollment whether it's two years or four years. Um and that's up uh quite a bit from the year before. and um 85% and 89% the year before that. Um that's very specific to a cohort and that's a senior class each year that we look at that percentage of course um attending postsecary enrollment. And then our graduation rate is held steady for the most part 97% um and that's 97% last year and 99% the year before. That generally does not tell all the story. um we um get closer to 100% over the three

030months after graduation, but this is the number that we use for the June graduation. Um as students uh graduate um that number can go up and the state has allowed um that number to go up over a period of time. Now that was a change in law. AP exams um that have a score of three or more, three is a um a passing exam uh is 87%. So that's way up over the previous two years. And then IB score, IB exams, um, pretty much more or less steady. 77% of students passing with a four or more. Um, that's a little bit down from the year before, 80% and 85% the year before that. Mari Trabilcock um a few weeks ago uh presented this information. So I'm not going to go into a lot of detail

031about math, reading, and science. Um just to show you that it is part of the annual report and this is a percentage at or above grade level standard. She did present that in detail. Um so this is just a summary as part of our annual report and again I will not go through that again. Um same thing with I Ready. she provided that information um as well in more detail um so you can see how that compares. We've put the previous two years um on this page so it's easy to read and to quickly look at for people in the public that would like to know. But again, I'm not going to go through this again, but just to let you know, it's in the annual report. Enrollment um daily average um attendance or average

032daily attendance um is 95%. Uh we've been working on making sure students are at school. You'll see principles putting messages out constantly. That it's been one of our goals, strategic goals. Uh that was approved by the board earlier this year. Um so we're holding steady at 95%. It was uh 95% last year and then it was 94% the year before. So it's just a goal we want to continue seeing. Obviously, our chronic absenteeism rates um are a different number and we continue to work on decreasing the amount of students and we've made headway in that area as well. And then looking at um race and legal gender in our district, we have those numbers as well. I've given you the enrollment report. Again, this is just summary. Um this is some additional information uh looking

033at homeschooling alternative education uh the number of students that are attending uh paths um students that are involved in pathways projects private and charter schools again I gave you this information as as part of the enrollment report so I won't go through this in a lot of detail superintendent agreements in and out but again we put all this information in one place for you um as part of the annual report and for the public. So these are student service um data points. This is not stuff that um we have presented uh except usually during the annual report. So I'll go through this a little bit more in detail. 75% of our students um are participating in athletics and that's at the high school and middle school level. And that's post that's up which is a

034good sign. We've been seeing a steady increase since the pandemic with students um participating in athletics which is great great to see. And that's at least one um athletic season. So if if they if a student participates in two or three, we don't count them again. We just count them once if they've participated. Special education services, we um we're at 13 and a half%. That's just a little bit higher than the year before. It's about a percent higher than two years ago for students who are identified. Restraints and seclusions. Um we have 64 of steering and seclusions last year which is up quite a bit um from um the prior year at 29. That shouldn't be 32%. That's actually 32. There shouldn't be a 30 a percent sign there. [snorts] Um and the reason that

035that number is up is um it's the total number of restraints and seclusions. It doesn't mean that there has been that many students have received a restraint in seclusion. So some students um in that number might have received multiple restraints and seclusions and that's why that number is up. Section 504 academic and medical um hasn't really changed much in the last year. 8% of our students are identified. That's just a little bit below last year and it was 8.9% two years ago. Number of students who are truent or and that's a state definition. We have to follow a state protocol on truency. um number of days that a student is missing in a certain period of time. It's at 0.2%. >> Is that typically below 90%? >> What's that? >> Is that typ sorry is

036that typically below 90% for truency if so if you had an 89% attendance rate that would be you're probably truent you've missed more than 10% of days of school probably. Right. >> Correct. Okay. >> Yes. >> So 2% of our students are considered truent and point that's again we're making some progress in that area. um just incrementally over the last two years and again as we get away from the pandemic some of these numbers do improve number of sus uh students who are suspended last year 27 that is up um from the previous two years um and again sometimes we have students that are um suspended multiple times in a year and um I believe that is the case in this particular number as well and then risk assessments um so this is a number

037that's slightly up from the year before and certainly up from two years ago. Part of that, I think, is that we're we're doing a better job identifying students that might need a risk assessment and making sure that they are getting those risk assessments. We have a risk assessment coordinator for the district. Um, and that certainly helps in in communicating with the social workers and the counselors and making sure that um if a student needs a risk assessment that is being handled and even if there's a question mark um it is being handled. And do you know Jeeoff is that this similar where um there might have been a student who's had more than one risk assessment? >> Yes, that's true. Okay. >> Yep. Students can have multiple risk assessments. So that would uh it's not

038just the students, it's the actual number that we've conducted. >> So there are students that have multiple risk assessments done in one year. >> So going back a year um and just a reminder, these were things that happened in 2024 25 that were strategic priorities. Those were approved by the board and I do provide those reports uh three times a year. 2U portrait of a learner was a big um activity last year. The one campus design obviously in the building committee um huge activity in 2425. The SRRF project at MIW that was completed for windows and doors. The cyber security plan upgrading all of the school level emergency plans to align with our district emergency plan. vertical articulation of math preK to 12. Mari Belulco worked on that with a group of teachers. Um, as

039you know, the pilot of the literacy programs last year led to the adoption of the CKLA program for K through five this year. Chronic absenteeism, which continues to be a goal this year, and then uh supporting staff plan, which had been in place for about three years prior as well. the annual stakeholder surveys. Um, again, this was from last year. You've already received a report on this, so I won't go into a lot of detail on this. So, a lot of this, the annual report is summarizing information that you've um received in other reports and that we've put out publicly in other reports, but we're just putting it in one place for you and for the public so they can go and every year look at this information. And by the way, we start those

040stakeholder surveys. I know everyone loves surveys. we start those all over again. We start the cycle in January um with all three of our stakeholder surveys um students, staff, and parents. Um we'll be putting that out starting in January and into February. And then again, um this was last year's budget. Again, I won't go through this um as you've had budget reports and presentations, but um it is your summary. So, this is what you've probably [music] all been waiting for. There's a the urine review. [music] >> [music] [music] >> And in case you couldn't read as quickly as we wanted you to, there. This video will be on our website and you can watch it a hundred times if you want to. >> Um, and again, this is there's many ways to connect with us.

041There's many ways that we communicate out. These are all the ways that we do that and hopefully we reach people in some way as we're communicating. This photo on this page is actually at the top um when Eric Brown was notified that he um was a I believe he was either the I we hadn't notified him that he was actually employee of the year. who's one of the finalists, but it was an impromptu. It was it was a great experience. There was a bunch of kids walking down the hall and they were like, "What's going on around here?" And we're like, "Do you want to be in on this this opportunity this this kind of photo op?" They were like, "Yes, we do." And so they kind of was just a very impromptu moment. >>

042Any opportunity to do rabbit ears. >> What's that? >> Any opportunity to do rabbit? >> Oh, rabbit ears is This is middle school. This is We're in a middle school here. You have to do that. It's required. [laughter] Um and then just a reminder that we do have and this has been updated now um for this report. We do have a data dashboard um and this uh all this data has been as I mentioned has been uh completely um updated for the 2425 school year now that we've got all the information. You can click on any of the tabs um and go to this information um whether it's enrollment, budget, um academics, staff data, and student services data. So, it doesn't matter what tab you go to, there's graphs you can look in more detail

043at the data. Um and a big uh thank you to Melissa Porter for keeping all this stuff current um and making sure. So, the information that you just saw in some of the report, you also see mirrored here, plus a lot more detail. So that's something that um we continue to um offer to the community if they want to know more about the district. So and that is the annual report. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> It's really a summary. >> Kudos to Melissa and I know she she was even doing things when she was out sick. So >> she [laughter] was >> um I have just a couple quick questions. I don't know if others do. Um on the other enrollment data slide, um the pathways program, I noticed that the numbers um there were

044down quite a bit. And do you have some context to why that? >> Well, we had a switch, we've had switches in teachers and um different focus areas were um or um the specialist who was our pathway specialist and different focus areas for that person in what they're doing. >> Okay. So this was a a big um you know focus of the person that was in the position before the prior year and this has been something that's that changed over the year. >> Okay. >> And so we have a new specialist who has different areas of interest. So we are kind of digging into this data and how we present this information >> and how we can present it in the future. I did ask that question, you know, with any numbers that were discrepant

045>> and can for those who aren't aware and I only am now because I do have kids of high school age. Can you just and it's because it's a little confusing. We have the paths and when we have the pathways and can you just maybe give a little bit of a overview of >> So paths is um Portland Arts and Technology High School and that's the number of students 17 students that uh last year attended uh PATHs >> and they they go there daily. They go there for half a day. Half a day. >> Yeah. So, they go there in the morning, they come back um for the afternoon uh at the high school >> and they enroll in a program. They're accepted [snorts] into a program at PATS. And there's a variety of programs.

046Actually, our entire high school staff will be going to PATHs in February during the staff day. Um and learning more about the programs that are offered at PATS and understanding where our students are going for half their day um that attend that that program. We've also had a couple students, not last year, but we've had students in the past that attend the Westbrook Regional Vocational Center as well for programs that they offer that PATS doesn't. So, Pathways is our internal program. Um, so it's at our high school, we have a specialist students can get credit for a an independent project um or something that they're interested in and they we work with the department. the specialist works with the department to make sure they can get credit for studying something independently and doing an independent

047project and that's completely within our high school. >> Okay. >> So that's the difference between the two. >> Yeah. And I I probably remember hearing more about it when the numbers were a bit higher and was was quite a bit few kids participating and having opportunities. >> There was a symposium for a couple of years. >> So there's just a different focus right now with pathways and we'll provide more information on that if you'd like. Yeah. Do you know if the numbers are higher again this year? And >> well, it's we look at it from two different semesters. So, I couldn't give you those numbers yet because we had the >> the second semester. >> Um students take that usually for a semester. They don't take it for the whole year. >> Okay. >> Monica.

048>> Well, I had the same question as you about pathways. So, I would definitely say yes if we can get more information about that at some point when it's available. >> Happy to do that. Great. Um, my other question was around the restraints and seclusions and suspensions and just wondering are there actions that um, an increase in numbers in those areas would would lead to in terms of looking at how we can reduce those. Yeah, that might be another conversation that's >> Yeah, when I looked into that again, it was specific there were specific students where there was just multiple occasions of that um where a student had a suspension. We try also do in school suspension as much as possible. >> So a lot of >> in school suspensions these are both school any

049sort of suspension in school or out of school suspension is counted in this number. >> So the vast majority we really try very hard not to do out of school suspension. Mhm. >> Most of the suspensions that I see and I get a copy of all the suspension reports um are in school suspension. >> Sure. Yeah. And I understand that certainly just like one year wouldn't necessarily lead to >> right >> an action plan, but if that was something that we were seeing as a pattern over time that we would want to >> right >> look at. Okay. >> And do you know if it middle school or high school or is it a mix of both? >> Um for suspensions is both schools. Um so it's a mix of both. I just want to

050double check that. It says 6 to 12. I was I guess the pattern I was wondering if it was >> um definitely more high school. I mean high school is where you're going to get more suspensions. So it it's definitely more high school. >> Thank you. Other questions? >> Those are my questions. >> Good. We covered it. >> Okay. I can get you some more information on pathways. I know that number looks a little different. Are we welcome to tag along to that day in February to paths? >> What's that? >> Are we welcome to tag along to that day in paths? >> Um, I would have to check on that because right now it's it's for staff only that I know of, but I can ask the question if you like >> or maybe

051we get our own day. I don't know. >> I can ask the question. Sean, thank [laughter] you. Yeah. >> With regard to um superintendent agreements in versus out, do you take into consideration the to try to balance the numbers or is each case its own >> each case is this its own because state law says that it has to be in the best interest of the student. >> Okay. >> So that's the parameter that both superintendents have to operate under. >> Okay. Okay. >> You know what makes sense for the student. So it's certainly I don't look at numbers when I'm looking at those. Okay. >> The only time I look at a number would be do we have room for in our classes. So if we have especially at Mayai Wilson, you know, for

052a long time there was there's a lot of nos that I've had to say I'm sorry, we can't do that because we don't have space. >> Yeah. >> The high school I we probably said no several times this year um because um there were a couple staff reductions and our enrollment went up more than we expected. So some of our class sizes were larger. And so I always work with a principal on that and we look at our sections and our class sizes. >> So it's really student by student, but it also has to do with do we have space? Can we do it? >> And can you remind us how the funding works with that? >> It's it's um runs through the EPS formula. It's based on a student. So if a student goes

053out of our district, the funding goes with the student to the new district. Same thing in reverse. So even though we're bringing in more than we're taking out, we're the >> we're rece Yeah. We count them as our student, we get funding >> for them. Yep. >> And once we take a student, say in whatever grade, is it just the expectation that we're going to >> Yes. >> Okay. That's the most part. Unless there's a problem. >> Yeah. I I can only count three or four times that I can think of over the years where I've had to say to a parent, "This isn't working, and I'm sorry, your child's not going to be able to come back next year." >> Okay, that's kind of what I figured. >> Okay. >> But generally, when you

054accept a student, that's it. >> Yep. >> Yeah. >> Great. Other questions? >> Um, first I want to say again, kudos to Melissa Porter. This is really well laid out and like clean and and easy to see. Um, and then also kudos to you, Jeff, for the post-secary culture you've created. I feel like we're in a time where going to college is uh much more difficult and a little bit like, you know, it people put a lot of thought towards it, but to see the increases in AP and your post-secary enrollment, that's really impressive. That's really awesome. Um I think my question is around um some of the data around suspensions truency the restraints risk stuff. Um I I think I'm curious about how that have you if you've seen that how that breaks down

055by grade level. So, for example, truency and I think it's very common for K through like 8 to have high uh attendance rates and low truency, but then high school is really where you start seeing that. So, if we were to look at truency or suspensions, like I I've heard more behavioral issues in the middle school. Have you looked at this by building? And can you if so, can you tell us a little bit about like are these aggregate numbers on par with like how each building breaks down or would you say nah there's pretty disperate numbers in let's say the high school versus middle school? >> Um it is it is really across the board. I can't say there's any one building. Um at the high school obviously I mean these are the truency

056numbers is quite low but >> um at the high school level there are students that make their own decisions. Obviously they're old enough to make their own decisions and so we try to help them. Is there something else you want to do if they get to that place? We don't have a lot of students in that spot. Some districts we're talking about large numbers of students that are making different choices about what they want to do. But with truency it's usually because a student is not wanting to be here at the high school level. It's not for other reasons. At lower grades, obviously there might be more to it. It might be a parent or home situation where the student isn't able to get to school and that's why they're right. >> But at the

057high school level, they're making a decision. I think our counselors do a great job when they pick up on a student that is in that spot. Are there other things that we can do to help you graduate and be at school and and those kind of pieces? Sometimes a student will have a disability where they have we have several um where coming to school is just really difficult for them. This it's an anxiety producing environment no matter what we do. So we try our best to try to see if we can work with that student to get them to come to school. >> It's really low and if you look at your other attendance it's also pretty good and that you said that that's been a core focus for a while and >> making sure

058students are here. Yep. Do you think that that'll be a core focus next year? Obviously, we want kids to be here, but it's like are we going to okay [snorts] that what we've done is working. Now, let's move towards let's say some of the behavioral issues that we have and stuff. >> I think um I'm not sure if we've talked about this as a leadership team. Do we need to keep working on something, but we're also worried that if we stop focusing [laughter] on it that we're going to start seeing those truency and chronic absenteeism numbers go back up and we're making improvements. So, we want to keep that's why we've decided that we wanted to keep pace with that this year and make sure that we weren't just dropping that. I will say that

059when the board supported a second uh AP at the high school, I saw a real dramatic change because they are on top of attendance in ways that they were not able to do before. >> Um, both assistant principles are able to stay on top of those attendance rates. They're assigned to different classes and when kids are out, they're following up. They're working with the counselors and social workers to follow up, making sure that the kids aren't just out for long periods of time and no one's noticing. So, that second AP at the high school has made a big difference. >> And Mari has spoken about how attendance is still very a top priority for her. I >> I can't remember if she did it at a meeting or if this is just in our equity

060committee, but yeah, if you have any questions about attendance, Marie is on top of that. >> Yep. And that's a leadership um goal and and certainly for the whole leadership team, it's a strategic goal that we've been working on. But Mari's very involved in that. >> I'm just really happy you didn't report tardies because >> what's that? [laughter] I'm happy tardies aren't reported because I would probably want >> but I will say that tardies that is but that's an area that's interesting that you say that because a couple years ago and again I don't want to talk about just the high school but um when we went back to 7:50 in the morning to start >> we noticed that the line of kids um that were tardy had increased a lot and kids were actually

061I've actually was in a meeting where kids said >> um they were giving us feedback like that's part of the reason we're tardy. So, um, we have made a concerted effort. I think the administration made a really concerted effort at the high school to start working on tardiness now. So, now they worked on this. Now, let's work on tardiness. And the tardiness numbers have dropped a little bit. >> Do you see that, Katie? >> It's better than that line [laughter] that was at the office. >> Well, it took a couple years to get used to it. Yeah. >> Not saying that. Is that you? But [laughter] >> I can't. I was late today. I'm sorry, guys. Sorry. >> We took a picture of that. So, [laughter] That's in the superintendent's report. >> But I don't

062I think people are generally on time. I don't see kids really coming into my classes late, my first period classes. Not really. Yeah. >> Great. Other questions? >> Awesome. Thank you. >> Well, I say thank you. You're you're up next, too. Superintendent report. [laughter] You [gasps] can >> just say ditto. >> Yeah. >> [clears throat] >> All right. December 18th edition of the superintendent report. Um May I Wilson School reading buddies uh Mr. Stevens and Miss Soulberg's classes teamed up um and uh read to each other. So these are second graders reading with kindergarteners um and they do that every week and they keep the same buddies for the year. It really um cultivates strong connections uh within the school as positive role models is again just part of the culture building and it brings

063the school community together. So that's just a snapshot of the kids involved in that gley uh middle school 45. This is part again part of our new literacy program CKLA which combines science and social studies really I think brilliantly into um the literacy program. And so this is just another topic. I think I brought this to you a few weeks ago. There was a topic of interest. Um this is another one that's high interest. Castles. So fourth graders are learning about medieval castles and medieval times um as part of CKLA and then designing and painting the castles in art class to go along with that. So that correlation with the allied arts. So, it's really um I've been in a few classrooms now where CKLA is being taught and I think that connection to social

064studies and science which often gets lost at the elementary school level um is really um it's very high interest stuff. It's really interesting. There's one class I was in was talking all about snakes and I'm like gh but you [laughter] know kids were fascinated. They loved it. peer mentoring fifth grade scientists learning from seventh grade scientists again connections um between students that are older and younger um in the academic program open mic at GMS uh Mrs. Goodwin Bobby Goodwin who is a uh one of the counselors at the middle school um host has hosted uh open mics at GMS where kids can say something perform whatever you want to do I think Dr. Selby has taken his um uh guitar and and performed in front of the kids as well. And then kids stand there

065and just kind of listen and hang out and uh watch each other perform. Spirit week at GMS68. See the staff gets into it sometimes more than the kids. Um and I love the hairdo on the student, the young student there. Um that's that's a great spirit week. >> Movember, shout out to Coin Donnelly. Actually, Coin was here last meeting >> um as part of the Guinea Reeds um drumming >> who was the winner of the November men's health men's mental health awareness month challenge and I don't know Katie what initiative where where did this come from because I know this is >> um it's Kyle Cares. It's definitely through Kyle Cares and it's to just raise awareness for men's mental health and growing a mustache to show it off and I know some teachers were

066included in that too. >> [laughter] >> Great. >> Then there's >> students who can't grow a mustache. >> Real hard. >> Keep trying. [laughter] >> Um double header Tuesday night. Uh just basketball just highlights. T the concert season. There's um actually I think the high school had three concerts last week alone. Um this was the high school coral concert um conducted by Sarah Bailey and the Madreals had a concert and there was a jazz uh band concert I think last week as well as well as concerts at the other schools. And over the Thanksgiving week um Kim McDonald who's a French teacher at the high school also the IB coordinator at the high school um she took 19 students with her to France. She just decided hey let's go to France one day. Confolence, I

067think I'm saying that right, France. Um, and they had a wonderful time over there. Um, and then I believe it's February or March, um, there will be a return trip. So, students from France, um, will be coming to Gley High School and spending a week here, which is exciting. One campus project, there's actually been a lot of activity. Not that there hasn't been since the beginning, but things are really starting to shape up. In fact, today was one of the largest concrete pourings at the new prek1 school, I think, since the project has started. Um, so a lot of the foundation is really um starting to come come into fruition. And in January, mid January to late January, we'll start seeing um iron and steel going up at the prek1 school. Even though the foundation

068won't quite be done by then, they'll be starting on the areas that are done. at the Mabel I Wilson School. Um if you've driven by it, you'll see that actually this these pictures are dated. Um the framing the exterior walls are being framed and that's now on the second floor that's been completed. So they'll be now enclosing those uh walls in and the maintenance building um will start um they actually we received our occupancy permit for the new maintenance building today by the town of Cumberland. Thank you, uh, Bill Longley who's, um, who issued that. We appreciate it. Um, and the, uh, maintenance department or the maintenance department's been moving in all week slowly. It's not completely done. There's still some things that need to be completed on that building. They'll be done in the

069next few days hopefully. Um, but at least uh, we can um, really move into start moving into that building and get done. The abatement of the current building will start on January 5th. It will take a month. Um and after it is abated, it we have a Great Falls is developing a plan that they'll share with us um as to um demolishing the building after that. So that's kind of the timeline. I expect that to happen probably in February sometime. And don't forget, this is a big don't forget. We'll have this in the newsletter on the 5th. Please don't forget um full day of school on Wednesday the 7th, even though it's kind of out of sequence for what we normally do. Um but if you recall the calendar was approved that way. So we

070just want to make sure everyone is reminded is a full day on the 7th not a half day. I just want to say um felt remiss if I didn't say this. Um please keep your thoughts with the families and school communities of the u two children um who lost their life in the last month um in Rockland and in Bonnie Eagle. So Braden Callahan and Simon Gonzalez. And happy holidays to everyone. That's my report. >> Thank you. All right. Now, we'll move to committee reports and we'll start it off with Katie. Hi, guys. Okay, so I'm riding solo today. Sad Caitlyn's in Hawaii. [laughter] Whatever. Um, first of all, huge congrats to the football team. Again, I think that they have a really big impact at Gley and sometimes you don't even like realize that

071until like a season's over and then you look back and you realize like, wow, that team was not only super successful and watching them play was like a constant community building activity, but they were also really inclusive. And that's really important, especially to see like really like cool and like interesting and like popular football guys being super inclusive and kind to literally everyone that they encounter. And I think that's just a great role model for all ages. So that's super cool. They kill it. Um, also at the high school, I was also going to talk about the France trip because as students are coming back, we just every single time that they do a France trip like this, they the kids come back and they have like the most awesome stories about their experiences there

072and they're just really grateful for the opportunity to go and cuz some people never get to go to Europe and go and see that type of thing and they're really grateful that they get to in their high school experience. I think that's really important and they think so. They they think so too. So, we get to see some really cool pictures and hear cool stories, too. Um, also, and I'm excited to meet the French students when they come, too, in March. Um, we have enrichment tomorrow. That's exciting. It's like a an extended advisory schedule. So, our class periods are a little bit shorter and then we have a larger advisory block. And during that time, you can do like a number of activities that you sign up um for through the same system that we

073would use to sign up for like Ranger support time, but a bunch of different activities are offered. And like I'm doing yoga tomorrow, so like that's super exciting. And it's like Christmas themed or like uh holiday themed. So I'm excited about that. And I love enrichment. I think it's a really great addition to our schedule. Um also college here are coming back, which is so exciting. And I swear every day I open up my phone and there's a new commitment and Caitlyn's one and only request in her absence is that I shout out Ethan who's hiding back there because he got into Nor EASTER [applause] and that's a that's awesome >> and that's awesome. It's a really great school and I know that a lot of people are super proud and impressed. So yeah, that's

074all I have. But I think it's going to be a lovely transition into the holiday season and kids are already getting excited for their large break. >> Yeah. Right. Longest >> seven years. >> Yeah. Longest you've ever had, right? >> Coming off the I think the longest summer break, too. >> Awesome. Yeah. So, >> enjoy it. All right, Kim. Finance. Okay. We had a meeting last Friday. Um, we spent a huge bulk of it talking about the uh the budget not only for fiscal year 2627 which just to keep it short I'll say fiscical year 27th but also fiscal year 28 because that is when the um new primary school will be open and so we are looking at uh how to spread it out a little bit so that we're not adding too much

075next year but also not creating a [clears throat] huge increase in 28 when we have more staff uh more utilities things like that. So we are uh we've spent a lot of time looking at particularly staff positions and when they will be needed and and how to to think that through. Uh we also got an update from Scott on our bonding for the one campus project and the ban uh the second ban is now online. Um it was came in at our projected rate of 4% interest. Uh some of that conversation was also around how we use our fund balance, how we get a fund balance. um you where that money comes from, but also the importance of keeping a a reasonably uh sizable fund balance, which is a very very tricky line to walk

076because that means it's money that was budgeted for that didn't end up getting used. So, for example, if a staff member uh if we have budgeted for their entire family to be on health insurance to receive health insurance benefits and then it's just that staff member that ends up taking it, that is money that we overbudgeted for health insurance. And so those sorts of funds that are impossible to predict when we vote on the budget in the spring, those sorts of funds are where our fund balance begins to grow. And the state is changing their formula. So they are expecting a larger fund balance or not maybe not expecting but allowing certainly and perhaps encouraging. And so that will be something that uh we have asked Jesse to look into whether or not we we

077need to adopt policy regarding fund balance uh because it does affect our bond rating which is still very very high but um our fund balance is being used for the one campus project and so we're going to want to look at how to boost that without boosting the budget. So that's fun. Um and then uh we are looking at scheduling an additional meeting because we feel that as a finance committee we want to come to our prek workshop with some very specific budget related questions regarding prek and we we realize that that's probably its own separate meeting. Uh we just didn't we weren't able to give it the time that we wanted to. So, we're looking at adding a meeting to our schedule just to focus on how we want to approach the conversation around

078a prek. That's it. >> Thanks, Kim. All right, Jesse. Policy. >> All right, policy. We met on Monday. We have a new policy for first read, but first uh we also discussed uh the naming of the new school. So, we got the tabulation results in. I don't know, Megan, if you want to share those or do you want me to share those? I would love to share that. >> All right, Megan's going to share the results and I'll talk about what policy did with them. >> You can do like a combined communications and policy. >> Should we do like a drum roll? >> All right. The um the votes are in and these are all the votes that were received electronically and at Mabel I Wilson which had an inperson vote. The entire school, all

079the students voted during library in little voting booths in the library got stickers. >> So, um, the most votes cast were for Carolyn F. Small, the small school, at 973 total. Gley primary came in second with 539. But importantly, that was the clear winner from Mabel I Wilson with Mabel I Wilson kids voting for Gley primary. So, it's an interesting setup. Um, Cornerstone Elementary >> total of >> for grand total of five uh 919, sorry, excuse me. Um, Cornerstone Elementary was third with 511 votes and Broadmore was fourth, 375 total. Total votes 2778. So, with that knowledge policy, we talked uh about the the foreign names. Um, and I think where we ended was uh we thought the two uh names with the the highest totals, Carol F. Small, the small school and Gley Primary

080School uh would be the ones we would recommend to to move forward for the board to consider. Uh, and we also talked about um the idea that it would be worthwhile to have um some sort of public hearing so that folks who I mean so folks have already voted but uh give folks an opportunity to come and speak at a special comment section about >> which of those names they might prefer and why and share stories or perspectives. um so that we're really taking uh sort of community voices into consideration before we as a board decide whether to choose one of those two names or not or to choose any other name we might like. But yeah, those so those two are the uh Carol F. Small and uh Gley Primary, the ones we wanted

081to sort of forward to the board um yeah, and recommend that we first have a public hearing um to hear from folks in the community before we consider it. >> Did you have a date in mind? I did not have a date in mind. The next board meeting, I mean, enough time to let the community know and to put notice out there so that folks can make sure they attend. And I believe Jeff said there's not a super rush, but we want to get the name locked down before March at the latest. >> So maybe two board meetings hence. >> Yeah, I think maybe February 5th might be a good one. >> Yeah. Enough time that we want to make sure we community knows so that folks can come out. Uh and then so we

082have a first read policy. Uh so this is policy K public concerns and complaints. This was last revised in 2017. So we took a fresh look uh and we decided to start with the MSMA sample policy which there was an updated one. Um so we basically used that and made tweaks uh to the MSMA sample policy. Um, so I believe the MSMA sample policy is what's in black. There's some some things some things that we've struck out. [laughter] >> And there's >> there's also some uh some additions. Uh so you'll notice we added a additional uh introductory sentence just consistent with board policies and practices to promote open communication with community stakeholders um to highlight that we want you know if folks have concerns and complaints we would like to hear them. Um we removed

083B the second exception uh because we do not have a policy keb so that doesn't apply to us. Um, and then these other two pieces. Uh, so if a concern or complaint section, um, we just made that district specific. So instructional support. I'm aware that there's an extra comma in front of between transportation and director there. So we will fix that. Um, yeah, we had superintendent and then school board. One of the changes we made here was uh to add some language around um where things can be uh not appealed to but raised to the next level. Um and so we did add language about uh concerns specifically about a superintendent because you know he in the sample policy is sort of where where things end. Uh and then uh if they're not resolved at

084the superintendent level then the board chair gets involved. But we also added language that if there's concerns about the spec superintendent specifically, those can be brought to the board chairperson uh and then they could consult with the whole board if necessary. Um yeah, and the gist of this policy is just that public complaints or concerns should be heard at the sort of lowest possible level and it spells that out and then they can go up up and up and up till they get to the superintendent uh or to the board chairperson to to resolve those. Um yeah, we think it's a little more straightforward than the um version we had previously. If anybody has any comments, concerns, questions, we would be happy to take them. >> Can I add one little piece of cont? >>

085Yes, please. I didn't do that. Uh this one was a tough one for policy. I think it not in that it was like contentious, but I think we struggled with finding the right feel for it because and we and this we spent maybe three meetings talking about this and going back and drafting and um because we wanted we didn't want the public to feel like we weren't open to conversation or that to feel like there was a policy for the public that they couldn't communicate to us. But also, we wanted to encourage the public to try other methods at the school level as appropriate because our hands in most cases are tied. Like we're not taking action because we hear something's gone on at the school if it hasn't gotten to a certain level, right?

086But we also didn't, you know, we don't want to discourage some of those conversations. And so we've been trying to find the right tone where it's a policy for the board members but well as informing the public like what to expect and what they should probably do first. What are the necessary steps? But this was a really tough one to to get the right tone of we're receptive to hearing to you but also you like here like this these are the paths forward that you should take. Um, and so as you read it, like we ask that, you know, have that in mind about like is this is this the tone that you want set? Um, because I think we struggled with it. I think we came to a pretty decent compromise with what that

087looks like, but if I read it again, I'll probably change my mind. So, I'm not looking at it. [laughter] >> So, I have a question. >> Yeah. >> Um, and perhaps this was discussed, so I'd like to hear the process. Um, how how do you determine that a complaint or concern has been resolved? >> What is the definition of resolved? >> I think that would that would depend on the person bringing the concern or complaint. And so as it's laid out here, uh the concern or complaint should I mean if they're about us, they can bring it to um public comment, but if it's about a teacher or somebody something specific to the school, they should bring it to the lowest possible level, right? So they should bring it to the principal, say uh and

088in here it does say that if basically the issue isn't resolved, like the the person that they are dealing with should make them aware who the next person they could appeal to is right. So if I as a parent have a complaint about something, I would go, you know, to one of the principles, right? I feel like they didn't resolve my issue. Uh according to this policy, it's incumbent upon the princ the principal to say, and if I'm like, I don't feel like this is resolved. They should tell me, well, you can appeal this to, you know, so and so and give them they should be giving me their contact information. And so then I could appeal it up to the next level, you know, director of education, whoever eventually to Jeff. And if I

089still am just like, I don't think you're doing anything about this and I'm doesn't feel resolved, then Jeff, according to this policy should say, well, you can bring it up with the board chairperson and they, you know, they and I will get together. So, I think that's that's the idea is that we want issues to be resolved at the lowest possible level, but that they can go all the way up to the superintendent and then to the board chair if a person doesn't feel >> that it's resolved. the onus is on the person who has the complaint, right? To determine that it has not been resolved, which I I know sounds kind of logical, but um >> I I guess it just it I don't know if maybe it needs to be stated, but that

090the this is from the perspective of the person who filed the complaint that they are not satisfied >> correct >> with the resolution. So, >> Mhm. >> Okay. If that Yeah, it Yeah, it still feels just a tiny bit vague to me, but maybe it needs to be vague. >> I think it is. I mean, I think it is vague because it's a policy and not a procedure. >> Yeah. >> But it's the outline is like resolve the issue at the lowest level and then you bring it up until >> No, I get that. It's just Yeah. By resolved. >> I I I guess I just I'm trying I don't I'm not sure. >> There's so many types of concerns and complaints. I think it would be difficult to be specific. >> Sure. Sure. >>

091And resolution may not actually be Yeah. >> possible. >> Be possible. Right. >> Right. >> Yeah. And I guess my question I think is maybe along a similar vein like there's no formal like appeals process either being outlined. Right. Like it's like if if you're if you're not feeling uh that there's a resolution based on the level you're at, go talk to the next person. >> Right. >> Okay. >> And do we have I'm so sorry. I don't know why this is just not sitting well with me. Do we have a um any kind of expectation that that lower level, you know, the each each time the complaint comes that a record is kept of that? No, we didn't. We didn't previously and we don't in this current policy. >> Could that be discussed? >>

092Yeah, we can. Yeah, we we can take it up. >> What is your thought on that? Is that being too specific or just in light of >> a record you mean of of a complaint? >> Yeah. I mean, I will say that [clears throat] the ones that I I receive, I generally speaking, 90 something% are all in writing because somebody emails me usually. I mean, just speaking for myself. >> So, let's say that someone goes to a principal. Yeah. >> About a concern. They went to the teacher. >> Yeah. >> Now, they've gone to the principal. Is the principal required to to take notes to >> There's no requirement. Most most I will tell you, most administrators will take a note of the complaint. um they'll keep their own note of the complaint and then

093just to refresh themselves and then they will advise the person if it this sounds like well this is actually a a title n issue or it's something else that's policy then they'll advise them on what their next step would be and to get in touch with the title N coordinator things like that but if it's a more um informal complaint and it doesn't fall into those other areas then uh administrators generally do take notes I mean we train our administrators take notes so that you can refer back to those notes if you need to and say there was a complaint that was, you know, you know, most people will start with an email. They'll be invited in for a meeting. If it can't be resolved through the email or a phone call, then there's a

094meeting. That's usually how we handle it. I know I handle it that way. I know our administrators handle it that way. And if the meeting um you know, I know myself, I'll take a note after the meeting, make sure that, you know, I am refreshing myself on what that was. And I know administrators do that, too. That's just the way we we operate. >> Yeah. >> I'll try. >> Is there looking [clears throat] at the policy on the uh schoolboard website? Um there's a very distinct wording change here. Is there just I know there was a sample policy used. Was the other you weren't there then, but was that other policy based on another sample or is it do we feel in general policies are shifting away from a paragraph format to more of a

095bulleted style? I believe I believe that's the case. >> Okay. Because I feel like the other one kind of tells a narrative what >> has a tone. This seems very rigid and formal and doesn't give that this is the process. It just more like don't do this. >> Yeah. >> That's the kind of the feel I get out of this. So >> yeah. Yeah. I mean and that like Tim said, I think we we talked a lot about Yeah. how to how to write the policy and whether we just sort of keep it to sort of like the the facts of like how like what you do and why and what exemptions and whatever uh to like versus a more conversational sort of paragraph style. Um but I think most of the MSMA policies are

096sort of sample policies are sort of more just like because they are policies, right? They are not communication documents. And so that was one of the conversations we had was like, do we want this to be a communication piece or do we want somebody if they're ever looking at the policy to just know sort of like and we went with the bulleted one, but we did we did talk it through and we can look take another look and see if >> there are other ways to to soften it. But yeah, because it's a policy and not sort of a piece of communication to the community, I think that's why we came down with a more streamlined version was appropriate. And this is softer than the MSMA, but like I'll be honest, so I didn't like

097the tone of the our original. [clears throat] I thought it was too like I thought it was too directed and um towards the community as like almost slaps on the wrists for reaching out to us. Um, and then I be honest like I wrote one and we looked at my policy of like this is like Tim's and it was like almost the opposite end of that which was super friendly to and like more on us and be like sure you could reach out to us but like just know that we can't it was a little bit too warm and so we were trying to be like let's take all that emotion out of it and try to do something that's just to your point like just kind of like the facts and process but I

098think there is room and we added a little bit of warmth to I think there might be more room for to make sure that it aligns with our other policies and to Kim's point maybe more room to kind of be more clear about that here's the process of this what escalation stepups actually looks like because maybe it's missing that just a teeny bit because you got it it it doesn't read exactly like our other policies. I will say that it's it's a little bit uh thinner. >> Yes. [laughter] Yeah. Um I I was feeling like this is a little bit um too straightforward. Um and I'm really uncomfortable with any policy discouraging residents from coming to speak to us about concerns, even knowing that we can't always do something about it. But having the the

099com having the residents feel that they can come and speak to us and then we give them this process um of who to speak to. Um I would prefer the tone to be a little bit warmer. >> Yeah, I'll take a look. agreed that um it's important that we have parameters and recognize that um resolution is different for all parties. >> Like should it reference like the public comment policy? >> I does it directly >> I feel like this policy is more about a a complaint procedure. >> Yeah. Like I don't think it bars the public from talking to you about their I mean I feel like concerns is the wrong word to have in here. This is really about complaints. >> Yeah. >> Like something that needs to be fixed. >> Um not about

100your general concerns or comments about things that you have observed or worried about. >> That doesn't I don't I don't >> I don't know. It doesn't feel appropriate that that's barred here. >> Yeah. I think when we looked at this policy it's it's exactly that. that if you have a specific issue, right, like my kid got beat up on the playground and I would like to know how we're going to keep my kid from getting beat up on the playground, right? Like bring that to the school board. >> It's like, oh, is there a safety an issue? But like I can't solve it, right? Like you should go to the principal or the teacher first probably and they'll talk to the principal and and so on, right? So I think this is less about general

101I mean so maybe we need to remove the word concerns and just specific complaints. But yeah, I don't think there's anything here that says you can't talk to us about general things if you don't want to. But yeah, we can we can look at language if to see if we can uh clarify. >> I I um I sort of agree. I think I don't read this as being not warm enough. I if I had a question about what to do, I would go to policies and be like, "What do I do?" Oh, thank you for the clear information. Um, it may be helpful to provide a hierarchy of who to go to first. >> Um, because I don't know, I may not know who the person is. >> That's exactly the thing that came up

102for me, Megan, when I was reading it was kind of lowest level. >> What does that mean? >> Can we provide a little more information? And I saw that there was some language that was um taken out and not saying that that is exactly the right language to consider putting back in, but I had wondered if a little more definition around that could be helpful. >> Great. Anything else, Chelsea? Great. Thank you, Tim. Facilities. >> Okay. Well, we had an holiday present and we postponed Friday's meeting so to allow everyone to get out on break a little bit earlier for uh January 9th. So, I don't think we missed much anyway in terms of actual workday. Um I do want to note that um I've walked around the schools. I've been in touch um with

103Scott and with Peter Bingham and the the uh I feel like the schools really could use a little bit of a break itself and facilities. I know facilities is going and uh is going to work I think pretty hard at some point to I don't know clean up after all the dirt and sand that we've had. I think the schools are are I think it's amazing where they're at comp given how much traffic we get from activities, from sports, from I mean there's there's not even enough time sometimes to clean the gym in between activities. Um and so it's amazing they look as good as they do. And I know that um I'm sure the facilities is going to work some do some projects over the break because almost those things are always like happening.

104I always do. >> Um and so I I'm grateful for them to do that and all the work that they do regularly just to keep it in the the space that it is. So um the that's another just reminder to if you can bring other shoes if you're going to get on the gym or um gym floor and also like be aware of ice. There's a lot of black ice around. I've seen some people slip. So, um, we're going to address some of the those kind of projects in our our next meeting as well as some bigger things like HVAC. And then, um, I think I think that's we have the revolving renovation fund stuff. Uh, January 30th, right, is when we hear back on some of that stuff. So, that's that's going to impact

105like the rest of our year. But, um, so we've got a little time for that. But, other than that, our next meeting is the 9th. >> Great. Thanks Tim. Anukica curriculum. >> Okay. Uh so we last met on December 9th and the committee at that time decided to extend the strategic plan survey uh which now closes tomorrow. Um and after a push this week, we are up to 79 responses, which I think feels like that is um more in the range of where we want to be. You know, we'd love to see some more come through in the next 24 hours. But um >> you looked at me. I feel like [laughter] >> we didn't see yours in there, too. >> That was not intentional. [laughter] >> Not intentional. Um and so far we've had

10652 people express directly interest in focus groups. Um the next let's see well in our meeting on the 9th in addition to uh deciding to extend the survey we did start to look at what results we had received so far and started to look at what some of those trends looked like. Um started to develop some of the questions that we might have to explore with focus groups. um once we get those going uh kind of late winter probably, but we will be talking about more about that at our next meeting on January 6th. Um so we'll be having closed the survey at that point. We'll go over the final results. We'll look at um what our focus group composition and questions will look like and also do a little training with committee members around

107facilitation um in preparation for running those groups. >> Great. >> Those are the highlights. >> It's exciting. Thank you. Equity Kim, >> I don't have anything to report. >> Okay, great. Megan, >> communications. Um well once we move beyond the naming of the school when communications is sort of giving up the reigns now to policy and to the board the communications committee is brainstorming on what to do next. Um and one idea that we landed on was building a sort of good news showcase across all the schools um highlighting what's going on in the schools at a really granular level. So, in so- and so's class, they're doing X or these four students got together and worked on this project. Um, because those really granular bits of information are hard to get out. I know

108Jeff, you're great about it, but we'd like to broaden that channel and just um amplify all the good news and all the interesting things that that happen in the schools. So, we have recruited help from the schools and met with um middle school teachers from 45 and middle school to help out and we're waiting on a high school person to commit. Um but that's the next big push. >> Great. Thanks, Megan. >> And uh congrats on getting the school naming uh to the next next level. So, it's very exciting. um ad hoc committee reports any >> I have one safety and security great >> um we met this week and we are uh moving forward with with the stop the bleed kits >> they're um it's coming together they're considerably more expensive than originally um

109anticipated for great reasons. So we're working on getting funding if anybody wants to >> chip in a few grand. >> Great. Thanks Megan. >> No problem. No problem. >> This isn't necessarily ad hoc, but I recommend everyone on if you have a couple hours to watch the joint meeting um from North Yarm select board and the town council that occurred this week. There was a lot of discussions that um might impact us. So, it's good to have that context that eventually we'll get informed by that by both teams or both communities, I'm sure, uh when in our next meeting. But I think if you watch it, there's a lot of context there. So just recommend that. >> Yeah, I think the school funding formula was talked about and they also talked about shared services. Yeah.

110>> Right. >> Yep. >> Great. Looking forward to next steps and yeah, we also need to reconvene around the projection study. I know that Cumberland was particularly interested in given that they have their own planner of like being able to sit down and think about what a a longer term uh projection study might look like. I mean obviously we need a baseline um of that's some of what we talked about but part of having that is then how to then get that updated on an ongoing basis. So, um I don't have any particular update. Um probably after the new year, um something to bring back because we do have our next joint meeting is going to be here before we know it in February. So, we'll want to get some ground work laid before that

111any other ad hoc committee. So, the other thing I just wanted to provide an update on um or as a reminder um we have uh scheduled the prek workshop for January 15th at 6 p.m. It will be sort of in place of our regular business meeting. Excuse me. If [clears throat] we need to like add things that we have to be done at that time, we can probably add them at the end. But I think the majority of the time will be spent on the workshop. Um, a notice went out in the calendar in the district newsletter last week. Um, I also directly reached out to our um, providers uh, in the community around um, inviting them directly to come and participate um, and what we'd hope to learn from them as part of this

112process. But I know it's also an opportunity for the board to start getting information not only about the new legal requirements but some more of what other districts are doing, what some of the opportunities are um for our district to consider. Um so it will be a combination of um us learning from what the working group has been doing the results of the survey they put out information from the state about what those requirements are. I think we're also hoping to get funding information from the state about um what [panting] what that uh what the dollars associated with the the prek um expansion could look like. um especially with all the different models that are under consideration. Um and so yes, I encourage the board members to come up with questions that they're hoping would

113be answered through that workshop just to ensure that um we can be as prepared as possible. We have such great internal expertise already um in in the district and we're going to couple that with our providers and community members and maybe some representatives from the state. Um, so looking forward to that. >> And Leah, can you remind us what public comment looks like during a workshop board meeting? >> Um, I think it's kind of we can sort of decide. We have a little more I mean, we always have a certain level of flexibility, but I'm hoping that it's actually a little more of a conversation to a certain extent. >> So dialogue might be possible. >> That's that. >> Yeah. I mean, it's within policy to do that. The policy is the same as anything.

114and we don't say anything about dialogue in the policy. So, it's really kind of up to chair rules at that point here. >> Yeah. And that's sort of what I've asked like providers too because I' and appreciate the perspectives of a variety of community members and representation. So, um obviously we'll need to have it structured to a certain extent. Um but I think we can find good ways to do that. Um but at least [clears throat] start with questions that we know we are hoping to get answered during that time. All right. >> I'm curious um with environment are we looking at like roundt discussions? Are we looking at the board being >> I don't want to sit like this. >> I mean >> I think this [laughter] is very natural. I don't know about

115you, but um I would prefer I mean I would ask you know when we had the um the tables for when we had the administrative team leadership team >> um >> we had >> that was nice to groups. >> Well, I would maybe like an opportunity during the conversation to maybe have groups. Um, but we're still, I think, working to formalize what that format would be, but I would like it to be definitely more casual than this. [laughter] Um, and I appreciated the opportunity to maybe have groups, but I think I just will think through a little bit more of the format. I think it'll be a combination of presentation and conversation, right? And I've I've had a couple providers confirm back that they do plan on coming and participating and I'm really grateful. Um

116and I'll be following up with those I haven't heard from just to see. Awesome. Okay. Anything else? All right. Um so I would like to move uh Okay. Sorry I don't have my blue notes regular agenda. Um thank you. Good job. [laughter] >> Uh, can I have a motion to enter executive session to conduct the evaluation of the superintendent of schools and discuss superintendent goals pursuant of state statute 1, MRSA 4056A? >> Thank you, Kim. Can I get a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Megan. All in favor? Great. It's unanimous. Um, I would also like to say maybe let's take like bit of five minute break and then we can use this room once everyone gets a chance to get cleaned up. So, we're done. I mean, you're done for the night. I guess

117we're not done. Thank you.