001e e e welcome to the discussion phase of the annual Dresden School District meeting I'm Tom chitari your moderator and the first order of business is the reading of the warrant and the confirmation of posting so here we are in Hanover New Hampshire and Norwich Vermont following warrant articles apply to the operation of the Dresden School District which includes the operation of the Francis C Richmond school and Hanover High School grades 6 through 12 grade six is Hanover Town students only the legal voters of Norwich Vermont town school district and the legal voters of the hanor New Hampshire school district are hereby notified and warned that the two phases of the annual School District meeting will be held as follows the discussion phase on Thursday February 27th 2025 at 7M at the Hanover High School
002auditorium Hanover New Hampshire a virtual option will be available to attend via Zoom link and the information will be shared via the sa70 district website at sa70 dreamed on Jam the voting phase Tuesday March 4 2025 from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. in the Richmond Middle School gym in Hanover New Hampshire for Hanover voters and in Tracy Hall in Norwich Vermont for Norwich voters absentee ballots are available now during the discussion phase the voters shall have the opportunity to discuss the following warrant articles and to transact any non-substantive business that may lead legally be acted on during the discussion phase under article 8 all voting on warrant articles 1 through 7 shall be conducted by a secret written ballot during the voting phase as provided in the Dresden School District procedures for Australian ballot The
003Dresden warrant for Hanover was posted on February 6th 2025 by Jamie Teague designate of the Dresden School Board District Clerk at the following locations Han high school gymnasium the municipal building Richmond Middle School Hanover food co-op Ray Elementary School how Library Etna Country Store and Etna library now please uh The Dresden chair Kim Hartman will introduce the board hi thank you um so I am Kim Hartman I am the dresen U board chair this year and to my I guess the audience left we have Neil Odell um we have Kelly McConnell Deborah bacon Nelson Ben Keeny Tony Barry and Lily tryman um as the members of The Dresden School Board okay and Jay I think you'll introduce the administrators sure I'm J Adams superintendent of schools and I'm pleased to introduce our our school and
004District administrators who are with us tonight Julie Stevenson principal of hannaher high school Tim Bole principal of Richmond Middle School and from the central office we have Robin Steiner assistant superintendent we have Teresa Taylor who's our Director of Finance Rhett Derek who's our director of student services and Bryant Patton who is our director of Information Technology okay welcome the next order of business is an explanation of the school district structure the two districts in Hanover are the Hanover School District and the Dresden School District the Hanover School District is responsible for grades K through five the discussion phase for the Hanover School District was held today Thursday February 27th in this room at 5:00 p.m. The deson Dresden school district is responsible for grades 6 through 12 the Francis C Richmond school with grades 6
005through 8 and Hanover High School with grades 9 through 12 The Dresden District includes Hanover and Norwich students in grades 7 through 12 and Hanover students in grade six The Dresden School District was the first interstate School District in the country and was created by one of the last Bills signed by President John F Kennedy in 1963 next order of business is to establish the meeting guidelines the moderator will recognize speakers before they will be allowed to speak speakers should walk to the microphone here and state their names and addresses for the record we'll also have opportunities for people on Zoom to comment all comments should be directed to the moderator moderator will not allow cross talk among those in the meeting everyone will be allowed to speak before someone has a chance to speak
006a second time speakers should make every effort to be brief and not repeat comments that have already been made by other speakers all speakers should be courteous and respectful speakers should be certain they are addressing the business of the meeting this means staying on the topic of the warrant article being discussed it is the moderator's intention to recognize board members to speak to Warrant articles before allowing members of the public to comment the moderator shall also rule out of order any speaker who does not respect these guidelines or who acts in an uncivil or disruptive manner in addition I'll have someone from the Hanover finance committee uh respond before I open up to the public so then let's turn now to the Articles first article is article one to elect by written ballot for one-ear
007terms a moderator a clerk a Treasurer an auditor for a two-year term and an auditor for a one-year term those who who filed for these officers offices are for moderator Ryan Flatley for clerk carold bibo for treasurer Cheryl Lindberg for district Auditors there were no filings any discussion of article one I don't think it need just a correction um the ballot has three Auditors there's a three-year term twoyear term and one-ear term and these are mandated through the compact but we have independent ating okay so thank you Carol all right so we'll turn to article two shall the district determine and fix the salaries of school district officers as follows school board members $1,000 per member with additional $300 for school board chair School District Treasurer $2,723 school district clerk $500 School District moderator $300
008in accordance with article 5A of the New Hampshire Vermont Interstate School Compact and further raise and appropriate the amount of$ 15,77 no no that's not right um $1,823 to fund these salaries Schoolboard recommends this article and Neil Odell will discuss article two for us uh thank you um probably what I first need to do is send apologies to briyan Patton who sent me an email yesterday asking whether or not I was going to have a slide for this article sorry the answer is no no slides for this article um I will just note that what's already written here in the summary section uh the salary amounts or status quo from last year except for the increase for the treasurer which is adjusted yearly by 2% while the article's impact on the tax rate is very
009low the impact on board members is very high the money that we get from this position almost covers I leave the fuel cost of getting back and forth to board meetings throughout the year so we greatly appreciate this amount thank you okay any comments from on Zoom nothing okay let's turn to article three shall the dresen school district vote to approve the cost items in the three-year collective bargaining agreement reached between the Hanover support staff Association and the Dresden School Board which calls for the following increases in salaries and benefits the estimated increase over status quo budget for the 2526 year is $228,800 year is $1,142 and the estimated increase over the status quo budget for 2728 is 9,724 and further shall the district rais in appropriate the sum of $228,800 budget in Article Five
010a favorable vote on this article shall be considered the approval of the cost items in all years of the proposed collective bargaining agreement the school board recommends this article in appropriation and Ben Keeny will explain article three for us thank you Tom with apologies to voters who heard me do this two hours ago so in January uh the board ourselves and the Handover support staff Association reached a tentative three-year agreement going into effect next school year this group of covering employees includes educational assistance and administrative assistance and similar positions including the safety and Atrium coordinator here at the high school the specific details of the three-year agreement can be found in the meeting notes from the January 28th Dresden school board meeting in in the um agreement includes such language clarifications including the definition of
011a grievance and the proper steps to dat to take one the insurance co-pay timelines for employees that are separating from employment the proper calculations for leave time and how to determine inservice dat days aspects that have a budgetary implication include the recognition of years of experience in relevant College attainment how to we equalize compensation over equal pay periods sort of smoothing out of the process which we did not do previously we have established longevity payment intervals at years five and 20 we have established a mentoring program where mentors will receive a $250 per semester stien when completing their duties and we have compensation changes on the base wage of 10 % next year and 4 and a half% for each of the next two years like Tom mentioned the agreement has to be ratified in
012both the Handover and Dresden school districts specific to Handover we would expect a six cent increase on the tax rate thank you Tom thank you anyone hear from the finance committee Carrie Carrie Callahan pinch pinch hitting so to speak um so on a at a meeting of the hord finance committee on January 16th um the finance committee voted unanimously to support this article um for those who um looked at the 10% increase for this year uh coming year and then 4.5 and 4.5 thereafter uh the finance committee thought that that was more than fair in light of the difficulty to fill these positions and the hard work that these folks do for relatively modest wages so thank you thank you any discussion any further discussion from the public anybody on Zoom okay we'll move to
013article four shall the Dresden School District vote to approve the cost items in the collective bargaining bargaining agreement reached between the Hanover Dresden service staff afcme local 1348 and the Dresden School Board which calls for the following increases in salaries and benefits estimated increase for the 25 26 year is 97,3 and further shall the District raise and appropriate the sum of $ 97,3 such sum representing the estimated increase in service staff salaries and benefits for the 2526 fiscal year brought about by this collective bargaining agreement again a majority vote will be required to approve it the sum necessary to pay the so-called status quo salaries and benefits for teaching staff if this article is defeated is included in the operating budget in Article Five a fav able vote on this article shall be considered the
014approval of the cost items in all years of the proposed collective bargaining agreement School Board recommends this article and Ben again will discuss article four thank you again Tom this is a one-year agreement tentative agreement with the serva staff employees at the middle school and the high school covering 13 positions in total and some of the agreement changes including um timing the step and wage increases to July 1st equalized across every employee the appropriate time to wear short on the job which does have a large impact for this group dealing with the temperatures they have to work with every day as part of their employment and how to do how to handle promotions and job positionings both internally and externally things with budgetary implications including we've established a longevity incentive payment at six different levels
015that is increased by about $200 on net average we have added an increase in differential pay for people working the second shift time period of the day and we have a cost of living adjustment on the base annual wage scale of 4% uh we can have further details of that same January 28th board meeting I mentioned earlier in the meeting notes it has to be evident uh ratified by both Handover and Dr and school districts and specific to Dres and we are looking at a 3 Cent increase for this negotiation okay thank you bar unanimously supported by the finance committee thank you okay let's turn to Article Five then um sh The Dresden School District rais in appropriate the amount of 31,2 39,6 188 for the support of schools for the payment of salaries for
016the teachers and other School Employees School District officials and agents and for the payment of the statutory obligations of the district for the 2526 fiscal year this sum does not include the sums appropriated in any of the other articles The Dresden School Board recommends this article in appropriation and Kim Hartman will explain for us again thank you um so the Dresden FY 26 budget is proposed to increase. 54% or $169,200 excluding the other warrant articles um assuming that all the warrant articles discussed this evening do pass the expected growth in total Dresden expenditures is 2.34% uh the three largest expenditure drivers of the budget um are one the the teachers contract which is actually approved last year and that includes a 4% base wage increase um the second largest factor is a 12.9% increase in
017Health Plan premiums and also their election changes in there and then the third is an increase in the sau70 assessment and for those who heard about the changes in the sau70 assessment last time they're still the same changes um just Dresden of course also picks up a portion of the sau70 assessment um it is a unique factor in how we approve um the sau70 budget um just so you know the school board um approve we have an sau70 separate School Board which consists of very similar faces as the Dresden School Board um and essentially what we do is we look at the budget and we approve it but then it actually gets divided out into Norwich Dresden and Hanover and so actually um we don't really as a voting population vote on the sau70 budget
018instead it becomes a line item in either Dresden or Handover or norwich's budget so um so these are all the same changes just this is the Dresden portion of it but um there are a couple of new faces so I'll explain a little bit of the differences um in the sau70 so um you know really some of the factors are why the sa70 assessment is increasing or that line item in the Dresden or Handover Norwich budget is increasing more um is because one we had faster than expected filling of open positions than we had anticipating a maybe a surplus in a prior Year's budget but that did not come to fruition thankfully um the second is the We are following up on um some new Revenue opportunities that we have um basically following up with
019other districts who are in interested in using our sau70 services and we're looking to have a revenue opportunity from that and to charge them and maybe use our ex exceptional se70 Services as a regional Hub and then that also increases our ability to actually have a stronger you know finance department we're looking to hire an additional FTE and some of that Revenue will help offset that but as we vote on expenditures we just see the expenditure side of that formula um in this budget the third is um it's really just doubling down on um our our goal to have stronger longer term Capital planning um that is fiscally responsible and will basically enable us to be more environmentally sustainable um we do have some aging properties like all like everyone does right and so these
020things need to be replaced and we want to make sure we're we're thinking on a longer term basis and not just on this annual budget cycle um so we'll be looking to do um basically establishing more of a capital planning function within our sa70 um and that will basically impact all of our buildings not just um the sau70 infrastructure um and then the uh so that kind of concludes the se70 assessment back kind of to the health insurance rates um sadly 12.9% is kind of the going rate if you look at what other school districts are looking at they're looking at very similar type numbers and unfortunately they do seem to outpace inflation inflation as of last um January for our region was 3.7% just to kind of give you a factor on on what
021is kind of rising costs uh kind of some of the good guys right so the sa the um 1.2 million debt retirement so as we have aging buildings we also have aging debt um so the 1.6 million in Dresden is rolling off off and um there was also a modest dip in the New Hampshire retirement system contribution rate for teachers um those two factors really helped to Shield the district from the entire expenditure increase the sheare when we look at enrollment um in total Dresden is projected to enroll 1,60 students across both of our um schools this next year with a 17 student gain at the high school and then five fewer students are projected at the middle school Richmond Middle School requests to hire a regular education assistant to act as a long-term flexible
022substitute to cover um some of the shortages that we see across um our our staffing as well as increasing teacher hours by point six of an FTE for the English for speakers of other languages program uh to partially offset these requests there's a decrease of 02 FTE for the special program and in total the Middle School requests a 1.33 FTE increase and the high school requests if you look at it on net um a decrease of 05 of an FTE which is split between 0 2 increase of certified staff and a 7 reduction of other staff and the largest changes are the reduction of a 1.0 FTE in regular Ed assistance and the 34 FTE increase in media system um so that kind of concludes like the major drivers of our expenditures which is what
023we voters vote on um but when we look at the revenue side um we do have different revenues um and Dresden than we do in our other districts for instance um we have high school tuition for instance that we charge is a different Revenue Source but Revenue in total are projected lower for the 25 26 um largely because our high school tuition Revenue enrollment is expected to be a little bit lower by $124,000 and um the New Hampshire state revenue of $1 143,000 is connected to that construction debt that's going off so we would receive building Aid um in the past um and as the debt rolls off from that construction project then we don't receive that uh Associated Revenue as well um so the Dresden net assessment which is total expenditures less all of
024Revenue other than tax revenue uh property tax revenue um so that is shared U between Hanover and Norwich and it's allocated based on the prior Year's student enrollment and in that prior year Norwich students represented a slightly larger share of the enrollment pi and so then thus nor which will see a slightly larger share of the Dresden assessment this year if you're kind of comparing the two numbers and seeing a percentage difference change um that's the biggest reason for that uh given the questions surrounding possible changes to State education funding models in Vermont and New Hampshire um it's really important to note that final tax bills are very subject to change um and uh you know the Dresden School Board really looks forward to navigating the future ahead as Ever Changing Winds of public education
025in the funding models in the delivery across both States seem to really chart different and variable paths which is very exciting if you're a school board member um and very exciting for an inter Interstate District like Dresden um and really we think that with the projects that we've invested in in this budget um thinking about longer term planning thinking about you know how do we best meet our students we hope that we'll we'll be in a stronger position to navigate all these changing currents together so thank you very much thank you Kim I wouldn't be a full-fledged member of the finance committee if I didn't bring a prop which is a bucket of cold water I'm gonna make you wait so um the hand finance committee did meet on January 16th um and voted unanimously
026to support the proposed budget of 31 million 239 668 Article Five um the finance committee appreciates that the dresen board and administrators were careful in their budget deliberations to prioritize spending several adjustments were made accordingly however okay there's there cold water uh so got to do my job the uh however we note that without the um uh Debt Service drop um spending would have increased by about 4.7% and but for the significant one-time Debt Service reduction tax assessments to Hanover norch would have nearly doubled uh from the proposed uh increases so looking to Future years that uh dressen District may not be able to count on such one time cost reductions um and in I ated increases in capital spending from strategic planning process um Capital Improvement programs will likely drive cost pressures in coming
027years together with health care which is a challenge for all of us Personnel cost pressures the finance committee foresees the need for continued careful evaluation of Staffing levels and incremental initiatives during a multi-year period uh when enrollment to be flattish perhaps down slightly so um that's it and uh here's the dessert which is the sweet part we really commend you all of you seu and Dred administrators the school board for a well-run budget process um and we extend our thanks and applaud the efforts of students faculty and staff in continuing our District's pursuit of educational Excellence thank you excuse me are there any other comments from the public you have one so Jamie you're good to go okay I was just going to mention that um first of all I'm sorry I'm not there with
028you tonight it's first time in eight years and it feels very strange but you I'm I'm enjoying watching and you're doing a great job um I just wanted to mention on the Dresden allocations uh that we use the ADM which uh drives the assessments out to Norwich and Hanover that that actually runs on a two-year lag um Kim is correct in that it would be prior year as we're building it but it's a two-year lag of numbers we use 23 24's vetted uh New Hampshire reported numbers to build for we use 23 24 vetted numbers to build for 25 26 assessments so um and that's exhibit n that you can find in your Dresden um budget book um with all the exhibits but uh that I just wanted to point that out that it's a
029it's an actually it's a two-year lag thank you okay anyone else okay we'll move on to article six shall the Dresden School District vote to raise an appropriate the sum of $2,291 for the purpose of funding a Middle School athletics program program at Francis C Richmond Middle School for the 2526 fiscal year said some representing an appropriation for the creation of a Middle School athletics program plus the hiring of a Middle School director of Athletics and co-curricular activity coordination funding for subsequent years may be added to the regular operating budget this is a special warrant article per New Hampshire RSA 32 3 Roman numeral 6 subsection D and RSA 32 colon 7 romanu 5 The Dresden School Board recommends this article in appropriation and Kelly McConnell will explain the article for us so so at
030our annual board retreat when the Dresden board met to determine our goals for the upcoming year the establishment of a Middle School athletics program Rose toward the top of our priorities and so after many years of exploring whether such a program might be possible The Dresden board tasked a new committee with developing a proposal for a middle school sports and co-curricular program that will be managed at least in part by The Dresden school district and make recommendations for a board decision by January 2025 so we're here to say we have we have met that goal um The Dresden Middle School Sports Committee consisting of representatives from The Dresden School Board richond middle school Hanover High School sau70 Hanover Park Rec and Norwich recre Department made a recommendation to the board for a pilot program that
031will include hiring an athletic uh Slash co-curricular director and funding related operations and transportation costs this single Position will direct and coordinate Richmond Middle School athletics and other existing Afterschool activities this change is consistent with other middle schools in the Upper Valley and in our area in general promote school spirit and coordinates coaching scheduling and transportation the transition will begin with select 7th and e8th grade Handover Recreation Sports programs for winter and spring Sports in the 2025 26 school year followed by additional fall Sports in the 2026 27 school year assuming the program changes are successful the ongoing costs will be added to the operating budget for subsequent years additional information can be found in board dos Under The Dresden Middle School Sports Committee tab uh and this article was ratified at the Dresden Schoolboard
032budget hearing on January 7th 2025 where you can find uh more details about our discussions um the effect of this article on the projected Handover tax rate is six cents thank you so the finance committee uh took no position on this article but that doesn't stop us from discussing it anywhere so um so I think some there was a discussion about this at the committee and town staff were there um I think Tony you were there at the meeting and so you might be expecting perhaps as a Hanover resident that there would be tax relief from Hanover parks and wreck U not doing this activity in fact it's very modest because they really kind of apples and oranges the the program that's being envisioned here is quite a bit more robust and includes a number
033of expenses that um were not born by the town itself so we just wanted to point that out um and we also uh noted that the absorption of these costs for Middle School athletics would be very similar to the practice of most other communities in New Hampshire but we took no formal position on this article thank you um can I just add one thing as well I I really want I know we mentioned the involvement of you know all these different constituents but I really want to thank all of the people who contributed to this it really was a robust committee with representation from you know all from the towns from all parts of our school district um so it really was a collaborative effort um and everyone kind of got behind this this notion
034so just wanted to reiterate that thanks and I think Ben might have something to add sure and also one of the impetuses for this was that hanw prox came to us to notify us that they were planning to gradually take down 7th and eighth grade Sports Programming at their level and divert those resources that you mentioned carry towards sort of preschool age programming okay thank you any other thoughts or comments seeing none I'm going to move on to article s shall the dresen school district vote to designate the trustees of the trust funds for the town of Hanover as the trustees to hold the McCarthy Bean award Fund in accordance with New Hampshire RSA 31 col 31 The Dresden School Board recommends this article um Deb Nelson will explain it to us I have to
035say first this is a a very kind of not wonky but boring um warrant article and I have to say first that the names on the fund are two of the least wonky individuals you could have had the pleasure to know um Bob McCarthy was the principal at this school back in the 70s and he is the one who came up with the notion of the school being a democratic school and of council which thrives still today and I think he he was just a wonderful human being skip Bean was spent 28 years as associate principal at this school and when both Men passed away in the last couple of years a group of former teachers former students former commun well there's still community members came to the board with this idea of establishing a
036fund and to give an award each year and so I want you to be thinking of the men as I read this so the details of the macarthy bean award fund can be reviewed on board ducks in the December 17th 2024 Dres Schoolboard meeting under item 5B but due to Dresden being made up as we all know of two different towns we are required to have the district's constituents vote on which town should be in charge of investing and managing the funds Vermont school districts are not required to invest funds outside of the district's accounts New Hampshire does have this requirement and Dresden being a New Hampshire District it makes sense to vote to have the New Hampshire Town's trustees manage the funds um so RSA 31 colon 31 trust fund for districts says except
037where otherwise specifically provided in the charter of a city or by special Act of the legislature whenever a gift Legacy or device shall be made in trust to a school district Village District or any subdivision of a town and accepted by it the same shall be held in custody and AD administered by the trustees of trust funds of such town or in case of districts embracing two or more towns by the trustees of trust funds of that town which the voters of said District may elect and I can say that again a couple times and it probably will still mean exactly oh good grief so anyway we're just asking you to allow us to let New Hampshire administr you know it be administered on this side of the river oi thank you you're welcome any
038comments okay we'll get to article eight then to transact any non-substantive business that may legally come before the discussion phase of the meeting is there any non-substantive discussion oh okay hello Mary hecken Phillips from 79 Lebanon Street here in Hover um I just just wanted to say thank you so much for the work the hours the days the weeks the months of um putting this process together for both boards as um some of you may know I'm a state representative here as well in town and as a public servant I really understand um the commitment that has to go into this public service so I wanted to thank you all on both boards for the work that you do on behalf of our young people in our community for providing really worldclass education at a
039fiscally responsible um level and I just know the members of our community really appreciate this work so thank you so much and I guess that would be filed under public comment thank you thank you well she just took away what I was hoping to say but uh and and she said it much better than I said it at the Handover district meeting we also accept money but uh so this concludes the discussion phase of the dresen district sure yeah is it that we don't actually accept money sorry that was just a joke you cannot pay us please donate it to the school um but I I do I do actually want to kind of share the thanks because this is um CH Tom Cher's last um meeting and I believe as we were walking in
040you said you this is your 20th or around there we've lost count after or something and I just just want to to thank you for moderating and serving for for every year um I just have to say personally it is wonderful to see you every year um and if not in the grocery store and whatever but you know I think um you you bring a wonderful um moderating skill and I really appreciate it because we could not do this meeting without you and I really appreciate it so um also wanted to thank you for your years of service thank you thanks very much so this concludes the discussion phase the voting phase takes place Remember 7:00 am to 7: pm on Tuesday March 5th at the Richmond Middle School Jim so a motion to adjourn
041Tuesday March 4th did I say what I say you said the fifth it's March 4th Tuesday Tuesday see you listening that's good so we had a motion to adjourn we are adjourn thank you very much everybody