School Board Workshop & Business Meetings February 26, 2026

001not gonna be able to call it. >> Yeah, I didn't. >> Good evening and welcome to the Scarboro Board of Education workshop. The date is Thursday, February 26, 2026. Um would everyone please join me for the pledge of allegiance? Pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Ray, can we call the attendance, please? >> Miss Jacobs is absent. >> She's absent today. >> Mr. Keller, >> here. >> Miss Lstrom >> here. >> Miss Mal >> here. >> Mr. Rockenstein is >> I'm absent. Am I >> Miss Tarpenion? Uh, she will be late. Present. >> Oh, here she is. >> Ah, >> here. >> Miss Clara >> here. >> Thank you. >> All

002right. Thank you so much. >> I'll take it off. >> She'll be here for She's driving in. >> Agenda item 4.0 is new business. 4.1 is a child development development services CDS and preK updates. We'll turn over to Diane. >> Yeah. So, um, thank you very much for making this time for us tonight to, um, bring you up to speed, um, on the early childhood special education transition, um, that, um, is a process that we have to go through, uh, because of some, uh, statutory changes at the state level. Um, and so we want to really talk with you deeply about, um, what that looks like. And then we also want to talk with you about um doing some strategic planning ahead for prek. And you'll see how even though those two things are separate

003um there is um some intertwinedness um amongst the two. So, and um I did ask Chris Rod as our special services director to be here tonight and Katie Dietro, our curriculum director, along with you know us regulars here um to um uh communicate with you. So, I think we'll just jump in um and so again like our you know we really want this to be a fluid conversation. So I don't want this to feel like we are talking at you or this is a presentation. Um I you know we have a lot of information on several slides but we want it to be a fluid conversation as we go through. So um you know um so this was all uh CDS change was triggered by a new state mandate. Um, Child Development Services, uh, historically

004in the state of Maine has been a standalone organization that has been responsible for, um, determining the need and then providing for special education services for students before they enter public school at age five. And so in 2023 uh the law was changed uh and um there was a mandate made to transfer the responsibility for special education services from that organization CDS to public schools. Um and the obligation that we have is um to ensure that we are um providing for a free and appropriate education. Uh we call that FAPE in the education world. Um FAPE is something that we always talk about in regards to our K to2 students. Um but now that's being brought into this um preschool conversation. And so we have a responsibility um to um not just under child fine

005but then also to provide services directly um for all eligible students beginning at 2 years and nine months old. So >> can I jump in for a second? Yeah. the two-year nine-month-old um age comes into play. Uh that's when our obligation for child find begins. So that's when we would start our evaluation process. Um if we have students that have already been identified as part of birth to three. Um we would do a basically a transition planning meeting at at two years and nine months. So um we're in kind of an evaluation process in that time frame and then actual services would only begin for kids through us at age three. >> Yeah. >> Um so is is it how are these children identified if they're not identified between birth and and two years? Um,

006is it parents coming to request special? Um, are are you I'm just wondering there may be special needs children who you haven't identified. So, how are these children identified? >> Yeah, that's a great question and that's a big part of the change, right? We're going to hear about a lot of changes uh tonight. Um, and so I um I think most of those a lot of those would come from students who might be in or kids who might be like in a prek program, right? So, a provider of prek program might notice that there's an issue and suggest to a parent, hey, you reach out to to the school department and and see about potentially getting evaluated. Um, that type of thing. Um, parents may do that on their own. And also, um, doctor's offices,

007I think, would be another big source of referral, right? Those are the main pieces that >> right now they would send them to CVS. And um without getting too deep into the weeds right off the bat, you know, part of what we're thinking is that we'll probably see more referrals once we make the switch to Scar Bro Schools. Um then because not everybody kind of knows what CVS is, but everybody knows what a school is. >> Yeah. Exactly. So >> yeah, >> but you will not act there's not like no effort to sort of you know systematically assess all preares who you can get a hold of. So >> no. Okay. >> Yeah. There's no there's no like universal screening or anything like that like we do in kids under >> basically referrals from doctors

008from existing prek programs or parents themselves. >> Daycare centers, right? Daycare providers >> notice that something might be in. Right. >> Then you then assess the school district will then assess the child. >> Yeah. So what would happen at that point is we would convene an IEP meeting. We'd have the parents come in. If there if there was a prek program involved, we'd invite them to join us as well. And then we um you know we get all the information on the table uh about the student at that point in time and then we make a judgment as a team and if we think you know the short version is if we think there's reason to suspect there might be a disability that's when we would talk about like what evaluations we would do and

009then proceed from there. Y >> thank you. So that process is already in play. You're already doing that and then potentially the referral would be to the CDS >> right now. >> Well let's go through the Oh. So right now we don't do any of that. But we're not doing any of it though until kids are in kindergarten. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yeah. So, right now CDS does all of that. So, if you lived in Scarboro and you had a you know a three and a half year old and you were worried about let's say a speech issue, right, you would reach out to CDS, they would do the evaluation piece and then um we don't start working with those kids until they enter kindergarten. >> Just tell me she covered this later. So,

010this is an unfunded mandate from >> No, actually this is completely funded and we'll talk about that. >> We'll get into that. Yeah. So, you'll talk about that later. Yeah, not in completely fun. >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> Well, >> there'll be funding involved. >> So, um you know, so the next piece we want to talk to you about is given that this is new work, right? Um there's a transition timeline. And so it wasn't like uh the statute was passed and then they said, "Okay, school districts, you need to start this within three months or six months or what have you." And so although the statute was passed in 2023, um there have been different cohort groups that um the early childhood team at the DOE and CDS has been working with. Um and

011so this year, for example, they're working with their second cohort of schools. Um next year they'll be working with their third cohort of schools. the following year they'll be working with their fourth cohort of schools. For the most part, um the districts who have signed on to cohort one or cohort two are very small rural districts where they don't have a lot of students to program for. They have extra space because they have declining enrollments, etc. And so um you know most of the work that has been done has been on a smaller scale with smaller districts. So for example if we think about our regional partners that we work with all the time. Um none of us have signed on um to cohort one or two except I believe Gloucester might be the outlier

012but they had a universal prek program. And so you'll see in a few minutes how that gives you a leg up. Um it's a mixed delivery model and so uh there are different ways that you can achieve providing these special education services for students. Um that can happen on-site in our own um district schools. It can also happen with strategic partnerships with community-based centers, Head Start, um specialty prek programs. And again, what we're talking about right now is just the special education programming, right? And so we are not talking about full-blown prek classroom yet. >> Okay. Um the uh idea around these different ways of delivering services is really with the intention to give districts more strategic flexibility knowing that everyone has uh different um roadblocks or different unique challenges to deal with. And so

013the timeline for implementation is that all districts must assume full responsibility for these services for students beginning on July 1st, 2028. So um that is kind of just the the basic information. So, um, you asked about the funding and so, um, early childhood special education services are intended to be funded at 100% from the state with no local share required. Okay? So unlike what you hear me talk about all the time in terms of um the general purpose aid that we receive and you know I know in the past people have had questions like aren't all schools supposed to be funded at 55% because that's the governor's model and that's not accurate. Right? It means 55% of public education in the state is covered. It doesn't mean for every district in this model for these

014services it the intention is that they're 100% funded right and so that they provide full funding for the things that they consider as reasonable and necessary expenses. >> Okay. Um, so those covered costs include things like salaries and benefits um for teachers or a text for contracted service providers if we need a speech um uh therapist or an OT or a PT if we need a behavior consultant. Um it also covers all specialized materials and um transportation when that is applicable. Um and then in terms of how we receive the funding, unlike uh the funding that we receive from the state for our general purpose aid, um this would be separate funding that would come through a quarterly allocation. And so it is based on actual child counts, right? Versus our general purpose aid, which

015is based on a two-year average of of what we've had for students. And so this is based on actual child counts. And um you know we are mandated to make sure that the funds that we are given for CDS prioritize the direct services for students and also make sure that they have access to general education peers and we're going to talk about that a little bit more. That's the free and appropriate public education requirement >> under the covered cost. What about operational expenses like location? >> No. >> Okay. >> So, if you have a lease or uh we we've Chris and I have spent uh lots of time in the last several months on multiple meetings um both uh with um state partners uh with districts from across the state. We've had several just scar

016bro only meetings um to get more information and so um you know the landscape of information that we've been given over the last several months um has certainly >> it it >> changed a bit. Yeah, I think there there is a lot obviously right there's a lot of detail in all of this and I think I think department of ed is still working through some questions around some of this and I think they've occasionally come out come out with some guidance received some feedback thought it through some more and then they might come out with something a little bit different. So >> yeah, I think they made some assumptions right out of the gate that this would be an easy lift for K12. And I think with the districts that they've started with in the

017very small districts where they have a limited number of students, it is a much lighter lift. Um well, that's a bold assumption when you look around the state at all of the schools that need to be um are on the block to be re reurbished, rebuilt, torn down. So the reality is this might not be an 100% funded program for a district like us where we don't have >> it depends on our approach if you yeah you know whether you take it on site or not >> right >> I have a question about the child you said that if the money based on child counts um so does that mean attendance is going to be crucial >> I'm sorry >> that it's going to become crucial so if you have you're dealing with population that

018might have higher than average mid college at K through 12, I'm not sure it's the same term. >> Yeah. >> But if you're dealing with actual child counts in a population that can sometimes struggle to get to school at a higher than like would that impact >> I think it's more about the fact that as the year continues more kids could get identified, right? Okay. Because kids are coming through the pipeline and so you know, oops, we just got five referrals and now we've added more students, right? under the GPA model like they only use our October one count and then we don't get to have additional funding even if more kids register. Right. That's a a very unique difference here. >> That is my concern is you've got to set up services. You got

019to be able to provide services every day whether they show up. Right. >> Correct. And it's really important that we we're going to pay the very expensive specialized service providers that we're going to need to provide the services. >> Right. >> Um whether the students are there not we're going to hope they're there. >> Yeah. Yes, they'll get reimbured for them whether they show up or not. >> Yeah, it's not. >> Yeah, it's a great question, right? So, it's not like a uh it's not like a a main care like quarterly uh you know, bill uh you like quarter hour billing like Patriot programs might do in a sense. >> But again, right, there's not a total we're not totally clear on what things they'll be looking for, right, when they're you'll hear a little

020bit more about this in a minute when they're looking at our expenses and how they're calculating that. But I think the general idea for now is yeah, you have x number of kids >> slot. >> It's first slot. >> Yeah. Perfect. Right. Yeah. So maybe like if a child moved away then that number would decrease which you're dealing with a population that cannot attend school every single day because >> these kids at that the younger they're identified the more medically complex they are. When you're dealing with very medically complicated kids, you're dealing with a lot of stuff that you >> normal parents do not understand. >> Y say that >> absolutely >> do not understand. >> Yeah. and have no they don't need to. But it's it's not what you think it is. >> What

021I do like is that every quarter this number could be updated. So if you do get an influx >> Yes. >> Because the number only goes in one, >> right? Exactly. At this stage. >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> Definitely. >> Yeah. And you'll hear more about why that is in a minute, too. Yeah. >> Yeah. So again, um you heard me use the acronym FATE. That's free and appropriate public education. um we are required to ensure that for all of our students. And basically what that means is that in addition to their actual special education services that they receive, we also need to make sure that they're in an environment with typically with more typical peers, right? And so um um our funding has to ensure that we have that built in, right? Um there's

022also some other unique things about um working with students at this age. One um you know standout difference um between this and what we currently do for K to 12 is the extended evaluation timelines. Right? So, in K12 education, if we are um uh doing some assessments or evaluations with students, there's a hiatus during that summer break, right? For uh this responsibility that we would be taking over from CDS, the evaluation timeline is 12 months a year. So what that means is that we need to be able to plan for summer evaluations to be conducted so that we have a timely response for services. And there's a huge accountability factor here. And so any time um in special education that you do not provide um you know what your legal agreement is on an IEP

023that can result in significant financial liability to the district because we have to start paying compensatory education costs right so let's just say for example you know uh we couldn't find an OT to to provide those services Right? That doesn't mean that we're just like, "Sorry, we don't have that right now. We'll get back to you." Those hours of lost service acrew and we have to make an agreement to make sure that student is getting those back. >> Yeah. And I think if I can jump in on that, Diane, I think for us, one of the big questions around FA is providing that general education setting for kids and our ability to do that because that would be another area, right? if we had we had an OT and we had a speech path ready

024to work with a student but we did not have a general education setting for them we're still not providing that that favor so >> so this is like the IP right so this is mainstreaming these children as much as possible >> yes and so this next slide actually goes into a lot more detail about this right so um you know least restrictive environment means again that kids have meaningful access to more typically developing peers as part of their plan, right? And so, um, because that helps all kids grow. When they have access to peers, um, right? When you're seeing your peers do something, um, you know, that promotes development for everyone. And so, um, you know, that is a big piece. Another big piece is that, you know, I can imagine a world within people

025might say, "Well, let's just build some preschool classrooms and we'll put all the special ed kids in there and so we could have 16 special ed kids. That'll work, right? Won't that are that meet our requirement?" And the answer to that is no because through the statute preschool classrooms cannot have more than 50% identified students because otherwise you don't have typically um developing peers, right? And so if we're if we're thinking in the direction of a local model, we need to build a model in which um some general education and special education students can have access. Right. >> Can I say this in a different way? >> So essentially what you're saying is the state's mandating the case. >> Yes. For every child correct here. >> I'm going to say it really well. So the

026state is mandating universal prek. Yes. >> To annex status. >> Yes. >> Either individually sourced or if you regionally can you count your regional partners and deprive the scarbor students of the opportunity by counting other districts around us who may be partners with that you can use their spots. >> Yeah. So you know like what you're saying is not you know far off from being correct, right? Because by and large, the schools that have signed on for the first two cohorts were schools that had existing preK programs. As you've heard us talk about preK before, most of the districts that have existing preK programs are highstate receivers. And so they were able to build those programs with state funds, not on the burden of the local taxpayer. And be clear, if we had a prek

027program, which we're going to have to have, >> um, that's not covered in this 100% funding. >> Correct. But don't hesitate because I've got some I've got some good things coming is long gone. >> I've got some more good things coming up here. It's not all doom and gloom. >> I need a scope. I have a scope. >> How many children do we typically identify? >> I'm going to tell you that. Just a few. Funny, I need you to imagine how big. >> Yes. >> So, we're going to be talking Yeah. So, when we're talking about three and four year olds, and we'll talk more about like the cohorts and the timing and all that, but right now we have uh it's in the slide, but I think it's like 47 or 48 kids, four

028year olds right now that are either >> universal. Yeah. One to one, right? >> Well, but these are but these are kids that are not they don't necessarily have an IEP. Okay. These are kids that some have an IP, some are in referral, >> some are in evaluation, right? Some we've just started the process with. Right now we have 12 three year olds. That number will increase as we go through the year because that's, you know, when kids turn three, they, you know, they could come on board for service, right? So, >> so we're talking like 127 now. >> I would say, you know, best guess would be probably between 60 and 80 kids somewhere in there. We have the last couple years we've had about 50 kids coming in from CDS into kindergarten. And

029so you'll probably always have a few less three-year-olds than four year olds. So we'll be somewhere in that in that. >> But with our one to one that we're talking 120ish Yeah. spots. >> You're right. Yeah. >> Yes. She's talking about that. >> I'm talking about the 50%. >> Oh yeah. >> You're talking the whole thing. We have 60 to 80 um who are identified and then we have to match 50%. You're taught it means 120 to 160 spots. >> And how big is our entering kindergarten class this year? >> Right now, again, our registration process is open. I believe we have 137 143. >> Yeah, one of those two numbers. I I continue to watch them >> like how many are in kindergarten right now? Like not not going any like who are in

030our classrooms right now in 800 people in how many current class? >> What's your current class size >> for kindergarten? >> Six, isn't it? Yeah, just under 200 million or so of >> prepaid. So, let's continue. We've got that question because I don't want to forget it. >> Um, does this um 100% I'm not going to call it 100% because I I believe that that's a fallacy. Are the expenses that are covered, does that include a um director? >> We're going to talk about that. >> Okay. So again as we talk about that fate piece that access to general education peers there are also um you know caveats in terms of how much time that includes so for foury olds there they need to have access to gened peers 10 hours a week for three

031year olds they need to have access to gened peers six hours per week right and so as we're thinking about like how we're going to plan for CDS students. It's it's thinking about our responsibility whether it is inhouse or through one of those other pathways with a partner. We need to ensure either six or 10 hours of general um general ed peers. >> But how many hours of pre how many hours of special services? >> That varies variable, right? It's by a student's plan. depends on what types of disabilities they have, what kinds of services they need, >> how many >> I think I need to word this a different way. How many hours is prek generally in a week? >> It depends if it's a half day or a full day program. >> What

032is saying though is that we need at least 10 hours a week, >> right? I'm not understanding how kids are going to only be in a room for 10 hours a week. >> They're not. That's that's the time they have to be within with a typically developing years >> that the issue would be how many hours is their day. >> Yes. >> That can be driven by whether it's a half day or full day program. And then there's the other thing which is on how many hours staff services and the time frame. >> Yeah. And the other piece is if you have a really complex student who is receiving a whole pie of services, they they are likely going to be at a specialty purpose private preschool like Shooting Stars has a classroom there that

033is not our pre-K classroom, but another classroom there for kids who require a whole complement of services. >> Yeah. And there will be some students who won't be able to access a general education setting just like we have now, right? K through 12, we have a very small number, right? But we have a small number of kids who can't do that currently. So, >> right. >> Yeah. So, our responsibilities um this slide is a little bit different, right? Because as we think about pre um preschool age children, we also know that parents have their kids in a variety of different settings. And so parents may opt out of um the offer for these services, right? For example, uh perhaps a family lives in Buckton and they work in Portland. they may opt out of their

034child um accessing these services in Buckton because perhaps they're in a daycare in Portland next to where they work, right? And so parents are going to have options, right, about whether or not they accept an offer that we might make. So our obligations are to conduct all the identification and evaluation for students so that we're making sure that we're um taking them through the process. We'll have IEP meetings. We'll talk about the students needs and um progress. Um, if parents do not want to receive services at the school level, then we'll develop an individual service plan, an ISP, that basically says, you know, um, you're opting not to accept our offer, but perhaps you still want some services, right? Maybe you just want to access speech only for your child and you're not feeling like

035you need the 10 hours of faith because you really love the daycare that you're going to right now and you feel like your kid has access to Gen Pers already, right? So, we understand that that that's going to be um something that's going to be at play here, right? Um, and then for those parents who make those choices, there are financial boundaries for us as a district. And so we are not required to pay tuition or child care costs if they choose not to accept what we offer, right? Like if they say, I'm at, you know, the Montasauri preschool in Cape Elizabeth and I would like you to pay half of my weekly tuition. Right? that's not something we're going to do unless that was a partner that we brought on, right? Um, we also

036don't have any requirements to provide district staff. If a parent says, I want you to come to my Montasauri preschool and deliver that instruction to my child. We don't have to offer transportation in the scenario that a parent's not accepting our offer. And we also don't have to provide the specially designed instruction, right? And so this is different than K12 education. In K12 education, your child has to be here, right? Unless you choose to homeschool them. Um for preschool kids or or um you know kids between the ages of three and five, that is a complete parental decision. It's similar to if a a parent decided to place a student in a private school in a different town. Similar similar rules to that. >> So if they opt out, you know, it sort of limits

037we can provide services, but it has to be within our >> on our terms and what we're able to provide, right? So we design it and we say this is what we have to offer and then you as a parent decide okay that works for me or oh that doesn't work for me. Right. Both of those are equally okay. >> And if there's you don't have any response. >> Exactly. >> Right. Right. >> Right. >> Are we required to provide transportation to the people that do select our >> services? We are not unless we are providing transportation in a like so say for example let's say we were providing transportation to shooting stars for that prek program we have then we would be on the hook to provide transportation because that would be a matter

038of equity right like we can't self- select and say we're going to transport these people but not these people right I think the only carbo for that would be if a student had special transportation in their IEP I mean, that's really the unknowns. I'm not 100% clear on that. Right. So, if you had a student who couldn't ride >> like a regular bus or needed um some type of accommodation that couldn't be provided in a regular bus to come to school. It's unclear to me right now whether we would need to provide that specialized transportation or not. Obviously, we do now because we provide transportation to everybody K through 12, >> right? >> That that's a little bit of an open question for me right now. And there has been some talk as well about

039if a family were unable to transport their child to a program that we might potentially be obligated to provide transportation in that circumstance. But that's a piece that I need to learn a little bit more about. >> Yeah. So, we definitely have, you know, some items in our parking lot. Y >> um in terms of things that we need to learn more about and that we want to learn from our other um partners about which brings us to um our strategic analysis. And so, um, we needed to make a decision with the state about our, um, you know, um, where we were in terms of moving forward to join cohort 3 or to wait and join cohort 4. Ultimately, we have decided to wait to join cohort 4. This was really a data-driven decision for

040us uh because when we looked at the number of students that we need to be able to plan for and our current facility constraints um it it seems as though that would present a number of obstacles for us, right? We can in good faith have Chris sit in an IEP meeting in April and sign all these four year olds on with no location for them to go to right with no concrete plan for how we're going to address fake right now. Is it possible that we can um create more partnerships? Yes, we can. But in the time frame that we have, it's not a realistic ask. Right? And so we feel very strongly that deferring until next year will allow us the time to better prepare for facilities and also administrative structures, right? Because a

041fun fact for you to know is um Chris as our director and Nicole Denim as our assistant director aren't just hanging out waiting to oversee 60 more IEPs, right? >> Not every and so, you know, that's a piece that we've got to be able to address. Um and and we also do feel very strongly that um because we are a very large district with a high number of identified students, we really want to learn from our peers um who are in comparablesiz districts to see how that implementation goes for them. And then to be able to craft our plan learning from, you know, some of the hiccups that they might find because the reality is at the current time there really aren't comparable partners >> actively doing this work and we don't feel that we

042need to be uh the pioneers. >> No. >> For the size district that we have, >> not not given our circumstances, right? go away as long as possible extension. >> Do we know what other comparable size districts are taking on cohort three? >> So we have there are you know there are comparable districts in our region um many of them who are choosing to take just four year olds on next year not three and four but they're going to take one bite with foury olds and then take the three-year-olds. As you can see from our numbers here, planning for 46 students is not a small bite for us. I jokingly said to Chris, I would almost rather start with three-year-olds and then add four year olds, but we really can't do that, right? Like that

043has not been presented as an option. >> And so, um, you know, uh, this is what our current count looks like. Um, and this is information that, you know, we have gotten um, right from CDS. And so, you know, there's no wonder about the accuracy of this. Um, you know, we're using state data to inform us about what our responsibility is. And so, as we talked about earlier, this referral process is a rolling referral. So even though you see right now that we would be planning with 46 four year olds and 12 three year olds, there are referrals going into CDS every day, right? Um and new kids that are being evaluated. And so there is no planet on which we would start school in September with 46 and 12, right? Um because >> for

04460 >> because that is rolling, right? on a regular basis. Um we have you know it's no surprise that we lack dedicated space um you know for 120 students or right like if that's what you're talking about right >> um and you know it's a huge liability risk for us quite honestly if we enter into agreements that we are not sure that we're going to be able to fulfill. What is child find? Is that the testing? That's >> that's the Yeah. kind of like the legal responsibility to to find kids who have disabilities and evaluate them. Yeah. >> So then we talked a few minutes ago about that administrative oversight, right? And so um currently we do have some leadership constraints, right? Um as as you've seen our special education numbers, uh we talk to

045them to you about them every year. you know that we have you know um at especially at the primary level about 25% of our student population who are identified. That means that our our um special services administrators are you know quite busy already and so we really currently do not have the bandwidth to um lead and direct this transition immediately. Uh there is some funding available for planning and leadership costs um from CDS but that is somewhat unclear. Um and if you look at the box on the right hand side you'll see more what I'm talking about. Um, just recently, within the last two weeks actually, they let us know that depending on how you are planning ahead, you may put yourself at a potential risk of being audited if they think that the costs

046associated with administrative oversight are too high. So, I think like the initial roll out of this that we heard was for a district our size that the the DOE would reimburse for a full-time administrative position, right? To get the programs up and running and and all of that. And that they've been kind of backing off of a little bit with this most recent guidance from a couple of weeks ago for so for a district our size and they our band would be in the 60 to 90 student range. That's the band we would probably fall into. Um it's a little unclear from the guidance whether they would pay for the full amount of the position or whether they might require that person to also do some other duties. >> They said other duties >> which

047are not like we don't know. >> We don't know. We don't know. Right. So so these are some of the things that are are are unknown at this point um uh around the the reimbursement but there certainly will be substantial reimbursement. The question is like how much >> right and then as we build it how do we build it in such a way that we minimize our potential risk >> right >> I believe the revers um how many staff do you estimate you're going to need to actually bring this program online you're going to need at least one plus other bodies probably another administrative support person to do the scheduling for setting up the IP meetings IP meetings are really laborious in terms of creation and paperwork documentation, especially the first one. >> Yeah. I

048mean, you know, again, the initial thought was it would be a full-time administrative position and then if you look at that formula, there would also be some money there for like a support person, but again, it's unclear at this point in time like how much we'd receive. If you're asking me like >> And you're talking staff to deliver services. >> No, no, no. I'm asking about the administrative staff. So what are like I don't I run an agency that's going to run out of money in approximately 30 days. I don't trust that the state's going to deliver the goods. >> Yeah. >> Until the checks are in the bank. >> Yeah. >> Um promises aside, constitutionally requirements are not. >> So I care that I care about getting as much money out of the state

049as possible to support this programming because we need that. Take that to the side. How many bodies do we need to add to your department notwithstanding whether they're going to pay for one one half or threequarters of one to really make this work? You're going to need at least another administ like like supervisory management level. >> Yeah. >> And you're going to need another administrative support person to just do the scheduling. I don't know what your positions are called, but you're gonna need a manager level position >> and you're going to need some support. And then yes, we're gonna need a whole lot of other people, too, but Yeah, I think you know and again fellow like I might have a different answer around that after we dig into more of the particulars and all

050that but I think a fair estimate would be yeah a full-time position at an administrative like someone like myself right administrative role and then probably a full-time administrative assistant as well especially because we're not going to be able to house all of our prek genet experiences like here in our own buildings right so we're going to we are going to have to you know coordinate with community partners partners and that means that we're working at different sites. We're working with different providers. Um so that's going to require a lot of kind of logistical organizational pieces that an administrative assistant, right, would be responsible for as well as you know some oversight responsibilities that we don't have now, right? Because all of our kids are on our campus, right? So >> under one roof. >> Yeah.

051>> So now what I'd like to do is make this bridge over to talking about prek, right? because you know as as a couple of you alluded to earlier even though CDS is a standalone mandate I think you're you're coming to see that without having any prek opportunities built in it's it the challenge is very great >> and so right now >> what's that >> we have eight slots right now >> yes >> we need 60 but we've got eight >> we've got eight >> right and so right our current foundation that we have built for prek. So now let's think in terms of like prek, right? We have one prek classroom at Shooting Stars. It has been grant funded. Um we haven't spent any local money on that program and we won't until March.

052um because our grant funding runs out in March. Interestingly enough, I got an email just today to sign because originally our it was supposed to be a two-year grant and then it was an 18-month grant and then they just changed it back to a 21-month grant and so today I had to sign in receipt of that additional grant funding that we received for those three months >> deposited immediately. >> Yes. Well, it wasn't a check. It wasn't a national check. It was just the agreement. >> Yeah. So anyhow, um that is what we currently have. Um in terms of us looking internally at Scar Bro Public Schools for next year, we do have the capacity because of current primary enrollment to reduce one, perhaps even two primary classroom teacher positions. And so what that would

053provide us the opportunity to do would be to redeploy that one or two teachers to a prek classroom within one of our within our schools. And so that um you know is a positive thing. >> Would we be getting that by making the kindergarten classes larger? >> Nope. Because remember we have a class size of 16 to 20. I remember that policy. >> And we have um uh some kindergartens that are well below the minimum. >> Perfect. >> And so we have the opportunity, right, without going to, >> you know, this would be done without going to 20 per class if that's what your question is. Right. >> The question is when when people are asking why we're because they're going to ask if we're taking kindergarten teachers away from kindergarteners, right? we need to

054have a good result because we have a great class size policy, right? Like we've accounted for that. >> Um and again, I think that we really do need to talk um as a district and as a board uh about the strategic need to do some in-house expanding, right? I don't foresee that we're going to be able to meet all of the needs even with the expansion that we can make, but it certainly would ease some of the clunkiness that Chris talked about, right? Because if we have kids at nine different sites in Scar Bro, just staying ahead of that and coordinating that is going to be a major undertaking, right? And even if everyone is using the same curriculum materials and operating under similar policies, I think we all know that once you start having

055multiple sites, you're losing some of that, right? So, we feel like if we have the be the ability to expand so that we can create some gened seats um for FAPE that um this would be a time for us to do so because as I said it seems as though we have some staffing efficiencies available to us currently and so it would be at a very reduced cost for us to do this right now because those positions are already built into our local budget. Right? So, as you think about a prek classroom, the requirement is one teacher and one edtech for every prek classroom that can have no more than 16 students, right? And so under the scenario that we've been talking about, if we are able to reduce two teachers, the teacher component of

056um prek classrooms could be taken care of times two. And so we would be needing to pay for two new ed techs and the materials needed to build these classrooms, right? Okay, that would give us 30 32 slots. >> I have I have more math that I'm going to show you. >> Okay, >> I'm getting there. >> Oh, not on that one. That's on my >> Let's go here. >> Okay, so again, um the assumptions if we wanted to start thinking about expanding prek next year, right? And that is really what we're suggesting to you is that we start growing our prek before we sign on to cohort so that we have some slots so that next spring when Chris is in these meetings he can say we have a slot at this school we

057have three slots at this school etc etc right and so for this coming year because we are not signing on to cohort um CDS would still be providing all of the special education services for kids under five. They would assume the financial responsibility. They would align all the providers that were necessary. We would not have any special education responsibility per se, right? Like if I think about our arrangement with Shooting Stars right now, that's absolutely what we're doing with Shooting Stars. we have uh an agreement with them for the general education services that they provide for those 16 students and then we have an agreement with CDS to provide for the special education services for the kids at Shooting Stars who need them. And so that's how we would continue for next year. And so

058funding to help this prek expansion um would come from our 279 which is where we get our general purpose aid. So I've outlined some possibilities for you here to do some financial modeling so that you have an idea of what state funding we would be expected to receive. So before we start like talking about those numbers, one of the things that you need to know is the way the state does funding for us for general purpose aid is based on a 2-year average, right? So for example, let's look at the first scenario. Scenario one is maintain the status quo. For next year, we only keep the shooting stars program. It has 16 kids. You see that our GPA increase is very minimal. It's only $11,0007 $11,727. That's because our average this year is 16. Our

059average ne you know like like for the past two years has been 16. So it's just a straight up 16 that we're getting paid for. Right? Under the model of scenario one, we would have to dig in to that set aside prek account that we built, right? That prek account is going to have oh, what did Kate tell us? >> $70,000 at the end of this year because we we we're going to have to dig into it to pay Shooting Stars from March to the end of the school year, right? So I think it's somewhere around $70,000 that we'll have left in that set aside. So we're going to have to dig in to that set aside to be able to sustain these 16 kids, right? It doesn't create any additional spots for students under

060CDS because we still just have 16 kids >> and those 16 kids are special kids. No, this is generally >> they're mixed. They're mixed. >> It has to be. >> Yep. They're mixed. And you're going to bring kids into any classroom that enter as a kid that is totally developing that you'd identify as a kid who's just don't know who's gonna it's like playing with the rubber duckies. >> I just wasn't sure is >> No, we have a we have a general prek classroom over there with them. >> That's our agreement. That was our grant. A second scenario that you might consider would be what I call a moderate growth scenario where we add 32 students, right? So that next year instead of programming for 16 kids, we have the ability to program for 48

061kids. Under that model, you see that we get additional funding under GPA. we would be in receipt of just a little over $355,000. The reason for that goes back to that two-year average, right? Because now they're reimbursing us for 24 students instead of the 64 students. And like I will tell you that like I talked with um the person at the state who does the 279s and she gave me an Excel copy of our 279 so that I could manipulate it to see how financially our GPA would be different. >> So it's taking this current year. So if we did, if we're talking the moderate growth, it would take 2028 you said is when we start this plus 27 to get to the 250,000. >> Remember this is just general prek. This is in CDS

062right now, >> right? But you have 48 students. >> Yes. >> So it would take 2028 or what or 2027 because we're talking next year and 2026 to come up with 355. >> That's what it would do right now. That's looking at the two-year after >> for the coming year, >> right? 27th. Yes, that's what I said. 27 >> for FY27. >> In FY school year 27, they're going to look at school year 27 and school year 26 to come up with 355,000. >> Yeah. Because when it looks at that, it's adding the 16 and the 48 to get us to 64 and then it's basing dividing that by two, right, >> to getting us to 32. So, we're getting money for 32 preK kids through the 279, >> right? >> Because of the two-year

063average, >> but then the following year, it would become more. >> So, then so, so under scenario two, this moderate growth model, if we expanded offerings for 32 more students, there are two ways that we could do that, right? One way would be to have half-day prek programming, right? so that you have a morning session and an afternoon session much like we used to have back in the day for kindergarten, right? And you were able to capitalize on one teacher and one edtech, right? And so financially that model would be a wash. We wouldn't have to dig into our special prek account. we could preserve that over here and we would be able to use the GPA to pay for the prek program itself. >> Okay. Except except for the fact that that comes in

064the revenue account and the council's also approved it because it's going to come in through the budget process and they're they're not necessarily going to let us allocate it that way. >> Well, it would be in our GPA, >> but it's >> Well, they don't get to tell us how to allocate it though. No, but it's going to come in as a revenue and we put the they they can take they can take into account as they will. They have done this in the past with budgets where they've taken into an account what they will. They can look at it and say, "Well, you wanted to pay for classroom. We're going to we're going to we're going to subtract x amount of figure it out." >> That's interesting. >> so then >> hold on. Can

065I ask I I want to be very clear because my question for you is was going to be what is the cost? What is the actual cost of these programs? So you're saying for scenario two the actual cost at a half day would be about 355. It would be under that right because if we are able to redeploy a teacher we're not paying the teacher salary. So we're paying an edte salary and then materials and outfitting the classroom. So we could easily do that in a half day model with that 355 >> they would educate and half the students be in the morning and half the students will be in because it's 32 so 60 in the morning 60 in the >> right >> in the afternoon >> right and then shooting stars is still

066happening right because we're we're continuing that >> okay so >> this would be the two classrooms that they identified they could >> this would be an inhouse opportunity that you know again like >> you know that there wouldn't be other costs that we would be incurring, right? Okay. >> Like our whenever we're able to do something on site, our costs significantly decrease. >> This seems to be the least risky. >> Scenario three is the robust growth model that I'm calling. >> I like this. >> And in scenario three, we add 64 students. That's two classrooms that are half day, right? And so the funding would cover all of the expansion costs. And you can see that the new funding that we would get would be about $700,000. And so >> we actually would be um

067achieving more funding than we need for the program. >> We would make money off this model. We should do this model not only because we'll make money off of it in a higher rate, but because the year after we are going to have to expand even further. And if why would we take a tiptoe in, leave money on the table from the from the state that we could then use when we should go as far as hard as we can into it because it's still not going to be enough. Like the robust model is still not going to be half >> because in this model, right? Like we could like if we looked a year out, we could program for 40 CDS kits with 80 seats. >> Yeah. >> You've already seen that's not going

068to be enough, right? So we're always So >> we're going to need to continue to have to we're going to need to have to continue to look to see >> what partnerships can we make. >> Yeah. >> Right. >> But this gets us a lot further down the line. >> This gets us halfway. >> It gets us a lot further down the line. But and it also bumps our funding most the fastest. So it gets us the most amount of funding to the state as quickly as possible. >> Right? And then and then if you think about it in this way, remember I told you that two-year average, >> right? So the next so the two-year average you would be, you know, at 80 for reimbursement versus, you know, the two-year average here is 48.

069But in addition, >> but in the next year, >> the next year, we're not going to have control over the seats the way we do this year because we're going to have >> we're going to have to take them. >> We have to take them all. >> Yeah. So, if we go back to that 160 number though, plus 80 divided by two, you get funding for 120 kids. Yeah. So, then you're almost funding the whole thing. >> That's correct. That Yes. The only model that makes sense is number three. >> Like, it really is the only model that makes sense. Sorry to jump to the head to where my hand is, but like it's the only thing that actually like anything you do less than that is a half measure that impacts us negatively financially

070and doesn't put us in position to do what we're going to have to legally do figure out. There's no other model that actually takes >> I'm just trying to lay out like different considerations. >> I'm gonna >> I have strong feelings about money today. It's like deposit now. So, you know, so the next steps really are wanting your feedback and getting your guidance on, you know, if there is a preferred expansion scenario and strategic direction for us to take, right? We also know that just as important is for us to do some community outreach to find out if there's a direction that you want to endorse. Do we have 80 families who want halfday programming? Right? Because the last thing we want to do is build 80 seats and have 35 people want them, right?

071And so as we are planning ahead and refining the budget, because all this goes into our FY27 budget that you're going to see very soon, right? as we refine the budget and staffing needs based on whatever scenario we need to build that into the overall budget request. >> So I have some questions. Um the so the community outreach is really critical because we do need to fill every single seat. Um it needs to be as efficient as possible for like all the reasons. But is there a concern? So when you unrolled shooting stars, it was a little bit late in the game for parents because parents have been on waiting list for prek for child care for years in some instances, >> right? >> So we would need to start like making sure people are

072aware that this may be an option and that's a half option because that's not going to work for some families. It's going to work for otheries. >> What was the appetite for the shooting star slots? How many applications are we getting for the 16 seats that we've created? Like do we have a surplus of applicants or And how big is that surplus? Because that's a good indicator of demand. >> Our surplus was bigger in the first year than it was in the second year. Um I also think we went out a little bit later last year um than we did the previous year. One other piece that I really want to make sure that I'm clear about in getting direction from you is this is a decision that we need to solidify and make. We

073can't say if the budget passes on June 11th, your kid will have prek next year because those are among the reasons why parents don't sign up because they need to know that they have a guaranteed spot for a kid. And if you're only starting to look in July for prek, >> it's too late. >> You're not going to find it in this region. >> Correct. >> Right. because you have to put your name in for daycare before you even give birth, >> right? Um, so we're really acutely aware of the need to um make a commitment and and if that means that we're not successful at budget time in June, then we all have to be willing to say we can't cut this because we're making a commitment to families. We still can't cut it

074because whether or not it's a smashing success the first year, year two, we have like >> we have to do it. So, >> great. >> If year one is we've experienced weaker than wanted demand and we have extra empty seats, we're we're going to fill those seats the year after, >> right? >> And and and we can't take it back because we don't like it. Like it doesn't work that way, >> right? I I do have a question. What is your sense of famil family's appetites for that? I'm assuming that most would prefer a whole day rather than a half day, >> you know, because of working. >> It depends. Parents who have kids with >> everybody's situation >> very different. >> So like if you're a working parent, you have to have all day

075care. If you're a home parent and you're used to having your kids at home, you're very leerary of being a three-year-old and an all day program. Like there's a lot of feelings about this topic. >> But I just what I'm wondering is what is the makeup of our population score? everything and any everything in any class. >> Yeah, we really run the gamut. >> Can you back up one slide, please? >> Okay, so as we were talking through our neck to give direction that >> maybe >> the one with the scenarios help me. >> I'm now on the weather. It's 31 degrees and clear. >> That's wonderful to know. >> I hope that makes all feel better. No word >> that one. >> Okay. So, I was just doing my back of the napkin math

076here. So if we did 48 students next year and then in 28 we're I'm just going to say 100. We're >> okay >> because I'm counting both the spe the CDS and the the typical children that they have to their peers that they we have to provide for. So let's just say 100 kids. >> It'd have to be more than 100 because >> we have to take three and four year olds. >> Right. Which was the Okay. So >> So you're at least 120. >> 120. Okay. So, 48 + 120 / 2 gives us 84 kids. 80 gets us closer. So, you'd get another Hold on. That's not right. 48 next year plus it would be the 16 this year, right? And so like our current 279 actually includes those 32 kids because okay >>

077we had to Annie up early, right? In terms of do you foresee any potential of growing your prepaid this year? And so we landed on 32 as a as a potential number knowing that that was fluid and it could be changed, right? And when I talked with Paula Grabell at the state around the 279 specifically, I asked her, you know, what fluidity there was if there was a change either to the negative or to the positive on that. and she said that was something that could easily be changed but obviously that they would like to know about sooner than later because they're going to be you know >> committing funds >> okay >> to the district. >> I think I I think I figured out what I'm trying to say now. Okay. So next year

078if we do the scenario three, our formula gives us 64 extra seeds and then the um the state is paying for out of the 80 the 80 next year plus the 16 from the year before divided by two gives us 48. So we have a total of 80 students the state pays for 48 of them. >> Okay. Then the next year when we have the requirement that total becomes 80 + 120 divided by two becomes 100. >> But that's only if we can find space in the district to have more prek classrooms and we don't know that. >> But we have to have more space. No, we don't have to. There's another option. There's re So what I'm hearing is there's not one right answer. We're not going to either build a prek building here

079>> or we're going to out outsource to regional parks. >> We're going to use a mixed model. >> It's a mixed >> mixed model. >> Yes, it's a mixed model, but the state is still paying us for >> No, no, >> We won't get paid if we if we house an we need to put as many bodies in Scarbo as possible to make make the money to support the programming wherever it goes. And some of them are going to be in a special purpose prek. So, like kids that come in at extremely high needs at three, go to prek programs at schools around here. There's several in the 20-minute radius that are very good, that are very expensive, but that if your kid qualifies, you have to send them. They'll go there. I can give

080you really clear details if you want later. My kid was at two of them. So, it's but those kids are going to come. Now, those kids are the good thing is those kids are early identified. But I'm I I think I'm I think I'm um >> You're Let me back up. >> Don't put all your eggs in one basket. There's >> No, I'm trying. Right. But I'm talking about the GPA for >> She's just talking about the money. >> Yeah. >> I'm literally following the money only right now. So I don't First off, they need to stop saying that the CDS program is 100% financed. So if you could provide that feedback, that would be great. That's number one. Number two, >> I might have said that. >> We may have expressed some reservations. >>

081We've got a >> I'm usually not too short on words when it comes to my feelings about things, >> but setting aside the CDS, the GPA formula will still will still give us money for the classroom. >> Yeah. But remember, it won't be like a new $700,000 because >> the same. >> No. What I'm doing, what I'm calculating is I'm calculating the increase in student year-over-year because your your 2-year average every year average will change, but that number that you're seeing right there isn't every year. You'll get an an additional 700,000. >> I know that. That's what I'm trying to say to the group, >> right? >> Okay. So, let me let me >> No, you have to take the Okay, so let me go back and restate what I just said. If you do

082this year, if we next year, which is 27, if you do 80 students, the the the robust at the end, the year before would have been 16 students. Correct. >> Right. So 80 + 16 and then you take the average, you divide by two. That means in 27 the state through our GPA formula would pay us for 48 kids. >> Correct? >> Right. >> Okay. We all good there? We all go good. >> Okay. 28 when we are estimating to have 120 kids we have to >> educate house we have 80 students from 27 and we have 120 students for 28 you divide that by two and the GPA formula pays for 100 students >> so you're going from 48 to 100 >> it doesn't mean the money doubles but your kids more than double

083>> the money will follow the kids >> the kids >> so the faster the faster we build capacity, the sooner we up the number, the amount of money, right? >> Which is going to be helpful because we need all of that available money because whether we build one classroom or two classrooms next year, we're going to build however many spots and however many places we need the year out, >> right? >> No matter what. >> Correct. >> So the faster we get to more capacity, the more >> the faster we get to the 120. >> Correct. >> Just a question. So we're going to have mixed mixed model. So when you build out a full free UK program in two or three years after just taking cohort 4, how >> the full CDS program >>

084the whole CDS program, how many will what how do you see that like a third will be in shooting stars or partners and how two is it a 50? >> We don't know right. >> Yeah. So >> I mean that's to be determined by you know like there's there's a number of factors that will help us determine that right. One will be what does our enrollment look like um at our primary schools? What's our availability of space? Uh another will look like uh what is the number of students that's identified because that changes from year to year because it's different kids, >> right? That sort of thing. >> How many how many families will choose to access services here as opposed to right if I've already got my child's already in a daycare that I

085love in Portland, right? There'll be some families that will decide to stay there. These will be all the things we'll have to look at. >> Right. Okay. So, if we do the 80 students this year and do my math, we would be through GPA in 28, we would get payment for 100 kids based on what I just talked through. Where does the CDS funding come into that? So, if you have a 100 kids and 50 of them are special um require special services, but they are in the preschool. that that pays for the special education providers, right? >> Separate from the pre, >> right? So now like here's the resource room teacher, this is the behavior specialist, this is the OT, this is the speech therapist, this is the physical therapist. Those are the costs

086that are at 100%. Right? Because in the K12 model, special education costs are not at 100%. Right? >> Okay. So what are what are the thoughts? I would what are the thoughts on the scenarios? >> I do think that the we need to move faster to build to build a bigger program in order to be able to take on in order first to capture the funds to cover the cost of spending prek and then to assume CDS. So I do think the as robust model you think is safe is the way that you go. >> And the other piece is if we looked at scenario two or scenario three, there's enough GPA increase in both of those to help us um hire an administrator to plan out that CDS transition for next year, >> right?

087So because that's not money that's accounted for in scenario one, >> right? >> And that's one thing we didn't mention earlier, Diane, right? Is that under the current model, CDS, our DOE were saying that they would start to pick up the funding for that administrative position as early as like January or February before the start of the year. So, in other words, if we were doing cohort three, we could potentially have someone on board now doing some of that work, >> but but we would have to be prepared for September. And we feel strongly that we can't wait to hire someone in a January or February timeline to position us to enter into legal agreements with families in these April and May transition meetings. >> And those meetings are going to happen earlier than April

088and May. >> I was going to like you you need somebody on board a ASAP because you need a >> project manager. >> Yeah. >> For this project. Not that you're not doing an amazing job, but you have a full-time job already. Yeah. >> Um but you need to have the capacity to do the planning, to do the meetings, to get on top of all of this to get in position >> and then to roll out the additional capacity. >> So like setting up the IEP meetings, working with the partners, doing that transition. Some kids are going to be hard to transition. Some kids are going to come in midstream like if you need >> that type of person could also take on the outreach to some of those other community partners, right? Yes. Because

089that is also time consuming, right? You don't just have one meeting with >> a community provider and say, "Oh, we got that all buttoned up. It's all wrapped up. This is what we agreed to. This is how much it's going to cost. This is what we need." Blah, blah, blah. >> That that's that's going to be a really key. But I do agree that you still continue to wait and take on cohort 4. Not you know. >> Yes. >> So so build the capacity as quickly as you can and then take take on cohort for as you >> right >> you know planned. >> John, what are your thoughts? >> Yes. What? >> Well, I think that Freilla would fight anybody to the death if uh we stray from what? >> But you should Yeah.

090Don't worry about fighting Frea to the D. I don't want to fight anybody. I mean, I will, but I don't want to. So, I'm just going to No, it makes obviously it makes perfect sense. So, why would you position yourself to put yourself behind the big boulder when you don't need to? Doesn't make any sense. So, I'm all in. >> There be any specialty like facilities for for three-year-olds that are different for 5year-olds? I mean, there is a quite a big size difference. Well, again, that's part of the gift of time, right? For us to see how that plays itself out and how we can plan for that appropriately. >> Another question I have, does it also gives us time? I mean how will this impact the new facilities that the expansions is it going

091to have any impact in terms of the what kind of layout or what kind of you know >> no I mean I think we know going into all of this that we have to work within what we have right >> right and that is why we're going to need a mixed delivery model okay >> right but to the extent that we have space available I think that we should use the space we have available And then if that situation changes and there's less space available for prek, then we could expand more mixed delivery models later if we needed to. Right? But it seems to me that it would be shortsighted on the district's part if we said, "Well, we we're anticipating an increase in population in 2829. So, let's just not start this because it,

092you know, we might not have space in three years." Well, guess what? That's two years of students that we can give a leg up on and give them a better head start, right? >> Jillian, what are your thoughts? I mean, I I I'm still sort of processing this. I kind of think I mean, I'm obviously nervous about how this ends up working out, but I mean, I think we have to we also have a meeting next week. And so, if this is something, you know, it's I want you to be thoughtful in your decision. And so if it's helpful for you to take some time and for us to put this on the regular agenda next week and have more discussion um because I think you'll want to vote on this as a board. >>

093Yeah. >> Um that that one week I don't think is going to you know >> really >> No. And I'm cognant that we have two absent board members too. So um I think yes I think we can put it on the next the meeting agenda and we can vote on it then. Um, but to take a temperature here and to try to figure out where we're all at, like I still How firm are we on these numbers? I mean, I can go back um again and double check them and sit with Kate. Um, again, I feel I feel confident because again, I talked with, you know, I got this specifically from Paula Grall who does all the finances on all the 279s for the state. >> Yeah, I would. Now, interestingly enough, next week on

094Thursday, I actually be attending a workshop in Augusta on the new EPF model. And so, who knows um you know what little wrinkle might appear there. And so, by next Thursday evening, I'll have more of an update on what to look at for the future in terms of our GPA. What I was going to say is like I don't think we should base this on and sort of when we talk about it on these numbers. I think these numbers inform the decision. There is a lot of movement with that model right now. And who knows if they'll actually do it this time or not. They say they're going to do it every year and then we'll see. But like I don't think you I think what we can say is we think it's going to

095pay for ourself. Like that's that's the plan. But I think what I'm hearing is whether it does or it doesn't, we have to commit all in. And I think if that's the direction the board goes, um, we should own it in a big way, not in a little way. We should own it in a like we are doing. Well, I think I think the problem of the heartburn I'm having right now is >> that this has felt a little bit um and at no fault. I'm going to say this and this is not at all directed at the two of you or you or Katie, >> this feels a little out of left field when we just went through a building project where we said we don't have to worry about prek. >> And so

096what I'm imagining in my head is the feedback we're going to get when we say we're doing a prek. I we we we can we can talk about it all we want with them but we didn't have the information. >> That's what I'm saying. It feels a little out of left field and let me let me expand on that information. >> Yeah. It's not you. It feels out of left field from the state, not from you and not from Katie. It feels like um surprise and I I don't like that position because we did >> but I think you could push back and say we are going to work within the constraints of space we're going to get because we're going to have we're pursuing this mixed delivery model. >> Yeah, for sure. I just

097I think there's going to be some >> I don't agree. We had a tremendous amount of discussion about prek and space for prek and planning for prek and whether it was in the scope of the project or was not in the scope of the project and there was all sorts of discussion about that. We have models where we have potential prek expansions on our building models that we use but this was absolutely part and parcel of it and it wasn't it wasn't a requirement which people were trying to use to shave costs off the building project. It was never >> right. We had we had huge financial constraints to meet the demands of the project at K20 >> and we 100% but we were most definitely asked about this specific scenario and that's the piece

098that's frustrating again from like it feels like a surprise from the state. That's what that's what I'm saying. >> I think we just say we told you so. That's what I would be saying because I certainly am on record multiple times talking about the facts likely happening and that if we don't plan for it now, we're going to be sorry later. That was like, oh god, I can't relive that. >> I can't. >> Yeah. >> I mean, there was no good answer. There really was. >> No. And I think we made the best decision that we could at the time with the information we had. For sure. Right. And that's that's my frustration is that the information wasn't there. But the good news, if we can say that there's some good news, is what you're

099seeing here is our ability to start meeting these needs at no new cost. >> Yes, that is a huge thing. Yes. >> Right. >> We are not coming out and saying we need this. Give us a half a million dollars. We need this. Give us a million dollars. We're saying we need this and we have secured what looks like enough funding to make it happen >> and we can make it work with the space and the funding >> and we've already started down this road. We started a fund to fund prek. We started a prek model program for the last two years. This is the logical next step. The people can have all the feelings they want. And so in regards to shooting stars, I will tell you that I have had very specific um

100conversation with that community partner and I think um for the coming year they um would like to continue with the model that they have which is a fivehour program because again to ask people to pivot in a short amount of time is no small order And so our conversation has also been that there would be a willingness and ability to switch to a half-day model if that is what the district was doing for the 2728 school year. >> Okay. So, you know, so what that means for next year is we would have some seats that would be in a five-hour program and some seats that would be, you know, potentially in a half-day program if that's what you chose. >> And every one of those seats is better off than not being in a protocol,

101>> right? >> So, we just have a flex year, a f a year in flux, >> right? And I can appreciate right where that um where that individual is in that site, right? Because they have a very solidified program. They feel confident about they have staff that you know are used to delivering that in a certain cadence. Um and right there's there needs to be the time to change. >> Also, if we're working with community partners, we have to be collaborative. Is there this is a not I I think this is a not for now question. Is there an opportunity if we have to because we obviously don't have the current capacity to take the 120 that we're going to need. What about our community services building? Do they have space over there potentially? >>

102They have a program or they they could be a potential partner. >> Yeah. Could they be a partner potentially? They are not like so to be a partner there's um you have to have a certain number of stars and they are not a licensed prek program. >> So even though they offer great programming and I'm not trying to say that I don't think that they do they have to have the right type of licensing and criteria to be able to qualify as a partner. Are they interested in pursuing that? >> We have not talked about that because again I wanted to talk to you as a board before I talk to anyone else. >> But it's it's an opportunity we get we get in quiet. >> Yes. >> You make I mean like that's the

103some of the strengths of the mix model is you can try different things in different places. Right. >> I just was thinking that might be%. >> All right. Any other questions in the one minute we have left? If there are questions that you have that you want us to address next week, you could send them along this week and then we can just um you know go through them next week if that's helpful. >> And these GPA estimates are based on what the state is projecting for the 529s next year or what >> that's this year's 279 >> 529s for college. Okay. >> The other end >> other side of the side of the house. >> But I hope that this was at least helpful in setting the table because we really like this is

104a lot to take in and we want to make sure that you all understand the opaces under which we're being asked to deliver. >> I think we're going to have to deliver some prek in order to meet the CDS responsibility. So that's basically it's being forced on us. So it was very helpful in raising my blood pressure. >> But we've talked >> I'm just joking. It was a very It was very helpful. >> I we've we've talked since I started on this board about the desire to start prek, the desire to have prek, wanting to have prek, the fact that our students are suffering and are put behind the ball because they haven't had access to prek. This is an opportunity that's statemandated, which is only helpful because it's mandated. um to do that. Like

105I think I think once we get over the initial like I don't like the bait and switch feel on the CDS bill either but um I think there's a real opportunity here and I think we should embrace and just >> Okay. >> Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. >> All right. Uh with no objections we'll adjourn at 7:01. Good evening and welcome Good evening and welcome to the Scarboro Board of Education business meeting. The date is Thursday, February 26, 2026. Um would everyone please join me for the pledge of allegiance? Pledge >> 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. >> All right. Thank you so much. Agenda item 3.0 is

106attendance. Ray, can you call the attendance? >> Yes. Miss Jacobs is absent. >> She's absent. >> Mr. Kellaher >> here. >> Miss Lindstöm >> here. >> Miss Mau >> here. >> Mr. Rockensty is absent. >> Miss Tarpinian >> here. >> Mr. Trapini Huff >> here. Miss Ruskina >> here. >> Miss Clarett, >> thank you so much. Agenda item 4.0 is approval of the February 5th, 2026 business meeting minutes. Um, if there are no objections, we will approve them as presented. >> All right. Agenda item 5.0 are adjustments to the agenda. I have two adjustments this evening. One is to postpone um agenda item 6.0 um the spotlight recognition and 6.1 the staff recognition. And then a second adjustment which is to add an update about the um townwide communication um system project. >> Yep. >>

107Is there any discussion? All in favor? Oh, I didn't even Is there a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? Uh it's unanimous. Thank you so much. >> Make a roll rules. Um, so we'll go right into 6.0, which is the new um, update, the new item, which is an update for the communications project from the town. And for this, we'll turn it over to Ray. >> Okay. Um, the towns of Orchard Beach and Scarbor are working together to upgrade the two-way radio systems in our towns. Uh, they are looking at all the users of the two-way radios. uh the towns are looking to switch from our current UVF systems we have to an 800 megahertz radios the infra and this is because the infrastructure that's in our towns is a 1950s technology on on

108an infrastructure that's about 25 years old uh and a lot of the equipment is at or beyond its life expectancy and in need of upgrades. Um this will also require a lot of new towers around town as well. Um the town is experiencing some issues with their emergency medical uh services in some buildings and in some areas of the town where their current radio system is not operable. Um there's also mutual aid issues with our mutual aid partners on the emergency um providers side of things not on the school side of things with that uh because other surrounding towns have already switched to an 800 megahertz which don't talk to our uh VHF uh radios with that. Uh when the subcommittee started for both town when this when the subcommittee for both towns started meeting

109all the departments were asked what we currently had for radios um uh we have radios in all of our buses and the bus garage. We also have about between 250 and 275 radios in all of our schools. Our school-based radios work well for the purposes of our inschool communication. They are used for groups at recess, outdoor learning, and in special ed classrooms to help with communication between staff and supporting uh in helping support students. Uh the radios work in the schools and in close proximity to the schools. They do not work from school to school or school to central office or school to um emergency services. If we need emergency services, we call 911 or we use our Raptor emergency service um that's on our computers or on our phones. Uh with that whenever a

110Raptor alert is given, it automatically sends an alert to the you know um the dispatch and the police and fire with that and any of the communications that we do with um in the texting within the Raptor app are can be read by all users of Raptors. That includes our emergency partners as well um for that for information. Um the radios that we currently use are between $300 and $500 each. Uh and we do budget for a small number of replacements each year knowing that there's expected wear and tear on radios and a life expectancy on the radios that we have and we've been able to effectively keep up with what we've needed over the past few years. Um, now to go into a little more detail, there are repeaters around town that help the

111current dash mount radios in our buses work over long distances. Um, so, um, when the town, if the town is to switch over to the new 800 megahertz, uh, radios, they will no longer be using or upkeeping the repeaters that are around town to help our buses communicate back to the bus garage or communicate to each other with that. Um and um so as these you know continue to deteriorate, we would no longer be able to communicate with our buses um you know from our bus garage out to our buses if we do not switch when the town does for that or we would be you know maintaining that repeaters around town ourselves with that. Um the we currently have 41 radios, you know, in our buses or in our bus garage of these dash

112mount radios. Um with that um 3 weeks ago, we did learn uh for the first time the price of the radios being recommended for us when the RFP came back and the portable radios. These are the handheld ones used in school. The uh the RFP came back at $4,500 per radio, of which we currently have between 250 and 275 of the radios. Uh we were expecting the price to be much similar to what we currently have between $300 and $500 each. Um with that, um this led us to ask more questions and do more research. We determined that we would not need the 275 radios at the $450 price. um given the purposes and how we use our current radios. Uh it's much more than we need or um would ever request. Uh so there

113really isn't a justification for that level of radio for how we use the radios in our schools. With that um with the new radios, the $4,500 radios, uh portable handheld radios would allow is our staff to communicate building to building and directly to public service and central office. Um the average user in our school does not need this level of contact. Um what we um have modified our request to be is for 23 of the handheld radios across all our sites and the central offices to help ensure uh you know open communication in case of a you know a real emergency. We communicated this uh um information to the town shortly after we found out what the price of the the $4,500 radios. Um you know, we found out the week of February 9th and

114by the end of the week, we had uh communicated to the town that we would not be looking for 275. We would be looking for a much lower number and it would actually be 23 of the handheld radios. And when you take 250 radios off at $4,500, that's $1.125 million. >> The difference. Yeah. >> Um, thank you very much for that. Um, do you have a question first? >> Yeah, I have a question for him, but yes. >> Okay, >> but that's fine. >> Um, well, let me let me do this. Let me provide a little bit of background for this. Um and then um maybe it'll answer your question or unless you want to ask the question first. You want to wait. Okay. So um as some background for the information Rey just provided.

115Um the town council had a workshop last week. Their meeting was last week and their workshop was um about this about this project and um it's I think there's two in my mind there are two pieces that are at play here. There is the cost piece, which this is um there's a cost to this project that was um from my from what I witnessed pretty pretty surprising to the council. I think that's fair to say. It's a $15 million price tag. Um 10 millionish of that is for Scarboro. The rest is Old Orchard would have to approve. >> So um the price tag is pretty significant. So there's that piece. The secondary piece to this is um the surprising information about the lack of coverage in Scarboro. And so that was information um that was

116unknown to the it's appeared to me information unknown to the council. Um that was information I think unknown to us up here all of us that are sitting up here. And so um I there's two I don't want to say frustrating but I frustrating I guess is the word I'll use. There's a frustrating piece to this times two. So, um it we can potentially reduce the cost as Dian or Resray just said. Um the slide deck that the council that was presented at the council meeting showed the old number. So, it showed that the school still needs 275 portable units and the school bus department needs an additional two portable units and 42 mobile units. So, um Diane and I talked about this a lot this week um because I was trying to understand um

117the two pieces that I just explained to you. So, um the 23 is I understand covers you said the schools. It covers central office and it covers the bus depot, not the buses, but the bus depot, right? That's what those 23 cover. >> It would cover facilities, the schools, athletics to have some to, you know, take out to games uh in the central office. the central office in the school bus depot. >> The bus depot would have um they have a mounted one like the buses have in there. >> Okay. And so the 42 mobile units if we take off the um the repeaters if that is no longer serviced and we need those >> those mobile will take the place of we we don't >> because we have the same network as the emergency

118services. >> Okay. So, I think that the um and from what I heard at the workshop, the reason that the slide deck was not updated for the school's actual needs are because they didn't have a I guess there's um the more you buy, the more you save, >> for lack of a better statement. Um and so they weren't share they weren't sure. Yeah. Like you get a discount as you keep going up in numbers. >> And so they weren't sure like how the price would be impacted. They didn't think it was a one for one. they weren't sure and so they wanted to be sure but in the meanwhile these numbers are out there so >> okay >> publicly but it's not accurate so that that's that piece I can't speak I didn't really get

119a clear answer um a counselor did counselor Anderson did express his frustration with not knowing the extent of um the uh black holes is the word I think they used to the coverage spotty coverage across town Um, and it it's not just that it was at the school campus, it's other places in Scar Bro. Um, the police chief and the fire chief indicated that sometimes they will be in buildings like a h apartment building and um they can't communicate down on the ground to another fireman. So that means that they have to walk down all the flights of stairs, whatever that looks like to get to the ground level to ask for equipment they need to haul back up the flights of stairs. So, the communication problems are more so than just one thing. It's

120pretty widespread. Um, this and as Ray indicated, this equipment is very old. It's from the 50s, the 1950s. Um, the other thing that's surprising about the price tag is this solution would um would be about a 20-year solution. So, there's that. Yeah, there's that is so if we're bonding this presumptively we might be paying for it after its useful life is done. So there's a lot of um a lot of pieces of this. I did not get a clear answer as to why none of we didn't know um about the coverage issues. I don't I didn't feel I don't know if you felt differently, Ray. I know you were there. Um I didn't feel like the answer was super clear on why we don't know um or didn't know about it. And I don't know.

121Um I mean did you feel >> No, I agree with you. >> Yeah, I I think that Tom unfortunately um the town manager wasn't at the meeting and so the assistant town manager was in and um I don't feel like it was it was addressed really clearly. Like I said, council Anderson did um express his frustration about it, but I don't have really a clear-cut answer as to why >> why we don't know. is the the company providing quote. Oh, sorry. >> The the company providing is that were multiple bids pursued or multiple? >> Yeah, they put it out to RFP in multiple bids and they were kind of two finalists that they were really looking back and forth on and >> Wow. So, they're they're all coming in at that price level. I mean,

122they have to take the lowest the lowest bid. >> Okay. >> So, this was the lowest the lowest. There were some he said he did say Liam did indicate there were some that didn't meet the basic requirements. >> Okay. And so they were >> excluded that I believe met the requirements and I think they were you know with the quality of what's coming in on the little bit they were pleased with that it seemed like >> Yeah. >> So um did you did I answer your question? >> Yeah. >> Okay. Do you have any other any other questions right now? >> No. No. So hopefully um I mean it seems I don't think that you know it's oh I know what the other thing I didn't get a clear answer on um councelor Hayes asked

123what happened you know this is um let me back up what they said was the timing to install this because this is not only the equipment like the handheld radios and the um radios and the buses. This is actually also inclusive of the towers that we have and would actually um require installing a new tower. So this when it's all said and done, if this gets approved in November, it won't be done until I think they said 28 or 29, right? 28. >> Yeah. I'd have to go back and look at the slideshow, but >> I think it's 28. >> Yeah. Um, so it's it's going to be a little bit and the c the council councelor Hayes the question she asked was well what happens in the meantime with all of these black holes

124and I didn't get a clear indication of that answer either. So um I think you know it's um it it feels like this is a need and necessity. Um I I don't I don't think any of us expected that the school was going to be a big player in this. This was more like a public safety >> Yeah. project. And the good news is right that that is actually accurate right like the um you know the the cost from the school perspective is really around the busing as Ry said because we can't take advantage of the repeaters um you know certainly there is a cost to those 23 radios right um but it is a much better scenario than 275 radios um you know that would be well beyond the cap the need um that

125we have right the radios that we have um are are serving the need, >> right? >> Um you know, for communication and you know, does that mean that we add more more of these kinds of radios that we use um at the cost of, you know, hundreds of dollars instead of thousands of dollars? Yes. Right. Um you know, for example, we probably added 40 radios recently, right, Ray? would you say around that number? >> Uh yeah, this year was a more than normal and it was close to 40 the previous year. >> But again, I I am a lot more comfortable replacing um a $300 to $500 radio than I am a $5,000 radio, right? Like that is not something that we are interested in um because it has lots more bells and whistles than

126we're than we require for the day-to-day need. And to be clear, because one of the black holes identified was the school campus. But if there's an emergency on a school on the school campus, the cell phones do work. So in other words, if you needed to call 911 from the high school, you most certainly could call from your cell phone and speak to public safety. >> All of our teachers have phones in their classrooms. They can call 911. Anyone who downloads Raptor um can dial like can push the button and that will go directly to public safety. our SRO's are all on our raptor system and so they receive all the raptor notifications, all the messaging um that we do within that. >> Okay. So there's not a concern um while it might be um

127maybe it's fair to say it's easier to use these, you know, the 23 walkietalkies to contact public safety. Perhaps it's not impossible to do so on campus. >> Correct. Okay. Thank you. There any are there any other questions? You look like you're wondering when did when are they making uh a final decision on this? >> So they their timeline is they are right now um finalizing options for negotiations contract negotiations. They're hoping by next month um to finalize the contract um March and April to finalize the uh present the final pricing to the finance committee. Um it's going to be if all of this happens, it would be as part of the 27 budget. It would go to referendum in November and it would it would there it's called a system cut over. That's when

128they implement it and that's October of 28. So still we're still two and a half years out. from implementing it, which I think goes back to what councelor Hayes was asking. What do you do in the meantime if there's a >> if the you know there's a number like if the whole thing dies so and I I didn't get a really clear answer on that to share. I don't know. Did you get one? >> No, I think it was really you know continue to um you know replace parts as needed but parts are becoming harder to find. It's running on an old operating system. Like we'd have to literally go find a computer that would run >> on Windows seven. Windows seven. >> Like you like that's not you're not going to one of our

129regular vendors to find a Windows 7 computer. >> Like it's it's the it's the band-aid approach they would have to continue to >> kind of like Todd's special closet with old pieces. >> He has so much stuff. >> Yeah. Kind of similar similar Windows 7. That's what it operates on right now. know the current system that's secure. >> Yeah. >> All right. Any other questions or thoughts on this? As we get if we hear more, we'll I'll pass it on. I know that Diane and Ray will pass it on. >> We can include it in our future superintendent reports, too. >> That would be perfect. >> All right. Agenda item 7.0 is general public comment. Is there anybody wishing to make general public comment this evening? All right. So, oh, hold on. Let me um

130if you could before I push you, um push your button. I'll kind of let you know what what goes on. If you could keep your comments to three minutes or less, the little lights on the podium will direct you. Um yellow means you have I think it's 20 seconds left. Um but if you wouldn't mind introducing yourself with just your name is fine. Um, hello. My name is Amy Wlette. I work for the district at Wentworth School. I teach fifth grade. I also serve as Wentworth School building rep for the Scar Bro Educational Association. I'm here today to represent and speak on behalf of my colleagues who are struggling without enough support for their students, especially the students are presenting challenging behaviors and high needs. These issues are not only affecting my colleagues, but they're

131also affecting other students, taking away from their education. I met with the special ed staff at my school to see if they were feeling, how they were feeling, and how I could better support them as their SEA rep. And this is what they told me. I asked them how they felt emotionally in words like, "I'm anxious. I'm having panic attacks. I'm stressed. I'm worried. I cry all the time. I'm upset. I'm nervous and exhausted. And I feel like I don't matter. When asked if there are any physical concerns that they've had recently, I heard that they're not sleeping, that they're not eating, that their weekends are recovery, not family time. They're recovering from their week. That one member has ulcers from stress. Other members have knots in their stomach. They feel on edge. They're fatigued.

132They're fearful. They're drained. And they feel their heart racing throughout the day. I'm hopeful that we can all work together to find solutions to support our staff and our students. I believe that Scarboro public school is doing a disservice to our staff, our special education students, and our general education students by overlooking these concerns and failing to address the very real issues at hand. We urge you to look more closely at why staff members feel this way so that we can solve the underlying problems and we can identify them um for the benefit of our students and our dedicated staff. Thank you. >> Good evening, members of the board. My name is Crystal Ash Cuthbird. I've been teaching in Scar Bro for more than 32 years. I'm also the proud president of the Scar Bro

133Education Association. For several years now, my colleagues across the district have been sharing the challenges they face with the increasing number of students with significant dysregulation and behavior issues. These educators believe that every child can learn and grow. They know that all students can be successful in the right environment with the appropriate support and by utilizing correct programming. Recently, the SEA held a meeting at Wentworth to gather information and offer support to our colleagues. I'd like to share with you some of the statements they made when asked about their general thoughts, what their general thoughts were about special education here in Scarboro. This is what they said. I'm spread too thin and frustrated. This workload is just too much. I can't do it. We're overwhelmed, unhappy, and underappreciated. I feel like I'm expendable, like I'm

134just a number. Administration tells us one thing and does something completely different. If this keeps up, we're going to lose qualified and talented educators. I'm concerned for the physical and mental health of my colleagues. They listen, but nothing ever changes. And when those same colleagues were asked what ideas they had for changes that would make working in and with the special education better for both staff and students, they had wonderful suggestions like the following. Be honest during the hiring process. We should know if we're taking a job with students who are physically and verbally abusive. Not just told, "You'll just be working oneon-one." We need training. Not just more training, but any training. I was never trained to handle the violence I'm seeing. We need to hire more edte, and we need to pay them

135more. There needs to be more communication about students and their specific needs from grade to grade and across phases. Staff talking to staff, not just principles talking to principles. That way, we all can better understand the needs of our students. Our district needs to look at other social life skills program models. The individuals that attended this meeting are exceptionally talented educators and I admire them very much. They're dedicated to their students. They're burning out. The way special education is done here in Scarough is causing mental and physical harm to some staff and to many students. The decisions that are being made need the input and the support of professionals that are working with students and that are implementing those decisions dayto-day. The SEA asked the board support its educators by making it a district-wide goal

136to improve the implementation and appropriateness of special education services, not just for students who receive it, but for all of our students. Thank you for listening and your anticipated consideration. >> Thank you. Good evening members of the school board school board. My name is Sheri Bell and have I have the pleasure of working in this district at Wentworth as a special education edtech. I also serve as a Wentworth special ed and edtech building rep for the Scabo School Association. I'm here today to represent and speak on behalf of my colleagues as well as myself who are struggling without enough support for their students and for each other. Struggling with a lot of major behavior issues. These issues affect not only our colleagues, myself, our special ed students, but many of our mainstream students. These behaviors

137are taking away their education and a lot of the joys that we as educators get from teaching. As educators, we try to keep a routine and a normal level of learning in each and every day. I'll give you an example of a day in a life skills room. This is something I personally went through. In the middle of a lesson, a student picked up a desk and threw it across the room directly at me. I was lucky enough to jump out of the way. After that happened, the remaining students in the room and some of the staff had to be relocated to another room for their safety because that student's behavior was out of control. We vacated the room quickly for safety reasons obviously, but without the materials and the supplies we needed to further

138educate the students that were ready to learn. This is not an everyday of occurrence, but let me tell you lately it has become a weekly occurrence. The students want to learn. Educators, we want to educate. But we're coming to a crossroads where there are too many obstacles in our paths. Another example I have is during this happened most recently was during free time. Free time is something that happens at the end of a learning block in special education to reward the children for their behaviors during the class and their learning. A student eloped, which means he ran away, out of the life skills room and two of the life skills staffs had to chase after that student to ensure the safety of the student that eloped, which left one educator alone with the seven remaining

139students. All of those students eyes were on that one educator looking at them trying to figure out what to do and what what to do next and how to how to fix the situation. It was very difficult. Later in the day, the students came to me and were asking me what happened. As educators, we can't share this information. These are only two behaviors that I have mentioned that I have personally experiences. But staff members have told me that they have been kicked, punched, pushed, licked, spit at, and called names that because this is broadcast being broadcast, I can't repeat. As special education staff, we trained for many situations, but none of these situations are that we've that I've experienced today in the past few years have I been educated enough for. We all tried our

140best to keep our students on a schedule and a love for learning. However, over the past few years, it it has become more and more difficult. Student behaviors has been getting worse, and this has been my worst year so far. I've been employed with our district for 26 years. I love my job. I became a I became an special ed edtech after working in the school nutrition program for 19 years. I've earned a master's degree because I want to educate special ed education students and I'm at my wits end. I can't do it anymore. I need more training, more education and our programs need to be looked at and have better better programs for our students. The association and our members and myself believe that all children can be successful when they're in the right

141environment with the correct resp. I believe we are doing a disservice to our staff, our special education students, our main street students by ignoring these issues and failing to address them these very challenging. I stand before you asking you for your help not only for myself and my colleagues but all for all our students in our schools. I thank you for your time. >> Thank you. Um, is if do we have anyone online who's wishing to make public comment this evening? If so, if you wouldn't mind raising your Zoom hand at the bottom. All right. See none. All right. Seeing um no other, is there anyone else? We thought there'd be another, but if they haven't raised Okay. >> They would have by now. >> Okay. All right. Seeing no others, I will close public

142comment. Let me just check one more time. Yeah. Okay. We'll close public comment. >> I'm sorry. Sh. >> Uh, no, that was it. Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Sure. >> Um, agenda item 8.0 is continuing business. 8.1 is um I'm going I'm going to bundle 8.1 and 8.2. Um 8.1 is the second reading of policy DB school budget and 8.2 Two is to retire policies. DB annual budget. DBC school budget. DBCP school budget planning procedures. DBG budget adoption process. DBJ budget line transfer authority. DIC financial reports and statements. DKC expense reimbursements. >> Thank you. Um so I as we did not get any uh feedback um and we did not end up having a finance meeting this week uh to talk about it but I feel confident moving forward despite that we've had good we

143had good conversation about this proposition and I think it was well received by the finance committee. So the retired policies which is DB the annual budget which is going to become the new DB school budget DBC that was formerly called the school budget DBCP school budget planning procedures DBG budget adoption process DBJ budget line transfer authority DIC financial reports and statements and DKC the expense reimbursements this is uh all of our budget process it's not every single part of the budget policies, but it's it's a number of policies that were either duplicative or irrelevant or very old and not very well used. Some of the policies really didn't have any clear purpose. The we created the new policy DB, the school budget. Um that policy brings in all of the pieces from all of those

144other policies that are intended to be retired and is intended to replace all of them. Um it breaks it into uh three different sections. The first one is the annual budget. It lays out um the budget process um which is a calendar that um Kate has developed that we're all used to. It has the ice cream colors on it. Um and so it it um doesn't mandate the colors, but it mandates that there's a budget that's put out by the payments committee by the business department that'll demonstrate sort of when the timeline is for everything to occur. um and that it it will be the calendar will will ensure that everybody stakeholders the public is aware of the steps necessary for the approval of the budget. Um and that there's a appropriate amount of time

145before any of those steps so people have the enough opportunity to review the information before they get to first reading, second reading and they start being um voted on. The budget line item transfer authority um we shrunk this so there were some more specific requirements. Um we looked at the legal requirements and um indicated that if uh the board authorizes a superintendent to approve transfers for budget appropriations within individual accounts within the same cost centers in an amount not to exceed $10,000. So this is for more minor transfers in the same sort of category of expenditure. Those can be done um by the superintendent without having to come before the board for a vote. Um if there's a transfer between cost centers. So if money is allocated for transportation and suddenly it's being used for

146athletics um which is not a normal process and should not regularly happen that would become before the board for a vote and an explanation about why we're taking money that was allocated for one purpose and we're putting it into entirely different purpose because our budget allocations are voted on by the by the uh people every June and so it's important to be accountable for those types of changes and finally it's just a basic indicator that we will provide financial quarter reports the finance committee a year in financial report to the full board um and that we will you know follow the annual audit process which is legally required um I am very proud to be in Scar Bro where we're on top of our audit process there's a lot of uh towns schools and people

147across the state that are very behind on their audits um and that's a very dangerous business practice to adhere to so I think we're doing a good job um but that happy to take any questions um there are no questions that came up um but if there's anything I left out I'm happy to try to explain >> thank Thank you, Freila. Are there any questions for Frea about the new policy of the retirement? >> I just have a question of where I can see them. I'm under the policy committee. Is that where they would be? >> The the drafts that you if I want to read the entire draft. >> Yeah. So, in the um I believe they're in the um in the meeting folder under policies. All in there. >> Oh, it's in the

148meeting folder. Okay. But if you're ever interested, um, we have published agendas and meeting minutes, um, for all of our meetings up on the website, and those all have links to all the policies and the model policies. >> Oh, so they already have links in that. >> Yeah, there's links there, too. So, you can get to all of those documents. >> Okay. And also, um, they are they are online as well with the meeting agenda when the agenda get posted. So, you you've got a few places to got to find those. Yeah. >> All right. Are there any other questions for Frea? All right. Do I have a motion to approve the second reading of policy DB school budget and the to retire policies DB annual budget DBC school budget DBCP school budget planning procedures

149DBG budget adoption process DBJ budget line transfer authority DIC financial reports and statements and DKC expense reimbursements as presented. >> Second. Um, any discussion? Did you get it, Jillian? It was Jillian. >> Any discussion? All in favor? All right. It shows unanimous. Thank you. All right. Agenda item 9.0 is new business. 9.1 is the first reading of pol of the 2026 2027 school calendar. Raya, >> so the school calendar can always bring up a lot of drama for everybody um with anticipating the next school year and trying to plan for that. Um this calendar year pres presented an uh especially tricky uh situation because Labor Day is the last possible day in the calendar that it can be. It's the 7th of September. So traditionally we go back to school on mass the after that.

150Um I think there were some parents that were concerned about what that might look like. Um that being said uh there's a requirement that uh we work with regional partners when we talk about our for the vocational schools >> that we ensure that there's no few there's no more than five days that are not in sync with each other which creates um either like a really strong calendar that's the same everywhere um or it presents very little opportunity for changes amongst community partners. And that's so that our students who are attending those programs don't miss more than a week of school based on school count. >> So um this calendar um uh in in within I think Ray took lead on communicating with community partners, our regional school partners and ensuring that we would have

151a calendar that aligns um the big the big dates for folks. Um so we typically do the first two days of the school year are staff days that's continuing. Traditionally, they're Monday and Tuesday because that's how our calendar has fallen. And this year, they're more midweek, so they're Wednesday and Thursday. There's no school on Friday the 28th. My daughter's happy about that. Um going back on the next week, which is the 31st. Um the students uh begin to go back to school. I'm looking at the first day, >> which would be the that 31st would be the appointment days at K. So for K through five, uh students have a slot depending on what school they're at. And then um they'll go back to school those days. And then uh this for student days for

152grades 6 through 12 is September 1st. So everyone 6 through 12 will be back those days. We have a preview day for 6th and 9th. The day before that, as they enter their new school, they can get acclimated to that. And then everybody goes back to school on September 2nd and September 3rd. Um, we kept that Friday holiday before Labor Day. I think it makes sense. We've always had that day off and I'm sure people have made some plans around that. And so, um, that day remains a holiday. Uh, Labor Day is obviously a holiday and then back to the grind fully on September 8th. But, so it'll be a little bit of a I like to tiptoe our way into the school year more than normal. But um but I think it draws a

153good line between starting extremely late and therefore going really late into June and um getting some of that work done those those weeks we traditionally go back. Um we do not have two full weeks of winter vacation. I know the students will be sad about that. >> Um so we've cut down a little bit on that from this year. Um it starts on a Wednesday, so the 23rd and then goes through the following week which is ends on the January 1st uh which is a federal holiday. So, back to school on January 4th for winter break. And we have a traditional February um week and our traditional April week. And then the last day of school uh assuming that there are no storm days um is what getting to that is June 17th. Um June

15418th is a holiday. So if >> June 14th Oh, no. Say 14th. Sorry about that for the drop dead date. The 14th is no snow days. If there's three snow days built in, just like this year, we have used them this year. And so, um, if we have more than three, um, we will still end school by June 17th. Again, June 18th is a Friday. It's also a federal holiday, um, and a state holiday. So, that's that's the calendar this year um, for first reading. We got to consult with some more community partners um, before we bring it to second reading, but just wanted to get it out there. I know there were folks kind of in I've heard some chatter about people really interested in this calendar. Um once we said that at least

155I've said a couple times that it's not gone it's not starting after Labor Day people kind of relaxed a little bit but >> that's that's the calendar hot item people want it. >> All right. Thank you for Are there any questions about the calendar? >> Yeah I have one question. I know that you know um we're going you're shortening the winter break and starting on the 1st. What would the difference be if you start on the 4th? I'm just curious if you took if you kept one as a holiday. The I mean the one is a holiday. Oh, so they are starting back on the 4th of January. >> Yes, they're starting back on the 4th. >> Oh, okay. I thought Okay, I confused. >> They're going 21st and 22nd. >> Got it. Okay, you

156answer my question. Okay, >> I left something out. So, we I kind of glossed over that storm day. So, in Scarboro for the last couple years, um this is the first year we've used the storm day to remote day change. Um I think it was extremely well communicated. Um it was very easy in my household, which was lovely. Um that on Monday to have a storm day. Um that's kind of the biggest decision point. So, many schools have gone to this model. Um I know we've we've gone to this model. Um other schools still do the traditional model which is you just keep adding days on until you get out. Um that is that isn't is the alternative though that for people understanding there is an option here which is we've we've kind of gone

157into this where we have the built-in snow days. We've had two snow days actually once which would have been more problematic this year than it is. Um but it's going to be between two and three days most years of of the snow day availability and then it goes to the remote days. And I don't know if people have had feedback given we just had one on Monday. Um I haven't heard a lot of anything which I was surprised about. But >> I actually received zero feedback as superintendent. So I will take that as no news is good news. My inbox will probably fill up this evening. >> And I would say that like on that remote days were the middle of the road. There are districts as you said that do none whatsoever and just

158keep adding days on. Um, and then there are districts that do no traditional snow days and start with remotes on day one. You know, we're in that group in the middle. >> How did you get any feedback from the teachers how they felt it went >> or >> um I I think we got um a little bit of feedback from the association um you know who wanted to make sure that all the schools were aligned and communicating um information correctly. But as we talked about in our meeting, um this was I think our second remote day in four years. And so, you know, we haven't had a lot of opportunity to be practicing this. >> Yeah. >> Luckily, right? Um and so, you know, most of our experience in terms of remote days um brings

159us back to the COVID period that we would like to never experience again. Um so you know it really is weighing out um what is the value of of having kids uh working from home versus adding on at the end of the year in June. >> Um and then just to follow up on what Frea said um uh after this meeting between now and our second reading um the SC we um need to meet and consult with the sea. So, um, that'll be something that'll happen just so that they get a chance to offer any feedback. So, if there's anything significant, Freay would bring it back to the board. >> Well, and again, I would just, you know, make sure that we keep in mind that any changes that have to be made still need

160to align with our our district partners, right? So, you know, I think you said that already, Frea, but we are not completely independent in these decisions, >> right? Did you have a question? I do I just as you were mentioning the regional partners when when there is a snow day I mean generally speaking the regional partners will probably all have snow days does that go against Okay thank you >> right >> what was it what was the question does it go against what >> sorry I was asked >> oh does it kind of have a snow day somebody else might not your published calendar has to be within five days okay all right thank And I know um just uh Jillian and I were having a conversation um around this snow day. What is the

161policy for requesting a forgiveness from the state? Is it does the state have to declare an emergency and then you as a district get can apply? >> You can apply for a waiver if you think you are going to be going below the 175 days, right? We go 176 days. So we don't ever >> but you know but again I think yes the state you know I think is cautious around giving that type of forgiveness because they expect us to do proper planning to be able to ensure that we can meet the 175. So, you know, the um you know, over my career, the times that I have seen those kinds of waiverss extended has been like um I remember several years back we had a pretty serious hurricane in the month of October and

162there were some districts that were out of school, you know, for over a week. If we really want to date ourselves and go back to the ice storm of 1998, which I absolutely recall, I was having a baby during that time. Um there were a lot of schools that um again were given waiverss because they were out of school for you know some districts up to 10 days because of all of the power outages and down trees etc. So it really is those th those really outlier events. It's not like oh we had a blizzard and we didn't expect it and you know we don't want to have to make up the day. What do you say? You want to give us a waiver? That's not going to work. >> Gotcha. That makes sense. >>

163I've seen districts have the option of adding an hour to five days. Yes. And that makes up a day or going three hours >> going on a Saturday. >> Which I've done one of those two. >> Nope. >> Yeah. I I think we're better off to just, you know, plan forward >> and responsibly. >> Yeah. >> Did you No, go ahead. Go ahead. I think I mean this balance that I think I like about this is it gives finality you know to parents which is important to me but also to staff members who may be taking on new opportunities and not being able to know when your end date is is just really hard and that's a tough time of year for anybody who's got child obligations. But if you're thinking about summer positions it's

164really hard to not know when you can start. Like that's a pretty basic question that most people ask. So I like the finality of it. You know, I don't think remote days are the same as as having kids in school with a teacher like that. I would never support that. But I think it strikes the balance between going into practically July and which again with this year again with that federal holiday that's been added to June that adds another day off pretty much every year. That's going to bump it out even further. Um but it's a balance between that finality, respecting staff time, allowing parents to plan properly. Sure. and also kind of doing the best by the students having a couple of snow days. I think people have a lot of nostalgic and positive

165memories of having that first day when you wake up, but you know after the third day like maybe it's time to get some work done so that we get out before July. So it's that it's that balance between the two which I think is really you know I think there's there's no I think there's pros and cons to all the approaches but um I I think that's kind of that's where we landed and I think we've had pretty positive feedback from staff which is important. Um and from you know parents and I think every parent has a different you know some parents never want any remote school at their house they just want to have snow days which is fun but um I think it's the it's a balance you know you're sort of compromising

166between different interests >> I did have a question so I'm trying to understand so the magenta the 14 that is what tell me what that means that that >> that's the last day of school so what I do in my paper calendar is I pencil in the last day of school and then every snow day. I erase it and I move it. And then I have another pencil in that's like drop dead last day of school day. And then I erase it and I move it. And then this year when we hit our third day and pen because all of my calendar notes are in bright colors, I wrote the last day of school because now I know the last day of school is final. And then I knew that when you know pretty much

167by Sunday when the state had cancelled the day like the writing was on the wall that we were all going to be home. You know, I I relocated the snow packets which were sent out and they were also available online which was really made it really easy to get prepared ahead of time. There was great communication. I want to compliment you Diane. I know I was very harsh >> um during the first remote day because I think my household was in it was in a bit of a >> uh we had a lot of difficulties with pieces of it which again it was the first snow day. >> Um this snow day every every issue that we had was resolved. we had appropriate learning materials for all the students for both students in my house

168um who have very different needs and um we had you know we had the ability to complete the project. We still had a good day at home but it was it was age appropriate. It was fun but you know there was some reading, there was some math, there was some writing. It was good. I think it went really really well. And so I'm optimistic that if we have another you know there was a lot of snow threatened this week. If there's another snowstorm that rolls through and we have another remote day it's going to be okay. again better to have the students in the classroom. But um I think this is again I'm I've also really you know planning for child care after the end of the school year. I know when I need that

169to start I can you know one year I paid for half a week of camp that I couldn't use you know and that's okay but camps are expensive. I don't want parents finding money for childare they don't need. Okay. >> So just a followup question. So this uh 18th as a holiday that happens after school is already done. >> Correct. Okay, Julian, you had a question. >> I just uh Well, I was like a little panicked because I was expecting the power to Yeah, it sounded like we were having an Armageddon like >> that's just, you know, and then we had >> the way the meteorology, you know, folks work. And so I I was all I was really in a tizzy like oh so if we have no power this is going to be

170great you know a pain like why doesn't the state expect that I you know I was kind of chewing through. So in that in that regard you said you know there's some cases where you know power is out for days on end and and that's when they would start to think about forgiving stuff but >> well the other thing is is the way in which we have approached our remote days is they're asynchronous right and so there's not an expectation that kids are logging on and that they're getting a you know in real time lesson from their teachers right at K to5 they're doing packets Right. So, they're not using any technology and then at 6 through 12 they're using Google Classroom. And it's my understanding that the teachers are also um cognizant of the

171weather and the situation and the circumstances that might change. So for example, you know, if we knew that half of Scar Bro did not have power on Monday, it would be my assumption and understanding that students are given time to complete that work. Um once they are able to be on technology >> and maybe log in when they can, like if they have to meet their teacher, you know, they're they have to >> Yeah. >> check in at a certain time. >> Did you um out of curiosity, what happened with um feeding the kids? because I know normally you get that question ahead of time. >> So, right. So, our um yeah, our food service department um uh had people sign up if they wanted to have meals for remote school days and then they

172sent home non-p perishable food in advance. Um so that it's not like, oh gosh, there's a storm coming tomorrow. Let's make some peanut butter sandwiches and get everything together and have people show up at the school to get them. And so what they're doing now is they're replacing those. >> They actually did. So we sent home two in December for everyone who had signed up. And people who signed up after we sent them out, we did, you know, as soon as they signed up, sent them out. And then after Monday's day, people would be down to one. So we actually sent another meal out this week so that they have a two in case we get a huge social, we're out two days, we have they have >> Oh, so like in advance of February

173break, you do that at home. Yeah. Oh, gotcha. Okay, >> that's great. >> That is great. That's >> Yeah. So they have right now everyone who signed up has two non-p perishable meals sitting at their house. >> Right. Now whether or not they choose to eat them in advance of the snow day is beyond our control. >> Right. >> Well, if they would ask for another one, we would hand them out again. >> We absolutely would. Right. But like we we tried to do our due diligence in that way. >> Gotcha. Very good. All right. Are there any other questions about the calendar? Is there anyone wishing to make public comment about the calendar? I don't know if there's somebody still. >> Nope. No one's on the line. >> All right. Um, do I have

174a motion to approve the first reading of the 2026 2027 school calendar is presented? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Oh my god. He can have he can. >> Um, is there any discussion? I just want to say one thing that I noted that's new um that I think is really cool. Um, at least I it's new to me. Um, the end of the quarter, the end of the trimester, the midterm test that's added. I think that's really um a good ad. >> So, I I appreciate that. And I don't have kids in school, so I imagine parents would. The only one I thing I'd ask is, can we put high school finals on there? >> If we have high school midterms, can we put high school finals? >> I think that those are flex

175depending on when the very last day is. >> Oh, okay. >> Right. Because if we didn't use the three snow or is it two or three that are built in as traditional snow days, if we didn't use those, then that would leave the final schedule. >> Gotcha. >> Right. Because the final is the one thing that you can't change, right? Midterms, it's okay if there's a couple of days on one side or the other because you're just continuing on, right? But you can't give a kid a final on June 7th if you're going to be in school until June 17th. >> Gotcha. >> Right. >> Yeah. That's a really good ad, though. I really like that. >> Oh, thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. All in favor? Yeah. Oh, thank you. >> Thank

176you very much. I like that. Cheryl, >> it's all in favor of approving the first reading of the school calendar as presented. And that shows unanimous. Thank you so much. Agenda item 9.2 are the high school coaches. >> Yes. Uh in your packet, you'll see a listing of the spring coaches uh for Scriber High School, and I'd respectfully ask you to approve those. >> All right. Do I have a motion to approve the high school coaches as presented? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Is there any discussion? All in favor? And that shows unanimous. Thank you so much. Um agenda item 10.0 is adjournment. So with no objections, we will adjourn at 8:06 p.m. All right. Thank you so much and have a good evening.