School Board Workshop/Meeting

001wores at all so with that I would like to welcome everyone to this evening's meeting today is February 25th 2021 and this is a workshop meeting for the Scaro School Board could I have the attendance please sure Mrs gifter yeah Dr Gil yes Miss konus here miss Leighton here Mrs Lindstrom here Mrs cyer here here so with that I would like to welcome everyone to this evening's me and miss gius here did you say my name I couldn't hear you there was like other noise I did say your name oh I'm here I'm so sorry no worries at all we're having a little bit of technical difficulty all around tonight can everyone hear me okay now I heard the Reverb but okay um please join me for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to

002the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty agenda item 4.0 is our Workshop uh rules for school board executive sessions and committee formations and with us tonight we have um attorney Melissa huy from Drummond woodsom and Melissa has prepared the slide deck for us so the floor is yours okay so I'm back to the Pledge of Allegiance I see um so um good evening everybody um as um you just told my name is Melissa huy I think I've met most of you before if not all of you I'm a lawyer at Drummond woodsom and I was asked to just come and talk to you a little bit about um uh executive sessions and committee formation I'm not exactly sure what

003you want to hear about so I put together um a PowerPoint just to kind of get us started but what I really want to do tonight is have a conversation so um is there any way I could you could share the screen and I could just put mine up so that I can use it or is that not possible sure aw except now you're gone um anyway what I was saying was I have a a slideshow but it's really not um the be all and end all what I want to do is have a conversation with you guys and answer any questions you have and sort of go where we want to go so um should I start the slideshow and we should go from there or do you want to throw question at me

004first or how do you want to do this I think having previewed the slides Melissa I think it would be great if you wanted to just get started and this is a workshop um so for us you know that tends to be less formal and so if you're open to taking questions as we go I will monitor the panelist list for little hand raised and uh we'll we'll go that way okay okay perfect so can people see my slideshow yeah yes okay can I make it move who knows yes okay so um I I say here it all starts with the freedom of access act and I just want to um step back for a minute and say that I've been representing School boards and Municipal boards for well longer than you want to know

005probably longer than some people I can tell have been alive um probably most of you um and what I will tell you is that um in my experience I found that a lot of boards or at least some board members on board sort of fight against the freedom of access act um uh they um chafe and they try to you know kind of feel like it's their enemy um some people on the one hand um would rather talk about things sort of privately because they feel like that um is more conducive to an open discussion um so they sort of fight against the the open meeting um part of the freedom of access act and then there are people on the opposite side of that who um feel like transparency is so important that they

006fight against executive sessions and what I try to um encourage people to do is to really understand that this law um is a law um and similar to laws all over the United States um that is really useful to boards um it it really helps you get to where you want to be because um it um enhances public confidence in public entities by preserving really co-equal goals of ensuring transparency on the one hand and that's the open meeting part and protecting privacy where necessary and that's also important that's the executive session part so there are two parts of the to the ACT and both of them are really important um they're really good in Main because they're spelled out pretty clearly um so just to go through it for um a couple of minutes U

007let's see if I can make this work um I like to start really with um what the act itself says um about the purpose of the freedom of access act and what what the um law says is the legislature finds and declares that public procceedings exist to Aid in the conduct of the people's business it is the intent of the legis that their actions be taken openly and that the records of their actions be open to public inspection and their deliberations be conducted openly it is further the intent of the legislature the clandestine meetings conferences or meetings held on private property without private notice and apple ample opportunity for the attendance by the public not be used to defeat the sub chapter so what what it's really saying here is and if you step back

008and think about it it makes sense we elect our public officials and we want to know what they're doing and we want to know how they get there and if we do that if we can see that um open discussion um that really um promotes um public confidence in the board so that's that's why we have freedom of access acts um and that's that's really what the legislature is telling us so um public meeting there has to be um and you guys all know this so I'm going to go through this pretty quickly there has to be um public notice given the um it has to be open to the public meaning that anybody who wants to can attend and a record has to be kept to the meeting um little bit different now in

009covid times um we used to have say that everybody had to come together in a room um now it's um permissible at least while we're in a state of emergency um to do uh have meetings remotely um but the law says that every public official has to be able to hear speak and be heard by the Public Public attendance has to be available and um votes are called by roll call which I know that you all know because I know that you all do that um but it's important to understand that even though um remote meetings have to be um available to the public that doesn't necessarily mean you need to tape them all or you need to stre them all but you do need to make sure that people can come if they want

010to come so still moving on pretty quickly um that the freedom of access act and this is important only applies to public proceedings and it says public proceedings have to be open with limited and specific exceptions and that's really what we're here to talk about um when an executive session can be held so public proceedings are defined as the transaction of any functions affecting any or all citizens of the state by certain enumerated public bodies like the Scaro school department so that means that a meeting you have to have a meeting um and it can be in person it can be over the Internet it can be by email it can be any way that people communicate is defined in the law as a meeting um so that's number one part of the statute number

011two is there has to be a quorum of the body because um what they're talking about here is a meeting where you can transact public business and you all know because I think that you've recently heard from eileene King at msma that a school board can only act um if it's together as a public body um so each of you individually can act and when you're together that's when you can transact business so when we're talking about freedom of access um open meetings we're talking about meetings of a quorum of the school committee and that then obviously the business is being transacted so if you all want to get together at Diane neto's house and celebrate you know St Patrick's Day or something like that that's fine because you're not transacting um public business so

012it doesn't mean that people from the school board can't get together they just can't transact public business when they're together as a quum um so obviously that means that if there are meetings outside of the public meetings that you you all um notice so if that's Communications Group Communications by email or meeting at a school or something like that to transact business um there can be a problem because you haven't noticed the meeting um there probably isn't a record of the meeting and the public can't attempt all those are all things that you know you know but I just wanted to start with um so sort of a an introduction because that gets us into when can we as a board get together and talk about um things privately um and not only when can

013we but when must we that's when there's an executive session and again um the the sort of beauty of the um freedom of access act in Maine is that it's very very specific about when a board can go into executive session so you can pull out the law and look at um uh Title One um the freedom of access act and find out exactly when you can go into executive session and when you should go into executive session and you'll remember and as we talk through the time the types of things um that you're allowed to go into executive session 4 um that the purpose of this is really to protect privacy and protect um the interests um of of people that would be um Prejudice if it's out in the public so when can

014you go into executive executive session um first this that um the the freedom of access act says that you you you can't go into executive session to defeat the um purposes of the sub chapter so in other words when we talked before about how what the law is saying about the freedom of access Act is we want things to be in the public and so if you're going into executive session because you don't want things to be in the public that really is defeating the purposes of the sub chapter where you go into executive session for is to protect the Privacy rights or protect the rights that are set forth in the in the um statute about when you really need to go into um executive session any questions yet I've never been so clear

015or either that or you can't hear me and I I don't even know it who the heck knows we we can hear you Melissa and Alicia has a question go ahead ala Alissa thank you for asking a question it makes me think someone's listening well I think we're all listening and I we I know that I was excited to um have this discussion with you um what about um the committee meetings maybe you're going to get to that later but that's not a quorum of the board but they're conducting board business and so a few slides back were those all ANS um that all three of those factors needed to apply that um you know that there needed to be a quorum and you needed to be conducting board business yes so you're not really

016conducting board business as a committee if you've got a couple of people say a couple of board members and maybe you've got some administrators maybe you've got some students maybe you've got some community members or whatever and that committee isn't conducting board business what it's doing is studying something usually to make recommendations to the board and then the board from there is going to take those recommendations and that information that the um that it get from the committee and transact board business so whether it's a committee that includes a couple people from the board or um a lot of employees or it's just a consultant that you're hiring to do do stuff for you that's not covered by um the open meeting rule rule what's covered is when you all get together and act on

017that information that you get and then transact um the business of the school school department make sense yeah so that applies for ad hoc and standing committees yes okay thank you so um when we're talking about executive sessions there are only eight permissible reasons to go into executive session six of which really apply to you there are a couple that I'm not going to talk about because they are about code enforcement and stuff like that and although I know you're all interested in Code Enforcement we only have X amount of time Personnel matters suspension or expulsion of a student discussion or consideration of of the condition or acquisition of real or personal property discussion of Labor contracts consultation with attorney and discussion of information contains in records where access is prohibited by Statute so the

018the last thing access is prohibited by Statute um that 20a 6101 prohibits disclosure of personnel um documents so that could be one Personnel records so that could be one reason if you're talking about things that are in um in Personnel records and then furpa prohibits disclosure of Student Records so those are usually the two kinds of records that are prohibited um if you want to go into executive session and it's not one of those um six enumerated reasons you probably can't do it so it's really important to keep this list in mind that's number one number two is with and we'll talk about this in a little bit more detail in each one of these and I will say that there's a red number on personnel only because I it came out read it's not

019because it's like super important um but each one of these has specific reasons that you have to um that that you can and should go into um executive session and if all the those reasons aren't there you still can't go in so let's talk about first about Personnel um matters because I think that's one of the reasons that you'll find yourself going into executive session more than um than than many of the others um so what the statute says 405 6A you can go into executive session and again um when I say you can um I will tell you that you should because this this is for um this particular provision of the freedom of access Act is meant for the protection of your employees and your employees have to have that protection not only

020because their personnel records are um are confidential by Statute but because they have all of us as employees have confidentiality rights and we we don't want and we shouldn't have our Personnel information discussed in a way that the entire Community can um Can can see it and unless they're talking about how great you are I guess that's okay but anyway so um this is when you can go into executive session when you're talking about employment appointment assignment Duty promotion demotion compensation evaluation disciplining resignation or dismissal if and this is all you you you can only do it if you think that public discussion might damage the reputation or invade the privacy of the person you're talking about um if there's a person who's been charged or investigated that person has a right to be at

021the meeting as does the person who's made the complaint um and and that's something that that people often get confused about because it is not the rule that every time you're talking about a Personnel matter the person you're talking about has a right to be there it is only the rule that that person has the right to be there if they've been charged or investigated so there are times when you can go into executive session to discuss a Personnel matter um and that person does not have a right to be there um but I want to highlight the very first um part of that that section where where it says public discussion might damage the reputation or invade privacy because what that's telling us and this is really clear in the case law is that

022every time you're talking about something that has um a connection to Personnel does not give you the rights um does not give you the obligation to go into an executive session um only if you're going you're talking about a specific person and it might damage that person's reputation or invade their privacy so let me give you an example of what I mean about that um there have been um across the state um a number of times when school boards for example have have been considering uh reduction in force so they want to go into executive session and talk about whether to do the indu reduction in force um and they want to do it in an executive session because it's going to get the community all upset and um you know you you might be

023talking about laying off some Ed teex some bus drivers and then they're going to get upset and you don't want um to get them upset before you've made that decision um so you would be tempted to use this section of the freedom of access act to go into executive session but if you were tempted to do that and you called your lawyer your lawyer would say you can't do that because here we're not um talking about in general a layoff is not going to damage the reputation or invade privacy and in fact talking about whether to do a layoff or not is exactly the kind of thing that the legislature has in mind when they're saying we want to see the the way that the school board is thinking about and what they're considering um

024so uh again I can't stress enough the fact that just because something is a Personnel matter does not give you the right to talk about it in private you really got to examine whether there is a potential for damaging of the reputation or invading privacy or if you're perhaps talking about um Personnel records that are confidential make sense questions about that Alisha has her hand up and then Sarah you have your hand up also oh Alisha has put her hand down Sarah go ahead you're on mute Sarah thanks so my question is just around the committee work that I think maybe we've in the past done in our committee assignments um potentially done in executive session uh which I think we're learning that maybe wasn't appropriate and so moving forward making sure that we do

025that correctly I guess I'm just looking for more clarification Melissa around where it says assignment and then the first bullet there around um damage reputation and because some of the Committees that we're choosing right have staff on them and not not that I think that it would necessarily damage their reputation but out of respect for their privacy because some of the applications may have some private information in that case is it then appropriate to discuss committee assignments in executive session or does that still need to happen in public so I think um and I don't want to talk about the past um because the past happened but um I think um to give you some general guidance um it's really going to be in some ways fact specific the first thing is if you're talking

026about a committee that only and if the board was actually involved in a committee that only had to do with staff that might be one thing um if there are staff and other people um then that is not a Personnel matter um so what what you're really looking at here is um is is is whether again looking at that damage of the reputation or invade privacy so if you're going into to Executive session to talk about specific employees and their performance then other than just saying that they're like super great teachers or something but if you're going in to talk about their performance that might damage their reputation or it might invade their privacy because you're talking about but if you're talking about a um a a larger group that includes say community members or

027things like that there is no basis really um to go into executive session in that in that um instance um generally and again um the the freedom of access Act is of course um fact specific but I think as a rule of thumb um anytime that you're talking about somebody who's not an employee you can't use for a 56a and if you're talking about an employee you have to be thinking about you know is is this really an invasion of privacy or or or is it that we we just would rather talk about this by ourselves make sense yes thank go ahead Alicia thank thank you so my question was basically Sarah's but I'll just ask sort of a followup um so if and I'm not I'm looking forward to the to like we have

028to do the um pick the um candidates for the superintendent search committee for example and so to have that Frank discussion publicly would worry me that you were that you would invade the privacy of community members for example and um how do you have that conversation publicly and balance the Public's right to know with um really needing to hash out the details of like their work experience or and and sort of comparing and contrasting different candidates how do you have that honest conversation and value their their privacy rights as well so I think that's that um that's one of the problems um with discussing that as a full board because once you um dis you get into that process as a full board um there is no basis to go into um executive session to

029talk about community members so one way to get around that is to um have a smaller group so that you're not in the public um the the public proceeding section of the freedom of access act and then you don't have to have a public meeting but I think that um going into executive session to talk about members of the community um would probably get you into um well let's let's put it this way go down a path that you don't want to go I understand thank you so we're good on um employment related matters or something like that um so the next thing is expulsion and we don't need to spend a lot of time with that um expulsions are an executive session other than the student parent and legal counsel are permitted to attend

030the next section is um acquisition um of uh real and personal property and here again um this is a a provision of the freedom of access act that allows you to go into executive session but only if premature disclosure of the information would Prejudice the competitive or bargaining position of the agency so anytime you want to talk about I don't know um the condition of stuff or buying stuff or should we um you know uh buy the uh what do you want to buy um the Westbrook field why not um and you're going to get together and talk about whether whether you want to um buy the the uh Athletic Field in in Westbrook but you're not talking about how much you're going to spend or or things like that then it's probably not going

031to pre pre Prejudice the competitive or bargaining position and it's probably something that should be done in public but on the other hand if you're talking about how much you're going to pay Let's us let's start with 100,000 but we'll go up to a million or something like that you can see that if you have that discussion in public um it doesn't work um because the person you're bargaining with is going to know what that that your initial offer is a bunch of baloney and they're going to wait till you get to a million so certainly here again this is where the the um the freedom of access Act is is pushing you into doing um something that is both um transparent when it can be and um private when it has to be make

032sense okay next one executive session for bargaining um you you probably all know that already um and bargaining is like I I mean I it's not like buying a piece of property but it's the same kind of negotiation thing with that that can't get out or it's not effective unless and the um the freedom of access act does say that both parties can say We'll negotiate in public um may or may not happen occasionally but usually those um when you're updated on your bargaining situation by your bargaining committee or your lawyer or or any um or some of each um that's going to be an executive session next is legal advice um that a public body May consult with the attorney in executive session and this is important because you really have to be Consulting

033with your attorney um you can't just go into executive session and talk about legal matters and call that legal advice um unfortunately or maybe fortunately for our um job security um you don't get a privilege unless the lawyer's actually there so if you're talking about the legal rights and duties of the body pending or um contemplated litigation settlement offer attorney client Communications and matters where premature public knowledge would clearly provide a substantial disadvantage to the public body that is not every time you talk with your lawyer um it is only in those specific times and um we're we're used to a sort of broad um definition of the attorney client Communication in real life um with respect to public bodies it's um it's pretty um it's pretty limited but if you're going to have a

034lawyer there they're going to know whether they should be in executive session or not um so that's that that that's the next one and I think we're almost to the end yes so that that's it um if you're not in one of those um six enumerated um situations then you simply there is simply no basis in the freedom of access act to go into executive session and so anytime that you you're you're putting executive session on your agenda you know that you have to um site the uh statutory s source and you know that you're going to have to find one of of those six reasons in order to go into executive session questions Alicia go ahead thank you um so the the statute is really based on the Public's right to know the information

035if if um if the public doesn't and and we' really as a board taking steps to try to go above and beyond that and and provide that information to the public um as frequently as we can but um when there may be a time where that information is like I said something that's um sensitive information uh does does that change the inquiry in terms of the Public's right to know that information like how a decision is made or um if if it would occur heard in a nonpublic setting so like a committee meeting for example so I'm not sure I understand so if the if the if a decision was made in a committee meeting for example okay um that the the public doesn't have the right to attend that meeting do they have a

036right to know that information well it depends if the committee information is being transmitted to the board the full board or a quorum of the board then that um when it's transmitted it could be transmitted um by an email and then that's a public record or it could be transmitted um at a meeting and then that would have to be transmitted in um in public session am I answering your question yes thank you [Music] okay so this just says that you have to have the stat three um three fifths of members present to vote to enter you have to have a statuto um Source you move pursu to 5 um 456a to discuss the Personnel matter um I think you're supposed to put the statutory citation best practice is to put the statutory citation and

037then what it is in real words so to discuss a personnal right matter or to consult with legal counsel on your legal rights and duties or something and that's really just to show that um the public who's there and they um see you um you know going into executive session um that here's what here's the reason we're doing it um so that's that that's basically it so that I think is all I have on uh oh I guess it's important um executive things that you can't do an executive session and I here again I'm pretty sure that all of you know this um but you can't take any any formal action obviously um such as voting um you can't St stray from the topic cited um to enter so if you've gone in um to

038discuss a Personnel matter you can't say oh yeah and you know what about buying the um the Westbrook uh uh athletic field and start talking about that that's really really hard to do and um I know that because I've been in tons and tons of executive sessions and when you're in there and you're thinking about a topic and you're right next to somebody and you just start to stray and all I can tell you there is that I think that everybody is going to stray at some point in an executive session and every other person has the responsibility to make sure that they're not and say wait a minute that's not why we're here that is not being um a a you know a nage it's really helping your colleagues remember what their um obligations

039are last thing really important you can't disclose the contents of the discussion outside of the executive session um as I said before um the executive session is to protect privacy and protect the school department if you disclose what was discussed outside of the uh executive session um that's I I think a real um violation of your duties as a ORD M so um I'm going to skip public records because I know you know all about them and except to remind you that everything that you do is basically going to be a public record so remember that um what what you write uh you would you should want to see on the front page of the Press Herald um because you might um so committees and I think um committees are not discussed in in the

040freedom of access law specifically but you do have a policy as you I'm sure know um that really guides you through standing committees that's policy bde um so it says the policies um standing committees may be established only if strictly necessary to study operations in specific areas and to make recommendations for board action they have to be formed annually by the second meeting in December they're disolve automatically at the end of the year they may not include a majority of the board and that's kind of an important thing because what that's saying is your standing committee and you may choose to have your standing committees open to the public but if they aren't that's okay because they don't have a majority of the board on them um the members um and the chair are appointed

041under your policy by the board the um School Board chair um in terms of ad hoc committees you do not have any policies that I'm aware of um somebody will correct me I'm sure if I was I'm wrong but I did not see any policy that um pertains specifically to ad hoc um committees um obviously ad hoc committees are created for a specific purpose as um and they cease to exist not at the end of the year but whenever that purpose has been um achieved so the question is well how do we deal with ad hoc committees in terms of things like um you know appointing a chair and things like that you don't have any guidance you can probably do whatever you want um if it were me I think I would follow the

042standing committee um policy in terms of uh that that procedure that you have um in ter for ad hoc committees too so I think that I would be saying um that the board chair if the if if the board chair should appoint um a committee chair for the standing committees it would only make sense that the board chair would also do that for ad hoc committees um I think that's just about it yeah look at that a black screen um so we've got 15 minutes what would you like to talk about so Melissa I think you know as you can probably tell just from being with us for 45 minutes like this is quite a mind shift um for some of us in terms of you know to Alicia's Point earlier we really have worked

043you know the five of us who have been on the board now for two and a half years to increase our transparency and to make sure that all of our meetings are posted and that you know and now in a time of covid that the links are posted and that they are posted you know with an agenda and we we really hold ourselves to a high standard um for making sure that the community has access to our committee meetings um and so this idea that you know it it's okay to have a closed meeting you know and and what I'm saying certainly is that it's okay to have a closed meeting under the freedom of access act if you all have had open committee meetings forever and then suddenly you were not to do it

044um I'm not sure that that would um would help your standing in the community so absolutely and that's certainly I don't I don't anticipate the whole board deciding that that's the direction we should go um more just that for you know I think it for me personally the idea that we can have a discussion about a committee makeup and not have that be a public meeting but that's the the important thing there is as a full board you just cannot do that you can't or as a as a quorum of the board um I mean there may be circumstances where that's okay um as I said before everything um really depends on the facts but in general when I look at those six reasons that you can go into executive session um it's going to

045be really hard to come up with a reason that you could or that you'd want to um if you think about um things like um where you're including the community um they're going to want to know sort of what goes into that that and that's you know that that that's a hard balancing to to make but the freedom of access act has really decided that um in favor of it being public right rather than not okay Nick go ahead yeah I I I was thinking as a was talking and I I'm thinking about all the meetings I've said in committee meetings over the last two plus years where it's like if the door starts to swing close somebody panics and it's like oh no the door can't shut because if it shuts it's not a

046public and I think about that now and I kind of relieve that if a door accidentally clicks shut we're not in some V you're not going you're not going in Chains you won't be wearing Stripes that's right it's it's it's a it's a for sure thank you so anybody else any other thoughts I think um I guess I would just say again in closing um that that if you you you are really um working hard to be transparent and I think that that's a really really important thing um because I think that um when the public sees is that you're not trying to hide anything and here's how we think about things and here's what we're doing and why we're doing it that gives them so much more um confidence in what you're doing and

047why you're doing it and so as I said before it's you shouldn't fight against the the freedom of access act you should use it as a reminder I mean sometimes I tell people take out that first page that says here's what we want to do and just remind yourself self this is what the legislature has told us and this makes sense it's not something that Maine came up with last year because they didn't have anything else to do it's going on it's all over the country it's been here forever and the reason it's been here forever is because it works people who see you guys working together and talking together and thinking together say Hey you know they know what they're doing and when they say hey they know what you're doing that's when you

048really get um the The Confidence from the public um that you want to get on the flip side you have obviously obligations to your employees to make sure that you're not smearing them in public if there are issues so I think it's just really important I think it's really important when you're putting together an agenda to just sit down and think about that if there's an executive session and sometimes there has to be you're making sure that it it should be there and there's a good reason for it um and that's basically it thanks Melissa Max you have a question uh yeah thank you um you might have mentioned this in the presentation I don't think you did but um we had talked about at our board seminar having students on committees um what would

049that look like um so if you mean any old students or student Representatives so if you're a student representative I don't think you're a voting member is that right no like I have an informal vote yeah so I think that you wouldn't count towards the Quorum okay so I think it would look like you go into a Comm um Committee Member and there you are awesome work okay cool thank you okay so go forth and meet Melissa thank you so much okay I know that this was very beneficial for the board so we appreciate your time and this was definitely um something that we needed to discuss and I think you you've certainly given us a lot to think about so and I do I I also just want to encourage you if there's ever

050a doubt just give us a quick call you know I mean that's what we do I and I've litigated tons of freedom of access um act cases you don't want to be there I can tell you that super fun for me but not for the client I've noticed okay have a good night thank you m bye thank you everyone else the time I have is 6:52 p.m. uh our regular scheduled meeting begins at 700 so go ahead and take a break and we will reconvene at 7:00 for looks like just about everybody's back so if you can hear me go ahead and turn your camera back on excellent um good evening and welcome to the Scaro Board of Education meeting uh tonight is Thursday February 25th 2021 uh this is our regular board meeting Diane

051could I please have the attendance sure miss gius here Dr Gil here miss calones here miss Leighton here Mrs Lindstrom here Mrs cther here M Turner here Mr Bennett here and miss gius here okay uh agenda item 3.0 is 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 agenda item 4.0 is adjustments to the agenda are there any adjustments to the agenda this evening okay seeing none agenda item 5.0 is public comment on agenda items typically at this point sorry excuse me typically at this point in the meeting um I would offer up public comment on agenda items and I scan the list of attendees um those people in

052attendance who would like the opportunity to make a public comment if you go if you open the window and you can see the list of attendees you should have a button um next to your name that indicates that you can raise your hand um if you raise your little blue hand then that will indicate to me that you would like to make a public comment and I will take public comments in the order um in which the person raises their hand as a reminder um public comment should be addressed to the chair and each person is um asked to please respect our three minute limit um I in the past have not kept strict time um but I'm asking tonight given the amount of in public comment that we anticipate having that everyone really um

053try and respect that three minute time limit please in addition we have the option um because we are virtual to submit public comments um via our email address public comments at scaros schools.org over the last couple of days um we have received significant number of public comment um many more than we have ever received in the past and and I am happy to read those into the public record however I will do so with the caveat that if you are in attendance at the meeting um I would kindly nudge you to um make your own public comment um I think it it loses a little bit of its ump coming from a reader as opposed to um straight from the person who we know wants to share um their thoughts and and opinions with the

054board um in order to break up public comment a little bit um in terms of me just sitting here reading um emails to everyone I'm going to go ahead and take a public comment uh I'm GNA read a few emails and then I'm going to take a public comment from the audience and then I'll read a few more emails and then I'll take a public comment um from the audience again just to try and break it up and then lastly I'm going to turn my camera off while I'm reading other people's public comment um um if for no other reason then I think it's a little confusing um if I'm sitting here um and I'm on record having said a bunch of things that are not coming out of necessarily my mouth even though I

055am the the person who's reading them into the public record plus some of the emails are small and I have to get really close to my computer so with that said I will go ahead and turn my camera off I'm going to read three public comments and then I will come back um and open it up to public comment for those who are in attendance um it looks like we have 12 um emails um that I will need to read into the public comment so bear with me here public comment number one this is from Jennifer Leonard mother friend and Aunt of Scar brro students both my son and daughter need in-class learning to more deeply internalize Higher Learning through discussions and social interactions isolated learning all the while adapting to new human health standards

056and Corona virus presents us lessons students initiative whether from inconsistent Broadband or inconsistent ability accountability standards to Mark progress with an adult or with their parents or Guardian main six criteria for reopening schools in-person learning is determined by controlling the spread of Corona virus elements of the reopening criteria Focus each School unit to consider their availability to Health Care Services resources and supplies all while considering distance and population vaccines have not been considered in the criteria at what point would main consider vaccinations in their framework for reopening and returning to in-person instruction if many school members volunteered to become vaccinated elements of diversity and inclusion are suggested in the six criteria in that there are heightened hygiene practices in parenthesis it says health care for all personal protection requirements for everyone parentheses anti-discrimination and personal

057space boundaries are to be respected acknowledging each individual's right to exist without threat of dominance displacement or disappearance by others around them parenthesis anti-hate we are asking the Scaro School unit to Envision becoming a catalyst with parents in becoming a more connected Community while advocating for safe modern and Equitable conditions in for in-class learning that includes effective vaccines we cannot hesitate returning to in-person learning for students who need on-site resources to deepen their learning and understanding and maintain our social and mental health so many items are worthy of comment today the psychological impacts on our students from the S shortages of isolated learning will become our community's future collateral damage please hear this as a petition calling out for a creative Capital as shared owners of solutions between leaders Educators students and parents get our

058kids back in the classroom learning environments that include diverse applications of technology and safe socialization and once again that was Jennifer Leonard email number two is from Elizabeth avantaggio Scaro students and parents deserve a plan and a return to full in time date how can we ask how can we be asked to register for kindergarten for fall of 2021 without even knowing what the school year is going to look like data shows the transmission in schools is very low especially here in Maine so why do we continue to disregard the needs of our children and hold so stringent a to a distance guideline that makes return to full-time School in Scaro nearly impossible the community deserves better and we need leadership who will work creatively to get our students back into the classroom where they

059belong respectfully Elizabeth tagio our next public comment is from Emily peek as a parent of children in the Scaro school system I am writing to support the current hybrid learning model until all teachers parenthesis at minimum can be vaccinated you will undoubtedly hear from many people tonight who want the schools to reopen fully the science is indisputable that it is not yet safe to do so with our current class size and space the concerns these parents are feeling about hybrid learning are valid and I understand that many parents need more support but it cannot come at the risk of teachers and School staff safety thank you Emily peek with that I will um open up to public comment um I'm going to go ahead and promote you Crystal Ash cber you were first and you

060should be all set you can [Music] unmute April can you hear me I can Crystal thank you okay thank you good good evening ladies and gentlemen of the board my name is Crystal Ash Cuthbert I'm a fifth grade teacher here in Scarboro and currently the president of the G Education Association thank you for the opportunity to address the board this evening I'm speaking tonight with one voice but it is a voice that represents many on tonight's agenda is an item titled return to school planning which I found strange as there's already a plan in place upon further investigation and discussions with my colleagues it became clear that there's a movement of foot in our community to increase in-person instruction some members of our town have expressed that 100% full in-person learning is the expectation to

061be truthful the educators of this District would love it if we could just go back to normal we are in agreement with the argument that the best place for our students to learn is in a classroom with their teach teachers and their peers we also know that relationships with kids are stronger with every personal interaction they have another reason why teachers would love to go back to full-time in-person instruction is because quite honestly it's a lot easier this year educators are working harder and longer hours than any other time in their careers they plan instruction for students who are in person a different set of activities for the students that are remote and if they have any students in quarantine a third set of lessons for them now scar teachers have always been willing to

062work hard and make sacrifices for their students they sacrifice their personal time in the evenings and weekends creating lesson plans giving student feedback making assessments finding online activities that will engage their students as as well as communicating with parents and colleagues they sacrifice their personal finances to purchase materials that students need items to organize their classroom or even books for their Learners to read they sacrifice their health and well-being when they don't get enough sleep are unable to exercise or spend time with family and friends because they put the needs of their students before their own but the one thing that we are not willing to sacrifice is our own own lives the lives of our loved ones or the lives of a single one of our students that is absolutely where we will draw

063the line while covid research has shown that schoolage children with the virus have more mild symptoms than adults children have died from covid hundreds of Staff members that work with the students of Scarboro are above the age of 55 and or have pre-ex existing health conditions Contracting the cor Corona virus would be lifethreatening for those individuals you the school board made a legally binding agreement with the association that the district would meet or exceed CDC guidelines and at this time there have been no changes to those guidelines additionally positive cases are occurring regularly in the walls of our schools even with those guidelines in place therefore the fact that a return to full in-person instruction is even being discussed is giving a false hope to the community and placing even more pressure on teachers during

064an already unprecedented challenging year we the educators of this town like Educators around the world want our students back all of our students but forcing an increase to inperson instruction before it is safe to do so would be shortsighted and irresponsible until all staff members are able to access vaccinations and or the CDC guidelines have been listed the district must stay its current course for returning to normal education isn't worth sacrificing even one life not even one thank you ladies and gentlemen of the board for your time I appreciate your consideration thank you Crystal um I'm gonna promot promote Terry Bartles um as soon as you're in you may unmute yourself and begin your public comment and after Terry I'm going to go ahead and read a few more emails into the public record har

065are you with us oh you should be able to speak Terry are you with us I I didn't sign up to speak oh okay your hand was raised I apologize I'm so sorry I'm so sorry I'm so embarrassed Stella Pine hello hi can you hear me we can hear you great hi I am stelline mother of two with my oldest in first grade at pleas Hill and I want to start by saying that I'm glad tonight's agenda includes returning to school planning um my family and I moved to Scarboro nearly two years ago from St Louis Missouri we were not familiar with Maine at the time and when we were house hunting the school district recommendations made a big impact on our search areas Scarboro was talked about as being one of the best I

066realize the past year has been an unprecedented one but as a parent of a first grader and a relatively new Scarboro resident I've been disappointed with how students education has been handled with Maine's comparatively low covid cases I would have expected our schools to be among the first to open back up fully to students my nieces and nephews in Kansas City Missouri and Northville Michigan have been in full-time school since September I know friends in Texas the Austin and Dallas Fort Worth area whose children are also back in the classroom five days a week to watch children in areas of the country with much higher covid cases receive a full Year's education and watch my child fall behind academically is stressful and frustrating more recently in our own State other districts are beginning to increase

067classroom time for students and I would expect Scarboro to be a leader in those efforts as an example to the rest of the state the hybrid education being offered in our district is failing most of the students my daughter loves being in class on Mondays and Tuesdays the rest of the week is lost time little interaction with her teacher and other classmates makes for a long and lonely remainder of the week I do my best to supplement the school's curriculum and keep her moving forward academically but I can tell she's not where she would be with a full-time education it makes me nervous for next year knowing that students across main are falling behind the quality of education and standards which Scarboro schools seem to Pride themselves on appear to have been sacrificed unnecessarily it

068is my hope that in this meeting and future discussions we hear about Scarboro Public Schools plans to get our students back in the classroom full-time with a specific timeline to go with it whether that means staggered returns with primary schools starting back immediately or getting creative with space options or combination of efforts it's time to think creatively use resources wisely and do everything humanly possible to get back on track with the education of our children thank you for your time thank you Stella our next public comment to be read into the record comes from Aaron Perry Ain writes I would like to contribute to the discussion of our schools opening full-time my family is in hopes that full-time in-person school can resume by September I am the mother of a kindergartener and three-year-old in the

069fall of 2020 we decided to join a homeschool pod for my eldest son the driving force behind making this decision was my son had reached an age when he was ready to grow from prek maturity wise energy-wise educationally and emotionally my son has an abundant amount of energy he saw an occupational therapist for some time to help with ways for him to navigate this I he loves to learn he loves to move his body he loves projects and group activities with that he becomes overactive and extremely overwhelmed he requires things Public Schools could not offer him this year multiple recesses interactions with other children group Learning and Sports his three-year-old brother has been affected by the trickle down of this as well he was unable to join Nursery School this year at his daycare because

070the daycare canceled that program including prek to accommodate older children for remote learning parenthesis on a side note it may be worth looking into prek programs in scarbro they have made it work with 18 plus kids masks without outbreaks occurring close parenthesis when my son ended prek abruptly last year he joined a he joined a zoom Zumba class and a social gathering with his former classmates he hid behind the computer cried and flat out said I'm never doing that again following my pediatrician advice and the countless literature available both clearly both clearly State the damage technology and screens have on young children since both my kids were babies we followed experts advice on keeping almost all Screen Time To None or very little we do not own tablets or iPads we are not we do

071not have a family computer we are not allowed to play with our phones I was surpr I was not surprised by his refusal when this foreign space of communication was presented to him it is flat out not age appropriate as a fitness professional the amount of obesity and injuries I see from sedentary Lifestyles is overwhelming add a stay-at-home older add a stay-at-home order for both children and adults and the numbers are astounding trading in children's recess and sports for computers and television we are setting ourselves up for years of trying to undo what is being done at this moment not just from physical a physical point of view but from growing and learning healthy social habits with their peers the cost to homeschool our children has been hard on our family for myself being self-employed

072in one of businesses that is being hit the hardest by the pandemic has been a struggle teacher pay paper supplies cleaning supplies snacks water books and teaching tools are part of the deal my husband and I knew that getting into it there is a zero tax break break or write off for homeschool imagine the shock and disappointment when I read last week Scaro is considering another tax increase more taxes in one of the most taxed towns in one of the most taxed states with no full-time school no true Sports to speak of paying for fields and clubhouses that are not being utilized to their full potential Scaro recently took over the former House of lights on pain road to assist with remote learning if this spacing is if it is spacing that is a concern

073why not utilize that space for the Overflow this fall as taxpayers we deserve to know what is being discussed at a board level for a plan pertaining to our children's education bottom line kids need to be in school we cannot Thrive as a community with the constant burden of children not having access to full education and physical activity parents need to be able to financially support their children homes and communities once again that was Aon Perry MOA and Paul remina REM reminga reminga sorry about that Mora and Paul reminga dear Board of Education I share our perspective in hopes that it sheds some light on the one of the many ways parents are making at work this year my daughter is in kindergarten and my son is in prek this past year we collab collaborated

074with four other families here in Scaro and started a kindergarten home school pod and unenrolled our kindergarteners from public school for us this has been the best case scenario given the pandemic to ensure that our daughter would experience five days a week in-person learning with an in-person kindergarten teacher it is important to us that her early learning experiences are nurturing positive and age appropriate we would NE we would never have we never would have anticipated doing anything other sorry I apologize we never would have anticipated doing anything but public schools for our children and I hope that that doesn't have to be the case for next year my son is currently in prek and has been thriving with also going to school five mornings a week having routine structure and schedule that nurtures their curious

075minds has made the difference this year the children have no problem wearing masks and have adapted to covid Safe lifestyle keeping Social Circles very small wearing wearing masks washing hands frequently having temperature checks and staying home in the event of any cold-like symptoms my husband and I are both self-employed and having consistency in their learning environments allows me to be able to run my small business that I opened seven years ago and see clients one-on-one at my yoga studio I recognize that it is no small feat how teachers and School administration have adapted and done an excellent job to continue to make learning nurturing and positive we have excellent teach teachers in our school system dedicated parents in our community and I know everyone is doing their best this year it is my hope that

076Scaro the Scaro School District can eliminate hybrid learning for elementary school and develop a plan to open five days a week by the start of the new school year it is critical for the well-being of this generation to open in-person learning in school full-time the mental and emotional toll on children is a disheartening component of the need for in-person learning more than two days a week I greatly feel for this generation of parents primarily mothers who have left the workforce and or been forced to reduce their work hours in order to support remote learning this fall my son will be entering kindergarten and my daughter will enter first grade it would be a huge financial burden if we had to line up homeschool pods for both of our schoolage children and child care for my

077one-year-old baby in order to be able in order for me to be able to run my business I realize there are many families that feel more comfortable with remote learning and others that would feel comfortable sending their children back to school five days a week it may be time for another survey and if the options were 100% remote with a dedicated teacher or 100% in person with a dedicated teacher we would have a good starting point for planning purposes to meet these needs if space is the biggest constraint then it may be time to consider alternate spaces to hold classes perhaps a phased approach to in-person learning is needed for the whole District regardless if the plan is to open 5 days in-person learning in two months 6 months or a year from now we

078should begin the planning process and be ready thank you for your time and consideration Mora and Paul ringa I'll do one more um this is from Linda Beaver to whom it may concern first I appreciate and commend the teachers for working with children to build a solid foundation for the future generation ation to come unexpectedly the impact of covid has created challenges uncertainly uncertainty and at a time and at the time the need to Pivot and move the children to a remote environment to keep them safe and healthy was a great one however I have seen personally firsthand the direct result with my grandchildren eight and six years old who are within the Scaro school system the social isolation lack of routine and guidance for them is detrimental to their mental health and I don't

079believe we will see a total emotional impact until years later the increased anxiety at the household level has disrupted family and work routines I have witnessed both grandchildren become very frustrated and upset quickly and will lose focus they give up more easily at home however if they were in a classroom the teachers are the professionals and have the training to move them forward with an optimistic approach as you know the majority are dual work parents so add in kids working at home and it's not longterm and long term it is not sustainable I know many parents including my daughter whom are struggling and lose their patience dealing with their kids who appear to want to give up in my opinion it is time to implement full-time classroom learning and back to the quote unquote Norm

080they long ago St strived in lastly our teachers are the experts at teaching our children not the parents who selected or selected other who selected other careers our health is most important however it is essential to get the kids back in the classroom safety safely thank you for reading my thoughts and for advocating for a quick resolution stay healthy and safe Linda Beaver with that I will head back over to inperson public comment and Katie tream I'm going to promote you hi there can you hear me we can hear you okay great thank you so much for allowing us to speak tonight um I just wanted to speak I'm a mother of two School AG children a kindergartener and a third grader in the Scarboro school system um and while I am you know obviously

081feeling the pandemic in ways like everybody else is um and I am in favor of the kids going back as as best and as full-time and as safely as they can I also don't feel that it is my choice or my right to ask teachers who have already done so much for this school the and have gone above and beyond to do things I don't feel that it's my right to ask them to risk their lives to go do anything like this so while I see both sides of the story here what my recommendation for the school board would be tonight is to work with um local and State officials to really help get these teachers vaccinated because I think that's probably a very safe First Step which we're all looking for steps you know

082to kind of get these kids back into school due to you know physical social emotional things that are going on in their lives and I think the vaccination for these teachers would help protect them which then would help obviously with our kids in those schools so that would be my recommendation um for you know for the school board to tonight to really consider that and really make a push for that cuz I think that's a great first step for you know for for the school to get back to get back to fulltime thank you thank you [Music] Katie um I apologize for people who raising their hands I thought that they would stay in the order that they were raised but as more people are raising their hands the order on my screen is getting

083shuffled so I apologize um if you've been waiting um Amber Haw I'm going to go ahead and promote you and then I'll do a couple more emails have to unmute hello hi hi there okay here we go hello my name is Amber hawkett and I live in Scaro my two kids attend school here one at Wentworth in third grade and the other is at Pleasant Hill in first grade I myself am a product of the scarbro public school system I am also a member of the return to in-person learning Group which is a student ad advocacy group for return to in-person learning I am here to be a voice for my young kids who are too young to speak for themselves in this format right now they miss their old friends they miss meeting new

084friends they miss having a routine schedule they miss learning full-time and they miss their school every day seems to blur from one into another I find myself feeling hopeless but keep trying to put on a brave face every day when we sit down to do our school workor when I help them with their work it is typically a long drawn out process that includes multiple bathroom breaks every excuse in the book and sometimes tears little kids aren't meant to be tied to a screen they need to be in school five days a week where they can grow and learn how to build relationships with people from outside of their immediate household I worry that all of our kids are falling behind mentally and educationally I worry about kids in abusive homes I worry about kids

085who rely on school for food I am worried that there is currently no plan in place to get the kids back right now after teachers get vaccinated in scar brro I must admit this is my first Board of educ ation meeting I just always assumed that the town and the administrators teachers and the board were always regularly meeting or some task force basically was always meeting regularly just to develop a return to school plan you know whatever date or month you choose right um so I I also understand that this past year has been a challenging one it's been crazy and it's been a hard extra workload for teachers and for everyone involved in the process but now it's time to plan to get our kids back in school as an event planner I can

086speak from a professional nature that when you plan you plan for success and that planning can be done as far in advance as you want the further in advance we plan chances are when it goes live things will go more smoothly why is there no task force regularly meeting to discuss the return if teachers get vaccinated in spring when exactly can we go back to school I have to I had to close my marketing Consulting business as a necessity to take care of my kids I have been doing this for a year now I want to return to work and let my kids have the education that they deserve I am by no means a primary school teacher nor did I study to administer lessons to kids as a Scaro taxpayer I live here with

087the intent ention to send my kids to school here five days a week I know what type of education they are missing out on because I went through some of the same buildings and in some cases I had the same amazing teachers that they're that they're getting the return to school in scarbro needs to become an existing option it needs to become a topic it needs to get talked about and it needs to get planned thank you so much for your time I really appreciate it thank you Amber our next email public comment comes from Bethany [Music] Jensen my name is Bethany Jensen I have two children in the district a fifth grader at Wentworth and a ninth grader at scarbo high school I had the opportunity to participate in the St strrt during the

088summer and I am looking forward to particip ipating once work starts again this spring I work in another District as a special educator I want to say that as a parent and educator living through the ups and downs of the past year I am tired like many of you I am feeling on edge most days it has been a challenge to be a good parent a good employee and a good citizen at the same time many of us are putting in extra hours and feeling frustrated that we are still dealing with this pandemic now a year later I want to thank and commend the teachers and staff of the Scaro school district for really living the educational philosophy that the district espouses all of the staff have taken on the extra responsibility and challenge that

089they have been given with Grace and a sense of Devotion to our students the creativity dedication and pure Ingenuity on the part of our Educators and support staff continues to impress me and make me feel proud to be part of this community the question will be raised tonight when will we return to school full-time I would like nothing more than for things to quot go back quote unquote to normal but the reality is Scaro is a growing town with limitations on space in each building we are bursting at the seams before we had the to distance ourselves six feet apart I would ask that parents in particular working parents like myself consider that this is an exceptionally diffic difficult situation for our school administration to be in no decision is made lightly and there are

090pros and cons to each decision made I would urge you to continue to be kind and respectful of our teachers and staff who face uncertainty every day and who are doing their best to support and educate our children while many of them have their own families to care for and support nothing about this is ideal we are all frustrated we are all sick of being stuck in our bubbles I would say though during this challenging time that I am thankful to be part of this community Scaro has and continues to come together to support one another and to support our schools which are truly the heart and soul of this great Community let's keep up the good work thank you for your time be well and stay safe sincerely Bethany Jensen our next public comment

091via email comes from Christian glendining dear Bor I again want to share my voice as you meet tonight I am a single parent with 14 11 and seven-year-old children in the school system I am strongly encouraging the district to be leaders and to put the pressure on policy makers to get the children back into an Engaged in-person School experience there are arguments being made on both sides as to what to do but we must align ourselves with the demands of the majority I feel safe my friends and family feel safe my co-workers feel safe the support is here to get our children back into school thank you Christian Glen lending our next public comment via email is from Winnie Lee dear chair I am Winnie Lee a parent of two students in Scaro schools a

092member of the return to inperson learning advocacy group in Scarboro in regards to returning to school planning we have many questions and some requests we hope you will address number one what is the specific criteria to meet to be met to allow full-time in-person learning many parents are confused when CDC and doe is mentioned without further details number two what are the barriers preventing full-time in-person schooling and plans for a resolution with a clear timetable number three consideration of phasing reopening beginning with four days of in-person learning number four form an advisory committee or organize St strrt that will work on full-time reopening on a full-time reopening process to include at least two parent Representatives number five present at the next board meeting how CRF and eser Esser Grant monies will be used to shift

093towards full-time in-person learning thank you wi I will pop back over for for some more public comment uh Jenny jubilus I'm going to promote you and then Jen lad I'm going to promote you next hello can you hear me we can hear you okay my name is Jennifer jubilus I'm a parent in the district and I'm a pediatric infectious disease physician I have listened to these increasing calls to reopen our schools fully with mixed feelings as a parent I want nothing more than for my child all of our children to attend school five days a week but as an infectious disease specialist I understand the need to balance infection risk and speaking not against School reopening but for school safety which has to be a top priority there are several misconceptions at play here the

094first being that main schools are not open in fact main schools are fully open all counties are green which means schools can open five days a week with risk reduction strategies in place including masking and distancing for most schools including Scarboro it's the distancing that creates The Challenge and is why we remain hybrid students have to be 3 feet from each other with masks six feet from each other without masks including at lunch and adults have to be six feet from everyone I have heard calls to eliminate distancing requirements and as an infectious disease expert I cannot support that until we have additional data that this is safe effective Co present pre effective Co prevention requires layering of strategies the second misconception is that children do not get sick from covid while it is true

095that hospitalizations and deaths for children are lower than adults nationally 271 pediatric patients have died of covid over the past 12 months that approaches one pediatric death every 36 hours a significantly higher death rate than that of influenza furthermore even mild infections have been linked to long-term complications including inflammation of the heart Public Schools must be accessible and safe for all students requiring all recommended strategies to be implemented finally there's the belief that children cannot transmit Co there are multiple studies at this point showing low transmission within schools but that is when masking and distancing the layered strategies I spoke of are implemented every single study looking at school safety has these mitigation strategies in place and at this point we just don't know what will happen if we remove one or both new evidence

096just this week however describes clusters of infections among teachers and students and increased risk for teachers by as much as twofold in schools with suboptimal masking and distancing Scarboro has done a phenomenal job implementing all the recommended steps in Co prevention and I commend our staff for the for the work that has gone into keeping our community safe our schools are safe because of our mitigation strategies and we cannot sacrifice those in the absence of evidence new CDC guidance provides support that opening schools in person is possible even in areas of high Community spread with these strategies 50% of children nationally have attended no inperson school since March so we and scarbo are lucky this guidance allows us to get those kids into school as Scarboro currently is these guidelines however do not advocate for

097eliminating distancing or crowding classrooms just the opposite until science offers us more clarity I don't think we should be playing Russian roulette with the lives of our children or teachers randomly selecting which mitigation strategies to drop in the coming months things will likely improve and public health officials are meeting twice monthly re-evaluating this throughout our state for now I urge the students to the schools to continue to follow the guidance particularly around masks and social distancing to keep our students our staff and our community healthy thank you for your time and our and your service Jennifer lad you should be all set we should be able to hear you Jennifer can you hear us yep can you hear me we can but you're you're quiet okay is that better yes okay thank you um I

098just I do want to start by thanking everyone that has anything to do with our school district that goes all the way from our highest level administrators all the way down to our janitorial staff not down but every across the board um and our food service workers everybody for um what I can only imagine or really not even imagine has gone into the work so far this year um that said I am the parent of a six-year-old first grader at Pleasant Hill and um a four-year-old who uh could potentially enter kindergarten next fall which is crazy um but so our you know our six-year-old uh has struggled incredibly this year and last spring um with remote learning and you know things like having being highly distracted at home being disinterested in school um tears you

099know trying to forcefully have him sit down in front of a Chromebook to attend a class and then just days missed when it just didn't it just didn't work out um we've had we've engaged private counseling because it was a service that we we previously had used through the school and wasn't available um to us this year at you know notable expense to our family um we're we're kind of making it work but you know it's it's not optimal um and this is not the it's not the educational outcome that I was really that that any of us were hoping for any of our kids I know that and teachers um so you know he I asked him before this meeting what he wanted me to say to this group um and I'm sorry he

100just said he wanted to go to school with his friends that's all that's it um and to be in person with a teacher um so I'm relaying that on on his behalf um my daughter you know we will not enroll her this fall in a program that's not fully in person um and we will likely not reenroll my son because it is not it's not been effective uh for any of us this year and so that means we will have to either look at the significant expense of private education which we did uh Midway through this year and and expense side we were unable to find another option for him um or we will have to move out of this District temporarily or permanently none of those options are what I want and I'm sure

101it's not what anybody uh anybody else wants so um you know that said I understand so many of the requirements and statistics and all the things that that you folks and everyone are weighing um but I just you know plead with you that you will um seek some creative options to work within the limitations that we have here I I made a very unscientific Facebook post earlier today just seeing like what what are other people in the state um ex you know what's their school experience and here's what I found for other communities in our state that are in attendance five days a week five days a week Blue Hill Guilford fryberg Dexter Community Regional Charter School Bangor dickfield scoan bford Falmouth Lisbon rangley for days a week in person winthrip Pittsfield Greenville Falmouth and

102then there's a handful of others that are three days a week or some sort of like modified um schedule that doesn't include obviously all the private instruction including my four-year-old so that's been difficult to explain why you know she's 20 months younger than my son why can she go to school five days a week full day no mask no distancing requirement uh and yet he's you know he's experiencing something very different um and you know while I understand each district and each school for that matter has very different circumstances whether it be the size of their schools or the population of their kids uh their teacher demographic all of those things come into play I know that um but you know some of these places are able to put 13 and 16 kids in a

103classroom and so if it's additional space that we need in order to honor that uh you know the requirement for spacing that's fine but have we you know I'm I'm curious have we reached out to area businesses or event centers that currently aren't hosting large events are they available for any any of our kids to sit you know at a at a conference room table even if it was just one more day a week I just think those that type of Outreach is would be really important um and lastly I would just ask the board and anyone else involved in imagining how the rest of this year and next year school year will go to reconsider how we Define safety in our school so we you've heard from almost every single person that it's important

104for us to return to school in a safe way um but what I'm hearing from that is really you know a safe way with regard to covid and I would just argue that you know what is more dangerous a you know the the statistics around rela L low not non-existent but relatively low transmission among School communities or the very obvious demonstrated um impacts that our kids are feeling today from so much screen time lack of interaction with their friends lack of interpersonal relationships with teachers and adults not being able to pick out their own library books and you know at at school um those things really matter and those are really tangible at least in my family and I know in so many other so um thank you so much for opening up this forum

105and for all those people that have spoken tonight um I I'm again grateful for everything that this board has done to date and I just I ask you from the bottom of my heart and for our whole community and these young kids who can't come here to speak on their own behalf tonight please please let's find a way to get them back into the type of education that they really do need thanks you're onute thanks Sarah our next email submission is from Jack carista thank you School Board uh School Board of Education members and administrators that are taking the time to re-evaluate our return to full-time School in Scaro I am a 16-year-old Junior that plays two Varsity Sports and considers myself outgoing with friends this year has been tough I feel the isolation and

106loneliness of sitting behind a computer three times per week I don't hear it from kids that I often I don't hear from kids that I often spoke with never thought I would say this but I missed the discussion and interactions with my teachers and my friends in class public speaking is important in a classroom to prepare me for college I have zoom fatigue as many of my friends do I dread turning that computer on at home for seven hours a day followed by three hours of high school homework my friends and I had good grades in school taking honor and AP classes we used to look forward to our future after school at Scarrow I hear a lot of us are barely passing you must see this in the schools hybrid has not worked for

107me and talking with my friends in high school it's not working for them either we have done what we were asked we stayed home to protect our grandparents and the elderly in our community we cared and we listened for a year science has proven that my friends are not at risk we are at risk for mental health and suicide I think of the 16-year-old football player Spencer Smith from Brunswick Maine that committed Su committed suicide because he felt alone and like there was no way out he lost hope that cannot be an option you on the board can change this for those that feel safe to return please hear us they say space is an issue let's get creative Scaro we can make it work for kids like me who desperately want a voice and

108a choice a choice for full return as soon as possible back to a learning environment that is conducive to high standards that a Scaro education has always given us let us get high schoolers back tomorrow full-time we've got this Jack our next public comment is from Amanda B here are some of my thoughts and experiences with the 2020 21 School year we are a double income family of five with three schoolage children we moved to Scarboro from Portland when our older daughter was going into kindergarten she's now in seventh grade we made the move for one reason excellent Public Schools this school year our youngest son should have entered kindergarten at Pleasant Hill the same school his older sister went and went to and loved however due to the circumstances this year brought we've made

109a difficult decision to form a small five kid homeschool pod and hire a kindergarten teacher this has allowed him to attend in-person learning five days a week which in my opinion is critical he has come Leaps and Bounds in just five short months thanks to his amazing teacher and the fact that he is learning imp person full-time as opposed to on a computer over half of his school days how does anyone expect a kindergartener or any child to be self-motivated enough to watch a computer screen and retain what they are learning furthermore apply knowledge in life and for future learning my oldest daughter is in seventh grade middle school such a milestone period in one's life a time to not only take academics to another level but to also learn how to navigate friendships work

110out conflict gain independence my daughter along with other middle school kids has been robbed of this it was taken away from them and they do not know they do not even know what they're missing my daughter made it through two quarters of the hybrid model all the time begging us to Let Her Go fully remote it was the day she portrayed a picture of what her day looked like at school minimal kids in her class zero talking to each other when on mask breaks eating lunch alone at a desk six feet apart from any other students that we decided as a family remote was a good option the back and forth was also very tough for a kiddo such as my daughter someone who depends on structure my middle school daughter I'm sorry my middle

111daughter is in the fourth grade she was she has always excelled in academics she has also always been very involved in sports this year my sweet easygoing girl has had many days at home in hysterics over her schoolwork one day of in-person teaching on something as confusing as long division is unacceptable however this is the case the teachers are all incredible they're doing everything they can to help the students through this difficult year but in the end nothing replaces in-person learning I believe most of them would agree I sincerely hope that as we head into the third last third of the school year that there is some sort of planning and configuring how we can get the children back into school five days a week so many other districts across the country in the world

112have figured out ways to make this happen I feel strongly that it is time to time is taken to plan it can happen in Scaro as well I'll do one more the next public comment is from Jamie Sean seigan hello I am writing to you today to voice my concerns I feel that we need to get our kids back to full-time in-person learning reasons are as follows students are lacking in education and understanding as a whole hard for kids to follow along with lessons being taught due to teachers trying to address both in-person and remote students depression anxiety and stress levels are up parentheses mental health concerns and school expectations with not being face-to-face contribute to this suicide rates up kids need social interactions and to be around their friends it is time to bring

113back some type of normaly please as a school board and School District find a way to get these kids back in school full-time thanks Jamie see again John I'm G to promote you and then Denise you're GNA be after John hi I'm sorry do you hear me we can hear you oh fantastic thank you so much I really appreciate everyone um taking the time to to to listen and for everyone who's committed to try to help our kids um my wife and I we moved here small Ro almost two years ago um and the number one driving force were the schools that that that's what brought us here we've got a first grader and a third grader that are in in their second year here and and and it's it's been challenging you know I

114think um the the words that came to mind as I was thinking is the amount of stress you know it's it's a challenging time I think that's a given but you know I think for every parent we try to do is to shelter our kids when there's something hard going on that's our job is to shelter and protect them and I think for me what kind of Hit the top of the list is just the amount of stress I'm seeing my kids go through and I'm hearing stories of the kids that are struggling struggling with learning feeling insecure feeling discouraged and depressed because uh were a year ago they were thriving and loving school now everything's hard and it's to me it's not the teacher's fault I think it's just we're we're putting these kids

115in front of computers for hours and hours at a time and and and they're they're they they're going from kids who love school that they despise school and then the emotional turmoil of two days a week three days off and that social anxiety try to kind of just get back into a Groove um and the things you read um about what what kid the man the kids are suffering emotionally and socially um because we've snatched away the one staple that they get to experience in this time so you know the other thing I thought about as a challenges as a family and for us you know to try to we've got we're working um we're trying to manage schedules or trying to keep computers going and the amount of um attention and stress we're adding

116at the home front and the toll it takes on our marriages the toll is taking on our just the family Dynamic um is is extremely challenging and I think the the other piece is um you know the the careers and the financial hit people are taking is there's no way we can be as productive and progress in the way we want to um as we have to kind of now become part-time teachers um so I'm just hoping as we're trying to think about the options of how we can get our schools open that we don't lose sight of kind of why we're striving for it I think the other thing I was thinking about is the for our town that you know the the economic and reputational toll that we're going to take because now

117people are now that there are so many options and so many towns all around us that are opening up I think people are going to be thinking about well where where do I want to move and you know um I think business is going to think about what are the growing towns and I think we've got to see that this is part of I think the economic need and the reputation need that town has that we can come up with a plan um to keep to keep our schools open and to open up our schools you know and I think the hard part is that it is a risk you know we're we're we're we're making a choice um to take a risk because we think our schools are essential and we're doing it every

118day our grocery stores are open all these other types of businesses are open because people say this is important and I think our schools have to have even a higher part and all these other things um the one the one couple suggestions that I would have is I think you know we're also not operating um in unknown territory there's states and cities all around the country that have been open they're doing it and we're not hearing these stories of these outbreaks so there you know uh so my hope is that we can look at some of the models of other states that have been open since September full time and ask them hey how how are you making it work looking at some of the schools even here like I said there have been private

119schools smaller private schools that have been open full-time what are they doing we pick up a phone and ask them hey what's successful what's help you know I keep hearing the space is the challenge I think someone else mentioned that the the amount of conference rooms hotel conference rooms that are open our our church actually in South Portland is classrooms soccer field basketball courts auditoriums and there the space is being unused throughout the day and have offered it to us and we reaching out and we making the calls and looking at different options to to fix the challenges space um the other thing I think we consider too is is maybe even allowing options if there are people that are too afraid and they don't want to be in school giving them the option to

120be remote or hybrid but for the families that that are willing to take that risk um can we offer them the option to be able to be at school five days a week um and I think the other the other thing I would I would ask is if we can um communicate what what what is the plan what are the criterias what are the things that we what are the steps that we we can show parents to give us assurance that there's going to be a plan to be open in the fall because for us I that's we're we're trying to figure out for ourselves financially whether that we're going to be put into a corner actually having to move or put the kids into private school and I think there's several families considering that

121I think I think if if parents we could give parents a detail road map said here are the steps that we're going to take here are the things we're going to see here here with these are the timet tables I think that would reassure us and give us some confidence to to make the commitment to to um to help achieve this goal which is at least we desire which is five days in person thank you again really appreciate everyone's time thank you John welcome Denise hi April can you hear me yes um thank you for letting me speak tonight Denise Blain I am a teacher at scarber high school I wasn't goingon to speak tonight um but I feel it's important um because I contracted covid um I don't know how I got it I

122don't want to know where I got it but I was safe I was safe in my classroom I was safe outside I gave up the things that I loved and care about but I got covid I am not recovered and I got covid in December I have trouble breathing I have trouble sleeping and the thought of missing school makes me sick to my stomach because I know that students are struggling all I'm here to say is we're dealing with this too and the best thing that can be part of this plan going forward is getting teachers vaccinated it should be the number one priority in the reopening plan a push on the state to level up the teachers to get us vaccinated I want to be in school I am miserable I have zoom fatigue

123I'm as miserable as the kids are to think that we can just open up the school and follow the safety rules is it it's not a smart thing we are safe at scar brro but teachers are still Contracting covid kids are still getting it part of this reopening plan first priority needs to be to get us vaccinated because none of this none of it four days a week five days a week phasing in can happen if you don't have staff there and we don't have the substitutes and the fill-ins if we get sick so I would just really push and ask the board and the parents to put the pressure on the state to get teachers in Maine vaccinated and get us back in school that way thank you you Denise Casey I'm gonna go

124ahead and promote you and just for everyone's knowledge um Casey is the last person on our list of attendees who has their hand raised oh I'll get to you next um Erin no problem hello hi Casey hi um my name is Casey and I'm a senior at scarbro and I'm also the senior student representative on the main State Board of Education um I was not planning on speaking tonight but um after coming home and listening in um I just had a couple things that I wanted to say not just to the board um but also for all the concerned parents that are listening and who have commented particularly to those who have formed this group calling for school to return to fully in person the first thing that I wanted to say I get it

125I don't get it like I understand this more than anybody else I'm a senior this year I used to be an incredibly motivated student you can ask Max my notes last year were multicolored highlighted I sent them to all the other kids in my class and this year if you ask me for my notes in my Sociology class right now they are non-existent because that is where we are at I want to be in person just as much as everybody else that's here I will not have a prom it is likely that my graduation will not look like my sisters did two years ago it is likely that I will not have the baloria that I've always thought about and it is highly likely that I will never be in the classroom again with my

126best friend who happens to be in the opposite cohort as me but I have accepted that and I am trying to make the best out of this situation and I think anybody who's pointing the finger at our local Schoolboard right now needs to remember that we're all here for the same purpose this is not an Us Versus Them situation everybody wants what is best for the kids and for this is simply not a board decision I have faith that we all want what is best but the fact that people are calling on the board to Simply open up our schools five days a week is quite frankly absurd I work with the state board I get the emails every day with the most recent CDC guidelines and what's coming down from our governor and commissioner

127Pender m i I can't even comprehend how much research is being done on this right now and I've seen you know a couple of parents have mentioned those rural districts that have gone back or charter schools that have gone back fully in person they're not scar brro they can fit those kids because charter schools have limited numbers of kids and a lot of those more rural districts for example Dexter they have new buildings and they have a much smaller population so they can fit people asking us to get creative this is what it looks like it looks like teachers who have shifted their curricula teachers who have figured out new ways to make conversations go on it is not ideal we are all falling behind ask Max I'm the only kid in cohort B in

128my AP French class I'm trying to get ready for an exam in which I will have to have a French conversation and the only person that I can converse with in person is my teacher who is always too busy with the other seven kids that are on the laptop nevertheless I am making the best of it because we simply cannot open right now I just think that we all need to come together and stop pointing the finger at the board because it it's not up to them and to those calling for teachers to get vaccinated or for us to get creative then you have to pass the school budgets every year you have to be willing to pay more in tax dollars so we can have more teachers and more substitutes this is not the

129board's decision and for those asking for just a plan for when it can be a board decision the plan is we go back to school it's that simple because I have faith in the this board and I know that they want what's best for the students and I thank you for your work that's all I have to say thank you thank you Casey Erin I've just gone ahead and promoted you okay can you hear me we can hear you okay boy Casey will be a very hard act to follow but I will do my best well done Casey um I couldn't agree more with everything she said my name is aarin Rowan I live at Bonnie Grove Drive in Scarboro um next month will Mark a year since either of my children have interacted with

130peers in person no socially distanced outdoor play dates no Sports no trips to the beach nothing both of them have learning differences that make school extra challenging even when it's not remote both have mental health diagnoses that preceded the pandemic and one has a diagnosis that simultaneously gives her a five times greater risk of dying from covid 19 and a serious chance of receiving substandard medical intervention from doctors and nurses who don't think her life is worth saving especially in a triage situation where when resources are scarce earlier today one of them said Mom this pandemic is really taking a toll on my life yeah true for all of us right earlier this school year one of them needed parent supervision around the clock to stay safe for almost a year one of them has

131required one-on-one support for all School classes and homework a position that is typically filled by paid School staff but is now done almost completely by me without pay and at significant cost considering I have a master's level education and high earning potential both of my children would do far better with some in-person schooling and with live social experiences but both also understand that this is a time for Global so solidarity and sacrifice at the end of this pandemic they will have lost more academic ground than most of their peers who they were trailing even in the best of times but they will most likely still be alive and they'll know that their actions during the pandemic didn't contribute to anyone else's illness or death either unlike many students whose parents argue that their children aren't

132getting the education they deserve during this p mic my children and many others who live with disabilities learning differences and special Health Care needs have never even gotten the educations they are legally entitled to under federal education law never mind the educations they deserve the law actually says free and appropriate public education codifying mediocrity as the goal we are struggling more sacrificing more and complaining less because we've never lived under the illusion that that life was fair or Equitable education for us has always been intensely Hands-On and fraught with struggle and advocacy not for one school year like many parents and students are now experiencing but for every single day of every single year I actually had to stop working when my first child was in first grade in order to make public school work

133and families like mine go at mostly alone and mostly unseen by the majority of community members for those who feel sorry for families who are marginalized by disability uh like mine or race ethnicity economic status Andor discrimination based on hetero and G gender normative bias but who don't feel responsible your lack of curiosity compassion and concern for the common good is directly causitive and your participation in resource hoarding as you steamroll your way to the educations you believe are your children birth rights across generations and over decades has turned Equity gaps into chasms I had hoped that having a taste of struggle during the pandemic would help community members realize that meritocracy is a myth that individualism and exceptionalism are vices not virtues and that there is more power in pulling together than pulling ahead

134but here we are rather than sharing my parental preferences as I was asked to do in the recent survey I would share several factors that matter more student data are students continuing to make educational progress in spite of parent perception which students aren't making progress under the current model have we disaggregated the data to find out and offer individualized and Equitable Solutions this needs to happen before we tackle a broader expansion of in-person time Public Health Data how are we doing following current recommendations how are our numbers if they're low does that mean we can take on more risks or that we've taken on a just right amount of risk already staff data are the adults in school buildings and on buses safe is it fair to ask them to take on additional risks financial

135data what would it take to increase in person capacity how much would that cost do the staff even exist to fill that need where will the money come from and how will it impact other needs and ongoing Improvement initiatives will those impacts increase or decrease student Equity who will benefit the most from changes and are those students and families already receiving disproportionate educational advantages is this something we should fund as a town because we have the tax base to do so or should we consider what that means for other main communities who don't have this option is it fair to ask our local schools to solve problems resulting from National or even Global policy failures family data are the families asking for more inperson learning those who actually have the greatest need are some invoking

136mental health risk factors without personal experience of Mental Health crisis in other words invoking disability to Shield their true motives which families are following Current public health guidelines and which are increasing Community risk By ignoring those guidelines are those complaining about lack of peer interactions going without interactions outside of school are families upset that students are falling behind or that they're not getting far enough ahead are families willing to send kids back to school because they don't think there's a danger for anyone or because they don't think their own family members are in danger our families who are facing financial hardship related to unanticipated child care costs being prioritized they should be our families basing their preferences on science or denial of science I could go on but you get theide idea until we stop

137seeing this as a me me me problem and look at it as a we problem our story will end the same way it always does those with the most privilege will continue to Prevail while those on the margins will lose another generation's worth of potential progress I believe wholeheartedly in Equitable access to public education even if it costs more money but I don't support a significant investment in in-person learning unless I know it won't increase public health risks and widen existing Equity gaps for students and families who have already sacrificed and struggled the most gaps that wouldn't exist if being deserving actually mattered thank you thank you [Music] Aon okay everybody I've got three more email and then I will back and wrap up public comment our next public comment comes from Mark William I'm

138sorry Carolyn Williams advocating for full return to school for students especially K5 we would like to see the plan to achieve inperson classes five days a week especially for the fall now is the time to consider Staffing if there are teachers who do not plan to return perhaps it would be appropriate to hire college students now who are in their last year of schooling they would be more qualif than myself if you wait until August you may miss the opportunity as other towns will be looking for teachers there are still funds remaining from the 4.3 million I hoping the board will consider to use these funds for barriers additional Staffing and perhaps rental of extra building space for classes and let's use all areas of the school for classes let's petition As Leaders to have

139Governor Mills change the six-foot social distancing for schools my second grader has been in various Child Care programs in the last year where social distancing is not always followed and they have had no issues if we speak up then they may listen I understand that it is more difficult for high school students to follow maske wearing but younger kids comply young children are not independent and daily inperson teaching is necessary let's get scar back to the great school system it has been in the past thank you for listening carollyn Williams the next public comment comment comes from Jess glendening glendening I have three children with the Scaro within the Scaro School District as a parent who works outside the home I am growing increasingly concerned over how much longer the distance learning will continue prepping

140and balancing three children's daily home homeschooling schedule before leaving for work putting much pressure on my oldest to orchestrate her younger siblings to stay on task and reorganizing my workday to leave later and come home earlier resulting in loss wages has been only the tip of the iceberg within our home over the last year I commend the teachers for adjusting to these new models as well as feel feeling fortunate my children are attend are attended to sorry and communication is carried out well by staff that being said the lack of relationships both with the school staff peers and examples of social interactions during crucial stages of development which are formed during the P in-person attendance has weighed heavily upon my children I am disappointed that more emphasis has not been fo put forth to establish

141a plan to getting the children within the school district back into the school as a top priority aside from the taxes we pay the thing we once considered Insurance of the high level of Education we expected by living here the negative long-term effects upon the youth cannot even begin to be understood by delaying action to even consider another tax increase for what I feel to be subpar use of the money already received is a blow undeserved to the residents of this town I am disappointed with the discussions and more so the hypocrisy I have seen displayed over the last year by the few making the decisions I expect better thank you Jess glendening and last um we have a public comment from cormi Murphy hello my name is cormi Murphy I am a freshman at

142shs I more than anyone despise online learning I miss seeing my friends and getting to know my teachers however this year was struck by a pandemic and so we've all had to make sacrifices the amount of people who want to go back to school simply because it's quote unquote easier shocks me and frankly disappoints me I I love my town and to see someone die from a virus that can easily be avoided would be heartbreaking I implore you all to put the safety of everyone first before anything else thanks cormic Murphy class of 2024 and with that I will check the list um I apologize for any who has their hand up for a second time um we do limit public comment to one um public comment session per speak um and so at this

143point I am going to go ahead and I've checked everywhere I'm going to go ahead and close public comment for this evening thank you to everyone who took the time to share your thoughts with the board um it is sincerely appreciated agenda item 6.0 is the superintendent report 6.1 return to school planning and I'm gonna turn it over to you Sandy thank you April appreciate it and first of all I would like to say to people who spoke tonight I appreciate your stories they have a lot of passion and hope and I just deeply appreciate that you took the time to come here tonight and share your story I'd also like to acknowledge our dedicated staff and our families our all our employees and our students who have worked tirelessly to meet the challenges that

144they have faced with this school year without these people coming together we can never do this work and we have a lot more work to do tonight what I'd like to do is talk about some outcomes I'd like to review the data on cases that we have had with covid-19 I'd like to frame constraints and show how we can work with those constraints I'd like to talk about the state state and safety requirements and I'd like to talk about the current timeline and the plan and process as we move forward so if I could go on to the first slide Kelly that would be wonderful on this slide is a review of the Cod covid-19 case data at Scarboro school system and particularly in the red boxes you'll see each school going from left to

145right and at the very end it says District level the these are the number of cases to date so for instance Blue Point we've had two eight Corners we've had one Pleasant Hill we've had two wwth School we've had five the Middle School we've had 10 scabo high school we've had 26 and District level we've had five so we've had 51 positive covid-19 cases to date during the 2020 21 school year this equates 1.5% of our total District population when you consider all staff and students I'd like to stress that we will continue to to work with our safety constraints as you know CDC Department of Ed have provided those guidelines one example indoor or outdoor gathering limits which have implication for our larger schools we cannot have no more than 50 in a room

146so for instance in the gymnasium the cafeteria you cannot have no more than 50 to that space when you look at Outdoors you cannot have no more than a hundred Outdoors as well just some examples that I wanted to share on the next slide I just I think for some people you have this information already but it's about State safety requirements and I just like to talk about that as well so these are framework requirements that we you have to follow and these State safety requirements have gone through some uh revisions they started in um I believe right I think the first one was July 2020 and then it moved on and three other revisions have taken place since then and what we need to be aware of and I think most people understand this

147that we do have to wear face covers in all areas of the school on on the buses in the restrooms when going up and down the hallways up and down the stairways and all in the classrooms I don't think that's any surprise to any of us but I did want to just remind people that these again are safety requirements that we have to follow physical distancing requirements that we have to follow is 3 to six feet for students and again when the teacher is up in front of the classroom he or she needs to be six feet away from the student also everyone must conduct a daily self check for symptoms very important this plan was approved by the board on July 30th 2020 on the next slide a few more State safety requirements protocols

148for return to school after an illness so again when we come to school thank goodness we have our wonderful nurses office staff that work to make sure that when the protocols for return to school after an illness is completed we also have access to additional safety materials as needed Shields gloves and gowns I can't tell you how much work has gone into with our nurses and with our custodial staff and everybody in the building who have ponied up to make sure that these safety materials are in place the cleaning of the buildings has been phenomenal and again the training of the protocols people have followed those to a team on the next slide it's a little busier slide um and what you'll see on the left side is the red and typically I'm not going

149to read all this but if we were in the red it would be like last March that that students would be sent home and there's High cases and it's really difficult to provide teaching and learning this year we were in the yellow and if you see Down Below on the yellow box the distancing and safety requirements are relaxed consideration will be made to move towards 100% of the K5 students attending iners fulltime so there's a little more wiggle room when you move from red to yellow and now we're currently in the green column which is pretty good news we're making Headway and so I would like to just read that Circle that even though all student students will be permitted to attend school Scaro may still be required to employ procedures Bas covers Etc and

150limit some activities to reduce the risk of exposure aligned with the requirements recommendations of the main Department of Ed and Main CDC so as you know um there are again some constraints when we look at our schools we look at our buses we look at our playground s the cafeteria that it's not like everybody can just come back and go wherever they want in January 29 2021 the case rate in cumin County dropped below the state average and Main Department of a continued to review the evidence of the lower Transmission in our schools compared to the general population and that's really how we got into this green Callum so if we look at the next slide it's it is good news um which is great I mean we're moving in the right direction we could

151have a hiccup and it could go the other way as you know it's hard to predict the stuff but Main's transmission rate is changing and I I'm not going to spend a lot of time with this graph but if you look to the right and and you'll see the gray actually the it looks more gray the lines from the left going down and then and into the brown I call it like almost like a brown mountain right there we are currently um in February at 2.3% so we're we're doing pretty well this month if you look back in January we were at 8.4% so again um the do jagged lines that you see the more they go down and down the better off the data shows us and and that the transmission rate is is

152hopefully going for the better um I only want to share that because again we are currently in the green column and and this is good news and let's keep our fingers crossed to hope that it continues to stay there or go down and then on the next slide what I'd like to do is talk about our current timeline and I think this is really um what people truly want to hear tonight so we are surveying the parents we want your feedback we're curious to know what you're thinking and all the good comments tonight we hope that you will put on the survey and so that's again has is going to be really important to us as a as we inform our plan the Leadership Council will review the data to recommend potential amendments to the

153current plan again the current plan has to align with the regulations that we talked about tonight the start Committee just for people who may not know about the history of that we spent all summer with I think it was 60 people in the community and school community coming together to come up with a plan and recommendations on how we could open school and so what we're recommending is both great minds to come back to us and meet and the first meeting would be on March 11 and to start talking about what would it look like to increase the time so that we can have our students come back to school and and I when I say increase the time I don't know what that means I don't know if that means more hours more days

154or fulltime but we're going to be looking for the great minds on this start committee to start having those conversations that will come to the Leadership Council and ultimately it would go to the board as a recommendation and then I'm sure people are going to wonder well are you talking about next year Mr Prince are you're talking about this year either or it is wide open we want that committee to study the data to look at the recommendations and see if there's a way that we can bring our students back more time and we'll be sharing that again with the board on March 18th and so I would encourage the public to stay tuned and and uh we will do our best to communicate to you how we're progressing with this work and then the

155other thing is uh again a lot of that work will be shared with the Leadership Council meetings and continue checking with from the buildings and problem solve the issues weekly um as you've heard tonight there's a lot of moving Parts with this virus and the implications it has for any organization and uh I promise you that we will do our best to make sure that we have your child in the best interest not only for health but also to make sure that the learning does continue that's very important to us um and I just would like to again appreciate the staff this year for the work that they've done unlike any other time it's just amazing the creativity the drive and the depth of the work that has gone in our schools and with that

156said I think that is all I have to say tonight and um again stay tuned we will be working as we get closer to coming to the board on March 18th with a recommendation thank you thank you Sandy uh at this point I'll turn it over to board questions Alicia go ahead I have a a few do you want me to um ask them all or raise my hand individually no go ahead okay um Sandy I'm wondering if you could um if you've considered a survey of the um teachers yeah I think that's a really good idea um so when I think a school Community I think that that would be a component that we could look at absolutely thank you for mentioning that fell okay thank you and and um I I know that

157that um start committee was pretty large and that can be quite unwieldy um but there are some new voices to the conversation and I'm wondering if there's a way that they can um participate in that process even even if it's not they're not able to be on the committee is there a way that they can offer their skill set um to this discussion I would like to say yes I just not sure how we could do that but I could take that recommendation back and there may be some vacancies to begin with I'm not sure everybody who was involved last summer would want to continue on but let's assume that they do maybe there's another way to invite other people into the conversation or at least to listen to the conversation um I'll make a

158note of that and see if we can get some ideas going on your requests thank you and then um I I thought that Aron and Rowan had some good um data driven questions about reviewing the data is that is that something that the committee will be doing or will you be bringing that is it possible to bring that information to the board not or or what are your thoughts about some of her suggestions yeah you remember the one the suggestions that I'm talking about first of all I guess are you talking earlier yeah like like um looking at the student performance data for example was one of her was one of her um sort of data point inquiries for assessment and I'm wondering if if that something that you have envisioned occurring at the start

159committee level or if that would be a presentation to the board or if that's something you're assessing at an admin level I don't think we've drilled down to that degree because again that committee would come together again there were four four components to the star committee and one group was the academics and the academics certainly could look at past performance but also indiv I think the the real focus is to look at the future and so for for example should we increase the time to come back to school and if we were going to do that are we talking when I'm not sure what you and April have planned for for future meetings or workshops but that might be an interesting sort of endeavor to go over some of the more datadriven inquiries y thank

160you you thanks ficia uh Sarah go ahead Andy can you remind me what the or or someone else if you can't remember as well with the four you said there was four groups for the start committee what were those four groups so we had academics we had health we had social emotional and oh there's another one um I'm putting you on the spot help me down operations oper so the thank you I guess the one thing that um stuck out with to me from a lot of the the public comments and um was just around equity and so I'm sure that everyone is you know on those start committees is going in with the best intentions to ensure that there's e across all of those different groups but maybe one thing to consider is either

161forming a if we do expand the group or change the group it it's um adding I know the thought of adding more people is probably be very unpalatable but adding um another group around Equity to ensure that that's a focus of all those groups or just make it I don't know how you do with that but I I do think that that's a really important consideration um to make sure that it's a focus of the recommendations and the discussion that that come out of those groups and ultimately it'll be on us to make sure that the recommendations are um are Equitable but I think if that's an important discussion or part of the discussion absolutely thank you other questions or comments okay I'm not seeing any Sandy thank you for providing us with an update

162um we look forward to having this on the on the future agenda on the 18th um and with that I'm going to go ahead and move on to um 7.0 which is the chair's report for this evening I'm actually I'm actually going to call for a five minute recess if that's okay I could I could use a couple of minutes to compose myself and get my notes back together um before we move on to a new topic so I'm going to go ahead it's 8:45 let's reconvene in five minutes at 8:50 please thanks everybody hi everybody if you can hear me come on back okay before the break I had started agenda item 7.0 which is the chair's report um I didn't prepare a slide for this evening since I basically just have two um

163kind of logistical updates to give the community and the board um so first of all agenda item 7.1 is the superintendent search update um I wanted to let everybody know that the job was posted um on both School spring and serving schools on February [Music] 111 and the for superintendence closes on March 5th um I did check with ddmm a couple of days ago I did not check today um and we have had a few applicants um Andrew dolli of ddmm did say that a lot of times applicants um you know send in their packets in the last several days um just because it takes time to gather the references and the resources needed um and so I will be able to give everyone a more comprehensive update on the number of app an that

164we have um at our next meeting which is a week from today um also this week we put out actually last week we put out a survey um for the community asking for the qualities and attributes that they seek in a superintendent uh in addition to the survey we also put out an application to be on the interview committee both the application and the survey were sent out in our district newsletter they were sent out in the town newsletter they were sent out over social media and we also um did press coverage on the front page of the scubber leader this week so really good coverage in terms of trying to solicit um individuals to fill out the survey and to apply for our interview committee um formation of the interview oh and I should

165say the survey closes March 1st if I didn't um already say that and the application to be on the hiring committee or the interview committee rather same deadline March 1st um formation of the interview committee is our next task and again um you know we had previously talked about doing that in executive session but based on the legal advice that we were given um that cannot occur as a full board in executive session if we wish to select people um one thing that I do want to present to the board is this idea that it's really challenging to select committee members based on qualifications when a lot of the people have very similar qualifications and are all highly qualified and so my recommendation to the board would be that we um as a subcommittee in

166consultation with ddmm present to the full board our recommendations for categories and give you all an idea of the number of applicants that we had in each one of those categories and then in public as a full board we just draw people at random to make sure that we fulfill each of the categories that we um have outlined that's a suggestion um I'm certainly open to other board ideas and other suggestions um but I do you know want to be honest with you all because I am on the superintendent search steering committee um that selecting the committee even though we were told by our legal that that can happen in a Clos meeting um you know to her point about building transparency and building trust in the community um on a personal level that just

167doesn't necessarily ring to what I would like to do so I would definitely want to hear other people's thoughts on that Sarah uh I just wanted to I say that I would support that um if I remember correctly last time we did this uh we had one of those wheel thingies that went awfully horribly wrong uh so you know maybe picking names out of like a virtual bucket or something like that is is the way to go but yeah I I support that and and just before I Shannon I'm gonna call in you next just before um I want I do want to make a point that we did solicit categories on our application for to be on the interview committee and so unlike last time where everybody kind of just went into the same

168hat um we do have a way this time to differentiate between different categories um and so you know the challenge is just making sure that we have individuals who can fulfill each of the roles that we're hoping to fill in my opinion Shannon um I would just also um support that decision- making as well um especially with the I'm so sorry my cat um especially with the use of the um buckets so determining the different categories we're going to want to see represented on the committee and then um drawing drawing accordingly Kristen um I also support the idea I just had one question if we had no applicants in a particular category do we eliminate that category or do we seek out someone to fill that role that's a great question and so we've kind

169of been keeping our eye on the application um to get an idea of if we need to do some targeting targeted rather um promotion of the application um and that being said I will definitely put in a plug right now with all of my building administrators if you feel like it's appropriate to encourage staff um to apply and also if you have parents that you think would be fantastic um you know get them to apply as it stands right now we have 34 interested um applicants I didn't go through and break them down by category so I can't tell you tonight whether or not we need more K2 or more High School um but just a quick glance over looking at the different qualific or the different categories that people selected um I think we've

170done we've done pretty well um in terms of the balance Max um can you just re reiterate which specific categories are being solicited and sought out sure so this is informal um because this is something that I want to talk about as a subcommittee before we present it at our meeting next Thursday um but the categories that we solicited on the application are parent teacher um administrator and student and and then we'll also you know discuss the need to have Schoolboard member on there as well if not to so other questions okay so that being said um we do have a superintendent steering committee meeting next Tuesday um to kind of finalize the criteria and give the application a look over before we make our recommendations to the board next Thursday and the plan um

171unless something happens in between now and then will be to draw the names um at random in public to fill fulfill the categories okay uh my next update agenda item 7.2 is the Dei committee update um Shannon had reached out to me and requested that this be an agenda item as the Dei uh steering committee was coming together over the last two weeks um for the Public's reminder um we did formalize that committee and reached out to all of the individuals who expressed interest in being selected um due to the time constraint we did have one student um who had been accepted to the committee um say that she was not going to be able to make the commitment um but other than that every single person that we asked um and offered us seat

172on the committee has accepted and Shannon has been doing some leg work um to get that first meeting rolling so I'm at this point I'm gonna turn the update over to Shannon thanks April um we do have our first meeting scheduled it is um Wednesday March 3rd so next next Wednesday um uh in that meeting we will be meeting um well you know it's the introduction meeting of course for everybody but we'll also be meeting Michelle Nutter our consultant with ma but we've also Michelle has brought on a second consultant that will work with us um in in determining the needs for our community so we will have two and um the SE with Michelle will be Carmen so at this first meeting um they will work in tandem to present um information and this

173first meeting is mostly going to be a um a setting the um the the expectations for the committee and the work that we'll be doing going forward and really understanding the lens with which we're looking at this work and the data that we'll be reviewing to make recommendations to the board going forward um the second piece and and um really the reason I asked April to put this on the agenda is as I was working through some of um the first meeting Logistics with um with ala and then with um Diane and Michelle as well um I got concerned with our recent protocol that we adopted about recording meetings um so I I wanted us to have a discussion tonight and from what I understand we need to vote on it is that correct April

174later on not now but later in the agenda is that correct we can discuss it I actually don't have um it on the agenda under new business um logistically that's that's not great parliamentary procedure but we could make a motion to agend amend the agenda under new business if the board discussion leads to something that we really think needs to be voted on gotcha um the discussion from where I my concern just to to let you know what I'm thinking is this work is really um as we have seen and we know emotional and and very dear and close to to many people and especially those that have really worked hard to be on this committee and I'm fearful that if we um if this meeting is is open and recorded or streamed that people

175are going to be less inclined to share their experiences or their stories or um share with the committee which I think is really essential to create to the work we're doing going forward um I think it helps to frame the needs that we have in our district and then I also think it's going to help the committee um to hear firsthand experiences as we make recommendations going forward um and I'm just fearful that if we if we are recording this or we are streaming this that that conversation is going to be stifled and at worst case scenario non-existent Nick go ahead you have your hand up so um I don't know my opinion on this has shifted a little bit since six o'clock tonight so I mean initially my first question would be you know

176if covid wasn't happening and we were having this in a physical location say like in chamber b or whatever would we have Chairs set up along the sides for members of the public to come in I think before we learned what we learned tonight the answer to that probably would have been yes because it's a standing committee and our standing committee meetings have always been open and make sure the doors propped open make sure we have chairs for members of the public that want to participate but now that we've learned what we learned about our committees and how they don't we know they don't have a quorum of board members which means they don't necessarily have to be public venues I guess I'm more a me I'm more amendable to the idea of it not

177being public it would be kind of our only committee outside of uh negotiations and executive session that's not um which does go against the policy we just so proudly adopted for transparency um but now that it's not like a a statute issue I'm not as worried about it as I was but I guess I still start with that first question is without covid without Zoom without Google streaming would we have set this up with chairs for members of the public to watch if they wanted to yeah in my opinion I think it's a fair point that it prior to six o'clock tonight probably yes right we we would have and I that was my struggle was how that would play into um this because it Zoom or not I still think the issue is there

178right if it's in person or in Zoom I think we still have that issue um so after hearing the six o'clock I'm with you I I don't I don't I think it's no longer an issue technically so I don't want to get anybody on a technicality um in terms of semantics it's not a standing committee Nick it's a ad hoc committee because if it was a standing committee then it would have to be um per our board policy a public meeting um and the what we adopted was a protocol and so again like you know we adopt these protocols and if we're not going to follow them you know it it doesn't feel very genuine right and so that was my struggle and part of the reason why I asked Melissa if she would do

179a workshop because you know I we all want to be by the book um and so finding out from Melissa that technically the meeting can be a closed meeting because it doesn't have to it's not a it's not a public meeting in the sense that um you know it has Quorum and and whatever not whatever that was not Kristen I think Sarah had her hand up before me oh okay um I actually I don't care if they're recorded or not for future viewing but I do believe they should be that Zoom should be open to any public that wants to view it I think it it just is transparent and I think if this work is going to be successful the community needs to come along with us and see the whole process we don't

180do anything in closed meetings we haven't anyways and I I find that important thanks Kristen Sarah yes so I guess my my thoughts were uh what you said genuinely stuck with me and I I agree I think we want people to be safe and um in order for us to be productive right we need people to be honest and and create creating that safe space will will allow that to happen um so I would be okay with not having them recorded but I think we need to to overcome the communication and public input um problem and I don't request that there's a I don't suggest that there's a solution that would need to happen on the call right now or the meeting now but I think that's something maybe take away and think about because

181there were a lot of people interested and there was a lot of people who couldn't for or couldn't you know well we either didn't accept ons of the committee or they just couldn't be involved for other reason that were interested and so we need to figure out a way to keep those people engaged and make sure that we're continuing to get their feedback throughout the process one way that they would do that would be to watch the meetings um so if that's not an option then how do we keep Ms and make sure that we're considering other people's feedback um that's a great great question and what we what the um part of the um first meeting the laying out the expectations for the work we're doing one of the things we've um where'd you

182go oh there you are one of the things um we discussed or we talked about doing was um and just um generally talked because the committee yet hasn't met um is having listening sessions where people in the community that that have stories to share or experiences to share things that they want to talk about have an opportunity to come to the committee publicly and Sh and share with us so um the expectation is that the the Greater Community would participate it at different times Nick then Alisha then Gabby so I want to be very careful here if this is an ad hoc committee and as I remember Melissa huie saying we don't really have any standing protocols procedures or any other P that involves our ad hoc committees do we have anything we have to

183vote on and there in lies why I didn't put it on the agenda as an action item oh I got one okay okay Alisha then Gabby it if you go back to the charge of that committee I mean it's really not intended to um become a a sort of EXP experiential event for the the the members of the committee but I can see how it might um and I I know that um the consultant indicated that the first uh meeting would be uh some ice breakers that might include some sto storytelling and and sharing of their experiences so I I I don't think that um that should be um videotaped because I don't I I don't think feel comfortable with that knowing that they haven't really consented to that in advance um but my thought

184is maybe just leave it up to the committee in terms of this is the charge of the committee you're going to be making recommendations and um and see how they they feel knowing sort of the public interest in in um the work that's being done go ahead Gabby sorry about that um I guess my thing is if at any point someone on the committee shares their experiences and I know Alicia just said that um that's not really the charge of the committee but if it was recorded you can't really know who's going to watch it in the future like with streaming you can kind of tell who's on and who's watching but recording anyone can have that if it's posted at least at any point in the future which I feel like could cause some

185issues lean um I'm gonna Piggyback in what Alicia said because I think she was really spot on this is this isn't our call this is something that I think we need to go back to the committee for um we shouldn't make that decision for them that said I think if there is strategic work if this is a conversation about we want to change F's curriculum for this reason I would think that that should be recorded and available so that it isn't done behind a closed door and we can have the community engagement and that transparency that we have striven for and we can bring people along I think it's important to have a fair balance between the two agree that if we're talking experiences that would be more private but if we're talking tactical change

186that should be documented say I was just going to point out um some of us in the district there's a group of seven um individuals um a couple of Administrators uh a few teachers and even a high school student who's part of a similar group called community of practice through the University of Southern main um and and we're engaging with maec actually um and 10 other districts um in examination of equity and that was um again just as a point of information one of the pieces that they made really clear at the start um was that they wanted to honor um people's privacy on one hand and then also um not uh affect the dialogue that might happen somebody felt like um their share their story was being widely distributed a wonder that I have

187is might there be a happy medium in terms of um if the committee posts the agenda and then posts um a summary of minutes not he said she said this but you know this is the broad discussion that took place and then these are the next steps on um because really the charge of this committee isn't to make decisions that are going to have lasting change for our district it's to recommend an action plan to all of you um at the board about the next steps that the district should take thank you Dian so what I'm hearing is that there is a uh certain level of comfort um with at the very least um sending this discussion to the Dei committee um and that there is a understanding amongst the board that um there may

188be times when people share things that would not that they would not want recorded you know and to Gabby's point you know recordings are forever um I I also you know see the point about um you know maintaining a good connection with the public considering that there was so much public interest with this committee um and so I think there is probably a happy medium here in terms of um having access to the agendas and what the topics are that are being discussed without having um access to the literal things that are being said in each meeting so that being said Shannon um I I think what the you know what I'm hearing is that the board would like you to have this be a topic of conversation um for the committee um and with

189the understanding that there may be times when the committee does post a public link um or when the discussion does lend itself to you know having more access to the committee but in these initial stages um I think it I think the there's a level of comfort and consensus on the board that um the meetings do not have to be recorded um to Nick's point and what I was hoping to get out of the workshop earlier was whether or not we were going to break policy or be in violation of some statute um if we didn't have a vote um but what I heard and please correct me if you heard it differently was that um ad hoc committees don't have a policy that governs whether or not they are covered by our typical board

190policies um or protocols you know I I don't I don't love that we just adopted a protocol to share meetings and that we're gonna um say that this one doesn't have to be recorded or um shared that being said I understand the need um and can differentiate in this case yeah and I will absolutely add that um like I said the first meeting um I think is for the most part will be taken up with Michelle and Carmen from MAAC but definitely in our second meeting when we get more into the logistics of the work um I'll definitely add that add that in that yes we won't record the first couple but at some point in the future how you know what how do you feel if or what are your thoughts on um streaming

191these for the public I I think that's a good compromise does anyone else have other comments okay seeing none I have to do it to you guys can I get a motion to extend board business Beyond 9:30 please so moved second discussion Diane can you call the vote please I can Mrs gius yes Dr Gil yes Miss calones yes Miss Leighton yes M Lindstrom yes Mrs Scyther yes Mrs Turner yes Mr Bennett yes and Miss yes agenda item 8.0 is new business um agenda item 8.1 is the governor's resolution Oh Shannon you have your hand up do we have to talk about the email I'm sorry the oh not sure we're gonna we're gonna backtrack to agenda it 7.2 something that Shannon would like to go for it sorry we were just um and I

192I should have said at the beginning the the everything and packaged it up um the only other piece outstanding that we're working on is creating an an email um for the committee that'll that'll include the committee members um I is is there I'm not sure if there's any conversation we needed to have about it um but we were going to create that email uh similar to what was had in the pass with the with other committees so that the committee members could communicate with each other throughout the process Leanne then Kristen um just to confirm this is just between um the committee members this isn't a for the public to communicate directly with the folks on the committee um that I need some guidance from April on because if a Committee Member I mean the

193way that the rules stand is if somebody in the community wants to ask a question it's not it's not for really any of us but April to respond right so I I would assume Community emails would come through the Boe email if we perhaps get one at the D at the Dei email um I would presume it would be just like if I received one personally I would forward it to the Boe email for April to respond great thank you for clarifying that um the reason I was asking I think it's a really good because the reason I was asking is um I've been following some other districts and some of the emails aren't the nicest and I'd want to protect the students from getting any of those and make sure that anything of that

194nature was coming to the board directly yeah and that was um also on my thank you for reminding me that was on my um my second agenda is to make sure that everybody in the committee understood who's responsible for replying to two emails that come in from the community so um the reality is nobody on the de Dei committee should be responding to those right they should all come in and go to the board email for response from April so so I'm gonna go to you Kristen but I my my request I guess would be that the if you would like to set up a Dei email so that Community uh so that committee members may speak to each other that that not be a publicized email address that way it would not set the

195expectation that community members would email the committee um and that would continue to encourage the communication to come directly to the board sure I understand like having to Wrangle a committee that has you know 18 people on it and not having a centralized place for your Communications is challenging um and so if that's the request um you know I think we just need to be really clear right yeah and that would absolutely be my intention and um certainly the hope is that everybody comes to the be the normal Channel but just in case somebody on the committee shares the email you know when things like that happen I would my intention would be to forward them on Kristen can you just clarify for me is this one email address that Alicia and Shannon will use

196or are you saying that every member of the committee is going to get an email address issued to the committee no it would be a like almost like an email um list serve for lack of a better word where everybody who's on the committee is a part of an email group so that instead of me writing out 22 email addresses I just write one and it goes to 22 people but to their personal account so when they if they send an outbound email it's using their own email address yes okay thank you question any other comments about setting up a email address for the committee okay Shannon was there anything else no that was it all right now moving on to agenda item 8.0 new business agenda item 8.1 is the governor's resolution so to

197give you guys a little bit of a background and to give the community some background um I adapted this um resolution from boilerplate language that has been adopted um and voted on for approval by Brunswick Yarmouth and fouth um all fairly recently um it was Sandy brought this to my attention as something that um was gaining momentum in other communities and so um I wanted to bring that forward for the board's consideration um and I had asked Leanne if she wouldn't mind doing a screen share just so that people would be able to have the language um it is posted on the website it has been posted with our supplemental materials all week um so people in the public could have access to it um and and the long and short of it is is

198a lot of words um asking that the governor prioritized vaccinations for teachers um and so I am certainly willing to hear comments um and questions on the idea of adapting adopting rather this resolution Nick so I spent some time with it been digging through the vaccine protocols was the federal and state level this week and I just I have one issue with it that I wanted to talk to the group about and actually propose maybe a way that we can amend the language to address this so I have this written out because I want to make sure I got it right so I wrote I I have concerns about the language and the request expressed at the end of the proposed resolution specifically giving quote immediate priority currently phase 1B has been augmented and split

199and to split older M older maners to the top priority of the phase in two populations ages 65 to 69 and then 70 plus the latter group are currently the only members of phase 1B that are eligible for vaccination the next group in line are the older maners ages 65 to 69 and then adults of all ages that are high-risk medical conditions the language as written suggests that Educators should be prioritized ahead of the other aforementioned phase 1B populations and it is a position that I cannot support vaccination efforts across our country have focused on address addressing our medically vulnerable populations in a hierarchy that experts believe will save the most American lives and so what I've got here is the very last statement I want to read it as it is and then I

200want to say what my proposed change might be just so the group can think about it um so at the very end it says it is therefore resolved that the scarber Board of Education finds a substantial public purpose exists to request that the governor and the main Center for Disease Control designate all prek School personnel as quote certain critical Frontline workers and further as certain critical Frontline workers they' be given immediate priority in Phase 1B of the Statewide administration of the covid-19 vaccine and what I'm proposing is that basically where it says the word designate in the second line that we Chang that to designate all prek School personnel as certain Critical Care Frontline workers and be classified as such in 1B of the Statewide administration of the covid-19 vaccine in alignment with the federal

201CDC phase 1B protocol basically the only point of this for me is to make sure that I I have a hard time with us saying that they should be prioritized above groups that right now supersede certain critical Frontline workers in the hierarchy of phase 1B can I ask a clarification question Nick you read prek did you mean K12 I did mean prek-12 yes okay sorry you no problem I just want to make sure yeah comments you want to make a motion to amend I would love to I was gonna make a friendly yes a friendly Amendment or emotional Amendment whatever once's more appropriate to change that last language that I read basically removing the immediate prioritization piece because I just I like it Kristen I was going to ask Nick to repeat again what he

202said but that's literally all you're doing is removing those two words so basically yeah so yeah so basically what I've changed is at the very end of where it says is it is therefore resolved that that statement at the end basically I'm changing it so that where it says designate basically the I'll read it out so what I'm changing it to is this designate that all prek-12 School personnel as certain critical Frontline workers and be classified as such in Phase 1B of the Statewide administration of the covid-19 vaccine in alignment with the federal CDC Phase 1 one 1B protocols because in the federal guidelines right now teachers are listed under 1B in the third category of 1B underneath adults of all ages that have serious medical conditions which is underneath seniors which the federal government

203designates as 65 plus now in Maine we subdivided that into 70 plus and 65 to 69 because of supply issues so the next group in line right now are 65 to 69 year olds then adults that have serious medical conditions of any age and then you're whoever you're going to designate as certain critical Frontline workers and I do agree with what this resolution says about having our teachers sit in that group I just don't agree in with the immediate prioritization language because it makes it sound like we're saying we think they should be bumped ahead of people that have medical and critical life saving need and I I I I think that's wrong I'm completely with you on that point and I don't want to do that either um I think what I'm trying to

204understand is if they're already classified as 1B our request then is that they go to the the top of the critical care critical Frontline workers right sorry well Frontline workers right now are split sorry go ahead Frontline workers right now are split between 1B and 1 C and so if you look at the federal guidelines they've actually listed out who fits into each category in Maine right now we have said to be determined that's literally the language that's there so the governor hasn't made a determination as to who sits in which bucket yet and so I think the the bulk of this resolution is great because what we're saying is as Schoolboard members in the state of Maine we want our teachers to be in that first group of of uh Frontline workers which I

205think makes a ton of sense what I don't like is the language that says that should go for immediate prioritization because that just feels wrong I agree with you I agree with that Alisha before I call on you um can I get a motion to approve the the governor's resolution as presented please motion to approve as presented thank you and then Nick thank you and then Nick can you now during discussion can you formally make your Amendment and then Alisha I'll go to you sure um would you like me to actually read out the language again I'm not going to read the whole thing but yes please yeah so I would like to move to amend the final portion of this proposed resolution to read that it is therefore resolved that the Scarboro Board of

206Education finds a substantial public purpose exists to request that the governor and the main Center of for Disease Control designate all prek-12 School personnel as certain critical Frontline workers and be classified as such in Phase 1B of the Statewide administration of the covid-19 vaccine in alignment with the federal CDC phase 1B protocols and I'll obviously send this language over yeah he needs a second second thank you discussion Alicia well I I agree with the thought behind the amendment but I don't know that I'm comfortable with the language when I haven't reviewed the the federal guidelines myself um so I I wouldn't support it as written um because I I just don't know what that means okay um is there a way Nick to use your wording without classifying it as being in accordance with the

207federal guidelines does it still read appropriately uh it should let me take a look um yeah basically we just cut it off at so we just cut it off after I say and be classified as such in Phase 1B of the Statewide administration of a covid-19 vaccine period in terms of a friendly amendment is that something that you would consider to your main Amendment yes thank you other comments okay are we ready to vote on Nick's Amendment hey Diane could you call the vote please yes mon all of my paperwork here um Mrs gius no Dr Gil yes Miss calones Miss unmuted yes sorry that's okay Miss Leon yes Mrs Lindstrom yes Mrs cther yes Mrs Turner yes Mr Bennett yes and Miss gius yes okay now we're back to the main motion does anyone

208have any other further discussion on the main motion seeing none Diane I think we're ready to vote Mrs gius yes Dr Gil yes Miss calones yes Miss Leon yes Mrs lindstrm yes Mrs Scyther yes Mrs Turner yes Mr Bennett yes and miss gius yes great the motion passes thank you everyone and thank you Nick for your Amendment agenda item 8.2 is first reading of policy JCB immunization of students um do I have a motion to approve as presented so moved second discussion and Alisha if you as policy chair wouldn't mind giving everybody um kind of an overview of of the policy and what we discussed sure I I mean you've you've had the um the proposed uh policies so I'm not going to go into depth too much I'll just say JCB um is being

209amended to dress in line with the statutory changes uh for immunization that will be effective September 1st of this year um in which it will ban non-medical uh IM imization exemptions with an exception for those students currently receiving special ed services um we're we're being proactive in the change um of this uh policy in that it um uh even though it doesn't go in effect in September because the nurses have a lot of work to do to notify families and and um try to get people in where they need to be so we're trying to get them um as much notice as we can jlcc uh the Infectious Disease policy again that's just um making some changes as uh required by law and recommended by the attorneys dge bidding and purchasing uh there was a

210change uh for school building construction and repairs um bidding required by law that change has gone from 100,000 to 200 50,000 and then there was a change for other purchases that are not um required by law rfps are required us it used to be um over 20,000 and now it's the statutes changed to over 50,000 so we'll just be um consistent with the statute on that as well thank you are there questions on let's take questions on policy JCB first um and then we can move on to um further discussion Kristen I had a couple of questions the first one being I don't know if you guys would have this information as a policy committee but do you have any background as to why students on an IEP were Exempted based on prior religious and

211philosophical beliefs like how was that related to special Services I I I'm not seeing the connection why I think I read that that was like a compromise uh the for the legislation and um in it sort of addressed some of the homeschooling um constituency as well and so I mean I didn't follow the legislation as it was being developed but um after that I think I'm pretty sure that that's what I read um in the other one I don't maybe it's a question for Diane and I don't even know if this is the appropriate place to ask it but if students can't enroll if they don't get the vaccinations what What Becomes of Our obligation to students if they're not enrolled because they're not complying with the immunizations so um because it's state statute that

212students have to be immunized um if they are not immunized they can't attend school because they're considered a potential Health threat um and again that's all by Statute so and we just we have no responsibility at that point to that student if that's the choice that their family makes is that am I understanding that correctly right so in order to enroll in school you need to be able to demonstrate that you have those vaccines on board and so for existing students um this is a place where our nurses have struggled because as all of you know as parents um you know there are different guide posts as your kids um you know get older around what what vaccines are necessary and so you know each year our nurses spend a significant amount of time um

213following uh families and making sure that they're getting uh the records that they need and um in in a few cases uh where we've had a difficult time getting compliance on board we literally have to let families know that that their children will be excluded from school um until they can demonstrate that they've met that legal criteria okay I have one more question if that's okay go ahead is the section about exclusion of students from school it reads a little bit like superintendent has some um discretion over which students um are I'm trying to think of which part I had so it it makes it sound like the superintendent has some choice in the matter but really they don't or is that section referring to other communicable diseases that are not covered under the mandated

214vaccines does that make sense can you repeat your question yeah I know I'm being confusing it this part where it says exclusion of students from school and it says this the superintendent show I'm trying to think of the part that let me get to the part that I had was confused about I think it's the whole thing it makes it sound like the superintendent like there some gray area that there's a decision to be made but is that like if the students have to get immunizations why is there a thing about excluding them for a period of time based on or is that in reference to communicable diseases that don't aren't covered by the immunizations that are required by the new statute wait are you looking at immunizations or communicable diseases poliy the the imun

215sorry Alicia I looked at this forever ago and in my head it made sense then where it says like any such student shall be excluded During the period of danger as defined by Health officials or until the student receives the necessary immunization like why is that even a thing because that student shouldn't be in school so for example um like right now for example um um if this was here's a great example if this was an IEP student who qualifies for the exclusion right and so they're not vaccinated and we have a case of chickenpox that's a example because that's you know that's happened to me multiple times um during the time that I was a building leader if there's a case of chickenpox anyone who is not vaccinated has to be excluded from school

216for the period for a certain period of time like for Chickenpox it's 21 days and then they can return to school and so uh when those situations happen and those students have to be excluded um parents are informed about that and in in some cases some of them do choose to go and get a vaccine right so this section as of September will only apply to the students who are Exempted correct okay right I think that was my confusion yep did that help yeah okay any other comments I will also say just you know for the board and and again for the community um we did invite the nurses to come to policy um and they did work through the wording of the policies with us um and they communicated to us that they you

217know um are out ahead of this in terms of being in touch with families who are not currently in compliance because as we all know like vaccine schedules take time to complete like you can't just go and get all of your vaccines for school in one weekend um and so the nurses are in contact with those families um in in a concerted effort to make sure that understand um this changes coming and what their choices are going to be for September and with that I'm not seeing any other hands so I believe we are ready to vote all right Mrs gius yes Dr Gil yes Miss calones yes Miss Leon yes Mrs Lindstrom yes Mrs Scyther yes M Turner yes Mr Bennett yes and Miss gius yes thank you everyone 8.3 is first reading of

218policy jlcc communicable infectious diseases do I have a motion to approve as presented so mov second discussion sorry I combined my discussion all at once tired that's okay are there any further questions for Alisha or Diane on policy jlcc and again this is first reading um so these will come back to the board again um if you come up with something or you need to communicate um you know there's still time for that so with that I think we are ready to vote great Mrs gius yes Dr Gil yes Miss calones yes Miss Leighton yes Mrs Lindstrom yes Mrs Scyther yes Mrs Turner yes Mr Bennett yes and Miss dictus yes excellent thank you agenda item 8.4 is first reading of policy DJ bidding and purchasing requirements do I have a motion to approve as

219presented second discussion thank you and again Alisha gave the updates um you know a lot of what we discussed in policy was just increasing those um bid amounts to State current with um inflation uh those a lot of those policies hadn't been updated in quite some time and so um that was a that actually came as a staff request um to take a look at some of those numbers to make sure that we were able to be competitive um and and still be responsive to today's market is there any questions or [Music] discussion no I think we're ready to vote thank you Diane Mrs gius yes Dr Gil yes Miss calones yes Miss Leighton yes Mrs Lindstrom yes Mrs Scyther yes Mrs Turner yes Mr Bennett yes and Miss gius yes thank you agenda item

22088.5 is meeting minutes of January 21st 2021 do I have a motion to approve as presented so moved yeah discussion I think we're good thank you Diane Mrs gius yes Dr Gil yes Miss calones yes Miss Leighton yes Mrs Lindstrom yes Mrs cther yes Mrs Turner yes Mr Bennett yes and Miss gius yes excellent thank you everybody agenda [Music] item 8.6 is a donation approval request um the Don ation were sent to us as an amend uh as a attachment um today um trying to pull them up [Music] here I apologize they were sent to us as a Amendment as a attachment yesterday um I'm going to go ahead and read the donations because I think that it Warren um public thanks for sure so we have received a number of generous donations for the

221backpack program in recent weeks with several reaching the threshold for school board approval they are $800 from Jane Thrift $500 from the Scaro High School school store $500 from Jen and James skillings $667 matching gift from Unum from the the pockets no and that's their November donation we had an anonymous donation of $500 we had an in-kind donation of four pallets of Dole fruit cups valued at approximately $1650 we respectfully request that the school board approve acceptance of these donations on behalf of the backpack program with thanks do I have a motion to approve as presented second discussion none other than we are always so grateful um and I know that everyone on the board um you know usually votes yes with thanks and so thank you very much to our um amazing generos uh

222the generosity of our community and with that I think we're ready Mrs gius yes with our thanks Dr Gil yes and thank you Miss calones yes and thank you Miss Leighton yes thank you Mrs Lindstrom yes and thank you Mrs cther yes Mrs Turner yes thank you Mr Bennett yes and thank you so much and miss gius yes and thank you excellent Sarah I see your hand is upil I don't know how to do this the right way but um I'm feeling like like quickly reading a little bit more about the vaccination thing and I feel like I need a little bit more clarification on the decision we made and that I might want to backtrack is that allowed how do we how do we open it back up for discussion really I'm really testing

223your parliamentary procedure College yeah at at this point uh you are beyond my um napkin knowledge of of the procedure um let me think so it was a it was a motion that we approved as a board um it passed and you voted in favor of the motion um which to me means that you can bring the motion up again um I don't know and this is where I am looking at Diane and Sandy hoping that just and and dian's popping some snacks um that they know whether we need to um I don't know a um amend the agenda to reopen the discussion or can we just reopen the discussion since I would I would almost amend the agenda okay you you want to talk about it tonight Sarah right yeah sorry guys I know

224it's l I think it'll be quick that's okay you want me to move to amend the agenda is that what I'm hearing yeah yes please okay so I move to amend the agenda to uh bring back discussion about the vaccination um resolution moved second discussion go ahead Diane I can provide you with a little information if you want doing my research over here um so basically you're looking to uh follow under a class of motions that are called redo motions imagine um and so there are three options one is uh a motion to reconsider um uh and that can be made by a person who voted on the prevailing side so um that that means somebody who voted in favor of the motion could be willing to reconsider um you know and what that does

225is that makes sure that somebody on the losing side can't just continue to bring up every motion when it doesn't go their way um our second option would be to to um amend uh use a change motion that can only be made if no action has been taken yet on the original motion or to resend if no action has been taken so those final two don't seem to apply the only one that does is the reconsideration okay so Sarah's motion is to amend the agenda to add a reconsideration of the governor's resolution yes okay is there a discussion oh I was just rewarding it KT to make sure that it fit okay so if the motion to reconsider passes then it will bring back the original motion for the board to vote and discuss so

226should I save my piece now or just vote on this and then we got the agenda okay cool okay so I we're ready to vote on um bringing it back as a reconsider motion reconsider okay we're all learning tonight um Mrs gius yes Dr Gil yeah Miss calones yes Miss Leon yes Mrs Lindstrom yes Mrs Scyther yes Mrs Turner yes Mr Bennett yes and Miss gius yes okay so now I think we need to have a motion to approve the governor's resolution as amended mov second okay and now a discussion is reopened Sarah the floor is yours thank you Nick this may be really quick but I just want to um clarify it and I think the the intent behind the whole resolution is just to say like let's get priority to to teachers and

227and whatever way possible and I think we've accomplished that with what we what we did but in reading it again and then looking at the main um covid website I think what it was the the resolution as written was trying to do was to say in the critical FR Frontline worker category which as you stated is kind of in the to be determined there's a number of different um categories of people that fall into that so there's Postal Service agriculture public transit grocery store workers and teachers and so as I interpreted the resolution it was to say out of all those people in that category let's make sure teachers are at the top which is something I do support I agree with you though that they shouldn't move above you know older maners or adults

228with with highrisk medical conditions right but I don't think that's what the resolution suggesting and maybe you're so maybe just a restatement of what you said might help to make me feel more comfortable because I was feeling very Cy after making this decision of okay let meend it Nick did you send it to the full board or just me just to you okay could you maybe just pull it up on our screen is that yeah give me a minute can you also tell us where you're looking me yes um it's m.gov cco9 vaccines if you just go to m.gov cco9 vaccine you find your way there under phases and then yeah yeah of critical care or critical fers yes so what the what the resolution failed to say in the original language and what I've

229got right here is that we designate all prek 12 school personnel as certain critical Frontline workers and further as critical Frontline workers they be given immediate priority in Phase 1B of the Statewide administration of covid 199 vaccine so what that says to me is that because we're just they they want to have immediate priority in Phase 1B and right now phase 1B is not wide open it's kind of like the door is is cracked open and only the very top priority within that phase is being given access to the vaccine and what this says an immediate priority in Phase 1B to me says that we would be immediately giving them priority to the vaccine under that phase above other groups that are in that phase because it's teered out right now it's in the federal

230guidelines it's not in the federal guidelines it's just one B the doors open then we'll open one C when one B is open when Maine's taking a much more separated approach to it because of limitations in Supply so I guess you know for me I just felt like the immediate priority piece to me read like we're saying that that we're get we're not only are we calling them certain critical Frontline workers which already puts them by calling them certain and not just Frontline workers the certain is what gives them access to one b and not one C and then the big bold further than all caps to me says that not only are they critical certain critical furthermore we're also moving to the head of the line I may be over reading it but but

231to me when I read it I was like this feels it feels dirty to me because it's the only time I've seen anything in any of these vaccine protocols that moves someone up the line for any other reason than immediate medical need I'll LIF Kristen then Shannon I was just wondering if lean could share her screen again because I don't have two screens and I have to go back and forth but can we can we address this just by saying of 1B for certain to the front of certain critical R line workers in in yeah category 1B is that what you're saying yes exactly yeah that's good Nick would you do you agree with that I think we're saying the same thing we're just talking about changing the language so yeah I mean if you

232if you have language that's clearer than mine you want to propose it I'm I'm fine with that I just don't wna I want to make sure may not but it would be helpful if I could if we could see you want to see yeah I can I I have my language up if you want to see it oh this is you okay no this is yeah that's Leanne that was LE yeah just take out my no one needs to read my little speech so I'll take that out and let me share this I think it's this one so can you magnify it what magnify oh yep let me see here here oh I just learned how to do this I get we here better much thank you can we just say instead of sorry chanon

233has your hand up um I can actually lower mine so I'm trying to rework it as well and I I was going to say the way I read it in light of what you're saying Sarah I think what saying is they're classified as critical certain critical Frontline workers and therefore they should be given immediate priority in that certain critical Frontline workers category yep so can we just change where it says they be given immediate priority in Phase 1 B to um be given immediate priority in the certain critical Frontline worker category of phase 1B is that yeah all right so give an immediate priority um within the certain critical workers in Phase 1B is that what you want yep is what is it yeah I guess we can vote on it I think satisfies the

234cool is that how's that so April do you me to make a formal friendly Amendment yes and further that probably we don't need three of those and pro and further okay so I moved to make a friendly amendment to Mick's Amendment uh that breeds it is therefore resolve that the scar Board of Education FES substantial public purpose exist to request that the governor and the main Center for Disease Control designate all prk2 School personnel as certain critical Frontline workers and further that they be given immediate priority Within certain critical Frontline workers as part of phase 1B of the Statewide administration of covid-19 vaccine second and now discussion being none I believe we're ready to vote on the the amended main motion um since Nick accepted it as a friendly um Amendment and we accepted his

235amendment I think we can just vote on the main motion um oh no I don't know if that's true because Sarah made a formal a formal Amendment so let's vote on Sarah's Amendment and I can withdraw I withdraw my formal Amendment you can't you can't got robs rules we gotta vote twice we'll do it quick okay this is gius Dr Gil yes Miss calones yes Miss Leighton yes Mrs Lindstrom yes Mrs cther yes Mrs Turner yes Mr Bennett yes and Miss yes now I would like a motion to approve the governor's resolution as amended second discussion go for it Miss gius yes Dr Gil yes Miss calones yes Miss Leighton yes Mrs Lindstrom yes Mrs cther yes m M Turner yes Mr Bennett yes and Miss Fus yes cool strong work guys that was a

236lot of Roberts rules good job April agenda item 8.7 is appointments agenda item 8.7.1 is high school co-curricular appointment which was sent to us by Kelly yesterday um um and so do I have a motion to approve as presented is there a discussion on the appointment seeing none Mrs gius yes Dr Gil yes Miss calanus yes Miss Leighton yes Mrs Lindstrom yes Mrs cther yes Mrs Turner yes Mr Bennett yes and Miss gius yes great agenda item 9.0 is adjournment so moved second discussion we're good this is gius yes Dr Gil yes Miss calones yes Miss Leon yes Mrs Lindstrom yes Mrs Scyther yes Mrs Turner yes Mr Bennett yes and Miss gius yes excellent thank you everyone have a good night we'll see you [Music] [Applause] soon