School Board Business Meeting 12/4/2025

001Good evening and welcome to the Scarbor Board of Education business meeting. The date is Thursday, December 4th, 2025. Um would everyone please join me for the pledge of allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> All right. Agenda item 3.0 is attendance. Ray, can you call the attendance, please? >> Miss Jacobs, >> here. >> Mr. Kellaher, >> here. >> Miss Lindstöm, >> here. >> Miss Mau >> here. >> Mr. Rockinstar >> here. Mr. Tarpinian >> here, >> Mr. Penny Huff >> here, >> and then the two students are excused for them this evening. Uh, agenda item 4.0 is approval of the November 20th, 2025 workshop and business meeting minutes. So,

002if there are no objections, we will approve them as presented. Um, agenda item 5.0 are November resignations, retirements, and new hires. Um, this is a non-action item. I just refer you to your um, meeting materials for that. Agenda item 6.0 are adjustments to the agenda. Um I have two adjustments to make. One is um agenda item I just lost at 15.7. Um that is a new hire for the high school that should that title should read winter and spring coaches. So that would be number one. And then update or adjustment number two is that I need to add an agenda item. Um, we'll do it under continuing business. Um, I'll make a new 14.1. Um, and it is the post-referenderum building committee governance document. We just have to review it again for a couple of

003of edits and changes. All right. Um, all in favor of those adjustments as presented and that's unanimous. Thank you. All right. Agenda item 7.0 is recognition. 7.1 is a high school fall sports recognition. So Mike, would you like to join us? >> Thank you very much for having us tonight. And I'm going to get right to it and recognize these outstanding coaches and student athletes that work so hard this fall season to represent Scarro in such a positive way. So, first up is coach Wan with Phil Hockey. >> Hi everyone. I'm Kylo Want. I am the varsity field hockey coach and this is my second year here. Um, and with me I have junior Rosa Perlet. So, thank you for the opportunity to speak with you all tonight. This fall our varsity field hockey team

004finished the season with a 95 and one record. We earned fourth place in the Heel Point standings and advanced to the quarterfinal round of postseason play. Our season ended in a tough- fought battle and ended sooner than we all hoped. But there were seasonl long lessons that were learned along the way for everyone. Our athletes faced tough opponents that tested their resilience as well as hard-fought come from behind victories. They showed their perseverance, teamwork, and competitive spirit. They demonstrated important core values including commitment, accountability, and sportsmanship. This season, we saw students problem solve, communicate, support one another, and push themselves beyond their comfort zones. The team success, both measurable and intangible, reflects the dedication of our athletics department, the support of families, and the team culture we are building within our program. While we all

005love the sport and growing the game, we hope that these student athletes carry these lessons far beyond their playing time. Thank you all for your continued support. Coach Murphy with golf. Good evening. First of all, I want to thank the uh the people that helped us have another successful year. And uh we start with Pam and Rick Lewis over to uh Willarddale. uh Bob Whiting of Willowdale uh letting us play basically every day uh and getting our season underway and following through is year after year is is just tremendous support from the people at Willarddale. I also want to thank publicly Donnie Prout at uh Pleasant Hill uh at the driving range. Again, he supplies uh many golf balls for the kids in this town and uh it's a big thank you to them. Also

006the Tromblies, Chris and Robin at Proud Snack uh fitness in when uh we're in a pinch and also uh Proud Snack Association for what they do for uh the golf team. I also want to thank Michael Gage and Jordan Forever for their support uh just been tremendous year in and year out. Also want to thank you guys uh the school board and uh appreciate the time and the effort that uh you guys put into having a successful really a great school system for the season. Well, this was the season was supposed to be the year that we fell back to the pack, but uh you know most of the coaches were really happy to see us uh graduate four great players off a state championship team. uh and expectations were were not there uh as

007the years passed from opposing coaches, but uh I knew better and the kids knew better. We ended up running through the season with a 10 and0 record regular season and finished one stroke from meddling at the uh state championship and finishing three strokes from being the state runnerup. Not bad for a team that uh basically only had two returning players coming back. Uh this is a fantastic group of young men. Uh they played with poise, played with grit and determination and really represented themselves, their families and the community in a very proper way. uh very proud of this group and the town should be very proud of of their accomplishments both on the course and in the classroom which is really the the greatest thing. These kids are are young adults who make great decisions

008on their own playing a difficult sport and uh they do it with just a lot of grace and uh very proud of them. So thank you very much. Uh, Coach Harmon with boys cross country. Uh, yes, I am Coach Harmon and this is Griffith Heath, one of our captains. Uh, his brother, twin brother, is also a captain, but he's being inducted into the National Honor Society right now, so he can't be here with us. Um, thank you for having us here tonight. Um, and for all that you do, uh, these, uh, late night meetings that you have to go to and, uh, but recognizing us, we do thank you for everything you do. Like to, uh, thank the athletic administration also for all they do all season long as far as our sport. Um, and

009that includes the trainers over there, the administration just so supportive. Um, of course, our parents and the boosters who they run uh help us throughout the season, too. Uh, the boys cross country was a little bit uh similar story to the golf team this year. Uh, we were state champions uh champions last year. Won the state champ uh championship, but we graduated four of our top five uh through graduation, lost them, and then two more in our top 10. So, it looked like it was going to be quite a rebuilding year, but it didn't turn out that way. The uh kids started right off in June. They start training and a lot of them had uh summer jobs and uh still then academics after, but they were very determined. Uh uh all season long, like

010I said, starting in the summer. Um and for our rebuilding year, we actually were a contender. Uh again, similar to uh the golf team, uh we the way uh we run meets, we can compete against 70 other teams in one meet. So in some of those meets uh as a rebuilding year, we did lose overall the whole season uh to about 20 teams, but we beat another 100. So again, for kind of what it would be our rebuilding year, um always the kids just never gave up. great sportsmanship. Um, and so it it ran about 80% of the teams we went against. We did end up uh beating uh Southern Class A regionals. We were a third of 17 teams there. And in the state meet, we were six of all the class A teams.

011Uh we had one athlete that earned SMAA team status, first team status. Uh, three of our seniors were SMAA all academics and our junior team JV team, they won the SMAA JV championship. So, uh, the future looks good, too. So, thank you, Coach Curry with Girls Cross Country. Good evening. Thank you for having us tonight. And I'm trying to lose trying not to catch the cold that the whole track team has. Um but yes, I want to thank you for having us. Thank um the athletic department's always there when we need them. Anytime I need to call Mike or Jordan, they answer and answer my questions and they help our team whenever we need them. We had a real small team, eight girls this year, so um it was pretty small, but um we're only

012losing one senior, so that's exciting cuz we had a good building year. The team really bonded well together. Our senior is Laurel Driscoll, who's our captain, who's not here cuz she's at the National Honor Society induction. She was also SMAA all academic and she was our first team all conference. Um she came in fourth at regionals and then went on to states without her team. The team didn't qualify for regionals. Um like I said was building year so we had more losses than wins but um she came in fourth in states and that qualified her for New England's in Vermont. So that was exciting end to her senior year. We did um one of our juniors won the JV meet. So like I said um the future's looking bright. um there um they also got

013together and volunteered at the main marathon working a water stop and that was after a big meet at um the Festival of Champions where we got home. It's like a 10-hour day and they all got up at and we're at the water stop at 7. So that was a real good team bonding um event. Um so overall I I think um girls cross country is looking bright. Thank you. with cheerleading. >> Hello everyone. Um my name is Caitlyn. I'm the head cheer coach for Scar Bro. I've been here for this is my fourth year. Um, with us tonight, I'm proud to have our senior captain, EA Mi, and a very special member of our team, who is a senior foreign exchange student, uh, Viola Fortonado. U, thank you so much for having us this evening.

014I'd like to extend our sincere gratitude to our athletic staff, um, for their continued dedication to running a program where every team has the opportunity to grow, thrive, and be successful. Um, without you guys and them, we couldn't do that. So, thank you so much. Um though we don't compete during the fall season, we had a wonderful and memorable year cheering on our football program. Uh beside the sidelines, we actually um do a lot of volunteer work. So this year we did the main brain aneurysm walk and we were excited that same day. We actually also got invited to do the brain tumor awareness um 5K as well. So that was a new audition for us this year. Um, another new thing we did this year is we had the opportunity to showcase our game

015day and halftime routine at the first annual Gorum Rampage in the fall. Um, which is a really new and exciting experience for our athletes. We ended up taking home the best pyramid award and then most spirit. So that was very exciting for us. Um, education, well, sorry, educational athletics are incredibly important to Scarbo and to our students. um not only building teamwork but also school spirit and shaping confident, resilient young people who carry these lessons far beyond the field. So, thank you again for your support to our athletes and our programs. Wonder if I see Coach Bethbridge. Oh, yeah. Okay. Missing everybody today. Sorry. Coach Bethbridge with volleyball. All righty. Hi, my name is Nicole Paththerbridge and with me I have one of our senior captains, Izzy Harmon. Um, Leo Porter was our other senior

016captain and like many others is at the National Honor Society induction. Um, this is my third season coaching the varsity volleyball team here in Scar Bro. Um, and every year I just continue continued to consider myself very lucky. Um, we had a really successful season this year. Um, we were 13 and one in the regular season. Um, but more important than our record, some highlights of our season were uh our annual Dig Pink charity game for breast cancer awareness where we raised over um $2,000 for the Side Out Foundation which supports breast cancer research. And to go along with that, um, the team got together and made, we forgot to count, but dozens, I'll say, of, um, handmade blankets for Project Lionus, which donates blankets to, um, children who are facing illnesses that make them

017restricted to the hospital. Um, we had a thrilling senior night win against Thornton Academy, um, where we went five sets. really exciting game and a really great way to celebrate our five seniors we had this season. Um we are proud of our continuing continuing to strengthen our relationship with the unified team which you'll hear from them in a second. Um and all of our success this season uh led us to be a number one seed going into the playoffs in the SMAA champions for this year. Um, we had a 3-0 win uh against Falmouth in the quarterfinals before um a hard-fought loss to Thornton Academy in the semifinals. Um, but you know, we had all sorts of great accomplishments along the way. Izzy and Leo were two all academic team selections. Um, we had four

018players who received all conference recognitions. Um, but as someone who also teaches at the high school, I'm always most proud of um the other things that are players champion other than or in addition to volleyball. um their involvement beyond athletics in um clubs, everything from art club to ECOS uh to NHS and beyond and the teamwork, positivity, perseverance, and poise that they bring everywhere they go, including the volleyball court. Um so, thank you to you all for allowing me to continue to coach such an awesome group. Thank you to Mr. Leage and the athletic department for everything. um everyone does to support us. >> Coach Vance with football and thank you everybody. Um I'm Mike Vance. I'm honored to be in my first year as a head football coach at Scar Bro. with me. I

019have uh captains Logan Pearson and uh Kingston Griffiths. Uh two other captains are also at the National Honor Society um ceremony tonight, Isaac Kim and Logan Noon, and they wanted us to express their regrets that they couldn't be here. Um I have a lot of people to thank here, but I really have to start with Mr. Lagege as a first year coach. He spent an awful lot of time with me in the spring and summer getting me up to speed on how things work here at Scar Bro and putting me in a position to be successful and supporting our program. We're very thankful for everyone's support, all of the administration, all of you. Um, especially to our parents, too. Um, parents kind of live every moment of their kids experience and uh, being a parent

020of Scar Bro high school kids in Scar Bro activities and sports. I I know it's uh, it can be a challenge. there's a lot of support necessary from home and we really appreciate um all of the all the parents in our group. Um this year um we went three and six this year which was a step forward for the program. We play in a very tough uh league and I wouldn't have it any other way. Um these two guys up here are a really big reason for that. Our philosophy is excellence with integrity. Simply means we want to do everything to the best of our ability um at any given time and we want to do so in a fair and honest manner. Um, so we have 10 cardinal principles that support that and we

021go over them every day and we make uh positive examples of those cardinal principles and these two guys up here along with all their teammates really embraced us. Change is difficult for most people. Change is hard and it took courage for our team and particularly our captains to step forward and get behind a new system, new personalities and say I'm going to take a chance. I'm going to be all in on this. And that's exactly what they did. We're very proud of them for that. Um, in terms of, um, season highlights, uh, we really battled. I'm very impressed with the the toughness of these guys. This is a tough game. There's no way to sugarcoat it. It's a physical game and, um, you know, they really stepped up and uh, and persevered through some difficulties.

022Um, like I said, we played some very good teams. I think the highlight of the season was an overtime win at home against Gorum where I really witnessed maturation by our team. They didn't blink at the end and that takes a lot takes a lot of growth to get to the point that they got to in that game and we're very proud of them as a staff. Um we look forward to you know continuing to grow this program. Um if you know any youngsters who are not in the football world and I don't want to rob anybody else but if if you think maybe they would enjoy it and want to be part of something positive, please send them our way because we really had a good time working with these kids this year and

023uh we look forward to the future. So, thank you everybody. Coach Roberts with girls soccer. >> Thank you all for uh inviting us here tonight uh and for your support of athletics at Scar Bro. Thank you to Mr. Gage uh and the athletic department uh and my fellow coaches. It's really it's my first year here as a coach uh but it's a really special place to coach. I've enjoyed it thoroughly. Um and most importantly, thank you to the three juniors uh who are joining me here tonight for taking the time out of their busy schedule. Abby Roberts, Maggie Booth, and Vera Dotto. Uh the girls program soccer program had another successful season with over 60 student athletes. We're one of the largest programs in the state and we're fortunate to have the numbers to field

024three successful teams. First team and JV went undefeated. Uh the varsity team finished at 16-2 and was a state runnerup to Bangor in the state championship for the second year in a row. For the senior class, it was their fourth straight trip to the state championship game despite uh the graduation of three in the three prior years of at least one of the school's most pro pr prolific point getters in in each of those years. 10 different players earned all conference recognition. That includes all citizenship and all academic as well as uh all conference for play. Um, two are still in the running for all state and uh, national recognition as well. With a varsity roster that's uh, includes or included 18 underassman, the future is uh, certainly bright. Um, that said, as an educator

025here in Scar Bro and and a coach with, I'll just say a lot of years of experience. Um, and with only 6% approximately of high school athletes that go on to play in college, I'm more proud of what the program really has to offer beyond the wins and losses and scholarship uh spots. Um, I think education based athletics offers students, student athletes, opportunities to grow and mature that they don't necessarily get in the classroom. Certainly time management uh is important, takes center stage, but even more important are the connections that these players and and and coaches and adults make um you know beyond beyond the the field. In the freshman exit interviews, each freshman to a te said that the coaches and upper classman created a culture of inclusivity uh at an anxious time in

026their life that allowed them to go in, have fun, and enjoy the game and and meet new people. uh whether it's team dinners, breast cancer walks, uh we had we had players organize a photo op with a former player uh former player's daughter who was diagnosed with a a difficult medical diagnosis. Uh we had players volunteering on Saturday for mini kicks. Uh there's a real sense of community uh an importance of community uh that the players uh have and that they foster among new players. uh players had to learn resilience uh and and deal with adversity whether it's a new coach, playing new positions, having a bigger role on varsity, uh the passing of Mr. Brown, um resilience became a key word, and I'm I'm so proud of the girls for what they accomplished going

027through all that. And these three right here are super examples of people who started the year in one place and just grew by leaps and bounds in terms of their maturity uh to handle adversity. Um whether it's a team huddle, asking a coach about their role, communication on the field, players found voice as well. Um and I just uh super, you know, as an opposing coach the past 12 years, uh I knew that Scar Bro had good players. Uh, I've taught in the classroom here in Scar Bro for nearly 30 years. I know that we have good students. Um, but I feel really fortunate to find out that we have such good people here in Scar Bro. And I think, uh, you all as as parents, as school me schoolboard members, um, you know, we

028can all be proud of that. So, thank you, >> Coach Diaz with Boy Soccer. Good evening. Thanks for having us. Uh with me I have Khalil Gocha. Hey there. Yeah. Denver Bachmann and Ibrahim Jabril is three of my seniors on my team. Uh so my other seniors couldn't make it um because they're at the National Honor Society as well. Um in fact, a lot of the athletes on all these teams are are in a lot of these clubs like like Craig said and uh it's a special place to coach. I know I say it every year, but it's an honor to be up here. Whether you win a bunch of games or you don't, these kids are are special. So thank you for that. Thank you for having us. Uh thanks to Mike and the

029rest of his team for uh all they did this year for us. Um obviously we had a pretty good season. Uh we went 18 and0 which is is pretty special in this in this part of the state. Uh we're in the toughest league in the state by far. Uh, every night is a challenge and uh, as good as this team was, there were a lot lot of close games and and a lot of times we got to the half and it was still 000. So, there was a lot of drama uh, around these guys and they handled it really well. Uh, last year and two years before these these guys were also in other state games uh, that didn't go our way. So, uh, they took a lot of those lessons and they applied them

030this year to have just an amazing season, uh, for them. We were the conference champions and the regional champions as well. Uh, we had six players make the SMA all conference. We had four players make all state, which is voted on by all the coaches throughout the state in all classes. So, it's pretty special award. and we had eight guys make uh all academic which they've increased the standard for that. So it's gotten a little higher. There was a time I could have made it but I don't think I could make it uh now. Uh so they've changed that and it's it's gotten a little tougher to make that. Um like I said, a special group had a bunch of seniors. Um the highlights kind of speak for themselves. um they just did a lot

031of things right. Uh we also did that walk to support breast cancer. Just the way they acted in school and after games and how they were respectful to the other teams. Uh there was a lot of moments where they kind of got full of themselves. They could have been one of those types of kids, but they stayed really even keel. It's a credit to their parents and the way they were raised. Uh, but like I said, uh, all the coaches here know what I'm talking about. When you work here, you just know you're in a different place and, uh, you want to stay here for a long time. So, thanks for having us. >> Coach Samard with Unified Volleyball. All right. All right. So, I have a couple of my captains with me, uh, Chris

032Algri and Ava Dolan. And, uh, I also have the wonderful honor of being their teacher. So, I said, "Let's do some ELA real world practice today." So, we did some signage. So, uh, two of my other captains, Elanor Bin and Lee Edmonds, are also at National Honor Society. I think that's a good indicator of the caliber of students that get drawn to uh my team. I also had a couple other students qualify for SMA academic honors. So, uh we get a lot of interesting uh versatile students that come to our program. But first, uh our on the court wins this year that our team identified. We did some brainstorming. Um probably the most uh the number one thing kids brought up uh we did have an undefeated regular season and playoffs. Um, and so that

033perfect record I think is a good indicator of the teamwork, effort, and sportsmanship that our kids displayed. Um, so that's kind of the obvious one that kids throw out at me left and right. But, um, as we talked further and further, I think some other on the court wins. Um, zero injuries. Our athletes and partners played smart, safe, and supportive volleyball all season wrong, and I think that can't be overlooked. Um, we had some major skill growth. Um, as a coach, the areas I tracked the greatest growth were our serving accuracy, serving efficiency, and our, uh, ability to keep multi-shot plays going, uh, keeping the ball alive, longer vols, better communication, and more exciting points, which really jacks the crowd, uh, energy up. So, those are awesome to see. Um, and then strong community connections.

034We built friendships and had great shared moments with athletes and staff from Morris, Thornton Academy, Gardener, and Oxford Hills. and we saw all those squad squads twice um and got to see familiar faces uh on those squads. Our off the court wins which had also recognized too uh thanks to uh Mike and Jordan in the athletic department, we got to rock out brand new uniforms this year. So the kids were uh big fans of that. We were looking sharp and that boosted our pride and team spirit. We had a team pizza party mid year and celebrated together with good food, laughter and bonding. It was a nice mid-season uh morale boost. Uh we had a team watch party and gathered as a squad to cheer on uh our partners, the varsity volleyball team during their

035playoff run and help uh join school spirit and building community together. Uh we featured an online team store for unified volleyball merchandise for our families and the greater school community and helped build a little visibility which I'm shamelessly wearing right now. And then um we had a long uh late night game in Gardener one night. So we decided to turn it into a road trip dinner night. So we had a team meal uh on the road and shared nice time um and had great conversations, great food, and get great memories. Uh and that was another example of an offthe-court win. And then I guess finally I'll close mentioning that we also uh I'll close with two truths and a lie. We had a staff versus students game to end our season and I'll say that

036I really had a good time. I was glad we're able to have it and I'm so satisfied that it ended in a tie. So you can guess which one of those is the lie. But so we're going to end on that note. Thank you. >> Well, thank you for having us tonight and we really appreciate it. And as you can see, our program is focused on education based athletics. And I think you heard some of those principles tonight. And u what the coaches shared with you and um we're very fortunate to have the coaches we have and the student athletes. Uh it's sometimes challenging to be a coach in Scabro and to be a student athlete and I think that all of our coaches and athletes rise to that um responsibility and and occasion. So,

037we thank you for having us tonight. >> Thank you so much, Mike. >> Are there any comments? Yeah, please. >> Um, just as I think this was a really good example of a competing interest, right? We have a lot of athletes that would have liked to have been here, but they had other another important event to attend. And so we're we're sad to miss some of the faces that we usually see. Um but really um am really proud of what I heard. We are so proud of winners. Uh Scar Broccer, incredible season. It's impossible not to be excited when you have winners. >> But I heard a lot of lessons this season. I heard a lot about building. I heard a lot about evolving into new ways of learning how to to get better. a

038letter about graduating seniors, which is hard for a team to recover from, right? It's hard to to form new teams. Um, even though every year you do that, um, I heard about a lot of community service and a lot of lessons learned and that's really as important, if not more important than the wins. It's easy and so much fun to be on a winning team and I I I want that for all of you. U, but more important is the lessons that you're going to take forward into your future. So, perseverance, the losses may teach you more than the wins, even though the wins feel a lot better. Um, and the work that you put in, the dedication to your studies, the fact that half half of the group here, I know, is over there

039and we're missing so many people because they are able to keep their academics up while they still uh dedicate a lot of time um and dedication to the programs here by by you know, on and off the field. So with practices and also the extra work that I know you all are putting in to get yourselves ready for the season. And I'm just we are so incredibly I'm speaking for other people now. We're so incredibly proud um of all of you. And again I'm listening for the team that's coming together. Um the people who are moving into leadership positions on their team and they haven't before. you know, doing community service, waking up at 7 amate is is dedication. And those are the lessons that are going to serve you in the future. And the

040wins again feel great, but really those lessons are why we are so excited about hearing from you and so excited about what you bring to this school environment because our school is great for so many reasons. Um, and you are a very important part of that reason. >> Thank you. Any other comments? Can I just share one more thing that I forgot to mention and I'm terribly sorry I forgot to mention it but we're very very proud this year that our football team won the sportsmanship award for class A and that's a you know state championships are wonderful too. It shows the hard work that kids do but I think the sportsmanship banner also shows that um you know that that program is doing all the right things. It's voted on by their peers and

041it's a great um award as well. Um, I I too was going to mention that, Mike. Um, I I think um it's interesting for me and for many of us up here being parents and having kids that have gone through this program and played my son played football with some of you and I um to see the the absolute turnaround that that program has made and to know that you won a sportsmanship award should mean more to you than anything else you're going to ever hear and win because you know the both of you have played for four years. you know the turnaround that this team has made and that is unbelievable and you should be so so proud of that work and so proud of that effort because that is not us any of

042us or your coach or your teachers telling you that is your peers that have said to you hey we see you and we see what you've done and we see the improvement you made and that is a huge deal huge deal we um sometimes I think we forget we get really excited about the wins of course and um but sometimes I think we forget we're we all have a hand in raising humans and helping them to be good humans. And so that to me, the fact that um you won that is an incredible honor and I to me um I'm super proud of it personally and um from this role as well. So congratulations to that. the boys soccer team. I have to tell you that is um a amazing season and an amazing championship

043game and you have done great work and um I I think everyone up here has worked hard in the face of some tremendous adversity this year and it is this has been a tough year and um probably your class more so than any other has really felt it and the fact that you still show up for each other, you show up for your your team, you show up for yourselves, it means a lot. So, um, thank you. Thank you for all you've done. Thank you for what you continue to do, and I hope you have an amazing rest of the school year. >> All right. Thank you guys so much for coming. You're welcome to stay. Every time I say you're welcome to stay in and stay with us. >> Most people don't. >> I

044know most most athletes normally stay, I should say. >> Thank you. All right. Agenda item 8.0 O is the superintendent report which Ry I think will be your chance to fill in tonight. Thank you. >> Um first we have the enrollment data which is remained fairly consistent but just to put you out to see where we are is the current snapshot of the end of November. Um and then um the big news is earlier this week Katrina Ospac uh Christina uh Katarina Ospac uh had an amazing honor um getting selected for the US youth senate uh program in DC. Um there was an awards ceremony at the high school with representatives from both Collins and Senator King's office as a as well as the deputy commissioner of education of the state of Maine. Uh it's

045an amazing opportunity to go down to Washington DC and you know she will sit in on addresses by the Senate uh senators and cabinet members and Supreme Court justice justices and other national leaders as well. and also for her own, she also will be getting a $10,000 scholarship awards and the whole trip to DC is paid for. Uh, and there's only two people from each state that are selected. So, this is a an amazing thing that um she was able to be selected be one of the two from the state of Maine. >> That's so incredible. >> Thank you, Ray. >> And congratulations, Katrina. Yeah, >> I just had a question for about the selection process. Did she How does that happen? I'm just curious anybody know >> um I believe the section is it's

046a selection process where uh they do apply for this and they from all over the state apply and um then there is a selection team you know through the department of ed in conjunction with DC on that's how they're selected. So it's a it's a very competitive >> selection pro and rigorous and something that is looked very fondly upon like when you're applying to colleges to >> be that's amazing. So it's we should really be proud this >> No, it's an amazing college. >> Absolutely. >> All right. Agenda item um 9.0 is a chair report. I have a few things this evening. Um uh let me Okay, we can go that side. Thank you. These are our two upcoming workshops um in December and the 18th and January 15th. Um the 18th is how uh

047how the district is using data to inform where our students are. So we hear more about that in December. And then our January workshop is um our opportunity as a board to create a definition of DEI and what that means for Scar Bro specifically. So, um those are our two upcoming workshops. Um we do, if you could go to the next slide, our post, um post-referendum building committee application is live. Um it did open December 1st, which was our goal as a board. Um it is closing December 15th. So, um to date, um as of before I walked into the policy meeting, we had 10 applicants so far. So, um, pretty good interest o since it's just been open the last few days. Also, um, unfortunately the, um, I missed the cut off for the

048town newsletter. The communications manager is out of town for the holiday and so she had scheduled it in advance. Um, and so I did, she and I have been talking to see if there is another way to inform the larger community about the application process through their channels. and she is going out with a committee um townwide committee update newsletter and she's going to include it in that. So, it'll get out to the town and then she will run a last um on the 15th um a last um an article in the newsletter on the 15th about the last day to apply. So, um that has gone out. We I know our communications committee has posted on our Facebook page. Um community groups have shared it. So, it's word is getting out that we're having

049that we are doing this committee. Um, John Kellaher and I are going to be the two board members that serve on this. Um, and then the other important dates that are upcoming is the selection committee is going to meet on December 16th and they're going to select the community members that will join the the board. I mean, I'm sorry, join the committee. And then the first committee meeting is targeted for mid January. It looks like those meetings will be Tuesday evenings at six o'clock and those will be monthly meetings. Um, did you have a question on this? Do you want me to? >> Yeah, I did. Did you mention that they're also going to put that uh the town will put that on their Facebook page or did I miss that? Can I shall I

050ask? >> No, they are they um Allison did say she would do >> Oh, excellent. Thank you. >> Yes, thank you. >> Um Okay. Okay. And then my last update is yesterday the um town council had a workshop on school impact fees. And so was really interesting to sit in um to take a step back what they're doing. The council is considering increasing the impact fee that is assigned to development in the in Scarboro. And so um yesterday was really an overview about how they arrived at the new number that the council is considering. So, um, what an impact fee is is it's a fee that's paid by developers and that fee is to fund infrastructure that's needed to support the growth that comes with developing a town. That's the purpose of it. Um, and

051what was interesting yesterday is that I didn't I didn't really um know this until yesterday, but impact fees cannot be used for operational expenses. They cannot be used for existing deficiencies. um it cannot be used to um deter growth. So those are things so you can't charge a really high um impact fee in the hopes that developers won't pay it and won't want to come here, right? So um there are some some rules around how you how you do this. Um so it has to be um for growth that is coming because of the development. It can't be because we have an insufficient building right now. So, um, the current or growth ordinance, the way that it's read, in the next 30 years, which would be what we would bond a school, a project for,

052we we can expect to have 7,800 units built in Scarboro over those next 30 years. And so, um, she went through the math essentially in her calculations and what she was arriving at is how much of the cost of the project can we rate can we collect through impact fees? that's what she was arriving at. Um, and based on the calculations, it's about 20.7% of the cost of this of the project. And the cost is the cost that the voters just approved plus interest over the 30 years. So, we can um we can collect 20.7% or in other words, that's $52 million. So, a pretty substantial amount. Yeah. That means and what that means is that developers pay that taxpayers do not. >> So it's a huge amount to help offset the cost of the

053project. So um the largest contributor to that would be a single family home and then it kind of the chart goes down from there. It go it it runs the gamut from mobile homes all the way up to a single family home and every residential property in between and they each are assigned a different value. the residential single family homes um are estimated to double in expense. So the fees would be um it was it was under 12,000 like 11 and some change is what they would be estimated per single family home that developers would pay. >> That's the new fee. >> That's the new proposed fee. Yeah. So the council right now what's happening is K uh Karen um who is from works at Sedco she was the one with Tom working on this

054workshop um they have provided all of this information to the council. Now the finance committee has already reviewed it so it looks like it will go to council fairly in fairly short order. What that specifically means I am unsure. What I did hear yesterday is that there is an appetite to get this um get this new fee structure passed before the um ordinance bill that the state level passes through. So, um I suspect that we'll see this on the town agenda um town council agenda sooner rather than later. Um >> I had a question when >> Yeah, of course. I'm I'm done. So, go ahead. So will that um mean that once those fees are collected they will go towards we will still bond 130 million and that will then I'm just curious of how

055it affects the bonding. >> Yeah. The way um I had asked um Kate about this actually before we came in um to try to understand that as as well. It sounds like because you don't know when those fees are coming. Remember this is 7,800 units over 30 years, right? So you have to you only get the money as the developer pays that fee. So what the the past practice has been um that that money pays down the bond >> because you you know that you need this bonded amount, right? Or this amount to to fund the project. So you take it out in tanches and then you don't know if you're going to have those fees yet. Got it. So, um I I did suggest um in between the workshop and the council meeting yesterday,

056um I did suggest that this is something that would be really good to explain to the residents in a very clear way because this is a different mechanism, right? But this is an absolute cost savings to residents. And so really trying to flesh out how to talk about this in a way that makes sense and that's understandable and easy to digest is important. Um, so hopefully hopefully there will be some some more communication and that would be a good point too. >> So potentially it would reduce the property tax impact on residents. >> Yes. Because and so the total cost that Karen was working with is about $251 million. So that's the cost of the project plus interest over the life of the loan. And so this um what this would if if you think

057about that if we did not have these impact fees the residents would be paying that entire bill. This impact fee what it does is it allows us to um use that this pot of money to pay down that bond. >> Yeah. >> Did did I understand? So it can't go to pay like current deficiencies, but it can go So how how does that work? >> Uhhuh. >> Yeah. >> So like you couldn't tap this pot of money for operational cost. So the regular school budget to to operating cost or to like repair capital gain not capital long-term planning projects, roofs, a boilers like repair projects. Yes. >> But the building that we're building is not being built to you know it will cure deficiencies by being built because but the purpose of it is to

058enlarge the size to accommodate future expectation of growth. >> That's exactly >> which driven by the building. So there's connections the more building equals more children which is what's connecting which is why we're going to run out of space. Okay. >> And so that is an acceptable use of school impact fees. And the reason why is they don't want you to start charging fees to pay for essentially past problems. It's a future the purpose of it is to is to is connected to the growth that's that's caused by the by the building. And so the school building is a direct result of the growth in Scar Bro and the ex including the expected units that are coming online. That's part of our the way they calculated out, >> right? That's the way they calculated. That's

059what that was question that I had. >> Yeah, they used the um so one of the calculations Karen did was she looked at the current capacity of the buildings and then she looked at the future capacity with the additions and renovations and the difference between th those two numbers is what she was using to get to the 20.7%. >> Yeah. >> So, yeah. So you can't we couldn't say that the current building that houses 20 kids, for example, we're going to use impact fees to correct that building. But we could say a building made for 57 people, we that 37 student difference, that's that we can use the impact fee on. Yeah, it's a it's a pretty nuanced conversation and that's why I think the way that they think about um communicating this is going

060to be really important because it's a very it's very specific, right? and what you can and can't pay for. So, this is why I think in the past um when people have asked about it, I I remember someone asking and uh it being said it somewhere that um there has to be a new project on the table, right? And I think that that's why because you're really talking about the the growth that's coming to the town because of those developers developments. >> I mean, the key is to think about impact fees. So in future impact so that it's >> future Yeah. future projection. >> Yeah. >> When we were, you know, giving out information saying, "Okay, your taxes are going to go up x amount >> each year, were we taking into consideration these fees

061already?" No. Or so. So it can depending on what growth is per year it will it will slide up or down based on that. Okay. >> Yeah. Absolutely. So that um I like to call that um tax impact model the worst case scenario because that's what that was. That was the worst case scenario without taking into account anything the council could do to reduce the burden. You have a question? Go ahead. Ask us. Ask away. >> They're going to take that out annually. Like, so like at the end of every year, they'll be like, "Oh, this is what you know, there were three houses built. There's only $33,000 in there and then apply that annually or is it going to be a different >> I I don't know. Yeah, that piece. I don't know. I'm

062not sure how frequently they they do that." And um that was one of the things Kate said that making sure residents understand that like if it happens in little fits and spurts, it still will add up right over the course of >> It'll be interesting to hear what plan they put forward. And yeah, I'm looking forward to that. >> Yeah. Yeah. I think it'll be um like I said, I'll keep an eye on and see when it I didn't even I thankfully um I was notified that this was on the agenda. I actually had missed it. So, um, I'll just keep an eye out for when they have it for discussion. One other piece that they did discuss, um, and I'm fairly certain what I heard them, Lana, there there's a lot of discussion around

063affordable housing and if they if those developers should should pay the same fee as a regular nonaf I don't even know what the verbiage is, the correct politically correct verbiage is, but a standard project. Um, and where I think that they they sounded like they were landing was that affordable housing developers should still pay an impact fee just the same as a standard developer would pay. So, um, I I feel I feel certain that that's right. It's the same impact to the infrastructure, right? It doesn't it doesn't matter if it's a standard project or an affordable housing project, there's still an impact to the infrastructure. And so I believe I heard them the council indicate that that's what they were headed in that direction that the the affordable housing developers would pay the same fee.

064So it would be anybody interested in developing residences in Scarboro. All right. Any other questions for me? All right. Agenda item um uh 10.0 out our committee reports and we will start with Charlotte. Um so for the community outreach committee, we last met on November 20th. Um and our next meeting will be December 18th at 5:00 p.m. Um but at our last meeting, we did a bit more work on the senior citizen dinner. And I just wanted to talk a little bit about like the importance of the the senior citizen dinner. Um because it fosters intergenerational connection. It really strengthens community relationships and deepens understandings across age groups. Um, it's another meaningful opportunity for senior residents to engage with staff, students, and board members. And then I also wanted to just note that it directly

065supports goal 2 by increasing two-way engagement between the district and the broader community. Um but then even more so the student and extracurricular activities participation um showcasing that and um helping our senior residents see the um you know the variety of amazing programs we have and like what our students are really up to. Um just wanted to kind of touch on that because I feel like I'm brief with my updates. Um so moving on. Oops. Sorry. That's not what I wanted to do. Um, we were also able to, um, finalize our community survey for our winter forum. Um, so that'll be going out soon. It's linked here. Um, this survey gathers input from residents about the topics they most want to hear about. Um, also helps us identify barriers barriers to participation. Um, because we

066really want the most participation we can have. And uh the date will your answers will guide us on the date that we'll choose. Um and I think that's it. >> Thank you very much, Charlotte. All right, Jillian. Curriculum. >> All right, so we last met on the 24th. Um and uh Katie has been giving us little bits of um information instead of like a full full presentation of the um fall assessment. She's been giving us a little bit every meeting and then she will present to the whole board. Um I personally appreciate that because it's a lot of information to digest. So um and she's she's really good at explaining those things. So um but some of the things that she mentioned were the median uh test scores for assessments remain high in the high

067average for the district. Um there were little you know ups and downs here very fairly stable. Um the the scores were reormed for fall 2025. Um so it makes that comparison a little bit more difficult and that happens every so many years. um you know as as a new uh group of students uh come through um the tests that they take are untimed. Uh I didn't know that. I I kind of I kind of thought they were timed. I like that they're not timed, but the kids generally take about 45 to 50 minutes to complete. Um and the tests are adaptive, which I think is super interesting. um they the questions can get more difficult or easier depending on where the kid is and trying to really get a good baseline for that kid. Um

068so uh and also the tests follow the common core standards. Um so again she will be doing a workshop about that in the spring. Um she we did not go over any budget requests though. She and her team are continuing to work through the math curriculum. Um and they are meeting as a group this month. So we'll be hearing about what they learned about the uh math curriculum. And um then also there's the uh CNA group that um meets every so many years. Uh I forget the number of years had that in my head but um and we discussed that what the selection process for that would be. Uh and Katie said that she would like four to five parents or community members, five to six teachers including a special ed teacher and an academic

069support teacher plus an admin and one to two students. Um I don't know if students have been included in the past. I didn't think so, but I thought that was a really great addition and I I like the way she uh thinks about it. So, we will be working through um how to select parents in upcoming weeks and then of course John is the liaison uh to the uh CNA group. So then we'll hear about it more from him. Okay. >> Can I ask what CNA? Uh >> it comprehensive needs assessment. Thank you. I was going to say the wrong thing again. I want to say I always >> You want to say certified nursing assistant? >> No. No, but yes. No, I want to always say community needs assessment. I don't know why I

070I I always want to say that. Anyway, that's that. Um we're meeting next January 5th. >> Was there um any areas of concern she noted in the fall assessment? >> No. No. No. Um no major changes? No. I mean, I'm sure as they're working through the data, um, they will keep us up to date on any significant changes. Um, but it seems like the kids are >> holding strong. >> That's good. >> I did have a question about reorming. Is that done like on a regular basis? And is it timed with what I mean, do all school districts reorm at the same time? Yeah, the >> I think the um the the st the like the >> the people who make the standards are reorming based on the cohort of students, right? It's like a

071national >> that's when she talks about the reorming that's with the >> NWA test and every three to four years and it does vary a little bit with them but it's pretty consistent in that time frame. they'll look at because the whole back end of NWA is based on national uh percentages. So like if you scored at the 50th percent and everyone's score goes up, >> you know, then they want to reorm to get to find out what truly is the 50th percent. So like traditionally before co that kept reorming up and then it reormed down and now it's reorming up you know but that is something that happens and it's a national and it's the company that we provide provides us the test does the reorming all and it's all just a mathematical formula

072>> and then one last question do do we as a school district look at you know how we are doing pre versus postcoid is that something that we've paid attention to. I know this is kind of I'm I'm new so I'm maybe a little bit out of my field but >> yeah I mean absolutely and then like really what we look at is that data like you know we get a reading score but then we'll dig in much deeper into that reading score you know is it comprehension is it you know fluency is it you know do we need to work on our you know phonics do we need to work you know what do we need to work on so we'll dig in quite deep into uh a general score to find out you

073know what areas of the curriculum do we need to focus the most on >> to go back in time. >> Yeah. Yeah. We you know we they've you know that has happened you know you know before you know I was here and now continued moving forward with that and really looking at like what are the kids we like you know we definitely look back but like right now like looking at the kids we have and what do we need to how we need to adapt what we're teaching them to you know fill their gaps. Can you explain too that the testing changed? So that's something important for Cy to know as we go into this. I mean it's going to be a little bit for this workshop but the testing change the model changed. So

074the scores like we weren't able to compare a couple of years there. So there for a number of years the state used the what was called the MEA main um which was the test that all kids got and then I want to say seven or eight years ago the state switched to the NWA and we did the NWA. Now they're getting ready to put out a new RFP uh for uh next year or the year after to look at a new test. So when we go from one assessment to another, >> it's hard to look at that over time because they're not apples to apples and who you're being compared with is different with that. Uh so we do you know there is the possibility that we could be going to another assessment moving forward.

075Um and then you know when they reorm you know even though it's the same test it is a it is a bit different. Okay. >> Yeah, it's been it seems to me it's been um and again like I I I say this with the full understanding that I don't have a ton of knowledge in this area, but it seems that it's been difficult to track nor trends over a long period of time because something is constantly shifting. >> I think I think that's a good >> Yeah. the change. >> Yes. Yes. And so every time we try as a board to like look at this, it's very hard to to to map a trend. >> Yeah, it's a little frustrating. >> All right. Um Okay, what else? >> Finance. >> Where are we? Finance. Thank

076you, Mitchell. >> So, we met on the 24th last month. you like the little clip art that we needed something to look at. Uh we were looking at considering um some of the DB policies which are um policies essentially saying hey create a um budget. We were looking at condensing those making them all work together and we talked with Freo a little bit about bringing that into the policy committee. Um, we reviewed the fiscal year 26 calendar um to for making the next budget and talked about moving the budget workshops up um a week so we had a little bit more time to digest and look over the budget and figure it all out. Um, and also tried to fit in people's schedules a little bit better other than cramming a whole week of budget.

077Kind of spread it out a little bit. And then um we also reviewed our light line light line item transfer process which is a little strange having the boat not the boat the board vote on it and we were looking at possibly seeing if there's any way we can change that or anything to help kind of simplify that process throwing it into like reports or anything. Our next meeting will not be the last uh Monday. Yeah, last Monday night of the month because that's the holiday season. So we moved it up to the 15th. >> Oh, very nice. All right. Thank you. All right. Negotiations and policy. >> I fixed it for you. >> It's cool. >> I It was I We weren't even going to say anything about it. Leave that to >> K.

078>> You made sure to let him know. >> So, um been negotiations. Uh we've been in contact with our Muma partners and we actually sat down with them this week. So I'm very excited uh to know that we are kicking off the next contract negotiations. Um it's the EDTE contract. Um and which is not exactly true. It's more inclusive. It's it's more expansive than that, but that's that's a it's a big contract and an important one because it's an area where we would like to build um our staff up because we are have a lot of openings for edtech. We want to make sure that our compensation is not interfering with our ability to hire good people to serve in that very important role. >> You want to continue on policy? >> I would love

079to. This is a beautiful slide. I love this slide. Uh this is the work that we have to do as a policy committee. This is on the agenda. Um so we met this afternoon actually before we uh came to this meeting. We were meeting um upstairs. Uh we've been doing uh meetings by monthly. So, kind of doubling down to try to get uh caught up on some of the policies and um we you will see on your lefth hand side a number of policies that we're going to run through later today. Uh some are old so they're here for second reading and hopefully they'll be done. Um and then a bunch for first reading to introduce to you all so we can get going on those. Um our next meeting date is December 12th which

080is in fact next week. Uh trying to get again trying to get caught up. Um on the right hand side is the under discussion policies. These are um in our agenda and available uh for for folks who want to know what's coming up. Um we are desperately trying to get our working with town facilities naming policy done um by the end of the year, which is a commitment we made and I think where we will be on track to do that. Um and we also um are working on complaints against school personnel, public concerns and complaints, a social media policy um and then going through um board officers and continuing the B suite that hasn't been looked at and that's governance um having to do with what the board is doing. Um our agendas are

081available online and our meeting minutes um as well if you want to know what's been going on. Uh we I'll get that agenda for next week posted ASAP and um we'll go from there. >> All right. Thank you. Are there any questions for anyone on their reports? All right. Agenda item um 11.0 are leazison on reports. Are there any any reports? >> I Oh, I have one. I I uh spoke to Bill Donovan today. He is the um lesson on to the school board. uh he was interested in um uh the work that we were doing around the committee and so he's been keeping up the building committee. So he's been keeping up with that. Um he did let me know that um they welcomed Michelle Hayes and welcomed back Karen Shupe last night and

082that uh Corey Fellows was chair and Larry Keane is vice chair and Larry will also serve on our committee. So um that was pretty much it in a nutshell. Of course the conversation around the impact fees um uh impacts us really but um uh you know they don't have they haven't fully solidified that yet. So more to come on that >> and uh Shannon's already keeping up with that. So that's pretty much it. >> Very good. And did you >> this was almost three or four weeks ago, but I went to the vocational uh meeting and it was a very nice breakfast. Um it was a lot of um you know they had to update their bylaws, but then we did get um some wonderful presentations from three students in the electrical program. um including

083one young lady and there was a lot of discussion about how to recruit more young women into the trades because it's a you know they're not getting as many um female students as they used to. They want to see why because this is you know potentially you know a great avenue for women. So they wanted they were talked a lot about that about how how to recruit more women to the trades. Um um and they were just very impressive students and even though they were uh particularly like the young lady even though she was doing the you know electrical master electrician program she still plans to go to college and to you know so it's very interesting sort of dynamic set of students who have different reasons for doing you know vocational educational >> that's

084awesome that's very cool >> we just learned um when Cy joined the the VO um vocational committee that they get breakfast when they go to a certain school. It's one of the >> it was a very nice breakfast by the you know culinary students. So very impressive. So >> yeah. Yeah. It's very very educational, very cool. >> All right. Um given that our both of our students are at the National Honor Society, um one being inducted, one already inducted, um we will bypass the agenda item 12.0 I know which is the student reports. Um, agenda item 13.0 is general public comment. Is there anyone online? Okay. So, we will go ahead. Seeing none, we will go ahead and close general public comment. Um, and we can come off the slide deck now too. Agenda item

08514.0 is continuing business. 14.1 is the governance document. um in your materials was um a a couple of updates to the governance document that we just approved at our last meeting. Um, and so to give you some background into why there you'll see these changes um because the community services director is uh has a seat at the table in this committee and because um Larry is the counselor that is assigned to this this role. Um Tom Hall is comfortable in serving in a different capacity for this committee. Um and that would be a non- voting advisory role. Um so the changes that you see in the document reflect that. So essentially what we have at what I what's been added is that non- voting advisory member description. Um what's also been added is that the

086community members instead of being five members there will be six and so that'll keep us at a 15 body 15 person body. Um the other thing that was removed was the the um throughout the document the different spots in which Tom or the town manager would have served a role. We just removed those those roles. So um those are the changes. Um it is on the website as well. Um but do first are there um any questions about the changes about the new document? Okay. Do I have a motion to approve the new document as presented? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Is there any discussion? All in favor? And that shows unanimous. Thank you so much. All right. So Cheryl, I'll get you that to um post to. All right. Agenda item 14.2 Two

087is approval of the board operating protocols. So these were the operating protocols we worked on at our last workshop. Um also in your materials. Do I have a motion to approve the board operating protocols as presented? >> So moved. Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? And that shows unanimous. Thank you so much. Um, agenda item 14.3 is a second reading of policy EBB, temperature standards in the schools. Frea, you want to take this up? >> Um, yeah, I um would move to table the temperature standards in the school policy EBB, which is for second reading. Uh, we tabled this last meeting because we had a new policy um for consideration that we wanted to discuss. We did have an opportunity to do that. At today's meeting, we have substantially changed the draft. And in

088order to give uh folks up here and in the community the ability to review that prior to final adoption, I would move um I'm moving to table it to the next uh scheduled meeting, regularly scheduled meeting. >> Second. >> Um All right. So, we have a motion and a second. Any discussion? >> What would be some of the changes? >> It was completely gutted and rewritten. small changes. >> It's it's it's >> a completely different policy. >> Completely different. >> I think the problem that we had um I'll speak for myself the policy the problem I had is that this was a very to me a very arbitrary policy and um I quite frankly um if I'm being really honest I I wasn't sure why we were making a policy that directed a temperature in

089a building. Um and it felt very arbitrary to me because we were just selecting numbers. I have no idea what's acceptable and what's not as temperature as it relates to temperatures. And as Todd stated, um we can heat our buildings really easily. Our high school, for example, is not airond conditioned. And right now, neither are our um K2 schools. And so, um the the hot the hot side like when to cool down is what's difficult for us. And not only us, it's other districts in Maine. And so, um, when we initially wrote it, it felt to me very arbitrary. And what ended up happening was another district wrote one that was a little bit broader, a little bit more encompassing of the things I think we were all fairly concerned about. And so that's why

090it's a total rewrite. And before we had kind of using our common sense again, none of us felt qualified to determine what the proper temperature for a school building should be and what the what the standard deviation that's acceptable would be. Um we ended up pinninging it to the OSHA standards which is which is workplace which are ridiculously broad but OSHA does actually are the experts and professionals and what's an appropriate working environment and we felt comfortable. It was clear that the other school relied on the OSHA standards and we felt very comfortable with somebody determining who is an expert in the field what those should be. >> Thank you. >> All right. So we any other discussion? All in favor of tableabling and that's unanimous. Thank you. Agenda item 14.4 is a second reading

091of policy BDE which is the board standing committees. Um we did no work on this um since the last time it came before you. Um it essentially just establishes our committees and some norms um and the expectations about how they operate. Um I'm happy to take any questions to clarify, but we have made no changes since first reading. >> All right. Do I have a motion to approve the second reading of policy BDE board standing committees as presented? So >> moved. Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? That is unanimous. Thank you. Agenda item 14.5 is the second reading of policy BDER. Oh, I should have done these together. I'm sorry. Board standing committee operating procedure. Similarly to the board um operating uh policy is sort of the guidance and the policy. This document is

092a companion document that just lays out the procedures for operating the committees. Um again there are no changes that we um discussed. We got no feedback on this policy. Um, and it's it's substantially similar to the one that came that is in effect right now. So, happy to take questions to clarify. Um, but again, I don't this there was not no work done on this between the last time you saw it. >> All right. Do I have a motion to approve the second reading of policy BDER, board standing committee's operating procedure? >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? And that's unanimous. Thank you so much. Um 14.6 is the second reading of policy DJR, Federal Procurement Manual, Administrative Procedure. >> Um this again, there was no changes between the first time you saw this.

093I just as a reminder, um we did not review this policy and change it substantially. This is mostly mandated in federal law. Um but we made one change because the DOE here requires us to have a longer retention uh policy. So the only changes are on page 10 and there's seven references to our record retention policy that we move the seven years to come into compliance with the Department of Education. Again, we haven't received any comments on this. Um most people don't spend a lot of time reading procurement manuals because they want to stay sane, but I'm happy to try to clarify them if I can. >> All right. Do I have a motion to approve the second reading of policy DJR federal procurement manual administrative procedure? So >> move second. Any discussion? All in

094favor? And that shows unanimous. Thank you. Um 14.7 is the second reading of policy IIB class size. >> So this policy um was probably the most substantial of the ones that we were looking at for second reading. Um we received no feedback on it and did no work on it. Um just as a reminder, the way we arrived at these levels is um we had Diane and Ray to discuss it with the leadership team and the building administrators what were the appropriate what what we are currently doing and what's appropriate. Um we are adopting these in part because when we were doing our forecasting for building size and what our needs are going to be um one of the the thing one of the things that became discussed was how many students can we put

095in a classroom, how many students should we put in a classroom and we made some assumptions. So this policy will bring um our policies in line with the assumptions that we used in designing our building project. >> All right. Okay. Do I have a motion to approve the second reading of policy III class size as presented? >> So move. >> Second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? >> And that shows unanimous. Thank you. Agenda item 15.0 is new business. I'm going to bundle 15.1, 15.2, and 15.3. This is the first reading of policy JNDB, student computer and internet use. First reading of policy JN DBR, the student computer and internet use regulations and the first reading of policy JN DBE, which is the student computer internet use acknowledgement form. So this policy is really um

096important and foundational. Uh we consulted with and actually Jen Nefer Day who is our technology expert um for both the town and the school um did a lot of did the drafting of this policy um to bring it in line with sort of the town goals and best practices and she did a tremendous amount of work and I thank her for that work in developing these policies. Um this policy would govern student computer and internet use um that is broad that's like literally all the technology in the school. Um and it's it applies to all the devices um that are that are the devices that we issue to students and where wherever they're used. Um the privatelyowned computer devices, you may recall we went through that policy. That's in a different policy um that we

097we reviewed extensively last year. Um, this policy just kind of lays out um, pretty much what what it does is refer to a handbook that's reddrafted every summer that is specifies the rules and regulations for um, uh, internet and technology use um, in the school on school devices. The last time we looked at this policy was 2013 and the technology landscape has shifted quite a bit in the last 12 years. Um so this policy is overdue in terms of being updated given the subject matter. Um the second part of it which is the one that ends in R so IG and DB-R that is the regulations. So we have a policy that's guidance and then we have the specific procedures or regulations. This is regulations and it goes through what the acceptable uses are, what

098prohibited uses are um and very specifically um and then you know loss damages, student security and then rules for laptops um and um and then additional use for privately owned computers um and other electronic devices that are connecting to our internet. So that's that's how we sort of have some um we have some uh control over them. And what Jennifer Day has done is there's two internet uh there's two networks in the school. There's the internet which is our devices are on and any outside devices connect to a guest network and that's for security so that there is no ability or limited ability for bad actors and inadvertently or intentionally to get on the network and infect uh as the computers that the school owns and operates. Obviously that's a a big deal. Um it

099also talks a little bit about Google Google work space which is a program that is used throughout the district. Um finally the last uh the last policy that's connected to that is the Dash E. That's the acknowledgement form at the beginning of every school year. every student and parent well every every student who's appropriate age and parent signs um an acknowledgement form stating that they'll be they will follow these policies and procedures and the handbook that is issued again by the by um through the school department every single year and it's updated every single year um which really kind of gives the the minutia of what the of what the rules and regulations are. These are more large kind of macro level. And then in the handbook, it has everything you could think of. It's

100a pretty extensive document for any parent who signed it. Um, most parents worry about how much the insurance is and what it covers for the breakage and loss that they all anticipate having at some point in our homes. Um, anyway, happy to answer any questions uh about this. Uh, the one I want to call out one thing. Um we had an incident um at the school uh regarding a K through well a primary school or actually not primary school a three through five uh grade um use of technology at home. So previously precoid again we're going back five years now almost six the um uh students in in grades K through five did not ever take their Chromebooks home and only students in six through 12 did. Um there's been changes um with co everybody

101brought their Chromebooks home um for a few years and then um subsequent to that there's been a change in policy. K through2 never take their Chromebooks home but three through five there is some latitude with where their Chromebooks are and where they're allowed to be. And so uh as a policy committee we talked about it and um we are are going to ask Diane to look at what happened look at um the situation in terms of what um is appropriate for Chromebook usage at home for that grade phase which is essentially Wentworth 3 through 5 um and make some recommendations to this board at some point you know in the next few months um at a timeline that she determines um about sort of educating us and anybody who's interested and technology is a big

102um is a big topic of interest in our community about what's actually going on on the ground and what what's appropriate and sort of balance the cost of maintaining Chromebooks off the off premise which in theory maybe leading to breakage which is expensive um also security and appropriate use of those books um with the with the ages that we're talking about which are you know 8 to 11 year olds for the most part which is a fairly um they're young right making decisions so you're respons responsible for those types of devices. So, we're asking her to do that and the goal is to be able to encapture any sort of recommendations that come from that into the handbook this summer that would be rolled out in the fall. Um, if we do go ahead and

103adopt these policies finally, it would require uh the school district to get the signature for every student and parent again mid year, which would be a little bit of a challenge. Um, but we're trying to time it so that it happens when uh, uh, everybody comes back after winter break as kind of a natural restarting of school again. So, if we're able to do that, great. If not, I'm sure the school district will adjust and be able to uh, handle it appropriately. Um, but that was sort of the the reason we're sort of moving this ahead right now. >> Happy to take questions. So just the process of rolling these out is are you going to come to already a first reading of these or what? >> So this would be the first reading. Um

104we will then move it to second reading. So at the next the second uh school board meeting in December, it would be on for second reading and um I will if we hear any comments from a board member, the community member or anyone else, we would evaluate that. We're having a a meeting of the a policy committee next week. that we would be able to review any changes that were brought forward and we would I would do this introduction with any changes um at that second reading. I don't anticipate a lot of changes in this policy. It's fairly um congruent with our original policy. It's just really updated and it's there's not there's nothing in here that I anticipate being super complicated. It's like you can't you know you can't use the internet to look

105at inappropriate images or do things that are illegal. Um, so that like the guidelines are are fairly they're fairly common sense. Um, they're not they're not um again the minutia of the policy, how it actually works for students and parents is really in that handbook and that gets rolled out every summer. And that handbook is is not changing for the school year. So that handbook is was done it was rolled out in September. It's published on the website for folks who are interested in looking at it. I encourage you to look at it. Every parent of a student has agreed to abide by it. So, um, I'm not giving legal advice to anybody, but it's good to read agreements that you enter before you enter them. >> You'll be re-entering them again. Um, because mainly

106what the agreement, the the form acknowledgement says is that you've acknowledged that you've received the handbook and reviewed it and agreed to abide by the policies. The handbook is really the most important when it comes to the how the policies look on the ground. Our policies are very broad. You can't do anything illegal. Clearly, you can't, you know, you can't use it the computer to bully somebody. So, there's these these broad categories that are not not super um again, I don't anticipate any sort of push back like it was like gay for bullying or gay do some gambling on the computer like that's not school device appropriate. >> Okay. One question is is there anything addressing there's so much of AI now integrated into things like Google all of those things and and there's a

107lot of data data mining of of of users so that's one of my concerns I don't know to what degree some of these policies address that >> they are very extensively addressed so AI is not permitted on any school computer um the school is developing its own internal AI which is actually programmed by students and run by the department but it's internal only. So, it's not open source, so it can't be accessed by anyone on the outside. And I believe there's no other AI allowed. But Jennifer Day is our technology like guru. She she usually uh visits us once a year to scare the be Jesus out of all of us with stuff that happens on the internet. Um and she has done AI um there's been an AI uh educational forum. Is it a

108forum or workshop specifically about it and and she it's very locked down. So AI is not so for example she knows that only two students in that phase level have ever accessed chat GBT one person intentionally that was detected and dealt with the second person was on for a millisecond which would suggest that they didn't load chat GBT it was on a page that they were on and it it blooped for a second but when you have a millisecond of access to something that's not an intentional act um you the act of clicking and loading something would will take longer than that so um The devices are very monitored. I want to be really clear. Um our the technology that the school owns has the capability of extensive monitoring about all activity and all use

109and that's agreed to in the handbook um and is appropriate oversight for the ages of the kids that are on this technology. So these devices are not being sent out and allowed to just go wilding on the internet. What kids are doing on their own devices, we do not regulate when they're off school grounds. And I'm sure that there's lots of wilding on the internet there. Um, but it's not something that we have the ability to really um impact. What we can impact is these and these computers are locked down in terms of what what device what uh websites are allowed to to access. There's a lot of security that prohibits um people on these devices from accessing different things. Now, could somebody with the right technological skills get around some of the security measures?

110I'm sure that they could with the right knowledge and and um um training, but you're talking about an a student who's intentionally trying to go around. There's not you don't unintentionally or accidentally flirt with that. Like that's a very intentional educ. You have to become educated on how to do that and then go and do that. And so and once it happens you can our ability to monitor what's happening on those devices is sufficient to to track and hence we know the chat GBT was accessed twice um once intentionally and once not intentionally and so we have that level of minutia available to us and it didn't sound like it took her very long to figure that out. She was like I know exactly what people are doing and I'm like can I just >>

111Yeah, please. One of the things that Jen Day and Katie Vitro, the Cricer, do a really good job is any software that any teacher wants to use has to be approved. And one of the things they do an amazing job is vet the data privacy acts of every single vendor that we bring into it to make sure that it meets our standard. And of all the school districts I know, we have the highest standard that I've seen with that. Absolutely. They, you know, those who take that very seriously and do a great job of protecting our student information. >> Um, another I don't I know this is probably not the right policy. U it's sort of you know the reliance on YouTube reliance on for instruction and you know a a greater desire in to

112some degree to separate children from screens so that instruction is happening not through the through some of these programs but more direct in-person instruction. I know this is not where you internet use, you know, that's another separate issue and I don't know which policy areas that would fall into. that would be this policy. And I think when we ask Diane to look into this um one of the things we're specifically asking for is is data um about that. And we have some good data about the number amount of time that each phase level spends um doing education via a screen. Um and it's very modest particularly at these levels. It grows as children get older, but at this level it's something like an average of 30 minutes a week. It's it's very low. Um, and

113the classes where kids tend to be on devices more are the STEM classes where there might be watching labs or they may be watching experiments or recording experiments. And so there I think and you know if you're doing robotics you're on a you're on a computer. If you're doing developing coding you're you're usually eventually on a computer. And so I think um that information is can be available and and certainly can begin to discuss that. Um, and I know if we're asking Diane to kind of look at we're going to be asking her to review specifically this phase level sort of whether Chromebooks should come home, part of the conversation that we had was um having that information about how often we're having children on screens to learn and sort of at that age, right?

114Because a kindergarter should be on screen a different amount of time than a 12th grader. And yet our policies have to be able to encompass the entire spectrum from prek to 12th grade. and for some students who stay until they're 21. Thank you. >> All right. Do I have a motion to approve the first reading of policy JNDB, student computer and internet use, I JNDBR, student computer and internet use regulations and JN DBE student computer internet use acknowledgement form as presented. Move >> second. >> Any discussion? All in favor? And that is unanimous. Thank you. All right. I'm going to bundle um the next three as well for similar reasons because they all are um the same very, you know, the policy, the regulation, the form. Um so um this is going to be 15.4,

11515.5, and 15.6. The first reading of policy JN DBE student I'm sorry first reading of policy JCSA employee use of school used computer devices in the internet first reading of policy GCS employee computer and internet use regulations and first reading and policy GCSE employee computer internet use acknowledgement form. >> I'm going to spend a little bit less time on this. These look a lot like the student use ones. Obviously, there are some differences between what we permit our staff to do and what we permit our students to do, but they're overall it's the same idea, which is the policy for the appropriate use of computers on school property, the procedures that govern school uh the use of school computers on school property. Well, actually on or off school property, it's the school and computers and

116internet use on the property, and then the acknowledgement form that they have access to these. Um, you will note that the G uh the G Suite governs employees. So that's an that those policies that start with the letter G are all employees. The letter I is for students which is why they are different number. That's why that sort of how they're numbered. Um the policies themselves are very similar. And again these were written by uh Jennifer Day after a lot of I know she put a lot of work into them. We've been talking about revamping these policies. I think they were on our agenda for close to 18 months while she was working on them. And um again these have not been looked at since 2013. So they were ripe for um updating. Happy to

117take any questions. >> There any questions? >> Did you have a question? You look like you're hovering. >> Yeah, I just I I uh basically I don't know what you see where were any where was the most substantial change for the employees if if any >> there are a number of updates um within them. So again, 2013 is a very different landscape for our devices um postcoid and is a has changed how we use technology in everyday lives in a really big way and we can debate whether that's good or bad. It's a different conversation. Um so it's it's mostly just an update but but most like again most of the regulations haven't changed. You can't use school computers or gambling illegal things. Um you can't use you can't do yeah like anything illegal or

118inappropriate um on a school own device. And that's really um what it's about. You know, like the systems, you can't use your computer, a school owned computer to interfere with other devices. You can't misuse the internet at school. It they're actually very similar to the student ones. There's a couple of very slight changes, but the overall like spirit of them have not changed. Um they've just been updated for what we're seeing on the ground in 2025 and what we're anticipating 2026 verse what was going on in 2013. Wasn't quite the MySpace error, but it was close. >> Mitchell, that was a website that was formed before you were >> I know about MySpace. >> I know about dialogue, too. >> I'm in this. >> You know what? AOL >> They still had the CRT TVs

119they rolled into the classroom when I was a student. >> You'll have us know, right? >> I will. >> Oh, you're so kind. Thank you for that. We love food, so that's really appreciated. Thank you. >> Love to give it away. >> Thank you. >> Congratulations. >> All right. Do I have a motion to approve the first reading of policy GCSA, employee use of school use computers, devices, and the internet? First reading and policy GCS, employee computer and internet use regulations. in first reading of policy GCS AE employee computer internet use acknowledgement so moved second >> um any discussion all in favor and that is unanimous thank you so much agenda item 15.7 is the new hire high school winter and spring coaches appointments and um I I want I think I said this but

120I just want to be sure and be clear that um we changed the title on here but the um the listing that is posted on the website did include both. It's just that the title needed to be updated. So, nothing new happened to the to the form that's or the the sheet that's in your materials and is um on the website. >> All right. Do I have a motion or I'm sorry, do you have anything? Do you wanted to >> No, just we have the four coaches. >> Do I have a motion to approve the new high school winter and spring coaches as presented? >> So, moved. >> Second. Is there any discussion? All in favor? And that is unanimous. Thank you so much. Um, agenda item 16.0 is adjournment. With no objections, we will

121adjourn at 8:41 p.m. this evening. Thank you so much and have a good evening.