RSU73 School Board Meeting 12/11/2025

001It's like really set one actually. Yeah, >> we're doing something right. >> You got the usual suspect. >> You think that's me? Yeah. Anytime you want to get away from it. >> Yeah. >> Don't t >> in the summer. >> I even miss it. I've been there very high. Okay. >> Okay. I thought that we process actually the small one is we are offering But anyway, 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. Yeah. >> Laura, are you okay with attendance? >> Yes. Danielle sent a note. She's in class and I'm not sure about Phoebe. and students. >> I have two adjustments to the agenda 16.5 and 16.6. Um I will entertain a motion

002to approve the school board meeting minutes from November 13, 2025. >> So move. >> Second. >> Any omissions, additions? >> No. November 13th. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> All those opposed? >> Any abstensions? Nope. Motion carries. >> Did you? >> No. Andrew is abstaining. He wasn't here at the last meeting. Uh presentation for the Spruce Mountain Primary School Boiler by Seammens. is it on? >> There we go. >> Good evening everyone. My name is Laury. I am going to be uh one of the members tonight from our Seammens team that's going to be talking about the potential primary school boiler room upgrade that you guys may be looking into. What we're going to do tonight is give a little history of what Seammens has done in the past with the school district

003as well as introduce the team here and then Paul Cleaves our mechanical engineer is going to go into some of the technical details of the process of what we looked at and um then Ryan's going to end it with um the next steps potentially and then if we have any service questions issue is you can ask Len. He's been one of our mechanics that have been here on site for over 20 years servicing the school district. Paul, want to introduce yourself? >> Uh, my name is Paul Cleaves, a mechanical engineer, and I've been with Seammens for about 20 [clears throat] years. Ryan, >> my name is Ryan Robitile. I'm the current sales rep for uh this district. I've been with Seammens for about 5 years. And previously, I was uh the service mechanic uh for

004this district. >> Lori, uh Lori Matthew. I was previously a service mechanic for over 24 years. I'm now account manager >> and myself Daryl Jerry I've been with the company almost 14 years. Uh about 13 years ago when I started with the company this school department in this building was one of the first propane boiler conversions we did. It was back with uh Dr. Wall at the time. Um and actually Paul Clees and I was the one doing the presentations then. Um since then we have done many projects over the years with um RSU73 and um they've gone well. We've done a lot of different things. Right now the primary school is one of the last two buildings you have that are still under oil. This is an aging infrastructure and uh at this time

005we thought well what is the next steps for you guys and where do we want to keep going in the future? So, we did a facilities walkth through and assessment and we also at last point in another time we brought your facilities committee to go see the infrastructure as well that's as it stands right now because I think it's very important that you put eyes to what it is that you're looking to make the improvements on because if you don't see it, you really don't know what it entails to do. Um, what we're going to do next is Paul is going to talk about the technical benefits of why we're going to do this. We're going to talk about a little bit of the potential energy savings by doing this measure and the longevity of

006where this this is going to be for the next 30 years for your school department. Um after that, like I said, Ryan's going to talk about some of the next steps which is going to fall back on you guys and what you want to do. And um we won't take any more of that. If you have any questions, please ask us at any time. Thank you. Paul, >> hi everyone. Uh so as Daryl mentioned, we're you're currently an oil fired boiler plant about 30-ish years old, which is about the average life expectancy of that product. Um we're we're suggesting propane for those of you who may not have been around for some of the previous projects. Propane uh has been uh less expensive on commercial uh purchases for about the last 24 years. So, um,

007it's per BTU, uh, it's less expensive than oil. The efficiencies on a propane boiler can range up to 93%. >> What you max out on an oil boiler is about 83%. So, you gain on that side, too. >> Uh, additionally, uh, there's a lot more staging capacities with a propane boiler. They modulate very well, whereas an oil boiler of the size that you have there as a low 40%, a high fire of 100% and off. So they cycle a lot. You have a lot of uh losses when that occurs. And um when when you put those things together uh the uh efficiency, the fuel cost, and the staging, most of our customers are seeing about a 15% operating cost reduction in terms of what the fuel cost is. Uh that varies a little bit with

008how well you do in negotiating your fuel supply with your with your vendor. Um, the other reason that that you see people going uh to propane uh and I'll point out is as a whole the oil market is shrinking in the United States for about 20 years. The amount of the United States using oil as their heat for their homes has and their businesses has gotten smaller and smaller, which means the equipment and the support for that has gotten has gotten smaller and smaller. You want to be kind of in the middle of that curve. You don't want to be the last person with an obsolete technology. So, moving away from oil on a commercial building like this is it's the right time to do that. Uh selection of the equipment. We're we uh laid

009out a design based on VMAN wall hung boilers. You have many VMAN products in your buildings. These are smaller boilers. There many of them you we're looking at four. The whole reason for our product selection is is the tape measure. The tape measure shows you have a long skinny boiler room and we have to lay this around out around what fits there. So, we're looking at four boilers. Uh we're doing what's called an N plus1 redundancy. You need three boilers to heat the school. We're putting in four. You can have one complete boiler down in repair and not have to worry about the coldest day of the year. the um other things that will get replaced as part of this project. Uh in addition to you guys will be negotiating with your supplier for for

010new fuel tanks. Uh these new boilers will have new venting up through the roof. Uh the existing oil tank will be cleaned and abandoned in place. Um, and uh, what we'll also be doing in the room are replacing the domestic hot water tanks and replacing the mixing or anti-skull valve that goes along with those as well as the main building pumps. Uh, those will get updated at that time. Um, what was that? >> Yeah. So, we're in to make room in this area when we before we put the boilers in, we're demolishing the existing chimney and re- roofing that over. Um, that can change if you guys move your roofing project ahead. We can we can uh eliminate that from our scope of work if we have to and move it into your other scope

011of work. Uh, our plans that we worked with, the same engineering firm that's done a lot of your other work. We worked with Bennett Engineering out of Freeport uh to do some of the drawings for us and we internally to develop our prices have invited three different mechanical contractors and two different electrical contractors to work with us. So um Ryan will talk uh to explain to you now a little bit about how we're going to how you guys uh can do business with that. But uh that's how we're getting to our design and our number. All right. I'm going to speak uh briefly on how we got to this point and uh the steps moving as we progress with the process process. Uh so uh the district signed what we call a design build uh

012with us. Essentially that is um an amount of money that allows us to design the boiler room pro uh to design the boiler room to get stamped plans and to uh get the plan in place to actually execute the project. Uh so when we did that uh we also included your facility team like Paul spoke to so um many people uh on the school board as well as the superintendent. Uh so moving forward uh part of that design build is also assisting uh the district with writing an RFP. So uh we've developed an RFP. We've written it. Um it's ready for approval from the school board. Um if that approval is granted uh the steps moving forward will assist um Chris still and Wayne the business manager and facility director uh to u invite the

013vendors of the choosing and uh move forward um with the process. >> Thank you. >> Y pretty short and sweet. Um, but what I want to know is is there any questions that you may have that over service over the years that maybe Lauren can address because Lauren has been servicing the buildings for a long time. The one thing I'll say that probably happened in the last couple years, you had a boiler section break there and boiler sections at that time are getting harder and harder to find during CO. Um, I know you guys did find one, he implemented it. Um, just so you guys know, you have two different size boilers in there. you have one that's a lot larger than the other one. That large boiler that's in there right now in the

014coldest day cannot keep your building going if the other boiler next to it shuts down. So, um, back to Paul's point, the reason why we went with four wallhung boilers. And those wall hung boilers are probably about the size >> about the size of this. >> Wow. >> So, there's four of them. They are on what's called a rack system. Um, we also looked at this design because we also take an effect of what it's going to take to service it after the fact. So, you got to make sure that whatever you're putting into this boiler room of this size, you can service everything. So, what we did was is the boilers will on be on a rack system, they could face each other so they're both easily serviceable around all of them. Um, so

015you never have to worry about that going forward as well. And if by chance you didn't want to work with seamans in the future for doing any service, these are not proprietary boilers. Anyone can work on them and service them. I think that's important to know because you guys making the investment. Um Lauren, do you want to add anything on the service side of what you've seen there? >> Unless there are questions. >> Any questions, guys? >> Done. >> Thanks for coming, fellas. >> Absolutely. The Boiler brothers. Uh so uh I just wanted to know differences um costwise, maintenance-wise when it comes to servicing an oil boiler compared to servicing a propane boiler. I understand that it's maybe a little bit more advantageous with the propane boiler. >> It is. So reduction in cost is

016going to be based on hours, what it takes to service it. Um a boiler, now everyone has boilers in their house, I would assume. You know, I I I grew up in Wilton, so I'm assuming that has boilers. It's not all electric heat up here. But in your house, you have a small oil boiler, and probably when the technician comes out, he's probably taking you maybe an hour and a half to two hours to service that little boiler. Your boilers that are in that existing building now are usually 8 hours a piece. The propane boilers that would go in there probably could range up to almost four hours a piece to serve them. So, you're cutting them in half. The challenges is though it's also in the newer technology the parts are a little bit

017more expensive on a propane boiler compared to an old old oil boiler. But as Paul mentioned earlier those parts are now becoming obsolescence. So it's not a wash. There is still a deduction but let's say if parts on an oil boiler were 150 bucks. Maybe the computer board on that propane boiler if it went was maybe a couple hundred bucks more than that. So there's a difference in the material, but there's a reduction in cost for servicing it. Then it goes in back into the the reduction of just the use of the boiler itself with the fuel. Um, and as Paul said earlier, it's 20 stages. So it'll start out at zero, one, two, and then if all of a sudden it doesn't need anymore, it's not calling the other boilers to kick on. or

018if it's like it's been this past week or the week before really cold, all of them are going to fire up over time and they're going to get to a certain level and then when it realizes it hits that level, it starts taking it back one stage at a time for the demand that's needed. On your oil boilers right now, they would have been full-blown full hop on high >> and just burning. >> So, that's where some of that savings come in. And it's also going to, from what I understand, is cycle between each of the four bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo bo boilers so that all being used at an even ratio. >>

019Yeah, there's never going to be one that's just going to be pounded all the time. So what and that's the other part of doing this is going to be with the controls that are going to be implemented. So we have uh seams controls that be implemented on this to run it for the staging that it's needed. So you're never going to have one that's just going to be constantly used and then all a sudden it's going to get to a run rate and then it's going to go to another one and it's going to offset each one until it gets to that level of where they've all had roughly the same amount of hours. >> Great. Thank you. [clears throat] >> Anything else? >> Thank you. >> You mentioned using or looking for contractors. Is

020there a way or a bidding process that you do to potentially look at local contractors that might be in our area that would do some of the work for us? >> So, the way the seammens approaches it, we put it out to multiple contractors that we've done multiple works with over the years that are reliable contractors. The reason why I'm going to say that is we when we issue a project, there is no change orders. So, we have to make sure the contractors are standing by to what they're going to be able to complete the jobs. All of the contractors that we're you using are local in Maine. They're not out of Mass. They're not out of New Hampshire. They are Maine contractors. So, they're local electrical contractors, local Union mechanical contractors. Um, if by

021chance there was something that was missed on a design in the middle of a project, Seammens has to come good for it no matter what. even if that contractor is the one that missed it because we're in the middle of a project and we can't slow down. You need heat come October 1st because of water and so forth. Um so the risk is always on us. The risk can't be on the school. You made the investment with the company that you're working with. Now that's our process. the RFP process that's going to have to happen to meet your objective is going to go out to three other in companies that are very similar to what we can be and they're going to have to follow the same guidelines. So then that way there's no risk

022on you. That's the way you should have it. Um it's not about the lowest amount, it's about the lowest qualified bidder. There's a big difference. And I think when we talked about that 13 years ago, there was a challenges that you guys were dealing with and they saw the difference between lowest bid and lowest qualified bidder. If that helps >> other questions for Darl? >> I just have one more. Sorry, apologize. Uh just for anybody that I think we all agree that we need to update this system uh and and update it this year um just because of the age of the the current system and and like you said stuff's antiquated and it's hard to get parts and whatnot. But you guys talked about a scenario of if you had to bring in a

023mobile boiler. Could you talk about what that looks like? >> Absolutely. Um so last year um we if you guys recall there was some cold snaps that went on and we've just so you guys know Seammens works with probably 60% of the K12 districts throughout the state of Maine. We do a lot of mechanical a lot of control projects for them. We service a lot of them. [snorts] >> Um we brought to many attentions where they've had old steam boilers and all of a sudden their steam boiler went down and their steam boiler wasn't enough. Once that went down the other boiler couldn't keep up. So, they had to bring in a boiler that was on a truck. Now, just to rent that, and it's not through us, it's through some other company. That was

024an average of was it 10 to 15,000 a month? >> It's about about 15,000 a month. And it was about a $20,000 initial hookup fee >> because it's not just pulling the trailer and the boiler into your parking lot and saying, "Hey, we're good to go." They got to run all the piping, all the electrical outside that boiler room, hook it up to that new boiler, and oh, by the way, it only has a 300galon oil tank, and you'd be having a shipment every other day if I'm not mistaken. >> The other thing I would say on this is um and I'm I'm hoping I answered that correctly. But the reason why we're looking at this now, if we wait and the decisions made in June to go forward, you won't be able to get

025it done this summer. I need you guys to be understanding of that just for time period. We're looking at the RFP to implement it now. If you guys approve it to go forward and then you get all the bids and so forth, you're gonna want to if you can sign sometime either January or February because whoever the company is that you select, they're going to have to lock the subcontractors in because those subcontractors need to make sure they're able to do the work this summer for you starting as soon as school's out. might be able to start sooner, but it depends on your domestic cott watering if the school needs it. The other part to that is you got to order the equipment. >> We have been told that there is now an increase going

026back on the equipment starting in January. So the sooner you guys can make a commitment to go forward with whatever you're going forward with, the better off you're going to be for buying purchasing of the equipment to order and locking in your subcontractors. If you don't, you might not be able to get that work done this summer in the time that you need. I know it's a sounds like a sales pitch, but that is reality right now. Um, we've seen the tariffs, we've seen inflation since co we've seen uh the work of just people being strapped and they got a lot of jobs to do. >> So, that's just the reality that we're in right now. We're in right now. >> Thanks. You're welcome. >> Any other questions? I'll leave it up to you. Yes.

027Thank you very much, guys, for your time tonight. I appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Excellent. [snorts] I will take a motion to accept the resignation with regret of Laura Merrell, food service director, effective January 9th, 2026. >> So move >> by Jody discussion. Um I would just like to say that um she has done an excellent excellent job and when we say with regret we truly mean that because exceptional work has been done. So thank you for that for that. If I could vote no I would. All those in favor. >> All those opposed motion carries. Public comments. Each of you will have three minutes. Please address your comments to the chair. Jane Costa. Jane Costa from Jersey. I'm here as a taxpayer. I have a copy of my property taxes for 2526. And

028uh it says 55.980. I guess we'll round up to 56% of my total property taxes go directly to RSU73. And that's why I'm so concerned about what's happening with policy ACDC. Six school districts so far in the entire state of Maine have decided to do what we're doing. We're one of the six. That's approximately 2%. The other 98% of school districts in Maine have decided to follow the law and let the courts make the decision. You already know how I feel about this. I'm concerned about the cost to taxpayers. I have a copy of an invoice from Steve Smith attorneys to RC 73 that is marked paid on June I believe it's June 8th uh for $300. That was for the initial uh legal consult. So, we've already paid $300 that we didn't have to

029pay, but there's a big expense coming up. And so, this is the contract that was just recently signed with Steve Smith and uh in our school district. And I read through it very carefully. And this is a very open-ended contract. And I can see this running into thousands and thousands of dollars. Um, uh, the lead council who's been assigned to the RS273 cases, uh, Jack Baldachi, at a rate of $275 an hour. And then, of course, it talks about um other attorneys that may be needed, specialists, parillegals, etc., etc. that goes anywhere from $250 an hour to a department head at $400 an hour. I'm pretty sure there's no one in this room making $400 an hour. I don't even know if I know anyone who makes that much. Not even my doctor. We don't

030have to pay this. We We don't have to take all this expense on. All we have to do is resend the policy and do what 98% of the other districts are doing and just let the courts do what they do. We're out judges, rent out lawyers. And I just think this is extremely risky. And as a taxpayer, I have not seen the grant that was alluded to. I have not seen any kind of written contract other than the one with Steve Smith. I have not seen a contract that's been signed that says that we are going to be reimbursed for all these costs. I haven't seen it. In fact, uh when you get to page two of this contract, it talks about $5,000. Thank you, Jane. Initial retainer. So, we're going to have to pay

031$5,000 right now. And it's non-refundable. Let's think this through. It's too costly. Thank you. Linda Dan. Good evening everyone. My name is Linda Dean from Livermore. I'm speaking tonight because the board's decision to keep this unlawful policy and to accept outside funding from the Alliance Defending Freedom to fight the main human rights commission raises serious ethical concerns for our district. The main school boards association is very clear about the standards board members are expected to uphold. Their ethics guidelines state that honesty, trust, fairness, and integrity must guide every decision. They also state that board members must not use their position to benefit themselves, their friends, or special interest groups. and they remind us that no individual board member has any authority outside of official board action, meaning all major decisions, meetings, and commitments must be

032known and approved by the full board. At last week's special meeting, the chair mentioned she had been on a Zoom call with other districts that are being sued. Several board members looked genuinely surprised to hear this, just as many seemed unaware that an outside organization had offered a grant to pay for legal counsel. When board members are learning critical information at the same time as the public, that raises serious questions about transparency and whether the board is being given the information it needs to function responsibly. Even if the intent was practical, accepting funding from a national advocacy group creates the appearance of special interest influence. The MSBA ethics code cautions against any action that could be seen as benefiting a special interest organization and the board should take that seriously. This policy has already put

033our district at legal and financial risk. Now the board is risking its credibility as well. Public trust depends on transparency, ethical conduct and decisions that put students first, not the priorities of outside groups. I urge you once again to resend this policy, reject outside influence, and return to acting in the best interests of every student in RSU 73. Thank you. Ellen Grimlat. I'm Ellen Grimlat from Jay. Thank you again for the opportunity to speak to you. I'm My comments relate to the special meeting last week. I was stunned by that meeting, not by the vote which I expected, but by the conduct of the board chair and the board majority. I have served on many boards, including boards whose members have spanned the political spectrum, but never have I seen a chairperson number one admit

034to having gone behind the back of other board members to meet with outside groups to discuss board business. Number two, respond to legitimate taxpayer concerns by asserting the presence of outside funding for legal expenses for which there is no evidence. Number three, decide to engage with an avowedly anti-LGBTQ plus Christian nationalist group, the Alliance Defending Freedom, for such funding without board discussion or approval. Number four, keep minority board members in the dark about these developments until the actual public meeting. This behavior reveals a level of deception that is a betrayal of the oath that you all took to serve the school district impartially without regard to personal politics or outside agendas. It is antithetical to the colleiality and mutual respect for differences of of opinion that should prevail among board members. This disrespect was demonstrated

035within the meeting by the chair's reluctance to recognize minority board members and the unwillingness of the majority board members to engage in discussion of the legitimate concerns raised by them. This is not how a board should behave. The ACDC policy is divisive, confusing, hurtful to students and illegal under Maine law. The board majority is putting taxpayers on the hook for defending the indefensible. There is absolutely no guarantee based on the contract that was signed with Steve Smith trial lawyers that heroes with deep pockets are going to ride to taxpayers rescue. Indeed, that contract guarantees only that lawyers get paid. There is no cap, no limit, no guardrails on how many taxpayer dollars will flow into that black hole. Money that will not be spent on educating students nor meeting the financial challenges facing the district.

036I only hope that this board will find its way back to comedy, to sanity, to legality, to financial responsibility in order to meet the challenges that are surely coming. You were elected to serve the school district, not your personal political agendas. Do not further abuse the trust that the community placed in you. Thank you, Nathan Hilts. As I've listened to debate over a hot button issue, I've tried to diagnose why this tug of war leads no nowhere. Most political disagreements get resolved when people run out of energy to fight and instead just accept the outcome of a vote. But both sides have decided that this is a hill they're willing to die on. This leads me to ask, what deficiencies in our political system render it insufficient to resolve this disagreement? po political structures which

037had been functioning for years have now been intentionally sabotaged. It's as if a a mechanic is trying to diagnose why a car won't run only to find that the engine has been intentionally removed. Let me try to explain what I mean. I'll start with a straightforward example. In our criminal trial system, the prosecution and the defense are each assigned as a a a a specific role. Neither one argues for objective fairness or for their own personal beliefs. They each advocate for their side. Other areas of government are designed with a similar philosophy. The school board is assigned a partic a particular role to represent. The part that is missing from today's equation, however, is that in the American system of government, the public was also entitled to a role such as with a jury in

038a criminal trial. As the debate drags on, there there is a sense that something isn't quite right, but no one has been able to state it plainly. Well, here's how it looks to me. People have been bamboozled into accepting a deal where three towns pay half the the school budget, yet have virtually no say in what its rules are. Instead, being told to follow rules sent down by a large centralized government far away. If it were a case of one town being asked to pay half the local share while only getting a single seat on the board, you'd reject it right right away. But the same inequity between taxation and representation is harder to notice when it is spread over larger entities. These three towns have their voice in Augusta dispersed, making up only small

039parts of four different districts that elect four of the state's 186 legislators. Maine's representation in Washington is so so scarce that I won't even bother with the math. The imbalance begins to be felt by the towns at the creation of the RSU itself. The RSU was created on authority of a vote at at town meeting. Yet in doing so, the town meeting deprived itself of a seat at the table of how its tax dollars would be spent. The current crisis exposes the fatal flaw in consolidating town business into external districts. The obvious path forward is to put the engine back in the car. The town meeting is the engine of democracy, the first line of defense we can use to protect our right to represent ourselves. The town meeting needs its fair its fair share

040of local control restored in the operation of schools. Other tricky issues will come up in the future. They could be resolved the same way that America's been doing it for the last 200 years. Everyone votes, accepts the outcome, and goes back to their lives. Otherwise, the tug of war over future issues threatens to perpetually drain everyone's resources while moving us no closer towards solutions. >> Thank you, sir. >> Board comments. I would like to thank the community for all the support we have received. Thank you for standing with our RSU 73 lady athletes. Thank you Mike Subleski Sheila Lyman, Paula Page, Laura Libby, and many others including Heidi Samson, Alan Svenas. Thank you for the other districts that stand with us and the many districts waiting to join us in this fight. Thank you main

041girl dads. Thank you all the parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, sisters, and brothers that support our decision. Thank you to the people that have signed petitions and gathered signatures on petitions. We will continue to fight for our girls at RSU73. Thank you for all your silent but powerful support and most of all, thank you Jesus. >> Tanya, >> yes. I would like to say before we go on Christmas break, um I would like to thank >> you. >> Oh, sorry. Um, I would like to thank um our teachers, our admins, our support staff, our custodians, our bus drivers, our cafeteria workers, and everybody else who makes our school district good. And I want you guys to all have a really good Christmas break. Relax, come back refreshed, and do what you do best. On a completely

042different note, I don't see the student represents here tonight, so I'm going to kind of steal this. I really enjoy this time of year with the district. The schools have worked hard to set up their uh holiday concerts and celebrations. And there will also be a theater presentation this weekend. And I am very proud of the arts community that and there's and the support for it in this district. I didn't expect that when I first moved here, but there is a strong art appreciation and I hope more community members see what's going on and the hard work that goes on, not just at athletic events, but artistic events. Those kids work hard and become part of a team and they present a lot to the community and they learn a lot of life skills and

043I'm very proud to be a part of that and hope to see many of them. Thank you. >> Other board comments short. Um, I just want to thank one particular member of the board, Director Emory. Um, the primary school is having their exciting Christmas events going on and I reached out to him and asked if he would be please willing to be Santa's helper. Um, and he has so kindly responded and he even purchased his own suit >> that will make him official. So, we want to thank you and I've offered to please let me help for that cost, but he says no. So, I know that Santa is actually going to bring you something extra special in your stocking this year. >> Nice. >> But even more importantly, the time spent in our schools

044with our kids is so important and I appreciate you just like I did the folks who showed up for Halloween. So, um, being in our schools, seeing what's happening with our kids, you're going to make so many smiles that day. Thank you. >> I'm excited. >> Other board comments, >> Don. Uh, in regards to the newly revised policy AC/DC, I don't want to beat a dead horse, but I do have some thoughts that I wanted to get across. Uh opponents of the newly revised policy have said because the same few people keep showing up to speak in favor of allowing boys to participate in girls sports that the majority of our community supports this. This statement is simply not true and not backed up by a broader public opinion. Multiple recent national polls, including a

045New York Times Ipso survey, found that 79% of Americans believe that biological males should not be allowed to compete in female sports, female sports. They can compete in male sports. Twothirds of adults nationally support policies that require athletes to compete on teams matching their sex assign at birth. and similar majorities appear in statewide polls, including here in Maine. These aren't fringe views. They represent a significant majority of the public and should be a part of our consideration as we move forward. Doing the right thing is not always easy. Our kids deserve leadership that doesn't shy away from standing up when they see wrongs being done and even when it's difficult or controversial. Right now, the main human rights commission has taken the rare step of suing RSU73 and other school districts over policies that bar

046transgender students from participating in sports and accessing facilities in accordance with their gender identity. That lawsuit now includes six districts that have adopted such policies. And across the state, more school boards are passing similar policies and preparing preparing to defend them legally with some choosing to maintain them even in the face of state legal action. At the national level, the NCAA has also updated its participation policy. Women's collegiate sports are now limited to student athletes assigned female at birth. This change reflects the ongoing debate and efforts to define competitive fairness in athletics. We need to support our girls. And while we all value fairness and want to protect everyone's opportunities, as I have said many times before, we cannot infringe on one group's rights because we believe another group's rights are being infringed upon. It's

047just common sense. I believe there is not one member on this board who wants to prohibit any student athletes from participating in sports. The proponents of this policy change want them to participate on teams with the same biological sex. The decisions made here will set an example for how we balance fairness, inclusion, and the dignity of every student in our school. Thank you. the board comments. >> Um just a point of order. Um we have been told previously that when a board has voted, we don't comment in an official capacity because all of us have to support it once it's been voted in. So we've had two members who have stated that and have broken our policy. Why is it being said? >> It's you can't comment about it in the negative >> on social

048media on social med. >> Um so in an official capacity we cannot say anything that we disagree with once a board has approved it. But if the board members approve that they can comment as much as they like. Am I understanding that right? Because I did not read that in the policy. >> Personally, if I had my way, we would be done talking about it because we voted on it. But I can't stop members from speaking at the board at comments. I don't I don't have that authority. Um I was just going to support exactly what um Phoebe was saying. So uh our policy BCA which discusses board member ethics says number seven I will listen to all citizens but will refer all comments or complaints to the proper authorities. If you don't like it

049kind of write a letter to the editor maybe. And number eight I'll support a decision graciously which I'm doing. I'm leaving it alone once it's been made by the majority of the board. But I agree with you, Sher. This shouldn't this should be done. I mean, the decision was made. The majority has spoken. We need to move on. The public has their right to say anything they want. That's their right. They're taxpayers and citizens. As board members, though, we have ethics to follow, and I would ask we all do that. All right. We know the holiday season's coming up and I know I say this every single season and you guys are probably sick to death of it, but it doesn't go away. Please, please drive carefully. The roads are slick. We've seen lots of

050accidents recently. The deer are going to keep darting across the road. There's going to be kids very excited about the holiday season. All I'm asking is the community, please be very careful on the roads. Keep yourself safe. keep our district safe and keep our students safe. Thank you. >> Superintendent report. >> Good evening. Um, a board member had asked me if having our lawyers fees covered by an outside group was illegal. I spoke with our attorney from Drummond and Woodson and he stated it is not illegal. He also stated that because we do not have a gift policy, which by the way is not a mandol mandatory policy that we have to have at this time, we do not need a board vote to accept monies to cover legal costs. He did ask us, however,

051to keep him informed as we continue to get more information about any grant pool of funds that are out there involved in covering legal costs due to our main human rights lawsuit to keep him informed and he would help guide us along the way for that. Um, I got to participate in a primary school's ornament night. I read to one of the young groups and their parents. Reading to adults is a little different than reading to the littles. A little more nervous. Uh, I was also able to read to one kindergarten class and one prek class in the last week. We've had two negotiation sessions with the administrator's bargaining unit. Uh last couple weeks I've also attended the foster tech meeting through discussions about possibly having a cosmetology program as an offering in the near

052future. I also attended the rest of Maine superintendent meeting. At that meeting we discussed budget concerns as well as transportation concerns throughout our region and the state. >> Questions for Scott questions for Scott. >> Sarah. >> Yeah, just to clarify if you can hear me. I was the one who asked that question. It wasn't about the legality. It was about the moral and the ethic rules about accepting money from a special interest group. Just to clarify, other questions for Scott. Okay, Wayne. Good evening everyone. Um don't really have a lot to report. Um, obviously we uh heard from Seammens this evening about the boiler project. I've just been in the works on that. Um, just waiting to uh see what your thoughts were through uh before we put the RFP out for that project. Um,

053I did receive that from Ryan um a couple days ago. I reviewed it and um everything looks good in that in that sense. Um, yeah, just waiting for that. uh roof project. We did send out an RFP. Um we had two two contractors that came and and checked over our our roof over to the primary school. Um only one put out put in a bid. Um Scott's going to talk a little bit more about that. He said a little bit later. Um we received our dump truck about a month ago now. It's been that long since we've met since then. Um it's been fantastic. Um of course we keep our prices down for plowing. I know I know it's up there, but um we still have to plow around the district. Uh we still do

054our um our playground over the primary school, um Cedar Street, um our garage area where the buses park, so on and so forth. So that's that's come in really handy this summer. It'll be great for us as well to keep you know we can do some you know notification around around the buildings will be will be fantastic. So um a report with the bleachers um those are in but we're working around the sports schedule. Um they asked us to kind of hold off until uh Christmas break because we have um of course games going on. So on the 22nd through the 29th, I believe it will. Yes. No, I'm sorry. The 29th through the 2nd of January, they will be coming in to uh assemble the bleachers and have those up and going. So other

055than that, um we've just been chugging along a couple storms. The first one was, you know, always the the bittersweet one, you know, trying to get everybody back into the routine and stuff. Um, but this time it's, you know, this this storm went really well and uh, yeah, they're doing a great job. I'm I'm I'm proud of my team. So, so that's all I have. >> Questions for Wayne. >> Thank you, >> Chris. All right. Trying to get up here without tripping over all these wires somebody put down. Um, >> who put those? >> All right. As far as curriculum, we had our second set of um grade level meetings with um um elementary and primary teachers to review the new program, see how they're doing, um answer questions um and and talk about ways

056to improve. Um and uh as well as that um social studies and science curriculum teams are meeting um and actually relooking at their scope and sequence um and comparing that to the to the reading program because there is lots of social studies and science topics embedded in the new reading program. Um so they're looking at trying to line those up. So so kids are getting those topics and social studies and science at the same time that they're doing them in reading. um which will just help help build that knowledge base better. Uh as far as technology, um I heard some questions coming out about um about our some of the things going on with our network, whether it was strong enough. I know one of the uh in particular ones was about the I think

057they called it the BYOD network. Um, I just want to be clear, we don't we don't have a bring your own device network. It's actually our um it's actually the guest network, but I think a lot of people have started calling it the BYOD network because that's what kids are using it for. Um, and and that network is is basically it was started back when CO was here. Um people um people needed a guest network that they could get on all the time that they didn't necessarily have to have a password to get on to so they could access uh get access to things. Um and most districts around Maine did that. Um before that we actually never had a guest network. You always had to log on somehow to get into our network. Um

058and since then we've kept that um to help out people that need um internet and and things like that. Um but it is so the so the guest network is reduced is slower um than what our signed in network is. Um we keep the guest and we have raised it up some over over time. Um the guest networks at about 30 megabytes per second um which is is adequate to to to get on the internet uh to get on Google Docs, get on all kinds of things. The reason we have to keep it at a limit is because if we go too high, then it gets to the point where um people can start downloading videos, watching videos um that may not be legal. Um and we can actually get in trouble for that from

059from um the network main which is who provides our internet service. We have to be very careful not to or to have things in place. No. Um, so things illegally can't be downloaded. Um, and one of the ways that they allow you to do that is to reduce the network speed. Um, and that helps helps with that. The other way is what we do with all of the people that sign into our network, which is um to have to have filters. Um, and we have two different filters we use in the district. One is for staff. Um, and it's a little less stringent. It's a little more open. So staff, you know, they're they're adults. We're hoping they're just going to use the use it for what they need to. So, um, so that one's

060not as strict. The other one um which we've had for many years is uh GoG Guardian and that covers all the way from K all the way up through high school um students who are logged in and that does filter out um any kind of things that they shouldn't be getting on and it uses key indicators whether it's alcohol or cigarettes or any kind things like that it'll filter out and and block sites. Um, and and GoG Guardian, we've had it for a long time, and it's actually improved quite a bit since when we first started. When we first started, basically the text had to run GoG Guardian. Um, and so if somebody saw something, they would have to let the text know and then they could block it. Um, or if they needed something

061unblocked, they'd have to talk to the text and they'd have to unblock it. Um, and um, and the issue with that was that if somebody wanted something blocked um, because they thought it might not be appropriate, they'd let us they'd let the text know, they'd block it, and then a couple days later, you know, a science teacher, wow, my kids need to see this YouTube video because you can't just when you block something, you you end up blocking a lot of things. So, if it's YouTube, all of a sudden, you got a teacher saying, "Oh, I need that unblocked so we can show this video." Um, so that was um a lot of back and forth. Um, but over time the guardian has gotten a lot better. So now um the teachers actually have a

062lot more power than they used to, they can actually block and unblock sites in their classrooms. Um, so if they if they need a child to get onto something or they don't want a child to get onto something, they can block it and then when they leave their class for that session that day, it goes back because if they send it to us and we block it, it's basically blocked for the whole district. The whole district. Um, so it's gotten a lot better as far as trying to trying to um get teachers what they want, but also have some safety in place. Um, and and I think that was Oh, cuz there was some talk about speed and connectivity. Um, I know that when they're logged in, they have quite, you know, they have over

063100, you know, 100 megabytes a second of speed, if not more, um, when they're connected. It's a guest network that does is a little slow, but but really shouldn't technically shouldn't be not noticeable unless they're trying to watch videos or music or things like that. >> Questions of course Jody. >> Chris, can you give me an example of when a teacher would potentially block something that isn't already blocked by our our school system? Oh, the internet is a wonderful place and they they like to they come up with all kinds of new things that that aren't necessarily uh on the list. Like OG Guardian will go out and try to update lists and send those through the system, but there's so many new things that come out that it's it's can be hard to stay

064in front of it. Uh, and it could be um, and sometimes it's it just could be a preference too that somebody might see something and they're not sure it's it's appropriate, so they ask it. And we we've actually looked in or at least a text when they've sent something and they said, "Oh, it's it's really not anything we need to worry about. It wasn't as bad as it might be." So sometimes it's just um, it could be a false like a false positive. And we check it out. And I'm assuming teachers, is there a process in place if they know of something that then the tech should be blocking down for the entire school district? >> Yeah. Yeah, they can still they can still and and we do. We still get emails asking us to

065block sites or block block um things that they have found. >> Okay. Thanks. Other questions? Chris Elaine. Chris Ela. uh on behalf of the staff and having been there um yes teachers do have to go and search out stuff and they're see if it's appropriate or not. No, they're not looking for as Chris might have alluded to and I know he didn't mean to but they were looking for risky stuff but yeah what's best for the you know the vocabulary depending on what this would be a great one if you were a college level whatever and this is not so good for eighth graders. So >> yeah, they're using that. It's it's something important for them to have as a tool. >> Thank you, Chris. >> Thanks, >> Robin. >> Good evening, Jody. I have

066a great answer for you. I have two middle school boys and one of them came home the other day and said, "Hey, Mom. I I was searching on the computer at school. I was playing this math game and then it turns into a video game and it wasn't locked down yet. So I was like, >> "Oh, good info to have. Thanks for sharing." >> Yeah, that was >> That was quick. [laughter] >> Uh for a CDL update. We're back on track with our federal grant allocation being available to our funders. So we've been preparing for a start date in 2026. Courtney and I took a day trip to the Oxford Hills workforce training facility two weeks ago and had the opportunity to see their instructor and one of the students in action as well as

067connect about the budget and programmatic best practices. We're very thankful for Tina Christopherson and her team for extending the invite and we'll be posting for a CDL class A driving instructor soon. Last month, I sent an email to the board about our staff receiving the main top performer award at our annual adult ed director's conference. So, I brought that >> with me today. I just want to reiterate how dedicated both my staff and our students are. Um the benchmarks are set very high for both state and national um benchmarks. So, they did a fantastic job. They knocked it out of the park. Um, and if you've never been to the adult ed office, I I extend an invitation. I would love to host you and show you around and talk about our ongoing program initiatives.

068Our medical assisting cohort is well underway. The document in your packet tonight is a letter from the Western React director. That stands for Area Health Education Center. She's generous gen generously providing us $3,780 to cover stipens for specialized instruction for phbotomy infection prevention and immunology. We're very grateful for our partnership with AHECK and Main Health Franklin campus. We'll also be running a separate Oh, that got loud. Gross. We'll also be running a separate phbotomy certificate training program in the spring and I'll have more concrete details about that in January. Is that too loud? seems very loud. Uh, and lastly, I will be co-hosting a community discussion with Educate Maine's executive director, Jason Jud, on Thursday, January 15th from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. at Camp Center Stage in Liverour. The goal was to highlight barriers rural

069residents face in accessing education and credentiing programs and to engage business owners, policy makers, educators, and local leaders in those solutions. Maine's previous goal was for 60% of residents to earn a credential of value by 2025. Last year, the state reached 56.6%. The new proposed initiative for the state, which we're inviting constructive feedback on, will link education and training goals to improvements in median income. Registration will open next week on our website and our Facebook page. It'll be limited to 50 attendees with a $5 fee and breakfast included. That's it from me. Questions for Robin. Thank you. Your award is of course also indicative of your um your hard work, your tenacity, perseverance, and amazing leadership in your program. Uh, so just want I know you're very humble, but also just wanted to make sure

070that we recognized you. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, >> Jenna. I jotted down a few extra notes while I was listening to everyone talk and I did want to share Jodie Robin is right on. A lot of the websites we had to provide the tech department were websites that kids would use to avoid doing their actual academics. So a lot of times it was playing games and oftentimes the games would say that they're academic but they weren't academic at all. like there are very very smart people in the world and these kids know how to find those websites. Um I know um it was brought up about the Adams family play. It's going to be Friday and two showings on Saturday and I believe our craft fair for the middle school is this weekend on

071Saturday too. So um it is always a wonderful craft fair. So I definitely encourage you guys to go to both. I know I'll be at both too. Um, another thing that was brought up, um, when I was in the classroom, it was always nice to see administrators stopping around the buildings and stuff like that. And that's one thing I've I've seen a lot of this year. I'll go to different buildings and see Scott or see other people. Um, but I've also been to buildings and seen a lot of school board members there. And I think that's really neat and I think the kids really appreciate it. I even was looking through Facebook and I saw some of you dressed up and it was precious and you know the kids love that. So I just wanted

072to give everyone a kudos for that. Um I also wanted to share that I am in awe of our community including businesses in the area especially when it comes to helping others. It has been overwhelming to see the community support in regards to providing snacks and resources for our students. I'm not sure that you guys are always aware of all the donations that come in. Uh but based on the food insecurity in the area, it is unbelievable. Every week, uh more snacks or resources are coming in. Um I'd also like to give a special shout out to the students and staff who saw a need within our community and organized food drives and other initiatives to ensure our students and community are taken care of. Um Sherry and I are fortunate to work with a

073variety of staff and attend meetings across the buildings and it has been wonderful to see staff come together in 504 and IEP meetings to ensure our students needs are being met. I know oftent times we look at uh positions as positions. Um, but once again, I'm in awe at a lot of the staff we have in our district and their knowledge and their willingness to go above and beyond when there is nothing in their contract that says that they need to. Um, next week, Sherry and I are attending a conference which helps us determine RSU73's responsibility for providing FAPE, which means freeos appropriate public education to students in J Livermore and Livermore Falls. Although providing a free appropriate public education sounds pretty straightforward, we often run into tricky situations with residency, transfer agreements, homeschooled students,

074students in correctional facilities, special purpose private schools, homeless students, and students in nursing homes. And I assure you, we've worked with kids in all of those settings. Our kids have been in all of those settings. Um fortunately the conference will cover all of those topics and the training will also touch on current court rulings which is always helpful and ever changing. Um so on to the numbers. So at the high school there are 43 students at the high school with 504 plans. In October there were 43. I currently have two in referral and one anticipated. At the middle school there are 21 students at the middle school with the 504 plans. In October there were 22. Right now we have one referral at the middle school and one anticipated referral at the middle school. Um

075at the elementary school there are 24 students with 504 plans currently. In October there were 23 and I have no referrals right now. At the primary school there are 10 students with 504 plans and in October there were nine and one referral at the middle school. I was talking to somebody the other day and uh one of the neat things that we're doing more of is um students um leaving their IEP plans and um moving into 504s before they hit the gened setting and um that has been such a wonderful thing to see because they're meeting their academic goals but they could still use a little accommodations. Um so for total numbers in December we had 98 with uh 504s for referral three potential referrals coming in. Other than that we're done. Questions for Jenna

076maybe. Um so while I'm well versed in 504 and IEPs and things like that um I do worry that maybe not everyone listening is. Um would you mind just giving a very brief description of what 504 versus IEPs are just so that anyone listening understands? >> Absolutely. Um so an IEP um can provide a student with accommodations but it also provides students with specially designed instruction in their area of weakness. So, um, if we refer a kid for an IEP, we, um, do evaluations to determine if they do indeed have weaknesses and if their weaknesses adversely impact uh, their education. So, if a student qualifies for an IEP, they have accommodations that help. And if they have weaknesses in math, they have specially designed instruction there. If they have weaknesses in speech or OT or

077reading and writing, then they also receive direct instructions in those areas. Um 504 is a gen ed program. So it is not related to special ed in any way. And 504s provide students with accommodations. So um it's interesting because I've had people say, "Well, my child has a diagnosis, so they're automatically going to qualify for an IEP or a 504." And the real answer is no. That doesn't mean that they're automatically going to qualify. There needs to be um we have to be able to see the weakness in the school setting. You know, we have kids that might have five diagnoses, but they have taught themselves to cope and they are doing wonderful and have great grades and are doing well socially and all of those things. Um, so it really is a little bit

078of a drawn out process because once a student is referred, we do a we gather a lot of data um from different areas in the school and we determine do you need specially designed instruction or do you need a 504. Another cool thing about 504s um is that when students graduate high school, they can bring their accommodations on to college with them with IEPs. Um, the services void the day they graduate. Other questions for Jenna? >> That's a question, but thank you. I know if I would have tried to explain that, it would have been a long long thing. I'm not very good at concise. >> It still can be confusing, but yeah. IEP, specially designed instruction and accommodations, 504 accommodations. [laughter] >> Thank you, Jenna. Thanks, Laura. [snorts] >> So, good evening. Um, I

079just wanted to say thank you to all of you for entrusting me to lead the food service department. Um, it truly has been an honor the last 6 and a half years to serve the community and your students. Um, we've really, it's only been two weeks since I was here presenting in front of you, so there really hasn't been a whole lot going on. Just update you, we had a USDA delivery, um, today, which we received once a month. That's that's no big deal. Um, but all is going well. I truly hope that the transition for the department goes very smoothly. Um, obviously I'm very vested in the department and my staff. I truly truly um have the utmost respect for them. Um, one thing I was probably not going to share, not going to

080disclose, um, the day after I made the decision to, um, hand in my resignation, um, to you all, I was notified that, um, I'd been selected to represent the main school nutrition. I'm a delegation going to Washington DC. I think we have to remember there's a lot of really good things that are going on and have gone on in your community and really start focusing on some of those good things. So, thank you mama. Sorry. Hello everyone. To start off, I want to thank our transportation staff, our van drivers, bus drivers, custodians, and of course, Wayne. Um, they've been all a huge help. U I've been grateful for the team that we have that all are willing to help out when we need. Being short staffed is not an easy task and people get tired.

081With that being said, we are pretty close to being fully staffed on vans and buses and in the transportation, but department and custodian department. I'm proud of our high school. Um, this is a special place, special thing for me. Um, I'M PROUD OF OUR HIGH school JMG class and Zack King who teamed up with our transportation department. This was our third year that we got together. Uh, we did better than ever expected this year at pocketing at the Hannerford Shopping Center. Um, we have a very, like China said, a very generous community to live in. We collected 1,277 lb of food. We have 28 frozen turkeys, 16 lb each, $200 plus in cash donations. And the food plus turkeys were a plus 17 school. Wow. And that went to the local food pantry at the

082J community St. To get more cities, the public really needs to start paying attention to the school buses when their lights are on. We had nine vehicles in one week passing our along with JD kind of showing if we needed out summones to those we've caught on camera. We had some awesome videos. Our team throws the videos in the plates, pull them up close so we could some of them we could even see the driver's face. So, we nailed them. Um, that's one of the difficulties is is um finding the actual driver of the vehicle. So, we did find out when you only have to be the registered owner. That's good. >> So, unless someone want to tell who is driving their car, they're going to get the ticket. >> We've been teaching our students,

083and I also want to mention the parents, this is really important. We've been teaching our students not to cross the street until a bus driver tells them to. So, that's either a thumbs up or a nod your head. I was training the driver Tuesday and that cares across the street in front of us. the car would stop that was coming. Um to say the least it was really scary, scary. Um when the next story the parents actually walk to the road and get their kids so we need to stop that. Um obviously kids are going to listen to the parents but we also need to train the parents. So as a reminder parents please do not call your kids across the street when you see things that you can't see. whether it's behind us or

084things coming at us. And that's all I got. Questions for Norma. Thank you. Thank you. So, Norma stole a little of my thunder. I was going to mention uh about the the amount of food that they collected in the fil the bus. Um my family has the privilege of being part of the food pub uh downtown and and the tremendous support um from the community when they fill the bus is is overwhelming and and it's awesome. Um in addition, the JMG kids and the honor society also filled 261 food Thanksgiving boxes to go out to the community. Um and that's that's a big deal. it's the most that they've ever had. So, there is a lot of food insecurity in this area. Um, so please support your your local food pantries. Um, and there is

085a craft fair here, uh, 9 to 2 on Saturday. Um, please come out and support the local vendors and crafters. And, um, that's all I have. Um, I will accept a motion for the second reading of both policies BDB board officers and JICJ, student use of cell phones and other electronic devices. >> Discussion Um I was rereading the um policy for your job which is just yeah um and I wanted to make the suggestion that in the word I have 16,000 papers here um that in the duty under the duties of the chair says the chair shall preside at all meetings of the school board and shall perform other duties as directed. Um, and I'm guessing we want to say that that needs to be emphasized that's with board request because I'm looking at that's

086the second half of that request is that um, as directed by law, it says main department of education regulations and this board. I'd like to see us add after main department of education regulations that we add the main recommendation for the main school board association handbook if possible only because if you've gotten into and I wish I had gotten into this three or four years ago the main school board association's handbook is so clear on responsibilities of boards and board members um that yeah, I would really love to see this added to that list and you may want to table this particular one till the policy committee has a chance to look at what that says in that section. It's most excellent. Um yeah, and that's uh a really good thought. And be public spokes

087number seven, be a public spokesperson for the board when authorized for the board. At our last meeting, you mentioned you'd had Zoom meetings with the other districts and I was surprised clearly because I had no knowledge of that. That kind of conversation and whatever representing this board really needs to be given permission. I'm sure you weren't aware of that or whatever, but really it should be occupied by the board meeting a vote with a majority. >> Um, so that and that's I've been digging through the the main uh schoolboard association handbook. So, I would like that to be um added if we can by the policy committee and to note that that's something that's listed in the main school board association handbook. >> Okay. A couple of things. So on the let me just clarify

088on the zoom meeting I had in no way shape or form spoke for the board. It was uh kind of um >> presenting I would assume >> informationational >> it not really I said on a number of occasions that there's nothing I can do without the full board. So >> that's great. >> I I did not make any promises. I it was sort of aformational thing. You know, who's who's fighting, who's not, how many more in the pipeline kind of a thing. It wasn't no commitments were made. Like I said, I I made no commitments to anybody. I didn't say that I represented the board. I And this is good to know because we didn't know anything. It's there was no information given to us. That's all I'm saying. >> Yeah. No, I understand. Um,

089so, um, I guess what I would ask is do we want to amend the motion to send it back to the policy committee with the recommendations? Um, >> I appreciate that for this particular policy. >> Those that made the the motion, are you willing to policy committee can look at it? >> Amen. The motion to to send it back to look at the recommendations. policy. >> Thank you so much. Um, so can I ask questions of somebody in the audience with regards to a policy at this point? >> TJ, I should take your patience. >> Okay. Well, and the reason why Yeah, I saw him. Um so at least myself I received um some information from some students with regards to this and so I'm looking at this as not much has changed from what

090our current policy is. So, I I'm just wondering if there was something going on at the high school that the students are very upset about this policy coming back to the board for reading that maybe you could disclose or >> shed some light on. >> I I think anytime we mention that we're going to put a policy in about cell phones, our kids freak out. >> Um I think that's all it is. >> Okay. Um I I haven't heard that much complaining uh but it hasn't happened yet. >> Okay. >> So it'll come. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> But I'm correct in saying that nothing major has changed in this policy >> from what you are currently doing today last year. >> Right. I our the big thing is is that we do allow students

091um to have their phones during passing periods as well as um the cafeteria. >> Um this does not allow for that. >> Okay. >> Yep. That's the that's the big piece. Okay. >> Yep. And I think this says Delta Bell. So that that's the big piece of it. But yeah, we don't allow phones into the classroom. Mhm. >> Um but yeah, that's uh that's our big one is >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> So that is that is really why they're re >> Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure that's >> Thank you for the clarification because that was not very explicit in some of the information myself and probably some other board members there >> received of what the big deal. >> Yeah, the big deal is is cafeteria time and class period time. Yeah. >>

092Thank you. I'm sorry to pull you up. So right now the middle school currently does bellto bell >> the high school does not. >> Yeah. >> So this is this will be all new to them. >> Yeah definitely the cafeteria and the in the past periods. >> Yep. >> Thank you. Um probably more from clarifying for my own awareness. Um for any student that needs accommodations, say heart of hearing or whatnot and they need tablets and stuff or even Fitbits, there's no exception written into this and I don't know if that's a recommendation we could add or how that's covered. >> I'm guessing that's kind of the IEP. >> The IEP will trump it. >> Okay. So, we don't need to add any kind of exceptions in here. >> Okay. Only if it's an IEP.

093Okay. >> Okay. And and we're part of their IEP and or accommodations. Many times we provide those those tablets and mechanics things that they would need their own, >> right? It's ours anyway. Yeah. >> Okay. Tom. Oh, >> sorry. No, >> you're fine. Um, I I don't >> It's on. It doesn't have to be that close. >> It's normal. >> Getting old. >> Do you want this one? >> Can't hear myself anyways. No, I'm good. I'm good. I think people can hear me. Thank you. Thank you, Phoebe. I appreciate it. uh just on this this bus uh the sorry this student the cell phone policy does that carry over to the buses >> because I have had personal not personal experience but my grandsons have seen things on other kids' phones that >> I absolutely

094and you all we all know what I'm talking about um and things that uh 10 year old kids shouldn't be seeing and so I'm just wondering does this polic policy carry over to the buses. It doesn't >> I don't know how you enforce it. >> It's bell to bell. >> How would you enforce the buses? I guess would be my question. >> I don't know how you would enforce it. I just I I just I don't know if a bus driver sees a kid on a phone says put it away or No, there's nothing. >> Bus driver looks forward. >> Yeah, they do. They do. >> I know. >> Yeah. The bus driver has enough to >> No, I know. I I agree. I just It's just I wish there was a way that we

095could If Norman wants to come to us with some language for things for a bus, we we can >> more than happy to >> we can we can write something up that has to do with just the buses. >> Huge huge complaint by parents of kids taking videos of their children, >> pictures of the children, pornography. >> Pornography. It's a constant battle. >> Can we have a drop off? I would like to drop off and pick up in and out of the box. >> What What do you mean by that? >> Have a bucket >> as they enter the book. >> Not sure if I'm formulating my thought. I'm kind of thinking about it as I go. I did have a a high school student just express that um the the big concern >> with

096some of the kids is that the culture of cell phone use in the schools is is a newer concept but has kind of risen along with school violence >> and episodes of school violence and I think the kids I'm very much in support of our proposed policy um or our draft but I think the Kids may view this as a their phones as a bit of a security blanket, whether false a false sense of security. Um, so I just wanted to express uh a little bit of the feedback of where I've I've heard the student concerns coming from. And I didn't know if if that had been thought of at the particularly at the high school um level just rise of of school violence and incidents at the school and cell phone use has kind

097of been a newer thing that has increased over the last couple decades. these kids sort of view their phones, some of them, um, as a as a security tool. Um, and I I think it may be a bit of a false sense of security, but um, in a situation, but I didn't know if there was any discussion as to like when an an emergency missed your work. >> I think it's going to go down a lot down a lot when it comes to bullying, harassing, all that stuff because right now all the kids are doing harassing. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> So, all the kids are doing right now is harassing each other over their phones. They're not doing it face to face to anybody. >> Even going down the hallway. They're not doing a

098lot of that face to face. It's all over social media. If a fight breaks out there in the school, it's recorded and it's posted all over the place and then they get in trouble for that. Um, so I think a lot of the issues will definitely start going down when it comes to that part. If that answers your question >> a little bit. And what about in the event of of an emergency if there were like an outside? >> Yes. It's funny you said that because I was just talking to Mr. Poor about it. >> Yeah. >> Mount Blue does the foam bags and it's a key and it's locked away and they can't get it. I think that's an issue if we start implementing that. Um, where they can't have it, it's in their

099locker. Now, if there's an emergency, obviously a kid can run out to the hallway, get in the locker, or someone can get into something or if it's in the classroom. And when I was in high school, there was a box, we had to put our phone in the box, and then we went and sat down and that's how we had class. So, if they knew where their phone was, I think it's a lot safer than obviously having in a bag locked away um like Melb Blue does right now. >> Thank you. I would just like us to be mindful as we as we just consider that as part of the conversation with the kids. I think in reference to that is >> well I'm not sure but I would assume it's easier on law enforcement

100if there is an emergency if parents aren't all rushing to the school. >> So that's another thing. So two years ago I think it was when we had a lot of the bomb threats. I was working the road. We had a line of traffic of uh parents lining up down Main Street trying to get in here to get their kids while we're on lockdown. So that's another huge issue. Um, obviously the recent events that's happened from last year to this year, um, with everyone wondering why sometimes we don't go in lockdown and it's not public at risk, that's all coming over kids talking to each other, scrolling through Facebook, everything during the school hours and everybody's wondering what the heck's going on. um when there's al obviously a lot of false information that's out there

101when stuff like that does happen because everybody wants to be the first to report it on Facebook and then it gets in the schools and it just carries on and it just it's a snowball effect. I mean the it's a giant drama fest at that point of who can make it the biggest after that. So >> several schools actually have already enacted this policy and have had very positive effects, reduce in bullying, increased in socialization, kids learning to talk with one another again in and outside their peer groups. So it's it's in other schools it's had a positive effect. So, we have a motion on the table to approve the second reading of the cell phone policy. >> You have a question? >> Yeah. If we vote tonight to enact the policy, when will it

102go in effect? >> Oh, that's okay. Sorry, >> I'm jumping ahead. [laughter] Yep. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> All those opposed? >> Motion carries. Point of clarification. Um, so we're definitely sending policy. the other policy back to policy. Okay. My last understanding is we're not fully we don't have a full policy committee at the moment. We were lacking we lost one. Are we planning to refill that position or has it already been refilled? >> Oh, I thought you took somebody off the committee. >> Yeah. I mean, >> well, I I'm I'm asking you. You took somebody off the committee and I wasn't aware that we put anybody back on the that policy committee. >> Okay. Are you looking for interest from any other board members that might be interested in doing that?

103>> I haven't thought of it, but if somebody else is interested, you can let me know. >> Okay. >> And if you could send me your thoughts on Yes, I I will write it all out. >> Thank you so much. >> Uh school board action on the edge of Skagan land trust trail agreement. >> You remember a meeting or two ago, Amy Soer and Rob Taylor were here uh talking about the land trust agreement. We were ready to go forward, but we needed our lawyers from Drummond Woodson to write up that agreement for us. It's been approved from both sides. Uh they didn't get as big of a grant as they had hoped. I believe they got $10,000. They had hoped they would have more, but it is enough to uh make the trails ADA

104compliant. Um so we just need to vote to say that we're okay with the agreement and it's been covered by the lawyers so that lawsuits and all that other stuff hopefully won't happen. So, uh, I will entertain a motion to approve the Andrew Scargon land trust trail agreement. >> Discussion. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> All those opposed? Motion carries. uh review and approval of the budget timeline for 2627 school budget. >> You have the calendar in front of you. um change and I I think it was just the board members from Jay received a message from uh Ronda Palmer because she's the one that runs the voting in uh Jay uh with concerns about time for um absentee ballots etc. We're willing to we had suggested we're willing to move um the

105budget referendum meeting up a week earlier. um we we can't move it really any earlier than that because we have all these dates so many weeks that we have to post and make sure it's it's in the town to be posted etc. But we were willing to move that date up because you also have to have so much time between the budget referendum meeting and the actual validation vote that the towns have. Um but you can't have too much time. So, it's it's it's uh it's fun moving those dates back and forth, but we wanted to help out the towns when it came to working some things for voting, but at the same time making sure that we didn't infringe on what we need to get done and follow the rules that we need to

106follow. So really the only change was originally um the budget referendum meeting was April 9th and now we're recommending that it's April 2nd and it still gives us time to have all the meetings that we need to have that go over the budget. [clears throat] >> I'll accept a motion to accept the timeline as proposed. >> So move >> discussion. All those in favor? >> I. >> All those opposed? Motion carried. Um, so now is when we're going to discuss when the pol the student cell phone policy should go into effect. Um, in in most cases once we pass policy and do a second meeting, it goes directly into effect. I know when we had the policy meeting, TJ had come concerns about it being pretty abrupt for his high school students um for that

107to happen so we can have a discussion on, you know, do we wait till next year? Do we wait until kids get back from vacation? Or do we do like we normally do and it starts tomorrow? Thinking Michelle, >> does TJ have uh sort of u advice on what he would recommend? Can we ask if you what you have thoughts about this? >> Can I come? >> Yeah. >> Okay, good. Um yeah, I think it's always it's so when I think about high school, I think about my seniors. This is their last year. Um and I'm going to give a ploy for my seniors. uh they have had their phones all the way through. Uh and right now would be a pretty big change for them. Um and I'm sure they can they can do

108it if you guys choose to do it. Um and I will follow whatever you guys uh have in store. Um if you wanted me to start it tomorrow, I would do it tomorrow. If you wanted it in January, I would do it in January. Um my only ask is that it would be a nice gesture to our seniors. um for uh it to take place next year. That would be where I would have it. So, >> next school year. Yes. Not not January. Yes. And I'm at the mercy of you guys. So, if you have any other questions, that's all I'll ask. Thank you. >> And my recommendation would be uh to let it go into effect after Christmas break. Um, go ahead, Michelle. >> Does Mr. York have a have any thoughts about this?

109[laughter] >> So, I personally agree with Mr. and it's not just because I'm working with him, but I think it's going to be Oh, is it off? >> No, you're just I know >> I have that issue. Beefcake. So, I think it's going to be a huge uproar in the high school if it is effective immediately or after break. Um, I think all the kids right now if you just hit them with it and then they go on vacation and it's affected right after. I don't know how that's going to work with them. Um, where if you say, "Okay, this is the last year this is going to happen and then we start it next school calendar year." I think that they're going to take it a lot better, especially with the eighth graders now

110coming up to be freshman. There's nothing new to them. Um, and they're already expecting it. Right now, you even have the freshman's that have phones and they're already starting to use them. So, we're going to take that away during the school year. And right now, I don't think it'd be right for the kids, >> um, personally. And I think it's going to also cause an uproar. And I don't know how that's going to be managed right off. I think we're going to have a lot of issues if we started in the middle of the school year where if we start at the beginning of the school year, I think it's going to be a lot easier to say, well, you already knew this was happening. And we can start educating kids now to that new

111year. So, >> and I just wanted to point out that the reason it was brought up now is because the law was passed that by the end of this school year, we have to have a policy in place for cell phones. So you >> so as a mom of a senior and an employer of many seniors at this school, but I personally think that there's a lot of things in life that come. We have elections that make changes. We have all kinds of things that make changes. Um, I would propose that it's after the second quarter so that they can get back from break. It's not something they're worried about over break, but at the end of the second quarter, it starts at the start of the third quarter knowing that it's coming. Um, we

112just said that cell phones are a cause of bullying and problems in our school. And I do not see why we should long this until the beginning of the next school year. And I may feel this at home, but I strongly feel that this needs to go in place. >> I don't know when the second quarter ends. >> January. >> End of January. Um I would agree with you and that's exactly what I was going to say. Our school has the opportunity to educate our kids between now and the end of January. They'll hit the they'll hear the news right away and we can they can have their little freakout over vacation and but we have to start educating them now and then do that the beginning of the second quarter. I think the sooner

113the better and this is fair. Let's give them a little time and then we do it then. Waiting until next year. So sorry. And I respect you, sir. Don't be looking for my license plates now. I'll find you. I don't want to have to, you know. >> Are you threatening a cop? >> No. No, I didn't threaten a cop. >> YOU JUST DID. >> I just I agree totally. End of the second quarter. Even if you want to take it to the beginning of February vacation somewhere in there give them a little time to adjust educate them about it and that's my suggestion so I will entertain a motion regarding the timing >> hold on just a second about >> I'll be the bad Okay. Um, I would recommend that we begin this new policy

114beginning in you said January 20 >> start beginning of the third quarter in 2026. Second. >> Okay. Discussion. Jenna. I was just going to advocate for it to take a little longer than after Christmas break. Um because what Michelle said is very true. Kids do see their phones as a safety net. We have a lot of kids diagnosed with ADHD, anxiety, depression, all of those things. And they are addicted to their phones. And I worry without staff, uh, social workers, guidance counselors working with a handful of them, um, how bad it could get if a teacher or Mr. Porid tries to take a phone from them. So, providing them that time, you know, between now and then for us to work with certain students, I think will keep everybody safe and uh, still get the

115job done. So, Um, so at the beginning of each school year, we send home student handbooks and that does have policies about cell phones and things like that that parents and students or their guardians um have to sign. Um, and a lot of them do take it seriously. They'll sit down and they'll read through each individual thing, which is why we get um comments saying being like, "Hey, you're changing it. That's not what was in the handbook." Um, if we're going to go ahead and make this change for this year, um, I do feel that we should be sending an updated student handbook to those parents for them to review and sign because not everyone has the internet, not everyone has a newspaper, but they do have a kid in school. >> Just so that

116if we do make this change um, and to implement it for the third quarter that we have verification that the parents and students are aware of it. That way we can hold them accountable for something that they know about and not just a rumor because we all know how that goes. Well, this person said this, but if you have the paper like, "Oh, no, wait a minute. It's right here in the student handbook." That's my thought on it. >> This is only a change to the high school because middle school has already been doing this. So, >> yeah, >> Don >> would printing a whole new handbook or just sending a notice just to just to send a notice. Okay. Okay. >> Yeah, I just mean the amended. I'm not going to torture you like

117that, Laura. I'm sorry. >> Yeah. Any other discussion? Okay. So, we have a motion on the Oh, >> thank you very much for listening to me. I think it's a good choice. So, thank you. We have a motion on the table to start the cell phone policy beginning the third quarter of 2026. >> All those in favor? >> All those opposed. That's okay. Motion carries. >> [laughter] >> discussion on the prime moving forward on the primary school borelet project. >> We have the presentation tonight. All would happen tonight is that you would vote for us to put the RFP out so that we could then get the information that we need for the bids. That's really the bid. It's is to put that out so that we have the timeline that we need going forward.

118doesn't guarantee anything else. Once we get those bids back, we then come back to you guys to approve that so that we could lock in the prices that we need to lock in. And then remember, this is still also part of the budget process. It will be there will be a warrant at that point in time at the budget referendum meeting that people in the town will have to vote on for that piece and then of course after that the regular budget vote. So, this isn't it this doesn't mean it's a done deal, but it means we're moving forward and that we need to hopefully lock in some prices uh moving forward. So, >> I'll entertain a motion. >> Oh, yeah. Actually, do the motion first and then questions. >> Entertain a motion to move

119forward with the primary school boiler project RFP. >> I would second by >> discussion Jody. >> So, when we heard guide. He had said that this decision he would suggest would have been made in January and February to secure it to happen this summer. But you're saying that we have to still go to war. So that actually his suggestion would not happen for us. >> It it could we could vote as a board, >> okay, >> to sign the contract, >> okay, so that we can lock in those numbers, >> okay? But if the town at some point in time says, "No, we don't want you to have those boilers," then we would be stuck with a certain amount of cost. Right, Wayne? Yes. Um, >> what what if they buy for equipment at that

120time is what we would have for a cost. So now would be sitting on equipment and nobody would be putting it in because as as a towns as the towns didn't vote for that, we would have the we would have that. we wouldn't be able to finish the project. >> It's it's always a dance when it's it's it's local money. >> But we all have to understand like we we've discussed the law. I I know we have with the building and grounds committee is we all have to think with the [clears throat] boilers. I'm sorry. Let me >> with I know the the boilers are a big expense like everything else with capital capital capital projects. Um but like we discussed >> we're with anything like the roof on this place if if it leaks

121you know we can put a patch on it. Um but if the boilers go down >> We're done. Where do we take our kids? That's that's the big thing. Where where do we put them? I mean I I if take a look around what happened at Mountain Valley, right? >> And what happened at Oxford Hills, it's in, you know, they wait they waited too long and it's like we don't want to wait too long. We got lucky a couple years ago over there with one section of the boiler that we had ESS money that we were able to buy a section of the boiler to get us through >> and that was you know they talked about that might that section might last 5 years, right? >> So that's that's what ended up happening a

122couple years ago. Those two sections went in that boiler over there. Now, that's that's the primary boiler. Um, like he said, um, that's the big boiler. If that goes down, the second boiler that we have there is smaller. It will not heat that. It'll heat it enough so >> it won't freeze the building up, but it's not warm enough to keep our kids there, right? >> So, then we're looking at where do we take our kids? Um, we don't have room in these schools to to house our children. So, and the other piece people need to realize, we have money coming off debt service. It's actually the roof at the high school, not the dome, but the rest of the roof of the high school. That's actually coming off our debt service. That's about $58,000

123$60,000 a year that we're already paying. So, you you don't want debt service to go completely away without trying to bring something else on so that it's about the same amount. Uh right now, I mean, we haven't got the bids, but right now it the estimate is probably an extra $15,000 to $20,000 a year. So, it isn't like the big $80,000 a year because this is something brand new. It's something's coming off and this would be coming on for the next 15, 20, 25 years, right? So, it's it's yeah, it's a little bit more cost. So, but spread out amongst the three towns, it's really, you know, >> it wouldn't be much more. so to speak. So >> cost, we made some choices that saved the taxpayers quite a bit of money, >> right? So

124>> in doing this, but I do feel I mean at this point I don't feel it's even an option, right? I think >> so. For for instance, with with with what Tanya was saying was uh one of their um recommendations was to obviously like like out here you see beside the building is um to have the propane tanks above ground um above ground two vaporizers. Now the vaporizers themselves cost um anywhere from 12 to $15,000 a piece. about talking with our supplier, which is Dead Rubber. If we take the tanks, bury them in the ground. Um, that's a saving. That's a huge savings. We're going from probably $45,000 between 40 and $45,000 above ground with the vaporizers to I can't I was right around $12,000. 12 >> Without vaporizers. We don't need the vaporizers. If

125you if you bury them in the ground, the vaporizers is because when the boilers are pulling so much gas from the top of the tank, it actually boils. Um, so it creates ice on the tanks. So when it creates ice on the tanks, it's less of a flow for the uh propane. So then it chokes the boilers, the boilers shut down. We had that problem here. That's why we ended up having to install that one vaporizer here. Now, they do recommend two vaporizers because obviously if that one vaporizer goes out we're pulling out of the bottom of the tank now that's liquid. That liquid has to be warmed up to become a vapor again to burn in the boilers. So that's why we always recommend two, not just one. Um um but you know we

126that's a huge savings for us there. Once we bury them in the ground, they don't freeze up because they're underground. You don't have to worry about the wind blowing on them. the snow was on top of them or any of the elements at all. So, um, and then having, you know, I had Adam come out and take a look and, you know, that's a that's a savings there. It's just it's hu it was a huge savings in that in that sense. But, you know, obviously talking to like they said with the tariffs coming in, um, it's all they're already thinking that it's going to be going up. That's why they're they're afraid the longer that we wait, the more it's gonna the the higher the price, whether it be we go with them or we

127go with some other contractor. So, I hope that helps explain a little bit. But >> over the years since I've been here, um we've done a lot of projects and Seammens has been immensely helpful. They've saved us money and been treated us very fairly. Um, and I say, you know, in terms of finance committee, we've discussed it, buildings and grounds obviously has and I say we go for this, get her done. >> Here, >> any other discussion? We have a motion on the table to go forward with the boiler uh P for the primary school boiler project. All those in favor? >> I. All those opposed? Motion carries. >> Thank you all. >> Okay. Um looking for permission to just go forward with uh the roof project at the primary school. Um in this particular

128case, we I've I've sat down with Crystal. We have money in our undesated fund account. Um what we the price that we were given was 770,000. We have 200,000 already in our account for operation of plant capital projects. We'd be looking at uh pulling over $570,000 from our undesated account. Um so it would not be a cost to the taxpayers to have this roof put in. Um, and the reason we're going in this direction with the roof and going through a loan for the boilers is because it's much more difficult to get a loan for a roof than for a boiler because the banks don't come and take your roof if you don't pay. Um, I guess and not that it's very often that they would come and take a sectional your broiler out, but

129it's easier for them to explain to the presidents of the banks and whether who hands out the loans that they could come and take something that they've paid for that we're not paying off where they're not going to come and take the roof off. So, I mean, we're looking at two projects that need it. I mean, that building uh the shingles are we coming up on 26 years, right? You can stand up if you want. 26 years and we know the rubber part of the original roof is even older than that. >> Yes. So the on the um original building itself. So out the the out front um that I believe was 1987 was the last time that for that rubber membrane roof there for the flat section. And like Scott said uh 2000 was

130the uh the year that the primary school was renovated. Had the big section set so with all the shingles and stuff. So that's 25 almost 26 years old. Uh they average 25 to 30 years. But if obviously there's snow on them now, but if if when going over there during the fall over the summertime, you can notice that uh they're starting to change colors. Um I've been up on the roof, they're brittle. Um so we've got moss growing on one section of it. So, yeah. Um, so if we could get two major projects done for really about $20,000 more than what we're paying right now per year, I think that's a really good thing. I always like I always like to sell, too, that you know, I've told people I'm retiring in two years. So,

131this isn't about me. This is about what, you know, I'm not trying, oh yeah, let's do this for me. It's like I'm out of here, but I want to leave the school district in a great shape when it comes to buildings. and and I think it's a perfect opportunity to do that now. >> I think we've really done that because, you know, I' I've been here 20 years almost 20 years and I've I've been through a lot of the projects here. Um I've seen the way that we've ke we've kept our buildings up. Um between all the buildings, the primary school for um educational wise, the primary school is um obviously the one that needs really left, you know, um border wise, we still have central office, which is Yeah. which will never be No,

132no, we're not worried about that at all, but that'll be still order. And >> no, we don't we don't care. We don't care about if if roller gets too hot or too cold. >> Um because that's steam heat and it's always going to be that way. So, but um it's about, you know, it's just it's it's nice to keep our buildings up and it's it's Yeah. And the same thing, this would be a warrant. So, I mean, people would still have to vote in order to take the money to move over to our account. And then even after it's moved over to our account, if if the town's people vote for that, then the board would still have to vote to spend that money once that money is in that account for the roof. >>

133Right. So there are checks and balances. >> Yeah. So, I will accept a motion to add a warrant item at the budget referendum meeting to move funds from the carry forward fund balance to the capital fund for building improvements uh projects at the primary school. >> So, move >> second >> discussion. >> I just want to say I don't want to end up in a Rumford situation. So, I think this is a very good move and it will save us money in the long run. Yeah, for these two projects here alone will be, you know, huge and it's right. Yeah, I strongly agree. >> And if I heard correctly, the gentleman from England said the chimney coming down if you're going to do the roof at the same time. So they >> they went together

134beautifully. >> Yeah. So, so no matter what we we figured out, you know, if if we had to pick one project, then obviously it would be the Boilers, but I'd rather do both, definitely. So, >> can we just uh just >> All those in favor? All those motion carries. >> Entertain a motion to go into executive session to discuss a personnel matter pursuant to 1 MRSA 4056A. >> All those in favor? Opposed. >> Sorry. I don't have to tell you. He married him, but uh but it was fantastic. And then he had Clay take me on a tour. >> What an operation they've got going on. >> Show us back at 8:13, please. >> Or if anything's going a little >> I told them they could. >> Yeah, they were a little >> I think

135they're just talking. They ignored me. That's hard to believe. That's the way it goes. >> I am going to be >> I have a reputation. >> I kind of ran a motion to accept the nomination of >> Sharon Seals for the food service director. >> So moved. >> Any discussion? >> All those in favor? >> I. >> All those opposed? Post. Motion carries. >> Uh three people second. Everybody pick a name. >> Just pick one. >> We're over the top now. >> Okay. So, you have uh your co-curricular pink sheet, your hire, your new hires, um vacation stats, December 22nd. Uh policy committee meeting December 22nd. The next school board meeting will be January 8th at the high school and I will accept a motion to adjurnn. [laughter] >> All those in favor? All great

136holiday