School Board Business Meeting 03/05/2026

001Right. [clears throat] Good evening and welcome to the Scarboro Board of Education business meeting. The date is March 5th, 2026. Um, would everyone please join me for the pledge of >> allegiance? I pledge algiance >> to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you so much. Ray, can we please call the attendance? >> Yes. Miss Jacobs >> here. >> Mr. Keller, present. Miss Lindstöm >> here. >> Miss Mauard >> here. >> Miss Mr. Rockenstar >> here. >> Mr. Tarpenion >> here. >> Mr. Piney Huff >> here. >> Mr. Skina >> here. >> Miss Clarett >> here. >> All right. Thank you so much. Agendum item 2.0 is resignations, retirements, and new hires. 2.1

002is the February 2026 report. Um this is no board action just to um bring to your attention to review the materials in your board packet. Okay. >> Agenda item 3.0 are adjustments to the agenda. Are there any adjustments this evening? >> I have none. >> Did you say yes? >> No. >> Oh, you have none. Thank you. >> Um agenda item 4.0 is a spotlight award res presentation. 4.1 is a student recognition. So for this we'll invite Abby and Sarah. Yes. So, our March 2026 student spotlight award goes to Natalie Morgan Besser and and she was nominated by Miss Ch who is um volunteered to say some words about Natalie. >> Um you are going to put up. Yes. Okay. So, this I will uh I will give to everyone to read for themselves. Um,

003one of the things that you can't really see from a resume or a list of things that you know people might do is how genuinely kind Natalie is. I think of all of the charact when when my husband and I started having children, I said, I really just hope they're kind. Jury is still out on that one, but I know it when I see it. And Natalie is so kind and so caring um and has a very strong moral center. And it's just such a delight to and a privilege um to have people like Natalie in in the lives of our students and in my own life. So, thank you. Welld deserved. Would you like to say Natalie? would you like to say a few words? You're welcome, too. >> Thank you so much. And

004I'm just honored to be a part of this community and have so much support. And thank you all to all you do behind the scenes. I'm sure you also might go unnoticed or not. Sorry, not that I'm unnoticed. Clearly not, but >> the words anyway. But thank you all and yeah, I'm happy to be here tonight. >> Congratulations, Natalie. >> All right. Um agenda item 5.0 are presentations. And 5.1 is um the high Scarboro High School leadership and community service clubs. And so for this we'll invite um Michael Agage and Nicole Marc Marcelo up here. >> Well, thanks again for having us. And few of our uh club adviserss couldn't make it this evening, so I'll fill in from time to time reading their reports that they submitted. And the first one being our student

005council who is run by Brianna Kusky and Sarah Belton who couldn't be here this evening. So, I'll read what they sent. Scabber High School Student Council is a representative body composed of 16 students with four representatives from each grade level and elected officers. The council works with school administration to represent student voice while promoting service, respect, and leadership within the school community. This year, the student council organized its work through three standing committees focused on culture, climate, student concerns, and fundraising. These committees allow students to address issues affecting the student body, strengthen the school community, and raise funds for the student assistance fund. For the 2025 2026 school year, the student council identified several key goals. Advocate for student concerns related to school climate, including bathroom cleanliness and safety. Increase engagement and participation during fall

006spirit week. Continue regular meetings with administration to share feedback and discuss solutions. Maintain and monitor the student feedback box that was implemented two years ago. And raise funds to support the student assistance fund. To work towards these goals, the student council has held regular meetings with school administration to share concerns and collaborate on possible solutions. Recent conversations have included student facility concerns as well as ideas to improve and streamline the sign up and sign out process for students with senior privileges. To gather broader student input, the council conducted two student surveys this year, one focused on fall spirit week and another on facility concerns to collect quantifiable feedback from the student body. The student council also partnered with a civil rights club to discuss bathroom related concerns and collaborated with sources of strength to help

007increase engagement. During fall spirit week, members continue working with administration to develop ideas to make next year's spirit week even more engaging. The student council also successfully planned and hosted homecoming pep rally. This year, new games were added to increase opportunities for student participation, and all school clubs and sports teams were formally recognized during the event. In addition, the student council also proposed increasing the use of the school mascot Stormmy a at sporting events as another way to build school spirit and strengthen community connections. Dr. Neto knows both Stormmy too. >> I do. [laughter] >> For the second half of the school year, the student council has proposed several fundraisers raises that will support students assistant fund. Looking ahead, the student council will also coordinate class officer and student council elections for the 2026 2027

008school year. Members will continue to collaborating with administration to address student concerns and improve school events, including future spirit weeks. The council concludes the year by creating signs to celebrate graduating seniors at the final school assembly in June. Over the past two and a half years, Student Council has worked to reestablish itself as a strong representative voice for Scar Bro High School students. The council remains committed to sharing student perspectives while helping build a positive and inclusive school community. We'd like to thank the athletic and student activities department and principal Tero for their continued support. So, that was student council RSVP, Miss Shupe. I'm at this stage in my life. >> Welcome. >> I don't want to talk about it. Um, okay. Okay. So, I wanted to read to you uh the write up that

009was written by our officers Natalie Morgan Besser, Elanora Dere, and Nova Root. Our goals for this year are to promote safety and equity in the school for all students, educate students and teachers about consent and how to have and maintain healthy boundaries, and educate students about their Title 9 rights. Things that we have accomplished this year, we produced a video released as a Tuesday tutorial. Those are um weekly videos that the instructional coaches put out to help with pedigogy and technology and also the library services puts them out to talk about things that happening in our learning commons. Um and the fourth week of the monthly rotation for the instructional coaches is something we call out andabout. Um so things like the um help desk and RSVP etc. Uh we produced a video for teachers

010and staff about how to have healthy boundaries with students both physical, verbal and relationship boundaries and they are rooted in the schoolboard policy that was actually sent out with the video and then um the leadership council liked it so much that they they used it at the different schools. So that was exciting. We have held a meeting with Mr. Grogan and Mr. Tero to talk about the school's system for reporting sexual assault and harassment and ways it could be improved to be more accessible for students and not so intimidating. We also held another meeting uh with Mr. Groen and Mr. Ferrer to discuss Title 9 in sports so we can better understand the system and brought forth some concerns from student athletes um who needed clarification and um to create a nice relationship between Mr.

011Ferrer, Mr. Grogan, and the students. Uh in December, we hosted a two-day leadership conference for the um believe this is the 14th time working with main boys to men. This relationship started in uh 2016. Um and it was brought forth by a the club was uh really begun because a community member came to us came to the then superintendent and the school board and said, you know, we've got to help our kids so that everybody's gender is healthy and they understand how to move around in society. And um so this two-day leadership conference which is held here at town hall had about 30 students and is actually led by the student leaders. Um projects in progress right now. We'll be putting up posters in the school locker rooms of course with administrative approval to tell

012students about their title 9 rights and explain what title N is. We'll be asking coaches if we can come to practices and take a few minutes to talk with female athletes about and any athlete about what title n means for them. They are currently uh we are currently developing a fundraiser to support domestic violence groups and also groups that support um students in understanding dating violence. And we have created a draft both of a website for students about Title 9 and also drafted a form that could be used to semiannommously report sexual assault and harassment. That is obviously very much still in the works because that requires a lot. Um we're they're in the works. We're constantly improving them and we just want to make things accessible for our student body in a process that

013can be very difficult and emotional. Uh we're also very excited to announce that Main Boys to Men has a statewide fellowship program. It's the inaugural program. This is the very first group. Um and there were 12 students from across the state who were uh accepted into the fellowship. And it's very hard to say fellowship without saying fellowship of the rings. I just want to say that I feel like they should have named it something else. Um it's two 12 students statewide were accepted into the fellowship and two of them are from Scar Bro. Uh one is Harper Lifford and the other one is Liam Goel Shup. What's up? Okay. Um so it's a in this. It's about teaching boys and young men how to intervene in situations, what consent looks like, and how to challenge

014harmful and limiting gender stereotypes. Um, and all the people involved are male identifying um, uh, freshman through juniors because seniors are obviously phasing out um, from throughout the state. They'll do dayong programs, meetups, weekend retreats, monthly Zoom calls. Um, and they're going to spend a year together as a cohort exploring connection, masculinity, identity, and power through dialogue, experience, and mentorship. And that is RSVP. Hey, Interact Club with Deb Peace. >> Hey there, I'm Deb Peace and I'm the adviser to the Interact Club and I'm going to let the uh two students introduce themselves. >> Hi, my name is Grace Mike. I'm the president. >> Hi, I'm Isabella Del Rosaso. I'm vice president. And I would uh like to point out that this is the second year that they've both uh stepped up and been elected

015as uh president and vice president. So what the Interact Club is so I'm Deb Peas. I'm a Rotarian here in the Scarboro community. Um and I am the club adviser uh for the Interact Club. So the Interact Club is a Rotary sponsored service club. Uh the goals are to build leadership skills and confidence to connect with the community leaders and to have fun while serving their communities. um a little thought as to how I got involved. I've been doing this for about 12 years now and um I've done community service and different volunteer work and I looked at the next generation and said, you know, we don't see so much of that and why is that? And I thought, you know, we teach them math, we teach them science, we have all of that, but

016we don't teach them how uh rewarding volunteering is. So, I thought, you know, you can't really complain if you don't step up and do it. Um so I stepped up to be the um uh volunteer adviser to the Interact Club. Um so Interact is worldwide through the Rotary Club. There are about 14,000 clubs around the world and three 342,000 interactors in 145 countries. So it isn't just a local organization. Um the club elects their own officers. They organize and plan their club meetings and events. Um, this is sort of the reverse of what would happen at a club meeting in that the girls, the president, vice president be doing the presentation. I'd just help them out. Um, so my goals as an adviser is to just help facilitate and assist the students uh as needed

017um and hopefully pass along um from my perspective the joy of volunteering and helping others. Um the students take the lead. Uh they shape the club. They pick what they want to do and then they do the planning for the different events and activities uh that they're going to do throughout the community. Um they learn organizational skills and planning and how to follow through. I think that's another hard thing. You sign up, you have to show up. Um so they have to organize their schedules and and know that if they've signed up to help in a particular event that they have to do that. Um a quick list of some of the things that they have done uh throughout the years. um they or throughout the year they volunteer and for 20 hours they earn

018a pen uh which they're allowed to wear on their graduation sash. So if they have done interact for all four years and done 20 hours each year um the Rotary Club sponsors um them to have a a pin that they could wear on their um graduation sash. Some examples of what they've done uh they've made blankets for project Lionus. They've helped with pumpkin carving uh with community services. Uh they attended the senior citizens dinner last year with the display and helped serve the meals and they plan to attend the senior citizen dinner again this year. Um they helped with race to the point uh doing some face paint in an organization uh for the PTO organization. Um they have uh volunteered with main narrow gauge railroad doing the pumpkin train and the polar express. They

019have run a food drive earlier in the year um for the Scarbor backpack program when a lot of students families were having difficulty um with the food issue. They've helped with Santa in the Park doing a food drive for the Scarboro um community food pantry. They assisted a short time ago with uh Project Grace with the fuel rally, which kudos to Project Grace, the last number I heard was $31,000 they raised for that fuel uh assistance program. Uh they have assisted Rotary in uh selling Christmas trees uh which we use to send kids uh students to RIA which is a Rot Rotary youth leadership camp at Camp Hines and to give high school scholarships. So they help us with that. Um one of the things that they have developed a great joy to do is

020they play bingo and do crafts with the resident residents at Scar Bro Terrace usually with a holiday theme. Um they'll do little craft projects and and bingo with some prizes for um the different holidays. And they're off next week uh with a St. Patrick's Day event. Um they've made cards and candy bags for Halloween, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentine's Day, and St. Patrick's Day um that they distributed to the Veterans Home to Scar Bro and the Enclave. Um so that is just sort of in the last uh 12 months or so other things that they've done and a very active group of students and I think have discovered the joy of volunteering and hopefully these two who are headed off to college uh will join a rottoact club which is the next step in Rotary

021is to uh go into a rotrack club through their colleges. >> Nice. Okay, the next club um is Key Club and Chris El Eldridge and Avette Baron are the co-advisors for that and they couldn't be here tonight so they sent this. The uh SHS Key Club is an extension of Kowanas International. It's a service organization dedicated to supporting our local community while building leadership, empathy, and a commitment to volunteerism among students. This year, our club includes over 150 student members whom we connect with a wide range of volunteer opportunities throughout the year. We encourage members to complete at least 50 hours of service annually with up to 20 of those coming from volunteer work outside of the club sponsored activities. Each year, our members participate in a variety of community service projects. One of our

022favorite traditions is raking leaves for local residents who may not be able to manage their yards themselves. We also volunteer with the main narrow gauge railroad for their pumpkin trains and polar express events where students interact with families and help create a welcoming experience for visitors while strengthening strengthening their communication and leadership skills. Key Club members also support younger students in our community by working at Wentworth School through their reading team program. In addition, we run a year-long clothing drive to benefit to benefit main needs and donate animal toys and blankets to the animal refuge league. Throughout the year, we organize fundraisers and bake sales to raise money for Camp Sunshine, which supports children with life-threatening illnesses and their families. Another meaningful partnership is with Scar Bro's functional life skills classroom. Each Thursday, our students

023help host visitors from the Morrison Center for lunch and members also volunteer there on half days throughout the year. This year we are also partnering partnering with Strive in South Portland on Friday evenings and will participate in their anno annual Strive Rocks overnight fundraiser in May. In addition, our students organized a food drive to support families affected by increased ice activity in Maine. Members also assisted with several community events, including race to the point and the corners fishing derby along with many additional service projects organized by our student leadership team. Our club is studentled with five elected officers who run meetings and and approximately 20 board members who organize and lead our various service projects. Looking ahead, we hope to continue expanding membership and connecting students with even more service opportunities, including opportunities during the

024summer months. We'd like to thank the athletic and activities department for their continued help and support. National Honor Society is Amy Leel is the adviser and couldn't attend this evening. The National Honor Society is an organization that recognizes high school students who excel in scholarship, leadership, service, and character. The NHS was founded in 1921 and has chapters in schools around the world. All juniors and seniors who have enrolled for a minimum of four academic quarters at Scabber High School and have a cumulative grade point average of at least 92% unweighted or 96% weighted are notified for their eligibility for selection in the first quarter of their junior or senior year. Eligible students may then complete the NH NHS application where students share information about their leadership activities and volunteer service. At least 30 hours are

025required. Students must also submit a personal statement and include a teacher recommendation. The final selection of members is determined by vote of the faculty council. Every fall there is an induction ceremony during which current NHS members introduce a newly elected members. All members must complete an additional 20 hours of community service and maintain their academic standing each year to remain active in the NHS. The NHS sponsors various programs throughout the year where students demonstrate their leadership and character by completing community service projects andor raising money for local charities. Examples of these programs include food drives for the South Portland food cupboard, collecting warm clothing, and creating hygiene kits for main needs, selling candygrams and lemonade to benefit the Barbara Bush Children's Hospital. sponsoring a yearly volleyball tournament and acknowledging all SHS teachers with personalized cards

026and a breakfast during teacher appreciation week in early May. NHS students also volunteered to give tours during 8th grade parent night, the eighth grade student transition program, and fall open house. We'd like to thank the athletic and activities department and principal Tero for their continued support. That is all of the clubs this evening. So, thank you for um having us again tonight and um we appreciate that. >> Thank you so much. Is there any comments or any questions for Mike or anyone? Sure, please. Just want to say I'm really excited about um how we're looking at different clubs and activities that are going on in the school this year and learning about all of the incredible things the student body is involved with and how important and impactful they are. So like whether it's representation,

027whether you're educating fellow students on sort of the policies that are going on involved in sort of service organizations that are really will set you up for the rest of your life with the kind of the knowledge and experience that you need to become really good um participating community members that really support a whole lot of programs. And then obviously we like academic scholarship. That's one of the primary goals of education. Um, but just thinking about all of the work that you've done and all of the incredible things that you're involved with and how proud we are of you and it's it's easy to throw up and other organizations get a lot of credit for things that are really easy to see. It's really hard to explain um when you put together a program um

028and then you have to think about how to implement it with a student body of your peers. It's difficult to go out there and then make whether it's a video education. I think I heard that was [clears throat] created. Um whether you're writing um you're involved in different scholarship programs or fellowship programs um or whether you're you're creating any of these projects um it's it they're they're invisible, right? But they're so important because they drive such a high level of quality and they allow like one of the things that I heard is allowed all the students to really have a voice and participate in sort of their educational environment. And so like the culture that you're creating and the people who are doing a lot of that work to create that culture are you and

029that work is sometimes invisible and it's not seen and it's not celebrated in the same way that other other more visible things are sometimes. Um but it is so critically important. Um and we so appreciate all the things you're doing. >> Thank you. Um, for me, this night, all of these nights that we do are always really meaningful and really important to me. Um, I love that we get to recognize our students and see the good work that you're doing um, outside of the classroom. And, um, this night probably is a little bit more meaningful for me. Um, because when I talk about my values and the things that are really meaningful to me and are my north stars and that guide my work, the number one outside of my family is being of service.

030And you um I I I had that first experience when I was probably your age in high school and I would volunteered at a local hospital and it was my first opportunity to um really do that. And fast forward just a couple of years, not not too many, just a couple of years later and here I am in um doing this work and that this is um it's it's a labor of love and um the opportunity to give back of your time and your talents is really really meaningful work and so thank you. Thank you for all you do. Um I especially love that you called bingo. I too call bingo and it's a lot of fun for senior citizens. So I'm so glad that um to hear the work you're doing and I learned

031something new tonight. I didn't know that there was a connection with Rotary and with Kuanas. So that was um that was new information for me for the Interact in the Key Club. So um I appreciate that you're here. I appreciate that we get the opportunity to learn um from you as well. Um, and thank you for all you're doing and thank you for the adults for leading and and directing them. This is a lot of work and so thank you. >> Great. Have a good evening. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Wants to stay for the fun. >> I know. See, Kate, it's not just you. [laughter] Oh gosh. All right. Agenda item 6.0 is a superintendent report. So for this, we'll turn it over to Diane. >> Sure. >> Good evening. Um uh to

032start our superintendent report out this month. Um as we always do, um this is our overall student enrollment. you can see that um you know our enrollment overall is staying steady. Um I would also just put a shout out for this is the time for um kindergarten enrollment for the coming year. Um and uh we are on track. Um we actually pulled the data so that we could take a look at where we are this year compared to where we've been in the past three years and we're pretty consistent. um at our last check that was at the start of this week or maybe late next last week. Um all the days are kind of running together at this point. Um we had kindergarten students pre-registered. And so if you know someone who has a

033child who's going to turn five by October 15th, we want to know who they are. We want to hear from them and we would love for them to um pre-register for school so that um you know they can come and be screened and we can start thinking ahead. So um put a little plug in there. I also just want to extend my appreciation to town hall. Um, I don't know if you have noticed or not, but um, our kindergarten enrollment information is on um, our signage up front on a revolving basis. And that was a firstear thing. And thank you to Cheryl um, for helping to make that happen. I think, you know, certainly that is another way that um, as people are driving along, they pay attention to some of those things. And so,

034uh, perhaps that might help some folks to know a little bit more about where we are and what we're doing. Uh the next piece that I wanted to share with you is actually a video um uh about a news story that I believe I did email the board about earlier in the week, but I also wanted uh to take a moment uh before we play the video just to kind of ceue it up. Um, Kataterina, who is a senior, uh, was selected to be a delegate to the United States Senate Youth Program. Um, I believe I may have told you about this a couple of months ago when she actually received the nomination. Um but because it is literally right around the corner, um we were contacted by Channel 8 News and they wanted to

035do a news story on Katarina as well as the other student who was selected. And so it's a great little um news clip if we could uh cue that up. Comcast business. Advanced networking and [music] security solutions help turn businesses into logistics mastering, supply chain [music] transforming, seamlessly restocking, frictionless paying, pokeball ordering, cyber securing, >> mobile access granting, >> data managing. Welcome to the worlding. >> But we should >> modern businesses powering the engine of modern business. Comcast business. Back here tonight at 6 and two main students have now been selected to represent our state this month at the US Senate youth program in Washington DC. >> Jamie Aellet sat down with both of those bright teens before their big trip to talk about what this opportunity means to them and how it might shape

036their future in politics. Maine's future leaders are all around us. One of them inside Scarboro High School. Katarina, a senior and district governor of the Key Club, is heading to Washington DC for the US Senate youth program. I >> was like very determined going into it like this is something that I want to do my senior year. Like it just felt like the perfect opportunity. >> She's one of only two students selected from the state. Juan Ting, a senior at the main school of science and mathematics will join her. She's the youth council representative for the League of Women Voters and also founded an online program for learning new languages. I'm really humbled to know like I got it even though there's so many passionate and qualified students that were applied and also as finalists.

037>> After filing a lengthy application and succeeding in a rigorous round of interviews and speech writing, Wanting and Katarina will be flown to the capital this month. I'm hoping to gain like a deeper understanding and policy making and like leadership and just the reality of public service. I think one huge thing is going to be meeting other people, other students like me who are also so passionate about government and policy. And I think that the friendships that I make there are going to stay with me as lifelong connections for my career and in the future. They'll be part of a delegation of 104 students meeting with federal government leaders to get a firsthand look at what running the country is really like. >> I think this would be foundational for like my future goals as

038it will help me better understand how all the these institutions work and how especially how effective leadership will look like in practice >> and also just like hearing from so many of our nation's top leaders. um getting advice from them, seeing the things that they've done, um and kind of inspiring me to do the same. >> The program also comes with a $10,000 college scholarship. >> I know I want to pursue something in civic engagement, policy, or just public service in general. So, it would really help me learn more about this industry and like talk to people who are actually doing the work. When Wanting and Katarina return back to school, they'll both be looking forward to high school graduation this spring. Reporting in Scarboro, I'm Jamie Aulet means total coverage >> and we wish

039them good luck. >> Yeah, congratulations. We'll be following along. >> And so you may have noticed there were a couple of photos of Katarina like looking like she's already been in Washington DC. And that's because actually last year um she represented Maine in um National History Day that happened in Washington DC. So um while she was there I think she had some other opportunities. So she's definitely a one of many shining stars that we have here in Scar Bro. So super excited to um help celebrate her. Um, in other news, um, I did want to give you all an update. Uh, I spent most of today, uh, really digging into, um, a proposed bill that is going to be, uh, up in front of the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee on Monday. And so um

040that is um LD2224 and that is about proposed revisions for main school funding. I don't even need the slide deck so um we can ignore them. Um [laughter] uh and so as you know, you've heard me talk um pre in previous meetings about um the level of funding that we receive from the state uh that we can put towards our budget each year. Um we call that general purpose aid. It's based on this formula called essential programs and services. And um you know currently for the coming year, you heard me talk at the workshop just last week about um you know for FY27 we're on um track to receive about $8.9 million out of a approximately $75 million budget. Um and so that really speaks to uh the really great local contribution that we have

041to make. And so um last year at this time the legislature directed MEPRI um which is the main educational policy institute um to study the EPS formula for a year. And so they completed their study and as a result of that they made some recommendations to the legislature about some changes that they could make in the funding formula. And so today, um, we all convened in Augusta this morning, um, to hear from Amy Johnson, the director of MEPRI, um, and, um, Paula Grall, uh, who's in charge of all of the finance for DOE about what those proposed changes would look like. And um I will start by saying that most people in the room were uh very pleased um when they took a look at the spreadsheets that um that they offered us. And unfortunately

042um I was not. Um Scar Bro is um quite frankly the biggest loser in the state in terms of funding for this new formula. And I don't say that in just um out of 260 districts, we um are on track to lose the greatest amount of funding. Um and so the funding that um is suggested that if this um goes into effect would be a loss of uh $1.059 059 million um of um right now we're only receiving $ 8.9 million. So that means um when this goes into effect, which it is not going to go into effect even if passed until FY28. So we know that the numbers that we have at $ 8.9 million for the coming year is a fixed amount of money and we can plan accordingly from that. Um but

043if this bill gains traction as written, um this is really going to be super impactful uh for Scar Bro. Uh the proposal actually um aims to um redistribute about $5 million um of funds across the state. And uh those five that $5 million is is being taken from some districts and redistributed to others. And so out of that $5 million, we're giving a million of that just in Scar Bro um if this were to go into effect. And so the proposal really disproportionately affects Cumberland County. Um, I was talking with some of our um, colleagues today and there are four districts in Cumberland County that will uh, collectively the four of us will be losing three out of the $5 million. So, Scar Bro is the biggest loser um, at the amount that I just

044told you. Falmouth is close behind us with only $5,000 less of a cut. So, they're also on track to lose a million dollars. uh just over a million dollars and then um Yarmouth and Gley are on track to uh lose u somewhere in the amount of $400,000 each. And so um as you can imagine uh I feel really strongly that um there are some very critical flaws in the methodology that they are using to calculate um and I will go into detail with you in uh for a few minutes about what that is. So, um there are four areas that they really looked at um or recommendations that they made in terms of uh looking at the formula and I also um sent you all of my notes um in your email and so um

045all of that is is readily available for you. Um so the first concern um is uh or the first correction that's being made is what they're calling a regional adjustment. Um and so if you think about our current model of EPS, it um again EPS is intended to set a minimum standard for the cost of education, right? And so EPS doesn't necessarily uh it's not intended to provide you with all of the money that you need to run a school district. It really is a basic model of adequacy, right? And so it sets standards. It says, you know, like a class size should be X. Uh a principal should oversee Y number of students. You should have one guidance counselor for every so on and so forth. And so it kind of goes through and

046details things out. And so the study um that was done um uh made these four recommendations. And what they did was they posited out and did some modeling with this year's FY27 numbers using their changes of the model to test out the impact and to see what the impact would be for school districts. I'm also going to say I definitely recognize the need for EPS to be re-examined and for the model to change. um you know uh most of the modeling done for EPS happened around 2001 2002 and hasn't been looked at since. The one time that EPS was re-examined was in fiscal year 2024. Um and at that time some of you may recall that was around the same time that Maine set a minimum standard for teacher salaries making that $40,000. And so,

047uh, the state felt really strongly that they had to go back to the EPS model to make sure that when they're allocating funds for teachers that they were putting in $40,000 as a minimum. Other than that, um, the model really hasn't been touched since its inception. And so that first piece that they're looking to make is what they call a regional adjustment. And so what that does is that shifts away from um what the current model is around average teacher salary or that $40,000 minimum. And what that what they do instead is they start looking at these regional cost of living indexes, right? And so they're using a completely different measure. And so what it does is it indexes all the regions in the state with the cost of living at 1.0 and then it

048shifts it depending on where you live. like if the cost of living is more in southern Maine then um your cost of living basis might increase right and so concerns about that piece really are around um the fiscal impact of the change right because in in looking at the regional adjustment it's not just shifting around existing money it's also the state would be having to put in an additional 37.4 4 million, right? And so if you think about how many school districts there are in the state, there are 260 school districts in the state. And looking at just this regional adjustment, about 131 districts are projected to see subsidies increase because of this first component. Um and um unfortunately 17 districts ex will experience funding decreases, right? And the others will stay um you know

049basically flat. And so in from my perspective, the burden of modernizing, you know, this formula is coming at a cost for some districts to ensure that other districts um have more. This the second factor um in my mind is the biggest factor that I um have the most concern about and that's what they're calling the ability to contribute your local share, right? And what your local share is based on. And you've heard me talk before about our EPS model and why we are lower receivers. Um and that really is based on valuation. And so as they looked at the ability to contribute, they wanted to look at how that was being calculated. And so the decision that was made from meri in terms of their recommendation was um to incorporate uh community income levels in

050that ability to contribute. And so what they're looking to do is to adjust the mill rate. Right? So the mill rate basically says here's the amount of money that your school district needs to raise right towards education. And so um what their proposal is to adjust the mill rate either up or down for any school district based on the percentage of economically disadvantaged students and no other local measure. And my problem with that is that if that is the sole proxy for community income, that's a really flawed model for Scar Bro. Um I I was um this afternoon when I came back, I've been working on this all day trying to just piece some things together because there's um a a public hearing on this on Monday morning. And so I really want to make

051sure that I can contribute some testimony for that. And so I gave Karen Martin a call from Sedco and said, "Can you give me the most updated number about the um number of taxpayers in our community who do not have any children um of school age?" Right? Because if they are only using the the school age families as the measure here, to me that is inherently flawed. And what I learned from Karen, um I was thinking that it was about 60% of families that um or of taxpayers that don't have kids. And actually Karen had just received the updates in the past couple of weeks. And so she said, "Give me like half an hour and I can, you know, call you back." 76.3% of Scar Bro's population has no students in school. So they

052are basing our ability to pay on less than 25% of our taxpayers. And in my mind um that is very flawed because it really ignores the financial reality that we hear every year um during the budget period. We heard it a lot during the school referendum um time um you know about uh residents who can't afford to have their taxes increased. Um and of that um 76% of households without children um 39% of Scar Bro households are made up of folks 65 or older. Right. And so so we're looking at a really large demographic of people who don't have kids in school and maybe elderly on fixed incomes. Um you know I was I was talking with Amy Johnson because I know her very well um at the break today and I said to her

053because they use Scar Bro as an example during the training um because right um because we're an outlier right like we're number one um for the wrong reason. Um, and I said to Amy, my pro, you know, I was explaining my problem with this, and I said, you know, um, the other thing that really is not reflected in this is that we know that there are many families who are generational families in Scar Bro, right? Um, I grew up in southern Maine. I remember Scar Bro being a farm town, right? A more rural area. Um, and you know, if we think about the generational families in our community, um, many of those families were really fortunate to buy big parcels of land for probably not a lot of money or a little cottage by the

054beach, you know, for a song at the time, right? And so, good for them. They're sitting on a really valuable piece of property right now, but we hear overear that they can barely afford to pay the taxes because their valuation has changed so much. And so I'm really disappointed that um you know that that those are not even measures that are considered here, right? because um their their property values don't really reflect the actual income that they may have, right? Just because you have valuable property doesn't mean that you also have generational wealth and the ability to pay. Um you know, the the answer to that this at this morning's presentation was this is why we need to make sure that we have strong tax relief programs. And I don't disagree with that. I think

055we do need strong tax relief programs, but if those are operating on separate roads, there's no guarantee that tax relief will come, right? But we know that um or or we expect that our funding will decrease. The other two pieces that they're looking at um uh the third piece is around um resetting transportation technology and instructional support costs within the model. And that's all tied into the reindexing. And so if you're losing money in number one and number two, you're also going to be a loser in number three because they're directly tied in together. Um and so um you know that's another area where there's going to be um you know a net loss. And then the fourth area um is about the rising costs of special education. Um and and we've talked about that

056here because that's the biggest driver in our budget year over year. And at this point they haven't finalized a recommendation fix for this. And so on that basis alone, I could never support this um this bill, right? Because we would be saying that we're going to support it without knowing what those details are. Um what they're really looking to do is they are looking to um contain the amount of spending happening in special education. And I'm not sure how that's possible given, you know, the kids that we're seeing in our community, which all of my other colleagues are also seeing in their communities as well. And so, um, I, um, put together, uh, my thoughts about, um, you know, the things that, um, are flawed about this current proposal. But then I also came up

057with some recommendations, right? And so um one recommendation um that I have and and I already have sent um you know my my my feedback to our own state representatives and state senators in Scarboro. So they received that just before this meeting. Um but my first recommendation for them to think about is um to step back and notice that um this is really just a redistribution of the burden, right? And so what they're doing is saying, "We see somebody needs something here. You look like you're doing okay, so I'm going to take that from you so that you can be better served." And it overlooks the actual income levels of communities like Scar Bro because it just paints us with a broad brush and they look at our bottom line and say, "Oh, that looks

058like it's a, you know, it's a a community that's taking care of itself." And I do feel and I said this to my colleagues that were sitting at the table all of which were celebrating. I I said um you know that that I really felt like um this this was painting a really broad brush um to a community that is actually a lot more diverse than people might recognize. And so my recommendations um that I shared with our legislators and I hope to give testimony on Monday about um the first is to really broaden um that definition of um ability to pay, right? And to replace that economically disadvantaged student metric with a more comprehensive measure of median household income, right? We should be looking at every household in Scar Bro, not 24% of households

059in Scar Bro. And so the state has to have another measure like medium household income or totalable t total taxable income that they could be looking at to give them um information that more clearly represents the community. Um I also uh feel that they should implement a hold harmless provision. this this million dollars that they're suggesting that we are going to lose is part of a pot of a total of $5 million in my that 43 districts are going to lose out on, right? We're going to lose 20% of the pot ourselves um for the whole state. And in my mind, the state should have a hold harmless provision so that none of the districts who are currently losers would experience a loss um until our EPS reaches um that amount. or if there has

060to be a loss, let's um step down from that with a really small fixed percentage. Because if we're only getting $9 million and we lose $1 million, that's like 13% of state subsidy that we would be losing. And so this would be uh the hold harmless provision would allow for more predictable budget planning um and mitigate like a big cliff um that we would be reaching. And you know because there are only it's only $5 million and 34 districts, it seems plausible that they could just keep us flat until the funding formula exceeds our FY27 amount. Um, I also believe that they should take a look at the cost of living index to make sure that it accurately reflects the housing and labor cost specific to greater Portland and Cumberland County. It's not a coincidence

061that the four highest losers are from Cumberland County, right? Why are four districts taking 60% of the hit? That seems inequitable. Um, and then, uh, my final recommendation is that this bill should integrate property tax relief. I'm not a bill writer. I have never sat in legislature, but it seems to me that if they're recommending that the fix to um changes in local subsidy is to ensure that we have property tax relief for the people who need it. Then in my mind those two pieces should be married together so that they are structurally intertwined in the new funding model because unless we do that then the suggestion of it is insufficient. It doesn't address it. Um and it won't alleviate that increased tax burden on affected communities or specific affected taxpayers. Um, so at this

062point, um, uh, this bill is, like I said, there's a public hearing on Monday, um, in front of the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee that's happening at 10:00 a.m. Um, I'm happy to provide you with the details about that. Um, like I said, I did forward you all of the notes that I compiled that were a result of the meeting that I was at this morning and then some digging that I've been doing since I've been back this afternoon. Um, so, you know, there are lots of ways that you can let people know how you feel about this, right? Um, you could write a letter using some of the talking points um that I've provided. um you know, you could send those letters to um our state representatives and senators here in Scar Bro. You

063could also direct it specifically to the members of the Educational and Cultural Affairs Committee. Um, what's really hard about this, if I'm going to be perfectly honest, is um, most of my colleagues in these 260 districts are celebrating this. And I'm not trying to, um, you know, to say that I think that they shouldn't get the money that they need, but I don't think that it that that it has to come this way so that other people lose out on funds that they need. So I think that there are other ways that we could consider that. Um and uh the information that we got today is um uh this uh is um going to the education and cultural uh affairs committee and from there it would move forward um and it would not be appropriated

064in this budget. it would become part of the next bianial budget which will also be under a new state leader. Um so that's a little interesting also. Um but in any regard uh the good news is that in terms of our FY27 um even though we weren't celebrating uh that we only got an $11,000 increase. I guess I'm going to celebrate that we got $11,000 more this year. Um, but certainly as we look ahead to FY28, there's a lot for us to be paying attention to. um because I think that uh there's a lot at stake and and again as I said to my colleagues um at the table today I said I certainly understand that the state can't fund everything for everyone and I think our local school project is a great example of

065that right we worked really diligently for four years to make sure that there was an understanding in this community that the state wasn't going to be taking care of of us in terms of our facilities and we were really successful in getting our community to support that and hearing this news on the heels of that is really defeating. So I'm a little disappointed and kind of fired up. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I suppose thank you is the right words. Thank you for your hard work. And if you have questions, I'd be happy to answer them as well. >> Are there any questions? Let's start with questions. >> Yeah. So, Kelly Murphy is the is our representative and she's at the head of the education committee. >> Any chance she could look out for our

066interests and sort of [laughter] >> Yeah, I reached out to, you know, I reached out to her today. Right. So, you know, so again, we've got Kelly Murphy who is directly on that committee. Um, but you know, like Sophie Warren was just at our community forum the other evening and so I reached out to Sophie. I also reached out to Stacy Brener and Annne Carney who also represents Scar Bro. Um, because I think that, you know, I wanted to make sure that my message got out early enough because, you know, I'd be the first to say, um, I can be critical, but I also want to help be a problem solver. And so I wanted to offer some alternate suggestions or other ways that they might look at things so that it felt more equitable

067and um you know that that um we would have an easier time um coming down from that if that is in fact a change that gets made. >> And then I had a question about just to understand a little bit better. So the mill rate um so that would be imposed on all the change in the mill rate would [clears throat] affect all scar bro property taxpayers or just the 26%. >> Oh all of them. >> All right. So what they would be doing is they would be looking at the mill rate for every community and then based on their assessment of your ability to pay either your ill your mill rate goes down or your mill rate goes up. That's >> yeah that's a separate >> right this is this is the mill rate

068that the state sets right so when you look at your tax bill and like how much goes to education how much goes to the county etc right that's how that piece gets calculated >> no correct >> right this is >> it's kind of baked into that formula right how would you just best describe it Kate Yeah, sorry. >> Thank you for your patience. [gasps] >> Thank you for your patience. Um, so yeah, it's confusing because they use the term mill rate for two different purposes. The mill rate when we're talking about the way that they calculate state subsidy is simply a formula that they apply to the total cost of education that they've calculated for your town and they assess the mill rate and say you have to provide x number of dollars to pay

069for your K12 schools and we're going to give you the rest and that's what your general purpose aid is is the is the rest of it. So when we talk about setting a mill rate in our town and assessing taxes, that's a whole different process. Um they're they're kind of using the same term and they're they're adjacent to each other, but but um what they do at the state level merely gives us a number. Here's your revenue for schools and then we do our work to build that into the budget and determine the mill rate locally for actually assessing taxes in Scar Bro, if that makes sense. And I think I think just to add on to what I think I heard you asking is this is if you think of this as a revenue

070source from the state, anything that so if our if we were spending 10 million and we were getting $1 million, we would still need to raise $9 million. And so that money doesn't that $9 million doesn't come from the 23% that that has a schoolage child. It comes from 100% of Scar Bro residents. >> Right. They all have to pay that. >> Got it. I just was I you mentioned I you just illustrate that it was just you that percentage of 26% is just illustrate the number of people who actually have school age as children and the vast majority are paying taxes for education but they're not directly benefiting from it. >> Correct. >> Right. And and the what um the superintendent was pointing out is that the method that the department of education is

071is considering using to identify the level of ability to pay in a town is just a form that school age children fill out. Well, they don't their parents fill it out, right? So, it's an economic status form. Only if your child attends school would you even submit that information to the state. So if they're only collecting that information about ability to pay from this small segment of our population, then how do they know whether the other 75% can afford to pay their taxes or not? >> That's what that so that's answering. Okay. So it they are collecting information on uh on >> school age children's families. >> They're submitting form uh right and they're submitting those forms when when they enroll their child. >> Exactly. every year when they do their school enrollment paperwork >>

072work that that all parents get. >> That's right. One of those online forms that you have to do. So, we collect from everyone. And in fact, since we started doing that about three years ago, our rates for economically disadvantaged really increased a lot, right? Because before it was like, hey, send me that form if you want to, right? And so what we did was we baked that form into all the paperwork that you have to fill out. And so we get that information more than not, >> right? And and it has been really successful collecting that information within our school community. Um and it's been really helpful to us in a lot of different ways. Um but the point being that there's still a whole segment of our population about which you know absolutely nothing

073through that method, right? Of many of which are seniors. >> Exactly. Exactly. The people that you might assume, >> right, can actually have a problem paying their taxes, >> which is the 75% of our um population. And going one step further, those forms are as good as the people that um willingly fill it out, >> right? though if we in other words if we're basing this calculation off of 25% of our population that we're asking to fill out the forms and it's great that we're seeing an increase and that people are doing it but you're also asking the number who actually do it >> to really >> put forth information that could be embarrassing that could be um very deeply personal that could be something that they're not interested in sharing with the school community

074what right wrong or indifferent right and so you're basing this not only Are we not accounting for 75% of the population? We're basing this number on self-reported numbers versus an accurate stat statistical data that we can receive. >> Right? >> I would hazard a guess I say all of this to say I would hazard a guess that those numbers even though they've increased are not actually where we're at in Scarboro. >> They're also not um fluid. You collect that information at one point in a person's life when they're filling out some paperwork and then you leave it alone for a year. And um there are other mechanisms that we've used in the past through the school lunch program that can actually capture changes in people's status during the course of the year. But once again,

075those are school kids, you know, not families without them. So, um, a lot of missing information there that could be really valuable to the state in terms of determining an equitable ability to pay among, uh, school communities. >> Um, and then one last question, Dan. The other three losing school districts, um, how strong an outset of allies are they to help you sort of >> advocate? >> Okay. [laughter] >> They all came home in the same car together >> and said, "Feedback appreciated." and they were like spot on. But again, right, it it just it puts us in a really uncomfortable position, right? Because there shouldn't be winners and losers. >> Exactly. We don't want to be making the argument that there's a mistake in trying to improve the funding formula. >> Um, you know,

076and and and we're upset because we're we're the loser, right? That's not okay. That's not what we're trying to say. We just, you know, it would be nice if they could improve the formula and make it more accurate and more relatable to actual education as it stands today and the cost of that education without creating a situation where some communities are going to have a big >> chunk of their expected funding disappear. No, in my mind, right, like the formula is just inherently flawed in terms of determining the ability to pay >> because we're not looking at 76% of our community. >> So, how can you say that, >> right, with confidence based on the 24% of people we're looking at? You have >> and the percentage of those who filled out the form to

077Shannon's >> filled out the forms accurately. All right, you're self-reporting and you're asking deeply personal questions. Are there any other questions or any other thoughts right now? Um I have a lot of thoughts. >> Yeah. >> And um I too had hoped that with a review of the funding formula that it would be an opportunity for um all of us to do a little bit better across the entire state. you have know we get 13% of our budget paid for. Um we are very proud of a as a state of the 55% that we fund and that does not I think there's a lot of confusion among people that what that means and I so I think the start is um being really transparent about what all of these numbers mean and this is why

078I pushed so hard last week during our workshop when we say things like this this is a mandate and it will be 100% funded I suspect I expect that that means every single aspect will be funded And what we find is, well, um, yes, we mean it's going to be funded, but it's not really going to be funded, and there's going to be pieces here and there that aren't funded that you're responsible for. Every time we do that, we ask our community members to support something else every single time. Every single time. And so you do that enough and we um people it it creates this sense of um whatever the opposite of goodwill is that's what it creates with the school system and the elderly population the senior citizens that we have here and

079we have seen it play out um for the last three years with our school project. Um and I don't think anybody inherently does not want to support the schools and doesn't want to support kids. What they want to do is to be able to stay in their homes and they want to be able to buy groceries and they want to be able to pay for medications that they need. What they don't want to do is um be kicked out of their house or have to move later in life. They might have owned this house for their entire life. I know so many senior citizens here that have lived here for 40 plus years in the same house and that's what they want to do. And so this is incredibly disappointing on so many levels. We

080are the oldest state in the union by age. It is a fact of life. And the fact that we are looking at a formula that does not take into account groups of people that don't have kids is abysmal at best and embarrassing at worst. And this is um this is beyond I care very deeply about home ownership. I think that it is the cornerstone of the American dream. I think that people um it creates a savings pot of wealth for people when they retire in their lives. And so I um but what I see happen here in Scarboro is that we have this um misnomer that because people own property that they are all wealthy and that is not true in Scarboro. It is not true. You can own a home, you can own a

081home that's that is worth a lot of money. You could be sitting on a plot of land that is worth a lot of money. does not translate to money in your account at the end of the day. It does not. And so I um I also intend to um I would like to attend on Monday as well. Um I would like us as a board to um consider we can I I've thought about it a couple ways. I think we could go the way of what the council just recently did with the um >> I'm drawing a blank. Um yes, 1829. Thank you. Were they Tom the bo the council gave Tom and Larry um kind of gave them the authority to go speak on behalf of the council. Um I can clear by Monday

082and do that with Diane. And so if you're interested in giving Diane and I authority to go um I can work it's quick notice. I could work on something and get it to you so public comment so that you could see it ahead of time. But if there is 100% support from the board here, um that's what I would like to do. Kelly Murphy, to your point, is the um the uh regist the representative who heads the education committee and yes, she is a representative of Scarboro. Um I have not spoken to her about this. I don't know if you have as our legislative. So, um, this was new information to me when Diane Dian and I did speak a little bit earlier today, um, in preparation for the meeting. Um, so that that's how

083I would like to handle it. Um, I'm open to conversation or discussion, but I I mean, and anybody's willing to to join us, of course, it's Monday at 10:00 a.m. in Augusta. Um, but at a bare minimum, I would like this board to support Diane and I going and speaking on our behalf. The point is is I told Diane earlier today and I will stop talking after this. I told her um earlier today, you know, we we take this job and we take this oath and we say that um our responsibility is to the students of Scarboro. And I believe that that's true. Our responsibility is to the students and our responsibility is also to their families, but we also represent everyone else who lives in Scarboro. And this does a disservice to everybody in

084Scarboro. Uh, I fully support, you know, giving you guys authority to represent us. I'll see if I can join you guys on Monday. I'm going to look at my calendar. I just think this is really important. So, and uh I don't know if we also want to draft a letter. >> Yeah. >> And we can also submit testimony online, [clears throat] too. So, it might be worth each of us doing that. But I also would support um I would be delighted for you guys to go up there. Um I wish I could join you. Um unfortunately I can't but I'm thinking about writing my own but it's like the state has in this last year made it almost impossible for us to do to to run smoothly. I mean, we have this growth mandate. Um,

085and and and you know, now we we have to spend a lot of money on our schools >> and then we have to take on not only four-year-olds but three-year-olds >> uh because the state couldn't do it >> and now they want to take money out of our education budget. I I I just at some point is it, you know, is anybody looking out for our elders at all in any committee? Um it doesn't feel that way. >> Yeah. >> And I would just add that, you know, I to be really upfront, we are going to be of the minority opinion on Monday and I am very well aware of that. >> I'm totally comfortable to be in the minority opinion on this. Any thoughts? >> Yeah, you have my support. Keep going up there.

086>> You have my full support. >> Thank you, John. Mitchell, you good? All right. So, what I'll do is um I need to finish reading through the results of the um study, which I can forward if you haven't seen it. Um, and then I'll work on a letter this weekend that I'll um that would just be the what I would say on our behalf. But to Jillian's point, you are absolutely welcome to submit one on your own as well. That's that's absolutely doable, too. >> I did also mention it to Tom Hall um earlier today because again, I feel like this isn't necessarily just a school thing. Yeah. >> Right. because this is going to impact the entire town. And so, um, I I shared my notes with Tom and Karen Martin as well. Um,

087in the event that they might want to, um, provide something, you know, Tom gave me some great feedback about >> um, what I wrote uh, in terms of the testimony that I intend to give. And he said, "Do you think that that's enough?" And I said, "No, there's not going to be enough voices. No, >> we need as many voices as possible. And if that's in letter format, that's okay, too. >> Yeah, I will. Um I that I did mean to say that. I said I would stop talking, but I may be fibbed. Um I um would like to share this with town council and maybe the counselors can also write letters. Um this does impact them as well, of course. Um but also I was thinking too um your friends and your family in

088the community might be interested in also writing a letter and supporting this. So, I would encourage you to share this um with those that um as you're having conversations this weekend and out and about. Um I would encourage you to share this with them as well. Um this is going to be a big impact and when you look at the dates um it's going to be it's going to of course line up pretty closely to when we start building the school. >> Do we want something to go out with like one of the school newsletters or something through like the >> nai? I'm not sure that they're I think that like again like as you like you heard me explain this, right? Like >> it's pretty complex, right? And so it's not like I could

089write two paragraphs in a newsletter and people would >> Oh, >> right. capture it. >> Yeah. >> I don't know what what, you know, thoughts folks have about that. I mean, perhaps that's not for Monday, but as we watch the bill move, then perhaps Yeah. You know, there might be an opportunity for us >> this might be a great community forum idea. Yeah. >> Right. Or or right an opportunity >> to have a focused conversation with constituents. >> Yeah. >> I just want to make everyone aware that the legislative session is drawing to a close. So things are happening really quickly. >> Um there's a lot going on all at once. Um and what that means is is after it comes out of the education committee because there's not a fiscal note doesn't have to

090go to appropriations which which means it'll very quickly land on the I don't know it was Murphy originated in the house. So, it'll run on the House's desk for two votes and then it'll go to the Senates for votes and there's an opportunity to make amendments if they need to, but they won't probably with this because there's no funding involved and it's too complicated to really like have a floor amendment to it. So, what that means is after Monday, if they vote it out of committee, if they don't vote out of committee, it dies. If they vote out of committee, it's probably going to hit a calendar within the next week because the statutory adjournment date is the 15th and they're trying to get everything done because they haven't they have to turn their attention

091fully to the supplemental budget. The public hearings on that are almost over. They're going to conclude next week and then that's all anyone's going to talk about because they're going to be under a lot of pressure to get that done before statutory German on the 15th of April. And that's a I know that seems like a long way away, but um this the budget is going to be a very is is sizing up to be a lot a very feisty interaction between the parties. So I think just like this isn't going to be like oh we'll come back in a couple like it'll be done by the time we have our next meeting. >> Yeah. >> Just be clear it'll be done by that point. >> Yep. >> Thank you. Any other questions or thoughts?

092All right. Thank you, Diane. Welcome. >> All right. Um, agenda item 7.0 is the is chair's report. 7.1 is me. Um, and I didn't um I failed to mention this at the beginning, but um if you haven't seen Cheryl and the well the board and the town are using a new agenda format and so um you can thank Cheryl, she's been working really hard on getting this up and running, but um you can notice it looks a little bit different. So um I just have a couple of items. Um the first is that if you just keep going and then it's okay. Um the board of education um election is coming soon which is June 9th. There are two seats available. Um papers are um available to pick up now um to collect your signatures.

093They are due back on April 1st. Um I did hear yesterday that there has been one person that has pulled papers already, which is great news. Um as of yesterday um but there is there is two seats open. So, um, for anybody who's interested in in running for that, um, the other two things I have, one that I was watching and, um, or am watching to see, it's to Fra's point, this is a short session in the legislature. Um, one of the things that was included, I mentioned to you, in the supplemental budget was the cell phone ban, the full ban, um, for cell phones in schools, and it looks like that did, um, pass to appropriations. So, um that will be the next thing that uh just for us to keep in in mind.

094Um it's a very tight window. If the budget um the supplemental um budget gets approved with that ban in it, um the timeline to turn around to ban cell phones is going to be short. It's going to be like a short window, a couple months to get it um imple whatever that plan is going to look like to get it implemented. So, um just keeping an eye on that. And then um yesterday at the council meeting um the council did have their second reading and public hearing on the um updated or the impact fees schedule um specifically as it relates to the school um project and what they they did um unanimously I think it was no it was not unanimous it was six to1 what they they voted to approve was the new impact

095fee scheduled that will collect $52 million over 30 years, the next 30 years, which will be the life of the of the loan um the bonding that'll happen for the school project. So that um that is the new ski uh feebased schedule. It is based on uh the type of housing and how many units are in the house. Um, so they are still suggesting that every three years that that be looked at and updated as they can see how land is being used, but that is the estimate that it would be a $52 million um it would result in $52 million >> um back to the town, which is >> As an offset. Yeah. Which would be nice. >> Um so that was that was approved. Um nothing else really to report um from that

096meeting and um that is that is what I have today. Any questions for me or >> just to understand so the impact fee that offsets 52 million from what we from what the town would bond for the school project bringing the price tag down for in terms of what is bonded in >> it would pay down the debt. >> It would pay down Oh, it would pay down theundund part of the 140. Yeah. >> Well, it h it's it's >> the school. Yeah. >> Yes. Dedicated to that, >> right? Because it's the the idea, just to take one step backward, the idea is that as people build homes in Scarboro, they impact our infrastructure, specifically in this case, our schools. And so, um, what they're paying the developers or and anybody who builds a house,

097what they're paying for is that impact on our school structure. is that's 52 million additional or total >> total over 30 years. Right. Thank you. >> Yeah, good questions. >> All right, if there's no questions for me, we'll move on to committee reports. 8.0 is the committee reports. Um 8.1 is the community outreach committee. So, I'll turn this over to Charlotte. >> Thank you. Um this past Monday we hosted our winter community forum in the West Learning Commons. We were grateful to have a small group of uh community members show up and had meaningful conversation and it really felt like we were building some good relationships with those who showed up. Um we were also really excited to welcome one of our Scarbor legislators, Representative Sophie Warren, who attended. Um, additionally, we will be meeting

098the community outreach committee this Monday, uh, March 9th at 5:30 to further discuss and organize around the senior appreciation dinner. Um, and then we are excited to, um, be able to recognize another Scar Bro staff member at our 319 board meeting. Um, rescheduled from some illness. Um, and we are still really in need of more uh nominations for staff spotlight awards. So, I did link the the form right here. Um, yeah, that's it. >> Thank you. >> moving on to our curriculum committee. >> Yeah. Yes. Sorry. I don't know why I was confused by that. Um, uh, all right. So we we actually did postpone our last uh meeting which was going to be on the second just before the um forum. Uh we decided that we didn't really have enough time so we decided

099to move that to next Thursday at 5:30 at and we so there's not really an update from the last meeting. Um but uh Katie has worked on um a form to solicit interest in the uh CNA um meeting and so we're going to go over that and she plans to launch that ASAP. Um and then we will hear some updates from the math curriculum um meeting that was had uh and the work that they've done over the last several months. Um, so we're really looking forward to that. Anybody have any questions or comments on that? Mitchell, do you want to do the finance report? >> So, our last meeting recently got uh rescheduled to be March 10th just due to a couple of scheduling conflicts. Um, as you can see, budget season is in full

100swing according to the calendar. Um, we'll have some more exciting news coming up here after the 11th and 12th when we have our joint town and board workshops. And then um this month's um meeting and kind of review should be on fall on the uh 17th. And then our first reading for the um fiscal year 27 uh budget will be at our next board meeting or the March 19th board meeting. >> Great. Thank you so much. Any questions for Mitchell? >> All right. Um negotiations. We've been regularly meeting with our SCA partners that are hard at work on the educational support professionals contract. >> Thank you so much. You want to take policy too? Keep going. >> Yeah, >> keep going. Policy. Um, so we had our meeting this evening. We usually meet on the

101first um Thursday of the month along with this board meeting. And uh we went over we touched on a few things that uh we are pending the calendar and a couple of the um D policies having to do with uh finances, purchase of contracting, decision of surplus property. Um we spent the bulk of the meeting on KB which is complaints against school personnel and updating that policy. I think that draft is going to come forward shortly um in front of the board. Our next meeting is next uh th the first th Tuesday t no it's first Thursday in April I don't know what day it is on April 2nd um it's a hybrid meeting at the school board conference room at 5:00 we're going through policies in reverse chronological order so once we finish up

102KB and make sure all those other policies are taken care of we'll move on to QE which is public concerns and complaints and I think um upcoming shortly will be a social media policy which may be of interest >> oh um I have a question for you did you hear from Jen say um uh when that the Drummond Woodson might have that policy, the sample policy. >> No, I don't think they had it yet, but I'll double check. I think I would expect it to happen after April 15th. >> Okay. >> It's all hands on deck there. >> Oh, there. Yeah. >> Busy. >> I I just did have a question for Freas. So, if this um school phone ban goes into effect or you know continues through the legislative process um are we going

103to have to return to our uh school Yes. >> our cell phone policy? >> So, what would happen is um statutes go into effect 90 days after adjournment. So, presuming they adjourn on time on April 15th, which is normally what they do, they can change it occasionally, but it's very unusual for them to do that in a second session. Um which is why there's a statutory date. Um so, things go into effect on July 15th. So you would have between April, you would know by April 15th of adjournment when um if that budget if the budget passed when the budget passed and what the budget has in it and then you'd have 90 days from that date uh before before the statutes become effective. And so it would presumably unless there's a different date put

104into that um budget which that budget is enormous. It is there's a website dedicated to it with multiple parts um and it It's a it's a huge document. So when they go through it, it's really painstaking. So they did two weeks of public hearings on it with testimony and then they have two weeks of public work sessions on it, which they're in the middle of right now. So they go through each piece individually. Um and so then it'll move into the full House and the Senate to go through it and they can be four amendments. So things can change um at that point in time. All right. Um, the last one is the post-referenderum building committee. Do you want me to do that or you want you want me to do that one? Um, I

105asked because only because John um had to miss the last meeting. Um, we met um we we're only meeting once a meet once a week. Once a month. We're only meeting once a week. We're meeting once a month. Um so our February meeting um was a lot about programming and kind of getting updated on the process and what's going on. Um the Haramman and Diane and Ray um have been really busy meeting at the schools. I think you had seven over 70 meetings. Is that right? >> Yes. >> At the at the schools talking about the design and the structure of the schools. It's been pretty intense and making sure um intensive as a schedule to and this is done to make sure that the um different schools have their have a say in what's

106going on and what's you know the the design and what what things are going to look like at their new buildings. So um that has I think you're about done now, right? >> Yes, >> I think those are about done. Um, so one of the things that they did while they were there is at each school was they came up with a design statement to really kind of ground the school in their in their new the new um either new building or the um updates they're going to get. So for example, Bluepoint's design statement was um and and they let me back up. What they did was they broke out into little groups and they each worked on it and then they came up with one um final design statement. So an example for Bluepoint

107was um the place where the um where children are welcomed in a loving and engaging learning environment. That was one of the groups their design statement that they came up with. So um they worked through this and what they ended up coming up with was for all of the school was rooted in nature where land meets the sea. Bluepoint nurtures curious minds through care, compassion and community. So that's their design statement as they're um moving forward with their with their building and their design. They also looked at design patterns and looked at different um things that might be of importance that might be important for their specific school. Um some of the big things that came out of that was um really looking at outdoor space and making sure that the play the areas for

108play were really welldeveloped. um making use of what they call ubiquitous learning spaces. And that's like um ma it reminds me of um this is going to sound bizarre, but when people build a house and they have a stairwell and they make use of every square inch and so they put a storage unit under the stair stairs, that's what it reminds me of. So they're finding these little spaces in the building where they can make something of that space. So, um, the great example she gave was there is a, um, in one school build that they did, they had a little tiny wall, a literal wall that you would walk by, but it happened to be at this it where near a door where people would where the classes would go out for outdoor time.

109And so when they made they made that a little sitting area. So when there's an issue on the out on the um playground, instead of needing to take the student, go all the way back to the classroom, have a discussion, come all the way back, now they can bring them in and go to the seating area, have a discussion about their behavior, sit them in timeout or whatever it is they're going to do, and then bring them right back out. So they don't have to travel all the way across the the school. And so it's making use of the the space as you've got it. And then the third was um developing what they call um social development spaces. So um little areas where the whole school could could get together. So a lot of

110work like that that's been done um across all of the schools. Um we are right on target with the timeline um right in the middle of the design and development phase. The committee has been working really hard at really finding their voice and what their understanding what their roles and their responsibilities are. um and how that fits into the the larger picture here. So all of that is um right where um right where we should be. So um I don't think there was anything else the if you're interested in really looking at the the budget the budget is in there. We did have a very lengthy conversation about um the understanding the role of an owner's rep and what that means just very similar to like what we had at a couple of meetings ago.

111Um so that went went really well. Um other than that that that's about where we're at. We're next meeting um I think it's actually next week, next Tuesday. >> Yeah. So um if you're interested in joining us, you are more than welcome to. We'd love to have you. Um, this this meeting is going to be a Bluepoint this time, right? >> Yes, sir. >> Is a Blue Point because we're doing a tour. >> The tour at 5:30. >> So, if you are interested in seeing the school, if you haven't seen it in a while or just want a refresher, um, the tour will start at 5:30 and then the meeting will start immediately afterwards. >> I just I had a question for you. Um, just because it came up when I was um interviewing um,

112Mr. Labarge and Mr. Mosher. They're one of the things they're hoping is that in this the PBRC is going to be looking at the sizing of the music that there's they gave equal space for a band room, a classroom and a and a and a and a vocal arts classroom. And they emphasized to me that there needs to be they need to be of different sizes. One only needs 25 students. another has to house 100 stu has to you know have capacity for like 80 to 100 students with instruments and so three equal rooms three rooms of equal size don't make sense I don't know if that's something that's being addressed or or talked about at the middle school >> so that's the kind of information that we're collecting and gathering from all the groups

113we're meeting with and as you can imagine so you've talked to two music educators and you know at the middle school we probably met with easily 10 different groups and so you can imagine that every group we meet with has ideas about things that they would like to see change. And the uh challenge for Herman is to take all that feedback in, right? Um talk to all of the different related parties and then figure out what is doable given the constraints of the project. So those are the next steps. Haramman, now that we have finished all those meetings, what they're starting to do is they're compiling all of that. Um and then we're going to start um you know like I had a meeting with them a couple of days ago where they've started that

114work for eight corners right and so they were like okay here's all the data that we got and now here are some changes in the floor plan that we can suggest we're not changing walls we're not changing the size of the building right but within the building what are the puzzle pieces that can move around and how can those be shifted, right? And so to the greatest extent possible, um, you know, we're looking to to be able to meet those needs, but also being really realistic with everyone that not every wish list item is going to be able to be addressed in general terms. >> Perfect. Are there any other questions? All right. Agenda item 9.0. are less on reports. Does anyone have a report? All right, hearing none, we'll move on to item 10.0

115is student representative report. So, we'll turn this over to Abby and Sarah. Okay. At the high school last weekend was the one act play. It is called Actor Games and it is a parody of Hunger Games and they up next they're going to be competing at the state competition. And at the high school next Monday is 8th grade stepup night for the eighth graders transition from middle school to high school. They'll get tours of the high school and a presentation with information about academic and athletic programs. And also at the middle school there we'll be having a penny war fundraiser to be raising coins, cash and checks to raise money for future field trips. Um, so in February, the Wentworth Robotics team called Wentworth Brick Invaders competed in the state of Maine finals for first

116Lego League where they tied for third place in the robot game and won first place for the robot design award for their engineering and coding of the robot. The team is made up of fourth graders Claire Lad and Leo Johnson. Fifth graders Enzo Richie, Peter Quinn, and Shrew 3 S. and sixth graders Spencer Coat and Evie Lagaros. They competed against teams made up of middle middle and high school students. Wentworth Brick Invaders are coached by Brandon Johnson, one of the STEM teachers at Wentworth, and assisted by Adam Shepard, a fifth grade teacher. >> Nice. >> Very good. Thank you. Thank you both for that update. Are there any questions? No, I just want to uh echo that the um the one act play which uh was excellent. I attended it and it was really enjoyed

117it. Um it was you know and I hope that they do very well in the competition. So >> all right, agenda item 11.0 is general public comment. Um, is there anyone I laugh because everybody left. Is there anybody wishing to make general public comment this evening? Is there anyone online? >> Great. Well, hearing none, we will close general public comment for this evening. Um, 12 agenda item 12.0 is continuing business. 12.1 is the continuation of the prek discussion. Um, this is a continuation of what we started last week at our workshop. Um Diane, well did you have anything you wanted to >> do you want to uh maybe give a overview of what we discussed? >> Well, you know, again, I would just uh kind of encapsulate what we talked about last week. Um last

118week I mentioned to you that it seems as though we have an opportunity uh in front of us this year to be able to expand prek um at no new local cost. Um, I think on the heels of what I said to you earlier this evening, this is probably a really good time for us to think about this. Um, uh, but, um, you know, as we discussed last week, I kind of put forth three scenarios for your consideration. The first is the do nothing scenario. Let's just maintain the one prek classroom we have. Um I explained to you that if we do that that increases our um GPA this year by about uh $11,600. And so that means that we would have to completely wipe out our prek fund that we had set aside um

119to be able to pay for that classroom. Uh the second scenario that I ran by you last week was to add 32 students. Um and and we could make that available by having um a dedicated classroom at either Blue Point or Pleasant Hill. Um that could house two half-day programs. Um so 16 students in the morning, 16 students in the afternoon. Um, and that new funding for uh those students based on the 2-year average would generate an additional $355,000 for us. Uh, which would put us in the black for those programs and there would be no local money that would be needed. Um, what we would receive from the state would cover that. And then the um robust scenario that I gave you was um to increase um preK by 64 students um so that

120we would have a total of 80 slots again half-day programming um on site um and the funding for that would um generate just under $700,000 in GPA. Um and then the other piece that I would just reiterate is um we believe that these spaces are available um because of current class sizes at the K2 level. As you know, you passed a class size policy um earlier this year uh that set the minimum class size for 16. And so in looking at our existing K2 schools, um there is the there looks like there's the ability um for us to um make up to two classrooms available. So um really anxious to hear from you. I have a survey for families that I am literally just ready to press play on tomorrow. Um I actually have linked

121it into the newsletter uh in hopes that um we can send it out. Um but that is the timeline at which we need to start moving um because parents who are thinking about prek for kids are making those decisions now. Um and so we need to get an idea of what potential interests might be. >> All right. >> And my friend Kate is here if you have some other math questions that I didn't answer. Well, last week >> um so as a reminder, if we go with the robust scenario with the almost 700,000 in new funding from the state because it would it would put us in the black and give us what dare I say some extra yes funds. We could use that to offset yes or no. This is a yes or no

122question. We can I'm I'm thinking we can use that to offset the cost of the CDS services. So a director to come to help manage that program to plan to manage that program, right? We could use that additional money >> to pay for something like that. So, one of the things that Kate and I have talked about in our planning, um, and and we talked about this last week, right, that we are not signing on to take our CD to take CDS students for the FY27 school year. Right. Right. Because we don't have it mapped out. We don't have enough partners, right? Right. Etc., etc. But we do see the need for us to hire someone in a consultant type capacity. who could be um a conduit for us to help us map out how

123we might be able to service these students, meet the FAPE requirement from that, you know, menu of possibilities, whether that be some half, you know, some programs that we might have in house, shooting stars. I I think we're going to have to look at some other partners as well um and grow that given the number of students that we would expect to have to meet the needs for, >> right? >> But that could that's a yes, we could use extra >> and that would still and and again um either scenario two or scenario three would cover the cost of that. In scenario three, we could cover the cost of a consultant to help us develop that plus still have other monies towards other areas of our budget. >> Right. And and what I would say

124about general purpose aid is that even though they are calculating that additional amount based on the number of prek kids we have, there's no um requirement for us to spend it specifically on that programming. it just goes into the number that we receive for our K12 education programs in general. Um, which means exactly that that you um I'm looking at the numbers here and and we're talking about receiving almost $700,000 and depending on the scenarios in terms of the shifting of of existing staff and space, we might only spend 200,000 of that to make this happen, which means that the the rest of it is available. Is there any possibility to put any of that money into our existing prek reserve fund for the future? >> We would have to have it as surplus at

125the end of the year and then we could transfer it. Um >> trying to think like Frea right now. >> Yeah. >> Know what I was thinking. >> Right. Right. And of course we will have some surplus at the end of the year. We always do. Right. And so that would be a great way to target that in the same way that we did it this past year. >> Uh and a question um the reduction that is you know being proposed at the legislature would that affect the amount in the future that we get for prek? Well, again, the whole like the whole model would be changing, right? And so I can't know today what lines from the 279 would be smaller, but I can tell you the bottom number could be smaller. Right. Unless

126they go for some of my really great ideas. >> Yeah. >> Which I'm going to push. Well, and I I think one of the things that we have to bear in mind is that um the growth and change in the GPA in the coming year by by making this move then starts to just be the the norm going forward, right? So, you're you're adding a bunch of kiddos which gives you this little blip and then if those are the same kids that you have the year after by the third year that's your your status quo, >> right? But we would increase. I can't tell you by how much because again it's a changing formula, but we would increase just based on that two-year average that I talked to you about, right? That's why these are

127increasing so much because of the two-year average. And so let's just say for the purpose of discussion, we moved ahead and we had 80 students this year, right? And then next year we said, let's continue with 80. Our two-year average would be 80 instead of our two-year average being >> 64. Right? >> You want me to go to my mathing again? >> 64 >> being >> right being four. No, I don't think it's 64. 48. >> 48. The faster we move. >> Right. So, next [clears throat] year we'd get reimbursement for 48 >> or this year if we do this and the following year we'd get reimbursement for 80 instead of 48. So we get a twoyear increase >> over two years we'd see things increase >> and then it would level off >> then

128that's your yeah that's your norm going forward >> but if this funding formula changes where they're taking money away from us let's say we are on the losing end of that it will it could impact our bottom line in terms of >> our bottom GPA line >> our or our bottom GPA line even though this okay so we could get >> does this mean that we wouldn't didn't get allocation for prek, right? It just means that that mill rate that their that their ability to pay, right, would get tweaked. >> I think as a basic math premise, it couldn't hurt us to add more kids because that's the beginning of the formula where you're increasing the overall cost. So either way, regardless of how they tweak the the ability to pay piece, you're saying that

129we are eligible for a higher cost. And the sooner we add a prek, the sooner we can start, you know, if we follow the robust model, that two-year lag time, we we start kind of catching up faster, >> right? I don't know that. Maybe I'm wrong. I you missed my glorious mathing at the last workshop. It was it was something to >> Was it beautiful? >> Yeah, it it was beautiful. That's that's one. >> I have it out again right now for I'm ready to to get going. Um but it's not going to level out, is it? Because you inherently expect when we're going to increase when we're going to start bringing on the CDS services, those kids would increase, right? Because we would be bringing new children in to for CDS services. And then

130we have to match them one to one for purposes of FAPE. So that formula if I'm with averaging again mathing is not my strong suit but it's going to continue to go up right because we we expect the number of students that we're serving to go up. So that two-year average would grow constantly. >> It depends on how many we have in house, >> right? It depends on how many we have in house. Because if we have 80 slots in house, that means we couldn't have more than 40 of those students be identified as special education because your classroom can't be more than 50% correct special education. Right. Correct. So, so this what we're proposing to do on site would give us a total of 48 seats, right? Between shooting stars and and here. Yes.

131>> Right. Any other seats that we want? are going to be that's going to be different, right? Because we might not have the entire prek classroom. We might only be paying for the FAPE requirement piece. >> Yeah. Can I think everything is getting jumbled. So like the this funding opportunity is limited in time. So like we have a finite amount of time to ac to access these funds that will not longer be available down the road. We have to build a space whether it's here or we have to acquire space >> yes >> for our 3 to four year olds which is actually and I'm going to say it's a backdoor way to require that the districts create prek programming for everybody. like there's there's zero this is >> this was not it was not

132built this way but it is a 100% going to require that prek spots be created for a lot of students >> it doesn't matter where they're >> you can you can buy prek spots somewhere else or you can create prek spots where you're at >> right >> you know we're one of the rare districts that doesn't have shrinking enrollment so the vast majority of other place schools have a surplus of space we are very unusual in that we don't have surplus of space. In fact, it's it it's a it's a problem because they're looking at good ways to make those spaces productive and prek is an obvious choice for everybody who has space. But um so accessing this funding is a short-term ability to do that. We have been wanting prek. Our community has been

133wanting prek, but we've never been able to have the space and the funding to do it. This is an ability to access extra funding that's not going to be available to create seats that we have to have in two years or like whenever the time frame hits there's a state law mandating that we have these seats. So we have to create the seats no matter what. So the longer we delay the longer the harder it's going to be in three years which is not shaping up to be a great economic year for us folks. Um we're going to have to figure out a way to make that happen. So the earlier we get started on the infrastructure, particularly if we can leverage as much money as we can get from the state to do that,

134the most advantageous place we put the citizens of Scar Bro who are going to have to pay for them later. The reason the funding levels off is because once you hit the population that you're going to have and we're going to have a mixed model because it's unlikely we're going to create enough space for everybody we have to serve. So, we'll have serve as many people here as possible because it's cost-effective. And then we'll find other partnerships or other ways to service the rest of the students that we are mandated to serve. Um, but the sooner we can do that, the better. But once we get to our population level, it's we're not going to keep seeing an increase in three and four year olds who we have to serve. Likely we're going to hit

135a status quo where we get to some. It's going to vary. It's variability, but it's not going to be we're not going to be creating another classroom and another classroom, another classroom every year. That levels off. And so that's why the funding will level off. >> But we can leverage that extra funding by increasing the seats faster right now, which is the best way we can do as a school board to fund this. So this is a win-win proposition in a lot of ways. We're able to create pre-k which is unequivocally very good early intervention and not for students who are at risk which is early for all students give them access to educational opportunities has been shown to have the one of the best beneficial things you can do for kids is get them

136into prek. Like there are many studies on how successful kids are with having access to education a little bit earlier. Great. We're going to help students. We'll help taxpayers because we're going to leverage as much money from the state as we can get. The state doesn't want to give us money. apparently they're looking actively trying to take it away. So if they're going to give us the money like we should take as much as we can get because at the end of the day in 3 years we're going to have to have every slot created anyway. So the earlier we get started and the more money we can leverage from outside source the it's the best model to get us there. And I think moreover we can go over we can go out and sell

137it um to the folks as a win-win. You have asked for prek. We have found a way to get there. we have to get there and and so like let's seize every opportunity to get there as quickly as possible to meet meet the need and build the seats. Um I think that's a good way to sort of embrace it which is like we can fight and bemoone the fact that the state has both shoved three and four year olds onto the school districts um which I've never liked and that they have backdoor required us to create prek which as much as we want we have never been able to figure out to how to do it on a scalable size. I love the fact that we have a start at the 16 seats, but we

138all know that's inadequate to meet the demand. And so I think we just have to go out and say like we have to do this. We found a cost the most cost effective way to do it. Um and then fully embrace it and own the fact that this board may actually create prek in Scarboro, which is if you look if you could look backwards in 25 years is legacy building. like that's there's very little places in the world where you can have impacts that far outlast your tenor and creating something like prek is one they've been trying to figure that out for 20 years since I've got to Maine they've been trying to figure out how to get prek in scar bro I know that because I sat next to a lady who lived in

139scar bro we desperately wanted pre-k in scar bro when I first got here and I was like but here we are I've been here for 20 years I'm now in scar bro myself and we still don't have prek so >> yeah no I agree with you freely I think this is a no-brainer and we should go for it. So, but I would like to hear from other board members. So, >> make a motion. You're not making >> Oh, don't make a motion yet, please. [laughter] >> We want to do it. Let's talk more about doing it. Let's just do it. I I I would agree with uh well others that have spoken but specifically Brila because the B well I think you were talking about the robust robust model. >> I mean I feel like

140that does make the most sense. Um it certainly sets us up for success. Um and and I mean this is this is a mandate like this is it. So, it's not like [sighs] um I mean we might as well get as much of we as we can out of it. Um and also, you know, really serve the community of folks that need this and want this. Um I my biggest concern is how we communicate it to the community because you know here we are asking we we will be asking for more money and um you know this isn't I I I just worry about the the overall look they're look they're asking for more we just gave them this you know I I I'm just really worried about um I would like us just to

141be really really thoughtful about that because um it looks like we are just asking for something else and even though this is like a huge benefit and as you said it reduces uh special ed services later that kids get early intervention I mean there's there are many well-known benefits to it so I I do support there's so many things about it that I do support there's so many things about this that are frustrating but um I guess I guess my biggest concern concern is just how we communicate it and what energy we put into it. But that being said, I really do support the robust model that Diane laid out because of the benefits to it. >> Julian, I just want to understand we're not really asking taxpayers to foot the bill. We're leveraging state

142funds to build this program. >> Understand that. Yeah. I I just don't think that the broader community will necessarily understand that. I mean, I think I think I I think what if I'm can I just try to I think what I'm hearing Jillian say and I I agree with you. I'm also worried about the public perception. Um I mentioned that last week. We've gone out and really said that we're right now we're going to if we're going to look at prek, it's not going to be right now. We're going to focus on our kids now and a year later we're going to come back and say, "Well, here we are. We need prek." Right? So I I do worry about public perception, too. And what I think I hear you saying is we have to

143be very sure in how we communicate this that we are saying there's not an ask to the community because and here's why and then that we're able to explain that we're we're taking um advant well don't use taking advantage when you write this we are utilizing we're we're util accessing funds that are available through the state right so that we word it and this might be a really good opportunity for scar bro living magazine article, right? This might be a really good opportunity for um a community forum when we're talking about the funding formula, right? Like we can we can make sure that we're talking about this in the community, but it's really important to your point that we have really strong talking points that everybody feels confident in those >> maybe run it through

144uh you know co-pilot. Yeah, [laughter] >> I think that um just to weigh in on that point because it's really important, Jillian, I think that it will be really easy in some ways to show the stark difference between you do nothing and you get an extra $11,000 in GPA and oh, guess whose pocket's going to get picked for the rest of that versus we do this other thing and now your tax bill is actually not going to go up as much as it would because now we're going to be able to receive more funding from another source. So, I mean, I I think you it shouldn't be too hard to draw a fairly simple picture that says, you know, this is of benefit to your pocketbook. At the same time, that I mean, I guess

145the the other question would be then, you know, well, what about the long term? Then, do you continue to get um is this a oneshot thing and then next year our taxes are going to go up? hear that a lot um from folks who are worried about new investments. Um but again, as we've just said, like over time, you're going to be adding students and at least for the next few years, depending on the formula and all of that, um it it's going to be of benefit to the town in terms of just plain pure math for um tax relief. Really? >> Absolutely. And I I I really just want to make sure that we we like proactively get out there with that messaging. >> Yeah. Yeah. We'll have to come up with some cunning

146graphics or something. >> Yeah. I was I was just thinking like I wonder if it's better um not that this is the point of this discussion, but if there's like little videos the communications committee can make where maybe Kate gets to explain it, right, with graphics and you know what I'm saying? Like >> Yeah. >> Put Kate on camera again. Yeah. for Kate, you know, spending time talking. >> Everyone leaves the room. >> No, >> I bet you'd have the most views out of anybody in Scar Bro, >> care about their money. >> I actually had somebody come up to me at the post office once when I first started going on the uh board meetings. Like, you're famous. I'm like, >> I think you may have me mixed up with someone else. No, no,

147cable t public TV. I'm like, oh yeah, >> yes. Yeah. Star of the show. But yeah, I think Julian, I think you're absolutely spot on. You've got to make a simple argument for Yeah. why this is a good plan >> financially >> um as well as all the other things. And the other little piece that I think is it's little but it's really important is that with the extra funds, the ability to prehire somebody to work on that CDS transition, that's been our catch 22 all along. It's like, well, DOE says, yeah, we're going to step right up and pay for that admin for you. And and we say, well, when can we have the admin? And they say, on July 1st of the year that you start your program. And we say, that's too

148late. You can't we we can't build a a program from July to September. it just and and not to mention the folks who signed their kids up for prek in April, right? That we we've missed the boat so many times. So with this um the I like the robust scenario. >> Uh I like that's a good word. Um that gives us the opportunity to solve that problem too, right? To be able to put some money towards that um need that's going to come down the road whether we want it or not. No. All right. Any other questions or thoughts? All right, John, go for it. >> Well, you said you were going to make a motion. >> Oh, okay. Yeah, I would like to make a motion that uh we move forward with a robust

149uh plan to increase uh the students by 64, equaling total uh 80 total, generating near $700,000 for the prek program. Second. >> All right. Is there any discussion? All in favor? Uh, and that shows unanimous. Thank you so much. Awesome. Thank you so much. >> Since you let me keep talking to you all night. Um, I just wanted to mention that this now will be what you see at first reading in terms of the numbers that we're presenting. Um so that'll be baked into the proposal that we're presenting in the workshops and then of course any refinements can happen like any other piece of the budget um before we get to second reading. >> Yeah. Thank you very much. >> All right. 13.0 is new business. 13.1 appointment of the middle school wrestling coach. Um

150I know the PDF was included in our um materials. Is there anything >> nothing to add? Okay. Do I have a motion to approve the middle school winter number two wrestling coach as presented? >> Some moved. Second. >> Is um all in favor? >> Thank you so much. It shows unanimous. Agenda item 14.0 is adjournment. Before I adjourn, I just draw the public's attention in this new um agenda format. Um the upcoming meetings are listed so everybody can follow along if they're looking for a full calendar. Thank you for that. again, Cheryl. Um, so if there are no objections, we will adjourn at 9:11 p.m. Thank you so much. Have a good evening.