Brookline School Board 4/22/2026

001All right. So, I would like to call to order this meeting of the Brookline School Board, April 22nd, 2026. Um we are going to start with agenda I missed this already. Agenda agenda adjustments. So, are there any agenda adjustments to bring forward? Okay. Um in that case, I have two correspondences to read into record. The first one was received on March 30th. Says, "Dear members of the Brookline School Board, I wanted to follow up regarding the letter read at your recent meeting and to thank you for your recognition and support shown to the Brookline Fire Department. It means a great deal to our members to know their work is valued by the School Board and the community we serve. The response to our The response to the RMMs incident was a strong example of coordination

002and professionalism across all groups involved. Our assistant chiefs and staff acted quickly including requesting additional resources through our mutual aid system out of an abundance of caution. That system exists to ensure we always have the staffing and coverage needed to protect both the incident scene and the rest of the community. In this case, it worked exactly as intended. I would also like to clarify for accuracy that that Assistant Chief Barry Doyle served as the incident commander on this call with Assistant Chief Jackie and other officers supporting operations on scene. Their leadership and decision-making were key to bringing the incident to a safe and effective conclusion. At the time, I was at the town meeting carrying out my administrative responsibilities as fire chief. I was fortunate to be in the presence of our emergency management director

003as well as two members of the School Board and were able to provide real-time updates as I monitored the incident over my radio and listened to ongoing fire ground communications. Our department is structured so that multiple qualified chief officers are always available to assume command ensuring seamless operations regardless of where I am physically located. As part of our town follow-up, Principal Mallonari and I confirmed there is zero readings of harmful gas within the building the day after the incident. These readings were taken using gas meters and have been calibrated that same morning. This ensures accuracy and safety for students and staff returning to the building. We are fortunate in Brookline to have two strong mutual aid partnerships. More often than not, we are the ones responding to our sister neighboring communities and it speaks to

004the strength of those relationships that they are there there for us when needed. Thank you again to your for your continued support and appreciation of our department. If you ever have any questions or like additional context on an incident, I'm always available. Respectfully, Megan Efrat. We also received a communication on April 21st. >> [clears throat] >> Dear members of the Brookline School Board, I would request this email communication be read aloud to the board members at your next School Board meeting for the record. I'm writing to share concerns and request public accountability about student safety at CSDA surrounding the incident as communicated by way of a parent square email on at 2:57 p.m. on April 20th, 2026 where a student brought a weapon into the school. I want to be clear that I understand the

005situation was ultimately contained. That said, the way it was handled and and communicated to families does not sit right and I do not think I'm alone in feeling that way after hearing from many families over the past day. The district's response as described in official communications raises serious concerns about the adherence of established safety protocols, decision-making under risk, and transparency with families. According to information provided, a weapon identified as an unloaded pellet gun was brought into the school. The situation was handled administratively and law enforcement was contacted. No lockdown or formal emergency protocol was initiated. Families were notified approximately 2 hours late later shortly before dismissal. This response is inconsistent with the expectations set for students and families regarding school safety. Students are routinely trained as a parent of a child, I call this traumatized,

006through lockdown lockdown drills in the guise that any potential weapon threat would be met with immediate protective action. In this instance, that did not occur. A reported weapon, regardless of its operational loaded status, represents a credible safety threat until definitively secured by trained professionals. This decision the decision not to initiate a lockdown despite sufficient time to contact law enforcement reflects a concerning lapse in judgment and raises questions about whether established protocols were followed. I also find it concerning that the communication used the word gun in quotes as if it was sarcasm or skeptical. It was in fact a weapon, so I'm unsure why they put those words in quotes. I'm requesting clear documented answers to the following. Emergency protocols and decision-making. What specific criteria does Brookline SAU 41 use to initiate a lockdown or other

007emergency response when a weapon is reported or suspected? Who has the onsite authority to make that determination and what training supports that decision? Does district policy of the school's emergency operations plan EOP require a lockdown in the presence of a reported weapon? For policy adherence, was emergency operation was the emergency emergency operations plan followed in this incident? Was the chain of command followed for this incident? If not, who makes a decision to deviate from protocol and on what basis? When was the most recent lockdown drill conducted at this school and is the school fully compliant with all required safety drills? Pertaining to law enforcement involvement, at what exact point in the timeline was law enforcement contacted? Who initiated that call and what guidance governs the timing of the law enforcement notifications in such situations? As

008far as district notification goes, when was the superintendent informed of the incident relative to law enforcement involvement? Pertaining to communication and transparency, why were families notified more than 2 hours after the incident and only shortly before dismissal? What are the district's standards for timely parent guardian notification during safety-related incidents? Reporting accountability. What reporting requirements are triggered when a gun or weapon is brought into the school grounds or when a lockdown is initiated? To whom are such incidents reported? Example, state, district, or other agencies, and by whom? When does the district assure that reporting obligations are met consistently and not influenced by discretionary decisions such as whether or not to initiate a lockdown? Student privacy. The communication referenced specific supports being provided to the students involved. What safeguards are in place to ensure that compliance with

009student privacy protections when communicating incidents to the broader school community? Post-incident actions. Why were families not informed in advance that students would participate in a in a in an assembly addressing see something, say something in response to the incident? What is the district's policy regarding parental notification before discussing sensitive or potentially distressing safety topics with students? What specific training does the staff have to talk to students about these topics with with students? The communication sent today at 9:24 p.m. stated staff is available and that the principal will maintain a visible presence throughout the school to ensure students feel safe and supported. Given the seriousness of the subject and I'm requesting I am requesting that this matter be placed on the agenda at the next public School Board meeting for open discussion on April 22nd, 2026.

010This is a matter of student safety, public trust, and procedural integrity and it warrants warrants full transparency. I'm also requesting access to the current emergency operations plan or direction on how parents may review any of its public-facing information. I was unable to easily locate that on the SAU website. While I understand that the EOP is a non-public is non-public facing, you should be able to share with me the date of the last armed assailant drill and confirm if the EOP was followed to ensure the protocols or criteria used to determine whether a lockdown is initiated. Safety protocols must be applied consistently and without ambig- ambig- ambig- ambiguity Thank you. Ambig- I still can't. Um when there is a disconnect between what is practiced, what is promised, and what actually and what is actually executed is

011in a real situation, it undermines trust and raises legitimate concerns about student safety. As always, I appreciate everything our school community does for our students and this situation is of course one no parent, yourselves included, wants to face. So, I hope you see where I'm coming from. A place of okay I'm coming from a place of okay now what? And I'm not finger-pointing. Parents and students staff do deserve transparency and consistency with regard to student safety. There is no room for misalignment on expectations and if they are not black and white, then we need to do better. Candace Comeau. Okay. Thank you for that. It within correspondence, just want to take a moment to provide um a little bit of an after-action summary for the board and the community. So, I think step one in

012considering this matter is is this a crisis or is this a discipline situation? So, as we've shared already, on Monday, April 20th, just before 1:00 p.m., students reported to their teacher that a student may have a gun in their backpack. The teacher called the principal immediately. Um another pathway could have been to call a clear hallway drill at that time. Um but that was not the path that was taken at the time. The principal responded um by going to the classroom, removing the student from the classroom, located um and took possession of the student's backpack. Um the principal verified that the student's backpack contained an unloaded pellet gun and he isolated and safely stored the pellet gun. At 1:04 p.m., the principal contacted both the superintendent and the Brookline Police Department. The Brookline Police arrived

013within minutes. The superintendent was in a meeting in Concord and notified the assistant superintendent of curriculum instruction as well as the assistant superintendent of student services at 1:08 p.m. who immediately went to CSDA CSDA to assist. They both arrived within 30 seconds of each other at about 1:20 p.m. The superintendent immediately left the meeting in Concord and headed straight to CSDA. The school did not initiate a lockdown um as the threat was in the hands of administration and Brookline Police Department. Principal determined it was a discipline issue and not a school-wide crisis. Um parents of the student involved in the active investigation were contacted. Um parents came to school. Um the superintendent arrived on site at 1:50 p.m. and received all pertinent information. The communication to families was developed and reviewed by the administration team

014so it could be sent out to families and staff before the end of the school day to clarify rumors and or inaccurate information. The investigation and support for involved students went into effect immediately with the support of the admin team and the school counselor. That includes students that were um not the one removed from class but other students who were um had some level of awareness. Um So appropriate supports in place or plan to be put in place for the student in question, the student's family, the students who reported the concern, the teachers, and the remainder of the student body. All involved, I have in quotes. We know everyone will respond differently to an incident of this nature and we have to meet them where they are and provide necessary supports um to get them

015through this. Due to student privacy concerns, the statement shared all allowable and pertinent information to provide families and staff an accurate overview of a serious serious discipline issue that occurred that day. Phone calls were made to parents and caregivers of students who shared information, witnessed, or possessed pertinent information to the investigation. Legal counsel was notified to ensure appropriate steps were taken. An optional staff meeting with high attendance was held immediately after school following the email communication that was sent out. The admin team began the debrief and reflection process that will continue to evolve. On Tuesday, April 21st, a secondary debrief was held between Mr. Miller and the superintendent. Um the school day started with a typical morning greeting from the typical staff present for greeting. Um the superintendent was present at CSDA checking in with

016teachers while the assistant superintendents were present at the SAU office to field any phone calls or visitors to which there were none. Um Right after the morning announcements, Mr. Miller engaged students in a Wolf Pack Town Hall to reinforce the core values. The Wolf Pack Town Hall is something that the kids participate in regularly. It was a regular assembly of school. Um He wanted to reinforce the core values in a very age-appropriate manner. Be kind, be respectful, be responsible, and be a learner. And to remind students that they are surrounded by trusted adults within CSDA. I was present for the town meeting. Um the students were very much appropriate. The staff surrounded the student body. They were attentive to what was being said and the faculty were there hearing the same message and um supporting

017the students. The message continued with its important to share concerns, feelings, or information with the adults to ensure we all feel safe, supported, and confident. And those adults were surrounding the students so it's not just share with Mr. Miller, share with any of the adults in in the school as they are all trusted adults. This remained at a general level not focused on or mentioning the specific incident from the previous day. As I mentioned, town meetings are regular occurrences at CSDA. The principal then asked grade five to stay a little bit longer to reinforce the these same core values a little bit further. The student the principal moved the students into a circle to create a smaller, more personal, and safer environment for that um in-depth conversation. The investigation after uh town meeting continued and

018will continue for days as more information is continues to be gathered and synthesized and evaluated. As we continue to move on with this process, an after-action debrief uh will take place with the CSDA Safety Committee, with the SAU 41 Principal Leadership Team, and the SAU 41 Community Safety Committee. It's important to note that the Community Safety Committee um we have members from all of our first responders in both of our communities. So that's a really um good opportunity to hear multiple perspectives and work together as a community. Um we have policies that we will continue to evaluate. Many of them were just revised as recently as 2025. But we have policies EB, EBB, EBCB, EBCC. Um the safety drill participation is held within policy EBCB which we just revised last fall which was used to

019be fire drills but now it's emergency response drills. So to respond to that, uh New Hampshire Department of Safety requires each school to conduct six evacuation drills. So CSDA has completed one on September 3rd, September 23rd, October 16th, November 13th, December 19th, and there is another one scheduled. We can't release the date. Um and for all-hazard drills which were December 18th, January 29th, February 17th, and March 19th. At least one of the all-hazard drills, which was the December 18th drill, was the avoid-deny-defend drill must test emergency response to an armed assailant. Um per board policy, any staff member has the authority to initiate a lockdown or any of the other emergency responses. Staff members are trained annually by both the School Safety Committee and school administration. Um We instituted a couple years ago another approach

020to school safety which was um putting the school in different situations. Removing the principal, removing the senior secretary, calling them to meet at the SAU, and having a group of members of the SAU administration team come in and identify um a potential issue. There is a bobcat in the playground. And walk up to um a teacher and Yes. And walk up to a teacher and say, "There's a bobcat in the classroom. What do you do?" And then see how the school responds when it's not the principal making the call or the safety team leader making the call because that's when you really can debrief and figure out what happens in an everyday situation when your typical responders aren't there. And then we debrief, share lessons learned, um share strengths, and share some um ideas for

021for new protocols. The EOP is not something that can be discussed publicly or posted publicly. Um it is submitted to the state. It is um signed by the board chair every year. It is completed. The drafts are revised over the summer and then that is one of the first things we do at the start of the year and upload that to the state. So it's not something we can disclose publicly. Our policies identify that we do in fact have those documents and that they are in fact required to be uploaded to the state. Um reviewing the EOP as part of our after-action review, um we met all of our requirements in this incident both uh as both the superintendent and local law enforcement officers were notified immediately and the timeline for communication was followed appropriately.

022Um Another So Brookline does not have an SRO. Hollis has an SRO with a community resource officer and the co-op has an SRO. Um we do do not. One thing that we started last year to gain familiarity of our schools by the police department is we've asked them to come in, have lunch with the kids, walk around the building, and really start to develop that good relationship. And so that um was put back into place last week just by chance. And we're going to continue that practice. We we've asked for weekly. We know that the police officers are very busy but it's just a great opportunity for those who are um working during the day to get a better feel for the building and the students. And you know, if they're called to an emergency

023in the cafeteria, do they know where the cafeteria is? You know, so it's a great opportunity to do that. So we will continue to do that. We will also continue to debrief, um reflect, and learn as that's what we do as educators. Thank you. Yep. I [clears throat] like is there a reason why Brookline doesn't have an SRO or a community resource officer? Uh so we'd have to pay for it. So it's a budgeted item. A couple years ago, the school board asked about that possibility. Um at the time, our prior police chief was not interested in supporting a um an SRO. I think there might be a shift in the desire um but it is um it is a pretty expensive um member of the staff. Okay. Thank you. They responded right away. So

024the only difference was a call versus a radio. Yeah. Okay. So Um We okay to have a discussion about this? >> Absolutely. Do you guys Anybody else have any questions? Anything you want to say? Yeah, I would love to make a statement. I'm unable to stay for the remainder of the meeting due to a a previous commitment that I cannot move. Um So regarding the incident at CSDA on April 20th, I want to begin by thanking Superintendent Braggsdale, Principal Miller, and all of the staff for their swift response upon learning of a weapon on school grounds and for their timely communication with the community. We are all extremely grateful that everyone is safe. This incident, thankfully, did not result in harm and serves as an unfortunate opportunity for us to ensure that we do everything

025possible to prevent something similar from happening in the future. That begins with a thoughtful and thorough review of our policies and procedures related to school safety and any acts of violence on school grounds. We must approach this work with care, clarity, and an openness to take a critical review of our policies and procedures in a commitment for continuous improvement. Moments like this call for reflection. Brookline is not insulated from the challenges faced by communities across this country. We were incredibly fortunate in this instance, and that good fortune should lead to action. We have an opportunity to engage in a meaningful and constructive conversation about school safety and how we, as a district, respond to evolving risks. To my fellow board members, I would also like to acknowledge the responsibility we carry. While we are responsible

026for policy, fiscal management, and superintendent review, our code of ethics states that we must make all decisions and take all actions holding the well-being of students as our fundamental guiding principle. That responsibility should not only guide our decisions, but also our willingness to engage like this with transparency, focus, and a shared commitment to student well-being, we can reinforce that trust. I remain committed to using my role to support our students, our families, and the strength of our public schools in Brookline. Thank you. So, I will also just note that as the one of the policy board members along with Lynn, we have already requested that many of those policies be put on the next agenda for our policy committee. So, those are already coming under review. We already pulled them and looked at the dates

027before. Yep. So, they're they're on the agenda. Wonderful. Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you, Teresa. Neil We're going to discuss this now if if you guys have any other questions or information, anything you want to say. It's okay if you don't. It's a lot to It's a lot to consume. You know, obviously it was a a big surprise to get the notification. I think I speak for a lot of parents when it was very concerning. Um I do appreciate the quick response. You know, I I personally, you know, I don't disagree with the initial statement here from this resident that, you know, I was surprised the school was not locked down personally. Um I don't know our procedures as I'm not supposed to, right? But um it it did appear to me that like

028um until you know what the threat is, that we should ensure the safety of our students. That's And and I'm not um like I said, well versed in emergency management, but it does seem like that's what we train for. Um and in my military background and things like that, you you fight like you train, you train like you fight, right? It's the same same kind of idea, probably not an appropriate uh >> [laughter] >> uh uh scenario here, but um and I mean, I'm very very thankful that everyone's okay and that it was um not as significant as it could have been. And obviously having a child in that school, it does affect maybe me on a more personal level, and I know that many um board members have kids at that school as well.

029And you know, that that was probably the biggest shock for me, but I'm you know, thankfully everything turned out all right, and um I know in reviewing the policies and the procedures that would probably be taken into consideration, and so um just as a a you know, personal side, that was probably my biggest like, "Wow." But um you know, I am really really grateful that you Mr. Miller were very brave to I mean, I know it you smirk, but honestly, you didn't know what you were going into, right? And I think that should be noted. Um it could have been something very different, and you walked into that classroom. I think it should be noted you walked into the classroom and dealt with a threat immediately and without knowing what you were facing. And so,

030I think that should be commended. Um you know, I know it's a pellet gun, >> [laughter] >> you know, but but but it's still, you know, you didn't know, and you you confronted the situation head-on, and I think that's extremely commendable. Um you know, and I'm thankful I'm thankful we're sitting here all today having this conversation and not having a different one. So. Yeah. Uh I just So, if you go into any of the classrooms, right by the door, you'll see our eight responses. Um so, we've moved away from lockdown. Um and the most appropriate response for this um would just based like the threat wasn't outside. Um there wasn't a threat in the air. Like um anyway, so a clear hallway would have been the most appropriate um Can you explain what that is?

031I'm sorry. >> Yeah. So, it basically it pauses the day, right? So, everybody um goes it the hallways are clear, and everyone goes to their classroom. Instruction continues, um and no one is let into the building or out of the building. But everyone just stays in, and and oftentimes it might be for um you know, if there's an ambulance needs to transport an individual, the hallways are clear, and there's there's no um interference with that. So, that's typically what you might get a clear hallways for. Um but you know, there are a lot of different responses when you identify this, what's what's the appropriate response, and um different people have different opinions, but based on what we practice, and anybody can go into the classroom and look. It's actually right on the door over there.

032You can see our eight responses. Um it you know, and so avoid, deny, defend is a response, but that's when you might flee the building. And so, um or you might sort of go into what you may have thought of as lockdown or defend yourself, whatever the case may be. But that wouldn't have been the most appropriate. Um and that is certainly the question that keeps um coming up, and it was interesting at our most recent principals meeting, we were evaluating a safety situation that occurred in another city, another state um recently, and what would we have done? Oh, I wouldn't have done this. I wouldn't have done that. And that's what we do as an admin team is we evaluate different situations, how do we respond, and that's how we grow and learn. And

033you know, hindsight is 20/20, and that's what we said a couple weeks ago. Like afterwards, it's like, well, oh yeah, I would I would have done this. But we have to make the decision that is the best decision we can make in the moment when we have all the information. Um and so we we learn and we grow, and yes, you're right. Um Mr. Miller was was brave, acted swiftly, and everyone was safe. Um thank goodness. Um but then then you start debriefing and reflecting and um how could we have acted differently? What if we did this? What if we had done that? Uh but that's part of what we do all the time as as an admin team and our safety committees. So, I I thank you for keeping everybody safe. And and as

034somebody who's been through some school situations like this in the past, like my heart went out to my chest when I saw the the note as I'm sure everybody else has. Um I would ask though in the future, while I know that the Wolfpack meeting was already scheduled, I'm going to take a a stab here and say that the topic changed, right? For the next day, or was it always scheduled to see something, say something? >> No, so um what my thought was on that was >> [clears throat] >> it was going to be a beginning of a conversation, not the end. It's like oh, y'all are alluding to, you know, this is that time of reflection now, right? And so, but there needs to be something done right then. And so, um no, it

035was uh the the gosh, it was as things were kind of happening, it was on my mind what are the next steps for the first thing in the morning when the kids come back. So, uh it seemed seamless that see something, say something would have been there. Um so, that and then uh really tying it into our core values, so that they know it's not this separate thing, and not dealing with but not talking about these specific incident, but keeping it broad because I never want a student to think, oh, in this instance, I see something, say something, but broadly, right? So, so it was really about putting that together with the um with the core values and talking to them about the avenues that they have. So, it's and it wasn't I also wanted

036to do something that wasn't an unfamiliar conversation cuz I talked with them about core values all year. Um we've talked to them about these are the people you have when um you're you're feeling sad or confused or upset or frustrated. So, it tied everything in rather than isolating it, it tied and wove everything into things we're already doing. So, it wasn't like this we're meeting about this whole separate thing. Does that make sense? It it does. I would I would say just in a practice of reflection that in if we ever experience a similar emerge any emergency and we have something scheduled the next day or a week later and if we're going to weave it into a normal conversation, I think letting parents know that you're going to have that, you're going to weave

037it in, you're not going to talk about it in isolation, you're going to weave it into a regular conversation, but we're going to have the conversation, that is really important. Um I battled with whether or not to talk to my daughter about it because she didn't know. She got in the car and she had no clue. We ultimately made the decision to talk to her because we also know she's at they're at an age where they're the kids are going to talk and I didn't want her to be caught off guard, but it it took a little it took a a bit of conversation back and forth in my own household of how do we even a approach the conversation. Um I was really grateful that we did because of the following Wolf Pack meeting.

038However, had we made that decision not to I would not be feeling so good as a mom and a parent that then it got addressed and I didn't get to address it first. So I I think I would just ask in the future like it it is a totally appropriate as a school community you should talk about it. Reflections Hindsight 20/20, right? I So I think I just would ask in the future like I think it'd be good just sometimes it's it's okay to over communicate, especially in an emergency situation like in the aftermath of hey, we're going to have this conversation because maybe maybe some parents wouldn't want their child to have the conversation. Maybe there is some trauma sitting somewhere with families that they just keep them home the next day cuz they

039just they would rather deal with it privately and and I think maybe a little bit we took that choice away from from families or the perception is that we took that choice away and so I I would just ask that in the future we just kind of be cognizant of the the next couple of steps. >> That that makes that makes sense in the reflection process. Yeah, I appreciate that and and I and truly like and that is not a knock on you guys or the response you guys did. I mean like grateful as everybody else has said and grateful it it was not worse, but you know, I think I think it's good for all of us to step back and say where where can we improve because our goal is to make sure

040that our community and our kids are always safe and so we only do that by reflection and growth. I appreciate that feedback. I think this is you know, this the the process that I'm in personally and professionally with this is is that reflection and just really listening to what that you know, the community and what my my my colleagues and and things like that are saying and and think you know, that type of reflection is is the type of thing that just that resonates as we start now kind of looking ahead to what what are we going to do. So I appreciate that. Yeah, and and honestly like this is a situation that few of us in the room have have really ever had to deal with um or have dealt with it on a

041worse level and it it's in the moment and then the days after you do you make the best decision possible and it's it's it's the best decision you can make and all we can do is develop and grow and share what we learn and and hope that you know anybody else who's watching they they then see what we did and they go oh well so then if our school ever experiences it we can do better just like you guys do. So I think it's it's it's good it's good to reflect. I'm grateful to hear that you guys are are doing that. That's awesome. And I think when just to that point I think we've already identified that that is something that we're going to work on and we have plenty of you know uh you

042know, the easy thing, right? The snow day call like we have plenty of options for communications at the ready. Um you know, some of the um if if there's a death, we have plenty of communications at the ready um unfortunately and that's based on what we've learned year after year and um you know, so we have some communications ready or communi- communication plans ready but really just reviewing them revising them and making them more applicable to all the situations that we face as the years go on. So that's absolutely part of the the reflection after work. Was that part of the So was that part of maybe the delay in the the larger communication day of? Was that like you said you have communications ready if there's a death or if there's a snow day

043or a bus delay you you kind of just pull that one out of the the standard language send it out. We don't have standard language for this type of situation, do we? I mean we have some templates, but not really Okay. um of this nature and and yeah, it does So there's the immediate uh our our primary focus is ensuring the safety of our students and our staff, 100%. Once that is under control then you know, we're we're we're talking, we're asking questions, we're doing an investigation. There are multiple people going I mean we everybody at this table was actively engaged and then yes and then we started a communication and then it you know, you have to also have to say am I communicating appropriate information? Am I over communicating? Am I under communicating?

044And then if you receive this, how do you respond? Um It's a lot to take in. And it's Yeah, right. And it's like this has to get out as soon as possible. So we were already aware of the urgency of the need to communicate while also making sure that we weren't violating anyone's rights by communicating um and providing enough information so that everyone understood that everybody's safe. CSA is a really safe place. Um and we're you know, we're ready to be open to learn the next day. That that makes sense. I I know there was some concern about the the length of time from incident to home communications, but that makes a lot of sense and that that we don't necessarily have standard template. This is not something we deal with thank God on a

045regular basis, right? Like this is all those things, right? You you need to make sure we're safe. You need to make sure we're good. And then is the communication that's going out is it accurate? Is it appropriate? As a mom who's rece- or parent who's receiving it or guardian who's receiving it like are we are we okay because it's a lot to take in. So I I appreciate that thoughtful message goes into it. I do know there was some concern about the lapse in time, so I think that is completely understandable. Well and and on that point like I appreciate the fact that you like went through the timeline of like how it all broke down because I think that will help parents understand why. I think it also could be helpful. And I don't

046have a child at CSA, so I probably did not feel it. I was concerned, but I probably did not feel maybe the same sense of panic because it wasn't my child. Um otherwise I would have been hysterical, but I think some of the feedback that I got was just like even just adding like we're so sorry for the late communication. We wanted to ensure that the situation was under control and students were safe first would have helped parents be like okay cuz I think just a lot of them were unsure about why and it makes sense like why, but I they're not computing that. So even just being able to see like okay, they were just making sure everyone was safe. That's why it took so like I think they just felt like really blindsided

047by it that it happened like it's so bad. I guess what I want to share with everyone is why did it take so long? I mean the investigation's ongoing. It it's not like oh check, we're done. Absolutely not. This [laughter] is continuing. Um Mr. Miller thought he had a fun week before uh vacation week um but you know, it is consumed the week. Um it it involves so many people and coordinating conversations and phone calls and all of that. So um I can appreciate that it felt like it would it took a long time to get that out. Um but there was absolutely no way there was enough information that could have put together a communication without create like creating panic. >> Without without creating panic. Like we have to ensure that everyone's safe. No,

048sir. Go ahead. But I think I think the fact that you went through the timeline and I think the fact that like I mean obviously we don't know your schedule, but the fact that you were in conquered and you know, they they probably needed to wait for you to come at like everyone. I just think the parents probably just would have appreciated cuz I think when their brains calm down is kind of like where, but I think hearing maybe the timeline will help them understand. The other thing that I think needs that I got feedback on that probably needs to be considered is we we may need to adjust the policy about wearing smart watches because a lot of parents were freaked out sent their kids to school with smart watches on the next day.

049Kids were telling their parents that they felt better with the smart watches on that they they wanted to have that contact, so we may need to look at that. That requires um a change in the law. So that's beyond But is it all electronic devices? Yes. Anything that could be communicated. So that is not um unfortunately now. Yeah. So that So if we can Okay, change the law. If we could be creative possibly about ways because I just think that like if you know, as a mom if it was a be like I have to learn right to kind of like balance okay like this is but when the kids are asking right like that as a mom I don't know that I'd be able to say no to that. So I don't know if

050there's a way not with smart watches per se, but is there a way that we can be creative so that the kids feel like if they need that lifeline even if it's just for a little bit they have it. That's just a concern that I'm hearing and I think is valid. And I would I would have sent my daughter with a smart watch the next day, too. It as a mom I just would have like even knowing what the policy is I just I don't think I would have >> Yeah, and and like I said it's not really just a policy matter. It's a it's a safety matter. >> right? Which we can't control, but I do want to bring that out in in the public conversation because I do think it's important for us

051to be aware of that or maybe if an incident like again, we're hoping that this manifesting that it never happens again, but if it does perhaps we be a little lenient for the week after or we be a little lenient for a few days. I don't know. >> So yeah, so I'm not really going to um endorse breaking the law. However, what I think I'm hearing and I [laughter] think I'm hearing is that need for additional communication. And so you know just to what we've already said potentially hearing from the principal the day before um and I should have advised him to do that, and I did not, and that's on me. He communicated after the meeting, which was great, and maybe maybe an additional communication midday just to feel that there were only a

052handful of of parents that communicated sent concerns. I'm not saying that that is good or bad, but I think, you know, those that were overly concerned communicated and spoke directly with Mr. Miller or with myself, and um and taking that and then saying, "I should probably grant that to everybody." would have been the next step. Yeah, it's just it's such a hard line to walk. I totally appreciate like where we're coming from on like that side of it, and then there's the parent side of it where you're just like I know what the law is, and I know what the policy is. But like But where we can have flexibility [laughter] is guidance counselors have phones, this phone in the classroom. So just like making available ways for kids Somebody's feeling nervous, have them go

053and call their parent, or if a parent is really feeling anxious and wants to talk to their child, they could call in. Yeah, I think I think even just like maybe coming up like not necessarily putting that in policy, but letting parents know that that is an option so that they're feeling comfortable because I just I think, you know, your kid comes to you like upset and says, "I I don't feel safe unless I can get a hold of you." Like if that's going to be really hard for you to be like Say no. Well, the law says like I don't know. It just doesn't >> honestly, I think it's good to reiterate that a lot, but it's already in place. If a kid is feeling really anxious tomorrow and they want to call their

054parent, they just go to the office and they can call their parent. It might be helpful to just maybe send a reminder out on Parent Square to let parents know that just because again, I think parents' heads are not fully in the game right now. >> Yeah, but I'm just going to go back to Mr. Miller's message. He did It was great. I I really um So yes, I did not get any of those messages, so I don't >> no, no, I'm sorry. The message to the students. So um in the Wolf Pack Town Hall, I was so impressed with how Mr. Miller handled that conversation, with how the students handled the conversation, um but it was about it was not about Monday. It was about whenever you feel uncomfortable, if something's bothering you, if

055you're angry, if you're this, all the feelings like all of these adults are here for you, and so what that whatever it is like I I'm anxious because I really want to talk to my mom. Great. Okay. Reach out to a trusted adult, and they'll make that happen for you right away. >> Great. Um so, you know, I I can't say enough about the very appropriate uh town hall that happened. >> and and I wouldn't have gotten the Parent Square messages cuz my child was not there. It's just >> had the message, it's just very much like this is what we did, but >> That's great. And and I read it, and that was a great communication, but having been there, like that's where that's where I was like, "Oh, this And I think that's

056just like that's some of the reassurance that the parents who are able to be in school all day need to hear is like, "Okay, like it was okay. I know my kid can get a hold of me if they need to. If I call the school and ask like how like I know that." I just It's easy to let that go in the moment, right? And so I think just reiterating that and doing it here will be helpful for parents to have that great knowledge in that area. Anything else, guys? Yeah. Yeah. Um just real quick. Um My God. I wanted to say that this is super complex, and I think that we, you know, based on what I've heard today, it was very, very helpful cuz I think I'm in a place, to be

057honest, that I don't don't really understand what the policy should be like what should happen. And Gina, that was very helpful cuz it does make sense that, you know, we have progressed into um new processes for these types of situations, and so it's it's not just one one size fits all anymore. Um >> [clears throat] >> and it's interesting because trying to be I I've been thinking about this last couple days, and I think you can be as proactive um by reaching out to the kids and and and making sure that if they aren't feeling heard, right? Um if they're sad or worried, right? Or what may provoke something like this to happen, um you're dependent you're dependent all of our us are dependent on a child speaking up. So if that child doesn't speak

058up and something still comes to school, how are you supposed to be proactive unless we have like metal detectors, right? So um and I guess my only other question is I'm going to be try to be very sensitive in the way I'm saying this, but in our policies also, you know, we're holding um our administrators and our teachers accountable, um do our policies also in some way hold the community responsible to play their piece in protecting our schools, too? So I think that's a really complex question. >> That's fair. policy does not hold our community responsible. However, when we say that we put supports in place, some of those supports are community education, family education, um looking You know what? If a if a family needs support, we're there also um because we know that

059a 10-year-old, a 12-year-old they're in a home, and they can rely on us during the day, but what happens when we're not there? And so we um we go beyond the school day to support families when in need, and I think that's important to understand. I don't know if Lauren you want to add to that. No, I think you said it really well. I mean, I think that, you know, we try to have resources available both in person and, you know, on our websites, and we try to just keep the conversation going anytime we can. Anytime it's appropriate. >> And and that is admirable, and I that's very helpful, too. I I didn't, you know, I don't I maybe didn't realize how far we go into the community. I guess my perspective was that um

060there should I believe that, you know, in terms of, you know, any type of weapon, right? There are state laws, there's state guidelines, right? So I guess what I'm trying to just get at is, you know, making sure that, you know, we're holding you accountable to follow those policies and procedures, and just making sure that like our community is is holding up their end of the bargain. So what I was trying to get at was in our policies, you know, are we, you know, in in in a situation like this, would somebody be held responsible, I guess. And I understand it's complex, but I just I wanted to address that to that. Do you want to say anything else? >> could just be an opinion, and you don't have to respond. >> okay. Yeah. But

061one thing that could be helpful, and it could just be messages at the beginning of the year when we're doing this is the more that we can um make sure that um parents and families are reading that it's it's it's a lot of work at the beginning of the year, right, to read through all the policies, and sometimes it's easy to just sign the piece of paper, and you're not really sure what the policies are saying, but to take the time and to actually read them and review them with your children would be helpful. Um and I would just add that um it just occurred to me that another question, and maybe I didn't address it fully, uh about um reporting requirements. So an additional reporting requirement we have is reporting to the state certain

062incidents, and certainly those reporting requirements will be met. Those are required to be met at the end of the school year, where we report a number of things, uh but that certain instances, um certain actions are we are required to report. So that information is out there. I think that's a great point. I also just think from the mental health side of it, we also just don't know like what families, if they're moving in, what traumas they might have experienced around this because as we know, it is it's it's not a one kind of off situation. So I appreciate that we're having this conversation. I just want to say that because I think when we have families moving in, if they've experienced school violence or experienced something like this, this could trigger a whole lot

063of feelings. So I think us just continuing to let people know like we're here, we'll have the conversations, come to us if you have questions, and we're going to do what we can to make sure that you're feeling safe and that your kids are feeling safe. Um but yeah, I want to acknowledge that this might have also triggered some things for some people because it's it's a situation that has probably been experienced. Yeah. Thank you for that. I think this is a great opportunity. You know, I honestly, like as much as this is, you know, a very horrible thing to for our community to deal with, um you know, with everything ultimately turning out okay, you know, for for what that definition of okay is, um you know, it's a great opportunity to say, you

064know, you can train all you want, but to actually experience it in in the moment in as if it were real, and it was real, but in in a scenario where there wasn't real injury, um to say, you know, this is how we're actually reacting, and like there's a lot that also went very right, um and to write that down. I mean, I know we wrote it down, but to write it down and and really say, you know, we've done a lot of things correctly today. I mean, you acted very quickly. I mean, that that in and of itself, above all else, you know, is a wonderful thing. I mean, there's many incidents nationwide that we can point to delay of response as being a critical failure point, you know, and and the fact that

065you literally stopped in your tracks and and dealt with the issue immediately. I mean, we can as you guys have all said, you know, we can analyze and go back and do all these things, but but you you ended the situation, you know, and that's ultimately, if it had been a more dramatic threat, you know, you could have saved lives. And so and that's, you know, the I mean, it's whatever it's it's a fantastic thing that it happened that way, and um you know, we can go back and what if what if and and do all those things, but I I do want to say there was a lot that went right and it's a really great opportunity for us to look at what went wrong, what we could have done differently, re- re-evaluate scenarios

066and also like the things that have been done correctly and that you know, I'm really proud of you honestly and everybody. Like I really really am. I think it's a great thing that you know, I can sit here today and see that and yeah, anyway, that's my You could have wished for a different opportunity to learn, but It you know, now you know what it shows that the training works, right? Like I mean, I think that that's a really good you know, I mean just like anything, you know, you can you can train but you have a lot of us say, you know, I'd react that way in this scenario or I'd react that way in this scenario, but until you actually experience it which you did, you experienced the real thing, you know, and

067that's um you know, and you saw how you reacted and you can you know, I I think that's a wonderful thing to have that experience without a really negative outcome. Well, I think it's great you mentioned that cuz it's easy to focus on all the things that didn't go right or didn't feel like they go right, but you you know, pointing out the things that did go right is helpful, too, right? But I think a lot of Can I just say something? I I guess when I heard all this really quick I guess I want to be careful and sensitive that I didn't hear that anything went wrong. I did hear that we could have cleared the hallway. So, I guess I would rather Like it's a good point. Like I I didn't when in

068your whole thing to me, that's why I had nothing, you know, additional to say other than kind of like looking at a different perspective, but I just want to be very sensitive that to me it didn't it didn't sound like there was any missteps here. It sounded like there was one additional call that could have been made. Um So, I just I want to call it that it sounds like the process went appropriately based on your report out. And again, obviously because there are um now multiple ways that these situations can be handled, it obviously makes it more complex and it adds some subjectivity, right? And that's what we're discussing now with the debrief and the investigation that's still happening. It's still happening and you know, the principals are the incident commander in the building

069until the next, you know, person shows up. And so, Mr. Miller made a decision that that worked out. That he didn't misstep. He could have gone a different route. The teacher could have gone a different route, but there was no misstep. The reports were happened, everybody acted swiftly, acted swiftly. And so, thank you for pointing that out. If I said it in a different way, I apologize. Um Every every experience we have is a learning opportunity, but I couldn't be more supportive of how Mr. Miller handled the day and continues to handle this very long week. Yeah, no, I think it's it's a situation no one wants to have to deal with, but I think and I think even though it didn't happen here at RMS, like I know that everyone working together down is

070going to be more prepared if God forbid this ever does happen again and you know, it's I think it's just really really I'm I'm grateful we're having this conversation. I'm grateful we're having it in public so that people can kind of get some reassurances and questions answered. Thank you for being well prepared. >> [laughter] >> All right. Now, important though, like I I know that that was an hour, but I think a very important hour and you know, if if people are still feeling like they have questions, please email um Gina and Mr. Miller or if you want to email the board, you can. We'll connect you with the right person who can answer the questions appropriately. All right, we're going to move on to the consent agenda. Do you want to Yep, so as

071part of the to be adopted policy, there's a change in procedure where we just have a consent agenda. The consent agenda is listed there with any nominations that we have. We have none. And with the resignation. So, the idea is you approve have a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. Um Do you need me to make a motion? Yeah, make I would like to make a a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented. I will second. All in favor? All right, thank you. You are welcome. All right, so we need your approval of minutes. So, this is for the Brookline School Board meeting, the organizational meeting on March 25th, 2026. The following amendments were offered. Page one, line 19, Assistant Superintendent DeGennero was not in attendance. Page three, line 21, replace become

072with becoming. Page 10, line 38, replace and with and. May I get a motion to accept as amended? Motion so moved. All in favor? Thank you. >> [laughter] [laughter] >> In March? I thought I was I thought I was here. >> [laughter] >> I don't know. I don't think you were. I'm just kind of funny. Yeah, I don't think you were. Listen, if we need to amend it next month, we'll we'll We'll amend it. That's fine. That's fine. Um I also need to a motion to accept the Brookline School Board non-public minutes as presented. May I get a motion? I will make motion to accept as presented. Excellent. Who seconds? Johanna. All in favor? Thank you. All right. Principals. You're Dan, do you want to start? Floor is yours. So, we know you had a

073great week. Yeah, it's been pretty uneventful. Um yeah, so just a couple of things. We're getting ready for SAS SAS testing, which is great. Uh looking at data, filling in some gaps. We're going to try to bolster some of the kids' knowledge before we start after vacation. So, doing a lot of that. We had our spring festival, which was super fun. Huge thanks to the PTO and the you know, kids from RMS and kids from CSD who came. It was really great. Um so, there's a funny story about this center picture. If you see that center picture on there, right? So, I walked in and um there was I think she was a first grader, I think, from RMS. She was younger, kindergarten or first grade. She was coloring that big table there. So, I

074went up, typical principal and kind of, you know, stood next to her like that and started coloring with her and her marker ran out. So, I looked at her and I said, "What kind of principal would allow a marker to run out at an event like this?" So, she she looked at me and she's like, "Yeah." And then so, I was asking her about her favorite color when she was there and all that. And then I said, "So, do you know who the principal of this school is?" She looks at me, she goes, "No." >> [laughter] >> I'm like, "All right, do you know anything about him?" And she said, "Well, I think he was in the play." And and I said, "Oh." I said, "Did he do any good?" And she goes, "I think

075he was okay." I'm like, "Okay, thanks for the honesty." And then I said, "So, I'm going to tell you something here that and her parents, by the way, were right across the table. And and I said, "So, I'm I'm actually the principal of CSD." And she goes like this, she goes, like [laughter] that. So, the the point being it was it's it's so much fun and something I appreciate about Brookline is that, you know, kids from both schools come together. And it's just the greatest group of kids at RMS and CSD, but it it's so nice to see the the kids at these events and I get to know them before they, you know, kind of come up to me, which is really nice. So, that was really great. But again, we had art projects

076up and we had different activities to do and planting and all that. So, the PTO did an amazing job. It was really highly engaging. And then just the bottom, we're we're working on our classroom murals outside the classrooms there. Student generated. I project them onto the wall. The kids vote in their classroom. And so, we've got one, two, three up on the walls already and then three already in the in the pipeline to be projected within the next couple of weeks. So, hopefully outside every classroom there's a student generated mural that's reflecting our core values. Kids really love doing that. So, Nice. Awesome. Good evening. Um so, we've had we have a lot of fun events coming through RMS this month and next. Um I want to thank Mr. Tatar. He's our music educator at

077both RMS and CSD. He's been doing performances with our kindergarten classes. So, we just finished those recently. Um and the kids had about four songs to sing and parents were invited to come into the music classroom. And they did a dance. He forgot the dance. They sang some songs and they danced. Sorry, they sang some songs and they danced. And they danced. And they clapped. And It was great. It was a nice fun event to have the parents there, too. Um All of our kindergarten classes have had the opportunity go to the library. We used to do it with every grade, but we feel like kindergarten is the most appropriate and then um it allows them all to get a chance to visit the library and learn some of the tools there and some of

078the activities they have offered. Um grade two recently went to Eva Brook and they had a great time there. And then we had our third grade concert last night, which went really well. Students sang four class four songs. Um they did not dance. But they really did a wonderful job singing and they sounded excellent. Again, Mr. Tatar ran that. And then it was [clears throat] nice cuz I'm doing this project where don't show it to the kids yet, but most all the students are going to be getting t-shirts along with the teachers too. Just a kind of bring about that Blue Jay pride. And we did a a brief little intermission and the students did a quick wardrobe change and came back with their Blue Jay shirts on and they sang the Blue Jay song

079that we have. So, that was really fun. And then we ended the performance with a slideshow and was through there years here, their journey. And it was just this group that's in third grade right now is probably one of our most well-behaved groups that we've ever had. Um and they are just such a nice tight-knit class and they work so well together, they care about each other. And it was just really cute watching them cuz I was watching their reactions during the show and they were just like so excited to see each other in the slideshow and just like crying during and laughing and singing along. It was It was really cute. And then um We're doing a big project kind of similar to what Mr. Miller was sharing about the murals, but I am

080working on this legacy project, which I'm really excited about. I've been trying to do it for years and um I wanted to try to find a way to bring our former students back and former staff back so that everybody feels like they had a kind of a sense of belongingness to our school and they feel honored and had an impact on our school. So, our third grade right now just started making Blue Jays with their handprints on our main lobby wall and then all the staff have done handprints, their handprints on the trees. And um I'm going to put a post out to the families about this project. Um but it's just a way to have anybody that's been a part of our school or who has supported our school to come out and all

081together um connect one of connect ourselves together. Um So, I'm going to do a sign-up sheet this spring for families to come over in summertime if they had students that went through the hallways or in the classrooms. They could be graduated, they could be parents that went here when when it was Brookline Elementary School, but we want them to come back and participate in the project. There's a a picture um in the principal's report that kind of shows uh the vision of it. Um but right now it's it's going really really well. It's It's really cute and the students are really excited about it. Um and then shh What else? We like Mr. Noe's [snorts] said, we have New Hampshire SAS, grab-and-break. And uh our third grade will be doing that. And then a lot

082of first grade visits, Stone Zoo, Eyes on Owls. Um Our preschool's going to have a program from the Seacoast Science Center coming. And second grade has Leaping Lizards. So, a lot of fun activities on our line. Thank the PTO for their support because they're the ones that are helping fund most of these projects. Um and also our Brookline towns our Brookline taxpayers as well for supporting you know, some of the busing and stuff through the operating budget. So. >> [snorts] >> So. Things are going really well here. Yeah, I was just I wanted to really thank both you and Mr. Tatar for the music opportunity because like it was really cool to come in and see and the kids were so excited and they took it very seriously. Like they were prepared and they were

083practicing and they were supporting each other. Um the parents also did a great job learning the children's songs cuz they [laughter] were in the background doing it too. Um but it it was nice to get a chance to kind of just come in and see the kindergartners and see our kids kind of like really invested. So, I I hope that's something that continues because I thought it was fantastic. I just Thanks. I appreciate you sharing that cuz Shannon St. Claire who used to be a music teacher here, um she started that. So, Mr. Tatar is trying to bring it back, which is great. He's also bringing [snorts] back the the Blue Jay song too as well. So. Yeah, it's well and your your school community pride is working cuz Ashlyn told me the other day

084that she found a a Blue Jay by her window and I was like, nope, you didn't. There was no bird there, but that's fine. But she's so like she's invested. That's the bird that she knows, right? So, I love that you're trying to build that community also across both schools. I think that's really important. Super great. I mean I know I talked to you before, but I just wanted to say that the third grade, so you know, starting it off in kindergarten and having that time and um but then the third grade um performance was fantastic and the slideshow was just a nice as they're, you know, getting ready to transition out of RMMS, um being able to kind of look back on their years was was really like touching and they were so excited

085about all having their Blue Jay t-shirts and their little class of 2035, which is kind of insane. So, thank [snorts] you. Yeah, all of our groups here are special and I was, you know, glad that those students felt really good about it. One thing I want to bring up about the legacy project as well. So, we're doing some backfilling with the handprints, but starting next year the plan is to anytime we hire someone new, a new staff member, they're going to you know, right away, that's like their introduction. And the same for our kindergarten students or our preschool, when they first come to our building, they're going to start with that and so that they feel like they already have a part in the school. So, we're going to continue it that way and it's

086going to flow through different seasons. So. That's really great. Yeah, we're excited about the project. So, I'd love to show you guys maybe next time where it's at. So. I'm so sorry. I have to We can show them pictures after, too. I have to leave, but It's a great way to build ownership. Thank you. That's awesome. Yeah, I agree. Great. Okay. Um I'm going to open public input at 7:09 and if anybody joins us in the next 30 minutes uh they can we will give them time and space. I'm just looking at the agenda and what remains. Are you okay if I dismiss Charles? Yes. Oh, wow. Okay. Yes. It's been a long [laughter] week. Thank you for everything. >> Thank you. And I you know, I I know my time's over on this, but

087thank you all for and when I say support, I mean not just for some of the things that, you know, we might, you know, repeat in these situations as bright spots, but I I do appreciate all the feedback that I've received and it makes all of us better, myself personally, selfishly makes me a better principal, but it also really does help this community. So, thank you all very much. Appreciate you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Have a good night. Okay, so we've got a number of discussions to do. The first is committee appointments. Um I have done the best I can. I put out a call for interests and I didn't get a whole ton of responses. So, I'm going to go through what I think who this is a good setup for this

088coming year and if we need to shift anything around, let me know. So, we have um we have a a facilities committee, which this year um I thought Lynn and Tracy would be well suited to. Um policy we already know is Johanna and Lynn. Uh we established that a couple meetings ago. The SAU 40 budget SAU 41 budget will be myself and Johanna. And then um not immediately, but there is a plan this year to do the spin up the curriculum review with Dot and it's a new committee this year. Um so, um Heather and Tracy, um if you guys could take that on, that would be great. And then for the um appointments delegations, so for the the spec, that'll be me. That's the superintendent performance evaluation. For the New Hampshire School Board Association

089delegates, um Tracy and Heather, if you guys can do that this year. And the teacher luncheon for as Joha as Johanna. I'll talk about just we can talk about it after. I was just What are the delegates? Is that what the Concord? Yeah, that's what it's going to be if we decide to go to Concord. Mhm. And they take a look at all the resolutions and um see if maybe we can spin that up this year since I know there was a lot of passion about that last year. It was kind of like last minute, we were kind of like figuring it out. So, then this year we can maybe be ahead of the game on that one and Or you can do like a committee, right? Like I think you could submit a We

090we can submit resolutions, too. So, if you and Tracy want to kind of dig through that and see what that looks like. It gives an opportunity for um a voice within, you know, legislative action through the school board. That's our like really good path, I think. So. Sounds good. That'd be amazing. Um do you guys want to talk about these at all? You feel comfortable with how they sit? Yep. I am comfortable. Okay. Well, that's an easy discussion then. When Do we know when like Where's the list? I'm sorry, just so I It There There is a So, so in our in our in our policy, and I can email it out, but in our um committee's policy, it lists the the five standing. One is the negotiations and there's no negotiation teams this year.

091And so, then the other four are the the facility curriculum, the SAU 41 Wellness. Policy. Thanks. I knew I was missing one. Brain is not braining, it happens. And then they appointments and delegations, those are like the special things that come up like Well, spec is kind of standing with that, but then the school board association um this past year we had like the co-op committee, we had at one point we had the superintendent exit interview. So, as things come up, those will be like special appointments. It's a one-and-done. It's not a big long drawn out thing. So, as more things come up, we can appoint And and spec has like very specific I remember we spent a very long time in one of the SAU governing boards debating the wording for this in Feb

092Yes. Yeah. I say I blocked it from my memory. Um you know, like the wording about who gets to sit on spec. Like we that was like a two-hour conversation. So, I just want to put that out It's SAU policy. Yes, there's a policy about who can who can actually It's very distinct wording. Yeah. Um I mean I sometimes like if you need like last year I was um I stepped in for Allison, so like there's an alternate, but I would say if you're interested in that, always let Allison know. It has to technically be the chair, but the chair can appoint someone. So, it it was actually it was fun. I I thought it was fun, but You would. When do the facilities committees meet? I don't know that one. Um first Wednesday of

093the month. Not every month. And if that doesn't >> Oh, sorry. Here? >> Here. Here. Okay. Uh well, actually upstairs in the conference room, but it is a mess. If that doesn't work, we reschedule because I know policy is a big lift, too. So, if you feel like that's too much, let us know and we can >> I'm okay. We can redo. Okay. Well, yeah. I think we're good. Yeah. I I am come I know appointments are supposed to go for the whole year, but I I am also okay if we need to rebalance. We just will bring it up for discussion, we'll revote, and then go from there. If everybody's comfortable with that. Okay. General assurances. Okay. So, um every year the um board is asked to authorize the board chair to sign the

094general assurances. Without a signature, we are ineligible for any federal funds. So, this is um a great document that um says everything that we are held to. So, I sign them as well. Every single page has a signature and it's stating that I'm going to follow all the required laws and policies and procedures um when spending federal funds. So, that's what that is. Any questions? Okay. Uh FY26 revenue and expense report. Okay, drumroll, please. We've now moved into the positive. That's kind [clears throat] of normal for this time of year. It is, but I was a little worried there at the end of the year because the number was a little big. Yeah. In regular education, we have a balance of um 221,000 and change, and that's due to some unfilled positions. That's countered by

095the next line, which um is 408,000 in the negative, and that's due to contracted staffing. So, we don't The position is open, but then we're over in contracted, if that makes sense. Um Those are the like primarily driven by the special ed contracted pairs. Is that >> Yeah, and then also um a school psych. So, we have a contracted school psych, so that's why the line in the 1200s is over. Um but then in the >> have the one school psych? >> We have one employee and then one contractor. >> we have tech We have two in the district. One is in-house and one is contracted. Yeah. So, um the in the 2100s, we have an overage, and that's because we have an unfilled psych position. Okay. If So, you have to go back and

096forth. Um we have small expected overages in instructional staff support. Um we have fewer services needed, so we have overage in the 2300s. Um we hired a new administrator, for those of you who don't know. >> [laughter] >> Um when we hired our two new administrators for Brookline School District, they um the salaries were over what was had been budgeted. So, we're a little bit over in school administration 2400. Um and then IT services as well was a little bit over. Okay. So, um with the new propane boiler at CSDA, we have saved money because propane is cheaper than oil. And so, we have a savings switching from the oil to the propane. Um however, that's been offset with our overage in snow removal. So, as I keep saying, if it could just warm up,

097things would be better. It didn't snow today. It's supposed to. Yeah, I know, but close enough, Um and then a little bit of overage in transportation um because we have unfilled positions, then we have a little bit of overage in benefits. Overage meaning we have a a balance and not in the negative. Um and then we're getting uh higher interest for our new lease. So, we have the money and then we can make interest on it until we you know, pay the bill, if you will. All right. So, that leaves our expenses in the negative at 32,384. Uh and then we have some revenue coming in, uh 103,785. So, when you combine those, that gives us an unreserved fund balance of 71,401. At this time, based on the petition warrant article that passed, we are

098no longer able to retain funds as we typically do at the close of the books when we have an an understanding of how much money we have, we're often able to say, "Are we able to retain funds for an emergency?" And we can only spend them if we have a public hearing. Um this dollar amount of 71,401 does not include last year's retained fund balance. So, we have 185,192 in that current retained fund balance that if we do nothing with it, it falls to the bottom and would be legally required to go back to the taxpayers. If we could go to the next item, uh the we have a proposal. Um and so, this is from our business administrator for some year-end recommendations. Um Brookline's not as familiar with year-end recommendations because we typically don't

099have very much money. >> [laughter] >> And some of our other boards often have this conversation about utilizing uh a budget balance for certain larger ticket items. Um but anyway, as uh Lance Flumineau states, um as noted in the most recent revenue and expense report, the anticipated year-end fund balance is estimated to be 71,401. This figure is subject to change as we approach the end of the fiscal year and finalize encumbrances and expenditures. In addition to that current year-end estimate, there's also a retained fund balance of 185,192 from fiscal year 2025 as previously voted on by the board. A recommendation is recommended that available funds be utilized to address deferred maintenance projects and other high-priority items that were removed from the FY27 budget in order to achieve the default budget. We respectfully request that the

100board um board approval to expend up to 280,000 from the combined FY26 fund balance and the FY25 retained fund balance for the following items. Number one, the RMS Milford Street roof and trim repair for $100,000. Number two, the RMS parking lot repairs, paving, and seal coating for $150,000. Number three, the nurse's office privacy curtain at RMS for 2500. And then number four, um the interactive flat panel purchases. We had four in the budget for RMS and three in the budget at 3rd CSDA for a total of 27,300. Those estimates add up to 279,800. Um so, that's why we say up to 280,000. If the board approves the use of the retained fund balance at that concept, a public hearing would need to be held at the main meeting. So, that would be publicly noticed in

101the paper and to everybody and and so people can come in and share their thoughts. Um so, this would be a mechanism by which we can still continue to protect RMS um facility and um um and the parking lot that needs to be not just seal coated, but completely repaired. What? I'm very comfortable with these proposals. Just for the record, I I personally am comfortable with these because these were things that we'd wanted to do in our operating budget um that we have to that we just couldn't. So, I'm comfortable with that. So, I have a question that's related, but not directly related to this, and that is um given that the unreserved fund balance was always our contingency emergency fund, are we putting a plan in place or some kind of Are we going

102to ask to establish some kind of trust for next year um so that we can retain emergency funds in some aspects? I know there've been I saw a kind of in listening to like town meeting, I know I think they they started um a vehicle maintenance fund or something. I don't want to say it like Was it somebody Somebody was doing something, or maybe it was when I took my dad to the Hollis meeting, but I just noticed different groups doing We we want to put aside money to go buy X in in 5 years. And so, are we considering, and maybe this is just to put that idea out there, can we can we look at potentially starting to do something like that in the future so that if we have an emergency, we

103we can deal with it Yeah, so it wouldn't be a misstarting. We already did it. This year we didn't because um we didn't really have the opportunity to do so based on um just what we had with the two contracts. Uh but we do have a maintenance trust. Okay. >> Uh we Like I said, we didn't transfer any money this year based on the teacher contracts. >> Okay. Um and so, there is that is a funding source for some of these items. If you recall last year, so for FY26, um we had proposed a trip the transfer of up to 360,000 into the maintenance trust for a number of items. The Milford Street roof was one of them. At the deliberative session, um it was amended to 300,000, down from 360, and the funding source

104was shifted to new taxation. Um which was great because it ensured that we had the 300,000, but that meant we couldn't um we just couldn't do the Milford Street roof at that time. So, that's why we saw it again in for for this past budget. So, we have that. We also have a special ed trust um that we have not dipped into yet. Every year we think we might have to, and then um luckily, we've been able to avoid having to go into that. We haven't proposed putting aside money into that fund recently because it is funded at a level that we feel really comfortable with. So, if we weren't able to exhaust all the factors that we always look to exhaust first, um and let's say there was a costly change in placement or

105who knows, um we do have Is it 280,000 right now in Brookline? >> bit Could be a little bit higher. So, it's about 280,000 in Brookline for unexpected special education um costs. That would also require that we publicly post a public hearing and have all of that to actually be able to expend from it. Um last year, I believe we held a public hearing just in case we had to and then we ended up not having to. But yeah, so we have we have those um and then we will absolutely be looking to do that more um just based on how the tax cap calculation is calculated. Uh we are able to do that. In addition, we as a board can make you as a board can make the decision to put in a warrant

106article to be able to retain funds as we have for years and years and years. Okay. So, nothing stops you from doing that, requesting that again. Okay. Um Okay, yeah. Would it be I can't recall how often we look at our our overall balances. So, we do revenue and expense reports like twice a year. Do we can we maybe quarterly or cuz I don't think it needs to be every meeting, but can we just get a rundown of all of our accounts at some point or is there am I missing that somewhere? >> like like this? >> Well, revenue and expense we do quarterly up until the fourth quarter and then we just give them monthly because it's changes so rapidly. >> thinking like our balances in special ed trust and our balance like in

107our in our trust and stuff. Those aren't on here or am I not seeing them? They're not on there but cuz we're not looking to spend them. >> Wait, cuz we're not using them. I might get I think I just was curious. I mean Yeah. >> Well, maybe towards the end of the year like just kind >> Maybe just asking like I'm just asking like what's in them, right? Like like because even like we have a general idea. Yeah. Because you're you have a general idea, but I think at least maybe once a year if we can just Yep. Absolutely. >> See see where our numbers are at. And I think it's >> helps us too like if we are developing more in articles that that would help at least me understand like all right,

108do we need to ask for special like do we need to ask for money to go into the trust because here So, yeah, I think that would be >> No, and that's really helpful and I think typically when we ask for money, that's when we present this is how much we have, these are expected expenditure but we didn't have any proposals so that's why you didn't see that this year. So, Right. I'm curious put this forward in in June. I um just to your point, some districts, the other two districts, um utilized the maintenance trust for um elevator repairs and how they did it was $70,000 for 5 years in a row so that in 5 years, the elevator could be repaired and it didn't all of a sudden, you know, spike the budget. So,

109um to your point of how they are planning out expenditures and I think that's what the facilities committee is aiming to do. How do we >> to see that. I would love to see that. bigger picture. >> that would be good because I also heard that back I heard some of that the last few years of deliberative people going, why are you asking for 500,000? Like are we not planning for aging equipment and like you plan for it at your house. It's like if you know you need a roof in a couple of years, you start squ- squirreling some away and I think it's a really good point and it's a good practice and so even if even if we can only squirrel so much away, at least we've tried and we can show the

110town we are trying to do our due diligence while being responsible and so we're not asking for a full um you know, full amount up front and we we we've tried to Yeah. >> you know, bring it down a little bit I think would be would be great, but also thinking about like the facilities committee like you know, targeting specific things within the in the buildings would be great. So, sorry. I know it's a little >> No, no, that's all good. Um does anyone have anyone else have any feedback for the proposed use of funds? Yeah, sorry. So, I I think this is a great idea. I absolutely am in support of that um because I think, you know, the roof has been on there for so long and I think getting to keep it

111at a lower price is crucial at this point. Like the last thing we want is to see like the costs rise. I also drive in this parking lot every day so yes on the parking lot repairs cuz I have to go through it. Um uh yeah, so I I think this is all because these are these are very important purchases um that yeah, we understood couldn't be on the budget, but we do have this retained retained fund balance and I think it's important for us to and I think it's fiscally appropriate for us to try and save the taxpayers from having to come and pay a larger sum later by using what we have now to kind of address like I feel like like I know that that might not feel that way, but I

112do feel like it's like we're just trying to kind of like get control of it now so it's not a bigger ask later. Okay, so then what I would ask >> Can I say just one quick question? Yeah. It's just more of process. So, um like for example, we won't be in the same place next year because it's been voted down for '27, right? But for this year, just for clarification for myself and public, this uh retained fund balance um this was not voted on. The the one that we actually voted on was for '27. So, next year, right? So, it's um it's a little bit more complicated than that. >> Complicated. No, no, it's just a little bit convoluted. So, the 185,000 that we have was FY25 money. This board here voted in August

113to retain it. >> rather than return it to the taxpayers. >> Yep. Now that FY26 is coming to a close, we have to release all funds to the taxpayers. >> Yep. So, the 185,000 is FY25 money. We cannot hang on to '26 money. Right. Um however, if we were to if there was a warrant article and it passes, we would be able to retain '27 money. I got you. So, yeah, it's funky how it works. Yeah, so '25 we can, '26 we cannot, but potentially we could potentially change it again '27 for us to be forward thinking. Got [clears throat] you. I just wanted to make sure that I was clear. Yeah, we're always like operating in three different fiscal years. So, [laughter] it's confusing. No, and that and that clarity's helpful I think to

114people don't it's can be it's complicated, right? Like you're not supposed to retain funds, but you're going to spend 185 retained fund. Well, that was 2025's money so we are we already voted on that. >> That had already been passed. Yes. Okay, perfect. Thank you. >> So, um I would love to start if if you're in favor, um I would love to start to move forward with signing a contract to do the roof. Um if our balance goes up beyond 71,401 to where we can afford to do the roof, um would you be in favor of um of of a motion to approve the expenditure of up to 280,000 starting from the year end fund balance and then we'll hold the public hearing in the next month to use the retained fund balance. The use

115of the year end fund balance just requires a simple board vote. Okay. This would allow me to not have this um $100,000 um quote expire. To avoid that going up higher. Really cuz obviously I can't do all of it, um but I might be able to sign a contract to do the roof. Okay, so wait. Sorry. I I hate that. So, what we're basically saying is right now our end of year end fund balance is estimated to be that 71,000. It may get higher than that. You would use that to fund So, basically um uh when you make a motion to expend up to 280,000, if I only have $5, I can only spend $5. Um if I have 71,000, I can only spend 71,000. Um the next mo- the next month would be the

116public hearing to ex- to to add to that balance by using the retained fund balance for these items. Okay. Okay. Um but this would allow me to move forward on the roof sooner. And that's in this section where it was voted down here, right? No, not when when we actually like go to vote on I just want to make sure she has It's yeah, she does. I'm sorry. No, no, it's okay. I I I heard you framing it and I'm like she's got it already. >> Perfect. We'll get there. Are there any questions about that though anymore? No. Okay, great. Thank you. All right, um cooperative study committee update. Would you like to provide the update or do you want me to? Can I ask a question? Do we have to vote now or no?

117Later. We're yeah, we'll vote after. Um I'm happy to Uh you go go for it and then I'll chip in. So, we were charged with um studying the potential impact of Brookline independently dissolving and joining the Hollis Brookline Cooperative School District. So, we did many things. We reviewed enrollment trends, financial obligations, collective bargaining agreements, capital needs, governance structures, SAU operations. Um the committee determined that a Brookline only expansion would not provide meaningful cost savings, um substantial structural efficiencies, or any significant student programming benefits. Um limited operational adjustments would be possible, uh but pretty much everything would remain unchanged if Brookline were the only component to do this. However, in its review, the committee identified that the greatest opportunity for long-term efficiency and structural improvement appears to lie in reducing the total number of independent districts

118within SAU 41. A joint consolidation effort involving both Brookline and Hollis could potentially achieve those efficiencies. And um that was beyond the scope of the study. We could only really focus on Brookline alone. Um so, the committee recommends that the Brookline School Board initiate discussions with the Hollis School Board to see if there is mutual mutual interest in um expanding the study. So, would that have to be a warrant next >> not have to. Oh, it doesn't. Okay. So, the town wouldn't have to vote on us to actually be able to Oh, so to do the study, it doesn't have to be a warrant article. Brookline chose to do it that way. Yeah, okay. Um but if there's a study and let's say the recommendation to the board is, yes, move forward, dissolve, uh quite

119a few legal steps have to happen. So, the co-op is organized by articles of agreement. The articles of agreement have everything from apportionment to who can attend. Um That can only be amended via a special annual meeting. And that they we would have to have language that expanded the grades for the co-op. That would have to be voted on by everyone who attends the special co-op meeting. Um and then if that were the case, then now co-op would be available to accept Hollis and Brookline students and then Hollis and Brookline independently would have to dissolve the school district. And um and students would go to the co-op. So it's a multi-year process. Um So. It was super interesting being on the committee. Uh I'll I'll say just Gina did a wonderful job providing documentation and

120being informed and I mean this was something that uh I was very uneducated in and felt like I understood a lot more about the process um afterwards and and how how the school districts operated and and um I think the personally from my from what I've learned through this combining the school districts all together into one co-op seems like a very smart option um in reducing costs and reducing um um hours, you know, administrative hours um and providing some continuity for the students. So it's like there was a lot of benefits, I think. And as as Gina said, you know, the the just bringing just Brookline over uh wasn't a huge benefit for for the the effort and work that would need to be put in. Um but I do think it's would be really

121in the community's interest in the schools' interest to to pursue this at a a higher level with the Hollis school board. So. Awesome. Yeah. It's very cool. It's a it's a interesting um thought experiment, I thought. So. It was great to meet some members of the community that I'd never met before. Everyone had really interesting um perspectives and ways of looking at things. It was great um from my my perspective. And I also just make assumptions that people understand like you know, the like minutia of the articles of agreement and most people don't even know what an article of agreement So. I was just going to say for clarification, right? Like we're talking about more from an administrative perspective. We're not talking about like Brookline kids um like meshing like our our elementary schools, right?

122Like it's more at least as of right now, right? It's more about the administrative component having like one co-op where Hollis, Brookline, and the middle school and the high school would all be under what we would consider like one entity, right? So we would be able to um leverage administrative efficiencies um in terms of administrative staff, school boards, uh that sort of thing, right? Yeah. So right now we have Brookline school district, Hollis school district, the co-op school district, and the SAU. So we have four different legal entities. We're running four different budgets. We run um we have six different collective bargaining agreements. So we would reduce that to two. Um you know, if I had three different policy meetings three different policy meetings. I mean well actually four because there's the SAU one as

123well. So it's just everything is reduced. Um you just wouldn't be redoing the same conversation over and over again. But just think about personnel. Right now if I have um let's say I have a a a speech pathologist hired by Brookline, but I don't have the need for a full-time person, but Hollis has the need. Right now I can send the person over, but then I have to do paperwork to bill Hollis for the services of a Brookline employee. And we actually have quite a few employees that we do that with because it makes better sense to have the employee than to contract, but that creates extra paperwork and extra sort of red tape, if you will, behind the scenes. Um just legal fees for for going through all the negotiations that many times. Um

124but you know, if I had a class size that was smaller in third grade at RMS, but then there's a bubble at HPS, I could move a teacher without having to fire someone and hire someone. It could just be a transfer. So there are quite a few different efficiencies that would be created that it you just wouldn't see the same level of efficiency if we just went from four legal entities to three, but if you went from four to one, then absolutely it becomes um Yeah. Well, thanks for having me. >> You had brought up too, I think at during one of our meetings, that was really interesting. Like uh a teacher, if they wanted to uh teach at um Hollis, for example, right? And and they decided to leave like they couldn't take their

125retirement with them. Well, they can take their retirement, but they lose their longevity, they lose their years of service, like all of that they lose. Six Yeah, lose their sick time. So that's sort of silly because what if we want to put them there because they want to and there's a need. Yeah. Legally they lose a lot of benefits. I think that this is timely also because of um our Brookline teacher negotiation um would make this a lot smoother also. I'm just calling that out, but Yeah. Okay. So something interesting. So what do we have to do if we do want to engage the Hollis school board? Is there is there do we vote on that? What is our next steps? Does that become like one of our ad hoc like committees? Um another committee.

126>> [laughter] >> I'm willing. That would be more of a delegation though, wouldn't it? Yeah. So the committee recommends that the Brookline school board initiate discussions with the Hollis school board to determine whether or not there's mutual interest. So um What is that like? I think So you can as a board accept the committee report and accept the the recommendations as recommendations and then you can choose to direct your chair to engage in conversation with the chair of Hollis to see if there's any interest there. And I would say with all the chairs because the other question is, well, does co-op want you? >> [laughter] >> Yeah, right. Um That would be really rude if they didn't. What do other people think? Do I I I mean Lynn, did you want to No, I was

127just asking on that note of like is that something we could put on like the co-op agenda like the SAU agenda or whatever? >> meeting? Yeah, I'm just wondering yeah, I don't know if that's like a or if that's a separate That is the chairs' meeting. I think it's the chairs' meeting. Chairs' meeting, okay. Yeah. So I mean we can start there. Yeah, I know I definitely appreciate all of the hard work like like the committee did and like how well thought out this was. It it feels that like you guys covered like all of the angles, which is great. I mean I I am in favor of accepting them. I don't know that I personally am in favor. I I wasn't in favor of doing the study when it first came around. This hasn't

128really changed my mind, so there's just other issues that I see with joining the co-op like I that I would be concerned about. Articles of agreement can be really difficult to negotiate. Um And like I'm concerned about like the current makeup of the co-op board, I think would be really difficult like with having Hollis has more seats than Brookline. I would just be concerned about that. So I know I understand that those things could change, but that's not coming up in the conversation like some of the concerns that I have. >> are all part of the articles of agreement. So that's another thing like there which is not a negotiation, it's actually a committee meets, makes recommendations, and then there's a special meeting and then people vote on them. And then just as any other

129special meeting, the articles of agreement someone on the floor can make a motion to amend and and do whatever, but it's I think it's an it's important piece to understand that the makeup of the board, when certain seats are up, that's all part of the of um agree to including what happens with debt from elementary districts if they were to enter the co-op. Is it is everyone equally responsible for that or does does the apportionment formula happen after individual school district debt is allocated? There's so many different factors that couldn't be part of the conversation with this limited scope. It really had to be a larger conversation. >> that those probably aren't in the scope of the study. I just think for myself like also like having heard feedback from voters like I'm not sure

130that there's an appetite in Brookline to dissolve and join the co-op. So I I am happy to rep like I I think that I, you know, the recommendations are great. I personally would not ask Allison to start negotiations with Hollis, but I will like whatever the board decides is fine, but I'm just kind of putting that out. So I would say I disagree only because I'd like to know more. I want to answer those questions, right? I don't I don't want to just make an assumption, I guess. Like I'd like to have that conversation and if if if we feel like at the end of the at the end of the conversation it's uh too complex or we can't answer some of these pros, I think like okay, that makes but I think I think

131it's worth pursuing. I mean just the efficiency we were just talking about is is is worth it and we could be saving taxpayer money from multiple perspectives. So I I think it would be beneficial to the community to at least at least do our due diligence. Not that I um really want to be on another committee. However, I I just want to clarify the recommendation is to have Allison discuss with the Hollis school board whether or not there's interest in completing a study. So it's not just as this was a study gathering information and trying to get answers. Um that would be to initiate I guess getting more of the answers that weren't there. But um I think just my concern with it is that like I understand wanting to have the conversation and I

132don't necessarily I think think that's a bad thing. I'm concerned that there's a little bit too much focus on efficiency and we're overlooking some of the bigger issues. Like there's a I just I don't think that it's Personally, I don't think Brookline has the appetite to agree to this and so I have personal concerns. I if you guys want to have the conversation, that's fine. Um I'm just not going to vote for that. So I just want to know what the bigger issues are, right? I think that's fair cuz I don't >> you don't have to vote. You guys can vote on the study. >> Like I'm just saying cuz I'm >> I'm just responding just to say that like if there's issues, like I want to know what the issues are. >> Okay. Then

133go for it. That's fine. Okay. So I appreciate the work of the study as somebody who brought the idea forward. Um It was interesting reading this. It's kind of what I figured I would would come out of it, like, you know. Um however, and and and I'm happy to have the conversation with the chairs. I'm happy to see if there's an appetite there. Um but I got to be honest. Um my my folks needed some ride share help this year and so I got to attend all the meetings including Hollis and of this year was lot loads of fun. Um That's what you call fun? That's fun. >> [laughter] >> But it gave me a different perspective on the community makeups and and like how the town meetings and the the meetings go. And I

134and I remember sitting there at one point thinking I don't know. I don't know if I don't know if if if joining's actually right and and on paper, yes, in concept, yes, but then the towns are are quite different in terms of community makeup and and and even like appetite for for spending and how they manage that and and from a financial aspect, right? And and so kind of seeing that actually made me take a step back and go I don't know if that I don't know if it's actually right. However, I think while it is for us to I think I think like everything else, it is for us to get all the facts and make them facts and present them to the community for the community to decide, right? If there's an appetite

135for that or not. And so I think taking the study recommendations and going and seeing if there's even an interest at the other level to have conversation, I think is fine. Um I think it would probably just as a you know, not knowing what I don't know. Um I don't know as I'm that personally I'd be as interested in it today, but that doesn't mean that conversations and fact-finding can't continue. But also it could be I get to the board chairs meeting and they're like, yeah, no. Like who knows, right? What the other boards are are thinking. So Um Yeah, but I it is definitely interesting to see how things are made up and and go and for sure. I think there's an appetite for people to understand what it looks like. I mean we

136voted the town voted for this study to be done. Which I think indicates an interest in learning more, right? And >> it was under budget. And we did. Which is which yes, which is even better. So so yeah. I LOVE THAT SENTENCE. >> [laughter] >> AS WE GO FROM THE COMMUNITY PARTICIPATED IN IT. YEAH, which is even better. Yeah, so and I so I think it's important then like if the study findings were to recommend to go have a conversation, I'm I'm I'm absolutely in support of having a conversation and we'll go from there. And I would like to clarify too, when we were in the committee meetings, we did discuss actually things outside of just finances. We actually discussed a lot outside of that. We talked about the communities. We did talk about how

137it would impact students, how it would impact teachers. We talked about apportionment. I mean we we did talk in depth about a lot of those types of issues that were more uh uh qualitative than quantitative. Um so it did come into consideration and we did talk about those things and it was you know, the the things that are we bring up finances because it's a very clear definable thing, right? You know, it's we can, you know, cut X number hours, we can cut X number of dollars, we can, you know, we can do those things. It's very hard to um indicate what the qualitative impact on uh students is necessarily, right? It's not something we can clearly define, I don't think. Um um and so but the or what the feelings of a community are

138without having some kind of data. Um I agree. But you know, so I I think it's a really interesting idea. Um I am obviously in support of of continuing the conversation and and learning more and um I think it's our duty as as a board to explore options um that could help support our taxpayers, help support our students and our teachers. So Yeah, I don't disagree with that. 100% with what I said. Great support of this. Yeah, I'm just sharing my my perspective too. Great. Yeah. All right. Anything else with the co-op study? No. Okay. All right. Deliberations. Um so the >> close public hearing? >> Oh, I should close public hearing. Hey, I'm not that far off. It's only 7:49. >> No, I know. I'm just giving you >> I'm only 40 minutes out,

139not 30. It's better than when I let it run an hour. >> [laughter] >> Done that. All right. So this first deliberation is to see what action the board will take regarding the committee appointments. Um and because this is new policy, I'm going to read this little bit. Policy BDE reads in part up to two school board members shall be appointed to a sub committee by the chairperson with the approval of the board. Standing and special committees and delegations shall be appointed by the chairperson of the board and approved by a vote of the majority of the board. Can I get a motion to approve the appointments? >> So moved. Second. Thank you. Um should I wait for Heather to come back? Can I just You can do that. All in favor? Okay, so that's

140two and Heather had to step out for a >> she doesn't seem opposed. >> No, she didn't so I'm not worried about it. Okay. Um the next is to see what action the board will take regarding the general assurances. Um Does somebody else want to read this motion or would you like me to read it? I can do it. Okay. So I'll make a motion to authorize myself as board chair to represent the school board and acknowledge the superintendent has consulted with all members of the school board in furtherance of the school board's obligations including those enumerated in RSA 189:1-A in pursuance to the school board's oversight of federal funds the district will be receiving and the and of the general assurances requirements and definitions for participation in said federal programs. Can I get a

141second? Thank you. All in favor? Thank you. Thanks. All right. Um next is to see what action the board will take regarding the business office memo. Do you want me to just continue reading right along? Yeah, go for it. That's why we put you in charge. Fabulous. So I will make a motion to approve the recommendations of the business administrator as presented. Thank you. Yes, my second. To all in favor? Thank you. Thank you. And that covers you for what you were looking to do, right? Okay. Excellent. And then this last one is to see what action the board will take regarding the proposed policy memo. Um In keeping with the spirit of this, I will make a motion to approve the recommendations of the Brookline policy committee per the memorandum provided as part of

142the agency packet. Did I miss Policy memo? No. Hm. The co-op study. It wasn't an deliberative item. I didn't We should I think we create a motion. Can we create a motion on the fly? Yes. Am I allowed to do that? So I'm going to backtrack Right. So I'm going to backtrack my policy one real for a hot second. Um I will make a motion to accept the co-op study committee's recommendation to have the Brookline school board chair uh engage in conversation with the board chairs from Hollis and co-op regarding the findings of the co-op study. Does that sound good? Okay, cool. May I get a second? All in favor? All opposed? Excellent. Thank you. All right. Policy memo. Now you can make that motion. Now I can make this motion um to approve the

143recommendations as part of the Brookline policy committee as per the memorandum provided as part of the agenda packet. Can I get a second? Thank you. All in favor? Fabulous. I should probably not vote until after you talk about the policy. I always do that. That was actually I I I really need to ask for to move that to the to the end because I do that every time and it just is out of order. So I apologize. Just kidding. We'll do that. We'll we'll redo that at the end. So Dot, Johanna, Lynn, whoever wants to take the floor, it's all yours. Looks like a long list, but if there's quite a few that have no changes coming. And so the the first five under a moving forward to a second read and recommended to adopt

144with no no additional changes recommended. The first one is BEDB um and that's the agenda preparation and dissemination. Have to explain this one a little bit because uh there are some recommendations or some proposals to change the body of the language around the agenda which we couldn't come to a conclusion on that day because it needed input from the superintendent. But we would like to adopt adopt this so that we have the consent agenda language and this will go right back on to the agenda for the policy committee to review the language. So you'll see it come back again. But we just need to get it adopted so that you can start using the consent agenda. Um IJND is video and audio recording. These were some policies that Brookline did not have and in light

145of the cameras that we use, the parents rights bill that was passed around, making sure that we can live stream our concerts and games and stuff like that that these next few policies all go around that video recording. Um EEAA is for video and audio recordings on school property. EEAA-R is around the use of video and audio systems for administrative procedures. This talks about security cameras viewing of the cameras, who gets to view the recordings and the storage and we did not have this policy in place. This is coming for a second reading and recommended for adoption. And then the last one in this category is JCA which is the best interest and manifestation hardship language which we also had reviewed by the attorney. We're then moving to the next group which is JICK. There

146is significant changes in this policy but they all come from the lawyer. They re-looked at this and rewrote it to match any changes in the law and so we're just recommending that this be accepted for second read and move to third. JGBEBB Um we did have some input at the last meeting which we incorporated into the language for employee and student relations which you can see um the changes in the second paragraph is where the most change occurred. So we're recommending that this is a second read with minor change and move to a third read. And then EHB-R. This is a list from Carrie Marsh, personnel director, which will update the amount of time that we need to keep records. In some of them it is reducing from 50 years to 20 years cuz there

147was a change in the law and so we can get rid of a lot of very old records that are in the storage facility out in the parking lot which will allow us to get rid of that storage facility and also reduce some of the weight that is on the in the attics. They don't all come down at one time. >> I don't know. It does. I love that. Default budget. >> [laughter] >> And in some instances because there were our records that are in the personnel file, we're going to up it from 3 years to 20 so that when we get rid of a folder we're getting rid of everything that's in it and we're not pulling things along the way. And that is recommended for first read and move to a second read

148but probably second and adopt. >> Yeah, that one was pretty straightforward. We just wanted everyone to get a chance that it's I mean to look at it. >> Yeah, just to look at it but I think Glenn and I both agree that that seems pretty straightforward and fairly easy so and we're all about saving money. Yeah. And the last one is if we adopt BEDB, we need to rescind BEAA which is policy on the preparation of a meeting. So remind me, if we are we adopting and rescinding with the same vote? Correct. You can do So we don't have to do two separate If you accept the if all the changes in the memo, it's all in here so. All right. Is there any questions or discussions? I know I looked at this in advance

149and I didn't see anything that was It's okay. Okay, so now now we can actually vote on the motion that was already made um to accept this. So all in favor? Aye. Excellent. Thank you. Next, um we do have a non-public session for this evening. So I'm going to make a motion that the board by roll call go into non-public session pursuant to RSA 91-A colon 32A, the dismissal, promotion or compensation of any public employee and RSA-A colon 32C to discuss a matter that if which discussed in public would likely affect adversely the reputation the reputation of a person other than a member of the body or agency itself. May I get a second? Excellent. Um Heather, we'll start with you. Yes, Heather Weeden, aye. Lynn Powers, aye. Johanna, aye. Allison Mannion, aye. I'm going

150to say my last name just really wrong. That's fine. 758 9 but that's it. Are we going 758 or 759?