001Good evening everyone. I'd like to call to order the public hearing for the East Kingston Elementary School Board. It is now 5:01 p.m. We need to [clears throat] take attendance. [snorts] No. Okay, good. Um Brandon, you going to set us up? We're going to show the video. >> Yep. >> Okay. [snorts] Do >> you want me to start it now or do you have any >> um I do I would like to make one quick uh public announcement [snorts] that I think is important for all of us to know. So public comment tonight is an opportunity for community members to share their input directly with the board. We value hearing everyone's public input and it's important to remember that schoolboard meetings are business meetings and they're held in public for that so everyone can see
002and hear what's happening. [clears throat] Um you are allowed three minutes per person to speak and that we ask that you um share your name and your affiliation with the East Kingston Elementary School. Um your comments will be noted and considered as we conduct business tonight. Thank you. Uh, Principal French will now start with a video on the budget. >> Hello, I'm Brandon French, principal of East Kingston Elementary School. Thank you for taking a moment to learn about our proposed school budget. In this short video, we'll share what's happening in our school, some important things that are driving the school budget, and what the next steps are for voting on the budget. To begin, we wanted to share some voices from our school community to show what makes EKEs such a special place for our
003students and families. >> Hi, my name is Addy and I'm in fifth grade heading to CMS next year. So excited. I I am so lucky that I have what the school has to offer. This [music] year the play is um Susicle the Musical Kids. It is so fun to watch or be in. Secondly, we [music] have jobs at our school. The some of the jobs are recycling [music] crew, King Fisher Chronicles, fifth grade rock band, scene committee, and lastly, most importantly, [music] the teachers. They're so nice and kind. They help us learn everything we need [music] to know, and they help us do everything we need. Hi, my name is Silus. I'm in second grade. And um [music] some things I like about EKES is there's a lot of night nice teachers and you learn
004a bunch [music] of important things that you need to know. And I like coming to this school every day. Hi, my name is Heather Allen and I'm the president of the PTO here at East Kingston Elementary School. What makes the school so special is that it teaches children how to be good humans, [music] not just good students. From a very young age, they are shown what it means to care about their community through food drives, supporting local businesses, [music] and building relationships with the seniors in the community. Giving back isn't an extra here. It's part of who they are. It's also [music] a place where everyone truly knows one another. And the kids grow up feeling seen, supported, [music] and safe. No child is ever just a number, which means when someone needs extra help
005or a little bit more of a challenge, it's noticed [music] very quickly. The teachers and staff treat the students like family. Many families are connected to the school in multiple ways, which creates [music] a rare sense of trust and belonging. Older and younger students learn together, support one another, and build confidence through programs [music] like reading buddies and shared activities. Beyond academics, students learn real life skills, [music] how to communicate, take responsibility, navigate emotions, resolve conflict, and even apply for jobs. They're taught to understand themselves, care for others, and contribute meaningfully to the world [music] around them. The school doesn't just educate children. It raises thoughtful, capable, and compassionate people and supports the entire community along the way. >> At EKEs, we are very proud of our students academic growth over the last 5 years.
006These scores reflect the hard work of our teachers and staff in all grades K through 5. Our state assessment scores are routinely well above the state average. During the 2425 school year, 69% of our EKES students scored proficient in or higher in math, 21% above the state average, 59% of EKES students scored proficient or higher in science, 21% above the state average, and 70% of EKES students scored proficient or higher in English language arts, 17% above the state average. We want to highlight some of the work happening each and every day at the East Kingston Elementary School to meet the needs of all students. We provide a consistent highquality experience in reading and math for all students across the school. This ensures that every child is exposed to essential skills and a common instructional language
007from grade to grade. It also strengthens collaboration among our teachers who are able to work together and grow through district supported professional development. New to EKES this year is a highly structured win time or what I need. That is a dedicated block in the school schedule designed for personalized learning. During this time, students are grouped to receive support tailored to their specific needs. From extra help on skills to extended learning opportunities, helping every student succeed together. These efforts reflect the meaningful student centered work happening every day in our school. work that deserves our community's continued support. We have a very supportive and active parent teacher organization. Our PTO organizes fun and exciting annual events for our students, staff, and caregivers, including our fall festival, sweetheart dance, and bowling. There are also a number of afterchool
008enrichment activities that are offered to our students. These activities are designed to support community activities and keep our kids active and engaged with each other and our school. During the budget drafting process, school leaders from the East Kingston School District worked hard to present the school board with a fiscally responsible budget for the 2026 2027 school year. Please note in our chart that the majority of increases reflect fixed, non-negotiable costs, including health and dental insurance, transportation, and maintaining highquality staff. In New Hampshire, public schools are funded through a mix of state aid and local property taxes. But state adequacy funding does not cover the real cost of educating students. The Supreme Court recently confirmed it's too low. Around $7,356 per student would be a more realistic minimum, but the legislature hasn't acted. Right now, the
009base grant is in the low 4,000s with extra funds for special education and other needs. Because state funding falls short, local property taxes cover most of the difference, including about 83% of special education costs, which are legally required and tailored to each student. In closing, thank you for taking the time to watch and for hearing the voices that make East Kingston Elementary School such a special place. We hope this gives you a glimpse of the great work happening in our school and the importance of your support as we move forward with the budget process. Please keep these important dates in mind. Public hearing on the budget, Monday, January 12th at 5:00 p.m. in the EKES multi-purpose room. Deliberative session, Saturday, January 31st at 8:00 a.m. in the East Kingston multi-purpose room. And voting day in
010East Kingston, Tuesday, March 10th in the East Kingston Elementary School multi-purpose room. >> Thanks, Principal French. Um, so what I'd like to do is just highlight um, if you could put up the major changes that you had up there, Brandon, please. I want to highlight some of the major changes um, and some of the thought processes by us passing forward this budget. Um, one I want to say out of the gate that there was some some due diligence done um from the school board with the um administration to make sure that our costs stayed as in control as possible based upon what was happening at the state and the health care costs that were going up, our transportation costs that were going up. um and uh some of our salaries for teachers who I applaud
011because they were furthering educating their their education so that they could be more effective. So we have to follow those guidelines and rules and laws that are in place. We do not have control over that cost. Um with that we did ask for um the school to go back and look at some of the other things that we did have control over. >> [clears throat] >> Um, one of those things was um, special ed contracted services. And so that went down over 17K to make sure that we did not have to, uh, contract out special ed teachers coming into the school, that we could do in-house things. That's a huge cost to us. Um we also saw a a great deal of what we would call tier one which is um in tier one we
012have instruction happening in the classroom which cut our cost back down from special ed also because we have something called win which is what I need and it's personalized instruction for all children and because of that we're targeting their needs and that is why we're seeing so much growth and that's happening without our special ed uh processes and that's helped us [clears throat] tremendously. And then also I want to note that um our cont not our contract our writing our reading program is probably one of the biggest growth aspects that we have or had had over the last few years. And uh principal French came to us and asked if we could also supplement that with a writing program. Um and we asked him to go back and look at that because it was going
013to be extremely costly. and he did. He went and it's not even in our budget anymore because they found a grant for it. And I applaud him for doing that because we could have just passed it because the growth of our kids in our school is so tremendous that we want to continue that path. And it's not about the end score. It's about the amount of growth that's happening in the school. And that's really what we want. And I'll second that by saying what's mostly important is that our teachers are really starting to believe in themselves that all kids can learn and therefore that's rolling downhill. And so when that happens our tier one also becomes much more powerful because kids are learning and becoming very intentional about what they're learning. So those costs have
014been forefront. Um the other thing I want to mention is and I've said it for three years now or what is this the third third year is food service like where is that money I don't understand why our cost for food service is so high and so I kept asking and asking and you see in this budget that we they reduced it by six grand and that's important because we have to provide food we have to provide lunch um and and they and the team went back and looked for that. So there were three really big changes that we did have control over that we looked at and so I applaud the school for doing that. Um I want to also say uh in summary that some of the things like health and dental um
015is across the board. It's in every school. It's in you know in every place that we look. Um every district is having the same conversation and so we don't have control over that. Um, I think it's important to think about um how we can work with the state and use our state. The state is where we're having our funding problems when we don't meet the adequacy um at four grand when it should be over seven grand and we have to make up those spaces. That's not at this level, that's at the state level. So, I just want to I want to note not note that for everybody. Uh, anything to add? Did I miss anything? Okay, thank you. Anyone? Okay. Um, at this point we will, um, open up for public comment. Um, again, I'll
016just reiterate that you are addressing um, us here at as the school board. It is comment and input. You will have three minutes. We will time you for three minutes and give you a a 10-second warning and then we will ask you to sit down um just so that everyone's understanding the rules and regs of the game. Thank you. Can >> I I'm Ron Moral of 69 South Road. Um I just like to get a couple of statistics. How many students do we have right now? >> 119. Okay. >> Yeah. in in the number of teachers. >> Um we have four six 12 14 [clears throat] >> classroom teachers. >> Classroom teach classroom teachers. >> Yeah, >> Classroom teachers is eight. >> Is eight. >> Eight. And you have a aids like aids that help
017them too. How many of those do we have? Uh, two, four, >> nine. >> Yeah, I was going to say eight. So, n I'll go with nine. Yep. >> Excuse me. How many? >> Nine. >> Um, the health and dental you mentioned, what how much of a percent do you pay for the teachers and staff? >> Michelle, can I or >> do you know that answer? >> But I believe it's an 8020. >> 8020. >> I I will confirm that for you. >> Okay. [clears throat] When you say 8020, you pay 80%. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> Thank you. That was my questions. >> Yep. >> Hey everybody, my name is Mr. Crevetti or Christopher Creetti. I'm sorry. I'm a teacher. Um, in my regular life, I'm a teacher and I uh been teaching for
018almost 18 years now. >> Chris, I'm sorry. Can you explain what how you're affiliated with Eastston? >> Um, my son and daughter both come here. My son is in kindergarten and my daughter is in second grade. Um, so I would just like to kind of expand on what you said about the reading program. My daughter now reads to me and puts me to sleep every night. [laughter] Um, actually for the past 2 years, so since she's been in first grade, she's been doing this and she reads, uh, you know, third, fourth grade books to me. Um so you guys have done a phenomenal job um with that. My son who has zero interest in learning uh reading, he is now starting to also read books to me. So I just and he's in kindergarten. So
019I also want to say thank you very much. Um, I'd like to to remind the school board that this school and the library are the only two buildings that us as young parents have. And it is very important that we have that in our lives. We come here. I come to basketball every Saturday morning. I go to all the soccer things. um when there's soccer season. It is extremely important. I know that people that have maybe 40 or 50 years out of having children might have forgotten this and might have need to remind them that they put children through school and other people helped pay for their children's education. So that I just think that's a really important thing to state. It is a it's a you have to build and grow and if it
020costs a little money I understand and I understand people are struggling myself I'm I budget my money wisely and I try to make sure I take care of everything that I need to take care of my own way so that's all I wanted to say and thank you very much for giving me I'm trying to be less passionate as I was last time thank you >> Kristen can I answer >> yes please so I just want Correct. That teachers have access to two different health plans. Okay. One plan if they choose it, which is a lowerc cost plan is a 9010 split. >> Okay. >> The other one is an 8515 split. >> Thank you. [clears throat] >> Is that something that's contractually bound? >> Correct. >> Yeah. Yes. That's in our CPA. No wiggle
021room there to try. No. >> No. >> I just like to make one one more comment. I guess we're we're paying so looking at your total budget it's costing us $33,71 per student. Hi, my name is Heather. Um, 76 Burnt Swamp Road. I I have a child that attends here, second grade. Um, I don't know if you can answer this question or not. Um, or maybe one of you that actually had participated in making the budget. When making the budget for a school, can you make a budget based on the cost per pupil? Like, can you sit down and say, "We're gonna make this cost $10,000 per student," or is there more that goes into that than just a per pupil cost? So, if if we were told to budget $10,000 per student, then what
022you're going to end up doing is is your primary cost, your staffing cost. So, you would have to build that budget and decrease your staffing until you attain that cost per student. So, th that's basically the only way that you'd be able to do that. >> And what does that look like when you educate children and you decrease the staff? >> [clears throat] >> If we excuse me a decrease of staff, we would have uh much higher class sizes, many more students in a class. Uh which defeats the purpose of what East Kingston was really built on, which is small small class sizes with individualized instruction. Uh at the same time, we would more than likely be cutting pair professionals who are support staff to uh work with those students who may need a little
023extra boost in an area. uh we're contractually obligated to to uh provide specialized instruction to students with IEPs and provide pair of professional supports to some of our students that are on IEPs. Um but those students, I'm sorry, those staff that don't necessarily work with students that are identified uh would more than likely be cut. Um [clears throat] so, you know, we we don't have much wiggle room with staffing in this building. you know, we we we staff we've very very carefully done over the last 5 years that I've been here. We've been really strategic about looking at our student needs and the number of staff that we have in the building. You know, we we we didn't replace uh classroom teacher last year because our enrollment has gone down slightly. um you know [clears
024throat] it'll be it's it's not something we want to do because uh if our enrollment goes back up in the next few years and we're going to be you know looking at higher class sizes because of that. But we looked at our class numbers over the last few years and we made the decision last year to not fill a position when the retirement happened. >> And sorry one more follow-up question on that. Um if you cut staff to then get a per pupil cost um there seems to be a lot of chatter about um test scores. our test scores seem to have really improved over the past few years. We're above state averages. Um is there a way to determine what that would look like if we then cut the support staff um that help
025that help those kids? >> Yeah. Yeah. >> So I I think it's a twofold question. One is you can't really determine per pupil based upon because of special ed. So it's not per pupil and it's a cut and dry because depending on what the child needs and where they are, special ed costs are very different and are kind of layered or tiered. The second piece is um test scores for us have gone up because in intentional instruction and in one of those examples was what I explained when right what I need. So that's called a a multi-tered support system, MTSS. And when that is in effect and and is healthy, we'll say, when it's working effectively, as we've seen here, um, everyone in the building is in use, everyone, because each kid is getting what
026they need in real time, and that's super important for the growth of of of each student, right? Um, I I I am going to point this out. Um, I think it's really important to understand that when you're in a in an elementary setting like this, when we can create um a system of growth and stop gaps, so gaps of growing are really really critical for kids to be able to function later on in in academic. And one of the things East Kingston has done is really create a space where kids are not gapping. They're creating bridges so that things are connecting and we call that transfer in in education. And so when kids can transfer from one space to another space to another space based on skill sets, they're able to do that. In an
027MTSS system that's healthy can do that. If we have lower staff, we don't have the ability to work with kids where they are. And you'll see that as you go like up to um CMS or to the high school. the whole system changes in MTSS because their needs are different when they get to high school. So cost per pupil doesn't work because you have so many different tangents coming into it. One being the special ed space. >> Can I add something? >> Absolutely. Thank I also I also think it's really important to understand that although it may look like we're spending $33,000 on one student, we're not taking into account that we are responsible for students from the time they turn 3 years old. If they need specialized instruction or special ed services and students
028that attend public charters and they have specialized services that are needed, we are also responsible for that cost. So, we are paying for students that are in this building every single day, K to 5, but we're also responsible for the students that are 3 years old who who need uh specialized services or students that attend public charter schools that need specialized services that do not come here every day. >> Brennon, can I ask a question? Is it fair to say that grants and there's a correlation between the effectiveness of grants that we secure and performance of students and the school? Is is there is there a correlation there? Like if performance was to dip, does that better or lessen our chances of securing grants? >> Without getting into the whole weeds of the process of
029>> it. It depends on the grant but typically um grants are not >> performance based >> correlated with test scores. [clears throat] [snorts] [laughter] Uh Brian Gchan, 53 Haven Road, East Kingston. I have two students in the school. I just really had a budgeting question. I was just, you know, just received this today. Um you know, in 2025 budget, your actuals were like 55k less than budget. Do you guys forecast in 2026 on where you think you're going to be? So you're not budgeting off of like, hey, we we have a budget number, which is the 27 budget, but you know, you're 55k less in 25. I think close to 80k less than what your 26 budget was. I guess I just trying to understand what gets looked at when it comes to that. like
030in 25 you guys had a one-time thing with the facilities which that was 75K. Just trying to understand the process for the budgeting when you look at the actuals obviously being on a fiscal year and how that correlates to building the budget in the future. >> so one of the things I will say in my learning of of budgets uh is we had to keep waiting for the health care um and the insurance to come in. Okay. So every time that we got the budget like in September or October as we were starting to plan, we had to keep waiting for that number to come in uh to make sure that it was going to be there. I I think it's hard for us because >> well I say us it it's it's hard to
031forecast because even in salaries this year we had a bump in salaries for teacher because on their steps they had finished a degree or finished a plus 15. We don't know that that's actually going to happen until they pass in their paperwork or their professional learning is already done. So we can't even forecast that. Right. So I think there's some forecasting. I we can't say that it's you know >> concrete number. >> It's a concrete number because every month every time we got a new >> draft something would change based upon numbers that were now significant versus what they weren't before. I don't know if that answers your question. >> Yeah. I mean I think the fear is over overstating what the need is from what the actuals are. I think that's ultimately what I
032was trying to >> So basically the budgets are based on current need and current staffing. So you know like the insurance so we base the insurance on the people who are on the insurance right now. Now that could change just say a a teacher's spouse gets a great job and he has great insurance. Well we budgeted them for insurance. We can only go by what we know at the time. Even for staffing said we could believe Mary Joe the par profofessional will be here next year and she found a better job and left and now we've hired someone else. So there's always going to be differences in your bud, you know, in your actuals to your budgets. But we do we base everything on the time that we make the budget. >> Understood. That's kind
033of why I was asking about the forecasting for 26 to see if that was Thank you. That's all I had. If we don't have any further comment. I'm I'm going to close public comment and close the meeting. My name is uh Norman Colton. I live at 8 Maple Veil, East Kingston. I have no children in the school. I have four great grandchildren. I am [clears throat] blessed. Even though they don't go to New Hampshire schools, I have one. I'm hoping for a couple more. So what whether you were young got children in the school this is a big cost to all of us we pay a all of us are paying a healthy cost in a healthc care so when we [clears throat] look at when I'm looking at the cost and I'm concerned about
034and everybody is is trying to be whether young old people in the school and I do believe in public education. Our country was founded on that. However, [clears throat] things have not gone well in the last number of years throughout the country as well as it's hitting us in East Kingston. Whether it's our health was the education of the children, special education, transportation, it's all there. So, I know the cost is and it sounds like you're doing a great job. And I was very pleased when I first moved to this community. I'm a refugees from Massachusetts, educated in Massachusetts. And I was pleased when I came to East Kingston because this school has capacity to go much higher than 119. And it was over hundred over 200 I think when I came here. So what
035I'm I'm kind of concerned about and as we are looking at is how to reduce the cost and I saw the if the state is only giving 35 3600 and you need 7 $3,600 you need about $7,000. I I don't understand you know why we're not getting more from the state. But on the other hand I can do something like this. Here's $100,000. Everybody gets a raise. Everybody's happy. We're all going to double, triple the amount of money. What we need to do is reduce the cost overall. That means health care. That means how we're running. And I know what the teachers are doing. I'm in the same thing. [clears throat] I'm in the same thing. You know, if I if I had to live on my pension, I'd have I'd have to be on
036welfare. I don't have it. But I think we need to take a look at the overall cost to get it reduced. And we have to put pressure on everybody. Don't look on more benefits coming from the state. More benefits they can give people subsidies in the into health care. They need we need representatives to put pressure on those who are putting out the money to reduce their cost. And I know we have an inflationary thing. Inflationary is a bad word. It really is reduction of your value of your dollar. And that's that's where I'm we're mostly all suffering from that. So I like what I hear but you [clears throat] got and I know you must be aware that we are concerned about the cost going up up up 5% up it's five more% I
037don't have and it hurt it's really hurting all of us. So keep that in mind cuz we're going to keep the pressure on you back and forth and I do try to watch who I vote for. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Ed Robbins. I live in Cricut Hill. I don't have any children in the school. Um, and I'll explain why in a second. But, um, I wanted this is not comment. This is not this isformational data for you for you all to figure. [clears throat] We all we all got our tax bills recently. I did the math. I learned how to do that in school. We pay 67.5% of our property taxes to the school. Now, I know that includes SAU16, exit, etc. But that's a big chunk of my property taxes. I
038think you could admit that it's like $10 and some change out of 15 and some change. At the same time, I'm a senior. I live in one of the 55 plus communities, which by the way, there are four 55 plus communities in East Kingston comprising a believe 149 homes. We are prohibited by regulation from having anyone and it's zoning regulation. Uh regulation number 11 section 3B states that no one under the age of 55 can be a permanent resident of any 55 plus home. Now, since the state guarantees a K through 12 education, I am legally prohibited from having a school-aged child live in my house. So, I'm legally prohibited from having a child come to this school. I just wanted to let you know that I'm paying 67% of my taxes to something that
039I'm legally prohibited from using. [clears throat] Okay, >> I wasn't going to get up, but now I am. >> Okay, >> I don't know if you can hear me. Jerry Murray, I live at 45 South Road. I have no children in the school. However, I remember raising children in a community like this. [clears throat] This is a bedroom community. You have not do not have enough business to pay your taxes. And that's what you chose. You chose to move here. You chose to live in a 55, an older community. I used to live in one. I moved out. You're restricted in doing a number of things. This is a wonderful school. This is a wonderful community. I moved here because it was like the town I lived in when I first got married. It was
040small, just like this. Small. one school. And what happened back then? The town grew. We went into half sessions. I don't know if any of you had to do that. I went to school in the morning and my sister went in the afternoon. Terrible education. Why? Because the elder people in the community did not want to spend the money on a school. Eventually, they realized they had to do it. [clears throat] Now, we have a wonderful school here. This school was built properly. It's very, very wellmaintained. It has the ability to have a second floor added to it. But the people in East Kingston want to limit building, which is fine. But you, if you're worried about your taxes, you need to start a committee to look to bring clean industry into the town to
041help pay your taxes. There isn't a single town in New Hampshire that does not have a property tax issue. Everybody does because we don't have a sales tax. We don't have an income tax. That's how we survive. If you don't like it, you can leave the state. There are other states you can live in. I'm sorry. That's that's how it is. I've been here 21 years and yes, I moved from Massachusetts. I would never go back there again. >> The word I >> then if you like living here, you budget your money. We know in advance when we go to town meet, not town meeting, deliberative session, we know the tax rates going up. You budget. That's what you have to do. Now, those of people who live in 55, I'm sorry. If you run
042out of money, I'm sorry. You want to help me? I'll help you budget. This school is staying. I don't care what anybody wants. >> Jerry, you have 15 seconds. >> I'm sorry. Thank you. I've I've spoken. You got me angry. I'm sorry. Thank you. [applause] M [clears throat] >> uh Heather Allen, 76 Burns Swamp Road. I can someone help me understand um so we were just told that 67% of our property taxes are the school which he did clarify that that includes the cooperative and the high school. Um does anyone know the the breakdown on what the elementary school is for that or where we could help him obtain that information? Let's see on a tax bill, but I I don't recall what the breakdowns are. It breaks down the >> Oh, I'm sorry. I'm
043ask I'm asking them because I've asked all of you and none of you have answered my question, but my question was to the board. Thank you. >> I don't know if they have it. They should. Hopefully. >> I saw it this morning. >> I will see if I can get on to a site that will give us that breakdown. >> Thank you. Um, Heather, I just want to clarify. Are you looking specifically for East Kingston Elementary's tax contribution, >> not to the SAU16 or to the cooperative? Correct. >> I just feel like if we're going to have it thrown out that we are 67% of the tax bill, what East Kingston, >> what our our specific to East Kingston Elementary is. >> Yes, because it does include other parts of the district. Thank you. >>
044[snorts] [clears throat] >> We're It says 5:41. So, >> I think we'll be allowed. >> Yeah, we have about two more minutes for 30 minutes to be up. >> [cough and clears throat] >> It's right here. I'll be really, really fast. Um, LJ Frank, 67 depot. I have three kids that go to this school. We moved into this town specifically hoping to land in East Kingston for the school and the small uh the attention to education and the um smaller class sizes than say in a town like exit. Um, but I just wanted to say to you, board that I was actually just so impressed hearing about the budget and hearing about the like specifically trying to get the food cost down um, and finding the writing program grant. That to me sounds like a
045lot of effort put in to shave off the areas that you do have control over. So, I just want to say thank you Okay, with that I'm going to close the meeting at 5:43. Thank you everyone for coming and sharing your comments. Greatly appreciated. versus >> we're going to take a five minute break and then we will start our uh regular school board meeting. >> Is new business that would fall under new business? >> We can we can include that in the um >> yeah. >> Okay. Uh good evening everyone. Uh, East Kingston School Board Meeting January 12th starting at 6:00 p.m. Uh, I'd like to uh start public comment which will be 30 minutes. Um, everyone has the ability to make a comment for 3 minutes. At 3 minutes, we will stop uh comment
046uh to let other people comment. Uh we have to approve the minutes from last time. So I wanted to um just make one edit and that is the um the parent who spoke. It's in its uh name audience member. It was the parent who spoke at our board meeting. Um we need to add that parent's name. >> Was that Chris? It it was What's Chris's last name? >> That was Cavatelli. Is it Cavatelli? >> Which one? Uh >> Chris Cetti. Chris >> Chris Crevetti. >> Um I do not know the spelling of that, but I would at least like that to be added to the minutes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Um any other comments on on the minutes from last meeting? >> No. >> Okay. I need a motion, please. >> Motion to approve
047the minutes from December 8th meeting. >> Second. All in favor? >> I [clears throat] uh I'm looking for my agenda. >> Central office update. Superintendent. >> Central office update. >> Thank you. I have a handout for you. These these are the assessment scores that I believe you asked for at the last meeting. So the highlighted assessment scores are East Kingston's and then uh this is a a form that we've created so that you can see the proficiency scores for the other elementary schools in SA16. Um I would also point out that the New Hampshire Department of Education has a great website, the I platform website where you can go on um find it's called I report. You can type in any school or any school district in New Hampshire and they provide a really nice
048breakdown of the proficiency scores, growth, achievement. Uh there are a lot of different things you can look at there. So if you really wanted to dig into um to East Kingston a little bit more or to other schools in the district, that would be a great resource for you and I'm happy to walk you through that at any time. Any questions about that? No, thank you. >> And then just given our focus on budget, I will defer the rest of my time to our finance office. And uh I know we have a lot to talk about. >> Good evening. So in your board packs, you received um the status of our current financial. So, at the end of our last meeting, we had remaining uh budget of $242,958. This month, we spent or encumbered an
049additional $42,449. Um the majority of that was filling one of our open aid positions. We also had some special ed services, um some health insurance buyouts which are part of the CBA and just some other expenses. So, we also have some additional uh revenue more than planned of $3,270, which brings us to a projected ending balance of $23,779. Does anyone have any questions? >> What is the revenue from? >> Um, I believe it was. So we I'm not sure if you know what that is or so if we buy um computer equipment and certain things like that um there's a program that gives we get a return a percentage return on that. >> So I have a question. >> Go for it. Um, so I'm wondering what happens to this money at the end of
050the operating budget. So if we project that we're going to have $218,000 at the end of the budget, what are our options that we can do with that money? So, [sighs and gasps] the options are you could uh create a warrant that would go on the ballot if you wanted to take some of your ending fund balance and put it into one of your current trust funds. Um the other opportunity is is if you get to the end of the year um and had a project that needed to be done and it could be done over the summer um and it fits certain requirements um then you could make motions in your May and or June meeting to complete those using the fund balance that you do have. There are requirements for what it cannot
051be used for also, but you can use it for certain ones. >> And we can't use the end balance to help subsidize this year's budget. >> No. So, so in other words, you can't say, "I have $100,000 left in June of your this year's budget, and you can't say,"I want to prepay a teacher." You can't do that. Okay? >> You can't I can't say, "I'm going to prepay the health and dental insurance." You can't do that. What you can do is if you have a project, if your playground equipment broke and you needed to replace that, um, or pave a parking lot or something like that, as long as you approve it as a board, get quotes and have a purchase order done for that, then you could do that. >> But to but to
052move it into a trust, we'd have to >> motion for a warrant article now. >> Correct. That's the only way that you can continue to fund a trust >> and that would secure that some of this money would go to this to specific one of the specific trust that we wanted it to to make sure that we'd have that money >> in the future. >> Yep. >> Okay. Um I can talk freely, right? >> So So we have four trusts. We have uh the sergeant trust, special ed, the maintenance trust >> and retirement trust. Um I I think because of the landscape that's happening out there right now, um I would recommend putting putting some money in the special ed trust in for the rainy days that we don't know that are coming. Um I
053I think The sergeant fund helps us with the m like helps us with freak projects that come up that we have that available to us. How much money do we have in Sergeant? Do we know? >> It's right on your board pack. Sergeant has 218,399 currently. [clears throat and cough] So, so I I I would strongly consider putting some money in the special ed fund. Um, and I would also think about maybe putting some money in the school maintenance fund, but I don't know how you two feel about that. >> Yeah. I mean, I in terms of priorities, I think those are the two that would make the most sense. >> So, would that be two separate warrant articles if we wanted to motion for that or one? >> Correct. Yep. >> Okay. >> And
054the order that you place it on on the ballot is the order that they would be funded in. >> Is there a particular one that allows us more flexibility than say the special education? >> Can you ask that question? Is there uh one trust in particular that provides us with more flexibility over one of the others? >> Um I'm not sure what you totally mean by flexibility. Basically, the maintenance fund would allow you to do maintenance for the building and special ed would only allow you to fund special ed expenses, especially if they are unanticipated. >> Okay. But the sergeant fund could be used for it. So the sergeant fund is not I don't believe that you can fund that. >> So we can't add we can't add money to it. >> I don't think
055you can add money to it. I think that was the table that was >> okay. >> So so knowing the landscape right now I I would personally like to put uh put a warrant article espec for special ed. Um, I don't know if you want to do two and put some some funds in maintenance or retirement, but for me the priority would be special ed so that our school would have the ability if and when um we get an unexpected, we have the ability to service um any child that comes here. >> Yeah. I mean, I think from a maintenance standpoint, I think um creating a bit more of a cushion there would be a smart thing to do >> also, >> especially if we're in a position that we are right now to do.
056So, >> can the principal make a comment on this? >> Sure. Thank you. Yes, I I would agree with both of you with that. Um the special ed would take priority right now. And uh I I also think you know over the over the next uh you know few years we should also take a look at at maintenance um of adding something yearly to the maintenance [clears throat] trust also. So the number that we're working with Michelle is that is that 203779. That's where we stand today. But as you see every month we are we are using budget. [clears throat and cough] If you look at the bottom box that we provide for you, we're showing you the what has what your ending fund balances has been in the previous five or six years. >>
057So that gives you some kind of an idea of what you have had left. Do do we have any for pred predictability about what what's coming up >> between now and >> between right between now and and and the fiscal end of the year. Well, I mean we do request of all the schools that they budget for everything that they do know that is happening and that when they have an expense that is a year-long expense that they bud they encumber for the entire year but as we all know >> when do you when do you ask for like last call [clears throat] >> um >> you like is it June 1st like try to get everything in? >> No, April. April. April, >> we we we close the purchase order process on April break,
058>> okay? >> Which allows us time to get ready for audit and get the books as clean so that in your May and June meetings, we're giving you the best information of what you're going to [clears throat] have left at the end of the year. You know, as we all know, things things happen, but um that's why we close it at that point and then we begin the cleaning process. So, >> one more question for me. So, if we're looking at two potential warrant articles, >> um, one for special ed, one for maintenance, say we did up to 100 grand for special education and up to 50 grand for maintenance, >> but in those past, but then when it came time that balance was say below 100 grand total, how would that then be split
059since it's not necessarily equal? So, so again using your scenario, you've done a warrant article for 100,000 for special ed, a warrant article for 50,000 for maintenance, right? So, if you end the year with 65,000, it's the first warrant article is >> that would go to is funded 100% with what you do have available and therefore the second warrant article would not be funded. Got it. >> Okay. [clears throat] >> Okay. And and just for education, what if we did nothing and whatever's left over, where does that go? >> So if you if you do not have any warrants for trust, then your ending fund balance with whatever you determine at the end of the year you need to do um goes back to offset people's taxes in the next year in that November, it's
060part of that tax calculation. >> Okay. So basically the the way that works because I I see some thinking over there. So say let's make this really easy. Say your budget was $100,000. Okay. So when you think about it, you're asking the taxpayers to to receive an assessment of $100,000 forgetting any other things. If you have $35,000 left at the end of the year, then their assessment is going to be like $65,000. So, it's basically funding and that that's all taken care of and determine when they when they determine your tax rate. And it seems like the last four or five years, nothing has been warranted to go back. It's all gone back to the the town. >> So when I looked at your warrants, I went all the way back to 2021. Your warrant
061on in 21 was to dissolve the renovation trust that had been here in East Kingston to add on to the building. >> Okay. Um, so that trust was dissolved and the special ed trust and the retirement trust were created. So they took that money from the dissolution of that big trust and they funded the special ed trust and the retirement trust and put some additional money into the maintenance trust. That's the last time that there [clears throat] has been a trust warrant. So, I know it's hard to determine a specific number, I think, where we would like these trust to be, but um I mean, I do like the idea of prioritizing special ed a little bit for maintenance and then potentially giving something back to the taxpayer. I think just based on conversations that
062we've been having with town folk, I think that would be um a good approach to consider. >> Can can you do that though? Like if we decide we're going to go up to $100,000 for the special ed and we end up with 80,000 and that's what it's get funded 100%. Nothing goes back to the taxpayer. >> The correct the 80 the 80,000 or whatever special number it is goes back. At least if you're the way that I [snorts] look at it is we're prioritizing three potential things, right? Special ed, maintenance, something back to taxpayer. >> Great. >> Yeah. And what some of the districts will do is is kind of getting the voters used to seeing those trust warrants. So instead of going big, they go small but consistent. So 25 to, you know, I'm
063not saying what you need to do, >> 25 for special ed, 10 and but they make it consistent so they see them every year >> until [clears throat] you get to a level that you're you're >> you're good with. >> So do we have to make that motion tonight to create the warrant? Okay. >> Yes. >> And set the amount. Okay. um >> up to amount. >> And we also need you to make a motion to actually pass the pass >> the warrant budget, >> right? >> The the proposed or any changes that you're going to make to the warrant. [clears throat] So, I I actually like the idea of going small and consistent uh and making it part of the next couple of years to build up the special ed rather than giving it
064a big chunk. But I think that that needs to be a a commitment to making sure that that happens every year. Um, and again, I I go back to not that I don't want to give taxpayers their money back, but it's going to be pennies in some of those spaces is my guess. Uh, what will be more hurtful is that if we do have an influx of special kids and we have to pay and we don't have that cushion, correct, to pay for them, the budget will, my guess, Brandon, will be exorbitant at that point. Right. So, I I would I would uh like us to consider doing up to 50K for special ed and up to 25K for maintenance. Um, >> make a motion. >> Oh, I'll make that motion. Unless there's a different
065number like I'm I'm throwing numbers out there. >> I'm comfortable with that. >> Uh, Brandon, do you have a thought process on how much you you want to go big and go home or do you like the consistency? >> Consistency. [clears throat] >> Okay. So, so I'm going to make a motion to put two warrant articles. Um, one being up to 50K for special ed and one up to 25K for the maintenance trust. >> And and if you So, there's two ways to find >> a second before we can discuss. >> We just need a second so we can discuss. >> Second. >> So, if you can just word that because there's two ways you could fund a trust. You can fund it from your fund balance at the end of the year. So we
066would include that wording in the warrant or you could fund it to be appropriated on top of your school budget. So if I could just ask you to tweak that motion to say that you want that those to be from end of year fund balance. >> I think that sounds better. >> It's the end. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. We don't want it on top of we definitely want the end end balance. Uh so the warrant one would be for the special ed trust fund at end balance up to $50,000. And the second warrant would be for the maintenance fund uh for 25,000 >> Funded from the end balance >> Up to 25,000. Yep. I see that. >> Yep. Thank you. >> Okay. >> Do I need to resc those motions? >> Yeah. >> Second. >> All
067in favor? I >> I >> So the second thing we need to vote on is the budget. >> Is the budget. >> Okay. So, and we need to So, if you look at the front page, we also we need to have a motion for the entire 4 million 10,428 because we need to make sure that we are appropriating for the grants. Now, the grants because we're moving them from SAU to each of the individual districts. This does not have any tax impact on the voters because it is it whatever you spend you get back in revenue just as the same thing with food service but we still have to ask for the entire appropriation to be able to even spend what we need on the grants >> and is that something we can explain at
068deliberative? >> Absolutely. [clears throat] >> Okay. >> I think that's important. So the the 27% tax change is that that's the actual impact that >> so it's 27 cents. So >> okay >> so what we're asking for >> with the general fund increase is it will impact voters taxes potentially as long as revenues remain the same. We don't have a swami hat. Sorry. um by 27 cents per thousand. >> Thousand, right? Yeah. Okay. >> Right. >> And that's the actual impact if the budget is passed. >> Correct. >> Okay. Got it. Thank you. >> Um any other questions on the budget? >> No. >> We've looked at that. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, I motion to pass article one, the operating budget. >> Second. >> All in favor? I >> in the amount of 4,10,428.
069>> Thank you. [clears throat] >> Did they vote? >> You voted. Yes, >> we did. Yep. Yep. Um any other central office information? >> No, we're good. Thank you. Okay. Principal's report. >> Uh, >> yep. It's going to be pretty short today. Uh, se semester 1 ends this Friday. Uh, report cards will be sent electronically on the 30th of this month. Enrollment [clears throat] numbers are still at 119. 24 kindergarten, 18 1st grade, 18 2nd grade, 26 3rd grade, 21th grade, and 12 fifth grade. Our susical uh kids is coming up March 20th and 21st. And the facilities update I don't have for you at this time. So I'll talk more about it at the February meeting. >> February meeting. Okay. Okay. Um >> Yep. So, we'll update um on >> goals. Thank you. Uh
070I'm going to go through policies. We had um [snorts] not many this time around. Uh so, just follow along with me, Alison. Make sure I get these. Um so this policy policy code J L I A uh supervision of students was a renew uh it sorry it was a revision of the current policy. Um the revision reflects updated definitions of what school property is um as defined in the revised minimum standards the 306s. Um additional uh revisions were made to make language more concise. Um policies to withdraw were GCSA and that was employee employee computer and internet use. Um it's been replaced by GBF and policy uh GCSA-R was alo also withdrawn um and that's the employee computer um use in the rules and that was replaced by GBF and SAU16 procedures. There's one more
071here. I am ah daily physical activity. >> Yep. Hold on. I'm getting there. Thank you. Um >> I know it's wonderful. Um so co- policy code BEDH uh public input at board meetings. Uh this was uh a discussion following his update, right? So there were no ch e key no revisions um to Brentwood policy. So we're following Brentwood's policy, >> right? And we I just just if I can jump in quickly, we just included that particular policy in the brief because every district was a little bit different and we just um we had for a little bit further discussion at policy committee. So we're all set here. You've already approved this policy, but it's just for your information. >> Great. Thank you. um policy GBF and that was the internet that was the revision to
072the internet that's daily physical activity and that was a revision um the revision uh was from the SAU wellness committee with the responsibility of monitoring implementation of this policy and recommending recommendations to the board accordingly. This is required by law. So um that has be been put into place. I think I have them all. Yep. Yep. Cool. Um, uh, superintendent, I'm just going to skip to superintendent evaluation update. >> Approve to approve those. >> Oh, sorry. I'm sorry. Um, so approve the new policies stated. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I done. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Sorry. Um, no updates on super. We we should be meeting um as evaluation team in the upcoming week or two. Uh when I reported last time we spoke, they were starting the 360. My guess is
073that they're through the 360 right now um and collecting data. Um in April, uh they will need a new representation for the superintendent's eval um which is a really important committee. So, um, just something to start thinking about. >> Um, no updates on safety and security at least that I've seen in terms of scheduled the next meeting. Um, Alison, I don't know if you have any idea when that might be. I know it's probably going to be a little bit further out, but >> I feel like I've seen an invite. >> It was went out. It went out the other day. Paul, >> did I miss it? >> Uh, it is. >> We just got it. Yep. >> Oh, here >> the 22nd of this month. So, next week, next. >> Oh, okay. 22. Sorry,
074I missed It was over Christmas break, [clears throat] but it went up. Um, so meeting on the 22nd. Sorry. Um, strategic planning committee. [clears throat] Uh, we're going to be Chris has us a handful of us presenting on the, uh, during the joint meeting on the 26th. Uh, we're going to be, uh, going through some slides where we'll update everybody across the, uh, boards, across the district, um, during that session. you get a sense as to where we are with rolling that out and making that information available to the public. So, >> okay. And schoolboard goals. Um, [clears throat] well, we just had a beautiful update on our goals and success in East Kingston Elementary School. So, congratulations to the school on that. Um I think this week we're in I already testing correct so
075we'll have more data to come >> community engagement. >> Um so I had some conversations with some community members in regards to some suggestions and ideas. Um but outside of that nothing really to report on. any any update from SST on springtime stuff working for uh the community park? >> It's still the plan to have it ready to go once we >> Okay. >> melt the snow and get get >> get out there. Okay. Um [clears throat] great. >> Uh capital improvement plan. Um no major updates to report there, Brandon, unless there's anything that you and I haven't had a chance to connect about. Yeah, >> I think uh school's in good shape. So, >> okay. Uh old news that needs to come up. New news. Um, the only thing I'd like to add for
076new news is, um, the library is sponsoring a career and volunteer fair on January 24th to really encourage East Kingston community members to really think about volunteering or sharing their career. Um, we desperately need community members to um be become part of the community through civic service. I'll say um school board, running for school board, running for town offices, running for civic service, you know, the voting um is super important for the for this town to flourish and and we need people to to really be uh not just the same crew all the time. We need different perspectives and we need people to to really share um what they know and their knowledge with everyone. So, with that, um, on January 24th, um, I I think it would behoove, um, the school board to get
077a table or booth to to see who might be interested to to get people to think about running for school board at any given time, not just this upcoming election, but any given time. Um, and I would also shout out to for our selectman offices that are going to be open, too. Um, it it's really important. So um you know a director of the library is is trying hard. She needs volunteers at the library also. She needs uh friends of the library the board for her. Um so it's just an opportunity to to kind of showcase what what different civ civic jobs there are out in the community. So shout out to Zoe and her staff. >> Kirsten, I had one under one other thing under new business. That's all right. I just included, we
078included in your packet the passenger van memorandum of agreement [clears throat] between the co-op and this is for other district use. So if you have any questions or any feedback, certainly let me know. But this was really just a FYI for you to take a look at. >> Shuffling through all my papers. Yeah, sorry. >> It's right here. He's at the bottom packet. >> Do we we don't have an East Kingston Elementary van, right? So, this is really it's >> something that we could use, right? Um, >> I think the idea is if there was a need for one, this is an opportunity that we could >> train someone and make sure that they're >> or work with the co-op. >> Co-op. Okay. [snorts] >> Yeah. Because this is it's it's basically what it says
079is it's ran through the co-op. >> Okay. So, >> it's permitting the district. >> You need us to vote on that or was just a point of reference? >> Perfect. Okay. Thank you. >> Any anything else? Okay. Um, I'm going to close our meeting at 6:33. [clears throat] Thank you everyone.