School Board Meeting 11/6/25

001by Jonathan Cohen, uh Suzanne Carmichael, myself, Andrea Folsam, our superintendent Amy Doyle, Jody Condan, our board secretary, and then our student reps, we've gotten this appeared for, and Kip Hudquist. Uh Rob Nato is currently doing uh an update on our uh safety redesign at the PTA. And uh Dulce La is stuck in the meeting, but she will be sneaking in any minute. So with that, let's go ahead and stand for the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. So, before we get to the superlex stuff, um we have two sets of meeting minutes to approve this evening. Uh one is from the joint school board

002meeting on October 21st with the select board. The other is from the regular school board meeting immediately following that joint meeting also on October 2. Any discussion? >> All in favor? >> I opposed. Motion carries. Yay. And with that, >> I get to change it over. >> Pass it over to Del. I'm so sorry. Apologies. Okay. All right. We're on the public comment. >> We are. >> All right. We are up to our first public comment portion of the evening. If you would like to come up, there's a microphone. Uh, please state your name, address, and try to limit your comments to three minutes. Okay, great. Thank you everyone. We'll do this again at the end of the evening. All right, first up, Lucy Kip. Welcome back. >> You can start. >> All right. >>

003Um, good to be back. I know I missed a little bit being away and all, but um, some some fun things that happened. For starters, a lot of seniors have gotten all their college applications in and done. Uh most of the early action, early decision deadlines are passed now. Um second, I wanted to say that the um the safety redesign, there's been a lot of talk about that in high school and a lot of um like positive reinforcement. I've heard from all that. Uh third thing is I want to give a shout out to new superintendent Amy Doyle. I've got a lot of props. Heard a lot of props about you um recently. Just thought I'd share. >> I don't know what I did. >> I just had people like come up to me and

004be like, "Oh man, can you tell the superintendent she's doing a great job?" Great. >> We'll do. >> I appreciate that. Thank you. >> Yeah. And then you want to talk about sports a little bit? >> Yeah, sure. So, for sports updates, um it's gotten a lot of attention at the high school recently. Uh we've had a string of unfortunate close losses for ball sports in the playoffs. Um, field hockey double overtime in semi-finals to Msenic. Uh, girls soccer quarterfinals to in single overtime uh to St. Thomas and then boys soccer uh last night. Um, tough loss to Gear Sarge 2 to1. Um, but cross country um girls were state champions. Um, boys got second at states. Um, and then at meet of champions um the boys team got 14th uh in the whole state

005all divisions. And then the girls team got sixth in the whole state. So we have the New England Championships um this Saturday um in Theford, Vermont. Um Max Goo also got 25th place. So he got individual um qualification there. Um >> yeah, just one other thing I thought I'd share which was um pretty neat. last night at the boys um varsity soccer semi-final game the due to technical difficulties the uh national anthem wasn't able to play and our student section and fans uh managed to get it going and instead sang it themselves and in the stands so I thought that was uh very wholesome >> just good showing of like the character of the Hopkin school district >> yeah um and then middle school updates uh they had their first dance of the Uh it

006was New York City themed. Um I heard it went well. So um last night was also uh seventh grade organ system night. So it was a joint project between the English and science classes in the seventh grade and they put together like infographics about different body systems. So it was like a presentation open to the public. Um yeah, so middle school fall sports are all over. Uh their sports awards already happened. Um and I know middle school basketball is already underway. Um yeah, and then Ozram, I know they came to our last schoolboard meeting um and their uh competition this weekend, they got uh second out of the whole competition at their Battle of the Bay uh at Marramac High School. Um and then the last thing, um so today PSAT scores are supposed to

007come out, so for juniors and then any sophomores who um took them. So, just kind of interesting, much quicker turnaround uh for College Board this year versus last year. They haven't come out yet, but assuming they do come out. >> So, you'll be sitting there checking. >> No, you're cool. >> I'm good. >> Fine. Cool. Amazing. Anything else? I >> think that's all from us tonight. >> Any questions for student reps? >> Great. All right. Thanks, guys. All right. We have some amazing student highlights. We have the girls middle school and high school cross country state champs. Congratulations. Do you guys want to come up and talk about your season? >> Helps me remember what I'm George Sable. I'm the head coach for the middle school girls cross country team, a repeating state champions this

008year, two in a row. Um, and these are four of our uh, runners that we had. We had a total of 12 runners this year. And as a coach, it was such a gratifying year. I could have put any 12 into our championship race. In the championship race, you could only put seven girls in into the t into the race. And it was so interchangeable. I could have put any of the seven or any of the 10 into the race. It was an unbelievable season to to race and to watch them. Would somebody would like to say a couple words? Do you want to ask your questions? Yeah. Here we are. Do you want to Yeah. Why don't you tell us about uh what it meant to train as a team and what the season

009was like and what the most fun part was and what the hardest part was. >> Just just answer one of these. >> Yeah, that sounds great. >> You each can take one chance. Take one. Y >> the hardest part was probably like repeating hills. >> Repeating hills. >> Yes. Um, I would say the best part of the season was definitely our home meet and the state meet. It was just like a good highlight to end on. >> The Hoffington Fairgrounds. >> Um, I think the funnest part was the candy run and the ice cream runs. >> The candy run and the ice cream runs. >> I also agree with that. I thought that those candy runs were like really fun and trial. >> And the candy run you run around finding candy. Correct. That sounds

010delightful. >> Did somebody tell you that? >> Yeah. >> Do you guys have any questions for our middle school champs? >> How many miles do you think you ran over the course of training and all the meets? >> I have no idea. >> Well, one of the things these four actually started running in July, early July, um, and like three three times a week. And so, you know, that they they really did it for a long time to achieve what they did. Um, so you know, running is not not the most easy thing. You can't just pick up, you know, do a 100 meters. You've got to do, you know, two miles at a very hard pace. And these young ladies have really done a great job along with the eight that are not here

011tonight. >> Amazing. >> They are probably doing homework. Oh, wait a minute. They don't have school tomorrow. Amazing. Awesome. Thank you, middle school. >> Thank you. Congratulations. You want pictures? You want middle school, can we actually do a picture with you guys? Is that okay? Is that all right? We're going to do a few pictures here. >> You have to come this one. >> You're literally a runner. >> I am a runner. Okay. And I'm very proud of them. Let's do it. >> And I want to talk about all the things. >> Yeah. >> And I can't talk about all the things. Yeah. I'm gonna need you guys to come in a little bit. >> I need you. I need No, I need you to come in. >> Stand in front of each other. Stand.

012Yeah. All right. Three, two, one. Three, two, one. >> All right. I believe we have our high school champions. Is that right? >> Hi guys. >> All right. >> Hi. Good evening. Um I'm Coach Roth and um this is the team obviously coach Google at the end. I think you guys might know him. Um yeah. So just a little synopsis about the uh the season for the team. Uh obviously very successful ending with a championship. Uh this is their sixth championship in eight years. So and in the past nine years the worst that they have finished is second place. So um we have an outstanding team and uh thank you to coach Sable for continuing to send us very good runners. Appreciate that. Keep it going. Um last year we of our seven top uh

013athletes uh four of them graduated. So really coming back with three small school like this um we would think of a rebuilding year you know coming back and uh that's kind of what I was thinking but they proved me wrong once again. Um they rebuilt very quickly. So um a lot of new faces uh to the sport as well as uh to high school. Um but they stepped up amazingly uh put in the work. I specifically chose a very difficult um schedule this year with uh some very large meets. Uh in fact their easiest meet of the season was the championship meet. I would have to say for sure because it was just division three and um most of the most of the uh season we were uh competing against D1 and D2 top teams.

014So, um, but they were ranked, I think, seventh in the beginning of the season. Um, and then they fluctuated a little bit, but by the end, um, they got that that final sixth position. Um, that earns them a, um, a spot with the New England Championship. So, uh, we're heading there on Saturday. Um, and looking forward to that for sure. Um, but one other thing I just wanted to mention was, um, you know, at the beginning of the season, we lost one of our athletes, uh, to suicide, Anna O'Reilly. Um, she was a, uh, a member of the team a few years ago. Uh, so none of these girls knew her really, but they really embraced the fact that she was a major part of the team. Um, that she contributed so much. And the

015dynamic is this of this team is that whatever they put into it, it carries on for years after. Um, so they really embraced Anna. Um, tonight they're wearing their their purple ribbons. They have those with them. They've had them with them all season. Um, so they've dedicated their win this year to Anna. Um, and they continue to as well. Um, in 2021 we made it to New England's uh first time when I was a coach and Anna was there at Theford where we're going back to. So, a lot of crazy coincidences this season. Um, but a super special season. Uh, very emotional, but they um they've done an awesome job. So, congratulations to them and I think team captains want to say something. >> All right. >> Yeah. I mean, basically just everything that Coach

016Roths said. Like we kind of like did it for Anna, I would say, like throughout the season with urbans that I think Glenn made for us, which is really cool. And so we wore them to our home meet, which was like special because it was just like in the town. And so yeah, that was definitely like a big part of our season. But it was just really fun. I think like me and Lucy were both pretty nervous cuz we had like a lot of friends who graduated on the team, but I would say at least for myself and I think Lucy too, we all made like so many amazing new friends on the season. And it's always fun to have like friends from different grades that you can see at school and then have a

017lot of fun with at practice after. So yeah, it was just a really really great season and I think everyone just put a lot of time and effort into it and I'm really thankful that I got to run with these amazing people and that we get to continue our season further and I think after New England we're going to go to Nike regionals which will be really fun and yeah so just like more team building experiences. So yeah. >> Yeah, I don't really have too much else to say but uh it's been a great season. and we've made a lot of progress as a team and individually. Uh it's been great to sort of like see everyone and the team as a whole sort of like uh move into our new role as a group

018and uh continue to perform. Great. And uh yeah, we're not done yet. So amazing. >> Oh, and also thank you to like the Huffington Runners Society who put together our home meet and kind of helped us throughout our season. Any questions? >> Oh, wait. Yeah. Sorry. Go ahead. Hi, Norm. >> I just I just I just want to take a moment to really say thank you to Coach Roth for all he's done for this team, for what he's done for this community. We are so blessed to have him as a coach and I could tell you my third year coaching. I am learning so much from him and I just really want to recognize him as such a great community member and such a great coach. Thank you very much, Coach Roth, for all that

019you do. Last thing I want to say is thank you to Amy Doyle. She came to our state championship meet and I have to say I've never seen a superintendent at a meet. I I invited her. It was great. I was excited. But the best memory about that, of course, winning the state championship, seeing Amy's look when she saw all the kids cross laying there with no breath. Her face, >> you guys were great. I was nervous. Her face with panic was amazing. But uh thank you. It it meant a lot to this team, especially this year. Um, thank you for coming out of your Saturday to support this team. Thank you. >> Yes. There we go. Let's do it. >> Hardest course, favorite course, hardest practice, favorite. >> Okay. Um, hardest course probably I'd

020say that where New England will be. Um, favorite course. What do we think? >> Not that. Definitely not that. Um, oh, our home course. Yeah, the fairgrounds. Fairgrounds is great. >> Um, hardest practice? Oh, yes. Gold Hill repeats. Um, that's a tough one. >> And favorite practice is probably anyone when we get chocolate milk after. I would just say first of all when I think about running I think it sports. Yeah, I mean I think like it definitely is an individual sport because like your performance on that day like is individual, but also like your performance can contribute to the team. Like the top five usually score and then if it's like tied it'll go to the um sixth person. And so it just kind of depends on how everyone does that day. And it's

021really fun because like to advance to these other meets like meet of champions and New England's you have to do that as a team. You can do it as an individual but I feel like it's really fun to make it as a team. So and I mean we like spend all our time together and so and we run together usually. So it's not completely individual at all. It's really important to have a strong team I think and that's what really makes it fun for me at least. Does anyone else want to add anything? You guys are a standout team. Thank you. Congratulations. >> All right, let's do one quick. >> Oh, yeah. Definitely a photo stand. Of course, Amy, you're like me to go to your right. All right. You were killing it. >> You

022were. I saw you this morning, too. >> All right. Hey. >> Thank you to our youngest crowd for being so patient. You guys did an amazing job. Welcome to the school board meeting, EA. You got your Well, we have not on varsity. We have >> All right. Thank you. So, here I have 10 students that are in the environmental action club. They are very passionate and driven by a desire for sustainability. They have a considerable amount of research on their own they chose to do. They have stayed after school countless days to prepare for this. So, are you ready? Remember, speak really loudly. Okay. >> September and our group has grown so big. We have fifth and fourth graders. I think most of the kids in the group and this year it's environmental action not

023just so we have kids that are really passionate about making a difference at Maple Street and in the community and they are ready to go. They're so excited to present tonight and so I just wanted to take a minute and say how proud I am of them for wanting to speak in front of everybody. That's incredible. You ready? Will you angle down? >> Yes. >> You can hold it too. >> Oh, that's great. Let's do it. >> I like that. >> Do you want me to hold it? >> Okay. Hello, my name is Francis and I am here to talk about littering in our community. This is a passionate subject for me because I want a healthy planet. Did you know litter harms the planet by attracting animals that may carry diseases and other health

024hazards? Speaking of animals, many animals eat litter and can become sick or even die. Recyclable items are littered too and this is wasting our resources. Did you know that according to National Geographic, it is estimated that 50 billion pieces of trash are littered in the US each each year. Many pieces of trash don't compose or they take a long time to de decompose. They there could already be 50 million tons of plastic litter in the world's oceans. That's the same weight as 25 million large elephants. What's even more disturbing is according to earth.org, plastic litter injures over 600 species of animals that live in and near the sea. And about 100,000 marine animals are killed by ocean plastic ingestion or entanglement each year. This is only the tip of the iceberg. If we don't do

025something about this, by 2050, there could be more plastic than fish in our oceans. This is madness. We need to fix it. How we can put more trash cans out on the playgrounds and around our town and educate students in our community on the matter. We can also make cafeteria food distribution plastic free. We can pick up trash not only at our school, but around the town. We can also take part in our communitywide cleanup each spring. Let's reduce the amount of waste we put in our trash by consuming less and being happy with what we have. In summary, I would like to encourage people to do better and stop throwing their garbage on the ground. I hope you'll help me by picking up litter when you see it and disposing of it properly. Thank

026you, >> Rosie. and I want to get rid of plastic wear in our cafeteria and in our homes. This is important to us because at lunch we see a lot of kids using plastic wear even though we have metal silverware to use. Many of our classmates don't understand how clean our reusable silverware is, even though they've been told before. Did you know our amazing cafeteria staff makes make sure it gets put through the dishwasher many times. Not only is are they sanitized, but they are reusable, probably forever. The plastic wear eventually breaks down into microlastics which never decompose. Did you know also that the making and throwing away of plastic adds to environmental pollution? So many plastics are not recyclable and this includes to most plastic wear. This is leading to the ruining of our

027environment. We don't want the earth to break down because we live on it and that would be bad. According to habits of waste.org, 40 billion pieces of plastic are thrown in the trash in the United States each year. That's just crazy. We want to encourage our school cafeteria to only put out reusable metal silverware so kids don't have a choice anymore to use the plastic wear. What else can we do? We can kindly encourage all friends to use the silverware that's already in the cafeteria or bring their own from home. We'd like to ask families who already have who have children to bring their own lunches to school to send them with reusable silverware. Better yet, just don't buy plastic wear at all. >> Thank you. >> Good evening. Our group >> and Anna want

028to help people stop feeding into the fast fashion craze where clo clothing is produced cheaply falls apart faster and has huge environmental impact. Cheaply made fabrics waste water, uses massive amounts of energy, and dumps tons of plasticbased textiles into our landfills when they all fall apart or are out of fashion. Did you know that it takes around 2,000 gallons of water to produce a single pair of jeans? This is the same amount one person drinks in about seven years. Even worse, according to the UN environment program, the fashion fashion industry is responsible for nearly 10% of the harmful gases that cause climate change, more than all international flights and marine shipping combined. How can we change this? We can host a clothing and accessories swap right here at Maple Street School for all the students.

029The EAC did this at the middle high school and they want to do the same. >> What's old and boring to one person can be new and exciting to another, we can also do this for sporting gear for all of our sports each season. Not only does it make sense environmentally, but it saves everyone money, too. We can shop for clothing less often and try to reimagine our wardrobes. If we do purchase clothing, we can shop at secondhand stores or those that support sustainable fashion. We hope you'll all think about this the next time you shop for new clothing and will consider volunteering to help us accomplish our clothing swap goals. >> Thank you. Good e Good evening. Our group, Ruby, Luca, Kate, Hannah, and Karen would like to stop the use of singleuse plastics.

030This is a problem that really stuck out to us. We hope you, our school board and community, will hear our words and understand that this is something we really feel passionate about. We hope you'll help us accomplish our mission. Nearly every piece of plastic ever made still exists. Did you know that the waste warriors here at Maple Street School did a waste audit last spring and there was a total of over 10 pounds of single-use plastics thrown in the trash for just one day. That's an average of over one um 1,800 lb of single-use plastics every school year. According to earth.org, it can take up to about 450 years for plastic to decompose. In fact, even then, we don't even know if it fully ever decomposes. Americans purchase 50 billion plastic water bottles each year.

031It averages to about 13 bottles per month for each person in the United States. That means if you use a reusable water for one whole year, one person can save an average of 156 plastic bottles. It's estimated that 8 million metric tons of plastics makes it their its way into the ocean every year. Did you also know that according to the National Institute of Health, at least 1,565 wildlife species have been found to have accidentally ingested plastic? How do we stop this from happening? Here are some ways that we can all take action. We can organize a campaign to reduce single-use plastics at school. We can bring our reusable glass jars to refill stores like the witching hour right here in Kuk. We can bring reusable bags when we go shopping in stores. We can

032stop using single-use plastic and styrofoam containers and packaging in our cafeterias. When packing lunches from home, kids can bring reusable containers and silverware from their for their entire lunch. Everyone can bring a reusable water bottle, too. We can encourage our families to buy and book and then put them into smaller reusable containers to use for meals when we travel and go to work or school. Better yet, just don't buy packaging that's styrofoam or plastic. >> Thank you. >> That was amazing and so informative and well cited. I am blown away. >> That was outstanding. Do we have any questions? >> I do. >> Go ahead. >> First off, thank you so so much. So, my name is Miss Taylor and I am in charge of the food service program here at Maple Street. So, you

033had the right audience tonight. I have a question I want you to think about. How do we get rid of the milk cartons? That is um >> keep those. >> Okay, you're gonna keep those. All right. All right. But we want to get rid of what on what on your your wonderful board there can I get rid of? >> Instead of how you put Yeah. And we could put these maybe. >> Yeah. I remember last year we had >> that was we recycled a lot more. >> Okay. Yep. >> Thank you so so much. >> Great job, guys. >> Any other questions for >> our question? They're just going to get lost at some point. >> Yeah. >> The book is for books. Okay. Okay. >> So, one, you guys are very inspired. I'm gonna

034go like some stuff that I'm doing. This is my my thing. And then there's this thing that keeps it from falling out of my >> plastic. That's good. I was on mountain bike. I said, >> you guys are amazing. What's been your favorite part of being part of EC this year? >> Um, this year all the projects probably. >> All the projects. I mean, I really like my face. >> That's right. >> Making those. >> Yeah. >> Um, I really enjoyed uh like helping people like sorting all the stuff. >> You know that Lucy here is in charge of doing it at the middle high school for like 450 kids. >> Uhhuh. Big time stuff. >> And do you know what you guys did tonight is what I do. my whole job and you you

035did it perfectly. >> You can just take my whole job. >> Go around do that to everyone. >> Um, okay. How did you guys figure out all your sources? How did you do your research? >> Miss definitely didn't use Google at all. We believe you. >> No way. >> Amazing. >> Okay, great. >> Anything else? You guys did it. I am. >> Can we do a picture? >> Yes, we definitely want to do a picture, but this was an incredible thing. I think we all feel incredibly inspired. Is that right? >> Yes. I think this is wonderful. Thank you. All right, let's do a photo. >> Yes. over here. Put in your rock. >> Hey, all faces up here looking over here. Three, two, one. >> Three, two, one. adorable. >> It makes me really

036six. Oh, okay. >> Thank you. Really appreciate everybody. >> All right. Welcome to our civic students. That's what I'm assuming you guys are here for. Intro. Nice to see you all. >> Thank you. >> All right. Great. Next up, we are talking on our our next iteration of our budget conversation during the next step, not an iteration per se, about personnel and benefits. Laura and Aya, I'm going to hand it over to you guys. Plug in. Um, no, I'm just, it's just going to take me a moment. I was so engrossed with the students that my computer was not out yet. >> Uh, for those that are interested, there are a few paper copies over on the milk cooler. Do you want me to project the slideshow or are you going to project that first?

037>> I was going to project the slideshow first, but I just need to get it out of the drive. >> Yes. >> I'm just going to send you >> I sent it to Mike. Did you know that Mike is here tonight? >> Yes. Instead of Matt Stone doing a great job, Mike Cody, >> great. Do you have any specific size you want or am I rock today? >> I'm a friend. >> You get to phone a friend. >> I was going for like I was trying to think of something to like first, but I think start with the problem. Here we go. Fail this. All right. You ready? >> I'm ready. Ch. >> Okay. Yeah. Personnel budgeting. >> We are going to just start off very briefly that um Amy and I have worked very

038hard on this for a long time. We have met with leadership and we've gone through and really looked at where our staffing levels are and what goes into our salaries and benefits. And the reason we do this separately is this one is done differently in our system and it gives us now along with the operations that we talked about last meeting. It gives us a full picture of where we are and we will have that at the end. So remember I do just want to remind it's first draft. We're coming in showing you all of the items that we feel are needed. And so with that in mind, right now the totally salaries and benefit request comes in at $21,95,798.75. Just to remind folks of the process, salaries and benefits are determined by collective bargaining

039agreements that are negotiated between the school board and the unions. Uh we have three unions here in Hopington. The HA or the Hopington Education Association HS which is our support staff Hopkin education support staff and teamsters who are our custodians and maintenance staff respectfully. Non-union staff make up the difference. We have about 25 non-union full-time employees and we pull the non-union together as one collective group in the budget. Our budget this year includes 198.42 full-time equivalent employees. That is actually a decrease of.31 FTEES from last year. FTEES is what we consider to be our full-time employees. When we have part-time employees, they are essentially created into a decimal, which is how you have 42 additional FTEES. And a full-time status is based on the union and what they negotiate for what is considered a full-time

040employee versus a part-time employee. In addition, the salary and benefits numbers include temporary employees, coaches, and substitutes. We have broken out our benefits into a few different categories because I think it's important to look at the difference in them. Some are negotiate. We can negotiate some of them with our staff and we can not negotiate some of them. So, one of the items that is not negotiable is FICA, Medicare, and retirement. For this purpose, FICA and Medicare go into the same bucket and are considered the same thing. Uh, federal and state law requires us that we pay Social Security and we pay Medicare on wages that we provide our employees. So, they pay a portion and we pay a portion. We have to obviously budget our portion. So, the more the salaries go up, the

041more FICA goes up. In addition, retirement is statemandated for all teachers in New Hampshire. Uh we participate in NHRS for employees as well. And so again, uh although the rates are still the same this year for employers, we as we looked at our salaries increasing, we also look at our retirement increasing. The rates right now employees are required to pay 7%. For anybody that is considered a teacher by state law, they we have to pay 19.23%. Anyone that is considered an employee is we are 12.75%. The pensions look the same. New Hampshire Retirement System is a pension plan for retirement. Um the payouts are the same. We have different percentages that we have to pay in. Health insurance is a negotiable item, negotiable item. It and it actually is going down this year. So it

042reflects changes in rates and it offer and the the new union agreements offer higher deductible, lower premium health plans. What that means is that it essentially puts more of the onus on the employee and their premiums are less per paycheck and it more determines how much they pay is how much they use their health insurance. Average rate increase this year is very favorable for us. It came in at 1.7. So that is a few different factors. One, it means that we are using our health insurance less this past year. Also, it means that um I think that we saw a decrease in our rate because last year a lot of our retirees went to Medicare Advantage plans which are actually no longer in our risk pool and that reduced our pool and our our risk

043a little bit in addition. So 1.7% right how is it going down? Well, in the new HA contracts, we projected five employees would switch to the new plan and 26 have actually switched and so far in talking with them, they're planning on continuing next year. It also we offered that same plan to our teamsters group and our new non-union and we had folks switch from those plans as well from those groups. So, it has been very favor favorable for us. Any questions yet? >> Yum carriers pulling out of the various markets. >> Yes, it does not affect us. So they are not Anthem is not pulling out of the group pool. They pulled out of the individual market only. >> And our retirees are allowed to stay on plans and 65 or older, they're still

044allowed to stay on the Medicare Advantage plans from Health Trust. >> Yeah, I checked on that as soon as I heard that Anthem was pulling out. I was like, what about our our folks? And we're they're they're safe. It's a good question. And lastly, dental plans and other pieces of other benefits. So, our dental rate increase across all plans was 4.4%. So, we actually all plans received a 4.4% increase. The new contracts approved in March of 2025 did offer dental plans that were less expensive for the district and did have a bit of of a cost to the employees. Um, and so you'll see that although those plans are offered, the 4.4% plus increased participation does drive that number up. So that is still going up. Other benefits that are offered are negotiated life insurance,

045long-term disability, health reimbursement accounts, workers compensation, and unemployment. Workers compensation and unemployment we don't have control over. Those are state required and our rates did go up through Primex who was our risk management and our insurance pool. In addition, HASS, so health reimbursement accounts, the new plans offer larger contributions to HASS when they take the lower plan. That means that our budget is increasing for HAS and life and LTD is staying roughly the same. with the numbers that come in for salary and benefits. I do we have a very small first draft increase in food service right now um of about $2,200. I do feel like in meeting with the food service director, we may be able to do something with that in order to keep that budget steady since we don't have any changes

046in FTEES. Um the fund 22 is our federal grants. We budget $750,000 every year and fund 23 is other local grants and donations and that budget is also staying steady at $50,000. So your variances tonight are mainly in the general fund. What the general fund means again is um that main operating fund that we use that is funded by taxes, federal and state money. So local, state, and federal dollars all go into the general fund. Right now our proposed increase is $1.4 million um for a total proposed budget of 29,400,54236. I'm open to any questions. >> Question. So for those grants for that line 22, that 750,000, >> is it been confirmed then that we're going to get all of the grant money that we usually get? >> It has not been confirmed. Um, now

047grants funds are self- sustaining funds. So the revenue that we get is what we expend. So there is no tax in increase impacted for the grants funds. Okay. >> Um so if we don't get title two dollars then we don't end up spending title $2 if that program ends up going away. >> But do we have to back are those pro services that we should still offer though as a district? >> Title two title two >> just any of them. Yeah. >> Um yes. I mean some of them we will have to Unless they resend Mckin Vento, which I haven't heard of at that part of that is captured in title one. >> You have your title your Mckin Vento set aside in transportation um lives in title one. Um but you also saw in

048the operations budget that we were able to capture some of that more specifically this year. Um title two is PD um and mentoring. If we don't have title two funds, I think it would be a challenge to encourage people to support new teachers without compensation because that is the the practice that we have. Um, title four, we get a small we get the smallest allocation there, about $10,000. Um, I don't think that we would have to absorb much in our budget there, but definitely parts of title one and title two. >> Okay. And then of course IDEIDA I mean there is a special education that grant right >> so for our civic students um in order to do this budget I follow um RSA 32 which is the municipal budget law and to do that

049it has something in there called gross appropriation and so in order to spend the money I have to budget the money and I can't spend next year more than what we have budgeted for and so Even though the grants are unknown at this time, we still budget for them in the event that we can get them because otherwise we wouldn't be able to spend them if they are allocated to us. >> Okay. So you noted in the health insurance, >> do you know how much the increase was? >> It's about $71,000. >> But between dental and other benefits and health insurance savings, it basically nets out to almost exactly zero, right? Can you walk through the staffing proposals that you have, please be more specific about staffing proposals? We are not hiring new, we are

050not asking for new positions this year. There's no increase in FTEES. Be more specific. Um there is a a document in your packet that talked about the the changes that we've made in allocations. I is that what you're >> we do have the extra point 2. Would you mind talking about the point2 for the 306es? >> So in this document that was also in your packet the budgeted full-time equivalent. You'll see at the near the top where it says FY26 um start changes. Um we've walked through those additions. Um and then if you look almost down where it says additions high school additional class in social studies for ed 306's um principal Kelly and assistant principal um Leighton are going to come later on to talk a little bit about their program of studies and

051those changes and one of the changes that we have not been able to just simply absorb is the change from a half a credit of world history to a full credit and so if you think about sections that were taught we were able to teach world history in two semesters and now we need a full year of that. So, you'll see that captured that there's an additional request for a a current teacher um to have a plus contract instead of, you know, certainly we're not going to hire a full teacher to do that. It would just be an additional section, >> which is where we we used to teach a full year of world history and it went to teaching a year and a half of American history because American history was always a year

052class, but history gets longer and time period stayed the same. has changed. >> Yeah. And and I'm sure you've followed some of the other 306s. You know, they're still doing civics, economics, they're bringing in New Hampshire history. Um and I think when Chris comes and talks more about the ED 306s, we've been able to capture some of those in other courses related to competency. Some are already standalone courses. We teach logic and rhetoric. Um we teach personal finance. Um so we were in really good shape. Um statistics goes to from being an an elective course to being a required course. So definitely some changes for that. The class of 2030 >> is the Maple Street Student Support Center IIIA is that didn't we approve that last year as part of the budget process? So it's

053not that FY26 start change. That's >> we did. Um we did not. So when the curriculum position was cut, the understanding was that we would provide it we it would be to be able to hire a new special education case manager. And depending on the cost of the case manager, we would also be able to get the Maple Street Student Support Center IIIA, but that was not budgeted as an FTE last year in the understanding that this the case manager, it was contingent on that. So, we did not put that FTE into the budget last year. We did that um at the very beginning of this year when we did a personnel new hire. We moved somebody into that position and then we hired an IIA to fill their their role that they were in

054last year. And then the preschool additional class that was also came forward um to provide we had a a last minute change out of preschool. Um and so our current preschool teacher took on additional duties. Um so similar to what we do in in other cases when someone is taking on another class um we were able to compensate um that person accordingly and that came forward um I think in September. The middle school food service worker that you see was part of the nominations in May. Um we increased here our food service worker actually to help with the dishwashing so that we could have more um students using the dishes instead of using re you know throwaway silverware. >> And can you talk specifically about these cuts for HMS special education and HHS vacant instructional?

055>> Yep. So we last when we did that curriculum I mentioned that we hired we built a position for an HMS special education teacher. We have not been able to fill that position. Um it was filled for about a week and then it is vacant again. And so we do feel that with the amount of case managers we currently have at Harold Martin that that position we will be able to not have it next year and we will be able to manage the case load next year. And so we Amy and I are proposing that it is cut from the budget. In addition, the high school vacant instructional assistant that position has been vacant for a couple of years now. And so we have spoken to Mr. Kelly and said we are going to cut

056that. >> But is the vacant instructional assistant is that a tier 2 is that a tier 2 behavioralist? >> No. No. Um it it's not been filled. So >> is the HHS special education system teacher? Is that a tier 2 behavioral specialist? >> No, that is the >> Oh, actually yes, it is um that was Yes, that was the person that they did. It was part in the operating budget and part in a grant and that is the position that we are proposing to reallocate um for our an out of district case manager specifically and um we are now you know at at a tipping point with the case management. You know that our director of student services is the primary case manager for out of district students and um that case load has risen

057to be equal or more than what a case manager in a building is doing. Um, so in order to help support the director of student services in being able to do district-wide work, we'd like to reallocate that position to an out of district case manager. So, not a new position, but a reallocation. >> Yeah. >> Historically, that goes back to a practice that we had. >> Yes. When I first came on, that person was primarily uh it was a 7.3 or 7 out of.3 uh case manager primarily at Herald. um those were the two people that did that job. And as the responsibilities grew, you know, I think we went from having a hand, you know, maybe two or three students out of district to now we're, you know, much higher than that. Um and

058so as the demands at Herold grew and the demands at that position grew, um the director took on more and more and so we're really looking at reallocating that position. So, of these top positions, these kind of changes, which ones are continuing on to next year? >> Um, we're not sure about preschool. It'll depend on what we end up hiring. I I think you you know that we had ended up putting um a person in their short term who is not special ed certified. And so, that's why we had to shift some of those responsibilities. Um, if we are able to hire another early childhood special education teacher, that may go away, but we're budgeting it because that may or may not happen. Um, the food service worker will continue. Um, the student support center

059IIIA at Maple Street will continue. Um, the district-wide OT um, increasing that to a full-time position will continue. Uh, we've looked at service hours for this year and next year and there's no indication that we will not need her at a full-time level. Um and then the additional class project lead the way um that will continue as well. >> I'm kind of looking at this. I just want to make sure I'm kind of reduction. We have an increase of about 660,000 in salary and that really just reflects one year of contracts, >> right? That's we're basically saying static on staff of the contract last year contracts contracts. So that's just the only way around that would be to further reduce >> services. Just kind of like >> and the warrant >> Yeah. the warrant articles

060that you're mentioning um they do include salaries and benefits at the current levels that we negotiate at. So they include what we project as the health cost of health insurance at that time, right? But Hess's health insurance was projected three years ago almost at this point because we're in the third year, you know, we're in the second year of their three-year contract. So when we think about that, there have been staffing changes, there's been increases which also accounts for the v the rest of the variance of the salary. >> I'll be honest, like the reduction of 86,000 health insurance, I understand health insurance. I think that's a >> kudos to the negotiators last year. >> I think that's a huge win >> because we can be easily millions of dollars on health insurance. >> Can

061I ask a question about ours versus I know it's like nominal in terms of if we're getting anything back, but is that working in our favor? HSAs. >> The plans are not eligible for HSAs. >> The ones that are offered because they're not high deductible. >> The OAHD plan is a nationwide high deductible health plan that um and actually we had negotiated HSAs for that plan. >> Um but the ABSOS 2550, which is what it's called, does not actually qualify for an HSA plan. We do the HA plans um for two reasons. One, we don't have to pay carryover. There's no there's no rollover. They don't they're not allowed to roll over. >> There's no provision. >> No. The other piece is that we pay HAS are reimbursement based accounts. So, we pay based on

062claims and usage and then HSAs we would pay a flat rate regardless of usage because they can continue to carry it over and use it after the fact. So, it is more beneficial for us. >> People don't use up to their $1,500 >> then we save it. we end up seeing back in. >> Yes. >> Y asked about this, but the the special ed teacher. I'm just surprised to see that given all that we've heard about the need. I understand case manager get that, but I also see that there's a high school special education teacher I >> trust you to manage the boots on the ground and know the need but I'm just surprised that >> and you can see there is a transfer of high school vacant IAS to there's two of them that

063we are transferring to to HMS specifically to hopefully help in the kindergarten classes um as shared IAS that can go back and forth between the joint rooms. to assist there with that program. And those are not that is not um we're not riffing anybody. Those are vacant positions currently. >> But are they still needed regardless of whether or not they're vacant? >> I think at any moment you could have new needs present themselves. I think that was, you know, a conversation that we've had across the leadership team. They feel like right now with the students that they have and looking at the students that are rising to be seventh graders, they feel like, you know, the people they have, but you know, one additional student, those of you that have been in the classroom or

064been in a building, you know, they might move in and we also, you know, have to prepare for that as well. But as you know, I mean, we have a budget of people. And so if we are going to continue to keep costs, you know, at least reasonable, we tried to look at every vacant position first to try to see like how are we managing without that position right now. Is it something that we think that we do we have data or evidence that we absolutely need it? Um, and if we didn't, we tried to bring fiscal responsibility to those decisions. I just want to say thank you. Going back a few months ago, we talked about not bringing forward budget that had a wish list that was a mile long. Um the first time,

065you know, the last five years looking at budgets going, how are we going to do this? My first reaction. My first reaction here was incredibly admirable job in terms of making some decisions about reallocating people, keeping those point where they are reducing that a little bit. Certainly the dynamics of a couple of negotiations in our favor. Not sure we're done yet, but I think >> I would second that. I would also Oh, go ahead. Yeah, I I I also do I don't I don't know. This is new information to me and based off of everything we have heard about Harold Martin in particular, um having a special education teacher has been something that's been talked about for a really long time and cutting it is not something that I take lightly. Um and I think

066as we talked about the out of district case manager, we talked about potentially adding a person, not cutting people. Um, which is not to say that I don't want to do this in a fiscally responsible manner and I'm not thinking about the tax rate in a challenging year for many um, reasons, including the shutdown of the federal government and SNAP benefits. Um, however, I also want to think about our school district and what is reasonable for the students that we have. And we know that at Harold Martin, there's a lot of challenging behavior right now. And I think that if we don't invest in it now, it will proliferate for the next 12 years. Uh, and I don't want to just And I know you thought a lot about it. I just am not comfortable

067just like it's just something I not take lightly. >> Absolutely. And I I think you know as Rob just pointed out, we're not done. This is our first draft and we're open to conversation and certainly we understand if you would like to put it back in the budget. We would just have to update those numbers and and give you the cost impact of that. We still have four full-time uh five one is grant funded full-time case managers at Harold Martin that cover pre-K through three plus a student support center specialist which covers all behavioral students all >> with all of that we still also heard that the behavior is significant and not that we don't have that two people that are We're trying to work really hard also to fill the current this year vacancies

068that we have at Harold Martin and hoping that that will improve the building. Also >> I think you know the idea of I don't know happens but well instructional that they help with and assist with. >> No, I think I think similarly I um I struggle a bit with the the reduction of special ed teachers. Um I understand that we are also adding IAS and case manager and so you know really we're moving people um but you know I I am also very cognizant of the fact that you know our our placements are really what we're trying to avoid if at all possible. Um so I I might be asking for more information a little bit more. Any questions on the budget? Okay. So, the next meeting I think we get revenue. Is that right?

069Um yes. So next meeting we actually as of right now we'll finalize we'll finalize the MS24 for this year so that the town can set the tax rate and then we will start talking about we can start talking about next year's revenue that day or we can talk about it the the meeting after. We also have a couple of pieces, just one piece of revenue to talk about tonight as well that will help me finalize the MS24, >> which is the state form of revenues that the district >> budgets for this year. >> Do you want to >> We have a meeting on the 18th and then another meeting on December 4th. >> Yes. Yep. And then another meeting on the 16th after that. So it is possible that we would have revenue numbers. Give

070us a sense as to what this is going to cost in terms of the tax rate on the 18th or are we better to have do that on the >> I would prefer to do it on the 4th just because hopefully at that point the tax rate is set. Um, I want before we start, I'm happy to look at revenues and what we project will be coming in um on the 18th, but I think if we don't have the property valuation for the tax rate, then I can't give you an idea of what the tax rates are going to be. And while it's not a reval year, right, like it was last year, that property valuation still adjusts every year with new homes and with renovations and such. So, I'd want to still have that

071number. >> So, to be clear, just let's just assume we were at this uh number it is not anybody's best interest to calculate that as a tax rate increase at this time we have >> correct >> I think just you know it is probably in our best interest till we have certainty >> creating projections that may or may not >> correct I >> yeah from reviewing my crystal ball at least right now I'm thinking that that one going forward would not all be be all taxes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> But the next meeting will finalize >> Yes, the next meeting we we waited on finalizing the MS-24 so that we could talk about um the conval stuff and then I am meeting with uh the department of revenue. We meet together. We talk about

072all the revenues for the district and then we set our final MS-24 and um the has not done their piece yet either. So, they're not waiting on us. I learned that. And then they will be able the Department of Revenue Administration will be able to set the tax rate for us in order for our December bills to go out. >> Is there any director from the board tonight regarding the budget, the expenditure side of the budget? I think I think I'm really still in like an information gathering. So I think just having information brought to us so that we can see the full picture is really important right now. >> Is there any more information I can provide for you Andrea? >> I don't think so. Not at this point but I'll let you know.

073>> Please do. >> Yeah, I think it's just thinking time. Okay, great. >> I will say it's super helpful. orientation. >> Yep. And I think we have a finance meeting on the 17th, right, to talk about these things. Anyway, >> your feelings on stuff possib Go ahead. Just want to make sure for the next meeting we will have the final revenues for this year that we'll sign off on and the monthly financials for October and nothing new on the budget unless there's an ask from the finance for some kind small last minute change. Correct or information gathering that comes through from the board. >> Yeah, I think if you have any questions please let me know and we'll make sure. >> Great. Okay. Thank you so much. Okay. Okay. So, actually, let's go through and

074do the conell update and then we can talk about committees. Does that make sense? Sure. Great. >> Yeah, we got some attorney fees. I did. >> You want to talk about that? >> Well, I think it'll be a group effort. She's going to talk about the money and ask you some follow-up questions. I just decided that I would provide some highlights. you know, as a person who's been following this for a long time, um, you know, the Convow decision, the Claremont decision, if you live in New Hampshire, you've been thinking and hoping for adequacy uh to be decided and something to happen. Um, and so a small thing that happened was that the state um has issued reimbursement for legal fees related to the Conval case. And so Conval got um about 660 thou $666,000

075and then the partner districts which we signed on to um will get a smaller amount based on their percentage and we're at about 2.3%. Um the New Hampshire Supreme Court has affirmed that the state's current tax adequacy of 4,100 is is constitutionally insufficient determining that it has to be at least almost $7,400 per pupil. But the ruling did not issue or establish any sort of deadline or implement any increased you know requirement or what the mechanism will be. Um we are closely watching state legislation. We're expecting a a series of bills to be introduced anything from you know taking it out of swept looking at other you know ways to fund public education. Um and so from Laura's perspective we got a paper check in the mail. We did um $19,69067 is the return of

076our legal fees that we contributed over the last four years to this case. >> Perfect. Amazing. >> Yep. And so my ask to you is I would like to those are what are considered unanticipated revenues and we have not set the tax rate yet. I'd like to incre include them on our MS-24 um for this year and return them in December. Does that make sense to everyone? >> Rather than hold them and return them next year, I want to just I want to just return them now >> because we can. >> Yeah, I would agree. >> Um what that means is that's about um it's a$140 or excuse me, one, how do I say this? Uh it's less than a penny and a half for the tax rate. However, it ends up doing about $7

077per home for the average home in Huffington. So, um, that's awesome. Yeah. >> All right. Can I have a motion to return uh unanticipated revenue uh from the combal uh attorney's fee reimbursement to the Hawkins School District for $19,69067? >> Yeah, that's to the to the taxpayers to return to the tax. >> Yes. >> Um, all right. Any discussion? Just a comment, just keep our eye on the ball. This is money that school districts had to pay to attorneys to take to the courts that the state is underfunding the education of students in the state. This is money that ultimately is being paid by the taxpayers of the state. So I just think it is important to keep our eye on the ball issue in this litigation state that the last rankings education. So I

078think it's it's something to really think about people that made the decision to litigate this rather than changing the amount that they're funding. And if we were able to increase for this district from 4,100 to 7,300 would be a little over $3 million which would be a very significant thing >> far more than we ever discussed in my time. >> Yep. >> However, should be engaging with the legislature. the last round of how this money is going to come forward is continuing with a donor format on that. So probably would be a net positive but it's still going to be paid out taxes. So that that piece of the puzzle is where we should be speaking to the legislature. This is not the solution. really going to help people. >> Thank you guys. You got

079you got a vote. >> Oh. Oh, yeah. Thank you. All in favor? >> Thank you. >> It was great. It was perfect. All right. talk through. >> Sorry, I just wanted to related to that as we talk about revenues, I just wanted to give you one piece of good news, which is that so far special education aid is coming back larger than we budgeted for. So we we can talk about the final number that we come in at next time, but I am expecting that that is going to be a larger return as well. >> That's great. >> Thank you. >> Y um all right, so this is relatively late in the year after the beginning of very dark out. Uh but we have tried in the past to talk about what the goals of

080the committees are going to be. Um and I figured it's a good thing through scoop, you know, like our board level goals. Um we're talking through what are we all trying to accomplish since we're, you know, quarter of the way through. Um they don't have to be anything super discreet, but I think everybody talk about what we're trying to go one by one policy, right? So policy we um do the same thing every year. We respond to whatever the legislature is. >> Thank you. >> This is how everyone responds to policy. >> I know. >> It's honestly true. >> No. So we um we go ahead and look at what the legislature did the year prior. um and we update our policies accordingly. And then we are also going through and continuing with our audit

081of our current policies, making sure that required policies um are on books and that old policies updated. Uh and then I would say the third goal that's been ongoing is we have slowly but surely working on digitizing all of our policies. We have hundreds of policies and We have been for the past several years. >> Great. >> Okay. So, look at what legislative changes happened the year prior and update our policies accordingly. We'll look and update any old and outdated policies that need to be updated. >> Uh digs. >> Yes. >> Okay. How many policies do we have total? >> Oh my gosh. A lot of policies. 303. >> Okay. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. >> Great. >> That's all. >> We'll have a bunch more. Amazing. >> All right. DNA, you guys. New wings

082this year. How we doing? Good. Okay. So, CNA um we are now it's called CIA because we are super secret spies. Not really. We're curriculum uh instruction and assessment. Um we are regrouping after uh a change from having a curriculum uh instruction and assessment director. Um we are really focusing on um making sure that we have subcommittees in place that are required for all of our title funding. Um we are also looking at a curriculum kind of shorting up curriculum aligning curriculum. I think in my one of our board goals right was to look at hiring some newer teachers to try and keep expending. >> Okay. >> And a curriculum. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, hold on. We're gripping after having a curriculum director taking a look at all of our funding. >> No. >>

083Um, no. All of our like our practices like our curriculum subies >> subcommenities. Okay, thank you. Uh take a look at the the trade-offs between uh newer teachers versus needs for curriculum PD and that right >> great amazing mentoring. >> Yes, >> it did come up a little bit. >> Yes, I mean >> for me as a new teacher experience I think mentoring is probably I want somebody to help me learn how computer program >> we have in place. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Okay, cool. See it? Can you guys change it up? Ground >> goals. >> Um, I mean, I'm new to the CI group. I think essentially it is following Jim's plan, just follow that, and seeing how well we can execute what he has next up on the list. responsibility is managing

084that. >> I would say it is about stewardship of our property and an attempt to prioritize predictable. >> Yeah. >> And also allows us to communicate. >> Yeah. >> Great. Okay. Um, safety and security. Is that security redesign? >> Security redesign. Um, for sure. Maintaining the emergency operating plans while they're being executed. Are we meeting all of our requirements in that regard? Working on those soft areas, see something, say something. communicating with police and fire so that everybody's in the loop. My sense in the last two or three years of being on that community is a lot of improvement across the board there. >> Emergency operating plans much more dialed in terms of how schools uh we're going to try to see if we can put together a policy, right? Yep. >> Um and I

085think it's worth noting, we talked about this a little bit over the course of the last eight months. Uh but we're shifting away from a lot of the building heavy work. So much of like the auditing and the prep has happened and that's now in CIP land and thinking more about policy in the first room and the way that engaging with students and faculty. Does that feel better? >> Yeah, I just say really supporting what students are interested >> and by our amazing student. That was incredible. >> All right. Finance. >> I think three things. oversight. >> So looking at financial audit right now, not only ourselves, board members, but working closely with budget committunation, how we present the budget to public. >> Yeah. Yeah, that's great. Oversight, education, communication, wellness, >> we also Wellness,

086>> this is a little deeper, but in terms of the forecast, understand how works and how it should managing still a little bit of an obstacle. >> Can't wait. >> I look I look forward to them. >> Well, this is it. You're it. You're new. Is there anything? Um, sort of. Laura, I mean, we talked a lot about using the resources that are available to promote wellness that we would reduce insurance costs and all those things. But you know there's a lot of benefits that come with health trust and publicizing and making sure people are aware of those preventative and I think culture enhancing benefits. >> Great. Is that okay? I love it. That's great. And then you want to talk about PD. >> Well, PD is a new committee. Thank you for for joining,

087you know, in a Yeah, that's nice. Um, so it's a required policy actually based on our new PD master plan. We're at least required to meet quarterly. Um, so we recently met to um update and submit the PD master plan to the DOE. We're still, of course, we'll wait to hear back um but we will start to bring that back up. That was a long-standing um committee. it was here when I was here previously and um I think just it was one of the byproducts of COVID where people weren't meeting as often. Um so Suzanne has offered to represent the board on that committee and so we will look at things like um continuing education um hours for both teachers and all of our staff that have to have some type of credential whether it's

088a pair professional um food service. We'll look at all of those those pieces. will also look at what are our offerings, what do teachers need, what do the different staff members need. So it it is a really great committee when you think about the extension of CIA. So I'm glad to have Susan on both. >> Cool. All right. Uh we will do one one of my things to try to figure out how to do before Thanksgiving here is to just do a minute audit uh of things which Jod has been awesome with people on reminding them where we're at. There's uh we need to figure it out. I think we'll go through and make sure going into budget season that like people want to go back and look at what our amazing committees are doing.

089That's all. Um if you have these check and make sure they're all posted. Um add I usually just add Jod to the invitation so that that is as it were voice of God over there. Um, and we'll go from there. Um, this is not on the agenda, but since Rob just brought it up, I was actually hoping Rob, you've been doing a lot of info sessions about the security redesign. You talked a little bit about attendance and how they're going questions. >> Sure. Um, so we've had four Democrat incred attended but very focused group. Um and yesterday morning I was at Rotary which was back house always and then just feedback and support overwhelmingly this is some good questions have come forward. Um I think in terms of you know caution not a lot some

090some misunderstanding about funding and making sure that people this just came out of the group one of the folks there was like my Facebook feed people talking about tax so not doing a good enough job saying you're paying for this with cash on hand >> we'll echo Great. Thank you. It's a lot of time. It was awesome. >> And I don't know Chris asked me to do >> Yes. >> voice over presentation. Kind of creepy and weird, but I did that and apparently That would be great. That might actually be good to do at all the schools also because if people are going to be thinking about it like you could also be at Harold Martin. Could you not? >> I really don't care. >> Walter Kronite. >> Yeah, there you go. >> Yeah, I

091know. I'm excited. I think we'll be all three. That's a good way to capture a lot of lot of parents moving here. Okay. Awesome. >> We should get more information about the security on the website. >> I think it was like cool. Thank you. All right. Policy. >> Are you ready? >> Yes, I am. Let me go back to the agenda. Okay. So, tonight uh as you can see, we have been working on our policies. So, we have a lot of eye policies and then one E policy. Um, so I'll start with the E policy. It's our meal charging policy which is EFA. These are all first reads tonight. So you will see these again two more times. Uh, so you have plenty of time to read them, soak them in and then get back

092to Suzan and I or Amy with any comments, updates, questions that you see. Um so I'll just go through them this evening and then add them at your leisure. So policy EFA is meal charging that is our one E policy. As far as our eye policies we have policy IK earning of high school credit achievement of competencies. This is a policy we currently have but need to update. IKF high school graduation requirements also policy we have need to update. IKF career exploration readiness pathways and credentials. Um this one is a new policy uh IHCI alternative learning plans. Uh this is a one I believe we already have and are updating IH extended learning opportunities. Uh this one technically we did have but has undergone massive changes with RSA and the internet high school credit for

093seventh and eighth grade coursework also changes. >> Yes. >> Uh and then we have GA service animals. This is a required policy. GB therapy animals onto our service animals policy. And then IMG animals in also policy. So those are your policies for this evening. >> Wow, guys. Amazing. Let us know if you have any questions. They are some of them are short, but most of them are are amazing. >> Oh, okay. Great. Thanks, guys. All right, Laura. Or that's it for our current current uh current agenda. We hand it over to either a new hires tonight. We have two. One of our current substitutes, Michelle Parmore Brantley, is transitioning into a role of a Harold Martin IIA. So, we are filling one of those vacancies. She's filling the role of Cheyenne Weltz when she was

094an IIA for us last year before she became a teacher this year. And then in addition, um we know that Deb Boutwell retired. Scott Mezy came over here from um Harold Martin. And now Orlando Booker is joining us at Harold Martin as our night custodian. No resignations tonight. >> Current employees with additional contracts. Um, right now we have one in the mornings, remember on bus 99 we have a bus monitor and we have a current bus monitor but she rides only part-time and so Edna Frost is in IIA over at Harold Martin and will be covering the other two days that um Mary is not there. In addition, sometimes she does a substitution for the afternoon bus monitor. So she has done this work before. And then lastly with Title One, Title One this year

095is now in both schools, both Harold Martin and Maple Street, we are going to be offering tutoring services. So we have put it out there and we have six teachers who would like to provide tutoring services. >> Would you like me to I'm sorry, read their names out? um Michelle Cler and Jill Smart for Maple Street and then Caroline Nef who actually is here at Maple Street is going to be working for Harold Martin. Joan Follinsby, Kirsten Hall and Karen Victoria sessions happen outside. >> Um we've decided this year instead of doing an in during the day program to be able to maximize the number of instructional minutes and provide more support to students to do it after school. Um, so you'll see, you know, parents will be notified if their student has been selected

096and we try to navigate things like transportation. One of the reasons that you see Carolyn's name there is that we're trying to capture kids that maybe are living on this side of the um, you know, this side of the town or are participating in some of our afterchool programs. So we're trying to you know reduce those barriers. >> Thank you. >> Just a quick explanation about title one. So, title one targets enhanced or additional MAC and reading um intervention. Um and so we take the dollars that we get through that grant and that is federal dollars and we pay the rate that is established through the HACBA which is $40 an hour. Um and those individuals are selected. We have to have a very specific selection criteria. Our title one plans will be on the

097um on the website. That was part of the work that I've been doing with them to look at the selection process, what materials you're going to use. It's it's a lot of compliance-based um pieces to have title one plans. Um you also have to have parent engagement. Um so very soon I'm sending out a survey to ask parents what kind of activities, what kind of engagement, what kind of information. It's almost like PD sessions for parents. Um and then after that we will put together a list of of events both virtual and in person. um looking probably at a math and reading night, which is pretty typical for elementary schools. Um but also trying to bring in some either local or state national experts on things like executive functioning. Um how can you support um

098behavior development at home? How do you partner between home and school? Um those are pretty typical for title one family engagement. We're also going to purchase a parent newsletter that goes along with title one and that'll be on our website. Not just for title one parents, you know, anyone will be able to access that. >> Awesome. >> Any other questions on personnel? >> Great. For donations tonight, I if I may be subjected for just a moment, I was really happy to write this. Um, I'm really excited about about this. So, first we'll start. We have an anonymous donor who is providing a $500 donation to grade seven and a $500 donation to grade nine. Those donations are held at the SAU office and we work with those grades and that team of teachers in order

099to use th that money um for their students. In addition, we have a $500 donation from Grapone Motors for the Oram Robotics team. You'll start to see Ozram robotics donations come in throughout the year. It's that season. And so, anything over $500, remember, goes on this sheet. And then lastly, Maple Street School has been pursuing a grant in order to get an adaptive tricycle for their students. the students that cannot participate in PE in a normal in a standard way and they have been able to secure those grants. the the adaptive tricycle is $5,100. And so we are getting a $1,000 donation from Northeast Delta Dental, who by the way is our dental insurance provider, the real health trust. And then Heisa has agreed to contribute the rest at $4,13. And they um were very

100kind and said this is their way to contribute for students who may not be able to participate in their programs. So it is really really wonderful. Um Dr. Dr. Senon is very excited. It can help two students that we have currently and students coming up from Harold Martin in the next few years. >> That's amazing. >> It's really really wonderful to tune up for free. >> You should do an amazing job. >> Yep. So if anyone wants to volunteer for Heisa listening, they should because he is always looking for volunteers. >> True. >> That is a great way of saying thank you. >> And we also >> volunteering is the best way. >> I can't wait to see the tricycle. >> Me too. Fun. >> Tom Rafio, who's the CEO of Northeast Delta Dental, spoke

101at an event that I was at last night and he's incredible and very active. I think they sponsor every single running race in the state. Yep. >> As well as a lot of accessibility. It's a it's a pretty inspiring effort. >> Thank you. >> All right. And my quick update is a couple of thank yous. Um we had a a pretty robust stakeholder team meeting um which is part of a requirement under ESSA. And so we brought together a large number of people, teachers, uh paras, administrators, Lucy Kane, students, uh board members. to thank you all. Um, and we talked about how we were going to be using those funds. Uh, we will meet again in the spring. Um, this is sort of like your fall, what are some ideas that we have to use

102that money and then the spring will be how did we use that money and how did it go. Um, the other is the PD master plan task force. Again, we're required to have a large group of stakeholders attend that. Um, and I I think it went pretty well. We were able to review a draft. Um, that draft follows the RSAs that are required for a PD master plan. Um my next step was after that meeting was to do some revisions that were provided by the team um and to submit that plan to the DOE for consideration. I know that there will be feedback um from the DOE um but they have received that plan and um eventually it will come to you for approval. That is part of that process as well. I also want

103to take a moment uh to thank everyone when we had that road closure last week. We got a direct call from the Huffington Police Department uh letting us know that the the road was closed and that gave us the time to navigate bus transportation at the end of the day. Uh but parents and families, after school providers, local partners, there were people just really willing to help um and enable students to get home safely. Um we're already talking about the budget. Um we continue to need instructional assistance. So, you know, putting in a plug, you know, when you want to volunteer for HISA, you may also want to come and be an instructional assistant in our schools. Um, it also, um, I would also invite people to consider being a substitute because that also, um,

104that's how we got our our newest IIA. They come in and they say, "I'd like to substitute." And then we get them in and they think, "This is awesome, so I'd like to work here full-time." Um, so a couple of upcoming dates that are important. Uh tomorrow at the middle school there are parent teacher conferences. Um and then Monday there are parent teacher conferences for all schools. If you do not have a conference scheduled with for your student, please reach out to the individual schools to set those up. Um and then Tuesday we will not have school in observance of Veterans Day. Um and then looking forward to later this month, our Thanksgiving break is November 26th, 27th, and 28th. Great. And parents and caregivers are going to need to use the Raptor system on

105the 7th tomorrow at the middle high school because school will be in session. So, anyone coming in for parent teacher conference will need to bring their ID. >> That's a good point. And um you may want to come a few minutes uh before your conference starts because we're anticipating we have two I think machines at the middle high school um but we're anticipating you know that there will be lots of people coming at once. Um, so if your if your conference is at 1, maybe come at 12:45 so that you can scan and get in. >> And if anybody at home is listening and actually coming tomorrow, the driver's license goes behind the scanner, not on top of it or in front of it. That will help. >> It's almost like you've been problem solving

106that >> maybe a little. >> Yeah, that's great. Amazing. Okay, cool. Anything else? >> That's all. >> Sounded good. Do we need to have a motion to approve it? Do I have a motion to approve this consent agenda as amended? Any discussion? All those in favor? I opposed. >> Great. >> Wonderful. Thank you so much. >> Uh let's go through our committee updates. I think Alison, do you have anything else? We got a lot of first read. You guys are busy. Okay. Uh anything else from CIA? I don't think yet. >> No, we don't until later this month. have you guys met for the last week? Okay. Safety and security met right before our last meeting. So there's nothing new there, right? Okay. EMC doing walk through with contractors on Monday. >> Awesome. You want

107to talk about the last meeting? >> Uh yes. So our last meeting uh we really worked on or do you want to talk about it? >> That's okay. So our last meeting we worked a lot on actually talking about styrofoam and single use plastic in our cafeteria and so as a group we're going to be uh writing a letter in support of reducing >> I actually received that. >> Okay. >> It was great. >> Yes. We need to talk about it. I will be meeting with Laura and Tracy Barker, the food service director, um to talk about a response. Perfect. >> Uh budget finance, >> we meet on Monday, >> the 17th, >> not the 10th. >> Yeah. >> Uh wellness does not match the philosophy. Is that correct? >> Okay. And professional development, we

108just got the update. Yes. Cool. All right. That brings us to the second uh public comment portion of the evening. If you want to come up, please state your name, address, and three minutes, please. >> Good evening everyone. Street. Um top of my list. I had explanation of title one, two, three. We keep hearing about it, but uh I hear we're going to have an explanation on the district website. And I was glad that John asked about the title one because it's been coming up more often. So, thank you for that. Um, I had a question which I'm guess I'm not expecting an answer to, but um I was curious if the audit is complete and they said it would be done approximately around sooner than later. Um I also um believe in the past

109the last day of October is when the average daily attendance number is given um for the total students in the district and it usually comes out I think in the beginning of November meeting and that wasn't given. So curious what that is. And just also um clarification um you've got your complete list of full-time employees. Obviously there's part-time employees and I don't believe that includes any of the subcontracted help that work in the schools. and was curious how how do you look up what that encompasses of if you have 25 part-time employees or 60 or no no idea of telling just by what's being presented and the same with uh subcontracted employees um in the district because they're another expense and play into that ratio of people per student. So those are my comments. Thanks.

110Okay. All right. Guys, we do not have a need for a nonpublic this evening. So, I think any other comments? >> Yeah, go ahead. This morning I was out but I was ran into a bunch of bus drivers as I do one of the drivers. That's great. We'll always give a shout out to Greg kids. >> Yeah, we're team Greg, but we love all our drivers. >> She's she's covering for Greg right now. >> Yeah. >> Yep. That's great. >> Our kids. That is great. Awesome. Um, any other comments from the board. >> All right. With that, we do not have any for public. Our next meeting is in two weeks on the 18th. Do I have a motion to adjurnn? >> All right. All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Guys, >> thank you.

111I've been meaning to talk about um at the end of last year and said we should set up a meeting with Miss Doyle at some point to talk about like what she wants us to do like what she envisions like student reps to do and if there's anything just to like have communication