RSU73 School Board Meeting 6/12/2025

001Laura, are you all set with attendance? Okay. Uh, we have a couple of adjustments to the agenda. Um, 15.4 and 15.5 discussion on Spruce Mountain primary roof replacement and boiler room upgrade. um entertain a motion to approve the schoolboard minutes from May 22nd, 2025. So move any discussion, any admissions. All those in favor? I I All those opposed, anybody abstaining? Tina, can you hear us? Tina, I don't think she can hear us. Chris, Dina, you Tina, can you hear us? You copy? I don't even hear this going. Hello. Can you hear my microphone in the audience? Can you hear me now? Okay. She's not She's not responding. Tina. Technical difficulties. Dina, can you hear us? Dina. Can you hear me now? What do you think, Chris? You should be okay for a long time. Hey,

002we're gonna try to at least for now have you on speaker phone. Chris is Chris is working on it. Okay. So, yeah. So, that's why we're gonna have you on the phone. Yeah. Okay. I'm just gonna go. Yeah. She thinks it's on her. Can you hear us, Tina? All right. Okay, you're all set, Tina. Yes. Okay. All right. Uh I would take Huh. Oh, well, we did, but Tina, how do you vote on the U approval of the school board minutes? Okay, thank you. Okay. Um, accept uh the nomination of Alyssa Fisk. Resignation of Alysa Alyssa Fisk, second grade teacher, primary school, effective June 30th. Can I get a motion? I'll make a motion to accept the resist. Can I get a second? I second it. Any discussion? All those in favor? I I. All

003those opposed? Motion passes. Uh, can I get a motion to accept the resation of Jasmine Dort, 7th, 8th grade teacher, middle school, effective immediately? I make a motion to um accept a reg register. Oh my god. one of those days. All those in favor? I opposed. Motion passes. Okay. Uh presentation on restorative justice by Christopher target. Yeah, you might have to What's inevitable is that some students want to bring All right. So, I'm going to start us off with a little bit of video that kind of explains about what restorative practices is and then I'll go into uh kind of some of the things that we've done at the middle school. One thing that we know that's inevitable is that at some point some student is going to break a rule at our school. That's

004something that's inevitable that happens at every single school. So knowing this, we have to have something in place to address the disruptive behavior when it happens. For as long as I've been living and long before I enter the picture, we've try it. One thing that we know that's inevitable is that at some point some student is going to break a rule at our school. That's something that's inevitable. That happens at every single school. So, knowing this, we have to have something in place to address the disruptive behavior when it happens. For as long as I've been living and long before I entered the picture, we've always had traditional consequences. Now, even traditional consequences have evolved over time. At one point, corporal punishment was prevalent throughout the country. Now, very few states allow corporal punishment. And

005even in states that do allow corporal punishment, many districts within those states are choosing not to administer corporal punishment. Detention, suspension, all of these things are traditional consequences. So, to simplify things, why don't we refer to these practices as punishment? Now, to be fair, punishment worked for an extended period of time, particularly when my parents were in school. Punishment was an effective tool to correct behavior. However, as time has evolved, so have the students. In reality, so has the parenting. Because of this, these traditional consequences aren't as effective. In recent years, schools have discovered that these traditional consequences aren't yielding the results that they're looking for. Behavior isn't changing. So, one concept that has evolved is creating a systematic approach to rules and procedures on the campus and rewarding students for their behavior. A lot

006of us know this as PBIS, positive behavioral interventions and supports. I feel you can sum up PBIS in three words, structure, rewards, and intervention. I know that some people feel very strongly about it and feel that it really positively impacts the culture and climate of their campus. I know there are others out there that think it's one of the worst things that's ever been created. If you're a traditionalist, rewarding students for doing what they're supposed to do is going to make your head explode. So, I get the mixed feelings about PBIS. My opinion about PBIS is no different than my opinion of traditional consequence. I see some positives and potential for how it can be effective. I also see some negatives that don't allow us to fulfill the objective we're trying to meet when we're

007talking about changing students behavior. So, some initiatives that have picked up some momentum in the last few years have been restorative practices and social emotional learning. I like to sum up restorative practices and social emotional learning into two words, teaching behavior. When you look at all three approaches side by side by side, you have to acknowledge that all have their pluses and all have their minus. If you're an objective proponent of any of them specifically, you have to acknowledge that there are some flaws within each of these practices because there's nothing that we have that is perfect. So, when it comes to the question of which one you should adopt to meet the behavioral needs of your campus, my answer is all three of them. In isolation, all three have holes. Traditional consequences don't teach

008the appropriate behavior. PBIS does not focus on accountability. The restorative practices in SEAL do a great job of teaching the appropriate behavior, but we're in a society that's governed by rules. We're in a society where punishment is a norm. You cannot take traditional punishment out of the equation. To be honest, this is where restorative practices and seal miss the mark. It doesn't necessarily have to be this way, but this is the common perception that people have when they hear restorative practices and now seal. A kid punches another kid in the face. We all hold hands, sway side to side, that kid says, "I'm sorry." We all hug, and then that kid goes ahead and goes back to class and nothing happened to them. That's the perception of what restorative practices is. With one of the

009biggest misconceptions is we can't hold this student accountable until we make them social and emotionally aware. It's not fair to them until we do that. That's far from the case and that's not going to be acceptable either. We can walk and chew gum at the same time. What you have to do is work on changing the behavior while you're administering the traditional consequence. The reality of it is there's no perfect system. And so because nothing is perfect, we need to take the best components from each, bring them together based on the needs of your particular campus and your particular students, and create the perfect system for your campus. [Applause] Y so about three years ago, I had a chance to go see Kelvin uh down in Rhode Island and I came back with excuse me,

010I came back with some awesome ideas and we were just coming into restorative at the time and we said, "How can we how can we bring some of these ideas back to our campus?" Because as you can see, Restorative isn't a cookie cutter program. It's a it's a mindset. approach is how are we going to go about doing this, right? And we like he even said, there's no perfect solution. There's there's no true perfect answer for behaviors, right? So, we got a great team. We put in a bunch of different uh systems into place for our school, particularly be for our clients, our students, and our community. Okay. So, we have a restorative room. Um, as you can see, here's some historical data from it. In 202122 school year, we had 598 visits. Um, then

0112022 23. Um, that was about the time I get to see Kelvin. Um, we had 934. Last year we had 2,987 visits into the restorative room. This year, um, not as of last Friday, we had 3,925. Those are 3,925 situations that could be disrupting classes. Okay, we have the restorative room use by each grade level. Uh, sixth grade visited 810 times, seventh grade had uh, 1577 and you see the eighth grade has 1538 visits to the restorative room. the different types of contacts that we have in there. Contact types. Uh student reset, there's 1,950. That's when a student says, "I need a break. I need to walk away for a minute. I need to take five." Right? And that's what they go. They go down there, they take five, they process whatever is going on,

012and then they return back to class. Uh we had 139 conflict resolution circles. This is when we might have a group of students that have a little disagreement. There might be a rumor started. There might be just a little tiff going on and we can bring these tuners together. We can sit them down and we can actually talk out the problem and come to a solution. Uh we had 119 inschool suspension days. We uh oversaw 182 structure days. And what a structured day is is where a student gets to go to their four academic classes, but they don't get to go into like their exploratory lunch, recess, and um in intervention. They have all that right in the room. It kind of takes them out of the general public. So, it's kind of like a

013kind of like a in school detention. Okay? It's not really like an in school suspension, but more like a alternative to a detention. Um, we did 57 accountability projects. Um, for those of you new to the board that don't know what an accountability project is, it's when somebody does an infraction, they come back from suspension or in school suspension and they do a presentation based on what they did and who it infected and what are the possible outcomes and what they were thinking at the time and how they could come up with a better solution to the problem. Okay. um it really makes them think outside of the outside of the box of what their actions and how they impact impact others. Um then we had 150 resets with think sheets. And the think sheet

014is similar to the accountability project but on a real lower scale. So like if a kid was becoming disruptive multiple times in a classroom, they kept being reminded by the teacher to settle down, they didn't. Then they get sent down the restorative room, they go down there, they sit down and they think it through. you know, why did I get sent down here? What did I do to get sent down? How was I interrupting everybody else? So, it hadn't got to quite to the level where it has to go to the dean of students or myself, but it can be handled in between the class and the the restorative room. Okay. As you can see in school suspensions over historical data on that um back in 2122 we had 29. Um 2223 we were about

01558. Uh 23 24 you can see we went down to 31 and this year we have 26 uh in school suspensions. Out of school suspensions in 2122 there were 123 out of school suspensions. 22 23 there were at like 122 23 24 we dropped it down to 101 and this year we have 69 out of school suspensions that new year number of students suspended 2122 we had 74 different students that were suspended 22 23 we had 61 different students last year we had 58 different students this year we have 36 different students that have been suspended. So that those 36 count for our 69 out of school suspensions. This is a big one because this is a number of repeat student suspensions. So this is how many times somebody's been who's been suspended more than

016one time. 2122 we had 30 students that were did multiple more than one suspension. uh 22 23 was 28. Last year we had 32. This year we've dropped it down to 18. So 18 students have been suspended more than one one time which is huge because that's we had 36 total. Right. So remember the last time I presented when I was talking about Phoenix time, we put in the program where every kids started checking their grades and then we put in some incentives for them in order to have an extra exploratory. Well, in 2122 we had 60 students that had to attend summer school. 2223 we put in that's when we put in that grade check program every Monday with every student. We ended up having 31 attend summer school. Last year we put in

017more of the incentives. We end up with 26. This year we've had it have it going very well. It's running smoothly throughout the school. Every student checks every Monday. They make goals. They they try to correct those grades. We only have 12 kids attending summer school this year. That's huge. a daily average attendance this year. I didn't really have any historical data for that, but it's 91%. That's a really good number. Anything you can get up over 90% is good. Very good. And then just to end uh some of the barriers that we've we've had uh to overcome when putting in some of these programs and it's still going on. These barriers are still there. Ongoing training opportunities. Um we do our own professional training uh for the most part with um with our restorative

018team. To get somebody Kelvin is like the expert in restorative throughout the country. to get him to come it would be over $15,000 for a day. To get to go see a conference, it cost me about 1,500. Okay. Staff buy in. Um that's always the biggest biggest obstacle whenever you're putting any program in is getting the staff to buy in because all these programs have been coming through. PBIS, uh, restorative practices, we have, um, bar, there's all kinds of them that have been coming through and it's like we do this, then we change. Two years later, we do this, we change. We have been lucky enough that we've been faithfully doing this. Our staff has bought into it. They are actually seeing the results. We're changing the community inside uh, inside the culture inside the

019school. Community involvement um that's a big hurdle right now and we're trying to get over that. One of the things is coming out of COVID. We all know that there there was a true divide between it separated the community and the schools and and we you know kind of shut everybody out. We're slowly starting to come back. We were slowly all starting to get the the sport in there. One of the things that when we noticed is we have a lack of student voice. Who knows what's better going on inside the schools than the students, right? So, we decided that we need to listen more to what they have to say. Tell us what's going on inside the schools. Uh, one of the things is um another barrier that I'd like to be able to

020overcome is the re-entry plans for suspended students. So, when they come out, they get to have to come down and meet with staff and and myself and the parent and they kind of kind of cross that bridge, kind of bond the family to the to the school. So, our next steps um as we move forward uh it's going to be in-house training uh for new staff. We want to make sure we get more uh fluent with that. Um we're going to have to do it in-house just because of financial reason reasons. Uh we're looking at to try to do a mentor mentee uh program. Um one of the things that I'm going to do is I'm going to be more involved in the Phoenix time lessons. I'm going to go in make sure that they're

021being run with fidelity. I'll be going into popping into every every class next year randomly. As far as the community connection, one of the things that we have uh going on was we're as a district we're meeting with the healthy uh community coalition. Um they've been organizing some community events like the Spruce Mountain sliding night, uh parent internet safety night. But back in uh February, Mark Keller and I met with him over February break. And when we were sitting down talking with him, Mark and I said told him, we just plotted on a map all of our suspensions. And you know what's funny? We found a pattern. And Mark and I went through and we could find narrow it down to four or five areas that are highly concentrated with the number of suspensions in

022the students. So I asked them, I said, 'You know, we want to do these movie nights, we want to do these sledding nights, we want to do the internet safety nights, but they can't get there. So I said, 'How can we get to them? So they're coming up with they have a mo mobile health unit. They're going to start reaching out uh next year to to to those areas. They're going to try to go to those areas, try to start educating them, trying to help them, and trying to get them the resources that they need. Um and then as far as a restorative committee and looking at the uh student lack of student voice and looking at the re-entry plans, our committee is going to meet um to kind of figure out come up with

023a solution. How can we get the students how can we get to hear the students and then how can we make it so where these re-entry plans can be successful? How can we do it so parents are willing to come in? How can we do it so it's willing that the kids are willing to take part in it? And then to end uh the role of the teacher remains the highest calling of a free people to the teacher American trusts her most precious resource her children and ask that they be prepared to face the rigors of individual participation in democratic society that is surely hostedler. She was the first uh commissioner of the department of education I believe by appointed appointed by Jimmy Carter. Any questions? Questions for Chris. Chris, are these behaviors that are

024being addressed only in school or these apply to incidents on uh buses and transportation? Those they apply to buses and transportation. So that's included also. Yep. Yep. Don. Oh, I'm sorry, Michelle. Go ahead. I have a a A few things. One, um I wonder Chris if you I bet you'd agree, but I don't want to suppose that the COVID impact on kids was a huge uh factor and some of the 21 through 23 data that you shared. Um would you agree with that? It could be a little it could be skewed because of that. Uh but I couldn't find any data prior to that. talking with staff um they said it was even way way worse prior to um yeah I would I would agree from my time at that here at that time um

025the other thing is you mentioned the four to five biggest areas and reasons for suspensions can you list them off briefly do you know what they are like the four or five areas for like geographical areas oh I'm sorry that you could narrow down that you mentioned a trend that you observed. So when we plotted them on a map, we found the geog geographical area geographical, right? So we found the regions within the community, right? So we could find find the four or five hot spots basically where you know where where the majority of our students are coming from. Okay. Um the other thing is regarding student voice. Uh just on a on a firsthand note, I would say that you're making fantastic strides with that. Thank you. I have uh had experience where I

026have a child who has felt very heard and respected and listened to. So thank you. Yeah, you're welcome. Um and I the the next steps that you have is a nice concrete um plan. I this is a this is a fantastic presentation. So, thank you very much. And I would just add that the role of the teacher as well as the parent I would include the parent in that quote. That's not my quote. So, I Yeah. Yep. Just to put it out there. Thank you very much, Chris. You're welcome. Thank you for the presentation, Chris. Um, am I am I correct in understanding that we started this in 2021? Yes, I believe that. Yes, that would have been the first year I started working there. Okay. And I was just, you know, looking at the

027restorative rooms visits. I was just wondering why the massive increase in those visits just because it's not it wasn't new to them. They they So those sixth graders when we're now seventh graders, those seventh graders became eighth graders. Well, we'd had them since they were sixth grade. We introduced this to them when they were sixth grade. We didn't introduce it to them when they're in eighth grade. So they were like, I don't want anything to do with that. No, they started realizing that the relationships that they're making with their fenus teacher, making them with the restorative room and amongst their peers, then they realize that was a good safe place for them to be able to to go and be able to resub. Have you been able to identify, and this is me just being

028a negative Nelly, but any of the kids abusing it, saying, "I just want to get out of this class for five or 10 minutes. I'm going to make like I'm having trouble." And absolutely. Absolutely. No, that's there's um you're not wrong. Kids kids kids do and we do address it. Okay. Um there's been times that I'll shut kids off to it. You're not allowed to go there anymore. Okay? Or at least for a next few weeks, you're not not allowed to go in there and they realize that no, I have been abusing it. It becomes a crutch sometimes, right? And now if if that happened, would you make an obsession exception if the kid really was having a meltdown? Oh, yeah. Abs. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we're always there to support them, but you know,

029we want to we we want them we want to be their crush, but we don't we want them to teach them how to walk without the crush, you know. So, we're trying to do it all. So, and and lastly, I just wanted to I don't want to ask you a billion questions, but uh what do you think is contributing to the drop in in school suspensions? I think it's the culture. I really do. Um you can ask any of the staff and some of the students, the culture is changing. Um and out of school suspensions, same thing. Same same thing. kids are starting to be able to talk and voice themselves. Um that, you know, they get along. Um I mean, I don't want to jinx myself, but you know, I think we had three

030fights all year. Okay. And that's huge. You know, um used to be a daily or weekly occurrence. The kids kids are fighting. Um you know, and you know, some of the other stuff too is we've taken away the cell phones. We took away that. I don't know how much of a correlation that is, but that's been a huge impact, you know. So there's there's the whole whole picture, the whole culture. Absolutely. Thank you. Presentation. Thank you. Uh so my question is is this Chris uh from the perspective of of a victim, say you know you've got a fight, somebody picks a fight and then you've got the the victim and then they've got to go to the restorative room and sit in a circle or whatever. Um I'm kind of a traditionalist. I'll admit that.

031Um, have you gotten the perspective from from the victim how they feel about sitting with the person who wronged them and and how they feel about that? So, one, we don't force it. We don't make them. So, if they don't want to do it, we we say, "Okay, fine. You don't have to, right?" Um, I mean, they only do it if they if they want to. It's not that common that they do it. Um, but when it does happen, it's very successful because they they get to both kind of express what what was going on. Uh, but it does take a lot of courage for any type that anybody that's been victimized to sit across from um from their perpetrator. So, Ava, hi. Hi. Oh, can you hear me well? Yeah. Okay. Um, I just

032wanted to say this presentation was it was great. I think um with my experience like working with the middle schoolers for a year as a tutor um I think being able to get to a certain kid like mentally when they're in a certain place it takes different methods for each child. So it's it's great that there's different opportunities that are being given to these kids. Um, I also was just wondering because a few years back, um, when I was president of the National Honor Society here, um, we had a conversation about getting the middle school involved with the, um, like National Honor Society. They have like a junior national honor society. And I bring that up because on the slideshow it said, um, community involvement and also lack of student voice. Y um and like

033I think like with the middle school I think it'd be a bit different like with the um differences between the National Honor Society and the student council. Have you had like any conversations with the high school about maybe bringing that up because it could help with like this community involvement just an idea maybe? I think it's a great idea and I should have that conversation because I have not. I I've definitely um during that discussion, there was a lot of um people that wanted to possibly get um the younger kids involved so that they knew more about it when they came up to the high school, but also just like working with the food pantry um doing different things around the community to get them involved and the name out there kind of. Yeah, something

034to think of that. Yeah, I'll make a note and we'll look work at that over the summer. Definitely. Thank you. The one thing I uh forgot to ask is what is I I'm I'm glad to hear that inschool suspension is an option. Um I think that is a I think that's a a positive alternative than just out of school. But I'm wondering uh what has your observation been with including inschool suspension in the same room as restorative uh the restorative room has it is that a positive or a challenging dynamic or honestly it's very challenging. Okay. Um you you that that room has a lot of uh revolving doors. Kids are coming in regularly and then you have the student over there. It can be very distracting. Um sometimes you will see escalated behaviors because

035of it. Um you know theoretically if it was in a perfect world, perfect situation, we'd have them two separate locations. Right. Um Right. And is that is that a a barrier? Right. Would you identify that? That's a huge barrier. Okay. Yep. And do you have any proposed ideas or the ability to address that or is it kind of a something you're still trying to strategize? I mean be real be honest with you. We need to have a hold additional person. You know, you need to have additional person, additional space to be in order to hold um an in school suspension room. I know uh TJ and I have talked about, you know, trying to get one for between the two buildings. Um, but it comes down to to money, finances, and you know, what do

036you want to give up for this, you know? So, thank you. You're welcome. I do want to make a note that the room also is some of the things that have played into us seeing the drop in suspensions is that we have another set of eyes and more resources to get these kids what they need to get. We have Kenbeck behavioral health therapy when we can reach them after the second. It takes a sometimes it takes a couple suspensions. It really does in order to reach the parents to reach the student and then once we can get them those supports then that usually is when we start seeing a big bigger change. So it gives us another set of eyes and another place for these kids to to feel good. Yeah. Uh just a one

037more quick question is how many people are involved with the restorative program? The whole school. The whole school. The whole school. So the whole school we got the restorative program. We have the restorative team which is which is eight eight eight people. And then in the restorative room we have one person running all that. Okay. So those those eight people are they teachers as well? They all the teachers and then Ann with the restorative room and myself and and the one person is Ann and that's what she does. She's restored. Thank you. That's what I need to know. Any other questions? I don't have any questions about this program, but if we're done. Um I went to the eighth grade graduation today. Yep. It was wonderful. I have not been to one in many, many

038years. And it was just so neat to hear the teachers say something about each individual child that went up. It was very good. They did a wonderful job. Good. Thank you. Thank you very much, Holly. Um, typically how many students are in the restorative room at a time? That's a really tough question to to answer. Some days are heavier than others. Sometimes are heavier than others. Um, but on average, you probably about two to three. Um, and if there's more than that, you go in for reinforcement or how does that work? No, because kids have always got a place to place to go. And they're timed. They're not they can't just come out and pull up a couch and, you know, kick up their feet and be like, "Hey, I'm going to k chill out

039for the rest of the day." No, they're in there for about five to seven minutes. Oh, that's a at a time. Yeah. um if there is an extenduating circumstance or if there's a bigger problem or a bigger need, then it can go a little bit longer. Or if I if I put a kid in there while we I'm looking for an investigation or in school suspension or or things like that. Okay. And does officer York um work with these kids as well on some things? Yep, they he he's in contact with a lot of these kids. Okay. He does a great job coming down making himself available to all the students and he gets seen around the building. Thank you. Oh, and I was also at the graduation today. It was very good and it

040was nice to hear all the positive um reports of each student individually. Well, thank you. Other questions for Chris. Thank you. You're welcome. Mark Keller regarding uh co-op with the hockey team. questions for Mark. So Mark, thank you. Um, I I really appreciate I'm a big hockey supporter and anyways, uh, the Do you think that we would probably just re-enter in with the Madison Winthre or is that still going? It doesn't exist. Doesn't exist anymore. Do you do you know where the closest Sure. The culture of ice is just constantly changing. So when that folded a few years ago, we reached out and tried to get inner one. So now the other option is probably more likely I don't remember all the option. Okay. Yeah. So, if the boards approves this, um, is there like

041a prerequisite or qualifications that we have to have to become part of that? No. It has to Part of the process is being approved by the main principal association to have that co-op and part of that approval process is all right. I just want to thank you for uh caring about those kids that have a passion for hockey and and moving forward on their behalf. Thank you. You said there were a couple of students coming up through. Do you have a like a firm number? Is it like two, five, 10, 20? What is it? Any other questions for Mark? Thank you. So, I'm looking for a motion regarding uh the high school co-op for the hockey team. Do we have any discussion? All those in favor? I. All those opposed motion. Tina, Tina. Oh, now

042she's on here. Okay, good. uh public comment. Um I will remind everybody that you have uh three minutes and please address your comments uh to me. Um Avery and Skyler start what? Okay. Hello all. We're back. My name is Skyler and I'm Avery and we are the previous student representatives for the school board. We want to start by saying how grateful we are to have had this opportunity to have been on the board. We understand that new student reps have been elected and our public comment today is to help you understand what it is like to be a student rep on the board with the current members. Everyone is aware that the relationship between the board and the public is struggling. Even though you might see this, I don't realize I don't I don't think

043you realize how much the relationship between the board and the students has changed. Every Friday after a board meeting, Skyler and I would be stopped in the halls or classes by friends or students we had never met before who would ask us about the board member behavior during meetings. The students are noticing the arguing, the disrespect for the code of conduct, and the waste of time discussing topics that will not benefit the district. The students no longer feel safe or supported by the board like they did when we first joined. It is now to the point where when a school board meeting happens, it doesn't feel like a safe space because there is so much disorder and disrespect. This has nothing to do with the viewpoints on any particular issue. This is about the way

044that the viewpoint the viewpoints are presented and how others will perceive it. Arguing back and forth doesn't change anybody's mind. It stops us from making any progress and makes the board look broken. We hope that with us coming here today, you realize that change needs to be made so that the new student representatives don't have to go through what we went through. We encourage you to get back to the board that is respectful and focused on the students. Thank you, ladies. Lyn Wlette. Good evening. My name is Is this on? My name is Lynn Wulette. I am a resident of the town of Jay. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to address you this evening. The information I will share comes from the Maine Department of Education, which provides guidance and support to Maine

045public schools. On January 20th, 2025, President Trump signed executive order defending women from gender ideology, extremism, and restoring biological truth to the federal government. In order to address possible effects of this executive order on school districts like ours and others, the main department of education consulted with the office of the attorney general. As a result of that legal advice, the Maine Department of Education expects Maine's public schools to abide by the Maine Human Rights Act. This act prohibits discrimination on the basis of protected class and employment, housing, and other areas including education. Protected classes include race, color, ancestry, national origin, sex, sexual orientation or gender identity, physical or mental disability, religion, age, and other categories in certain contexts. The Maine Human Rights Commission has determined that the Main Human Rights Act requires schools to allow

046students to compete on single sex or single gender teams based on their gender identity. Based on these findings, the main principles association bylaws now state that transgender students shall be eligible to participate in intercolastic athletics based on their gender identity. Federal courts have also determined that Title Nine allows transgender students to participate in athletic programs based on their gender identity. Education is largely a matter of state and local control. Presidential executive orders such as the aforementioned executive order do not alter the obligations of schools to compi comply with the main human human rights act and title nine. Thank you so much for your time. [Applause] Linda Dean Good evening, school board chair and members. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Linda Dean. I grew up in Livermore Falls, got married

047and moved all the way to Liverour, where I'm still living. A school board is one of the most important parts of our local government. Your role is to make sure our public schools serve all students and families. That means making decisions about budgets, hiring, curriculum, and school safety. It's a big responsibility and it's supposed to be about education, not politics. Yes, you all come with your own beliefs and that's understandable. But once elected, you're expected to govern with the best interests of every student in mind. Your job is not to push political agendas. It's to strengthen our schools. But instead of focusing on real issues like staffing shortages, student support, and school safety, this board has gone in a different direction. At your last meeting, you gave a platform to the director of Maine Parents

048Rights and Education, a group known for pushing an extreme ideological agenda that has very little to do with helping students learn to thrive. Even more concerning, you passed a motion to seek a second opinion on a second opinion regarding Title 9 protections, and you're seeking that advice from a law office that doesn't even specialize in educational law. That's taxpayer money being spent on legal fishing expeditions aimed at justifying the roll back of longstanding protections that ensure all students, especially those with special needs, girls, and LGBTQ youth are treated fairly and with dignity. Title 9 isn't a political issue. It's about protecting students from discrimination. undermining it does nothing to improve education, but it does send a chilling message to the students who most need our support. We need school board members who focus on student

049success, safe classrooms, and real educational outcomes, not partisan distractions or culture war talking points. I urge you to put aside political agendas and bring the focus back to the kids and the real needs of our schools. Thank you, Ellen Grel. I'm sorry. I hate these. I I can't see anybody. Um but thank you. Can I put Okay. Can you hear me? Okay. Good evening, school board and community members. Chairperson Wulette, thank you for the opportunity again to speak tonight. My name is Ellen Grundlat. I've lived in Jay for more than 40 years and my two children attended J schools. I'm a retired physician and counselor. I'm going to skip some of my talk because it kind of reiterates what Linda said and I don't want to, you know, waste our time repeating, but I will

050I will focus on this one area. The school board is charged with making this school the kind of place where all kids can thrive, no matter their ethnic background, race, religion, socioeconomic status, no matter their gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation. To do otherwise would be discriminatory and the effect of discriminatory policies is to harm children's mental and physical health. We know this from studies particularly of LGBTQ kids who in a discriminatory environment are more more likely than their peers to be bullied and to suffer from depression and even suicidality. Participation in athletics has been shown to protect against these negative outcomes as athletes gain skills and confidence and the camaraderie of being part of a team. So let's talk about trans girls particip participation in girls sports. I was a physician for more than

05130 years. I did hundreds of sports physicals. It is a fact that children's bodies and athletic potentials are various. Yet, we do not stratis stratify sports participation by strength or weight. Especially in high school, smaller kids are playing bigger kids all the time. Furthermore, there is no evidence that any transirl picked at random is bigger, stronger, or faster than her cisgender teammates. As is as is true in much of science, the differences within a group are much larger than the differences between groups. We like easy categorizations and binary reasoning, but that doesn't mean that these shortcuts give us an accurate picture of reality. Much has been made of a single case, and some politicians are stoking their visibility and power at the expense of one child whose only crime was to do her best and

052succeed. These are the real reasons for this uproar over Title N. It's about political power and control. Does this board truly want to sacrifice students well-being and potential on this altar? I I call your attention to an op-ed in this week's main Sunday telegram in which a competitive runner in high school, now a college student, describes her experience. She states, "I am appalled," these are her words, "I am appalled by the pernitious narrative that depriving trans girls of the wonderful experience of athletics protects cisgender girls like me. I've competed against trans athletes and none have made me feel uncomfortable, unsafe, or at an unfair disadvantage. The entire editorial is well worth reading as she outlines what it really means to care about girls sports. Thank you. [Applause] Steve Bian School Board Chairlet. Thanks for the

053opportunity to speak tonight. I want to thank you for that opportunity. My name is Steve Bian. I've been a resident in Jay for 40 odd years. I've been a resident in Jay for 40 odd years. Our children went to school here. I'm a practicing physician in Farmington. I want to address the question as to whether this board should engage the services of a law firm to draft a transgender athletic policy at variance with current governing law in this state. This seems misguided and foolish. In the Sun Journal article at our last meeting, about our last meeting, one of the board members was quoted as saying, "We should focus on the facts." And that is what I want to do tonight. Challenging a standing law is a major potentially expensive proposition and one that carries some

054risk if we fail, which is likely since the law is clear. When I saw this, I immediately wondered, why does the board want to take this on? It seems to me that the issue of transgender athletes does not seem to come up very often. We are not a community. We are not a school system. And you are not a board with unlimited time and opportunity. Is this worth a lot of time, effort, and risk? What facts support that effort? Here are the data I found. In any given year, there are about 50,000 student athletes in Maine participating in the high school level. Roughly 30% of students participate in sports. For the past 10 years, there has been an average of about 5.5 transgender athletes coming forward. I'll tell you what the math is. That is

055about 100th of 1% of the participating student body of athletes. So let's extrapolate this to Jay. If 30% of the student body participates in sports, and I hope I'm right about this, we have 400 students a year. And that 30% is about 130 to 140 student athletes a year. Based on those numbers, it might take 70 or 80 years before we encounter a transgender athlete coming forward here. It's hard to imagine that this is an urgent problem. So why take this on? Is this political show, political theater? Our board members using their position for a political ideology? Is this culture wars come to Jay? We don't need any of this. You are certainly not solving a major problem taking this on. Frankly, this effort seems frivolous, wasteful of time and money, and loaded with legal

056risk for our school system. Moreover, it is divisive and mean-spirited. I resent my taxpayer money going into this and I urge the board to drop this project. Thank you. Scott, good evening. Is this on? It says it's on. Can you hear me? Yeah. All right. Oh, yeah. I have a statement from Jeff. I'm sorry if he's not here. Uh I I skipped over board comments. My apologies. Um do we have any board comments? I want to speak about an ongoing situation that is happening to a fellow board member. I have his permission to use his name. I have known Roger a very long time. What? He spoke at my nephew. What? She can't hear you. You can. It's on. Can you? He spoke at my nephew's funeral and left many people in tears. Is Roger

057perfect? No. Are any of us? I am dismayed that someone has taken to sending extremely threatening messages to Roger, threatening not only him but his family and his children. This is incomprehensible to me. Trying to force somebody to resign from an elected position. Excuse me. What? Speaking on his behalf. Thank you. Trying to force someone to resign from an elected position with threats is called extortion. When this occurs, it undermines our system as a democracy. He was elected by his constituents. Yes. I I did I did address it. I told her that she could finish. She has performance. Okay. I won't say his name again. Yeah, I won't say his name again. Okay. Done. Why is it someone in the audience during the public? That's pretty fair. Roger didn't write that statement. I wrote it

058because I'm concerned being a board member that if I say something or vote in some way that offends somebody, what's going to happen to the rest of us? I mean, this this is personal. It's not just him. Thank you for clearing that. What was sent to him was very concerning as a family. Good e Oh, good evening. I attended both the high school graduation ceremony and the adult educ I had comments. Madame Chair, MSAD70, the town of Hodston, is a school system with 500 students, 13 board members. They have passed the Title Nine. Um, and they have received no lawsuits. Facts, there are two sexes, male and female. One transgender in girls sports is too many. One girl losing a scholarship or a trophy to a transgender is too many. One girl being exposed to

059a transgender girl in a locker room, which is also known as a boy, is too many. I urge the board to keep going the course on the Title N issue. Thank you. As usual, on to something different. It was my pleasure to attend both the graduation of the high school with Skyler and Avery and their classmates. Was very well conducted by TJ. The uh gymnasium was packed with a very enthusiastic crowd. And following it, there was the adult ed graduation with Robin Raymond which had about half the people but twice twice the volume. They were very enthusiastic for their students. There was a great range and they were all very proud and I was being a board member seeing the results of what our work and budgets and policies provide. I was glad to see

060the results of it and wish the class of 2025 the best of luck. Thank you. Um, I think that all students need support. All students. And uh, in including girls. And um, a concern I have is that you can't infringe upon one group's rights because you want to bolster the rights of another group. And that's what I feel is going on uh with the whole girls and uh boys and girls sports. Um and just reminder to people that just because one person doesn't hold your beliefs doesn't mean that their speech is hateful. It is the numbers are clear on the polls that I've seen that the majority of people don't want boys playing in girls sports. Thank you. I also do not want boys playing in girls sports, but maybe for a different reason. I

061do not want my granddaughter who's going into the middle school to walk into a locker room and see a naked male. She's too young in my opinion. We're Christian. We go to church and we don't believe in this. And that is my biggest issue is they don't belong in the same locker rooms. They don't belong in the same bathrooms. That's all I have to say about the issue. Thank you. Um, I came to speak about the boys playing in women's sports before I came onto the the board. Um, and there's been some discussion about how it's not a school um topic and that we should drop it. Um I personally do believe it is a school topic. Um it is a school activity. Sports are school activities. Um and this is a very relevant conversation

062around the US right now. And I'd just like to urge people to be able to speak freely about how they do see um like their points of view on this. It's important. It's very relevant to the time. Um but there are people that feel strongly on both sides. Um respect goes both ways and I think with my personal experience um being a student right now in college um and competing at the college level in cross country and track. Um, I would like to bring to light that I've run against different divisions, D3, D2, D1. Um, and there are um transgender um people that are competing in these sport in these um different events. It's very relevant to the time. Um, and I just like to continue the conversation. It's important right now. Andrew stole a

063little of my thunder, but that's all right. I was lucky enough to attend both the high school graduation ceremony and adult ed ceremony on Sunday. Both were very well attended and very well done. Thank you both to Robin and TJ and all the people who helped that to become a reality. I've had a couple of meetings with our SRO Anthony York to discuss issues the past couple weeks. I had a meeting with uh Chris Boddin to discuss the finishing up of the ease grant that will end in December. I had my weekly meeting with adult ed director Robin Raymond. She shares with me what is going on with grants and programming when we meet once a week. Uh, I also attended the Western Maine Regional Service Center meeting. We had discussions on upcoming professional development

064for the next school year. Questions for Scott? Holly, when you meet with RSO York, um, has there been more incidents or less incidents than the last since the last time you met with him or We weren't discussing the number number of incidents. It's it was a couple particular incidents that we needed to discuss. Okay. Thank you. Yep. Any other questions for Scott, Laura? So, good evening. Um, I'm going to start with first of all congratulating all of the graduates, um, from the high school to the adult ed to our eighth grade graduates and all the promotions within the district because I think um, our students need the encouragement and the um, accolades of accomplishing another year of success for them. Um it was my pleasure to see on Wednesday the field days that went on

065and uh staff fed um not only the students that day but roughly 140 adults and volunteers within the three buildings which is really really wonderful. So when we're talking about community involvement we're talking about you know they are getting in there and they are helping and I think we need to really stay focused on some of the positive things that we're doing in our schools. Um this week we say goodbye to um uh two senior staff members, 32 and 19 years of smiling faces that have greeted children through generations. Um yeah, so it's it's really bittersweet and there's a lot of um love and care that goes into day and day out for the care of the children in this community and I think that really needs to remain as our focus. I am pleased

066to finally report that the middle school site has been approved for by DOE and it will be an open meal site for our summer feeding program and it will um support the wreck program, the 21st century program, summer school, extended school year, um both breakfast and lunch. Um this will be a congregate site, meaning that meals can be eaten on site. it's it's not something that they can just grab and go. Um so we're happy to be able to provide that for our area youth again this year. Um took us a while to get through that process, but breakfast will be available Monday through Friday between 8:30 and 9 and lunches will be served from 11 to 12 daily. Um, again, field day seemed to go really, really well, and I really want to, um,

067applaud all of the staff that participated and made sure that that was a great day for all of the students. Um, and I'm happy to also report that starting on July 8th, we will begin our uh, cafeteria project at the primary school. So, I'm very much looking forward to that. And that is about all I'm going to report. I wish I'd brought you all a cookie cuz I think you need one. I think we need a cookie, too. Questions for Lara. Thank you. Thank you. Norma, yeah, cookie would have been good. So on May 16th, um, Andrew, Skyler, Avery, and myself all went to the ride and drive presentation sponsored by O' Conor bus sales in Augusta. It was propane buses and propane. It was a lot of people from the propane industry. Um, Skyler

068and Avery and Andrew, I believe, learned a lot about the propane they did not know. some statistics that we learned that day where there w there are 1.3 million school buses on the roads in the United States 25 thousand of those are propane driven uh school buses there are 65,000 propane vehicles used in the USA whether it's be delivery trucks or regular Ford pickups propane buses have a 93galon fuel tank that goes on the average of 400 miles that's a type C school to us. In 2027, emission regulations are coming. Diesel vehicles will need to be at 80%. Um, which means they're adding another uh deaf tank, which those tanks run about $2,500 a piece. So, that will also jack up the prices of school buses. Our propane wheelchair bus will be leaving the factory

069on August 14th. When we receive the bus, they will take bus 30 and then uh it's called the DAR program. It's a diesel um I forgot what it stood for. It's a diesel emissions regulations program will give us a credit for $46,000 towards our new bus. I applied for and then that being said, I applied for a grant through the main DOT for a new speed zone 15 mile an hour lights. They're up here on route two and four by our school. They'll um this the new speed zone lights on the road by the elementary and high school middle school locations. They'll be replaced with new solar lights. I went to the DOT and they trained me on how I can program the lights on my own. This will save the district anywhere from $350

070to $600 a year to have an electrician come to program and repair them. It's all done by Wi-Fi. Um, so like if we have a two-hour delay, I could run down, change the lights. Um, they'll also have a speed um, radar control on them, so if anybody violates that speed um, and an officer catches them, for example, it actually keeps track of those violations. No. Yeah. Laura. So, we received the lights in the signs at no cost to the district with the agreement they have to be installed within six months of receiving our parts, which we already have our parts in the garage bay. Empire Electric out of Turner, who has been coming to do our lights every year when on the calendar out of Turner will be installing those sometime after June 18th. This

071will also save on our district utility bill due to the dig safe coming um to approve the location and then after that he can install everything. The poles are 20 ft high. They're um steel poles. They're 3 in wide. So the big telephone pole that's there now will be gone. And I have a custodian right now that I've been driver training with. He's almost ready for his school bus permit within the next couple weeks. And I just had another custodian start the school bus driver program through me and that will add to the list of spare drivers. And we also have a spare driver that's retiring after 15 years. So he's all done the end of the month. So that's about it. Questions for Norma? First want to thank you for all that you do.

072You're one of the hardest workers I know. Um, thank you. Just one question. Is there a fee, like a Wi-Fi fee for the sign at all? No, it's Bluetooth. I shouldn't say Wi-Fi. Bluetooth is what I meant. So, do you have to be near it or 100 feet? 100 feet. Outstanding. Thank you. Thank you. Other questions for Norma? Thank you. Thank you, Wayne. Good evening. Thank you for having me. Uh congratulations to all the uh seniors and eighth graders that had definitely we need to uh commend them. It's been a crazy year of course. Um not much to uh to report at this point in time. Um, we're starting into a a summer break, so deep cleaning will will begin on Monday. Um, I'm going to meet with the staff on tomorrow on Friday to

073uh give them all their checklists and the painting that we need to do in the buildings and so on and so forth. So, um, other than that, kind of Norma took some of my thunder, you know, with, uh, Neil being, uh, retiring. Um, that's, uh, it's bittersweet, you know. I'm I'm I'm happy that that he will be retiring this year, but we we will shortly miss him here at the high school. So, he's been a a good example of what, you know, what we're always looking for. So, um but other than that, I that's uh pretty much what I have for right now. Questions for Wayne? Question. Um I looked over your list that you gave to all the teachers to prepare for the summer cleanings. Yes. My mom was a custodian here for 17

074years and I have to say that was a really good idea. Thank you. I think that will be very helpful to the custodians because it is a lot. Yes, we uh and I've had very good positive positive reactions. Yeah. And I think it just gives them a good guideline and not have to do I should I move this? Should I do I thought it was very well done. Um and I've had quite a few reach out to me um questions, you know, so on and so forth. Communication is key with me. So because that's a big job. Yes, it is very very big job for us all. So and like I explained to them um the more that we can help each other, the more that I can take care help take care take care

075take care take care take care take care take care of the facilities here because this is the most you know for me in in my position facilities is that's my important part of it and it belongs to the community belongs to us all. So, so Holly, I just have a request and I don't know if this should be directed to you or to Chris Target, but when we were at the middle school in the cafeteria for the meeting, the last meeting we had, um, I would like to see a better presence of the American flag. It seemed to be kind of hidden in behind the corner. I'd love to see it. Maybe maybe something on on the wall or a better fashion. Yeah, we can do that for sure. Definitely. That's an easy ask. Other

076other comments or questions for Wait, thank you. Thank you, Robin. Good evening. We held our adult ed graduation for the class of 2025 on Sunday. We had a large turnout of students, parents, and community members. 62 adult learners in total graduated. 44 earned their high school credential and 18 learners received a workforce credential. This was our largest graduating class in Spruce Mountain Adult history. We're tremendously proud of all graduates across the district. And thank you to those who attended or sent encouraging notes and emails for our students. We'll begin summer hours starting on Monday. Our office will be open from 9 to 3 Monday through Thursday as our staff rotates vacation time and prepares for the summer credit recovery program that begins on July 1. As of today, I have no further updates on federal

077funding for the commercial truck driving program. Uh I'm just going to read a short snippet of the letter that I received last month from our funer. It states, "Initially, we were told our contract would be completed in May. However, we received word that contracting has been postponed with no additional details as to when it will resume. Our program officer indicated that contracting across the Department of Labor has been stalled since February and that they do not have additional information to share. So, this grant was appropriated by Congress. Um, it was also awarded to the University of Maine, so they're in the same boat. The direct impact is that we won't be able to begin marketing um or making initial steps towards building the CDL program until a contract has been signed and we have funds

078available. So unfortunately that's on hold. But to end on a positive note, our adult and family literacy federal funding has been awarded for FY26. The main department of education made that announcement on June 2nd and we I think all sighed a collective sigh of relief um and gratitude. This funding helps secure a large portion of the work we do with adult learners when they receive their high school credential. That's it. Questions for Robin? Holly? This might be a silly question, but what is a workforce training certificate? So that means that um a student would go into a training program and it's either a nationally recognized credential or a um a workforce credential that is recognized by like a restaurant or um an an employer specifically. Okay. Thank you. So like you might see on there

079Vortex, that's a new partnership that we created this year. Oh yeah. They come to us and they do an applied mathematics course that's very specific to like the robotics that they use when they're Yeah. on the job. So they already have a certificate so they can go and apply for that job. That is like an on the job training for them. We issue a certificate saying that yes the um the credential that they need in order to do that job is issued by us. Oh okay. So they got the training through us to continue on the on the job training through vortex. Thank you very much. Was that was that clear? I think so. Okay. I want to thank you again for the presentation at your graduation. I don't think the community realizes the outreach

080that program has. Your students range from 18 to people in their 40s or above. We had someone that graduated and they're just under 70. Yeah. And she learned to read through our program. That's awesome. Thank you. Yes. You said there were 62 graduates and of that how many I just wanted to ask you how many were um getting were they all getting high school equivalents or no 40 44 received their high school credential and then 18 got workforce credentials. Thank you. Um and that's 44 people or I was wondering how many of those are kids that would normally have been going to the high school Spruce Mountain High School. Spruce Mountain High School. I don't have that number on me. Um, you don't? Okay. Yeah, I was just impressed with the number and was wanting

081to say, isn't it great that they've got their high school equivalent uh when things just didn't work out for them uh here at Spruce Mountain here at the at the high school. So, thank you. Yes, for what you do. I appreciate that. It's nice to have a pathway because it's not a one-sizefits-all approach to education, right? Thanks again. Yeah. Other questions, comments for Robin? Thank you. Thank you. Jenna. All right. I would like to share that the middle school softball team has a championship game tomorrow at 400 pm on the high school softball field. They are I think they're playing gardener, which is a fantastic team. Uh so it has the potential to be a nailbiter. Um, I also wanted to share that we did have three special education staff members retire. We had Betsy

082Harvey, an edtech from the elementary school with 12 years in district. Margaretlair, an edtech from the high school with 22 years of experience in district, and Diane Moray, a teacher from the high school with 41 years of experience at our high school. And that doesn't include what they might have had at other districts. Um, words can't express how much they brought to our district and how greatly they will be missed. We were lucky to have them. Um, so please spread the word about open positions. Um, we have nine edtech positions that are open districtwide. Some of them were ones that we were not able to fill this year. Um some were um we have a couple of edtes that have been going through um college courses to get a teaching degree and they need to

083be student teaching. Um and then of course we have people that are leaving to be grandparents and all of that other stuff. Um we also have two life skills teacher positions open, one at the middle, one at the high school. And um I do know that they are going to be nearly impossible to fill unless we get the word out there as wide as we can. Um I have seen in other districts that they are also looking for life skills teachers. Uh we are also looking for a part-time occupational therapist. Um in other news, I wanted to take a moment to clarify a potential misunderstanding from the last board meeting. I believe there may have been some confusion regarding a community member statement in regards to special education in section 504 services. Although I know

084her report wasn't meant to indicate anything is wrong with section 504 services. Some people might have taken it that way and I'd like to address any potential concerns and offer transparency. Um, so I'm going to share several ways that our 504 program goes above and beyond the legal requirements, the federal legal requirements, uh, for the best interest of the children. So, one way we do that is through parent involvement. Federal law does not require parents to be invited to 504 meetings. I ensure every parent is invited. I believe strongly that parents are essential partners in the development of effective plans and should always have a voice when it comes to collaboration. Legally, a 504 meeting can be held with just one staff member. However, I ensure that all relevant staff members who work with the

085students are invited so we can develop the most informed and supportive plan possible. When it comes to scheduling, most of our 504 meetings are scheduled after school hours. This minimizes disruptions to students instructional time and allows for greater staff participation. In many districts, meetings are held during the school day. Um, communication of accommodations. So, uh, technically we just have to share the accommodations once, but I share it in three different ways. Um, I have the 504 icon in P school. I post stuff in Panorama, and I always f have a follow-up email after each meeting. Um, when it comes to reviews, the law only requires that 504 plans be reviewed periodically without specifying a timeline. This ensures that their supports um I have chosen to review each student's plan annually. This ensures their supports are

086up to date as they transition between buildings and encounter new staff or experience changes in their needs. Some districts only meet every three years or on an as needed basis. And that has proven to be um a failing sort of thing. It's not work it that doesn't work for students. Um, I just want to assure you that I'm committed to ensuring our students receive the support they need to succeed. I know one of the last times I was at a schoolboard meeting, we talked about the um, 504 and IEP percentages and we compared those to national and state percentages and of course ours were higher. We talked about that a little bit. Um, on June 5th, I gathered information from RSU73 and RSU 10, which is the Mount Valley School District. So, I just wanted

087to share the percentages. Um although we are not identical to Mount Valley, we have a lot of similarities in our community. Um so in RSU73, 26% of our students have IEPs and in Mount Valley 30% do. In RSU73, 7% of 504s uh 7% of students have 504s and in RSU 106% does. So I think you can see that when it's compared to a similar community. um you know the scores are pretty similar. I have reached out to other districts um but this is a busy time of year. Um so when it comes to numbers um the high school uh in May we had 38 and because we have graduated eight seniors we have 30 students now. In the middle school in May we had 25 students in this month we still have 25 students. At

088the elementary, we had 25 students with active 504 plans in May and this month we have 26 and today I just heard of a referral. So we have one anticipated referral and at the primary school in May we had eight and this month we have 10. So um because of the increases and the decreases of students graduating um in May we had 96 and this month we have 91 students. questions for Jenna. Michelle, thank you, Miss Cody. Um, I can confirm that the statements that you have provided with regard to your procedures um exhibit very high professional like um compassion. Um the words elude me a little bit, but best practice. Thank you. And uh thank you. I can confirm that everything that you have stated as far as um what the standard is and

089what your practice is is 100% accurate. Um the other thing that I I'm just questioning although I think I know the answer is on the IEP team is the parent still the leader of the IEP team? So legally for an IEP team meeting um a parent has to be invited but the the meeting can go on if they don't come. Thank you for implementing best practice with parents and community and student. I think that our community um they you know they put a lot in in when it comes to taxes and that sort of thing. And um as much as we try our we can't give our kids the best of some of the that these big cities can. So that's why I think it's important that we do whatever we can that's within our

090means. Thank you, Andrew. I just want to thank you for taking the time to compare us to other districts. Sometimes we get tunnel vision of what we're looking at and we don't know what the other districts are doing as far as this goes. So that gives us a lot of perspective. Thank you. It's good for Sherry and I to keep a you know it an an eye on that too because we meet with other directors around the state of Maine. We meet with um um Department of Maine education representatives. So we often try to share concerning things that we see. Um so it's just good for us all to keep an eye on it. I think you mentioned there were two positions open that you're doubtful or maybe hopeful is probably the better term for

091life skills. Say that doesn't get filled by the next school year. What are the ramifications for the program? How would you adjust to accommodate that? So um like I said we have several people in district that are going on to higher education to become a teacher and but that takes time. Um, so our plan if we cannot hire two life skills teachers is to have at least one to two edtech 3es in each program and then potentially um having another special ed teacher case manage and handle the paperwork and provide guidance to those staff. Um, it is not ideal and Sherry and I would need to be present and be there to support the staff. Um, I think one of the the neat thing, well the bad actually I think it's kind of bad. We

092have a lot of staff that are much more qualified than edtech one or edtech 2. You know they they could be paid as edtech 3 but we just can't do that. So we have a lot of qualified staff that will step up and do what they need to do. Um, but it does suck that we'll have to put that on them. I I think it's been um I think I might be re reiterating something here, but I just wanted to thank you so much for your passion and your commitment to keep parents involved. Yeah. With this, it is a a big deal to to keep them and I just really I appreciate you. Thank you. And I will tell you, I've had like 150 meetings this year just for 504s because there are some kids

093we meet on more than one time uh per year uh because their plan needs that. We're working through some stuff. And out of all of those meetings, there have only been five times parents haven't shown up. And um at least three of those times were just because something came up and two were just because they forgot and it happens. uh but nearly all of them reached out after to you know hear what happened. And at 504 meetings we also take a note of everything that was discussed and we send that home to the parents. Uh so they have a record of everything that was discussed regardless of whether they're in attendance or not. But I think that says a lot about the community like holy moly that many parents came out for their children. Yep.

094Sorry, you just touched on something that uh kind of the my light bulb was went on a little bit regarding um c do you know with respect to if those positions are not filled the IEP paperwork and that legal process falls on certified case managers. Um, with that being said, are all of the other positions filled and do you anticipate they will remain filled in the school? So, how many gaps are we looking at that will fall amongst certified special education teachers? So, um, currently we are begging Diane Mo to, uh, potentially come back and case manage the high school. Um we are begging and we have a um we have a special ed teacher at the elementary school who has worked closely with the life skills classroom at the middle school. And so what

095would happen is there would be you know a couple of edtech 3s in her room, a couple of edtees in the life uh skills room at the middle school. And that teacher would go back and forth providing support everywhere but attending all of the meetings, doing all of the paperwork. And she has been doing that this year. She has been doing all of the paperwork this year. Um our we're very worried for the year after next because we have a lot of life skills kids coming up to the high school. Um but we might have some um edte that might have their teaching degree and might be interested. So, we're just trying to get through a year. Other questions for Jenna? Thank you, Jenna. Thanks, Chris. All right. Hoping I can be as quick as

096Jenna. Um, so a couple updates. Uh, everything at the end of year seems to be around technology closing things up. Um, in case you didn't happen to see the report, um, the whole, uh, power school cyber attack that happened that we had to deal with here, um, they actually caught the person that did it, 19year-old, um, male from Massachusetts that was in college. um but uh managed to get them to um send him 2 point or I'm not they're not positive it was just him but to send $2.85 million in Bitcoin. So, but he was caught. So, uh so we'll see how that goes. Um and then probably all of you saw the email that we're moving to uh the two-step verification on Google. Um, some that can be a little confusing. Um, because sometimes

097people think that means every time they log back into uh Google on their computer, they're going to have to do the two-step verification. Um, that's not the the fact that it actually once you log in on a device on your computer or on your phone, it remembers that for quite a while. So, you don't have to keep doing the two-step verification. You only have to do it if you go on to another device or if maybe if you update your phone and and it might then you might have to do it again. But um but it's really to keep out anybody from devices that aren't known. Um and obviously they won't have the two-step verification, so they won't be able to get in. Um because that's how most of our attacks have been coming this

098year through the emails. Um, we we used to be able to just track where they were coming from and block those sites, but they've gotten so much smarter now that they're using multiple sites at a time and so you can no longer track it down and stop it. Uh, because they just find another site and they're back the next day. So, um, but with the two-step, that'll stop anybody that's in another state, another anywhere that's on a device and they don't know the code, then they won't be able to to get into people's, um, emails and and use those contacts and things. So, so we're looking forward to that. Um, and that and we have, uh, a little nerve-wracking, we have the ninth grade, uh, computers from the state are coming in. um the Chromebooks.

099So, we'll be replacing those. We'll be taking the senior uh Chromebooks that they're leaving and sending those down to second grade. Um but with the the way the Milty uh Chromebooks work is we have to order them. Um and so this year for the number of Chromebooks we're getting along with the staff Chromebooks that go with them. Um, so we actually basically have to to upfront a little over $70,000. Um, and then once they get once the um Chromebook place gets the money, then they report to the state that they've been paid and then the state reimbures us. Um, it's not like it used to be where the state would just give us the money and then we could buy them. We actually have to go through the reimbursement. So, so it's a little nerve-wracking

100that, you know, especially sometimes when the state talks about budgets and stuff that, you know, but we've been promise that we're all set. Questions for Chris? Thank you. Thanks. Okay, so I have a couple of things. Um, congratulations to all our graduates. um both adult ed and and regular. Um my apologies for not attending. Um unfortunately I was down with a migraine and there was no leaving the house. Um I did attend the uh concert for the uh kindergarten kids and let me tell you that was something cute. Um, a thank you to all our staff, um, teachers, and our students for a hopefully successful school year. Um, and tomorrow night, uh, the St. Rose Community Center will be hosting a pizza night and movie. It's, uh, open to the public, so if anybody wants

101to bring their kids, um, it's free. So that's all I have. Uh I don't think we have any committee reports. Um okay. Discussion on uh the lease of the new school bus. Wait, are you going to do that or Oh, there's a motion. Okay. Yeah. That Tina has left the meeting. Yeah. No, she texted me and said she had to go. Yeah. Yeah. Nope. So this part is just a formality. This was already um the bus was approved. It was approved in the budget. But whenever you do a lease purchase of a new bus that spread over amount of time, you actually have to make a motion with the resolution. We did it last year. We ended up actually we ended up doing it almost late. We ended up doing it in September. That's why

102we wanted to bring it to you now. Um there's a motion that needs to be read. I don't know who you want to have read that. Um, this is the propane bus that Norm has talked about. Uh, it's hopefully Norma, when do we expect it to come in? August 14th. Okay. We didn't send Andrew out to take a ride this time with the There you go. Okay. Oh, that Don's gonna be okay. She's got the motion right there. I make a motion that the resolution titled RE resolution to authorize lease purchase of a new school bus in the principal amount of $119,268 be adopted in the form presented to this meeting. I have a sec. We'll do a roll call. Laura. Oh, discussion. Roll call. Laura, please. Okay. No, you're fine. You're fine. Yes. Yes.

103Yes. No. Motion carries. It's time for the Wayne Neil show. I was teasing him earlier because he's'll now be taking up the next few items. How does it feel to be lovely? What's that? All right. So, um the building and grounds committee we had met they well they had met prior with Ken Binding um and then I stepped into the role as facilities director. Um he had talked to them about replacing the 2006 GMC dump truck that we have. Um the frames rotted on it and it won't take won't pass an inspection. Um we use it quite a bit for moving around sand lom such and so on. Um saving us quite considerably amount of money um trucking it ourselves. So um I've got here I believe I'm hoping you all have in your packets

104there. Um, an F350 XL 2Yard dump truck to replace the existing GMC. The frame rails and other various parts are no longer repairable. Um, reached out to multiple vendors. Um, as you can see, C I reached out Casco Bay, Home Ford, and Bailey's. Um, with Bailey's, they use our Ford fleet program, which would save us the $4,000 um, with the Ford, keeping with the Ford line. So, I'm recommending Bailey's Ford for the price of $78,898 and getting permission to put out the 2006 GMC dump truck that we currently have with a plow out to bid. Can I get a motion regarding the truck? I make a motion to um to go with Bailey Ford to buy the F350 um dump truck and uh for the $78,898. Do I have a second? We want to do

105a second motion for the putting the truck out to bid. I thought we had to. We'll do a separate one or do we want to include it? We'll do we'll do it separate. Okay, great. Yep. Okay. Uh any discussion regarding the the purchase of the from Bailey Ford? Okay. Can Can I get a roll call? Laura Yes. Yes. Michelle, yes. Yes. Yes. Andrew. Yes. And looking for a motion regarding putting the the Ford 2006 GMC G. Oh, I'm sorry. out to bid. Can I get a second? Seconded by Ava. Any discussion, Sarah? Any idea what we might get for something like that? Oh gosh. And then what would we do with that? It's not It's not really worth much at all. So, I'm hoping to 20 bucks. I hope I hope somebody Yeah, you got

106um Yeah, I don't know. I'm not really, you know. Yeah. Um I I have been I someone has reached out to me in regards to it and they are interested in it. Um, they usually will buy our old iron and and whatever they do with it, if they take it to the scrapyard, I'm not really sure, but um but I do have someone that is interested. Uh, yes. Yes. Yeah. Any other questions? Okay. Roll call. Yes. The bleachers. On to the bleachers. It is. I'm I'm I'm up here for four times. You stuck with me. Um, so the bleachers, I've reached out to multiple uh reached out to probably four vendors. Um, two responded um, A+ Athletics, which did our bleachers at the football field for us a few years back. Um, they reached out

107for um, Gez, why am I losing my train of thought here? um 92 feet on this side, which was on the on the wait room side. We'll have um that'll seat 550 students or spectators, I should say, not students. Um six ADA cutouts with they're recoverable cutouts. So, if we don't have wheelchairs there, we can pull those sections out. So, it'll be six more seats. Um two uh roll rollway bleachers for the other side. Um that way there we've got we can use those either on the other side or we can actually use it for crow overcrowding what we have now. Um those do not come ADA for those there's but they will all be compliant. They'll have um the P it'll be similar to I'll it's easy enough to say it'll be similar to

108what we have at the middle school. So, it'll have the P handrails um up through the center. Um uh it'll have the the step on the on the floor to step onto the bleachers. So, there'll be no more none of that. Um all compliant um back rails, um side rails. I asked to have the back sides with plywood. That way there the kids won't climb underneath and get hurt. Vinyl sides as well so they can't climb in through the sides to get hurt. Um I've tried to think of of everything they a lot of that stuff they they threw in to the package for the 154,000. So the new bleaches on this side will be 10 high. The rollaways can only be as high as seven what we what we currently have now. So in

109here it's 670 plus or minus seating. Um Hussy was 234 942 for the basically the same exact thing. Um same um also I didn't mention they throw in whatever we want for where the plastic seats like the middle school. Um, we talked about doing green seats and you can change the some of the seats to white so we can have words, whatever we want put into it. And I've been in discussion about having Phoenix put into our bleachers for the students. Um, so with that said, I'm recommending A+ athletics for the price of 154,000 and to discard the non all non-compliant bleachers as they do not pass code. My understanding with talking to them, they came up on yesterday and spoke with me. They will be taking the bleachers and disposing of them for us.

110So, we won't have to get rid of them. So, I don't want to see anybody else. We can't give them to anybody else. We can't sell them to anybody else. So, we would it would take the time out of my staff to break them down. So, it's exciting to hear that they'll do that for us. So, yes. Yeah. Matter of fact, he asked me, "When do you want to get rid of these? We'll take them today." So, and I said, "No, we better wait till after fall." Because these right now, if I order these tomorrow, they're looking at uh late fall. So, if I wait, we won't have them for basketball season. I'd like to like to see that. So right now I'm going to hang on to the bleaches that we have for now

111obviously for just in case purposes and you know we have uh beginning of the year usually we have the staff out there for you know for their meetings and stuff like that. So students so that being said I would like to recommend A+ athletics. Andrew, I got a question. A1 is offering a hundred more seats for $50,000 less. Is there a quality issue or anything I'm missing or where are you where are you seeing the Well, they said they had seating for 670 with A+ 670 and then uh Hussy is 663 is because Hussy's a little bit shorter. No, that's okay. Hussies is just a little bit shorter on the uh portables. uh the portables through uh A+ athletics which is a Kodiak seating which is in a lot of the stadiums uh down south

112so to speak. Um they're uh 16 feet where um Hussy's are 15 feet long. So our current bleaches that we have now are 16 feet. So it's still like an $80,000 difference and that's Yeah. Oh yeah. Hussies Hussy is expensive. Very They're highly rated. That's we've had these Hussy bleachers from 1969, but you know, but there I've heard nothing bad about the Kodiak seating that's that's coming in. Like I said, they're in auditoriums, um, stadiums, huge stadiums. Wayne, have we had any issues with the outside bleaches through this company? No. Okay. No, none at all. Um, they come in and inspect them yearly for us. Um, we've used A+ quite a bit. Uh, pro I think the last 15 years we've used them. and they come in and do our inspections for our bleachers and

113also for all of our sporting equipment such as uh the back boards um making sure that they operate correctly um so on and so forth. So thank you. No, it's just so right. Hussie is is well known in New England, so that helps them in that in that factor. They were a Mainebased company originally, but now they're out of Massachusetts. So everybody knows them around here. So they you know that they can right they can bring. So, I looked at both ways. I looked at wooden bleachers like we what we have now just to keep that aesthetic because we've always had them. And uh and then went with these because they rated the same. They just they work just as well. They're um easily they're even easier to uh maintain because say we do have

114a a a seat that breaks so to speak um all we can just replace that seat rather than replacing the whole board. Now the board these maple boards are really expensive. So other questions for Wayne Sarah just looking through the quote here and um the part about the tariffs and if there is anything uh it will be the responsibility of the buyer. So I don't know if that's something we need to address now. I think that's just a disclaimer. I'm not really, they haven't mentioned it to me that we've gonna, you know, I think they just put that in there with what's Whoops. Sorry. With what's going on in the world today. Just uh I just wonder what position that might put us into. That needs to be addressed now or in the eventuality something

115happens. I can look, you know, I can I can ask those questions. We can My question is is if you don't mind is when would we send a first check on this? I'm not sure. That's a good question. I was just saying if there was an issue um if we locked into a contract with I would assume that that protect us from tariffs. Correct. Yeah. Right. So, I'm just just wondering when that would be when we would finalize that so that we could feel confident that Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Let's get them locked in. Can I get a motion regarding the uh bleachers? I make a motion that we authorize Wayne to order the bleaches from A+ Athletics for 154,000. Any discussion? Okay. All in favor? I. All opposed? Motion carries. And I'll I'll I'll definitely

116reach out to them about that. I will take care of it. What's the next one? The roof. Okay. So, I'm asking permission to have an engineering audit of the primary school roof. Uh it's the original roof to the building. Uh the building was opened in the year 2000 and currently asphalt shingles as a primary. Um is also we have the rubber rubber membrane on the I'll call it the old section of the uh the original section of the school. Um so that's approximately 25 plus or minus years old. uh shingles life the shingles the life expectancy they say 30 years but with the climate that we have I'm not sure if all of you have been over to the primary school but you can start to see that they're starting to turn colors from the

117uh it's actually from the winters and stuff the snow coming off the roofs um so what I'm asking is to have a engineer audit for the roof to um possibly. Well, we we have to find out what it's gonna what it's going to partake, what it's going to cost us. So, we need to we need to bring in an engineer to do that. So, yeah, one of the reasons we we looked as a building and grounds committee last year is we know this coming year, uh we have debt service coming off for the roof actually in this building, not the dome, but the roof. So, there's a there's a big chunk of money that's coming off. this is a good time to be looking to try to equal out that debt service, especially knowing that

118the roof will be 26 years old by the time you even start to work on it. Um, in the past when we did some of the work in this district, we did the an energy audit. Um, the reason I'm trying to lean against that is I thought it was a little more expensive than it needed to be. And also, I want to be transparent. We didn't have to have the town's people vote for those. And I have a problem with that. If it's it's this will be the engineering firm will tell us what we need to have. They will help us put out to bid, but then you guys as a board will have to vote to one have the roof, vote to put it in the budget, but there will also be a separate

119vote for the town's people to vote. Yes, the vote to approve the budget, yes or no, but then also there'll be a separate line. Do you approve the roof? And I think it's important that they know that. But it's also important that um we probably get a new roof. If you've taken a look, if you just saw what happened in Oxford Hills uh with one of their buildings and then at Mountain Valley with one of theirs, you don't want to be caught in the middle of a school year. No. With something major coming that you have to close the school. So I think looking this is helping us look ahead and it's it's actually pretty good timing for us to to do this. So the first part is to get this audit right. So, we

120reached out to an engineering firm. Um, their proposal uh you have that in in as well in the packet as well. Um had a you know they'll they'll give us all the information that we need. They'll help us with the bidding process so on and so forth. Um the price for them is $25,24960. So that's what I'm asking for for our audit at the for the roof at the primary school. That's just for the audit. That's just for the engineering audit. Oh, it's engineering is not cheap. It's not. We're in the wrong business. I mean, it showed how it's it's broken down. We have we have some of that money right now in the right now in the budget and if they go through with it and there's a construction cost and part of that

121will be could be picked up in another budget year. Correct. So yeah, you can you can see the payments we have most of the money for the audit right now. Yes, we put that in knowing that we were hoping that we're going to move in that direction. Right. So you you can see on the last page L with the payments um obviously what they come out the completion of site inspection it's broke it's broke down to what what our payments would be. So so like the the big chunk uh for completion of the project and the final inspection. So that would be, you know, that would be obviously when the roof is completed, they'll they'll come out, walk around, make sure that it is done to the specifications, and uh it better not leak, so

122to speak. They don't do they don't do the roofing part. No. So, uh, I I reached out to a few, but there's there's a lot of them that are either, you know, they're so busy that they don't want to they don't want to bother because we're looking we're looking out, so to, you know, a year, maybe two, and they're they're looking for now, you know, so and they're not allowed a a specific roofing company isn't allowed to do the do the engineering and then get the bid. Correct. Um that's why we're able to we're going out with another company and someone else will be bidding. Right. Because like for instance we use G& roofing here um to do a lot of our projects, our leaks. They do our inspections every year. And if if we

123use them as an we they do have their engineers. If we use them, they wouldn't be able to come in. And usually nine times out of 10 they're the ones that we would end up using because their bid is usually very competitive for to stay with us. You know what I mean? So, so please pardon me because I'm pretty ignorant at grounds and buildings and such, but I'm just curious to know that if does the pricing include the um like would they recommend if we are able to use different material like yes metal versus correct composite or so they'll they'll come in and they'll give us recommendations. Um, we can ask those questions obviously. So for metal, there's two things. Metal's very expensive. Asphalt's a lot cheaper to use. That's why, for instance, they used

124it there. And another reason why they would use it there is because that's a two-story building. Students are around. Yeah. When that slides off that roof. Oh my god. Even with brakes in that, that's gonna that'll take out windows. And they never should have put a metal roof on the section of the middle school when middle school is is Yes. So that middle school roof that has the metal roof that goes to the flat roof. I have to have I've been up there myself and where the dome comes over for the middle school. That's that's just horrible. That's why we put the barricades out there. We've had uh parents sitting out there waiting for their students and that comes off that roof. Yeah. I want you to be there. I'm glad it's kind of a

125consensus because I know just on a personal residence like having to install breakers. Yes. To chunk that up on the roof before it gets very very very expensive. So yes. Yes. Okay. So other questions for Wayne. Can I get a motion regarding the engineering audit for the primary school roof? I make a motion since nobody else will uh that we approve uh the is it the monies we're looking to approve for the engineering audit from ARM consultants discussion already had it all those in favor I opposed motion carries All right. So, the boilers. So, um asking permission to have the engineering audit for the primary school boilers performed by Seaman's Industries Incorporated. Um at this time, we have two oil fired whale MLAN boilers. One installed in 2007, the other installed in 2008. We've had

126a section replaced in the December of 2023 in one of the boilers totaling 40,000 84 $44 because it started leaking water from a cracked section because after a certain time they they do they will leak. Um, Seammens would proi provide an engineering audit of our boiler room that if one the if they won the bid would be rolled into the price or if we accepted another bid, a lower bid, the cost to our district would be $23,550. Uh, the scope of the seaman's will provide is included in the proposal letter that you have there. They'll they will uh come in um do a master plan of our boiler room. Um we're looking at pos going to where we already have propane now. Um we get a a decent price. Um off the top of my

127head right now we're in like a dollar I want to say like a dollar don't quote me on it. It's right around a$142 or a$144 a gallon we're paying right now compared to you know right now that that boiler those two boilers over there take 20,000 gallons of oil to burn a year. So we're bringing it in by a bolt truck cold days we're spending we're probably burning 500 gallons a day. So so anyways I'm getting off topic I apologize. Um, so I'm we're just concerned with the other boiler um that hasn't those sections have not been replaced at this point in time. Um, when this happened in 2023, we were kind of worried that we were going to either have to close the building or get a temporary boiler because what we found was

128these parts are no longer accessible. We ended up finding them. Seamans couldn't find them for us. We ended up going with a different firm that found them for us in Massachusetts. They had just come off the boat. So, we were lucky enough to get these in an emergency and they came in and installed for this one boiler. Now, we need both boilers in the middle of the winter to keep this building warm. We can't run with just one boiler. The building's too big. With two stories, it has to push with two boilers. So, um, with a with propane, um, we use less propane with we've had that savings. I don't have that with me right now with with the buildings that we have now. Um, we have a great relationship with Dead River. Um, I

129know with the past board, we've let you we let them know that Dead River does give our employees um, a discount for being with them as well. So, that's that's great. Um I don't I don't know if I have that with me or not. So but staff and you know any anybody that works for the district. Um but anyhow, so I'm asking for 23 Well, I'm asking to go with Seammens as our engineering audit. At this point in time, it wouldn't cost us anything to have them audit. And then when we go out to bid, they will bid and if we accept a lower bid from a different company, we will just owe them the $23,550. And the reason this is different than the roof is because Seammens has a separate division. Yeah. So they

130are able to do an engineering thing and then also bid. Correct. So yes there's so many different other buildings. Yeah. Yes. I have a question. How are we looking is this something we're looking at doing right away after the audit? So no. Oh, so it would be in the next year's budget as well. We're hoping that the two things we'll have to take a look at the price, what we get, what's coming off a debt service, what people are willing to to spend sometime in the next couple years. Both these things really probably need to get done because you don't want to be stuck, right? Well, it what the thing is this will all be a lease. It would all be a lease and be spread out. So it would be like I said the

131debt service right now we have for this roof is like $74,000 a year but it's a 20 year 20 year debt debt. So you'd spread it out over 20 years. Uh the next time we have any big money coming off is 2030 or 31. That's the dome. The dome that we've actually paid money for. Most of the loans for anything big is 20 to 25 years. All the other work that was done in phase one and phase two from seamans down at the elementary school and stuff that's like year seven now and that goes out 20 to 25 years. We don't pay it all in one lump sum. Correct. That's Yes. Yeah. We want to be as transparent as possible for Are you looking to Right now we've got boilers fueled by oil. Correct. Though

132are we looking to go to propane? Yeah, that essentially that's the wave of the future. Um, so propane boilers, sorry, are so much easier to maintain. Well, that's what I was going to ask. And is there a longevity difference between a propane boiler and an oil boiler? Um, they report yes. If I you know, obviously they're they're they've been out for probably 10 to 15 years. I don't quote me on that, but um so there's not I don't know I don't know what the lifespan is of them, but is is there a pro I'm sorry, Wayne. Uh is there a projected savings going is a propane boiler more expensive than a gas oil boiler? No. Okay. No. And would we be saving on fuel costs? Yes. Because we where we buy bulk Yeah. for propane

133at this point in time. The more the more you buy, the the less you you're going to pay for propane. Yeah. Our only buildings with oil are the primary school and the central office. Everything else is correct. Propane. And they're all fairly new boilers within the last what six years. Yeah. Yeah. Six. Uh I think the oldest the oldest propane boiler we have is maybe 10. That's the middle school and our cold boiler there. Um the rest of them are all VMAN. Um, we, you know, I've talked to Seammens a little bit and, uh, to fit in that boiler room at the primary school, it's a little small. Um, we probably have to go with the Arco boilers. But the only thing I can think of that we've ever had a problem with with that

134Arco is a is a module. Um, easily, you know, repairable and maintenance-wise they can. There's no maintenance. There's zero maintenance because they don't they don't they're not dirty. What about efficiency wise burning? Efficiency is great. That arco boiler over to the middle school, I've seen that run that middle school all by itself. Wow. When we had the oil boiler beside it. Great. Thank you. But the only reason why we have to have two is because if you get close to zero, you need you just need that extra push. So other questions for Wayne. Looking for a motion regarding the energy audit for the primary school boiler. I make a motion that we allow an energy audit of the primary school boilers for 23550. Do I have a second? All those in favor? I. All those

135opposed? Motion carries. Thank you all. I have to go sit down. This is crazy. I'd like a motion to enter into executive session to discuss a personnel matter pursuant to one um RS A456A. So moved. Yes. Okay. Searching for a motion to for Elizabeth Savage for high school vised teacher, Lily Richards for first grade teacher, and Casey Purrington for dean of students at the primary school. Second. All those in favor? All those opposed? Motion carries. Okay. And a motion to go into executive session for a personnel matter pursuant to 1 MRSA 4056A. Second. All those in favor? I opposed Laura, we're back at 8:52. I will entertain a motion to adjourn. Seconded. All those in favor? I opposed. T heard that motion, right? You heard that?