Hollis School Board 4/1/26

001Mhm. >> Mhm. >> Sorry, I can't see you. Yeah, he's giving the phone. All right. I would like to call the Hall School Board meeting to order at 6:05. Sorry for the delay. We were having some technical difficulties. Um, I'd like to start off by seeing if there's a nomination for chair of the Hall School Board for the 2026-2027 term. I nominate Carol Roy. Is there a second? >> Second. Okay. Um, do we have any other nominations for chair? Seeing none, do we have anyone willing to interested in speaking to the nomination? I think Carol has done a fantastic job. She's always on top of it. She knows the rules. When she doesn't, she's not afraid to say it. Uh, we we're all very comfortable with Carol as our leader and I think that it's

002a great way to continue. Thank you, Brenda. Any other comments? I just would say that Carol has a lot of depth of knowledge. She's our longest board member and that is really meaningful to have her as our chair for that reason, too. Great. Any others? Second it all. Okay. Uh and let's put it for a vote. Um all those in favor of Carol Roy as chair of the school board. Okay, opposed? Congratulations. It is now yours. Yay! James is like, "Take this mic." Thank you very much. I appreciate it, everybody. Um our first uh we have to actually come um and do the rest of the election of officers. Um so, I would like to take a nomination for vice chair of the Hallis School Board for the 2026-27. I nominate Raphael Zack. Is there

003a second? Second. Would anybody like to Are there any other nominations? That's right, I'm supposed to say that. Um anyone would like to speak on that? Yeah, I would just say that Raffi is incredibly conscientious and uh brings a lot of um insight into all of the things that we look at as a board. He prepares for every meeting and has really thoughtful questions about things and um insights that I think are not always you know, like they're sometimes different insights than other members of the board have and I really appreciate that. Any other commentary? On the nomination? I appreciate Raffi's commitment to service, the committees that he's been serving on. And as Jess said, how he prepares for that and communicates with the board. He's a great communicator. For sure. All right. We'll take

004this to a vote. All those in favor of electing Raphael Zack to vice chair for the year. 5-0-0. Welcome back, VC. And now we'll call for nominations for secretary of the Hollis School Board for the 2026-2027 term. I'd like to nominate Ann Marie DePascale. Any seconds? Second. Conversation on the nomination. Do we want to ask if there's any other Oh, any other nominations for secretary? Everybody's like not making eye contact. All right, go ahead for discussion on your nomination of Ann. I would just say that Ann is also extremely conscientious and puts an incredible amount of work into all of her positions on the board and also brings a really temperate personality to conversations that can sometimes be hard and an attitude of like wanting to learn and also educate other people in the community

005versus like trying to convince and I think that's a really good attitude to have and I think she's a great secretary. Thank you, Jen. Any other commentary for Ann? Yeah, I think just tremendous dedication to the board. And you're incredibly thorough with your notes and all of that. Talking specifically to that position, obviously you're a valued board member. But I think you're great at it, so I'm glad you're willing to continue. Thank you. All right, let's go ahead and take a vote on Ann for secretary for the school year. 5-0-0. Welcome back. Okay. And now we need to appoint signers of the manifest. Um the manifest for those of you who are listening and don't know, it is basically, in layman's terms, it's the list of every expense, so you can see the invoices, the

006payments, line items of everything that is paid for the district. It is reviewed regularly by those signers of the manifest and they have to approve it for those payments to go out. Um so it gives us great oversight into what is actually being spent by the district on a regular basis. And this is from folders to copy paper, things like that. Um so our signers of the manifest last time I think were Jonathan, correct? And who is our second? >> I was. That's right. And then I think I was the alternate. Um I would love if you guys could continue to do that if you're interested in that. Would that work for both of you? Yeah, that's fine. Wonderful. Okay, so I'm going to appoint both of you to do that. So we've got Jonathan

007LaFontaine Jonathan LaFontaine, I just gave you a new name. Jessica Lahens and Jonathan Fontaine, you get your own last names now, um as our signers and I will continue to be the alternate if that works for you guys to take a little burden off of Ann and Beth. Okay. Um we will be making appointments at the next regularly scheduled meeting for all of our committees as usual. We have all been serving on specific ones this year. Um I would like you to let me know over the next couple of weeks if you would like to continue those appointments, if there's something else you're interested in learning about or being a part of and that way we can continue uh we can discuss that and I can organize that and we can make those nominations uh

008and appointments at the next board meeting in May. Does that sound good? Beautiful. >> to having Jess continue on policy for the next month regardless of the fact You're like we have work to do. >> Yeah, we have work to do. Um I am amenable to that. Are you amenable to that? >> Okay. >> Thank you. I already RSVP'd to the meeting so that's fine. >> Okay. Excellent. Well, thank you so much. >> other positions where I'm meeting night. Yes. Yep. Yeah, if you're willing to do that, that would be great. So just for a reminder, the committee appointments are to policy as we just discussed, SAU governing board policy, Hollis budget committee, so Bud Com, the governing board budget subcommittee, enrollment committee, wellness committee, superintendent performance evaluation committee or spec, and the town of

009Hollis capital expenditure advisory committee. May I make a point though? Um the board actually has to reauthorize the enrollment committee. The last authorization was only through March the March vote. So, I don't know if it needs to go on the agenda for the next meeting like to discuss whether or not that's reauthorized. Yeah, absolutely. That's a wonderful point. Thank you for bringing that forth. Um will in preparation for that discussion, we can make sure that we have representatives appointed to it just in case we do choose to reauthorize it. But yes, can we make a note of that to put on the agenda for next month? That'd be great. Thank you. Good point. Here, remember we were talking about her being really organized? Excellent. Um do you know I think we have a nonpublic, correct?

010Yep. Okay, so I will take a motion to that the board by roll call go into nonpublic session pursuant to RSA 91-A:32A, the dismissal, promotion, or compensation of any public employee, and C, to discuss a matter which if discussed in public would likely affect adversely the reputation of a person other than a member of the body or agency itself. So moved. And second. Second. Jonathan LaFontaine. Thanks, LaCarol. Excellent. All right, we do need these viva voce, so please Jonathan, you start with you and we'll go around. Jonathan LaFontaine, I. And I, Jocelyn Zeig, Carol Roy, I. Robbie Zeig, I. All right, board is in nonpublic. >> Mhm. >> Um we're going to continue through the rest of our agenda tonight. So, uh do we have any agenda adjustments, resignations, nominations, or correspondence tonight? Yes. Okay.

011Um All right. Dear Gina Berkstold, please accept this letter as formal notice of my resignation from my position as first grade teacher at Hollis Primary School, effective June 30th, 2026. I'm grateful for the opportunity to have worked at Hollis Primary School and have learned a lot in my time here. I'm grateful for the support I have received in the professional and personal growth I have experienced. I will always value the relationships I have made with students, families, and colleagues. Sincerely, Cassidy Mantia. Do you say Mantia? M A N T I A. Um I'll accept a motion to accept the resignation of Cassidy Mantia from the position of grade one teacher at the Hollis Primary School with an effective date of 30 June, 2026. So moved. I'll second. Second. All those in favor? Thank you. And

012that's all I have. Okay. Thank you, Gina. And we didn't have any adjustments? I have none. Okay. Great. Thank you. All right. So, now we are moving into our approval of minutes. This is going back to January since we got done with our annual meeting season. Um There is a list of amendments offered for our regular school board meeting that occurred on January 7th, 2026. For each incident it appears to replace Victor Dorlando with Victor Orlando. Page two line 37, replace issues with issue. Page four line 34, correct the spelling of Fontaine. Maybe it was LaFontaine. Page eight line 35, replace 10 with 20. Page nine line seven, correct the spelling of Wait DePasquale. Page nine line 27, replace it with if following traffic. Page 10 line 20, replace then with them. Page 15 line

013nine, correct the spelling of works. Page 16 line seven, replace paper things with pay for things. Page 17 line 18, replace 1987 with 1978. I'll accept a motion to accept as amended. So moved. A second? Second. Any discussion on those on those minutes? Seeing none, all those in favor of accepting the minutes? 500. Uh we also had a non-public that evening, January 7th, 2026. I'll accept a motion to accept as presented. So moved. A second? Second. Any discussion? On those. Seeing none, all those in favor? 500. Moving on to the Hollis School Board meeting of February 10th, 2026. I'll accept a motion to accept as presented. Moved. A second? Second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? 500. Um accept the meeting minutes from the Hollis School Board annual meeting on March 17th, 2026.

014I'll take a motion to accept as presented. So moved. A second? Second. Any discussion? Yeah, I have a question about the balance that was allowed six. Mhm. Tom Harris made a motion to I think that's for Tom Gean. Oh. I agree with you. That is Tom Gean and was seconded by Mike Harris. Um so, yes, uh Jessica, would you like to change the motion to uh accept as amended? >> Yes. Uh I would like to move that we accept um the meeting the notes from the annual meeting on March 17th as amended. Second? >> Second. Any further discussion? Thank you, Raffi. Yeah. That's the contentious we're talking about. There it is. Everything's come full circle tonight. All those in favor of accepting the annual meeting minutes. 500. Just taking quick note. Excellent. Moving forward into

015principals' reports for HPS and Hughes. All right, looking at our enrollments, we are up two students, down one student at HPS. We are up one student at Hughes for a total of an increase of two students in the Hollis School District um since our last report. Excellent. Our last report was in January, wasn't it? >> Correct. Yeah. Um all right, so uh today the parent placement input forms uh went out by both HPS and Hughes. So, those are important forms for parents who'd like to share some input. Um AIMSweb plus testing is coming up here at Hughes, uh, April 6th and 7th. We have an art show here on those same dates. And a big date is April 8th, the Hughes 6th graders, um, visit the middle school. Um, so that's always an exciting time.

016Where they find out they can wear pajama pants to class and they all get very excited. Uh, we have the PTA My Booster Fundraiser kickoff on April 13th. Don't forget there's an early release on April 15th. And, um, some other fun exciting things such as a spring break is coming up on April 27th. Nothing too exciting for buildings and grounds at Hughes. At HPS, the administration is making some tough decisions for next year. Um, uh, since the bond did not pass, some tough decisions will have to be made about how to move forward. Um, on April 24th, a 3rd grade class will host the April All-School Town Hall meeting at Hall's Primary. Today, Mrs. Happy and Mrs. Vicky presented at the NHSAA conference, um, on innovations in instruction and assessment, sharing a little bit about

017our environmental science program, so that's pretty exciting. Um, and then Disney's Lion King Jr. was on March 27th. It was phenomenal. It was a great kickoff for a first time, um, and it was, uh, quite enjoyable. I attended the in-school performance, so that was great. I I just want to know I was sitting in the evening and this this place was packed. It was standing room only. They had to set up extra chairs. Um, children were on the floor in front. And, uh, I and from what I was told, this was the first time in five or six years that, you know, a production was put on. I thought that they did a wonderful job. Um, Mr. Parent has a lot to be proud of. Everybody who worked on that. It was so positive for

018everyone. So, I just really want to say I that just reminds us of how theater is and having facilities um helps, you know, make a great impact for everybody, not just the kids involved. So, but the audience as well. Absolutely. And that's about it. The principal's report. Excellent. Thank you so much. Uh we are now going to open the floor for public input. We obviously didn't do it before our non-public. Um so, we're going to open that at 7:23 p.m. We will leave it open for a half an hour, so 30 minutes. We'll close around 7:53. I'll declare it closed officially um while we conduct the rest of our business. We do not have any members of the public here now, but if they do arrive in the next half hour, we will pause at

019an opportune time to give them the opportunity to give input. Um next topic here is our discussion points. First up is the 2026-2027 academic calendar. Okay. So, um every year we try to do a little bit of improvement, so I want to um give credit to Dr. Flaherty for um the new look of the '26-'27 calendar. Um uh some things to note, Labor Day's extremely late this year. So, as a result, our teachers would return on August 31st with students not starting until September 3rd. Um so, they would be present for the Thursday, Friday, and then there's Labor Day, and then there's um professional day on the 8th for voting. So, nice slow start. 2 days of school, 4-day weekend. Um moving through, looking at uh our other dates, uh we have our November 3rd

020professional day. We have some holidays mixed in as as we typically do. The green represents early release dates, and so once again, those are focused on Wednesdays uh due to our requirement to be in alignment with our career and technical ed programs for our high school students. Um we're legally supposed to align our calendars. Um if we have five snow days, that would put our last day for students June 24th. If we don't, then that would put our last day June 17th. May I ask a question? >> Sure. Why is the workshop planned for September 8th when it's right after Labor Day? Is Is there no legal reason >> day. It's primary day. It's the state primary day. So, you have to we have to plan it around that because they use the high school.

021Okay. NCSDA. NCSDA. Um Gina, in terms of aligning our schedules um for tech programs, is that only early release days that we are aligning around or is there on other >> It's the bulk of them. Um The bulk of early release or the bulk of the school days? >> days. But, the early release are the ones that we've moved around more frequently than others. >> Yeah. Uh but, we are aligning them with our regional center so that we are in compliance with that aspect. >> Okay. I see on January 2027, the early release day is a Monday. >> Mhm. That seems weird. Is it just the same reason they're moving stuff around in that month? So, that's what we did this year as well. Um and the reason is for our secondary programs, it's mid-term

022exams which is a switch over of a of the semester. Mark. And so, there's a Got you. Yeah. Early release um as we switch over to quarter three. Perfect. >> Yeah. Yeah. It's uh it's always when we look at these calendars that we realize exactly how integrated we are with the other districts within the SAU. So, thank you for walking us through this cuz I think we forget sometimes between the years. Um do we have an official last day of school for this year? Yeah. I am not going to say that there won't be any more snow. As much as I wanted to say that in January. Um but I will say that with no more snow days, June 16th would be the last day of school for students. Um but we've, you know, had

023a May 7th snowstorm before. So So we may or may not be in the forecast for >> have had four snow days so far. We've had three. Okay. So it's very likely to be that the 16th. We'll make an official announcement when the temperature stay above freezing. So >> When there's no frozen mix in the forecast. >> Since we've had three, we would have to have two more for it to move or just one more? >> No. No, if we have one more, then it'll move to the next day. So when we build the calendar, just like over here, um for next year, it says June 24th would be five snow days are built in. So if we have four snow days next year, the last day would be the 23rd. If we had zero

024snow days next year, the last day would be the 17th. >> Oh, okay. So this year we've had three. So that puts us at the 16th. We could go as late as the 18th. It's going to be a super long school year. >> really not interested in any more snow. Take that, Mother Nature. >> Yes. As you probably saw the delayed opening switched to snow day. I really didn't want that snow day. Yeah. Uh you know, I didn't I actually >> you for looking out for the safety. Absolutely appreciate it. Um any other questions, comments on academic calendar for now? All right. Our next up discussion point is the education program section 127. >> Okay. So with the teacher contract that we passed last year, um one addition that we made was that teachers who

025if they're in their first five years, steps one through five, um if they had educational loans with certain um, companies like not a not a parent but an educational loan with an institution, uh, they could apply for up to $1,000 in um, reimbursement. This form, if you approve this, um, allows that to be non-taxable income, which was the intent of the bargaining. So, this came to our attention that um, We just didn't know. >> now, they're taxable. Uh, Has anybody applied for this? One. Okay. Wasn't asking who, to be very clear. >> Sure. No, we we have one person this year taking advantage. Excellent. Of the loan reimbursement. Okay. Is there any Sorry, I'm just rolling right into my question. >> confusing. I I'm like, how do I'm I'm just concerned I'm confused how we

026have the authority to determine whether or not it's taxable. How does that work? >> because that Is that because we pay the tax on it? Or >> have to tax them. And add it to their income. As opposed to this, we're saying it's um, if you you have the ability to identify it as um, non-taxable income. And that's what approving this form would do. We can because of the nature of the payment. >> Yeah. Okay. Got you. Not because we now have some tax authority. Yeah. >> Right. I don't want to tax them. She was like, no thank you. Yeah. Okay. So, that's that. Excellent. Um, Anything else on that one, Gina? Or any other questions from the group? Okay. Just I'll I'll put it out there, that was passed by Brookline at their last

027meeting as this was a component of their new um, CBA. And this will go to the co-op next Wednesday. Okay. Just covering it all. Um, all right, our next item under discussion is general assurances. >> Okay. So, this is um, one of those things that we bring forward every year around this time. And what we're looking for is for the board to authorize the chair to sign off on this. This is assuring that we as a district are going to do um everything within the law when it comes to federal funding. This is how, you know, we are audited and then they we do checks and balances, we amend our practices based on their um recommendations or updates to federal law. Uh but without signing this, we do not have access to any federal funds.

028So, under our deliberations, we'll take a vote on that, correct? >> Correct. Does anybody have any questions on general assurances? As she said, it's a repeat. Yeah, it's a repeat every April. Yes, for signing it, Carol. Assuming we pass it. Assuming y'all are on board, I'm happy to. All right, our next discussion point is the FY26 revenue and expense report. Okay-doke. So, this revenue expense report is as of March 26th. It looks a little bit better than last month. Um so, we have a little bit of an overage in regular education and that's due to both unfilled positions and hiring savings. So, you know, if we hired a a teacher that had a lower salary than the teacher that they were replacing. Um you know, we're we budget based on what we know at the

029time. Um special education, we see a deficit here. This is due to um contracted staff. School psych is is in there. We have a contracted school psych and we have now two contracted paras. Um and there's also a shift in some student needs. So, that's all funneled into the 1200 line. Um student support services is pretty neutral. Um instructional staff is um we have an overage and that's due to unfilled an unfilled position. Um then we have our contingency, which we haven't touched. Uh look at that, under 2,600. We spent well over our budget in snow removal. Please see Gina's previous commentary about no more snow. >> No more. Um there's a little bit of savings in transportation in the transportation line. Just as a heads up, next year we will need to re-up our

030transportation contract and go out to bid and that is something that the governing board does. Just put that on your radar cuz some of you weren't here last time we did it. Um okay, and then benefits, we have an overage there and it's due to those unfilled positions which then don't require benefits and some plan changes. So, I went from a family plan to a two-person plan, that saves the district some money. Um and then $14,000 overage in the approved warrant for FY26. That will become close to zero, more of that will be encumbered. Um so, anyway, that looks um so, we have an overage of $261,654 for our expenses and then we have um a revenue balance of $84,647. That gives us an unreserved fund balance of $346,300. At the March meeting, we approved

031a $125,000 maintenance trust. We approved the SAU building trust of $23,970. Oh, shoot. Um the yellow is what we I would come to you in um September about a potential retained fund balance which we do every year. Um last year we did 284,000, but without knowing that dollar amount for a retained fund balance, we are left with $197,330 for a fund balance. So, as of right now, we have um the ability to retain less than we did last year. Uh but as you know, at the end of the year, we start releasing funds and I would expect that to grow a little bit. Can I ask you a question? >> Yep. So, regarding the left the $14,000 left over from site improvements and architectural services, um when that warrant article was approved, to my understanding,

032we didn't put a time limit on that. So, I wanted to know, could that those funds still be used for the purpose that they were approved for so going forward, should Yeah. My understanding is that it that was available for FY26. However, we actually don't have $14,091. I didn't notice that until I was speaking out loud. We have closer to $100 left. So, some of the funds have been encumbered. Got you. Okay. Thank you. Good call. Um Gina, does it seem like the projected fund balance is going to be enough of a cushion given the special education trajectory? Uh I I believe so. Yeah. Um What do you What What do you mean by trajectory? Well, that we're negative. >> Well, cuz we're negative because they're contracted. >> those are all encumbered costs. Like, they're

033not not going to what there's as of right now, there's no unexpected >> Okay. pieces to to that. Thank you for the clarification. >> Yeah, of course. That's good. Any other conversation on revenue and expense reports? Any questions? >> Yeah, I have a question on the benefit on the benefits part for uh since it's due to unfilled and plan changes, I'm assuming is that um the bigger contribution to the $223,000 coming from the unfilled positions or is it substantial from the plan changes? >> From the unfilled positions, yeah. Thanks. Yeah, and so under benefits, in addition to like health insurance, there's all also New Hampshire retirement system. So, it adds up quickly um if we had a filled position. So, thanks for all of that detail. Sure. Uh and then, you know, at this point

034in the year, we typically do the monthly, so you just get snapshots more regularly about how we're doing and what funds are being released, etc. Okay. And our final discussion point is the annual meeting recap. Yes. So, we had an annual meeting Yeah, I'm not sure. But, let's start. We had an annual meeting and I very much appreciate the community support of our budget, of our support staff contract, of the maintenance trust, the SAU trust, all all of the warrant articles. Um the petition warrant article that was supported, I will share with the chair to make sure that the the planned rollout of presenting data to the public meets your desires as a board. But, that would be around a July rollout. The bigger question is the bond failed, and the bond failed with only

03532%. So, how do we move from here? Um some things that I'm taking away from the meeting is that there was a desire to look very specifically at the Farley building, more so than potentially we've already done, including long-term costs associated with it rather than just the structural costs. Um I also heard that potentially the enrollment committee might redefine themselves as a building committee to further clarify that the district is looking to make some changes to the building. Um and to widen that to include more community members. If they're willing to join, since because we have asked for community at several meetings, not just ours, but at the budget committee meetings as well. We made these announcements, so yes. So, then if there are any public members that are interested in joining the enrollment committee,

036they should reach out to you. Yes. Please. >> And that announcement was also made when I spoke with the Hollis seniors, and it was made at public information meetings. It was actually spoken about quite frequently. Yes. No one came to speak to me about that. Um so, at this point, you know, are we looking the problem hasn't gone away. We still have too many students at Hollis Primary in terms of um capacity. Uh so, the need is there. Is there the desire to continue the work? If so, is there a desire to set financial boundaries around um what we can are willing to spend. Um So, where How do we move on from here? Um Well, I also, before we dive into that, because that's obviously a real large discussion point. I do want to

037say thank you to each of the board members. You guys did a wonderful job presenting. Um for some of you, it's your first time. Um it's always a little bit intimidating to stand in front of a crowd, and that crowd was very big. I loved seeing all the people uh who turned out. That means it was important to them to have their voices heard, and so we welcome them. So, we're glad we were able to do that at the high school. Um We did, obviously, as Gina said, get all of that feedback on what next um a reminder that there was a member of the public who tried to adjust our budget upward uh our operating budget by $160,000 to pursue the work. And that was voted down. So, our budget was what was the

038original amount in um in the warrant. So, I don't know where the money would come from at this point. Gina, you're kind of asking that so I think this is part of this discussion is there's the side of what next um and you want to talk about reauthorizing the committee um and then if if we want to do that, how is that going to be funded? Because we don't have a line item for that or May I speak to that for a moment? So, in the first year of the enrollment committee, we had not been granted any funds from the town and we and we worked. And we utilized discretionary funds um from of a superintendent and also we asked the board for ten thousand dollars to get some conceptual work from the architect in

039addition to some discretionary funds from the from the superintendent's budget at the time, Mr. Mr. Corey. So, um there is wiggle room. There are possibilities and ways to get some conceptual work done, but not the level of detail that we have at this point, but I think it's noteworthy that money isn't wasted. We have very detailed lists um you know, as as Miss Mrs. Vicky said in the video for everybody, you know, they went through literally every room in the school and assessed its use, its need, etc. And so all that information that we have um can be looked at again in a new light understanding that the town does not have an appetite for a project of that scale or if it were to mean it was also mentioned several times that there there

040should have been phasing. Um some people said that they supported classrooms but not some of the other things, you know. So, I think that, you know, um while we worked very hard at community outreach, there are new things that we can try. Um and should the the the board authorize the committee again, um I have a lot of ideas to share. Um should I be invited to be a part of the committee again. Um but I think I think that's important for the town to know and for for anybody who's interested that there are there are options. It's not dead in the in the water right now. There are there are options and the work can continue without money. Fair. Fair point. Um I was tending to refer to the the physical like here new

041drawings and here are these. Those are not free. Nope, that we can't get >> those those are where a lot of the dollars went. Um there were a lot of people who said Farley building, Charlie building. I think there was some misunderstanding by some folks not realizing that the school district does not own the Farley building or the land the Farley building is on. We did at one point, but it is owned by the town. So, for us to conceptualize um using that as a school building, it would first have to be decided what would be happening with the ownership of the building. Um so, for anybody out there, the town owning it does not mean the district can do what they want with it. Just so you know. Um but I know that you

042guys explored that. There are a lot of regulations and things around that that we've we've tried to make clear of why a certain facility does or does not work. Um but I I for one am we there are things that have to be done so I don't know that we can abandon the work and abandon the project. There are going to have to be some tough decisions inside the primary school building of where kids are going to be put, what can be allowed, things like that and how to utilize the space better better, differently. And perhaps now is where it's appropriate, I don't know if you can tell me, but I would ask that we reconsider policy IIB which is the policy which was set for class size and when we do have that discussion,

043I think it's notable to you know, look at why that decision was made in the first place and then also the situation we're in now. And make some tough decisions on our end regarding our policy. So that would be a recommendation I would make and I would hope we can discuss in May. Um and hopefully some members of the public might want to offer their thoughts on that when this was decided in November of 2012 which we discovered in our research through the enrollment committee trying to be thorough with understanding the situation of the school and why we're in the situation we're in. Many residents came out to speak at that meeting. I don't know if people would feel the same way now. It is it is you know, it was 2012 so gosh, it's

04414 years later. You know, how how does the town feel now Yeah. on that issue. It's it's worth knowing so I hope people would consider would hang in. Yeah, participating in that for sure. Um I think it's also worth noting that there are two things that have to be considered when you are deciding how many children can be maximum class size, right? There's code because there's a physical space requirement per child per child in a room. We always had our policy of class size that our district wanted to aim for and then there's what the state says is like their guideline regardless of the the size of the classroom. So just it's not just us wouldn't be us arbitrarily deciding it literally has to do with classroom space and I believe in order to make

045sure that we could have the different classrooms you guys moved some students around in the primary school already to make sure that the larger classrooms were available so we were in code Correct. with the classes. Okay. Thank you for that. Um how let's this isn't going to be emotional thing um but how do you guys feel about Anne's ask of having the policy reviewed? Yeah, we can I think it's reasonable to add that to the policy committee's agenda. The next policy committee meeting is April 20th at 9:00 a.m. and so if you all wanted to you know if any members of the public wanted to attend there certainly you can they just have to let us know but um yeah. Where? >> here um in the principal's office. >> Yeah. Raffi do you have are

046you good with the policy Uh >> being reviewed? Okay. Yeah, especially 2012 being back then. Um this is obviously not under the purview of anyone here and so I I'm just asking if anyone remembers when the Farley committee had done their research about turning um the Farley building into a community space their budget for doing that for the first and second floor was somewhere between five and ten million dollars It was It was 4.8 million. Okay. >> Yes, there were there were three bids around five million and then one bid that was about ten million. Okay, thank you. Now and that was just for the first two floors and I did speak with the fire marshal and to put children in that room, all three floors would have to be renovated. Um there >> are

047other guidelines they would have to follow. They couldn't just seal lead paint. It would have to be removed. Which it was for children. >> And the current consider with the Barley committee's plan, it was just sealing the lead paint, not removing it. Yeah, I think that's an important point that So, there's there's two points that got brought up to some extent. One was there were plans for the Farley building for community center, which got brought up to the town. However, those plans are not put through the same rigor, controls, and codes as required to put students, children, and especially young children into the building. Yes. So, while the plans might appear viable, putting them in front of someone who actually has all the codes and requirements probably means they would need to at a minimum

048be updated, which I suspect would drive the price up. Exponentially. >> Yes, and because they originally looked at, as I recall, they looked at renovating all of the floors, and in order to drop the price of it, they decided not to touch the third floor. >> Yes. Well, and it's Well, please go ahead. Yeah. Additionally, the current land usage, even though not necessarily by purpose or on purpose, would also need to be considered of what we are taking away from current usage of the driveways and the lot that's in the back, and you would need to figure out that particular component, too. So, there's a lot of things that that plan does not take into account for a school um that we would need. I also have the hard part because I do not know

049if it's a misconception or a directive that, as Carol stated, a member of the public put forward a particular budget to pursue research, which likely could have included the Farley building, and the town uh voters who were there told us they do not want to give money to do this research for this. They voted that that option down, which to me says they don't want us to go look at the Farley building or fund it at least. So, I have a harder time funding going and looking at it because A, we don't own it. B, the plans that exist are unlikely to be viable without looking at them. And as you stated, it's not free to go look at them. We have to actually get someone to go look at them for all the considerations.

050So, I'm a little stuck in that scenario of the town said they want us to look into it, but then they didn't give us any money for it. Um can I just clarify? So, the motion for 160,000 was to continue the work of the committee. It wasn't specifically to look at Farley building. I was just going to say the same. Yeah. Fair. And I know they uh directed the committee include that in some of their considerations, which is where I made the jump. But yes, you're right. There was no direct Um and then the no means no is simply on an individual warrant article. At the end of the day, the budget is what the budget is and and we can shift funds regardless. >> Yeah. Um so, just another thing to keep in the

051back of your mind. Um as we look at our fund balance, it is expected to grow. The board can authorize and I can make some recommendations if that's an appetite that you might have to um encumber FY26 funds for items that were budgeted in FY27 for some of them. Some of Not all of them qualify. Um which would then free up some FY27 money uh for whatever purpose you would like. But this could be um a a purpose. What is the deadline by which we would need to make that decision? >> June 30th. Okay, so we have >> We have time. I'm just putting it out there as a possibility. We We often look at a fund balance and make proposals in May or June. But given the conversation that we're having, I just thought

052I'd remind you that that's a possibility. I Oh, go ahead, Ralph. Um as part of the money discussion, I think um if we were to to try and get some funds toward it, I wonder if we should try going into the next year to front-load as much non-financial work as possible to see what the budget looks like next year, and then if it's looking like, "Okay, the costs are as expected," then then maybe we have some chance to put some money towards it. Well, again, I mean, I think what we could, you know, if we do some conceptual work with what we have now, just like Windy Hill, is it that's what it's called? Windy Hill Associates did for us prior to Warrant Article 6 in 2025 where that 164.4 was was decided upon. Um,

053we could come up to the town and ask for something to, you know, we could say, "This is what This is the concept we're going for. We are hoping to get the funds to solidify a proposal for a bond for this conceptual work." Um, and we could just make sure, you know, we do some good work to beforehand find support for that. So, it can be done with those smaller funds. >> That wouldn't come up till next year's meeting, correct? Yes. >> Correct. Okay. Um, I also just want to say that, and I know the Enrollment Committee actually did look pretty thoroughly at the Farley Building, and that it didn't even make sense like after that research, um, it felt like it didn't make sense to spend money, um, to get deeper plans to look

054at what does it look like to, and so part of me feels like the town directed us to look really seriously at the Farley Building, you know, um, and also the town said to us, "We are feeling really careful about money, and we don't want to spend money that feels unnecessary." And, um, and so I am feeling a little push-pull there where on one hand it feels like the town wants us to really look at the Farley Committee, on the other hand, like the preliminary research said that would be a very expensive, um, and not worth our funds. >> I would I would say a lot of this comes down to the Farley building has three floors. And pre-K through one can only be on the first floor. And right now, there is only one

055egress that satisfies the conditions for pre-K through first grade. And significant work to the point when speaking with the fire marshal was said, "I don't know paraphrasing what would have to be done to bring that up to code." For those children to be on the >> For those children to be on that floor when you if you can picture the Farley building, there are the steps going up to a flat surface, and then more steps going up to another entrance. When that building was being used as a K-12, these fire codes were not in place. I have tried to find when these fire codes were put in place. This The The best data I can get is 2021, which would make sense based on some things that Mrs. Vickery has told us about where kids

056have been in the past, like during her tenure at some point, those things were allowed. So, people need to understand to put a primary school in that building, there are two floors for which there is no purpose other than second and third grade, fourth, fifth, sixth. But, that's not the That's not the problem we're trying to solve, and we're creating more problems. And then, we also come back to the issue of a play space. And people think, "Well, what What about that?" Um I'm going to take a minute moment to put this on the record cuz there's just so much misunderstanding about this. When we presented five drafts on September 17th to a well-attended public forum, where there were many, you know, there were community residents, um including from our budget committee and from the

057capital advisory expenditures committee. Um Need to move on. Um police officers, et cetera. Many staff and many parents. When we had those drafts up there were multiple reasons why the one we went with was chosen, but one thing in particular that kept coming up and I even got emails about this afterwards was that that was the one plan where the playground remained behind Yeah. the school. And the reason why >> too. Yes, we did. Because everybody felt, parents and staff alike, who are the people who know children and are very aware of the risks that exist today that did not exist when the Farley building was in place. Prior to 1999, nobody was thinking of schools getting shot up and prior to Sandy Hook, nobody thought it was going to be in elementary schools. The

058world has changed. Teachers do not feel comfortable, nor do parents, with children in a play space that is so blatantly exposed to a busy street. The only place at the Farley building, unless you put them in a parking lot where we already don't have enough space, is in front of the building of a busy street fully exposed our most vulnerable children because they are the youngest and they are children with special needs who are at the very beginning of their journey of being remediated for those needs. That would to put a play space there, regardless of all of the site work that would need to be done to level it, to make it safe, etc., and the huge cost of playgrounds, which was also a benefit to that plan because we wouldn't have to redo

059a playground, which could be up to $500,000. Um it would be completely dismissing the concerns of the professionals and the parents of our community. So, there are multiple reasons beyond the cost why the Farley building might work for other purposes, might work for other grade levels. We're not saying that it is not feasible for children this age. And we have no purpose for the second and third floor. We just don't. It would be a complete waste of that space. I also think Anne that one of the challenges of the enrollment committee is that the enrollment committee did so much research and then when you are giving a presentation in general at the variety presentations you gave but particularly at town meeting the amount of time that you have to present is long I mean it's

060a long meeting anyway. They are long meetings, right? And you presenting for 20 minutes is a notable chunk of that time and also it does not capture all of that information. I do wonder if the town um is asking for and needs whether we're spending money doing this but a presentation at next year's town meeting that is just specifically about the Farley building. >> I think that I can um appeal to some of the leaders um town leaders and whether official or otherwise who spoke at the meeting notable voices in our town I can reach out to more than I have directly and get audiences specifically with the people who have those concerns prior to the meeting. I made the mistake of thinking because one of those voices was consistently at the budget committee meetings

061that maybe those things were being relayed. I should not have made that assumption. I will go in forward ensure that I I work harder to find the people who had those concerns. Those records we have them. We have their names. We have their concerns. I will if this is all continued I will involve those people in the process and I will individually contact people and ask them to be a part of this committee. That is my plan should this go forward. I would like to point out that that should not be your responsibility. And the fact that you are willing to take on that amount of work when this has been known and discussed and in front and all the things. And these folks chose to willingly state things that were not feasible, not true,

062things they had already seen presented. It's very disheartening to me. I've discussed this on the community Facebook page when people had reaction to the meeting that they're saying things that just are blatantly untrue. Um I applaud you for being as diplomatic as you are. I'm frustrated and and upset that that that is the path that was chosen and got a lot of people on board with things that were untrue. Large campaigns against the building. Um so we can do the best that we can do to communicate. And the townspeople will choose what they decide to listen to. Um and they will act upon that information in the way that they feel they have to and want to. And I respect that. That is their choice as taxpayers. Um but I don't want you to feel

063the pressure of having to accommodate every loud voice that has spoken in opposition because that would take you all day. Um I also want to uh I lost my train of thought on that one. I That was just a little bit frustrating to me. Um One of I now remember. One of the things that I heard often was they were talking about all day voting and things like that that there was a possibility when they did the high school. What year was that that they built the high school? Did they build the high school? Yeah. Um Which like the original one? Maybe. 94. 94 is 94. Okay. So that folks were looking back to when they adjusted the meeting in order to have all day voting on something that's that large. So, I I am

064not opposed to that. I don't think there's a problem with that. That is just not the way our meeting has been structured. It wasn't something we were necessarily expecting because of all the extra outreach you had done. Um but I would like to see that when we do bring forth another plan um a bond in maybe a couple of years if we can get to that point that it be brought forth as its own separate meeting. We can address all the other articles at a different time, but the bond article can be So, I would like to look into the legality of this. I'm probably saying something that I should not say on a microphone, but I want people to understand that we felt the same way. Um that that article gets a proper presentation

065not limited to 20 minutes, which was Anne's guideline. Absolutely no more than 20 and couldn't reply to things being said at the mic by townsfolk. Um that's standard in our meetings, but it was being able to correct things that were blatantly false um but weren't part of her presentation. So, I would prefer that if we were going back to the townspeople to ask them for 10 to 20 million dollars for an effort that we have a proper presentation and then they can sit, they can watch it, and then the voting is open for an extended period of time. I feel like that would be a fair thing to do for something like this. Um we were limited um on how much time we were given to present and trying to speed through something, and I

066think all five of us, especially myself and Anne, were deeply uncomfortable with not having the proper amount of time to present uh a giant bond to a group of folks who are feeling the squeeze just like we all are of everything financial. So, if we can have that on our radar for the next time we bring a bond, I think that's going to be really important. Noted. I don't know how you guys feel, but that's Yeah, didn't I honestly didn't even know there was an option. I didn't either because I haven't brought We haven't brought anything this large in my tenure. So, on that topic, I don't have a objection. It sounds like a reasonable thing to do given the breadth of knowledge that needs to be dispersed and unfortunately, the given the size of

067the town, the limited attendance that we're able to accomplish. Not due to any any shortcoming on our part, just reality of which people. Um People are inclined one way or the other. >> Yeah, so there were two things I wanted to go go back on that got mentioned and I just haven't been able to get around to them. So, first of all, um I understand the desire to look at the policy and I don't object to there being an early look, but I will also note when we did the research on the policy that the last time we addressed classroom sizes, it sounded like there was actually a separate committee set up to research the classroom size adjustments. Not in There wasn't. There wasn't. Okay. >> So, some people did their own research. But we

068you're thinking of the 2012 meeting that we looked at those meetings. It has since been looked at. It was looked at again in 2017. That was the last time it was looked at. Right. Um but no, there wasn't actually a committee. People just did their They They referenced what's called the STAR um report, which is Yeah, it goes to STAR report. Yeah. Um but yeah. So, my takeaway from that is and I appreciate the clarification. Sure. I I want to have more data-driven and to some extent time, not that we wouldn't, but I don't want to have a knee-jerk decision to deal with the classroom sizes as the major way of dealing with things and I want to make sure that if it does need an expanded scope because there are other policies you guys

069have to review and become compliant with that we possibly spend the time to do that. Mhm. The second thing around committees to some extent because Gina mentioned it is I'm not certain that if it was up to me I would change the enrollment committee's role necessarily uh to be exclusively building related. Mhm. I would honestly argue that the enrollment committee dealing with the shortcomings, the budget components we have still needs to exist and deal with enrollment problems we're going to run into and that a building committee upon the time we decide we're going to move for building at full access be formed at that time and it that it be coordinated with the enrollment committee but that the two don't have to be the same thing. Um it is noteworthy it was one person who

070brought that up. I understand. I I I mean yeah let me just review that just in general. It was one person um and there's a like with with a building committee um so it is it is noteworthy that like a building committee is supposed to like have people who have backgrounds in engineering. We do have somebody with a background in engineering on the enrollment committee that was consistently out and that was Mike Lovett. Yes. Um and uh and we weren't in the process of building yet. Mhm. So um because that had been approved. So it was it was premature to have a building committee and should a bond to be approved then I think the discussion of a building committee I agree with you that would be the appropriate time to establish one but the

071charge of this committee was to provide solutions. Yep. And so I just wanted to indicate they weren't mutually exclusive. Yeah. Yep. Absolutely. Um Jonathan from the perspective of the policy committee I do agree with you that we shouldn't make knee-jerk I think we I should the policy. We shouldn't make a knee-jerk reaction. I just want to potentially reserve um the idea that um it is like you know, depending on what happens, we might have to make changes. >> Oh, yeah, absolutely. >> I generally I do agree with that. We should not have to, you know, I'd rather not make knee-jerk. I'd rather take our time because it is it will be a notable change eventually. >> Also, some of the RSAs that are referenced here >> Yeah. um have since been changed since 2017. Yep.

072Yep. And we've got to move it in. We need to look at more, I think. More of a look at of um are we in compliance with code? >> Yes. >> Well. >> Things, how our code changing, stuff like that. And then further look beyond, I think, right? That's what you're the law and code. um Compliance. Sure, I think we definitely have to be in compliance with law and code, right? And also we do need to we should look at how many kids can we comfortably fit in our rooms? Is there something there that we need to look at? >> because policy calls for caps, not targets. If it was a target, we'd be saying try and put this many kids in a room. And that would be you know, regardless of the size of

073the room. We're not saying that. We're saying we're not saying that there can't be different amounts of kids in different rooms. There can be. It's just not beyond a certain number. And so the conversation for our policy and the way our policy is written is just no more than this amount. But then it would allow and continue to allow as established right now for the principal to do however if the principal wants to put 11 kids in one room and 20, you know, and and 18 in another in the first grade, the the principal technically can because it's a cap. Yeah, so. That's that's that's key also. Um So we do discuss it. I think you got my point and what you stated was within alignment of what I was expecting. I'll also mention real

074quick that things are happening in Concord that may greatly impact caps and capacity as well. So, it's not a bad thing to take up and look at it, which is why I'm not opposed to it. I just want to make sure that Yeah. Taking a look doesn't mean something's going to change. >> Agreed. It's a matter of saying, "Okay, if we haven't touched this in almost 10 years, >> Yeah. let's put eyes on it, make sure that at least the RSAs referenced are correct, things like that, and and so that is solid. So, we're ready on everything else." Did you have any input? >> Yes. Um I just wanted to add that um so, we obviously got feedback from those who spoke at the meeting on this um bond, uh but the back but being

075that it was such a well-attended meeting, the vast majority of people we didn't hear their voice. Um so, I feel like there's a lack of information on exactly why people voted it down. So, there may be some portion who felt like uh there could be more research on the front of the building, which is uh um even more so on top of what was already done. Um but there could also be just a uh uh it's possible that there's a vast majority of people who that wasn't their concern, that other uh if uh issues weren't uh uh researched enough. It could just be that that um total amount was just beyond what they felt like they could afford. Yes. And no matter what other options we researched, just as long as the number was that

076high that they weren't going to be able to support it. Um and so, without survey data, it's it's hard to know, oh, if it if it had been possible to come in at, you know, 12 million or 14 million, that maybe then it would have been um within their finances to be able to support. Um so, I think part of it is just a lack of information on on the on the vast majority that voted no. So, I wonder if there's a way to offer up some kind of survey maybe to find out. Yep. What's that take? I don't know. I don't know if it's necessary. Just kind of thinking out loud. If should the enrollment committee be reauthorized, I mean it's something that the enrollment committee could discuss and then we Yeah. Um yeah.

077I mean I I don't think we cannot reauthorize you. Everybody else feel the board. Do we need to take a vote on reauthorizing a committee? Official? Like a motion and a vote. I can't remember. We have in the past. It's been Okay. So, I'll take a motion to reauthorize the enrollment committee for another 2 years. >> Can I just say is this an agenda adjustment? Is this an agenda adjustment? Is this counted Oh, yeah. It probably would be counted as an agenda adjustment. >> Yeah, what I was going to say is do we want to do that when we do committee assignments next month? So that you're authorizing the committee and assigning Yes. That works perfectly. Um as we already established at the earlier session Thanks for the call out on that, Gina. Um that

078we're continuing our committee work through this month until the reassignments are happening in May. Um if meetings are happening for those things. Um So, yes. Let's do that. So, we will put that as an agenda item for deliberation next week next week next month. Um and I think I think we we've annual meeting recapped enough for tonight if you guys all feel the same. We can close public input. Like >> have it written down, but I got to finish this part first. >> My only question is Did anyone Did anyone on the board or or from the SAU get a sense of how off or what an acceptable bond number would be because I felt like I didn't have a sense of it other than this bond is too big. What was reasonable didn't seem

079like it came up. >> I I Agree. Um and also there was a lot of people pushing not the number but saying well it's going to end up being this. It's going to be this. It's going to be this. And every time they said this it seemed to be higher. So I think that there also was a lack of clarity of what the actual cost was and then people started to get scared. I mean to be fair we've been putting this in in motions long before there's now war activity and things like that and prices spiking even greater than they were. It was a tough time to try to pass something very large that we needed. I know that cost was anecdotally people talked to me about they said we can't I can't do it.

080I can't support something that big. The dollar amount big. So There were some people who did express that towards the end. But no one expressed how much they would be willing to accompany just that the amount you're asking was too much. That's fine that covers my question. Any final thoughts on annual meeting recap? Okay. I think we have some good go aheads with what we're going to do. We'll bring that forth in May. So we'll we'll close discussion right now and I also want to close public input. It's 8:13 and we have not had any members of the public join us. So public input is now closed for the evening. I had one discussion question real quick with the committee members continuing forward. Yeah. Okay. Is there a capital expenditure meeting this month? The coordinating

081the capital expenditures. I thought the next meeting was for May but I can double check that for you. Okay. Mostly I was bringing it up because I don't know what our guidance on the expenditure is going to be for target or if we're just going to tell them look we don't know right now. So I leave that to you but that was where I was thinking was was this month or next month. So. Yeah. Okay. Thanks. Sure. I'll just put a shrug in the spreadsheet. >> That's fine. Winky face shrug. >> that I like that line in the minutes. Member Zach just shrugged. Um All right. So, now we're moving into our deliberations. I want to see what action the board will take regarding teacher nominations. I will accept a motion to accept the superintendent's

082recommendation for teacher nominations as presented in non-public. Moved. A second? Second. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? 5-0-0. Our next item is to see what action the board will take regarding the proposed 2026-27 school calendar. I'll accept a motion to approve the 2026-27 school calendar as presented. So moved. A second? Second. Any discussion on the calendar? I have continued to hear some complaints from townsfolk about the alignment with Nashoba and the weird half days that we experience where multiple weeks are half day here and half day there. I have no objection to the calendar as I understand the rationale, but I wanted to bless you. But, I wanted to mention that Yeah. >> we do get questions on it and concerns with the it's a month where the kids don't have any full

083day week of school is how they feel. So. Yeah. Um and kind of as discussed during the calendar presentation by Gina, we have to align with those things. >> Mhm. Um so, I'm Is there anywhere some that Jonathan could direct any questions to go view information about that or is it just us? >> they can direct questions to Dr. Flaherty or myself. Um we we could have more early release days. Um we select from the options that other districts have. We select ones that are more towards the earlier end of the year, just because we can make the most use of professional development with our staff at that time. Does it make sense to have an early release like at the end of May when we're out in a couple weeks? Mhm. Um seems like

084lost PD, but many districts have an early release every month Yes. rather than the four or five that we have, so. And I'll be honest, I don't know if it comes from less developmental half days when like I was growing up versus now and that's the difference. So Could be. >> I will direct them in that particular direction, but yes, it was just a like that kind of comment. Yeah, I did we definitely started hearing those similar comments as soon as we started doing this. So that's been happening for a long time. Yep. Um any other discussion on the calendar? Seeing none, all those in favor of accepting? 500. Our next one is to see what action the board will take regarding the educational assistance program section 127. I'll accept a motion to approve the

085SAU 41 educational assistance program as presented. Moved. Second? Second. Discussion? I'm just confirming this makes it non-taxable. Correct. Thank you. Any other discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? 500. Thank you. See what action the board will take regarding general assurances. I'll accept a motion to authorize the board chairman to represent the school board and acknowledge that the superintendent has consulted with all members of the school board in furtherance of the school board's obligations, including those enumerated in RSA 189:8-1-8, and pursuant to the school -a and pursuant to the school oversight of federal funds the district will be receiving and of the general assurances requirements and definitions for participation in said federal programs. So moved. Mr. Bella, I read it and said I'd make it. A second. Second. Any discussion on general assurances? Seeing none,

086all those in favor? 5-0-0. Get my pen ready. Um and now we're moving into some Policy stuff. Policy stuff. Policy stuff. It's a technical term. Um this is when we review every April to see what action the board will take regarding the re-approval of policy BCA board member code of ethics uh in in part policy BCA states the school board will review and vote to adhere to the following board member code of ethics at the board organizational every year. I'll take a motion that the board by roll call state agreement to adhere to policy BCA board member code of ethics. I'll take a motion. So moved. I'LL TAKE A MOTION. Uh thank you, Jess. Second. >> Second. Thank you guys, this one's important. Okay, this is viva voce that you will state agreement to adhere.

087We'll start with Jonathan and go around. He's reviewing. Jonathan, I. Ann, I. Jess, I. Carol Roy, I. Raffi Zak, I. Motion carries, thank you. Um this next one is to see what action the board will take regarding the re-approval of policy DFA investments. We were informed of uh at least yearly the school board shall review and adopt an investment policy for the investment of public funds in conformance with the provisions of applicable statutes. Um, we were informed of the state requirement to review that policy on a yearly basis. It is to provide us an opportunity to consider investments. In larger districts that receive tax dollars in a single transfer, there may be a decision to invest as a means of generating revenue. As identified within the current policy, the school district treasurer, working in conjunction

088with the superintendent and their designee and pursuant to RSA 197 {colon} 23-A, is authorized to invest the funds of the district subject to specified objectives and standards of care. I will accept a motion to adopt policy DFA investment. So moved. A second. >> Second. Any discussion? In the event that we did an investment, would the investment selection come before the manifest signers for review? How does that get reviewed? >> Good question. Um, I don't believe it does. Um, you have seen in investment funds um an additional source of revenue for uh some of our lease purchases where we haven't utilized the funds, but before we pull them they've been invested and we've received a revenue from that. Okay. Is that are the investments audited? Yes. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Everything >> they were. I

089just Everything is on Everything is audited. Yeah. It's not my first year anymore. I'm finally getting to the next section. Excellent. Any other DFA questions? Or discussion? I have a question. Uh, there's a part um that references GFOA asterisk, and I was wondering if that's just standard terminology or if that's like a reference somewhere. Well, with the asterisk, you would think it would be um identified somewhere. Um Yes, I'd have to I'd have to get back to you on that. Okay. I can't remember what it stands for. We've asked this question before. Oh, yeah. I'm on Google. Government Finance Officers Association. That's right. And so, it's the GFOA's recommended practices and policy statements related to cash management is like the name of the thing that they're saying to use. Thank you for looking that up.

090No problem. We should add Any other questions or comments on DFA? We should add the the clarification maybe in the state the the document for future reference. Yeah, can we update this document? Absolutely, it's our policy. Do we want to have you just take that on? >> Yes. Thank you. All right, the all those in favor of accepting policy DFA investment? That's zero. Okay, so we have our policy memo, but as is the usual, we're going to go through each policy individually. Um the first one is policy JLCD administering medication to students. The first reading was in December, second reading was in January. Um so, I will accept a motion to amend by deleting delegation and the delegation in the paragraph that begins upon delegation. Accept the third reading and adopt policy JLCD administering medication

091to students as amended. So moved. A second? Second. Any discussion on this one? So, we had had discussion in our meeting uh in January, which is the last time we talked about this, about the word delegation and how people felt about what does that precisely mean? Um we do have some limits around needing to use that word because there's a legal process the delegation refers to and also that one particular sentence with the word delegation in there a lot. It's a little wordy so we did rephrase that. Thank you. All those any other discussions? All those in favor of accepting Oh my gosh. Policy JLCD administering medication students as amended. 500. Now I'm just laughing too hard. Reading that one made me laugh. Okay. All right, our next one is policy EHLB subpoenas involving district

092students, officials, employees, and or records. This is a new to district policy. So this is it's it's first reading was in January so it hasn't been implemented yet. Um so I'll accept a motion to amend by replacing parent with legal guardian, accept the second reading, waive the third, and adopt policy EHLB subpoenas involving district students, officials, employees, and or records as amended. So moved. A second. Second. Discussion. So again in our last meeting we had had discussion about what terms do we use uh to refer to the people who send children to our school um and uh what words could we use or not. We can't use the word caregiver um and so uh but also parent does not cover everyone that sends children to our district and so we just moved it to legal

093guardian. Perfect. Any other discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor of accepting the amended EHLB, waiving the second reading, excuse me, accepting the second reading, waiving the third, and adopting. 500. All right, our next one is policy FEH supervision of construction, clerk of the works, owner's project manager. Uh first reading was in January. Um I will take a motion to accept the second reading, waive the third, and adopt policy FEH supervision of construction, clerk of the works/owner's project manager. So moved. I second. >> Second. Discussion. So we had initially reviewed this policy um in preparation for if the bond was passed that we wanted to have this in place to have someone uh who's reviewing what's happening on our behalf, not just on behalf of, you know, um the construction company. Um I think it's

094still meaningful to pass it. We've done the work reviewing it, and at some point in the future we may do some building. Um we'd had a discussion about is clerk of the works kind of an outdated term, and does it make sense to use something more modern, but clerk of the works actually does mean something specific and is what we want to keep in here. And but we also added the language owner's project manager. Agreed. And the professionals that we worked with during, you know, enrollment discussions and so forth utilized that language as well, clerk of the works. So I think it's Yep. Excellent. Any other discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor? 5-0-0. Next up is policy GBEBB. GBEBB. Driving the point home tonight. Employee student relations. Um I will accept a motion to

095accept the first reading of policy GBEBB, employee student relations, as presented. >> So moved. I second. Second. Discussion. So this policy is a little bit of a doozy in some ways. We are um this is a there's a new RSA that requires that we have this policy. Um it ensures that, you know, all employees have uh entirely appropriate relationships with students, which of course is something that we feel importantly about. Um and also as written, it was in um direct contradiction contradiction with other policies that we have and also in some ways wasn't in keeping with the general some of the just best practices we have in the school. So like there were some things in here like an employee should never be in a room with a student with the door closed, right? And

096there are lots of reasons that we might have a door closed, you know, if there is someone doing testing, you know, a student doing testing, you would have the door closed for that. You know, there different reasons why something like that might happen. And so the policy committee really spent a lot of time multiple sessions reviewing this policy. If you look at it, you can see um Yeah, we we did a lot of changes versus just how it was written so that it was you know, still ensuring appropriate employee student relations, but also would be in keeping with our values and other policies. Um I have a quick question. >> Yeah. One of the things it says in uh in section A, prohibited interaction. >> Yes. Um the exchange of purchased gifts between staff members

097and students. >> Mhm. Obviously our families give gifts to the teachers. >> Mhm. Is this specifically saying staff to students? And students to staff. Um >> Say that again, Lauren. And it goes both ways, students to staff as well. Student question. Right. Right. But that's what I'm saying, like the kids give the teachers But the parents are technically Well, it says or is directed to an individual student. I read this as oh, they meant Oh, but oh, I'm sorry. This is also the one that has the de minimis value. I mean, so What is the de minimis value? What is the Is it 50? So in Massachusetts it's clearly defined as $50. I think it's over 50. I'm not sure what it De minimis is a Latin phrase meaning about minimal things, but I I

098actually don't know if there's um If it's set here. If it's set in New Hampshire. Yeah, New York was I think 75. So, it is written with some um Right, it's saying that the exchange of purchased gifts between staff members and students is discouraged. Um so, that we're not saying it's expressly forbidden, but we're saying and then saying it's prohibited when it's more than the de minimis value, right? And there is a little bit of ambiguity around what exactly is de minimis value and we're a little bit Yeah, we have to look up Was it discussed um about having it I'm just curious cuz certain schools have done it where it's more strict where the staff member cannot buy gifts for individual students. Do you know Do you know what I'm saying? Like so, you're

099not going to give one student a gift from a staff member. Mhm. Do you know what I mean? Like regardless of the de minimis value, regardless of what have you. It's not not getting class gift, but like getting individual students gifts. So, I don't know if that was discussed. We didn't discuss specific >> to split that out and then the de minimis value would be for gifts given to teachers from students or families Christmas time or you know, anything to that effect. Um is how some districts But that's what I'm trying to say. I feel like that is really ambiguous and It may It may need more discussion. That may need Yeah. Yep. Families who I you know, at the elementary school level, there's always a class parent. Right. And you contribute to the class

100fund and then they buy things on behalf of everybody and sometimes we still do gifts. I want to make sure that our families are protected properly here and not Yep. So, let's let's throw it on for first read and then the policy committee should refer to legal just so we can seek um more clarity cuz I agree that is ambiguous and Yep, we can follow it. >> I I have to find out if we're allowed to set in New Hampshire. I'm going to find out from legal. I don't know if we can can determine the de minimis value. As a school that we could say de minimis. >> local district. I'm so I'm going to find that out. >> Okay. So >> Um and then this um Yeah, I I think I believe we're going

101to be able to determine that value. >> the NHSBA? Um what I will say to you is that I don't have the the original RSA in front of me right now and so I can't tell you word for word. I will tell you that we made very extensive edits and also did have to uh keep some of the standards that the RSA requires, but I I don't have the original in front of me so I couldn't tell you word for word. So I would say for for line two, just some things I I'd like to see that just build on this a little bit. Yep. If de minimis value is not defined by us, then I'd like to see a reference somewhere in here as to where it is defined within the policy so that

102it's very clear in policy where you would go to check that. >> Mhm. Um I would like to see even if it makes it a little longer, a breakup between staff members and students and the individual student component to make it more clear because I do feel like every once in a while teachers will see something special and they might give it to a kid without any other component to it or for an education purpose. Um and it's still a gift because you're not paying for it. And so there's a tricky part in there and I'm only coming because I do federal contracting of the Technically, if they don't pay for something that they're given and it's not within the normal bounds of the education system, it's a gift. >> Yeah, and that would Especially

103legally. And that would not be allowed under this policy. Right. And so And we have some limits there about what we are allowed to Right. And I I think it opens I think it opens up a little bit of a bigger black hole than than normal from a legal standpoint to say, "Okay, well, you're out of policy even though this was really trivial." Like, I've had it come down to, "I can't give you a cup of coffee. You have to pay me for it." >> Sure. Even if it's like 25 cents. Yep. So, from a legal policy standpoint, it's a big deal. Mhm. And just so you know, just for discussion for policy, there's also um some policies that also do a de minimis value for class gifts. So, if the class all chips in

104to not exceed a certain amount for that. And that varies from 150 to 200. I mean, that is not I believe we're going to be able to set it ourselves. I want to confirm with legal, but there but you may want to consider doing um both as a guideline if you'd like. I I don't know if it's in here, and maybe it already is. I'd like a clear clarification or something written specifically that addresses the um what's it called? The class parent or class The room parent. Yeah, the room parent. Thank you. Couldn't remember the word. Because I don't know like whether the teacher ends up having a, "Oh, thanks very much for doing this." and gives them something. I know that the room parent often does collect a bunch of money from students, which

105this doesn't delineate students from an individual household. This is students and sometimes their parents. And so, it's very difficult if those funds go into the room teacher, and the room teacher gives the gift to the teacher, does this then apply? Depending on what's in it. And to Lauren's point, to your point, we just have to better define that. That's all I'm saying. Like, in Massachusetts, it's 50. And so, 50 per student, and so the whole class could contribute to the sum total of that. But, we just need to define that. And you know, seek legal counsel to ensure that we're kind of covering all of the And I would make that clear in here then, because the way I read this is it doesn't matter how many students it is the gift still has to

106be below de minimis. It's not a cumulative thing. Right. So so I think Those are good things to include in later. Yep. Yeah, this is definitely one that's different for elementary schools versus others. And and and again and then I'd advise for policy to discuss whether or not to separate out what you want your restriction to be restriction to be for staff members giving gifts to individual students. Mhm. Cuz they're in you know that could obviously Is there Is there a way to distinguish between a student and the student's parent? Or when you say student It It doesn't matter if it's technically the parent giving the gift. It's correct. Correct. Yeah. So we can't distinguish is that what we're saying? I I was I was going to ask that too but I don't think so.

107Cuz the the students are minors. Like if it Let's say if the parent right as a parent I'm the person who's going to buy a gift to give to a teacher. My child is not the one doing that but my child is the one that's handing it to them. Even if the child doesn't hand it it's considered a gift from my child. Correct. Okay. All right. Well, I look forward to hearing results. Did you have something else you wanted to ask? >> Uh so I'll ask three and then I give to you and I can ask four after cuz you said you had something. Yeah. Okay. So for three is there a clear definition of developmentally inappropriate? Um >> Because for example if you have a high achieving student and for a normal student it

108wouldn't necessarily be developmentally appropriate and they challenge them in that level like does that all of a sudden put them in violation of this policy? I'll say that this is language that is already improved from what was there before. Um and I think developmentally inappropriate the goal of that I am open to feedback that we want that language to be different. The goal of that language is to allow teachers appropriate wiggle room, right? That like we don't want What is appropriate conversation for a third grader is different than what's appropriate conversation for a pre-K student, and also there might be some variability within a class. Yeah, cuz I'm thinking about, for example, at Hughes, if you want your student to be able to read young adult, the librarian is more than willing to take authorization

109to do that, but that may not be considered by general developmentally appropriate, whereas as the parent authorizing it, I'm saying it's completely developmentally appropriate. I'm making that choice. >> There's not like a specific RSA that defines what developmentally appropriate or inappropriate is. That's our term that we are using. >> Right. And we also, you know, our educators are experts in what they do, and we trust them to understand where their students are at, and that's part of the whole education process. So So this it it should be left to this I mean extent, cuz we're not you know, to get into the avenue of micromanaging conversations can get very tricky, and we again, we trust our staff, we value what they do. They I believe that they'll understand this without us having to define it.

110>> Yeah, and I was actually looking at removing that or clause um more than better defining >> Which which which clause? or developmentally inappropriate there. >> it has to remain. And that was what I was trying to figure out is what we're trying to get across with it. I trust our teachers to interpret it properly, but it's just one of those weird things, right? With with today's society now, which has to go with policy stuff. Yeah. Um I'll pause and come back to four, cuz Anne, you said you had something. Well, I I just in the course of this conversation, I was trying to see where this policy proposal came from. I was trying to find an RSA. Um the RSA that's listed here has to do with child abuse, and so does the board

111policy JLF. Um so I'm just wondering where can we can we put somewhere in here the RSA that we that make cuz this is now a required policy so that we can refer to that at our next conversation. Yep. Thank you very much. Okay. So coming back to four So I have a big problem with four. Mhm. Um because I can't tell you the number of books uh at least accused that likely contain things like tobacco, alcohol, drugs, possibly suggestive sex action sexual components that are within the literature, especially older literature. For example, Sherlock Holmes smokes a pipe. Okay, so now the staff member is not to associate with students in any situation or activity which we could considered involving that. Is that the intent of that? >> is meant to be live activity. Okay.

112Um so if the policy committee wants to decide how to phrase that, um it it does not really apply to necessarily curriculum and literature per se. It's about you're not going to be hanging out um smoking and drinking Absolutely. I think it was to drive me nuts. Sorry for the for the I don't mean I don't I don't mean to to be flip. I just but it it means live interaction. Like you're not going to be in a situation with a student with any of these >> things so present. But any of >> I think the way you just said that could fix this cuz put the word live Mhm. any live Sure, we can add that. Well, or even but again, we can get Okay. Yes, agreed. I I just you know or in

113person I mean I just see associate with that the root of the word associate is has to do with social, right? >> Right, it does. >> society togetherness not reading about or discussing a topic. >> Right, exactly. You know, like with there is there's a degree of sex education that happens in fifth grade that is developmentally appropriate. There's the DARE program in sixth grade. Yeah. Yeah, so I I think it's I think the word associate with students in any situation or activity. I think that kind of clarifies it and I think that eliminates your concern about If you if you want to put in person You like can be in person. Um it could also be social media. It could be I mean it has to be an activity. That's why like so I guess

114that I guess maybe limits us because if we we also want this to apply to social media. >> Correct. And so what if it's virtual what if it's you know there's a virtual something. >> associate. Maybe it's interact. Um personally >> interact might work better. Yeah, so we can we can ponder that. >> in social interactions with students. So you can understand the concern of the associate to me is a little open unfortunately and any situation really makes it broad. So you're heavily leaning on a particular component and I am only leaning towards the uh more aggressive parenting I've heard of in other districts to some extent around these type of policies where it's like you can't have that conversation with this person because policy stipulates. So I want to be very clear of what

115we mean. That's a good point. Um any other comments on this one? Yeah, I have another one on number four. Um I was wondering I'm not trying to depart from the RSA reference so it might not pertain. Um I was just wondering if as another based on these categories in four if gambling would also be would also make sense as an as an addition or if it would be That's a good question. Yeah, and I mean you you have and again I I have to read the RSA that's associated with it specifically and I'll um Yeah, let's just >> But but you you you can make it more strict. You just can't make it less strict. So if you want to add gambling and gambling's not in the RSA as a policy committee and board

116you can choose to do that. You just can't take any of these things away. But if you want to add to them So we ask the policy committee to look into that? Yep. I think having the RSA in front of us would be really helpful. And then reference to the policy. All right. Excellent. Um and thank you because I know you've been talking about things >> looking It's a big policy, okay? I know it is. I'm not word smithing you. >> So So for number 10 Yep. which I totally understand the point I think you're trying to get across. It uses the term staff members, but some of the staff members are credentialed. They are credentialed, but we do not clinically counsel, we do not assess risk or diag- diagnoses or treat. We don't have

117substance abuse counselors, we don't have mental So that we we are not we are educational counselors and educational school psychologists. This differentiates the clinical setting versus the educational setting. So yes, they are we are working and counseling and working with the students and working with the families and when appropriate with outside clinicians, but we are not diagnosing, treating or assessing under any of our We talked about that one at length, Jonathan, um and had a discussion specifically about the word clinically and what and it that chose that word versus other words to make that distinction because we had that same We did discuss that same issue. So clinically applies Yeah, okay. So clinically applies to both counsel, assess, diagnose, and treat. My follow-on then just real quick cuz I don't know the exact is So

118for physical health the nurses don't clinically do it. They do assessments, but not clinically? That's This This relates So if you keep going, it relates to personal problems relating to sexual behavior, substance abuse, mental or physical health, academic relationships. So the physical health Yes, so the Yes, it could overlap with the school nurse. The school nurses have their educational settings and policies and pieces as well, but um yeah, but but if, you know, the the nurse is going to be um triaging and treating the student as appropriate. If something is beyond the scope of the educational setting, they will be referred out also. I totally get it. >> Yes, so that's that's what that means. Speaking of our school nurses, cuz this is fun to put on the record. Oh, yeah. Both school schools' nurses

119are now nationally certified, which is fantastic. >> Which is amazing. So. Very exciting. >> And our floater nurse. And our floater nurse, yep. That is a huge accomplishment. It's a big deal. Big deal. Glad I'm throwing that out in the middle of the policies. Congratulations to nurse DJ. All right. Any others on GBEBB, or can we bring it to the second reading? Later. All right. Seeing none, let's take a vote to accept the first reading of policy GBEBB, employee-student relations, as presented. I zeroed out. Thanks for the conversation. That is a big one. And thanks for all the work in great detail. Yeah, that was If that was the refined copy, it was good. Quite refined. Don't show him the original. No. Our next one up is policy JCA. Uh I will take a motion

120to accept the first reading of policy JCA, change of school or assignment, best interests and manifest hardship, as presented. So moved. Second? Second. Discussion. So, the meaningful change that happened um in this policy is that we were saying that we could stop a manifest hardship placement, accepting a manifest hardship placement, if we do not have the space. So, if someone from another district says we want to send our child to Hollis through manifest hardship, we can say we we cannot accept you because we don't have room here. That condition wasn't a part of this policy before. That is the change. I remember we can discuss. Any other discussion on this one? It looks like you also removed class at the start, which changes the scope a little bit. What What was the Um >> First

121paragraph it it changes our limited instances when the no longer class or school, but just school to which your student is assigned. So, I think it um You can speak here, Lauren, if you have additional thoughts about this, but um I think it's just sort of in general giving us a little bit more flexibility uh in the understanding of, you know, how to accept those students. Okay. Or not accept them. Right. I mean, cuz class class is sort of limiting and we all There's also options if a student um if there's difficulties going on in a class, we have other options within a school to potentially solve those issues before someone having to leave or from another district come back, you know, come into the school itself. So, it's just class is really limiting. Yep.

122And it should be eliminated in the sixth line down in the first paragraph as well, since this looks like we're not addressing that. Yep. Um I'm going to ask you that again in 1 second. Um it's it's written >> Oh, yeah. It is It is written again after reassignment in the This is a few words later. So, the word class in the sixth line. Yeah, the first line. >> Okay. Thank you. Yep. Um Do you want to in section A, second paragraph, do you want to align the parent guardian um wording with the other items? >> Yes, we do. Okay. >> Schools and academies are different things in the policy? Mhm. Okay. Okay. Remember us talking about that before? Any other commentary on JCA? Uh just a question on B B2E. Uh at the end

123there's a um reference to four. I was wondering if that's one of the existing references or if that's just uh left over. Let me see. Uh oh, like a superscript. >> Oh, yeah, at the end after probable. Looks like there's not a fourth footnote anywhere. Um that's probably just a note um in the sample policy about a specific item. So, we'll look at that. Okay. So, any others? All right, seeing none. All those in favor of accepting this first reading of JCA change of school assignment? Vote's unanimous. All right, we have just a couple more this evening, guys. Thanks for sticking with us. Um our next one is policy JLCE / EVBC. I'll take a motion to accept the first reading of policy JLCE / EVBC emergency care and first aid as presented. So moved.

124A second? Second. Discussion. So, the RSA has changed a lot since um these policies were originally put in place. Um we're asked to dual code them. The RSA said that they should be combined. Um so, so much has changed from the perspective of changing the policy, it didn't make sense for us to present this as a strike through. So, this is a new policy. Legally, we can't get rid of one of those codes, we do have to keep both of them. Um A note that we had specifically talked about that felt like something that people might have a special interest in is that in this policy, we state that we can have Narcan and oxygen on the premise. It doesn't say that we have to. Um and so, we had a discussion about that in

125the policy committee, but so having that language in there is not requiring us to have those things, it's just saying it would be possible to. Uh it was also a note that there's no um something that is true is that there if you use Narcan and it wasn't required, Narcan doesn't do any damage to the person it's used on. Any other discussion? I would just ask that when we this is brought for the second um reading and this is not a criticism, if you I mean, obviously, there's a lot you have to do. Um but just for readability, you know, there's that as follows, it would be nice to see those numbers like in a list like like a you know, if they're bulleted like one, two, three, four, sorry, at the very top and

126then the organization afterward, we we typically have like a nice organization to our our policies, you know, with the Roman numerals and letters and so forth. >> prosaic. Yeah, it just would it would help with locating information, the bolding etc. So, I know that that's like finesse work. >> Mhm. But um you know, when it's completely done, that would be helpful. Um second paragraph, second sentence says caution should be exercised not to minimize or maximize any injury or illness. I don't understand what minimize injury or illness means in this case. Uh I would say that that means uh, a kid coming in with a broken leg and the nurse saying, "Yeah, you're fine. Walk it off." >> Okay. Or a STAFF MEMBER BE >> OR OR A STAFF MEMBER sees them come in and okay,

127let's go walk to the nurse on your leg. I mean, like, you know, so again, so staff members will keep them where they are. You'll make sure the nurse comes to that, you know. >> threw me to have minimize and maximize in an or statement. It It threw my brain off a little. >> Sure. Yeah. Um, third paragraph, uh, last sentence, you have the person who have current first aid, it should be has. Well, it's person or persons. Oh, that's why. Okay, that makes sense. I just >> Although, I want you to know I accept any and all grammar notes are important. Um, the under the Narcan section, the second paragraph, second sentence, mentions specifically opioid antagonists will be available. I think you just want to change that one to maybe. Okay. Yeah, or or

128if Wait, would be available like so if chose it. I You know, I I I agree with Carol. Like, just as clarification. >> do have it, it'll be available during whatever blah blah blank hours. >> Yeah, it's just during the school day. Yep. Correct. Yeah. And then other times at the discretion of the superintendent. But, that that that's more of a high school piece for after school. Yeah, and sports and stuff. Just because it's late, this thing also has the parent guardian thing. Thank you. All right, any other commentary or questions on DLCE/EBBC? Seeing none, all those in favor of accepting this first reading? 500. All right, and our final item tonight is to review policy BEDB, it's the first reading. I'll take a motion to accept the first reading of policy BEDB, agenda preparation

129and dissemination. So moved. A second. Second. Discussion. Uh, so there, um, this is not required. um, This is generally put forward just kind of looking at time management purposes for school board meetings in general so that we don't necessarily have to read every retirement letter. Gina, I don't know if you have additional notes that you wanted to >> Yeah, so under the consent agenda there's actually some slightly different wording, fewer items. Really we're looking at the nominations, resignations, and retirements to be consolidated. If you recall when we start nominating staff, there's a lot of information that goes into it, the background. So, all of that would be presented in the list format for everyone to see. And then I would have backup materials if the board wanted to review them. Any questions on BEDB? Thank

130you for putting a light on this. Sure, it's also going to be sampled at Wednesday's Cohasset meeting if you'd like to see what a consent agenda feels like. Cohasset meeting is this Wednesday? >> The 8th. The 8th. At 6:00 p.m. at the middle school or it's live streamed. Yeah. Excellent. All right, seeing no other discussion on this one, all those in favor of accepting first reading of policy BEDB. Motion carried. We have reached that moment in the night, friends. I will take a non-debatable motion. I move that we adjourn this The dramatic part. Yeah, what is this? I second that we adjourn this meeting. All those in favor. 5-0-0. >> I'm going to need some signatures, folks. So, no one gets to