001I'd like to call the New Fields uh elementary school board uh meeting for May 7th to order at 6:00 on the button. All right. Welcome. Um I also want to make sure we uh acknowledge uh the public. We will open up public input for at least 30 minutes. Um and so Mike, if you want to say anything now, please feel free. Otherwise, um raise your hand. let us know if you want to participate. Thank you. Nothing immediately know. Yeah. Thank you. Um All right. So, the first order of business is to um review the minutes and see if we have any updates or edits to them real quick. The only thing that I saw, Jean, and I I don't know if anybody else remembers um the unidentified audience member, was that Rachel? I can't remember
002who it was who mentioned this was on the public input on the um regular meeting on section unidentified audience member gave some input. No, that was the I think that was the one you were talking about. Yeah. And I but I can't remember if that was Rachel um or not and I don't want to we can I guess leave it as unidentified if you remember who it was. I don't remember. Okay. Okay. So that's probably good to leave it. Okay. It's a good call though. But other than that it looked really good. Again, kudos to our secretary who makes these meetings. They're minutes thank you wherever you are. They're very efficient and um clear. Um Brian, you have any edits? Okay. Okay. Um and then how about the uh non-public minutes? [Applause] Um yeah, those
003are fine cuz they're pretty big. Yeah. All right. So, I'll make a motion to accept the minutes as presented for both the public and non-public minutes from April 2nd. Seconded. Awesome. All in favor? Beautiful. Rolling along. And that's an awesome I'm going to try to have this meeting be efficient as possible. Uh, which is always a good goal for all of us. I think we all appreciate it. Chatty Cathy. We are. But, um, so the next item is, uh, business. So, Molly, we have the manifest of financials. Yes. So, um, manifests are somewhere down there. It's being signed. You can just pass them back to us when we're done. Thank you. Um, I we did prepare a current year financials. So, in your board package, we did add $32,000 from the previous month. Um, I
004did put all of the numbers on there as to what it was for. Um, I still did not close out is it air handles? Is that disorder? So, that's still in there. So, you might see a a size reduction next month if we are able to talk with Rusty and Yeah, we've been reviewing it. I know Susie and I have discussed it. Um, I think the biggest thing that's holding me back from relinquishing the funds is that we have yet to have a really hot and humid day. It's not just it's the warmer temps, but especially the humidity and the rain. And I'm okay not releasing it before the June meeting because this this meeting happened very early in the month and we have to prepare the board pack a week before that which then
005takes time to do. Um but one thing what we do in our our office as well as the first meeting next year we say okay this is what we presented in June. This is how we actually finish and kind of go over that delta. So you might see a larger than normal delta because if we're able to successfully close it out later um that would really be the only thing. But come June 30th, um if there's not a solid reason to encumber the funds, we would have to release it at that time. Okay. I think that sounds Yeah, that sounds totally reasonable. We've got one whole month to make a decision. So more likely than not, I probably won't release it before June. It's just just so you're aware and you're not like Molly, what
006is this big delta on your actual year report versus the June financial? That would that would be the main thing. Okay. Um but you also might see a little bit of supply uptick next month because this financial again had to be prepared a few weeks ago and so we always tell everyone that please have all your purchasing in the Friday before April vacation. Um assuming that they knew that they can be able to do it by then plus we have to have time to clean up the books. So, you might have seen a little last minute purchasing in the next financial that didn't make it into this one. Okay. But did anyone else have any questions? Um, I was just curious. Um, I don't know if if we if we don't know the detail, that's
007fine. Um, I love books. I love we made a big purchase of books. Do we have Is that for the library or is that for new curriculum material? Yep, that's for curriculum. the things that were spent um especially the books, the access points, projectors, um those things were things that I had held off on because we had that 30,000 and so I put pause on anything, okay, that absolutely could. I was nervous we were going to have to spend that. Yeah. And then now that we're getting closer, we need we need those projectors. Like all of these projectors are outdated and so I took the gamble that we're going to be okay. Okay. So that's why you saw those big numbers this late in the game. Perfect. That's the only question that uh the only
008thing we had very small questions. One was um the legal expenses, school district legal expenses. Um is that from SAU or is that from New Fields? That's from New Fields. Okay. We had some questions about this the actual property ownership here um based on the three plots. So that's what that's from. Okay. Okay. That that whole entire line is from that. [Applause] Um so I believe that was an incumbrance change. So I don't think we've actually had the actual legal bill. Okay. Yes. So, it's just a chain in the encumber cuz it the 1,500 since it's a flat pretty even number that leads me to believe that one of the admin assistants put in an encumbrance because as soon as we know there's going to be an expense we put in a purchase requisition. So,
009it's probably since it's such a even number, it's probably just not paid yet. Yeah. Jam, which line was that? Right here. Clarifying that, Molly. Yeah. So, it's H2. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, that one. I was just curious because that one just Yeah, I circled it too. So, go ahead. No, no, go ahead. Um, it's that. So, it was the property clarification as well as the the clarification that we needed regarding the deliberative session and the bond hearing and whatnot. Okay. So, it was essentially the legal representation at the at the deliberative and bond hearing and all the things that were surrounded that. Yes. Okay. Cool. Awesome. Okay. Cool. And then you just explained my other question. And we have a private tuition. There was an incumbrance for that. Is that expected to continue into next
010year? I'm assuming that's going to be recurring, but I'm that that's an assumption that So, it's on page one kind of a quarterish the way down. A little more than a quarter of the way down. The one with the big percentage. Yeah, the one with the big percentage. It's not much, but I don't know if that's a monthly reoccurrence because it's late in the year or if it's something that we should be watching out for next year. I'll let Susie speak to that and maybe we might need to look into it a bit more. Okay. Sometimes it is tuition for um a preschool student with disabilities. Okay. Um might be an example of that. So we'll look into it more. Yeah, that is that's one example. Okay. But we'll get you the specifics. Cool. Usually
011the tuition does come from the preschool, right? But we'll have to look at or high school and middle school. No, because that would be from the co-op to take care of that. Molly, can I just ask um just a process question because um I was about to ask and then I realized maybe I'm missing um an understanding of one of the lines. Is there an easy way to know if that like an encumbrance like that for example was in the previous month's thing without having to look back? Uh so that's what this this page would tell you the first one. this here in the top leftand corner. This is the changes from the prior month whether it's an incumbrance or an actual expense. Got it. Okay. So, sorry. Yeah. So, if it didn't change in
012the upper leftand corner, then most likely it was the same the current. Got it. Okay. And usually I use $1,000 as a threshold. So, I I try to list everything up to $1,000 and then let it fall to the all other if it's under $1,000 and you're in the small school living fields. That's helpful. Okay. Any other questions? No, I'm good. Um I I'm assuming we're going to talk about the um last page. Yes. Okay. Brian, do you have any questions in the back? Okay, perfect. Um so that is that and you got the signed manifest. Uh yeah, thank you. Perfect. Any other financials besid before we get to general assurances. Okay. Okay. Um the next item is general asurances. Ellen, can you maybe just introduce the idea of the general asurances? Sure. What the
013general and Molly can chime in too as well. What the general asurances are are asking the superintendent and the board chair to sign off. um basically acknowledging a lot of the requirements for participation in federal programs um which are basic which are grants when it comes to how this impacts school district budgets. Um so some of the requirements such as knowing what is what are allowable costs um what are the you know grant reporting requirements um some of the other stipulations such as FURPA you know the educational uh privacy rights of students. So those are examples of what is included in federal grants and some of the restrictions and the parameters surrounding the federal grants. So, it's an acknowledgement that we are made aware of those stipulations that come with receiving federal grant monies. Perfect.
014Thank you. You're welcome. Um, so this is my first year as a board chair. So, this is my first year I've been asked to sign this. So, I did ask some questions about it because I wanted to understand. Um, and as I understand it, it is um the the uh task of the board chair to sign after having um discussed it sort of at a meeting, but it's not something that really gets voted on. But um I did just want to share with uh the rest of the board. I'm prepared to sign off on this document uh if the members of the board um are in agreement with the decision. And I just want to give context because I again hadn't really thought or understood really um the amount of dollars that we're talking about.
015So for context, our allocation of federal funding this year are the seven grants that we have here amounting to almost $95,000 which is about it's not quite 3% of our FY25 operating budget. Um which is around 3 and a4 million. These grants are federal dollars that directly support our students in the way of special ed, professional development, other things um for our teachers and a budget that's as lean and fiscally responsible as ours, I think a loss of 3% can be pretty serious. Um, based on my conversations with uh the superintendent's office and legal advice, um, I am confident that we're in compliance with the assurance requirements and federal law and I'm prepared to sign off on this document and u, I would also recommend that and plan on submitting a separate cover letter explaining
016that I certify compliance um, with the asurances and the federal law to the extent that um, there's no mitigation from court orders or injunctions, but I did not want to unilaterally give the impression that we as a school board, nor my I myself fully um support and or agree with every document referenced in the general asurances document. Um not only my opinion is the language in some of the uh referenced new executive orders imprecise and vague, I think it's also uh at times divisive and intentionally being used to harm already marginalized and vulnerable populations. At SE16, our motto is you belong here. Elements in these executive orders represent an ideology uh that in many ways is antithetical to our stated motto of inclusivity. Uh Dr. Asbel concluded in her April 16th letter to the community.
017At SU16, we have a commitment to dignity, opportunity, and excellence for every learner. And this commitment is what good teaching, good leadership, and strong communities require. That being said, I want to consult with the other two board members here about the decision that I initial and sign this document on behalf of the Newfield School Board. Um, and I just want to give an opportunity for folks to have questions or comments from the board about me doing so. I think I said, so on that report that's in front of you, um, grants run more than one year. So you're going to see that's not necessarily your annual amount on that report. It's all active grants today. So some start in September and end in September. It doesn't follow our fiscal year. So those are all the
018active grants today. Um the only one that is in addition to that is reap which falls outside of the grant management system. Okay. So I guess to that point, my adding up the numbers to get 95,000 isn't quite accurate for the year. It's it's what you have active today. Sure. So some unfortunately it's still a valid dollar amount. It's still a valid dollar amount. It's just it doesn't follow the fiscal year cycle. So as you see on the report it does have start and end dates and it's not July to June. So to that extent the percentage is probably not the most accurate. Yeah. A number of these at least one of them ends before the end of the school year next year. Three of them end in September. So that would be in the
019middle of the school year next year or the beginning of the school year next year. Sorry. Um one ends actually I think the wellness one ends at the end of this month. Yep. Yeah. So our intention was on that report to let you know everything you're entitled to. I was very thankful to see this because I actually it was a question that I think was on our mind. Yeah, it was specifically after the joint coordinator and then just reap falls outside. Pardon me. The reap grant falls outside of GMS. Okay. So that's our grants management system. Yeah. What I know it falls outside of it, but what is the impact on our budget? REAP is super tiny. Do you know how much grant? It's usually 15,000. Okay. Oh yeah. So it's about 15,000 for the
020year this school year. Okay. And for the ones that are expiring either in this fiscal year or in ne next fiscal year, are we expecting, and I know that's a hard word, expecting to get these grants again into the new fiscal year. So, for example, some of them. So, so first of all, the wellness grant, that's the grant that that our team put together. We don't usually have that. Um, that was outside of IDA and title 2 and title 4. Do you know what I'm talking about? Our our team went sought out and and um secured that grant. So, that's finishing this year. Um, the um we do I mean we depend on these. they make a big impact. It's not to say that we couldn't do it, but a lot of the professional development
021comes out of this. Um, most of our professional development. Yeah. So, as I said, I just wanted to make sure we had this conversation rather than me blindly signing this thing. Not that it would be blindly, but it would be I don't even remember us doing this last year, and I'm sure we discussed it at the board. The typical process is that we inform the board of these asurances and then the board chair signs off on it. This is this is a a typical year. I would say my input is that I support everything that you said including the SAU stance on you know inclusivity and ensuring that yes we are in compliance. um with everything. So I yeah completely support you signing it and your statement. Perfect. Thank you. No, I agree and I
022I was one of the few that have voted against it, you know, and I really felt strongly that um since then some of the wrongs have been right as far as moving forward and I appreciate the superintendent stance on that and that we're not doing anything outside of the ordinary because it should that's how it should be treated. Okay. And we are waiting for uh the legal guidance. Our attorney will draft that cover letter to accompany all of the asurances for all of the boards here in SU60. That's really appreciated. Thanks for doing that. Yeah, of course. And again, I not to make this um a little heavy. I just wanted to make sure we had that that space in the conversation. So, I'm happy. Do I have to do it right now? Is it
023You do not have to do it right now. You can, but you don't have to. Um so, I will plan on doing that. Beautiful. Okay. Awesome. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Um, next principal report and I don't know that do we want to think about excusing Molly? Oh, that's a very good point. Um, let me take a look. Um, I Molly was any of the just take a look at the policies. These were not anything financial student centered policies. Um, move facilities school. Did you had a comment about the I no? No, but I don't think it's necessary right now. Okay. I think. Well, I think if you would like to jet, enjoy the maybe lack of rain right now. I can't tell what it's doing. Yeah, once we get the brief lapse. The
024brief laps. Yeah. Perfect. Awesome. Thank you, Susie. Principal. Thank you, Molly. Sure. Take it away. Um just a few highlights. Um we've had a lot of um celebrations of learning. Ryan has been to a couple, so he can attest to the quality of those. Um, first and foremost, before I even get started on that, this is teacher appreciation week. Yes. Um, I just want to take a moment to state how dedicated and um, exceptional I think our teachers are here at Newfields and that it's a really strong team and I'm um, really fortunate to be part of that team. Today's also school nurse appreci spoiled the teachers throughout the week with gifts and a lunchon on Friday. Um it we have started testing season um and we are trying to uh balance the seriousness of
025that and and students showing what they know along with um putting some playfulness to it. So, every day when they come in, there's some type of um treat on their desk u from their cheer squad, which I have explained to them is not just their current classroom teacher, but all of their classroom teachers up to this point. Um including uh Miss Worth, the counselor, myself, the nurse that we are one in cheering them on. Um do we want to do the calendar? Is that Yes, please. Okay. So, we'll do the calendar in just a minute. The last thing before we do the calendar um is just that I am um performing reverse interviews right now which is where I take 15 minutes to spend with each faculty member and staff member. Um I ask them
026four questions. One is what went really well this year? Uh what went sideways in their mind? Um what assets am I not using in their skill set? um that that maybe could be used and then any other things reflective pieces that they have. And already um it's been a it's just a great thing for me to collect that feedback. Once I have all the feedback, I look at threads that I see and and I report out on that to the whole staff. Um we have the calendar that you guys looked at, but I think that you have to approve it this time. So just last time you reviewed it. This is for to make a motion to approve the changes from the last time. Okay. Brian, did you get a chance to see this? I
027can't remember if this happened before. It was at the last meeting. It was okay. So yeah, it was reviewed briefly. Triangles are new. The triangles are half days. So student le conferences um are what most of those are. Oh, okay. I just wanted to say it because we just finished the spring break from this last year. I I actually forgot that we had spring break so late in the year. Um it's I'm not making any suggestions to alternate alter it, but it's just so wild to me that it's so late in the year and then that school is almost the school year is almost done. by the time you return. I know. But yeah, I don't have any questions or thoughts. I make a motion to accept it as presented. Okay. All in favor? I
028thank you. This will get posted shortly. So, cool. Thank you. And this doesn't differ too significantly at all than others other than maybe the early. Yeah, we all worked on them. Yeah. As a large group. Thank you. Anything else? Yay. You have any questions? Perfect. Um, so um my suggestion was to put the policy committee so committees are next. Put the policy committee last of the committees because it takes a long time. Although I also want to acknowledge that we have um our new committee, the school safety project advisory committee that I would like to propose next month. we actually move into the committee section. Um, and we can actually do well, I don't know if we can do that since I don't think that's a big deal to do that under committees tonight as
029well. I'm only saying that because Susie um I'd love to have your um want to talk about um the safety committee and part of that. So um Okay. So if that's Jane, do you want to Sure. Mine's going to be really fast. Okay. So, let's do strategic planning. Or which which one are you on? Doesn't matter. Oh, I am strategic planning. All right. No, I'm sorry. I'm strategic planning. But we didn't meet. What? We didn't meet. We're good. Okay. So, I mean, there's no meeting. Not yet, we meet towards the end of the month, the 22nd. Okay. Sorry. I'm sorry. Uh, superintendent evaluation committee. Um, so they met uh you all met. I I excuse myself because I wasn't here for the the year and I felt like it was more um uh reasonable for
030you folks to sit and participate in that. Um and so moving forward, I'm I'm happy to to take over now that I'm Okay, beautiful. Safe and security. We have not met I don't think there's another meeting until next school year. Okay. Nothing's scheduled yet. So it'll be scheduled once Chris chase Okay. Yes. So then if it's okay, I think it would be awesome to skip down to what's um under right now it's under 9.2 old business the school safety project advisory committee. Y um and then next month we'll plan to have that be as part of the committee. Sweet. Beautiful. All right. So um Jane, Susie, whoever wants to give an update update, but I mean we have one of our members here. Two actually cuz Susie, well three since Ellen, I did not mean
031to do that. That's quite but we met yesterday. Um everybody uh but one member was able to attend which is great. I had some really good discussions and questions on um what's happened so far. Um I gave them as much context as I could as well as resources. We um decided on the next couple of meetings. So, we're going to meet again on the 21st um kind of in preparation to um for the next board meeting. Um we have a chair and a vice chair for the meeting and a secretary. Um and the chair and vice chair will meet to kind of set the agenda, figure out what we need to work on, and um we plan a meeting for about an hour. The couple of takeaways from the meeting were pretty simple. Um, everyone
032is going to try their best to see what the drop off and or pickup situation is and kind of view that um in person and a lot everybody in the committee. Yeah. Everybody in the committee um some of them are parents anyway. Yeah. But like anybody who isn't a parent to see that drop off pickup routine, see and get an opinion and really see what's happening and some of the concerns the temporals raised. Um I mean my my video and photos didn't No, I really I tried not you know I think that's a great No, I think it's a good thing for people to see it when school's in and um you know busy day, rainy day, whatever um should be helpful. So, those are the couple of takeaways that we have from the meeting
033and then um I'll kind of report back next time on what um we're going to be working on things along those lines. So, it was really it was really just um an organizational meeting andformational no um no planning quite yet kind of we'll scream into that later. Okay, perfect. You guys have anything to add? I think it's a highly skilled group. um with lots of talents and a lot of um diversity. Um it's it's a really strong group. I'm I'm personally just really grateful that so many people stepped forward because I think the more perspectives we can have um looking at a a pretty big project. I mean, it is there's a lot of complexity to it that having all these minds at the table will be incredibly beneficial. I walked away really quite happy
034and I don't like meetings. We're off to a great start. Yeah, it was very productive. Yeah. The one of the last comments was um everybody liking the energy. Oh, that's great. Which was really good. So, that I would echo those comments. I I would um just want to add a concern and uh kind of to the the perspective of the size of the project and some of the complexity. There are a lot of I think time critical things when you look at um really it's got to be done by October and we've got two meetings before the summer and then maybe two meetings before October. um if we don't do something in the summer and there's you know just in our general discussions yesterday there was discussions about you know surveys and lot plans and
035um just a number of things engaging the community to see what other resources are out there in terms of people with construction background or you know land um earthly background to get them involved a bit and all of that requires time And so to me, I'm concerned that it can be done by October to just to have some some sort of product available for the budget planning purposes because that's got to be done by January really for the budget review committee. So I'm concerned that if the agenda is to have something for 2026, which I think the town feels real strongly about, I think there's a real sense of need to accomplish something. Um I don't know whether it can be done without meeting in the summertime to have some meetings in the summer what
036I would call background meetings where if there are we need more information or we have to engage people outside um that have some activity in the summer I think would allow us to be in a position to have a good product by October. We don't do that in the summer. I I think I personally had a lot of concern that we could have a good product put together by October and then we'd look at 27 really to have something to be solidified. I I walked away with similar feelings as far as the time allotted, right? Like if if we have an hour per meeting, even if we were to meet during the summer, at best we'll probably have 6 to 8 hours worth of work. and to me really thinking through all of the ideas
037that people came up with and not ideas but just their um curiosity. Yeah. that that one of my wonders and I don't know if this is this the right space to discuss it but I I wonder if the board would potentially entertain it being not necessarily in October or November to go up that it that it could be longer just because it's complex. It is an undertaking. And part of the feedback from the other community input sessions was that it did feel rushed and that more information was needed. Um I as I had mentioned last night at the meeting that really to me the advisory committee it needs to be an organic process and it is a lot to get done even in 6 months and so perhaps is it and again I think we
038follow the process and keep meeting and whatever whatever manifests from the meeting is what manifests from the meeting right um and is there something that we could give to the town as a something to address the safety concerns concerns perhaps temporarily while also looking at the more macro level project SL scope. Yeah, I think I hear all of that and I think um certainly I'm happy to have this conversation here, but I think it'd be really important to continue to have that at the committee meeting. You know, what the what the structure of that group will look like and what the uh ongoing uh timelines will be. I'm just looking at sort of precedent and understanding how other school district advisory committee meetings have worked and they had I remember watching the video of of
039the thing that's SMS um I believe that there were the ability to email amongst members of the committee certain information in between meetings. So that would be an awesome way to for action items to be incorporated, right? You don't need to have the meeting in order to get that's not the only way to get things done, right? So that that would help I feel for me to understand what's permissible outside of the meeting environment versus what has to occur. So I would encourage that to the extent that Ellen who knows all the the rules of what we can Yeah, I think that'd be helpful to review. Yeah, I think we should review like what the guidelines are, what is legally permissible, where the gray is, where the gray isn't, and specifically What we can do
040within guard rails to ensure that for example if there is a mini thing like um getting a survey done or getting um a number of quotes to make sure that whatever we put on the ballot is um going to work. And then if we get those quotes back and change scope dependent upon quotes, things along those lines, that takes time because we meet once a month, right? So I think if we continue to forge forward with we have two meetings before the end of the school year. It's currently scheduled. Um one in May and one in June, early June. I think it's right after our schoolboard meeting next month. We have one this month and one right after our schoolboard meeting. So, we might be able to get some forward momentum. Um, and I say
041let's see what the summer holds. Um, I don't have a problem I don't have a problem meeting in the summer. I don't have a problem extending the deadline or the term of this committee to another six months, another year. Um, and I also, you know, know that we have a potential, you know, summer meeting, um, as a board or retreat and if that we need to find out if that is something that we could put on the agenda or not. So, there is a little bit of flexibility. But yeah, I do see your your your um concern because I'm I'm looking at it going we meet once a month. So if we need to get something done because it costs money or because it's the bird's board's purview, then that might take a month or
042two to deliver on that shouldn't stall the committee actions and agenda items, but it will impact it. So I think hanging in there I think all sounds good to me and I I respect and trust um you guys to to run the meeting. I would just encourage two things. One to utilize that website that we have. Thank you whoever set that up to put things up on there. Thank you Sharon. Um as this recommendations occur or things get worked on that are sharable for the public. And then two, I know at one point Susie you had said there's some things that you might even be able to do as you know within the normal um school year that you would already be doing to address some of the Mhm. you know the potential concerns maybe
043if there is not maybe the committee could help give you uh suggestions if they haven't already. Yeah. So, um, a couple of things that we could do that I think that would be discussed more in detail at the meeting or are you looking for her to address that now? No, I'm sorry. I'm not You can, but yeah, I wasn't of safety things we could do right now. Right. But that's not what you're asking for. I wasn't I was just saying um to Mike that there are some things that could have the convers if you wanted to share that now, Susan, you could. Um, but you don't I'm not asking you. So the if you want to that's great because I can I haven't sent my followup to the committee attendees and I can always have
044them say hey listen to you know some of Susie's thoughts from Sure. I think that'll be helpful. I was just wanting to make sure I understood Bobby's intention. Yeah. Okay. Just that there when we talk about safety there are some things that we can do as a school immediately to increase um or decrease any risk. For instance, when we have a large performance, um many times our winter concert, our spring concert is at the end of the day. Parents take their children out. It doesn't happen very often, but when it does and the entire school is out because we have sensational concerts, potentially six to eight of us going out with vests on after the concert and just making sure that traffic flow is such that we're the eyes and ears of students and and
045parents because parents can be talking or students can be or children can be running, right? And so for for for people to be concentrated on the safety part of that, that's something we can immediately do. Y um we had held off on painting repainting um any of the um crosswalks or redefining where spaces are. We were holding off on that because it was winter. Once it stops raining, then then we can repaint. Some of those are they're very very simple but they would make an impact. Yeah. And I think I want to celebrate that you already doing those things and then for the committee members to know that Susie is like on it right very much so. So thank you. Of course and and I think it would be really helpful for the committee to
046understand like what can be done outside the meeting, what has to be done within the meeting because if there is some flexibility as to what can be done outside in terms of meeting with other people or other entities whatever um to gather information or get advice or direction and also you know to speak planning to to hook people in and bring them into the project. like hey they asked me what I thought or I I directed them over this way for a resource you get a lot of community by doing that but what the parameters are within the context of the committee structure I don't think any of us know so that would be really good because if we could work on our own so to speak outside of the meetings maybe we could move
047things along faster than just having two more meetings and then kind of going dark in the summer and then realistically So you probably have two more meetings maybe before October. And my understanding and we can get clarification on this so it's not just my understanding versus my knowledge is that something costs money then the board needs to make that decision. We can talk to other boards the committee can talk to other boards can talk to other and I would encourage that. Um this is this should be as transparent a process at least in my estimation as possible. Um but if it is if it is has to do with policy budget or doing anything to the building itself um then it should come here. But I'd always end up making sure that if those things
048come up in the committee that and we have Alan to double check us to make sure that we're, you know, doing everything the right way. And we can always make sure that if there is a question that we can get that that remedied and that doesn't mean that the committee has to meet once a month. We can meet as often as we want to. Um, which is nice. So I just want to pull up most of the committee's not here. So, I just want um I think that's awesome. I'm glad you guys are meeting again before the next board meeting. That's fantastic. Um and uh if there's any um because the subsequent meeting is going to be after our next board meeting, right? So, it's May 21st and then and then after the board meeting.
049if there's any updates from the committee via email or whatever that you get, if you can just plan to share that with the board at the um June board meeting. Yeah. Yeah. Which I think you would be. Yeah. Yeah. Cuz we'll meet before the June board meeting and then we'll meet once after and then if there's anything that needs to be communicated after the June board meeting, um I'll make sure to filter it through Ellen. Yeah. And or just put on on the website. Yeah, that sounds good. Awesome. Thank you. Beautiful. Um Susie, you're more than welcome to say for all of our fabulous policies. I think I'm up with one more thing. She has the um new business nomination. Did you want to skip to that and then go back to policies and she
050can be Okay. So, uh 8.2 new staff nomination. Yes. So, um, this has been a slow process and we have more to come, but, uh, the one that I can't announce tonight, uh, is, uh, Jake Schaefer. He is, um, we have he has been, uh, brought on. He has taught fourth, fifth, and sixth grade. He has done a lot uh, with behavior leadership's team. He's been on um technology task force. Um he currently uses the same curriculum that we do. So he'll be a really nice fit in. Um when talking with our committee, which there were 10 members of our team, which for us is like half of our staff. I was going to say that's almost everybody. He was he was the one of he he rated the highest on our rubric. Um and
051uh it was it was a unanimous call on him. Uh there's a recess game at his current school named after him. He's um very very involved with the students. When I when I um made some reference calls, some of the things that were stated were his calming demeanor, that he's unflapable, um that he has a dry sense of humor, uh that he makes learning come alive for his students, um and he has remarkable initiative. There's his resume. We are very excited to have him on. Um, and it will also for those of you who know elementary education, um, it is a rare find to find a sensational male teacher. Um, and so we are really thrilled to have him come on board. He he has met with me as well as the superintendent designate. Um,
052so the next step and I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation. He um he you can tell he has the right disposition for to be an elementary school teacher. He's very positive. He's very articulate. He's energetic. Um and he has, you know, you could tell philosophically the alignment is a great match. Um, and so that what I'm looking for this evening would be a motion to approve the nomination and then it would be up to Bobby as the school board chair to sign the contract. Yeah, I would happily make a motion to support Jake Schaefer as nominate somebody else. Beautiful. All favor. Cool. Thanks. That's great. Thank you for all the work. Thank you to the whole committee and half the school. Do you know what grade he'll be teaching at yet? Cool. And while we're on
053this, just before we go back to policy real quick, I'm also looking for a motion from the board to give me as the superintendent designate permission to hire over the summer given that the board does not meet. Can we wait until next month to do that since we will be meeting before the end of the summer? Yeah, it's either done in May or June. It's definitely not it's not it's does not pertain to June. It pertains to July and August. So if you would like to do that, that is your since it pertains to July and August. Shouldn't I just want to forget about Yeah, I was offering somebody else to make a motion so I didn't not exactly question. Yeah, that's fine. I'll um I'll uh make a motion to uh allow you to
054hire over second. All in favor? Thank you. Anything else? Nothing else on that particular matter. Beautiful. One, two, three. I I brought that. I can get them back in front. Right. We end where we started. So that helps you with organization. Okay. All right. Thank you so much, Susie. Anything else? No. All right. Beautiful. I told you efficient, right? Well, do we not want to do that one first or do the roof facilities? I mean, we spoke briefly about the room facilities update, just that we have been keeping an eye on it and we haven't noticed any odor coming from the room. Um, I don't know if Susie has anything to add, but we are on it. Yep. I I spent um several hours in there today doing meetings um and didn't notice anything, and
055that's with a lot of rain. Yeah. Been pretty good. Yeah. And some higher temps. Yeah. So, all right. Come on. Okay. All right. Thank you. Okay. Ellen, can I sign that later? You need to do it now. Sign it later. I don't blame you. That's a reasonable request. Okay. Thank you for your patience, guys. We're boopping around here. Um, are we ready to do the policy? Go for it. All right. So, I had a wild idea. I was going to um I just wanted to remind um all of us and especially Brian I don't know if we ever said this um the policy committee has is represent has representation from each of the school boards within SAU 16 and we meet um at this point now we actually are meeting monthly and we have a
056whole um team uh within the SAU that includes this year we have a policy um what is her little policy representative. She's like a an awesome additional asset to who is assisting um Heather who used to have to do that on top of all the other HR stuff. Um and so that team does a lot of pre-work before they bring new policy either adjustments andor um proposals for new ones to the policy committee. We spend an hour, hour and a half, two hours depending on going through them, adjusting them. Uh, and so there's been a lot of vetting before they come to this meeting. And so, uh, I I'd like us to get into the mindset of thinking that these are not the first time these are reviewed, not the second, not the third even.
057Um, I almost want to make a motion to I won't do this because it's the first time, but I want to get to the point where I can make a motion as the policy rep to say um I'd like to adopt these uh policies for our um school board, have a second, and then discuss at that point rather than having to go through each and every single one of them, each meeting uh in the spirit of being efficient cuz we do get these about a week ahead of time. Um, and I think most folks do read through them pretty thoroughly. Um, if we don't want to as a board do that, we don't have to. I just thought I'd suggest that as a potential way to go through these. I can add to that too
058in that prior to the policies going to the policy committee, they are also reviewed by her name is Olivia. I can't recall her last name right now because she's new to our team, but she's been doing the policies just as of the last few months for us. Um but Olivia also works with Heather Murray, our human resources director on the policies, the new the policies um from the look at the model policies from New Hampshire School Boards Association. In addition to that, Olivia brings in the most appropriate um central office staff member like for for these policies specifically myself. She worked with myself and Renee Bennett, our director of student services and assistant superintendent. Um, so again, that is part of the leg work that happens prior to the policies even going to the policy
059committee. And I know last year we did have Heather come and very eloquently speak to some of the expectations about the policies once they get to the boards, which is that it's for review and that she, you know, we are hoping that the individ individual boards are trusting in the work of the your colleagues on the policy committee and therefore not looking to make substantive changes. And to your point, we don't actually typically make substantive changes anyway, but um I know Brian's new, so I wanted to point that out. So, all that being said, we can do how we normally do it this month. I was just looking for next month if you wanted to. Do you guys any thoughts on that? Um I think that that's all a really good idea. I think with
060new fields being like the weird small one, it tends to get not in the way of every single policy and certainly none of these. Um but um it could eventually. So I mean I think for efficiency sake um maybe if there's something coming up because we have cuz we're the first one. We end up getting kind catching a couple of little things here and there um that do help out um the next boards. But I think I'm open to trying it a different way and seeing what happens. um keeping some open eyes, open ears in case it works or doesn't work. Okay? Because one of the roles of this board is policy. that is one of our so um going and saying I approve all of them and then discuss kind of is a little
061bit antithesis to what our legal obligation is which is to ensure as a board we are well aware of the policies and ensure that we have discussed them read them and prove to the public that we've done that yes let me just clarify I wasn't suggesting that we would approve them before discussing I would make a motion yes I would I understand. Yeah, I agree. I I don't want us to approve them and then discuss them now. Well, yeah, make a motion. But if we make changes, then we have to still undo that and do that anyway. So, if we're having the discussion, let's have the discussion. I mean, the majority of at least these ones, which is significant this month. There's not a lot to change. Okay. So in general there are three new
062ones and those are all um introduced mostly because of new legislation and then the uh four re revised uh and 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 that we're withdrawing. Um any questions or huge comments about any of them? No, I'm just trying to So if you know if if one of these were to stand out to us and we would want to have that that discussion, we would need to know at the initial meeting or we'd have to bring it back up at a meeting. No, here I'm sorry. All right. Well, I was just thinking so what would be different? So we would forgo the first read. Well, typically what I do is I say, "Okay, first policy." And I give like a whole spiel about it. And I don't
063mind doing that, which I can, but I do think that that does usually eat up a lot of time. Um and I don't know how necessary it is for us to do um every month. All right. I feel comfortable with you using discretion on that. Definitely if there are more people in the audience and there's a reason for that, you know, and that's something that we did you can read into as a chair. Okay. Yeah. I think some of them we might need it. Yeah. Some of them we don't. Sure. But being able to this being a public meeting, the public knowing what we're talking about is always kind of helpful, too. So yeah. Okay. Um to that end um I am going to make Hold on a second. Let me see if I have
064any I don't think I have any major questions on them. So let me go through my notes. Sorry. There's a lot of these I remember going over years and years ago. I think it might be helpful. I'll just read the titles of them so at least we can while you're reading them. So um IHBAC is the developmental delay as a disqual as excuse me as a qualifying disability. JFAB education of unhoused students and unaccompanied youth. JIC DD student discipline out of school actions. JLCA, physical examination of students. JLCH, do not resuscitate orders. JLF, reporting child abuse, and JLP, parent, parental notification and involvement in student welfare to withdraw. So, those are all the new or revised policies. Yeah. And the ones that we are um proposing to withdraw are IHBA evaluation requirements for children with
065developmental delays, which is being replaced by IHBAC. Um, uh, JFABD hyphen R1 homeless education dispute resolution process, JFAC, change in school assignment, JKB detention of students, JKD, student suspension, and JKE, long-term suspension or student expulsion. And those usually have to do with reorganization of um policies or sometimes things are out of out of alignment or like the R1 is like a process that's not really right a form versus a policy. We've tried to clean that up because we used to have both policies and forms in the policy manual, but forms aren't policies, right? And then also um the these policies specific to student discipline, those are being withdrawn because uh we have a new policy with regards to student discipline that was um reviewed just last year and it it was more inclusive of some
066of the these other individual policies. I had two questions on two different policies. One was the JICDD which is third one on the first page. the student discipline out of school actions. Yes. Um I just wanted to know what this originated from. Um but I'm not sure if you know that student last. Uh I can speak to that a little bit if you'd like. Yeah, I was going to find my notes, but you can go ahead and start. Well, one thing I want to point out is that this policy is new to us, but it is not new to other schools in SEU 16 such as the cooperative school district. Um, we just, that's part of cleaning up our policies as well is sometimes we've noticed that some boards have certain policies and other boards
067don't. And in the spirit of wanting to have that align, that increased alignment, um, we're cleaning that up. Um so this I can't speak to the origins of it necessarily but what I I can speak to how it's utilized which um sometimes you know with the increase increased use in social media and screens sometimes um students might be there might be cases where students are bullying each other outside of school and then it is having a you know significant impact on students um day-to-day actions in school and their ability to access their education. Did you have anything some more to clarify on that you saw on the committee? I think there were some uh like like calendar said this did exist in other areas. It was tweaked a little bit, I think, to include um
068a little bit more specific kinds of things uh in terms of like what what is defined as off campus and just sort of tighten up some of the language um based on precedent. I think it Yeah. I mean, this one is when I first read the overview, I was worried that it was going to be too broad. And reading the policy, it is not as broad as I had assumed it would be, which is great. Um, because it references, you know, something having to do with the school, the school relatable out of out of school action. So, bus stops damaging school property, but you're not in school, you know. Um, so I think I just wanted to understand kind of if this was a federal mandate or if this was an organically mandate and it
069seems we don't know that and that's okay. I just just was curious. Okay. I don't think it was federal. I think if anything was state, some of the states All right, that helps. And then the other one was on JCLA. JCA, which is physical examination students. We spent a lot of time on this one and we consulted the nurses and then Ellen. It was a really good collaboration. We we we asked to do a lot of work as and um Rene Rene did a lot of extra work. So, thank you Renee. Um as a followup to that meeting. But yes, my question. So this is in two parts. One is um we don't have any athletic teams which is would be to um section F. However um I'm not super worried about that one cuz
070one may all of a sudden pop up. That's not too too worried about it. But if we look at it in conjunction with JICDD with the NYA utilizing our facilities for athletic enterprises like basketball or anything indoors, things on those those things. I'm wondering if there is a correlation between um the discretion using you know the district school discretion may schedule physical exams because they're using our facilities. I want to make sure that we're not liable for any other because the school it's not a school team but it is a team that is comp encompassing students that is being conducted at the school. I just wanted to make sure that there is a kind of a line there or if that is something that is brought up at all in the discussions. Um as I
071said a lot of things were brought up around that. Not in particular about other organizations using and teams that use the space because it's not applicable. I think it's not Okay, good. That's kind of what my Yeah, because it's not it's technically not a school sponsored activity. Great. They're using our venue, but they're they're own agency with their own paperwork. Okay, great. That's kind of the clarification that I was looking for. I mean, we haven't had a school sponsored team in long time. So, um, but I'm okay leaving it in because you never know. Okay, I think it's fine. All right, those are my two kind of questions, clarifications. Um, Brian, do you have anything? No. Okay. Um, I'm going to make a motion. Did you have something? No. Okay. Thank you. I'm going to
072make a motion to adopt IHBAC, JFAB, JIC DD, JLCA, JLCH, JLF, JLP and withdraw IH BDA, JF AB DD R1, JF A, JKB, JKD, and J K. Do I have a second? I have a second that. Thank you. All in favor? Thank you. That is the fastest policy ever. Great job. So, that's what I'm envisioning. Like, I I don't want us to just blindly adopt them, but to sort of Okay, beautiful. Thank you, everybody. All right, let's take a breath. Next page. Some new business. Um, at our last board meeting, we talked about um both wanting to uh schedule and consider doing a board retreat um and also to defer a new board goals um to a different time. And I am wondering if the board would be um interested in having the retreat be
073the time when we actually do address the boards. Same thing. Okay. That's the best thing. That's great. So, and I think I just want to call out that will be a change that previous this board's practice has been that our board goals have been updated at the March or April meeting with the new board. But I think we're going to be moving towards maybe the school year, which to me makes sense. Um, and we could read, you know, adjust next year if you want to, but I think I like that approach. Okay. um date wise these two dates options because I feel the um the last week of school that's the last week of school for I I prefer the 18th of Yeah. And actually I was going to say I only threw those two
074dates to have something and when I met with Ellen to um set this up and then since then my the 11th got eaten up so I can't do it anyway. So um 18th works for me. Jane, do you think I'm looking? Yeah. And if it doesn't double check, too. I don't know that. We can certainly look at other dates. I just figured rather than us um I'm available. I just You said you're not. I am available. Perfect. And we can make it whatever time. I I don't have any. I should say that until like 3. I know we do. June 8th. It's a Wednesday. So, I'm available just to book out 4:30 onward. Personally, an earlier start would be nice. I'm working that day. So, no, I could do 5:30. That's still earlier. That's it.
075That is earlier. Earlier. Yeah. Yeah. I think I could probably do um Yeah, I think I can do 5:30. I've got some kids stuff going on, but um that's not a problem. Can I get food? Can I personally buy food? Yeah. And then the other qu well I'll wait till we confirm but um if uh once once we secure a date and time great and then we also need to figure out um venue but let's do the time first. Brian is 5:30 too late too early. I can do it. I'm off school. I'll be beach. Oh my gosh. I'm sorry. You want to meet at the beach? We can meet at the beach. No, I guess you can't do that. It is a so it is a public meeting. So it's a board meeting even
076though it is a it's the board retreat. So the typical requirements still apply for the posting and notes and all of that. So from my that I think that makes sense. We location wise my understanding it doesn't have to be at the school but it has to be a place where we're going to be welcoming and uh the public in an accessible way. Yes. So, um I don't know if there's any other suggestions or library or town hall. Library town hall. Those are the two that I was Library is more comfortable. Is it open on Wednesdays? Um doesn't matter. We can ask for it to we can ask them to city Wednesday. What? City Wednesday. Yes, they're open till 7 on Wednesdays. I just know cuz I came from there. Okay, cool. Thank you. Oh,
077there might be summer hours. Oh, okay. Um, but regardless, you have a way we can Yeah, I'll just touch Britney and we meetings there all the time. That would be cool. I think we just mix up to the New Fields Library. Oh, and we just got it renovated. You can see the date of renovation and improved. Sounds exciting. Great. All right. Beautiful. Nice comfy chairs. So 5:30 um June 18th. Um and two things uh we can obviously discuss more there, but one would be our board goals um for the year. And then I thought we can maybe also incor I know we had mentioned at the last meeting possibly having a standing agenda item on you know as a check-in as to how we're doing with communication and transparency. We can maybe figure out where
078and how we want to put that on the agenda. Yep. Beautiful. Awesome. Anything else about the morals retreat where what food? Think about what food you want and I will Panera. I can make something. Although I don't know if you want that. Um, all right. Beautiful. We did the new staff nomination. Old business roof facilities update. Yeah. Ellen, are we like done school project? Yes. All right. Um, before we go into nonpublic, Mike, is there anything else you wanted to add? All good. Awesome. Thanks so much. Thanks for your uh got coat. Mike, car keys, everything. All right. Thank you again for attending so much. Thank you. Um, so I'll make a motion to go into nonpublic under chapter 91A section 311A. Yes. Do I have a second? I think we need to have a
079roll call. So I I Beautiful. Okay, we're all three. Okay. All righty. It's 7:43 and I will make a motion to get out of non-public. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you. All in favor? Uh do you need roll call out? I uh I Bobby. Okay. Um Okay. So that's 7:43. Uh next meeting is June 4th. Be there. Be square. Uh can I have a motion to adjurnn? So moved. Thank you. All in favor? side. I I I thank