001Okay. Okay, so everybody can stand for the minutes. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> [clears throat] >> Um just not really an announcement, but for board members, Becky was kind enough to provide copies of committee assignments. I tried to give everybody their first or second choice, and keep anyone from having a lot of burden, so hopefully that worked out. Um but those committees start next week. Is it next week? Is it Yeah. So, new committees. All right. Good with attendance? Yes. >> [snorts] >> Consideration to approve the minutes for the April 1st board draft. Oh, sorry. Yeah, I'm going out of I skipped on to the thing. We're actually
002going to not start that yet, and we're going to do the yellow yellow tulip presentation, so that you don't have to sit here with us all night. So, I'm going to use the TV. Yeah, let me move that out of the way. Mr. Stevenson tells me he needs to connect this. >> [clears throat] >> Can you see that? And it looks like it's on. You need the other remote, too, Mrs. Samar. Oh, Samar. Okay, sorry. Well, no, I thought I thought someone took it. Thank you. Uh-huh. >> Hey. Let's take a moment. Sorry, maybe we should have done this first. All right. So, Come on, laptop. So, this is part of our idea to bring in front of school board some of the amazing things that are going on. So, when I contacted the Yellow
003Tulip team, they were so happy to come and share. They were going to come last month, and then there was some scheduling conflicts. So, thank you, Bella, for coming. Sasha. Sasha. Why did I say that? Sasha. I'll introduce her in a minute. I had three students that were coming, but then because we had to reschedule, which is fine, I only have one. >> [laughter] >> But, I was like, you have to show up cuz I'm not doing this by myself. All right. I don't I don't know what I have to do. Do you have internet for SDMS? >> have SDMS. I finally decided it would work. No. I just don't have it. In my classroom, it just works, so I >> [laughter] >> I mean, I just don't have Mhm. Ready to watch the show?
004It just looks like the Apple TV doesn't have internet. Don't hit um Don't hit side to side. Yeah. What about the network? >> [snorts] >> It says connected. Yeah. Yeah. >> That's exciting. We can do it without a visual, but let's face it. Students learn better when they have more than one way to learn. And visual would certainly help. I'm going to restart it. That's my only other device. Well, let's hope it just needs a little nudge. I was like, "Is that working?" Is it going to work? He's like, "Oh, yeah." Do you want to go ahead with your agenda on a couple of items while we're working? You know what's a good idea? Why don't we go ahead for a couple items while we get that going? That sounds good. Super. Oh, well. All
005right. I don't know. I should have thought to do it. Okay. Then, consideration to approve the minutes for April 1st Board of Directors meeting. Motion. >> Second. I didn't catch the second, Joe. No, Dan. Dan. I'll roll this meeting. Yes, you are rolling Danny. I'm with [laughter] you buddy. All in favor? All right. Consideration to approve >> Thank you Allison. I appreciate it. Thanks for catching. Consideration to approve the proposed agenda for the May 6th school board meeting. Susan? Second. Andrea? All in favor. Student reports. All right. Good evening. As April concluded, spring sports swung into full action. Track, softball, and baseball teams have each begun their seasons. On April 7th, the band and chorus presented their student showcase in the middle school cafeteria. On April 14th, seniors displayed their 3D projects highlighting future career
006and educational path paths, which um underclassmen and families were invited to attend. Also in April, Sacopee's National Honor Society finished their final service project by volunteering at the food bank in Brownfield. Students assisted with sorting food packages, organizing food trailers, and arranging food handouts. May is a busy month for our seniors as they finalize college decisions and prepare for the next big steps in life. AP exams for upperclassmen have started and will finish up this week. We invite everyone to attend Sacopee's annual district art show on May 9th from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the Ossipee fairgrounds. This event showcases the hard work students have dedicated to their crafts over the past school year. Additional activities will include face painting and live art demonstrations. The ELO program is holding a field trip for students
007to experience a trip around Portland's coast and explore maritime and marine biology professions. NWEA testing for 9th and 10th graders will be held on May 11th. The junior and senior prom, themed golden hour masquerade, will be held at Barn Lights Acton, Maine on the 16th. Student-led conferences will be held next Wednesday by appointment. And finally, the senior class will celebrate their project grad at Six Flags on May 31st. Thank you. Um Do you want to do Yellow Tulip next? For real? Yes, let's do Yellow. Okay. All right, so um I'm Elizabeth Sanborn. Um I'm Yellow Tulip coordinator up at the high school, and I have brought Saja up and Saja Harrington Crosby, one of our Yellow Tulip um members. She's also a junior up at the high school. And just so you know, Finley Hendrick,
008who he's been with every month, um is also a member. She said she would stay at her seat tonight, so >> [laughter] >> That is fine. All right, so Um last school year, um we are part of the national Yellow Tulip project. So some of you may know what that is, some of you may never have heard of it, but really briefly, it's an organization that was started here in Maine at Waynflete School by a then 16-year-old student, Julia Hansen, who lost two of her friends to suicide. So it's a mental health awareness um and advocacy um type of organization. And we started this back in 2019, and um the original students who were sixth graders who began this program with me and asked to bring it just graduated a year ago. Um so we've
009been doing this for a while. Um so anyway, last year we were able to get a community impact grant through the national Yellow Tulip project. And um that is a grant that is awarded through the Maine CDC and overseen by the Maine Youth Action Network and the Opportunity Alliance. Um we were given $4,500 from Yellow Tulip project to host a community event. And so we ended up um doing a Hope Day, and there were stipends divided up amongst the students who worked on putting this together and we were given a $500 stipend for materials. Um, we held a Hope Day on May 1st, 2025 for refugees students. Um, we had a table of uh yellow tulips swag. Um, we did yoga. We had free ice cream for students and staff. We had a food truck
010that we had a specialty yellow tulip drink. It was a sparkling lemonade. We had um music from staff and students and outdoor games. And the idea of the Hope Day is that, you know, you put tulips in the ground in the fall um and they sit there, you know, alone, well, together but alone in the cold dark winter and then it's a sign of hope every spring when they do bloom. And so, the idea is that the signature event besides the planting in the fall is then celebrating um the renewal of spring and in a Hope Day. Um, so we ended up the way it divided out, I just wanted to show you numbers cuz I figured you'd like numbers. Um, we had seven yellow tulip project students who worked on the planning and execution
011of Hope Day. Um, they each were able to receive $400 directly from the national organization. Um, we had five yellow tulip project students who helped at Hope Day itself who got a $240 stipend, $240 stipend and then we had supplies. We had $500 which we spent all of except for I think $2.53 which we just covered the other day. We thought we had more than that. We were like, "Oh, well, that's okay." Um, but that was paying for the food truck, bubbles, paint, some other things. The ice cream was donated by Bobby Sue's ice cream, by the way, which is owned by Autumn Hartwell who was actually my student my first year teaching here um back in 2018 and she now owns it. She worked there. Some of these girls worked there, too, and then
012she bought it. So, really cool connection that I just thought of right now to didn't tell you. Um during the school year of 2024 to 2026, um the YTPK Impact Grant was has been renewed. Um as two HHS's tool team was given um $3,166 for student stipends and $500 for materials. Um this year we had two different projects. Uh Yellow Tulip uh video and our second annual Hope Day. So, the next slide is the video. Um I didn't know if we had time to show it because I know that you don't have a lot of time. Was everyone able to see it? And if not, I recommend you watch it. So. >> aired it at a board meeting the first at board meeting. Excellent. So, you've all seen it. Okay, good. Yeah, it was it
013was really fun to put on. And actually Logan, >> [music] >> sorry. Logan in the back um was one of the students who got to um help us out and get a little bit of money through the stipend. So, he was a TV2 student who helped us out. Uh we created a video the video to showcase civic engagement of youth in the community with the goal of helping young people understand diverse ways uh they can participate in civics beyond just voting once they turn 18. Our video explores the connection between civic responsibility and mental health in our community. Um we wanted to show the many ways we care for our community and one another with through the voices and perspectives of students, teachers, and community members. So, our second annual Hope Day was supposed to
014be today um with a rain date of tomorrow. So, as you can guess, it's tomorrow. Um we're going to do it during the last period of the day. We run on a long assembly schedule, meaning classes will end, we'll have all of our classes, classes will end at 1:20, and we'll go into the Hope Day celebration. Um our first Hope Day left quite an impression on both students and staff. Um it's something we hope to continue every year. Um even if we can't offer um stipends to our Yellow Tulip students, I think they would still be doing it even if they weren't getting paid. Many students asked if we would be doing it again, and it was interesting to me three different staff members at three different occasions said to me last year, "You know,
015that was like one event that I actually didn't think needed to end. Like we were having so much fun." And that's not always the case. So that was really neat to see. This year we're doing ice cream Sundays again and Pauline, our wonderful food service person at the high school, donates brownies. So she's going to bake them in the morning for us. And then we also I bought 126 lbs of ice today at Walmart so that we could have snow cones because not all students like ice cream or can eat ice cream. So we decided this year we'd do snow cones. We'll also have um Oh, that was your slide. Oh, no, maybe it's my slide. We aren't doing the food truck. That's right, you wrote that. But we're not to bring the food truck
016back. Not everyone liked the sparkling lemonade. Um And it's right after lunch, so you don't really need to eat any food. You can just have snacks. Um three TV2 students and five YTV students who worked on the video got 197 each and YTV students um who are helping with Hope Day will get 132 50 and then the supplies for Hope Day this year was 550. We went a little over budget with the ice. I kind of forgot you have to buy ice to make snow cones. Who knew, right? I'm a smart girl, but sometimes um I get a little overwhelmed. So I just wanted to say thank you to everyone and if you have ever have any questions about Yellow Tulip Project, please just reach out. These are our 12 members this year. I always
017put together I make them all wear their shirts and put together a bulletin board in the upstairs hallway. So these are all of our lovely Yellow Tulip kids and if you are free tomorrow between 1:20 and 2:25, which is a funny time, um you're more than welcome to stop by. We will be out behind the high school where the um outdoor pavilion, the classroom, is. Um sort of behind Well, you'll see us, but behind where the um Help me out. weight room is. I was going to say mental health room. Maybe it's mental health, but I don't Weight room. And all of our members will be playing music. Yes. Does anyone have any questions? Did you guys get the lumber moved today? We got that moved yesterday when it wasn't raining. Excellent. But we did
018have um Tim McLaughlin's last period class yesterday helped us move um some construction things. We asked about moving it. We moved it for the construction guys, and he had some lumber piled up that he was like, "Where am I going to put it?" I'm like, "Not here. This is an outdoor classroom today." But he was very much on board. He actually Tim McLaughlin is in a band, and he's bringing one of his um band members I don't even remember who it was. the bassist. Um they're going to play a set for us. So, I think the kids will be excited cuz not everyone knows that he does that. So. We also don't have Last year we had students playing music, but this year we don't have any students that are willing to play. We have
019lots of kids that are talented, but maybe not ready to perform on the stage. So, yeah. Should be a good time. All right. Thank you, guys. Thank you so much. I got to put all of these up. What are you going to I don't Can we actually put some of the bell makers up? I thought that was underneath. I'm trying to knock the TV off. Not at all. You don't want the fish? We could watch that later. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you. Okay. >> [clears throat] >> Excuse me. Okay. Um Finance Committee reports on April 8th meeting. Sure. So, uh Peggy reported that state subsidies in received and recorded. Five towns are all in. Revenues exceed expenses as you look along through March. Food service expenses exceed revenues. As always, we're about a month
020behind. So, we fully anticipate turning right side up in the area of food service. Adult ed revenues exceed expenses are in line with the budget. I also sent the board a note. Uh we are anticipating receiving approximately $71,000 because of the fact we have more than 40% free and reduced lunch uh students. Uh so, this is I'm just reading off the email I forwarded to you. Uh distributed to eligible SAUs as a separate payment. Uh it is not [snorts] part of EPS funding allocations. It is a one-time, unfortunately, uh one-time payment, but we are certainly very appreciative of that one-time payment that we should receive this summer. So, that's the only other financial news I have outside of the traditional report. It's good news to have. Um construction Uh I can take that one as
021well. Uh the weight room, if you have been and been by, it's progressing very, very well. The exterior walls are in. I think some sheetrock is in on the inside, which I'm not built of, I assume that means it's watertight if you're putting sheetrock up. Uh so, I think that's right. Oh, I'm smelling something that makes me feel good. I think that's right. I think windows are in. It's going to be a wonderful addition. I'd like the board to consider this. Uh I think and I'm hopeful Sue knows plans a party like Sue Day. I think we're planning to have a dedication ceremony on June 5th at 4:00 p.m. And hopefully Isaiah Fields can be there. Uh I want you to have a month to think about this. We've talked about this as a board.
022I'd like to hopefully officially name that facility the Fields Family Fitness Center. So, through a board vote in June to remind folks, uh he had given $100,000 toward the expansion. It wasn't quite enough money. I called not looking for any additional money and in the blink of an eye he said, "Here's $50,000 more so you can get it done the right way." So, $150,000 certainly our community substantial donation. I'll probably look to speak it. I don't want to catch you flat, but next month hopefully I'll talk to construction at this meeting and maybe we can vote to to name it that and I think someone even bought big scissors to cut one of those uh ribbon. So, did we get the big scissors? Yes. You said it was 4:00 p.m., right? For June 5th and
023we'll we'll do a better job of getting it in print, but June 5th, which is a Friday I believe, at 4:00 p.m. and hopefully Mr. Fields and maybe some of his family can be there. So, that's the plan for opening. It looks like again, I don't know the first thing about construction, but it looks like it's on pace to potentially be completed for that date, which would be awesome. Uh oh, sorry. And pre-K module was the last thing. We've been chatting about that for a while as well. We sent to the state fire marshal's office and like most government agencies, I think they're overwhelmed. I promise we sent it when we said it had to be 3 4 5 weeks ago when we we started talking about it. Johnny called yesterday, they still have not
024assigned it to anyone. So, I have no approval to share with you. We can't get moving on bidding it because we don't know what the plan is. So, you build a 50-ft hallway, but they say no, it has to be 30 or 60. So, we can't move until we get that approval. We are still waiting for approval, unfortunately. So, that's the news I have. That's construction. Didn't know that on April 8th, but we just found out from Johnny yesterday. We're still waiting on that. That's what I have in construction, Mr. Okay. Um Maybe I missed it. Have Have they put the water line in them? To the For the uh the ice rink? Yeah. No. To the best of my I have not been contacted about No. No additional uh bit of news regarding that
025on Okay. Thanks. Great question. I should have mentioned it. Thank you. All right. Curriculum Committee report on April 8th meeting. Uh yep. So, uh we met with um Mr. uh Wolfe and um Tammy Lorenzatti and um Officer Lovell. Um and went over some of the high school um things that are happening. Um uh Officer Lovell um shared with us uh a day in the life of a school resource officer. Kind of shared his typical day and some things that he would like us to consider just thinking about that South Hadley High School is an old building. Things break. We need to be on top of some of those things for safety perspective. Um but you know, he's on top of things. He's identified some doors. They're looking into that. Um and but he overall felt
026like there was really good communication between SROs and uh the schools. Um so, but as always, we can always continue to improve that. Um Some of [clears throat] the things that um Mr. Wolfe shared were student led student led conferences that were happening on May 19th. Um that included grade nine doing um digital portfolios. Grade 10 had a compass project that they share. Um Grade 11 does a SOAR project, which SOAR perhaps for strengths, opportunities, aspirations, or results. Um and 12th graders did their senior exit exhibits um as presentations um for their for their projects. Um then other events that were happening at the high school or had been happening um were some great field trips. Um uh Bonnie Houlton had um set up a U- Unum Actuarial Day field trip for um kids um
027interested in math careers. Uh there's another um field trip for to Fiber Technologies. Um Dave Martin um had an acting class um performed The Day the Internet Died um and it was presented to sounded like several shows were were given to um people who got tickets. Um uh and the Hawk Battalion JROTC participated in their triennial triennial inspection um as well as having um their cadet ball. And the senior 3D project gallery walk would also has occurred. And they had some most improved students, about 20 students, recognized at the Portland Sea Dogs for most improved. Um and 10th grade did an academic physical challenge called Battle of the Advisories, which sounded very fun and interesting. Um so a lot going on at the high school, a lot of great um sounds like a lot of
028great sharing of student work and um celebrations and um opportunities for you know, field trip opportunities for kids to really explore some different careers and what their future looks like. So, sounded really good. Thank you. All right. Wellness Committee had no meeting. Next meeting May 18th at 1:15. Lake Region had no meeting. Next meeting is not scheduled yet. Adult Ed, no meeting. Next meeting May 26th at 3:00 [clears throat] p.m. Policy committee report on April 8th. Uh the committee reviewed the following policies and will be sending them to the board for a first read. JLCD Administration of Medication to Students, JLCD-R Medication Administration on School Field Trips, JLCD-E Medication Registration, JLCDA Medical Marijuana in Schools, JJIF Management of Concussions and Other Head Injuries, JICH Drug and Alcohol Use by Students. Next meeting May 13th, 2026.
029All right. And may I add that I would be looking for consideration to approve the following policies as first read. JLCD Administration of Medication to Students, JLCD-R Medication Administration on School Field Trips, JLCD-E Medication Registration, JLCDA Medical Marijuana in Schools, JJIF Management of Concussions and Other Head Injuries, and JICH Drug and Alcohol Use by Students. So Second. Who was the first? Susan, thank you. All right. And then Mrs. Jill, thank you. All in favor of approval as first read. Thank you. Superintendent report. So, just reading some names tonight. Before we move to action items, at long last we must have been looking for 2 years or more Corey Buzzell as van driver, so we're super excited about that. And Deion Searles varsity softball coach. Resignations, Ethan Lemieux ed tech, Jess Benson part-time library ed tech,
030Sam Willie varsity softball coach, and Chase Heinbaugh Karris library ed tech at the end of the year, Rhonda Searles as an occupational therapist at the end of the year, and Cheryl Chadwick as a guidance counselor at the end of the year. So, those will be some positions that we will be looking for moving forward. Okay. Good. Um consideration to establish May 20th, 2026 as the [clears throat] date for the computation and declaration of votes on the referendum vote and any other business for board action and information. I'll hear a motion. So Second. Sue Niel. All right. All in favor? Wait a minute. Is everybody I was just going to say is everybody aware of what we're doing? >> So, uh every year, so we have some new board members. So, Monday night we did the
031public budget meeting, the public budget meeting, the folks approved the budget as presented, as you recommended. So, the next step is folks go to the polls on May 19th from 3:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. And it is more yeses than noes not by town. So, it's the five towns added up. So, all of the town clerks bring Becky by noon time on May 20th results signed, sealed, delivered here, and you get together to officially authorize those by three or I think it's three votes to say yes, they're on our record. So, it's the official you're approving what the town clerks bring us hopefully again with some more yeses than noes from the May 19th referendum. And that's usually in the afternoon. >> 3:00 p.m. typically it's been every year, yeah. >> And how many people
032do you need? Eight. Okay, cuz I cannot Okay. So, what Becky will make the calls around. Typically it's eight. If we can't get to eight, because it's not really a typical meeting. It's just saying >> just saying that. >> Yes, terrific. We'll check if we So, we'll check if we have eight as alternates. Okay. So, all in favor of that motion. Thank you. Okay. Consideration to approve an overnight JROTC trip. So, wait 1 second, Mr. Wolf. You need a motion and a second. So moved. Second. So, Danny is Wait, I didn't hear it over there. Okay. Okay. So, I have a handout that I put at each place. Um let me know if you need one. Um So, uh Major Bartlett would be here. He's in Kentucky doing JROTC training this week for his army
033certification. Um so, this camp uh this JCLC is the Junior uh Cadet Leadership Challenge. It's uh open to students statewide. There's 62 kids from across the state who who are participating. Um it's right after school gets out, so they're actually leaving the same day that uh the is the last day of school, Monday, June 15th. And we're uh hoping that they'll be there returning midday on Friday, the 19th. Um this has been happening for many years. Um so, the high schools participating is on the backside. Bangor High School, Brewer, Hermon, Nokomis, Old Town, and Sacopee. Because all of those high schools are from Eastern Maine, there's not cuz I did ask about this, there's not an opportunity for us to coordinate student transportation. Um uh Major Bartlett told me that most of those schools bring
034like short like half buses uh for transporting their students, so we weren't going to be able to um tag along with anybody else. The good news is is that the facility where they're going to be staying is in Bethel, so it's closer to us. Um but there is going to be some transportation uh because they're going to need to be bussed up, and then there's some internal transportation uh like Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, which he specified on the transportation plan, which is on the first page. But we do have That's been submitted to Missy Sanborn at Leavitt Area High School, and they have capacity to handle that. Uh so both of our instructors are going. Uh there are 12 JROTC instructors who will be present. Uh there's tons of forms for everybody, authorization release. In addition
035to us, JROTC has its own release form. The um Bethel Outdoor Adventures Center has their release form, so there's Everybody has forms. Um the accommodations plan for boys and girls. So this is They're staying at the Maine Army National Guard training facility at Hodgbrook. Uh and they have barracks, and they're separate for uh males and females. So that is all according to uh will be uh compliant with district policy. Um I did check with Major Bartlett. So the canoe trip on June 17th is being led by Bethel Outdoor Adventures. Uh they do have a certified river guide. That's under their liability waiver. Not yours. So. So, are you comfortable with the waiver and the insurance policy? >> I I've met with Major Bartlett. We went over all the things. I'm uh they will have a
036um an RN on staff um to do administration of medications, but I'm going to make sure that um our school nurse trains Major Bartlett or Sergeant Wentworth in med administration as backup plan just to make sure we're covered for that. So, there's a motion by Sue and a second by Danny. I have a question. I don't I have a question, but I think it'd be great cuz I think this is like the third overnight field or trip that we've If we got something after, just to see just to hear how things went and what experiences were for kids. That would just be a great after thing. >> Yeah. Okay. All in favor? Thank you very much. Okay, consideration to approve overnight summer field trips. Looking for a motion and a second. Jill. Second. All right,
037so this is me. So, um summer time this is we started I think we started doing this maybe last year. So, uh there are some athletic things that happen, but we have a friend who wishes to abstain summer uh is not to do with the district and sort of a little awkward because our coaches do it, uh but further overnight athletic trips and other team bonding and volunteering not official district trips and therefore not sponsored, affiliated, or endorsed. So, this isn't so much athletics, but if something crops up quickly in the summer and there's a group that wants to do XYZ, please know that Britt will review uh and pass along to me. So, just it's sort of like the stamp of blessing. We used to do this for staff hiring and things of that
038nature. So, uh we got this last year. I don't think we used it at all, but this is just an in case scenario if something crops up quickly and we can't gather this group in the summertime. That's it. That's what this is. Questions? I have a Jill and a Jenny. All in favor? Thank you very much. Consideration to enter into executive session to consider expulsion of student pursuant to 1 MRSA subsection 4056A. So moved. Joanne, Jill. All in favor? Okay.