Exeter School Board Meeting 04/08/25

001I'm going to call the Exador Elementary School Board meeting to order. And the first thing we'll do is please join me in the pledge. [Music] I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right. Since this is our organizational meeting after our uh school board elections, the first order of business is election of a chairperson and I would love to take any nominations for the chair. Patrick, I have a nomination. I'd like to nominate Heather. I can second. Do you accept the nomination? Oh, yeah. Wow, that was good. I'll accept. Oh, you have nomination. Uh any any discussion, conversation? Are there other nominations? Any other nominees? I can discuss. I think I

002think Heather Heather's been vice chair. Um she certainly has some really good experience and I think she's um shown a number of times when she's been able to step into the role of running the meetings that she does a great job with it. And I'm excited to um have Heather be the chair. Great. I think she's ready. All right. Right. That being said, I would look for a vote, all those in favor of Heather being chair of the Exer School Board. Do I raise my hand? Sure. Since no one else voted, I'm not going to say opposed or abstain because everyone voted for. So, congratulations, Heather. I now turn the meeting over to you. Thank you. Thank you guys. Thanks for It's a privilege to lead this team. I'm going to speak into the microphone.

003Okay. Okay. So, I think the next uh order of business is the election of the vice chair. Do I have any nominations? I would like to nominate Beth York. Do I have a second? I'll second the nomination. Uh any discussion, Beth? Do you do you Oh. Oh, I accept. Accept the nomination. Yes. Uh, I think the past year that I've been on the board, it's been a pleasure to see Beth become a very vocal member and contributing member of the board with alongside Jeff. So, I I think it's a great fit. Any further discussion? Um, great. All in favor of Beth as vice chair, I you can. All right. I don't see everyone voted, so I don't see any opposed. So congratulations. Thank you Beth. Thank you. [Applause] Okay, so um it is 6:04 and

004at this point we will start the clock for 30 minutes of public input and I don't see any public input or anyone here for that but we will um certainly pause if anyone does show up. Um so next on the agenda is our PTO update. Hi everyone. Um we don't have a ton this month. So we had the kind kindergarten orientation um for the incoming kindergarteners and so we spoke at that and had a table um and it was great to see a lot of new faces and get a lot of people excited about joining the PTO for next year hopefully. Um so we had a good crowd and quite a few actually stayed for the PTO meeting afterwards. We did it the same night and just did the PTO meeting directly after shared child

005care responsibilities for that night which really helped. Um we did get a new board member out of that as well for next year. So that was exciting. Um someone jumped right in. That was great. Um we have our teacher raffle coming up. So we've actually already sent out um it's already in process. So it closes right before spring break and we'll announce the the winners of the raffle just before spring break as well. So that's always fun. It's the one where the teachers um contribute things like horseback riding. There's the horseback riding one that always goes really well. Principal for a day, librarian for a day, those types of things. So, that's in process right now. Um we have get fit in May coming up in May obviously, so that's huge for us. Um we

006just did a promo video with um the principles and by and assistant principles. Um so you guys will see that soon. It's very exciting. um they are in inflatables. That's great. Um so look out for that. Um and then let's see, we um at the meeting we actually had two speakers as well. So we've been really trying to make sure that we're giving a platform for the parents who want to you know get more involved in the school even if it's something outside of the PTO. Um so one of the things we had was the wait until 8th campaign came. Um so we have a new one starting in exit um the exit chapter of wait until 8th. She came and spoke both at the kindergarten information night and then again at the PTO meeting

007and got a lot of um you know support around that and actually um Main Street School I guess was the first official um like chapter to like get it in New H in New Hampshire. I don't know exactly. Just those who don't know can you explain what what that So wait until 8th is a national campaign to basically wait until smartphones for um the end of 8th grade. So, I don't know as much detail as Katherine Ryder, who's the one who's heading it for the extra chapter, but she um basically came and spoke about the importance of waiting until then, um to give your kids smartphones as well as waiting until 16 to give them social media. So, I know that they've done some work with that in at the middle school level and up.

008Um but this is kind of just starting it earlier since we've been seeing smartphone usage at younger and younger ages. Um, so we're kind of so getting them even before kindergarten and getting the parents, um, on board so that hopefully the community can kind of join together and support that initiative. Um, oh, and we also had another speaker, um, James Rosa, who's another, um, parent. His daughter's in first grade, and he has been involved with SELT and their Atlas program, which is a program with, um, involved with getting students outdoors more during the school day for um, and actually moving the curriculum a little bit more outside. Um, so he spoke a little bit about that as well and he's been working with I know at least uh Main Street School to kind of start

009um coming up with ideas of how we can support getting children outside more. Um, and on that note, we're also doing with Earth Week coming up, we have um some plantings available for um teachers if they're interested in doing working with the students to plant seeds. We're going to have um provide them with soil and seeds so they can plant seeds in the classroom. And then James is actually connecting with the um conservation committee to um plant those seeds at Rains Farm. So the idea is to have the students involved with planting a pumpkin patch at Rains Farm. So that'll be fun. So I guess I lied about not having much. We have a lot. Um but I think that's it. And then we're kind of starting to look forward to next year. So we've

010um Sarah and I have been confirmed as co-presidents again for next year. U three of the board members will be returning. And then we do have one new board member for next year already and we're looking for one more as well. Um our race director for GIF May is also leaving for next year which is a huge bummer. So we're looking to replace that as well. So if anyone has any ideas for anyone who might be good in those roles, please let us know. Any questions? No, it's tremendous. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Uh great. Uh our SA16 administrative update All right. So, thank you for signing the financials. Uh, sorry, the manifest. They're up there. I think they're right over there. And then I also brought the MS-22. So, the MS-22 is the

011last step in the budget process where it zips all your warrant articles that pass together to get to your voted appropriation. Um, and so once those are signed, I'll update that to the Department of Revenue and um, the budget process will be complete until next year. So in your uh board pack, there was a current year of financial. I did work closely with special education to work on the incumbrances that we had. We were able to make a large decrease. Um as we met last month, we talked about uh needing to take a good look at that and we did. Um and that was really the major change. Did anyone have any other questions? Okay, great. And then I don't know if you wanted me to address the finance policies at all while I'm up

012here or if anyone had questions on those. I think that would be helpful. We have a number and Sure. So for all of the policies that related to finance, you'll know it relates to finance because it begins with the letter D. It was just really updating them to match the model policy language because the model policy either had better language or we were adopting a policy from model policy that we just didn't have. The only thing I want to note is DAFF, that's the monster in there that's like 50some pages. Um, the model policy updated the single audit threshold to a million. It's actually not a million yet. It's still at $750,000. I did confirm that with our auditors. So, we're not sure why the model policy did that in advance. So, the policy committee

013did make the choice to keep it at the 750 since that's what it's at today. And if and when the projection is that they'll update it in at the end of June to a million, then we would then revisit DAFF and update just the number to a million. So, other than that, those were just the minor changes in the finance policies. Any questions? Great. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Molly. This is the um nomination list I'm passing down. This is all the certified staff that um for renewal that will get contracts before the April 15th uh deadline. Um please remember this is a confidential list. If you look at this and you have a specific question about a specific person, um we would want to go into non-public. There is one number on your list

014that's highlighted and um that's number 50 that's highlighted for a reason that we will go into non-public about. However, they are on the certified renewal list. That's accurate. So again, this time do we we're just reviewing it and you're just looking at it and then I'm looking for um a motion to approve the nomination list. [Applause] So again, this is um certified staff only that we need to do this for. So um support services pair professionals are not on this [Applause] list as you're looking at this list thinking that um you may have a couple of questions. I do have a couple of resignations. So, as you're thinking about that list, I'm going to um let you know that I do have a resation letter from Jana Barry, grade five teacher. Um she is resigning

015at the end of this school year, as well as um Abby Hood. Abby Hood is uh resigned. She does not make this decision lightly. Um but she has an opportunity to go be at the district level as a special education administrator. So, those are the two resignations that um I just wanted you to make aware of. You can do it in any order you want. If you want to accept these resignations first and then have a motion around the um nomination list, that would probably make the most sense. Okay. I would I'd make a motion to accept the two resignations uh with regret. Um so, make that motion. Second. Second. Uh any discussion? I'll just say I don't know the teacher well, but I will speak from just personally that it was just been a

016pleasure to have Abby here at these meetings and in leadership um in our schools. She's made a tremendous impact and it was evident um both as a parent and as a board member and she'll be missed and I wish her really well in her next position. So, um, so all in favor of accepting the, uh, two resignations, I I I I Great. Thank you. And do we have um a motion to accept uh the certified renewal list as presented? Can I say question first? Sure. Or as long as it's not specific to a person. No, I guess it's a and you tell me if this is a question we need to discuss in non-public, but are there people that are currently working that haven't resigned that aren't on the list? No. Okay, that helps me.

017Thank you. Would anyone like to make a motion to accept the certified renewal list? I I would make that motion. We have a second. Second. Uh any discussion? All in favor? I I thank you for that. Moving on. I would like those back, please. Yes. Thanks, Patrick, for reminding me. Heather would not be happy with me. Um, so I just wanted to make the board aware of a ball field request. Um, I do have them coming next month. um the person that's making the request which is the exit Junior Baseball and Softball League and Rusty to answer specific questions. So this is just a heads up that this is coming so you can think about it and if you have questions you could email them to me so I can be prepared for the May

018meeting. Um basically the EJBSL which is the exit Junior Baseball and Socc um used the Courier and Washfield. So the Courier Field is the one that impacts this board. Um and so they are looking at trying to have a longer year-to-year agreement. Right now they do each year for building use or for field use I should say. Um it's at it's at no cost. They do maintain the field and do things like that. They are looking at um raising and fundraising and matching grants to install lights at both properties. So that's really the question and um what they want to talk to the board about is if they made this investment of lights etc would the board consider a longer agreement not just a year giving them a priority to use that field. So um

019again this is just a heads up and as you think about it and reflect please send me questions and then I can make sure that Rusty and um Dan Provost will be prepared to answer any questions regarding this. I I know one question that came up um for the co-op board for the other field is uh the abutters and lights. I know that our um facilities manager Rusty has tried to contact the abitors of this field um and hasn't got a response yet, but that might be a question that you would have and so we're trying to get that avenue checked on before the next meeting. They didn't respond before this one at this point, but we hope before the next meeting because I know that's probably a question you're going to all have. My

020question wasn't about the butters, but that's a good one. Um, who is there other leagues that also use those fields other than the ES ejs? Um, that's a great question. I've asked that question and to our knowledge, it isn't a field that's used really by anyone else. Um, but I asked Rusty to look into that other building uses that maybe there's something that came up four years ago or three years ago. Um, so that I'll make sure that we have that information for sure. If you can email me that question, that would be great because I might forget it between now and tomorrow. I'll email you right now. I will also email you a question, but I just I'll say it too while I'm thinking about it, which is just um I'm wondering if we

021have a sense of kind of what cost the district might take on in terms of you know paying for electricity to sort of the how the maintenance of those lights would work going forward after they're installed. Kind of what the understanding is if it's something that the league will continue to try to support the maintenance or if that's the expectation is that the district would take that on. Um and then the third question again I won't me email this please is uh is just about I think it's related somewhat to the use of the field in terms of does it reduce the flexibility if there's if there's even a need to have flexibility regarding that space does putting up lights somehow make it more difficult to be flexible in how you use the space those

022are great questions so right like the word pri giving them priority over the space I think is what's kind of making me feel like is that sort of lessening others. Yes. Yes. If they have a year over year and that's one email. Sure. Come on. I think that's a group email. Why why I wanted the board to have some time to think about it and then have those people come next month and to to um make sure that your questions are answered. But certainly giving them a priority year over year increases um limiting others to to have access to that field. But currently there's no do we have other requests for that field. I'm not aware of any, but I don't know 100% if that's accurate, Heather. Yeah. Um, and then just my only question

023and it's more of an assumption that we that Rusty this the SA16 would have a hand in final decisions on like what lights and and wattage and all of those like who has the final decision and sort of selection of that as it affects. It's my understanding they've done quite a bit of research on the lights. I'm just looking to see if that was any of the notes. Um it's not in this notes, but I know when I met with Dan, he was talking about the kind of lights and things like that. And I don't know if he's had those conversations in tandem with Rusty or in within the um league itself. Okay, that's a good question. So, all of those questions are going to be emailed. Yeah, I have it. Does anyone else So

024does anyone use the fields besides that league? Does it prevent the use by other organizations? Does it have any sort of hidden costs, electricity maintenance? Do we have a say in the light selections, wattage, etc. What would be the division of cost going forward? Also, anticipated division of costs. Okay. Um, one of the things I can just say really quickly about this, I know we're going to have more of a discussion, but um, that group came forward a number of years ago when we were um, rearranging the whole playground area and they were great just in terms of first of all, they have a lot of community support. It's not just limited to exit residents, but it has a lot of exit residents. Um, and it's a really active group and they were super I

025mean this is a past leadership so I can't speak to the current leadership because I haven't been talking to them but you know the board's experience you know I guess a prior board's experience with them in the past is that they were really just great to work with and so when you ask about are they locked into a certain design that wasn't when they put dugouts in and all that they were very much working with the school and trying to figure things out. So, I would anticipate they'd be the same way. I I do know the organization presently. My son's in it and and um husband coaches with it. And I would say that's been our experience as well. I know that they that people come to Courier. It's like a lot of people do

026show up for those um games and um it can be an event. It's a nice community way to gather. So, um I think on principle it's a it's a good thing for us to explore with these questions in mind. would agree with that. Great. Thanks for that email, Beth. I see it already came through. Very efficient. Got it. Way to go, Vice Chair. Yes. Doing my my VC duties. There you go. Um before I ask Beth to give us an update on the assistant principal search, uh I just want to touch fairly briefly on all um kind of the federal and state updates through uh DOE and and legislation. um as we know it today, this minute, it is fluid right now. Um and so just to kind of give you all I did try

027to send out a reminder to take a look at the schoolboard association update I think on Sunday or whenever I sent that out to the whole joint board. So hopefully you receive that. That's a great resource that you all have access to that has a nice update every week on what bills and what's kind of happening with the legislature right now in the state of New Hampshire. Um, on Friday the 3, we did get I did get an email from the New Hampshire Department of Ed stating um a compliance letter needed to be signed um regarding DEI, etc. um that we were in full compliance with that and um if we did not sign it originally by April 10th at 5:00 p.m. and return it to the uh New Hampshire Department of Ed that we

028would be on a list that would be sent to the federal government and we would um not get our funding, our title funding. So, we've discussed it first. I was happened to be an executive board meeting at the state. We discussed it with superintendents that were also there um working really hard not to panic because that's part of the process here of this kind of urgency that's sent um and to really understand what we're signing. Of course, we can't afford to lose our particularly our idea where our special ed fundings and our title one. Our other titles are are larger but not huge. Those two sources we do depend on um particularly special ed as we know. So, in talking with um local superintendent and with certainly our senior leadership team, um we are prepared

029to sign that document should we should I have to. Um the update on that is I just received before I came to this meeting uh an email from the New Hampshire Department of Ed that now has extended the signing deadline to the 17th of April. I'm have a feeling that is because on the 7th the ACLU also filed an injunction against this compliance as well as um NEA asked a judge to have an emergency hearing um on this and that emergency hearing will be tomorrow at 2:00. So I anticipate that that may be perhaps why they've pushed this out. So we'll see where that all ends up. That's really just informing the board that this is where we stand on this particular um compliance issue. Along with that, kind of transferring over now to just

030the state of New Hampshire. Um there's a lot going on there too. We are monitoring updates to the IDA and title funding. Um we were told by New Hampshire Department of Ed at our executive board meeting that our allocations will remain stable. That does not mean we'll get exactly the same amount because the formula may change. In other words, they may have block grants that they give the state and the state may do that a little bit differently. They're they're told by the feds. We were told that the amount will still be the same. So that will be stable. Whether we actually get that same amount of money is not 100% guaranteed. Um also the allocation of the grants are a little bit different. We used to write the we used to get our whole

031allocation and write the grant for the whole amount. Um now we will get the first 30% and we will have to write for the first 30% to kind of get us through anything we use grants for the summer for summer programming for those kinds of things particularly title one. Um and then we'll get another the rest of our allocation after that. We are told that we will know the whole amount that we're going to get, but we'll only get allocated the first 30%. In other words, we can only spend up to the first 30% from July 1st to September 30th. Then we'll get they'll release the rest of the money after that. Um, again, that may change. That's how it is. Does that require for the second release require any reporting on our part? Like,

032do you have to send in? Is it We always have to report on on our activities before we get the money. So, let's say it's paying for um support services for uh through title one uh for the summer, right? Or supplies. We have to say that what we bought and when we bought it and how we used it in our activity and then they'll allocate the funds for um positions. They have to do the work. So, we pay them first. So, we get approved, we pay them, and then we get reimbursed through the grant. So, we put their time and task in and then we get reimbursed, right? So, what happens sometimes when the grant comes out late, which we're going to get it later than normal, usually we have our allocations already, um, is

033that we can't we can't go backwards. So, in other words, if we don't get approved till August, and we've had people work in July, we can't ask for that July money because it wasn't approved until August. So that we ran into some of that with our IDA funds this year getting approval. We had to do rewrites etc because they were being very strict um and challenging and changing some things that they approved in the past. For example, they had approved Easter Seals before placement of Easter Seals. So we wrote for that. We had kids attending and then they said, "Oh no, we won't approve that anymore." But they never said they weren't going to approve it. So, we can't bill for that through the grant. We have to absorb that, which we would anyway because

034that was the appropriate placement for a student. And we were hoping that the grant normally would cover some of those expenses. That's a good example of how that works. Um along with that at the state level um some bills that are are I think concerning because I believe they'll have a direct impact on budget should they go all the way is um that HB675 which is an automatic spending cap on school district budgets. So essentially a tax cap that will have a large impact um on budget creation and development. also SB297 which is the poolled risk management. Um so we tried to figure out a way today to explain this easily. So right now Health Trust who we use as our healthc care management provider and I'm looking to Molly to make sure she needs

035to help me out to explain this easily has a a for lack of a better term like our trust funds, our rainy day funds. They have a risk pool assessment. So if a district goes over what they expect, they can pull from that and cover the costs. This um bill is saying that health trusts can no longer keep that large amount of money that districts have to keep this risk pool now and it's about 1% of your costs. So we would have to add that into our budgets. So if we go over, health trust would bill us for how much we went over because they don't have that rainy day fund anymore. it's much smaller and we would have to pay that within 30 days. It's not uh beneficial for budgeting nor is it um

036it will impact what we have to put build into the budget. So between that and a tax cap we're already in not great shape for budgets to create budgets. Um so those are two that are concerning to us um just for the impact of budgets and it's unclear to say exactly what that would what the dollar impact would be but certainly it would have an impact. Um the other the other one that we're also watching is um HB2 which is the got attached um to the overall state budget and that is um DEI taking away all DEI. Um, I think the most concerning part for as a district is the language in the beginning of that bill says speaks to um, you can't use any demographic grouping. That could be interpreted as special ed grouping.

037It could be interpreted as how we group kids for intervention. It could be interpreted as how we group kids for um, chess club for girls on the run. Um, it's very unclear. the language is very gray. And so that's concerning because we don't know what that really means. Um, and where it's been attached to the state budget. Oftent times legislators do that to get that through. Um, because it was it was in the finance committee. It was voted down. The Democrat left the room. They brought it back, voted it in. So that's just what happened. That's the facts, not an opinion. That's just the way it happened. So, um, those are some bills that are on our radar as they'll have a direct impact on our budget development as well as some of our programming

038and how we do business with I'm I'm not sure how we do MTSS A and B, which you know is the foundation of a lot of our work with interventions and tier work and things like that. Um, and so we're and there's no public hearing on that, right? on the um I would have to go back through the process like when it goes for the full vote on the floor. I don't know if that's another opportunity for public hearing or not. Okay. Um but I can certainly find that out, Heather. It gets confusing to me. Yeah, it is when you can speak and when you can't, right? Um through this process because now we're in crossover, so everything's kind of crossed over again and in the different House went to Senate and Senate went to

039House. um and they'll they can amend. And um there was another amendment made today to that HB2. Um we tried to figure out what it was. We couldn't really tell. I don't know whether it was just maybe a literally like a comma for all I know put in there, but we couldn't see any big language changes as of today. Um so those are all on our radar and we'll keep you posted. We do have a um a board member from Brentwood, Brian Duffy, who is um putting together a letter for Brentwood regarding the the tax cap and the um risk pool. Um he is going to work on that and we're going to share it with joint board. Okay. And so if the joint board would also like to use that in there as a

040full a full information out to residents, that will be up to the joint board. Um, so that's what that's where we're standing on on that piece. So, we're trying to present facts to the public and facts only, not a political opinion. Um, and take it from there. So, it's a it's a fluid time now and at the central office for sure and for all of our administrators. So, we're doing the best we can. We certainly uh are trying to stay in compliance with everything and um continue to do good work for our kids. And um as you know that folks that attended strategic planning, equity is a core value that the community wants. And so we will work hard to figure out how to provide equitable accessible services and access to education while remaining in

041the constraints of any laws or executive orders that are current and pass. Well, that's where we are. Any any questions? I have a question, but I have a comment. Um, so first of all, at the at the federal level, I mean, I I do have an opinion on it. And you know, I I I think it's horrible for the federal government to threaten to take away money to feed kids or to care for those that are most vulnerable that have special needs um because of uh you know a political agenda about language primarily. Uh so I I I don't think that's the proper thing to do. I I would say that our district um you know it's my expectation, my understanding that our district is in compliance with federal law already in that you know

042we respect civil rights and we respect those things that are um you know that are being designated. So, I I also wouldn't see a problem with signing a letter because of that because of course we respect those things, but just the threat of taking away money from uh families that are vulnerable and you know need nutrition to learn and kids that have disabilities I think is is really despicable. Um, and you know, regarding the budgeting issues, I do think we're lucky to be in a district that has been very supportive of education. And we saw that even in our last um election that we had 70ome% of um registered voters or or those that participated that were in support of our budget. And I know as a board we've always cared about being responsible and

043and cared about the cost that we're passing on, but we also care about um you know the having the needs met. And you know my understanding is that legislation if it did come to pass is that it can be overridden uh with the budget caps, but it it would have to happen each year. And I I I don't I don't like the idea of the state sort of taking away local control because our district may be different than the nest district. I know that's something that New Hampshire School Boards Association has been a core value for them for a long time is local control. And I think um you know each school district should be able to make their own choices about that. So I think that's also really sad precedent if that moves forward.

044Um, you know, and I think we should push back on that just as a a general response. Um, yeah, I mean, I'm not going to speak to each of the things that are on there because I I think there's, you know, everyone has their own political leanings and I and I and I certainly know that I'm here to represent the entire community, not just my own personal beliefs. Uh, but but part of that representing our community is giving them a voice, not taking it away at the state level. that's that's representing our entire community. So those sort of bills I just I think are just you know wrongly decided and you know whatever the maneuvers were to get it initially out of committee it's just wrongly decided because it doesn't respect the voices of our

045community. Thanks Patrick. Thanks for that Patrick. I would ask Beth to update us on the assistant principal search. Sure. So, um the position has been posted um and it has since closed. It was open. It um got quite a bit of feedback. Um and an interview committee has been assembled. Um we are holding interviews next week um with the intent by the end of next week to have um a couple of solid candidates to move forward to um the superintendent for um hopefully um either either before or for the May school board meeting. Beth, how many candidates is are you interviewing round one? Uh we are interviewing uh 10 candidates. Oh y a lot. I I would ask the board to consider I know normally um I ask for hiring rights over the summer. I

046would ask for hiring rights for this one position because I know everyone's interviewing everywhere and for me to have to wait if there's a really strong candidate until we meet as a board. Um we may lose a candidate. So I would ask the board to consider giving me hiring rights for this only this position for that one time and we'll come back for the summer piece. But um I just think that we might lose a candidate if I have to wait. If they're interviewing next week and then I can interview pretty quickly, we could lose someone that's potentially really good if they have to wait. They get nervous. I would be fine to to make a motion to give a sir hiring rights for this one position as requested. Second. Any discussion? I think it's

047tremendous that we had such a great turnout and that there's 10, you know, really promising candidates for this role. So, um, it's great. I feel like it's a a really great sign that people want to be part of our community and here in our schools. So, who wouldn't want to be? Yeah, it's great. Anything else? Want to take a vote on Oh, yes. Let's take a vote. Sorry, I got so excited. Um, all in favor? I I thank you guys. I appreciate that. And that's it for our administrative update. I just want to say before we wrap up, I appreciate the update on what's happening um with all of these bills. And um I think I think to your point, there's a lot coming at the public on on many different sides um not just

048education. And sometimes it's easy to lose the threads. Um, so I appreciate I know it's extra work to to stay so v vigilant um in the central office and with support of others to to to lift that up and with such context, but I think it really helps not only us but those who are listening and looking at the minutes to understand um what's happening and and and just what that would mean in terms of its impact on our schools. So, thank you for spending that time and keeping that thread um present in the You're welcome. Okay, great. So, let's move on to the approval of the meeting minutes. Um these were from our last meeting clearly. Um and Kate, we just ask you to abstain clearly. So, um did everyone have a chance to

049review minutes? Right. So, these um uh uh I think we'll go we had a both a public and I guess we did go into non-public um non-public minutes um from March 11th. So, do I have um a motion to approve the March 11th um uh board meeting minutes uh as well as the non-public meeting minutes? I'll make a motion to approve the minutes of the public and non-public meeting. I second. Any discussion? I have a question. Yeah. I'm trying to find Did we note in the meeting minutes that Patrick was electronic due to illness? Is that in there? Yes, the policy says we need to do that. I just was like, I think we did, but it's it's at the very top. It's at the very top. Okay. Thanks. No, that's a good catch. That's

050a good even the reason why. Yeah, they're very thorough. That's true. Um, any any further comments or discussion? Okay. Um, all in favor of uh approving the minutes and uh the minutes for the public and non-public board meeting on March 11th, 2025. I I and abstain. Abstain. Have one. Um, all right. Thank you very much. Moving on. Keep track here. There's a lot on this. All right. Great. Now, without further ado, we have our principal reports, and I'll have you guys duke it out. Who's going to go first? Actually, we're doing a presentation together. Oh, fabulous. No contest today. No contest. But I I do get to mic first. So, um So, we're going to use the projections. So, you're welcome to [Music] Is it coming into focus? Are you seeing anything or are you

051not? Looks like it's on. Looks like it's on. Oh, something happened. Okay. You good? I think so. Right. All right. Um so this evening we wanted to just follow up on our presentation from um last month in March when we gave our kind of our midyear data report and it's it's great to be able to see the data the growth that we saw from fall to winter or midyear and um we thought that it would be helpful to just kind of say okay so we've got the data that's really great but there are a lot of systems and structures and frameworks that are kind of working behind the scenes to make sure that our students are able to um reach those learning targets and those learning points the midway. Um and so this is just

052kind of our attempt to kind of show you what what models and frameworks we use and we'll define MTSS. We're not going to get too lost in the acronyms and edges speak tonight um on the following slides. So really we want to just kind of hit that essential question of how does MTSS guide teaching learning and create a sense of belonging at Main Street and Lincoln Street schools? So MTSS also known as multi-tered systems of support um are broken into a couple of different frameworks. You know we look at the academics which is what we refer to as MTSSA. We have um behavior and well-being which we also refer to as MTSSB. So, for the most part, we're going to show you some slides that are specific to um what we have the structures that

053we have in place in our schools. But just to kind of give a very brief definition um of MTSS is that um it's a proactive schoolwide approach to supporting the success of all students. It brings together teachers, staff, and families to identify and meet students academic, behavioral, and wellness needs. I wanted to read that one definition just in case folks watching at home weren't able to see the words there. So that is kind of like our one two sentence definition of MTSS and very similar to when we show you our kind of our academic break breakdown with the triangle. We have our tier one which is where the majority of our students are. Um and that's everybody gets this 100% of students get the tier one which is the high quality instructions and supports that

054everyone receives and we expect that 80 to 90% of our students are successful with those tier one structures in place. Um, tier two is that extra help or that extra exposure for a student who needs a little bit more support. So that's not in place of tier one, that's in addition to tier one. Um, and that's, you know, somewhere usually around 5 to 10% of students. And then the last tier, tier three, offers like more of that intensive individualized help for students with greater needs, which is the smallest part or the top of the triangle. So the goal of MTSS is to make sure that everybody is getting the support that they need um at the right time so that they can be successful each and every school day. Yeah. I was just also going

055to add that when you look nationwide, a lot of districts are looking at inverted pyramids with many of their students needing intensive support, which is why I think we were so excited when we look at some of our data that we really are on track with what the model and the goal of that pyramid is. But that is sort of an anomaly when you were looking at education across the nation. A lot of them are working through inverted pyramids. So we won't Yeah. And that's there's the visual. That's that's the one that we've looked at when we've looked at it more through the academic lens um for tier one, tier two, and tier three, which would be the green, the yellow, and the red. And so this just kind of breaks that up because when

056you're looking at the full MTSS structure or framework, again, it's not just the academics, but we're also talking about the behavioral supports and the overall student wellness supports as well. I also think like what Ryan was saying earlier is like a a student that is receiving tier three services get also gets one and two, right? So it's it was explained to me once that and it just stuck with me the illustration of like scoops of ice cream. like everyone gets one and then some get two and some get three depending on what it is that they need but all everybody is receiving one and then moving through additional levels of support if they need it so well go for it we started we were started working it was kind of funny because we started working

057on a Main Street one and he was working on a Lincoln Street one and then when we were looking at our slides we're like we have almost the same thing which is really exciting actually so we were able to just merge them but when you're looking at academics for grade level core. Core is just what all students receive. There's some agreements in our school of what instruction should look like at tier one for everyone. Um that it's uninterrupted, meaning students shouldn't be pulled for services, OT, PT, speech, like they need to be there for their first grade level instruction. Uh all students are offered a differentiated small group depending on their levels. Maybe it's a different reading level or what have you. And that happens at tier one. We have universal assessments. That's where you

058see the I Ready data. We are constantly working on first best instructional practices that is researchbased. Uh we use programs that are researchbased and vetted and we provide daily win time which stands for what I need for both reading and math every day. So all students receive that every day as tier one. And just the quick breakdown of um when or what I need is that's that could be that extra exposure that tier 2 piece. It also could be the I've already learned this skill and here's an opportunity to look at it through a different lens or transfer that knowledge to a different context um or or just demonstrate a deeper understanding. Um when we move over to tier two again we'll go back to that win but we have those daily win time for

059um reading and math unargeted skills. We progress monitor regularly so those skills are not static. They don't stay. in this group from September to June, but every six to eight weeks we look at that data. We use that data to inform student groupings and instruction as well and you know different targeted skills. Um we have a variety or this is just a little snapshot of it but a mix of teacher created and researchbased resources. Um we also have um at both buildings student assistance teams um which meet regularly um weekly for you right weekly for both buildings. um where if a teacher notices that a student in their classroom is um not reaching I guess we can use the academic lens in this case but is not using or not reaching academic potential or expected

060progress. You know that teacher is going to be collecting a body of evidence to say you know what we've we've tried several different approaches or several different repeated exposures and the student's just not able to obtain the this competency or these these learning targets. um you know, the teacher is going to keep track of some, you know, in-classroom interventions that they may have used to try to help move that student along. And then if if the the teacher is just not seeing that that level of growth or expected growth, um the student can make or the teacher can make a student assistance team or SAT um referral which is where um you know at Lincoln Street, Deanna, Diana, myself, um the classroom teacher and maybe there might be some other it might be our reading

061specialist depending on what the concern is but there might be a few other folks in the room and we'll talk about okay this is what the data is showing us. this is what the body of evidence that the teachers collected the strategies and it might be a you know what let's try this and we'll monitor and we'll come back in four to six weeks and we'll see kind of where things are at. We also may have some situations where, okay, these, you know, it looks like this teacher's exhausted a lot of resources in time and maybe we do need to take a deeper look at this. And then we might look at it through might be a special ed lens. We might look at it as, you know, again, just trying some different resources or

062different adult supports to help that student make, you know, meet those needs. Um, so I don't want to go too deep, but that's that's an important part of our tier 2 that leads into our tier three. Um and then we also have our um summer programming which ESSA exit summer skills academy and ESY extended school year um for students that we want to make sure don't have maybe that extended break from exposure to certain reading skills or math skills. So we offer that as well. So then if they are going through tier one and tier two and they need additional supports after that, that's when you're moving into the intensive and that's why it's a smaller portion of the population. But this could look at one-on-one or small groupoup support from a reading specialist, case

063manager, related service provider, our we also use our UA, so esteemed teachers, classroom teachers, interventionists, all of those people. It's kind of an all hands- on deck to see who is open in the schedule and who has a skill set or a connection with the student. And we do frequent progress monitoring. We also started this year at Main Street School um an adaptive UA schedule. So students that are in global skills, they were we were noticing we're having some challenges in our UAs. And so they have made some modifications to their UA programming for global skills students. It's been a really cool addition to our school. Um, and then we continue to monitor them through the student assistance team. And I agree with Ryan, that's very much how ours functions. We just kind of think

064of it as problem solving. We're all experts, but you might just hit a wall. You're like, I'm not sure what else to do. And so you can bring a student and get a bunch of minds around it to say, maybe we try this and then we can progress monitor and see how it's going. And like Ryan mentioned, if we still have concerns, then that might result in a 504 or a referral to a multi-disiplinary evaluation team, which could be the beginning of a possible IEP evaluation. And so that's kind of the process for academics. There's a lot more like nitty-gritty in that, but those are the overarching that um both of our schools provide as you move through the academic tiers. Can I ask one question? Sure. I think you mentioned you might go back

065to it. So maybe the wind everyone has as is the when in grade level course sometimes remediation and extension so they're sort of like is that the same win it so when is when is built in all day right and I mean every day some of the students are just getting at grade level support which is tier one it might be like h maybe they just need a little help or present it in a different way or they need extra practice or they're going to play a math game or they're going to do something to reinforce their skills so that's why it's in tier one because all kids get In two, you're looking at targeted skills. So it might be like they they are approaching grade level, but there may be a little bit of

066a deficit and so we're going to work on enhancing that so that they can be on grade level. So win functions as both. It can be an extension, it can be a remediation, but all students get it every day, which could be at grade level. So there's multiple groups happening during that time. One for reading and a different one for them. And then my other question is just around feed. Where do parent like if a if a child needs tier two or tier three like at what point are parents and caregivers into that? It's pretty early. So once a student is needing some additional support, we leave it up to our educators to communicate that to say, "Hey, we noticed we just ran this first universal, you know, assessment. It looks like your student might

067need some additional support and fluency. They're going to be meeting for a little bit. We're going to progress monitor. we do have some information that goes home with some of those targeted groups to say this is where they are, their progress or their skills they're working on. Um, and then when they all students that receive tier 2 academic support also receive the invitation for summer school. So, we don't want to catch any parents off guard of like, wait, why am I being invited to summer school? So, there should be multiple touch points that they're receiving extra services. You good? Any others? Okay. All right. Thanks. Sure. Um so switching over to the M MTSSB portion of this. Um we have our behavior and well-being. We have again very similar model. You know the systems from

068tier 1 to tier 2 to tier 3. Um we have our bi-weekly lessons with um the school counselor or guidance counselor um in both buildings. Um and that is a large part of our like our supports that students all students get at that tier one level. Um, you know, we're looking at, um, a program that is being used already in, I believe, three of our other elementary schools for some consistency around some common practices in common language. Um, it's called purposeful people that we'd be looking maybe pilot for this coming school year. But we've seen um, really strong reviews in Stratum, in I believe Kensington, and is it Newfields? That sounds right. Um so we're looking forward to u you know building that um support through that. Um we also have zones of regulation which

069is really the simplistic way of just saying you know it's a framework for students to kind of be able to share how they're thinking or how they're feeling. Um it's a color-coded system. Um we use that at both buildings. Calming corners is something that I think that has become a tier one support. Um which has been great. You know it's little area in the classroom. It might be more fidget based. It might be just an area to kind of step away from your desk. Kind of do um support the idea of students independently saying, "You know what? I need a little reset real quick." And not having to leave the classroom before that. And you know, when you leave the classroom, you're missing instruction. And so the student can go back to the calming corner,

070maybe they bring back a fidget with them. We do a lot of work around fidgets or tools, not toys. Um it's an ongoing lesson, but um that's something that we found a lot of success with. um restorative practices. Um you know we use that throughout each and every school day. Um we have a lot of our classrooms start off with the morning circles which is very similar to like the morning meeting approach. It's where we do a lot of goal setting. It's where um we do a lot of our talk about cares. Um then we have our whole school events. We won't list each and every one but that's a large part of building that well-being and that sense of belonging in the schools. um the family support survey that goes out at the beginning

071of the year. Um we try to work a lot on giving students their own agency, voice, and choice throughout the school day, especially as they get older. Um we have culturally responsive PD that our students participate in, as well as trauma-informed practices, database planning. So there's just there's a lot of different pieces that go into that tier one piece. So again, if that's successful, which by and large it is, then about 90% of students would find success there. When you move into tier 2, you're looking at a possible retach um of zones of regulation and the school expectations, which are just reminders. Like some students may not always have the skills when they come here to do school. And so we have to take the time to help them understand what the expectations are. We

072do restorative circles with classes or with peers. We have targeted social skills groups in small groups. This one is Chico's, but it's a check-in checkout. And so you might have students who come in in the morning and do a well check with a trusted staff member or at the end of the day, how was your day? Maybe a lunchtime. And so those are assigned to different adults. Then both schools, ours is called the student support center. At Lincoln Street, it's called um room 202. But that is a place where certain students going through a process through us. It's through our um student assistance team referral. they have a similar process with their behavioral health team referral, but it's where we're saying this a student may need more frequent breaks or more frequent check-ins. Maybe they

073have certain goals they're working on and they are earning incentives, but we both have a location at our schools where students can have access to that. Um, and then we have referrals to our behavioral health team or our SAT team. We at Main Street School, we've had a couple of places in our master schedule where UA's had open blocks and so we've been pairing our UA teachers with students to have that one trusted adult and so they've been doing some extensions in the UAS like private music classes or art classes that have been really neat. And then we also have the partnership with C Coast Mental Health and so um sometimes if it is a school related issue that seems like it is a little bit more intensive then we might make that initial referral.

074We also use them in tier three for kind of wraparound services. Sure. Yeah, we can wrap up with number three. Um that's this is our most intensive supports for behavior and well-being. Um probably more targeted around behavior at that point. Um but we, you know, we continue to see or utilize restorative practice um strategies through all the tiers. Um, this is also where you see some more intensive supports such as a functional behavioral assessment, um, positive behavior support plan. So, some in-depth plans to really support students who are not able to access learning because they're not able to stay regulated. And so, these are some of those more in-depth strategies that with adult support, um, students practice to try to stay into the classroom. Um, we have pea mentor up there. We've we've utilized that

075a few times. Um, I know we've got two this year that have been just almost more like a big buddy type of program, but it's for students that are really struggling to find that connection or find that connection within the school. It's been really a great resource to have um locally. Um, we also have, you know, community wraparound services. We're both very fortunate to have social workers in both buildings. And so being able to connect families with resources that they might not otherwise know about or have access to, particularly at that tier three level is really a nice opportunity for us to be able to support families and kids not just in school but also out of school as well. Um then we have our behavior intervention team that meets regularly and um again for

076those more intensive needs that don't come up very often but when we do we again almost think of it as as Tanya um mentioned earlier kind of like problem solving and bringing a bunch of heads together to figure out how to best support um that particular student. Do you have questions about are the percentages like when you showed us the pyramid I think last month we were mostly looking at academic growth. Would you say the percentages are fairly similar when we're looking at behavior and wellbeing? I would say probably similar. I would say I think for us we might be jaded because we spend more time with two tier two and tier three services and those students. I mean we try to get in everywhere but I would say that's about right. Yeah. If we

077were to count our numbers. And just have one other question. First of all, I just think this is incredible. Like it's a whole culture within a school, right? And it feels like so many touch points. It's like general culture and then specific intervention which is pretty tremendous. And I guess I just have a question of like how you I mean as as leaders in the school and all of you like what it's just it's a tremendous amount of work right to get everyone it's when I look at this it's like everyone in the school has a role to play in this and if you're coming from another district or culture like how does that work like how do does that work from entering in the district for the first time. our next slide. We we

078might have a slide for that, Heather. But it is I mean part of it is that you have to have a system, right? It's not something can be floating like it has to be documented. There has to be a system people have to know what it is. So even like if there's a teacher and they have a mentor that that mentor can say, "Oh, this is the process. You need to refer them to here's the document like but these are all systems and I think it's important for anyone listening to know like in order to move through them it's data collection. There's there's a process of monitoring and being really strategic and targeting a goal and progress monitoring and then realizing this is either effective or it's not effective and then you move through it

079and the same to to come back out of it. If you're in a tier three support, what is what are we trying to collect to say it's working? We can now like reduce it a little bit. We're going to go back into two. And so they're fluid, but it requires a lot of data collection and systems work. Yeah, that was perfect. Um, I mean I mean we're really it's like you're like you're a mole planted. Well, I mean just just to kind of go back to even the meeting before we started the presentation. I mean we are beyond appreciative of the support that we get from the board. Um and just you know how conscientious the board is when administrators in the school says hey here's a need here's something and just trying to be

080able to support that need. But again, no matter how many resources you may have, if you don't have the structures in place, you want to make sure that you're utilizing them to the best, you know, being the most efficient as you can to support students in learning, sense of well-being and belonging. So, when we look at our staff professional development model, um, you know, the tier one piece we have, you know, effective professional learning communities. You know, if you remember last summer, we sent a large group from both buildings down to Charlotte, North Carolina to go to a PLC conference. That was enormously helpful in helping our leadership teams and our teachers to build some capacity within the building and have a deeper understanding of how to make this work effective and how to help

081share that leadership across the building. Um, so we have our professional learning communities in at all grade levels. We have them within our UA department. We have our building learning team, which is, you know, a PLC that kind of represents the building. Um, we have our special education PLC. So, they are represented across across the majority of our staff. And and we continue to work hard to try to minimize or eliminate islands because we we have those, you know, just you have those unique positions that don't necessarily fit into a neat group, but we continue to try to work to make sure that everybody is part of that community. Um, some of the other recent PD that we've engaged in, we've had Maryanne nice consult with us around science of reading, which we found enormously

082helpful, especially when it was before we had adopted the new literacy program. She had really helped to um build up some learning and understanding across our staff. Um, I won't go into this in great depth, but you know how much we've talked about the adoption of a new literacy program last year in that process and forming a committee and then we we selected a program. We were able to get that additional professional development day in May where we were able to give teachers that first deep exposure to the program so they weren't coming back in August and saying, "Oh, what's this all about?" Um, we've continued that PLC. We've continued to have our pilot committee at Lincoln Street meet throughout the year to talk about what's going well, what are some of the challenges, and

083so as we're going through and getting to a point where we're talking about finishing up our first year with the new program, you know, the amount of PD and professional learning community time that's been devoted to that. Um, I feel like we're going to be ahead of a lot of other districts when they would be entering their year two because we've just we've processed and just reflected so deeply about the program. um Ready Math, we continue to support teachers. We're in our fourth year. I think our data is really reflective of um the fact that we are effectively utilizing that program to support students across the tiers. Um we continue to provide teachers, particularly um newer staff to the building with some basics around restorative justice and practices that we like to see in our

084buildings. um our SALE inservice days which we've had in March the past two years um where we've had staff members present on a variety of topics AI being a big one this year has been really helpful in professional development um Jill Lizier with our SAU competency review cycles we have our competency or our curriculum committees in the different contents that are meeting and reviewing the competencies and making sure that we're up to date um with those competencies as especially as they're reflected on the learning reports. And then we have our kind of our evaluation model, which is the portrait of an educator, which is a strength-based evaluation and coaching model that um teachers have been really receptive to. And we have some really great and meaningful conversations um around those observations and around those um

085different pieces of evidence that our staff are using to show that they are growing in their own professional learning goals. I just wanted to say um we debated back and forth on whether or not to put some of our staff in here, but I think it's important because we are learners too and just as human beings and as learners sometimes depending on what is going on maybe in your own private life or just with your own expertise that you may need additional levels of support and that there's nothing wrong with that and how we talk about all learners. So thinking of tier 2 that could be new staff, a refresher, an extension. So we do um a new teacher orientation, new staff orientation. We both have different systems that we run through to welcome people

086and onboard them. We offer the SAU offers a summer institute. We this year are fortunate we each get to send 12 staff members. So there's good representation in that and there's a variety of topics for staff to continue to grow. Uh the staff gets to do some self- selected professional development per their CBA. So that's thanks to all of you and approving that. We have gone through several cycles of universal design for learning or UDL. That's a professional learning group. We have a a fairly large cohort this year which is about removing barriers for learning but also helps teachers reflect on their own practice and removing barriers from the start of instruction and how can they do that and it's really helped to reframe some of that thinking and we also run some staff book

087groups. Additionally, I think this like portrait of an educator goes all the way across because sometimes there could be a different level of um coaching or like another way of thinking about something that maybe a teacher has not had the opportunity to do. And then in a tier three, this could involve a six-w weekek intensive coaching model where maybe there is something that we really need to hone in on and kind of similarly do almost like a wraparound all hands- on deck like let's figure this out. I know you want to be a good teacher. You're really strong in a lot of areas, but let's focus on, you know, a couple of things. And so we would be more frequent pushing in the classroom. And it is a supportive measure. It's not like a a

088catchio. It's just an intensive coaching to try to target certain things. Last one. Last one. And then we have staff well-being. Do you want me to start or do you want to do? So, well, in tier one, so you're just thinking relationship building. So, at both schools, we bring our staffs together to do circles. We actually run a lot of our professional development in circles. It's nice just to connect with one another. We have a sunshine committee. We do retirement celebrations. We plan staff meals. Sometimes we do them, sometimes the PTO helps us with them. We have a lot of friendly competitions between our schools and within the schools. We have smaller PLC teams because I mean sometimes we have eight or nine teachers on a grade level and sometimes that's a lot of people

089to bring in. So to to have smaller connections, we have a strong partnership with the PTO. We also really try to be conscientious about providing our staff the resource of time which I think is good for people's mental well-being and just thinking like there's a lot of stuff to do and so when we have the opportunity or the gift of time, we try to do that. And some of those ways are providing time to write their alma narratives, to complete their mandatory trainings, to prep for celebrations of learning, to prep for student led conferences. Those are all heavy lifts. And so we we try to be really conscientious about that. We both are big believers in shared decision-m so it's not top down, but that there is a lot of input before we move forward

090and to promote work life balance. And I'll move pretty quick through the last um two tiers, but you know, we we try to continue to support, you know, staff. You know, there's um whether it's a new staff member, whether it's a veteran staff member, um we have peer mentors. Our sunshine committees in both buildings are amazing. You know, unexpected things um happen and you know, sometimes a bouquet of flowers makes a big difference. Um, I had a loss of my family recently and I got a gas card because I had to drive to Philadelphia and that was very it was very thoughtful. Um, access to behavioral health staff. Um, we have the optional Friday staff circle at Main Street School. And then in tier three, that wraparound support might be, you know, something more intensive

091like an ADA accommodation. Um, and then of course we have our an amazing human resources department and and staff always have the ability to um connect and reach out um if there's additional supports that they may need. I think that's it. And so thank you. Do you guys have questions? Okay. Just a question. So these I think the slides are great. Um the question is are you is there a way or are you planning to share these post on the website or some other that the community could access this. We hadn't had that conversation yet, but there's no reason why we couldn't. So, that that certainly could be something I think it's helpful to do. I mean, I think it's something to be proud of because Heather was pointing out before there's quite a lot

092of, you know, touch points as you said or make sure that folks don't get lost in the system, so to speak. So, I think it's great. Um the one comment I would have is that if you end up doing that, you know, particularly if the folks aren't here to ask questions, is to um maybe you can include a alphabet soup page at the end and really look for every single abbreviation that's on there. Even something as simple as MSS, which I know exactly what it means. When you're talking about MTSS and then you see MSS, someone may think it refers to some sort of intervention system instead of a school. So just you know, make sure that folks can um navigate that if you don't have the benefit of talking to you. Makes sense. Yeah.

093Thank you. I just think it's really thoughtful to sit at joint school board meetings and hear about sort of the culture of like what central office is trying to filter throughout the SA16 and then see how it flows into sort of how we're supporting students and how teachers are going through sort of similar support systems. something differently, but I just really applaud all of you and everyone. It's so multi. It's like it's just very clear that everyone in the building has like part of this successful students and that every I would imagine there's a lot of work to people understand how connected or interconnected it is. students probably don't understand all that teachers. Yeah. As a parent, it's really thoughtful that it's throughout the entire culture and system. Yeah. Yeah. It is absolutely woven into

094everything we do, which is why it was really hard to break it down into about six slides. So, thank you. I just actually just it's more of a thought than a question per se is that I guess it's question I I don't know if you've thought about if there's some way to share parts of this information with families that particularly that are being referred to tier 2 and tier three support because sometimes it's I think it's really helpful to get the big picture you know and you and you find yourself in a family and then all of a sudden you're said hey you're going to have to get this extra intervention or we're recommening you go to summer program, it can be intimidating and to have this more holistic picture of things and how it

095fits and that you might be in a cycle and we're going to keep monitoring and bringing it back in and those sort of things. I just think for certain families it would be helpful to have them sort of get their arms around what's happening. I think that's a good point because you're right, by the time a student is referred to a tier two or tier three, a lot of things have already happened, right? So thinking about how to communicate that's helpful. Yeah. Ice cream is the best is a good analogy to use with parents honestly. It's not that there's not communication about that. I know there is but just just um I don't know. I found the overview really helpful even though I had a concept of these different pieces to hear it all laid

096out together is is really helpful. We're glad to hear it because that was part of the reason why we want to do this. We're like we talk about MTSS quite a bit and we put up that pyramid but I don't know if everyone understands all the things that are happening in each one of those. So thank you for the feedback too. That's helpful to know. And also that I think you in the in your presentation of it were really clear that it's fluid. So if you move into one of the other you're not there for ever. And I I didn't actually realize how often assessing students for win and targeting and extensions like that even for the students that are in, you know, a tier one, you know, which is 80% just for parents to

097understand like I think that's pretty incredible that you're looking at the data so often and making some of those tweaks. I think I'm not sure. Thank you. Thanks, guys. I know, right? All right. Thank you guys. That was tremendous. Um, so we, um, we're now in our committee reports. Um, and Kate, I think you have a sense of this, but just so you know, these are the current committees that um that we hold as the exit school board. Um, we you'll see from this list of who has been on these committees. We try um in some cases to have two. um one that just it gives everyone an opportunity to build some participation and knowledge base, but also is helpful because um you know for some of these committees it's not always um you know

098uh easy for both people to get there and then we we have better odds of getting someone there regularly to report back to the board and keep the conversation going. Um, I know last year, um, when we talked about these committees, um, it was also really helpful and I I'm looking to to Tim and Beth that we had some sense of when these committees meet. Um, so these these are folks that we're on these committees now, but the I think every year we sort of try to reassess um if you know there's interest um in in joining a new committee or switching committees, coming off a committee. So I think um what would be nice um for the minutes is maybe if we are as we go through the committee uh reports today if you

099have knowledge of when you typically meet and just maybe describe the committee briefly um we can put that in the minutes and then I rather than decide committees now if if you all wouldn't mind emailing me with any interest in joining these committees then we could decide um any changes to committees next meeting. I think that that might be the best way forward if you all are a minimal. Okay. Um so let's go through the committee assignments. Um and then as you introduce your committee again just a short statement of the purpose of the committee as you understand it and then um typically when that committee meets currently. Can I can I raise something to you just so my mind doesn't forget about this which is that there's something on the agenda here with the

100exit or school calendar and I don't know if the expectation is to take some sort of a vote to approve it or if it's for information purposes or whatnot but just wouldn't want to see that lost a great question uh Tanya and Ryan was there um something that we needed to take action on with the 2025 2026 school calendar I think there was one in your packet but the We would ask the board to approve the school calendar for the exter elementary school district. Okay, great. Thank you. Which is aligned with the joint board calendar that you all approved earlier. Basically what the uh extra elementary school calendar is build builds in the days um the teacher and service days based on contractual numbers of days at the beginning of August and at the end

101of the year. That's really the major changes between that and the SAU approved calendar that studentled conferences. Tell me student conference dates, right? You'll notice those the greens days in here. The greens. No, are they in here? Yeah, I think those are November 4th and so the like So the early release on November 4th, right, and April 9th. The greens are early release and teacher in service where there's no school or circle. Different, isn't it? I thought this is different from the one that's in our packet. Maybe I'm wrong. It might be an on because it had I think it had December 23rd was an early release date, for example, the one that's in our packet. But that's not what's on the one we just got. Yeah, there was an I think on the November

1024th. Oh, wasn't it? Yeah. So, this is the one that So, December 23rd is not an early release, right? The 23rd we do have proposed to be an early release. But it's not on the one we just got that we're being asked to approve. So that's why I'm not clear about which one we should be using. I love the calendar. The calendar is so there's always an issue. Should we look at the one in our packet? Well, didn't it not have a start date? This one has November 4th and December 23rd or this one has the 23rd. The one in the packet has the 23rd as an early release. The one that you that was printed that would printed does not. So are you asking for early release on December 23rd? The one in the

103packet. Okay. The one. Does everyone have the one? Knew this one away. Packet. So, the different is the only difference the the ear. You don't need to worry about that one at all if it's different. Just ignore that one. The one that's in the packet. Yes. Right. Yes. Is that what you're saying? Correct. Yes, I got it. Okay. And that's what we approved at the joint board. Was the early release on the 23rd? No, those are Yes. This is the one that was Did they do that as well? No, that's usually up to each district. Oh, okay. This is the one you discussed at the joint school. Oh, okay. Can I ask a question about just It's supposed to be green. That's what was that was the thing we had to change. Oh, and not

104a circle. And not a circle, which is what the print out. It seems so easy. Right under important dates, but not counting the days. You would be I can't tell you how long this takes us to do. Not this particular one but even the one for the one for joint board. We must count days of each month I think like hundred times. Okay. But what I'm hear so then in the important dates it's correct. November 4th would be an early release conference not a no school teacher and services listed says early release but it's not green. Which one? November 4th. Is that an early release day? This shouldn't be a circle. It should be green. November 4th is a no school day. It's a no school day. Oh, is a strong in the important dates

105on the bottom. So, it's on the list should say no school. So, that would need to be one amendment say no school, right? Um, that's a Why is there no school that day? That No. Oh, because it is it is it election day? November 4th. I wonder. I'm just trying to remember. November 11th is Veterans Day. I think it says Veterans Day was on a Thursday, but it's always guess it's always November 11th. Yeah, I think it's Tuesday the 11th always. It is Tuesday. I mean the 11th. Yeah. So two weeks in a row. H. So I I do think it's worth Yes, it's the fourth is election day. That's okay. Perfect. So that's so probably put that in the note to say election day no school for November 4th. You know what I mean?

106I mean, I will say I think it's really important we get the wording right just because I I know a million questions will come up even though people won't notice it now as we get closer to the dates and it's published if something was slightly confusing. So, sort of, you know, I appreciate what Esther just said. You go over this a million times and it still seems like something slips in there. But, I just think that I I know there'll be confusion in the community if we if we're not really clear about it. Just spend a minute looking again. Yeah, let's take a let's keep looking at it. Can I ask why are the ones bolded at the bottom under important dates? Is there a reason for that or is that just how it just

107looks? I don't have them. I don't have it. Oh, it's just how it's looking on mine. Sorry. It was just They're not bolded because this is the live one and it's not. But sometimes they print. Sorry. It was just my PDF just was looking different for some reason. That's fine. So, they're not bolded. That's why what? Oh, the other thing I'm noting is that in the the dates that are in June are not in the under the important dates. So June 10th and 11th are missing from the list of important dates. That's that's probably because that day can shift the last day for students based on snow days. Oh yeah, usually always but it's supposed to be Can you just put tentative or something? We can put tenative. Yeah, I think putting I think that's

108important. Can [Music] on the important. Can I make a suggestion which is if it will work under the board says important dates and you're looking to the side. I know if you look at the key and it says inservice day, it means no school. But can we also just say no school? Like when it says October 10th for example, no school. It says inservice day all all schools. Can we say no school? Yes. Just to make it really a little redundant but but clear. Yeah. Because some people just look at the list and write it down. Some people won't understand what they won't look at the key for whatever reason. But so what are the changes? We need to we're going to put tenative by the we're going to add the June dates and put

109tentative. We're going to add no school by the inservice days by the important dates. And then there was a November 4th is a no school day. November 4th is no school day. Yeah. So it's not an early release, right? It would change the designation on the side election day. Yeah. Right. All right. So the circle's right on the calendar. The list was wrong. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. In that case, it's not it. Is it in in service day also? Mhm. Okay. So, yeah. Perfect. Yeah. Student life conference. Um, any other changes that do people need a minute still? I need a minute. I just want to be careful. Is school school clo is closed on the 19th of what? I'm sorry. Um it says it's closed I'm sorry the 19th of January. Yeah. Can we

110also just again on the important dates part just to say it's closed? I think in any of those, right? So, you have you have it like on October 13, you have Columbus Day observed, no school, right? And then we would just want to be consistent on all the I would just put it literally on any day that it's no school to put in. And then February 23rd also is missing. Well, that's part of winter break. Winter break. So, it's part of winter break. Yeah, that's already That's right. It's already close for that. Should um you on November 4th, that's the voting date. Should we also list that as a um what did you say it is? Student conferences. Yeah. To add that as the on the designation. So, can we take a vote on this

111with those amendments? Yep. Approved as amended. You might have to help me out. I don't think we have to say what all the amendments. You don't need to say approve as amended. Yeah, I think I'd make a motion to approve the calendar as amended. I'll second all in any discussion. I mean the only piece of discussion is I I do think it'd be helpful if we can print the updated calendar or revised calendar in the packet next month maybe just just for information sake. And does this on that note does this go out directly via email to folks to I don't know if they throw it we throw it up on the web page as soon as it gets approved for some reason I constantly get questions about this and I'm wondering if they're beyond

112I mean it would make sense to go to the website but I'm wondering if there's an opportunity to kind of give it a little bit of a boost just so that people um yeah we were just talking about a couple things saying could go in their last day of school like a good idea or like we we still mail our teacher letters so it can go in envelopes. We'll figure something out. I think that's great. Awesome. I think this I'll tell you I know some folks are already making summer plans, you know, for vacations and whatnot. So, just be even the sooner the information is out there, the better. It sounds like it goes up on the website sooner if people want to look for it. This isn't really speaking to the motion at this

113point, though. So, okay, there's a motion to make second. Okay. Yes, there was a second. All in favor of approving um the 2025 2026 academic calendar as amended. Hi. Hi. Hi. Um, I think also in your in your newsletters, the news that just to put it in there for a couple times, you've been you guys have been so great at kind of lifting up some things frequently to draw our attention to. And I would say that amendments we're making aren't changing the proposed dates. It's just clarifying the reading of it. That's all. I think there was discussion at the joint board about the calendar if you remember. I don't remember which which board member but about starting after Labor Day and if that could be something that was considered in the future. That would have

114to be for next year. For next year, right? For the 26th year, correct? Because we have to do that SST no more than 10 days different. That was all set with all the districts. Who like they said that at the joint board meeting. If someone wanted it on the agenda, they could ask the chair, whoever that may be because we'll have to reorganize to get it on the agenda. Got it. Okay. I don't know if I did discuss it here or not, but okay. It's probably a good place to discuss it is that the joint board joint because it really does affect everyone. I mean, some of the insurface days I said there's flexibility, but not the other pieces like starting after Labor Day isn't something that you know, we have as a district have

115flexibility to change that, right? Okay. Makes sense. Okay. Thanks again for lifting up the calendar. So thrilled by the presentation. I just forgot. It's hard work. It sounds like Yeah. Thank you guys. Um okay, great. So let's uh move on to committee reports and um Patrick, I know Susan and you shared um representation on DEIJ, but if you give us a quick summary of what that committee is about when it meets and what you've talked about. So they've uh been meeting in the sort of afternoon right after school is out sort of 3:15ish um about once a month and I'm forgetting what the if it's a certain day of the month but that could change going forward but once a month at at 3:15 I think it was on Thursdays right it was on Thursdays

116definitely Thursdays at 3:15 um and in terms of DIJ it's uh looking at issues issues of belonging and um inclusion, you know, throughout our districts both in terms of things like the building, the curriculum, other sorts of experiences really can be a catchall for, you know, an audit as well as sort of current happenings and and a way to look at those related issues. I I'll tell you in terms of the last meeting, one of the things that came up was the group wants to go through an exercise to potentially um rethink the name DEIG for the committee. Uh there's some of the other groups at the high school and and some of the other um I'll just say some of the other committees in our district have uh made changes to the name. I

117don't think that the mission there's really much um will be any any change at all probably in the mission but there's some concern that that label may not be the most um inviting label for all people when the group is really meant to be open and inclusive in terms of who can participate in it and benefit from it. So, um, so there's some discussion about looking at that possibility at the next meeting and going through an exercise to see if the committee wants to do that. And you guys meet in person. Yes. Okay. Yeah. That's not a group that is helpful to get online for. Yeah. You really have to be able to be there in person. Usually meets in the Main Street School Library most recently. All right. Great. Thanks, Patrick. Um, let's come

118back to policy since there's a lot in that one. Um so um let's move on to superintendent evaluation. Great. So superintendent evaluation meets a few times a year. Uh the purpose of that uh committee is to um issue the um superintendent evaluation annually to the SAU staff members. Uh and there's a board component to that. uh where we as uh each board gives their own evaluations based on the superintendent's goals. Uh so we meet a few times a year. I think it's normally an extensive process when there is a new superintendent. So I would assume this next year we will probably be revisiting the evaluation format, but um this year we did not because we set it up last year for Esther. Um and just to give a recap of our current comingings and goings.

119So uh we did meet um on March 21st uh to discuss the timeline and next steps for this year's evaluation. Uh so yesterday uh Heather at HR would have should have sent the 360 evaluation out. So we assume that went out uh to the same roles across S16 as last year. So they um folks will have two weeks to complete it. We as a board exit um elementary school board will um meet in non-public session at the joint board meeting on April 21st to um do our own board evaluations on goals. So last year we did it at the non-public session at this meeting. Um but we are going to do it at the at the joint board meeting in non-public. Um and I believe Esther is going to give the full joint board a

120presentation of her goal status uh beforehand. Yep. Um, so just to clarify, last year there was because I can't make every board meeting, it was hard for Ellen or Chris or to give accurate updates and more importantly answer questions on my update. So um talked to Allison who's the chair of the superintendence evaluation committee and said it might make more sense for me to do that presentation at the joint board and then go into non-public and you can do your working groups right there so that also the turnaround will all be consistent for everybody because boards meet all throughout the month. So, the evaluation committee was kind of scrambling from some boards that meet later, like the co-op board doesn't meet till the third Tuesday of the month. And so, that was hard for the

121turnaround to be prepped for the May um joint board meeting again. So, we're hoping this might make it easier for everybody to give input at the same time back to that committee. This will be in the May committee that we meet or no, April. April. Yes. So, we're going to do our quarterly annual state of the state in May. So you guys we can do you guys can all do this in April. So we flip the two. Okay. And Tim, do you all meet um at a certain time virtually? We've we've been we've been meeting virtually in the early morning like 7:30. So the next meeting we have is Monday, May 12th at 7:30 in the morning. We are going to be meeting for a few hours to complete the evaluation report ahead of that

122May uh joint board meeting. Uh so at that time we'll be aggregating the feedback from the 360 and the board feedback. Great. Yep. So one thing I think we might want to think about with this is if if we do want new at least maybe one of you stays on to round out the current process while then you know also looking forward to It sounds like um just re-evaluating the process for the new superintendent. So, great. Something we can think about. Great. Uh great. Uh Beth, was there anything else you wanted to add on that one? Okay. So, the school safety and security task force. Those are the I can start. I mean, I can describe the committee. It was not at the last meeting. Um this safety and security task force, do they meet

123like four times a year? That's the goal. Three to four. three to four times a year. Um it is like a Thursday morning from 9 to 10:30. It's representative of all of the towns um um schools, school boards, and municipalities. Um and the goal is to really talk about safety and security and preparedness. Um really a lot of the information that is talked about, all of the information that's talked about in there is confidential. Um, and it's a very large, I think, well-run, very active group. Um, again, three to four times per year, not on any specific sort of cadence. We try to do it quarterly, give or take, October, middle of the year. Yeah. And then January, and then spring. Spring. So, um, it's great. It's a great committee, Kate. Yes. in the last

124meeting I was not able to attend for work conflict. Um so we met on March 20th. Um and we received a a wonderful presentation from the extra high school's hope squad which is a new peer- elected group at EHS. Um their goal is to provide peer-to-peer support for student with mental health struggles. Uh they were really inspiring group of students and um hopefully you'll get to hear more from that group soon. They were great. That was great to hear from them. Um, there were some really nice security updates or safety updates for Main Street and Lincoln Street to mention. Uh, there were extra funds um that were being able to use to update cameras here at both both buildings and the preschool. So, these cameras include more sophisticated alerts and analytics um as well as

125movement identification within the building. So, um, that was really nice to hear that there's even more security, but smart smarter security measures put in place as well. Uh, as well as we got to explore the new door barricades that are put in the swinging two-way doors here at Main Street, which was great. Um so training exercises are continuing um across the district and um there as well as the robust communication process. It was great to have received that update about the communication process of all the different recordings Esther has done. I think she recorded a few new ones last week on the fly. Uh but which was which was very impressive to hear as well. Um, and just FYI, oh, I guess that that event already happened, but we were prepped about a naturalization ceremony

126that was happening at Xford High School. That was going to be a big big event. But, right, and I think we're going to skip the next meeting and not meet until next fall. I just want to congratulate publicly you all, everyone and and Esther and school leadership for handling the recent situation where we had to shut down, you know, shut down our schools um for the protection of the kids and and staff um uh as uh directed by the police. And I just as a parent um I already shared this with Esther and and some others. Um, I got a lot of emails and texts of folks who uh I think the main thing was like I know they're keeping our kids safe. Um, and I and like repeatedly. And so I just I just

127want to say that I think um in my time as being a board member, this has been a priority for um SAU16. Um it's something I think you all have taken really seriously with a lot of input from a lot of different stakeholders and um I had three kids from three different schools come home that day and I know everyone had a different experience. Um but my kids in in age appropriate ways um were able to uh they felt supported and um kind of in their ways understood why that happened. um obviously you know different experiences of understanding based on age but I just I just want to say that it's just u that was a true test of you know communication and being really responsive and having to think on the fly how to

128um respond appropriately. Um, and uh, I just really like thank you for handling that so well. And I hope that you all felt, you know, um, I'm sure it was very stressful, but that you felt like you were prepared because I felt that as a as a community member and as a parent that I knew it was happening, why it was happening, and um, I really did trust that our kiddos were safe. So, thank you. Welcome. and sitting on the dis on this uh committee, you can really see how connected and prepared the district is and the with the community because the uh fire, first responders, police uh from all the towns are sitting on that committee too. Um so it was interesting to have this safe last uh committee meeting right before then because

129it during the event the everything that the we've heard on that committee it came to fruition in terms of how well prepared um the district was great. Um Beth you're up again strategic planning. Um okay so we've had a lot of activity in strategic planning. Um I think I saw a lot of you guys at the summit um the 27th, 28th and 29th of March. Oh, so the strategic planning committee though is you know working this year to revamp the strategic plan for the district. So it's a uh committee made up of you know staff and administrators and the and the whole SAU and board members from all of the towns as well. There's one representative from each board and I would anticipate that we won't ha will we have a need for this committee

130next year is implementation and I would ask that the current board member that's been doing it if they were willing um stay on that because it's so it's been so progressive and it would be hard to catch someone up on why something currently exists and so that would be if Beth would be willing to be the board rep I think that would be super helpful. It's actually very fascinating work to do. Um, so we had had our data, we had the survey um that we sent out to the community, staff, families, students. Um, we had Qualrix come in. Was it Qualrix or No, it's called It is Qual It was Qualrix. Now it's IBIS. Um, so it was a facilitated 3-day session total of nine hours. It was very wonderful to have child care there.

131We did have people utilize the child care which was great. Um dinner each for the two nights and food was provided for sun uh Saturday breakfast. Um we weren't missing out on sunny days so I think there was a lot of people there because they weren't outside doing other things but I would say we probably had about 50 people each day attend the strategic planning sessions. Um and then they sort of facilitated us through you know taking the data looking at the common themes and words and sort of you know workshopping it into you know um statements and all this sort of collateral that the strategic planning committee is going to take back when we meet I think next week 17th I think it's the 18th Thursday yeah um so a lot of I think

132a lot I don't know just great discussion I would implore you guys to add anything else. But it was really exciting. It was very wellrun. Um, and it was really thoughtprovoking and getting to meet a lot of different people from different towns. Um, and hearing what how they feel, what's important to them. We'd have community members there as well, which was which was nice to see. So yep, we we uh worked to identify core values based on the data and then they worked to identify uh the priority areas and and um so now we'll go over those uh on the 18th and then move on to identifying the um key performance indicators or KPIs. So the metrics to measure those things um and that will be kind of an internal because we it's hard to

133do the KPIs with a large group. It was about between depending on the day between 50 and 65 people that were able to attend. Um so I think we had a good jump on it and a nice representation of um all different age community members and parents and um I think every board was represented maybe not all three days but intermittently for sure um and we had good administrative um attendance participation. So I think it's it's a great representation of the truly the community of SA16 and what people value and what they consider priority areas. So yeah, we hopefully will present where we're at at least the um core values and the priority areas at the May joint board meeting. This is a is this a strategic plan? Remind me like is it looking at

134three years, five years? We're looking at we're looking at we haven't really decided but I would say probably 325 but there is um there'll be a dashboard that annually that actually updates progress on every KPI in real time be great so like a public face public yes it'll be live and people can see it so there's a sense of accountability there also right that it isn't a plan that gets done and put in a binder and stuck on a page and never opened again. So, great. Great. And Beth, thank you for doing that work and carrying it forward into next year. Um, facilities, Beth and Patrick. Patrick, you want to take this one? Uh, sure. So that committee doesn't have one of the things I should have said about the go back to the DIG

135committee is that that group probably has 15 members 20 members at times and most of them are uh teaching and administrative staff and and then two board members. This is a committee that's on the other extreme. It's um really two board members and then uh typically Rusty Listister or whoever is in that position and uh it's been the superintendent but our adviser would be the other person who's usually on that and that group um just meets on an as needed basis and so um it very flexible about the time when that group meets based on when folks are available and I wouldn't say that the group is met every month, we probably met only a couple times over this past year. Um, there are other years where maybe the group might meet a couple more,

136but it's not a group that that meets very frequently. And the meetings can be often times are are pretty short. They might be a half an hour. There might be a time when they're a little bit longer of, you know, 45 minutes or so to really talk through something, but typically they're they're pretty short meetings. And and there wasn't a meeting since the the last time that we met. to report. I would anticipate like the light situation would be something that potentially would come would meet about potentially. Yep. Yep. And that might require a longer meeting or more meetings, but again it's very flexible in terms of schedule. Great. Um so the wheelright trust Tim. Sure. So the wheelright trust is specific to it's committee specific to this school district. It's not a joint port

137unlike the other two I had mentioned. Um, and what this is for is this is for um, uh, staff members in the Exertter School District have the ability to apply for, uh, towards a fund that was donated a while ago. Um, and they can apply improvements to their classroom or the community or the overall building. um that for pieces that may not have been included in the budget. Um and we typically as a group it's myself, it was Susan and the two assistant principles uh who would need on an as needed basis. Um I believe you two facilitate the the um the applications that come through from staff members uh from the both buildings and um lately we haven't been meeting. We've just been uh corresponding via email. Um but uh we do come together

138if if if needed. Um and then what happens is then we bring the proposals to the board and we we vote on them here. Um so we have a few things to talk about tonight. Um we have two proposals and then a followup uh overage piece that we need to also vote on as well. So, um we can start with the um in the packet there are the two proposals and then I can bring up to the board discussion for uh an overage discussion on a previously approved um wheelright um uh u piece on the cafeteria audio equipment. So the first uh proposal, new proposal we have is uh for Lincoln Street School playground stencils. Uh this proposal is to replace the faded activities that are stencled on the pavement portion of the Lincoln Street

139School playground. Uh you may be familiar with the that that part of the black top outside. Um they the current stencils have faded over time and in the meantime the school has moved to a model uh where they no longer provide morning recess um in addition to the recess break attached to lunches but they're offering students a movement break. And I think really the to sum it up, they want to mod u put new stencils on the blacktop area that correspond with the different things they do during the movement break uh for students uh in the morning. So um that is what the overall project is. Uh they're going to hope to put those in over the summer and um they intend to save the actual stencils that they're purchasing so that they can reapply

140them. So if we're thinking about which is great anticipating the questions we often ask as the board is how do we maintain these over time. So well done there. Um the goal is to provide students with structured activities during the movement break. So really aligning the the infrastructure of the school with the um the curriculum and the the planning that goes on alongside it. So, um the approximate cost is 5,000 which includes shipping, but this will have uh stencils including a four square stencil, twister, wellness stations, a maze with the sensory pathway, a bullseye, and different paints to go along aside that. So, um I'll open it up to any questions you have. There are probably some experts still around who can speak to the proposal because I believe the the the the folks who

141proposed this are probably here and um and if you uh if anyone has questions about the proposal um feel free to to ask. Do they are they also are they I don't know if they're in the room. Are are they um proposing also to this is separate this is adding new stencils not not adding new stencils and redoing redoing the old stencils. Yeah, it's it's primarily adding new. I mean our four square gets used a lot. So we are going to try to get that back to where we want it to be. Um but it's primarily adding new. And again the the idea just behind the movement break piece versus like a morning recess. It's a very similar time frame. The difference being is that when you go out to say it's a morning recess

142and it's 10 minutes, you barely get through choosing teams and then you're arguing about why didn't you ch it just it doesn't serve the purpose of getting kids some fresh air, a chance to move their bodies and come back in more regulated not less, you know, for that short period. So, um, we wanted to provide structures, activities that teachers can lead with their class or with a partner class. and a lot of the activities that are would be on the stencils would allow more op more more options for um our students that participate in the morning movement break. So I guess one question sort of builds on what Esther just asked. Is there any thought about removing ones that are not being utilized? I mean they are faded to a point where there's they're not

143going to be they're effectively removed. Yeah. Yeah. just just in terms of if you needed a clean slate to be able to use that space for a second four square cord or for putting a stencil over top of it or whatever. I think we have we have a pretty robust paved area there. So there's plenty of room to add where we want where I mean the largest piece that might be problematic if you try to go over is the United States map which we wouldn't use that particular area. Um we do have a number of bigger cracks that came through over the last couple years. They're going to be sealing over the summer. That's why we're waiting until after that um as well. But I I think the overall surface is in good enough shape

144where we can do this. And again, we'll save the stencils. If we do need to repave that area at some point, we'll be ready to go. Just uh put them right back on. So, with the new four square stencil, you could theoretically create multiple four square spots. Yeah. Three. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Can we can we pave over the map? I guess we need to use that. I don't know. I mean, it's it's Yeah. Well, you decide. I I don't really have any strong feelings about it. Just I think it's great to I think the proposal is great in terms of using the space more effectively. Yeah, I like it. It's more aligned with our current structure of how we're using our schedule. So, I to align that with the new newer morning movement piece I

145think is great as well. I like the idea of keeping the stencils. Makes a lot of sense. Agreed. Uh, so I think it's a great proposal. Yeah. Great. All right. Is there a motion to approve? Can we talk about both proposals? Oh, sure. Yeah. Yeah. And there's a third. Yeah. Are all three proposals? Yeah. All right. So, the next proposal is one to cover uh field trips for next year. So, the PTO has previously funded field trips for Main Street and Lincoln Street. um it was decided that they will no longer do this and then the school budgets will cover these field trips, but that will not start until the 2627 school year. So now we have a gap year where we need to find funds to uh pay for the field trips that are

146planned for next year. Uh so the um the team is requesting to leverage the Wheelwright Trust Fund for funding field trips for the 2526 school year for both Main and Lincoln Street. Anything to add though or any discussion? I don't have any questions about it. I think it's something that's long overdue. I was surprised to hear that that wasn't already happening. So, I think um I learned that I don't know a month or so ago that that was the case. And so, I'm glad that that's not going to happen going forward or that's not the plan, but I think it makes sense in the interim to fill the gap because the field trips are obviously important, but it's a it's a a great shift. It's I think it's a good way to use the money.

147Great. And the proposal would be $10,000, five for Lincoln Street, five for Maine. Uh My only question with this and maybe it's in here is uh what was their role in terms of like being an intermediary, right? To how does that work now? Like they they you all went to them to request the money or how every year and I don't know how long-standing that was. It was already happening when I came through a check for us to Yeah. They just had a budget line and they said in the fall, you know, I see your school has this much, your school has this much, which was always five and five. Mhm. So we just would reach out to them when we had a field trip. So in this case, we we would split the money

148between the two schools as has been traditionally done and then you would handle those requests, right? Yeah. Okay. Great. Great. I was with Patrick and I I think we are the board members that are referenced in the proposal. So I was aware I think I think this makes a lot of sense as well. Um, and just to remember that we should bring it back up when we're doing budgeting for 2026, 2027. Yeah. Great. Any other questions or comments about the second proposal? All right. The third piece is not in the packet, but in a few months ago, we approved the installation of the cafeteria sound system right behind us. Uh this we approved a $12,421.93 amount for that system. After installation um there is a remaining balance that is $697 sorry $679.99 over uh what

149we voted for. So, um, uh, the team is proposing, uh, to the board to leverage the wheel right fund to cover that $679.99 to cover the overage after the installation of the sound system. Any questions? There were some things that had to be ordered after we got the sound system like a vented door because he was afraid it would overheat and it didn't come with a vented door. So, there were some things that had to be purchased after installation. I I think I'm fine with it. I just have a question for going like obviously this isn't a huge amount of money but I guess from a like a policy perspective if this had happened and you came back and said oh it's you know thousands of dollars like I guess I'm just curious not knowing

150like how could we I don't know is there any way that we could could I don't know what we could do to sort of alleviate the risk of overage if the of possible you know big big dealings Yeah, I do. It has to be made clear that the board approves up to an amount and he can't go over that. Yeah. So, or we asked for like I we don't know, you know, like he gave me a quote and we got a quote like I don't know sound system. So, yeah, that's okay. We don't know if the quote is when he gets into it. I mean, happens in like the greenhouse had some of that too. Like we had to figure stuff out of that. So, I guess maybe we ask for more and then you're

151you're preparing to pay more, but yet in the reality it's less. I don't know. I guess it's just something I mean I think it should be built into the application process and made it really clear and they'll have to in order in order to receive the money and pay they're going to have to go through because they we have to still get that money out, right? And so I think when you go back that loop and say this has been approved, it's been approved for $5,000, you need to keep track. And if it's getting close, you you got to stop because we have to either go back to the board or then look at operating costs, right? Um I also think that those those quotes you want to tell people that you want to quote

152on the high end like we do when you do any project, right? Maybe if it's a building project, what's the rule of thumb? They say add 30%, I say add 50, having built a house not that long ago over what the estimate is, right? And so I think there needs to be some clearer language about what the expenditure and what that board approval truly means in that application process, whether it's after it's approved. There's there's a form that maybe the committee develops on here's the bud, here's the approved, please write in the expenses and submit back so we have a we have a good accounting of what was spent for what based on the project. Right. where you you correct you're thinking about a project and you're estimating the budget, but then you actually have

153to report on the actuals and let your program officer know in my case that it's going over or under, right? So I I would I would support the committees. I just kept sending them away like I would I don't just send it up. So then we got an email from the accountant saying it either has to come you have to approve it, right? or we have to find another way to fund it for this funding. So, we decided as a community to go to the board and ask for it to come out of right. Personally, I think I'm fine in this instance without setting any precedent just acknowledging we didn't think about this go you know from but going forward would hope that we as like the committee could could refine the parameters and guidelines

154to make it clear. Yep. We can take that back for sure. I'll tell you typically when we approve things not with Real Write but with other projects like Rusty frequently does these projects and we say up to $35,000. He will also say we're going to work to try to get this for less. So it's you know it's I don't think you turn around and say to the vendor, hey feel free to spend up to $35,000 just don't go over it. But you but you'd have to say that was your quote. You need if you're going to go over it, you need to talk to us because you might have to stop. I mean, I think it's essentially saying the same thing Esther saying in a little slightly different way. I It's not that they have

155a blank check up to that, but it's, you know, the expectation would be still that it's going to be still a competitive bid. Yeah. And to be fair, this is the first time since I've sat on this board that we've had this instance. So, you know, but I do think it's good to learn from it and make the adjustment. Agree. Can I make a motion to approve all three proposals? Second. Great. Um, any discussion? Okay. All in favor of approving the three um, well, I guess it was two proposals and one um, request to support the overage on the existing project. I you can pay your bill. Okay. Okay, I have I'm scrolling through the the many many pages of policy to get back up to our agenda here. So, I think if someone's already

156at the agenda, what's our next I think we have two more negotiations and then back to policy. Great. So, sbatical I know that's another who's on that one that there's nobody to them. Okay. So, Patrick, do you want to just mention what that is? If there's this I mean that's also a committee that doesn't meet very frequently. It's really just with uh the advisor and and a board member or two and it's to review if we get a sbatical proposal. So really it's typically just one meeting. Um and oftentimes that group doesn't meet at all. I mean not often but it can happen where that group doesn't meet at all. And so a lot of flexibility in terms of when that group comes together and then just time you know you do some advanced work

157on reading over a sobatical proposal and deciding whether or not it should be approved or if there are multiple proposals I guess that would also be something to consider. Great. And then um negotiations. So this year um uh Patrick and I served on the negotiations committee um for the Perez and this coming year it's for teacher contracts, right? Yes. So um and that well Patrick you speak to that because I this is my first year and what what was what is typical I know my experience this year but I think you've had more experience on that committee. Yeah. So that's a group that um in years where they're negoti I mean mostly what you do it's it's mainly active when there are years when there's a negotiation last year is as it is said it

158was pairs this year will be teacher the teacher contract as long as those contracts are approved each year it's on a three-year cycle if it's not approved it could come up again the following year. The other thing that could happen when there's not a year that there's a um a collective bargaining agreement to be negotiated is that there could be a situation that comes up where someone's asking for sort of an exception to it or or an amendment for some issue that's come up. That's pretty infrequent that that happens, but it could happen. Um when the groups are active, it's a large group, particularly with the teachers group. I think there were 12 members that were on it. Plus, you you may have potentially the school attorney plus uh typically a member from the union

159that will be representing that group as well and speaking for them. So, it is difficult to schedule those meetings. It's a lot of people. Um the meetings last an hour to two hours, sometimes a little bit more and um can be particularly active between say September and November um with the potential to meet after that, a little bit after that, but you can't go too far after that because you're trying to get something that can be approved to put on a warrant article to go in front of the voters. But there's also sometimes meetings, not sometimes, frequently, meetings outside of that with um sort of the negotiations team to to look over proposals and to sort of think through how they might work and what the implications are and changes in language. So, this can

160be a bigger time commitment. It can be pretty intense over a few months um to to be a bigger time commitment, but it's important. I mean it's certainly important and and it's you know it's it's a good experience but it's just it's it can be intensive and you need some flexibility in terms of your schedule or making flexibility to be able to you know really participate and I do think that one really benefits from having two people for that reason but also it's nice to have I think it is in my experience it was really educational to just go through it and understand um it and just to have that shared knowledge across at least two board members um for um continued years. So uh great Kate, any questions just on I don't think so.

161Okay, great. So I will um send you all an email just um with a quick summary of these and then if you all want to get back to me before the next board meeting with um you know wishes to be on one of these um or to come off um that would be great. And I do think it's really nice to, you know, for all of us to kind of have some exposure to these different committees as well as some, you know, um, continuity. I think it's it it helps to sort of deepen our our knowledge on all of these different aspects of the district. So, um, great. Is there any new business? You have your policies. Yes. Oh my goodness. How could I forget? It's so many pages. Yes. I um was not at

162the policy committee um meeting so I'm going to pass the baton to you Patrick. So we um so policy just as a general matter they meet once a month and uh pretty much every month I mean there's there's certain months where don't meet typically meet from 6:00 to 7:30. Sometimes the group will m wrap up a little bit earlier and there is some homework in this committee because you get these policies and you're expected to really read them and critique them and think about them before you show up for the meeting. So um it's it the group has been meeting 6:00 to 7:30 um on I think it's the third Thursday. So uh if that's a time that works for you, it doesn't they may not meet at that time going forward, but that's been

163the standing time for a little while. They also offer like an inperson and a virtual. Usually it's it's a hybrid. I was just going to say that this this is one of the groups that really works well to be sort of hybrid. If you feel like it's better for you to be in person, great. But because you're doing a lot of work looking at the screens and um looking at wording, it works equally well to participate remotely from my perspective. Right. So I think that's it in terms of that. There's there's a member from each there's um well the more recent model has been there it was sort of one member of the SAU staff that was leading it but the more recent model is that there's been sort of a shared approach to explaining

164or sort of taking questions related to the different policies that sort of match up with people's areas of responsibility or expertise and um and then at least one member from each of the SAU committee uh boards I should say. But we're we're kind of unique that we've had two members because you can have up to two members, but most groups only have one member. We've we've tended to have two, but it's not required and we sometimes trade off. Well, that's one of the advantages is that if one of us can't make it, you know, usually there's some redundancy. So, usually we get representation there. Um, okay. So, you want to look at the there's these are long, but but some of them hopefully if you've had a chance to read them, some of these are

165hopefully can go somewhat fast. All right. So there's a lot of different things that are on the agenda. The first one is the conflict of interest. It's a revision to the policy and just has some more clarity about what constitute a conflict of interest. Particularly, you can see there's a section in there about nepotism, but that's really the purposes for making a change to that policy. Okay, so there's that one. Um, the next one is agenda preparation and dissemination. And again, this is really just to have more clarity. It's just it's a revision. It's not so much that there's a a change in the law, but just clarity about um the expectations for agendas in terms of when you should speak to um the advisor or the chair about getting items on the um agenda

166and dissemination of the agenda and some of those things. Okay. And then next is a quorum um policy which is also an update and in particular it has some more clarity. Again, not a change in the law per se, but just some more clarity about what um around practices about remote participation and sort of what the protocol should be for that. and um you know just specifies it so that someone could pull up this policy and really follow it and and make sure they're following the right to know law in particular. So that's the quorum one and um board use of electronic communications. I'm going to handle all the board ones first, I guess, just as a as a a whole um a lot of this talks about this is related to the right to

167know law and um gives a little bit there's another one that really talks just about right to know, but this in particular gives a little more clarity about things like using texts um and um other kinds of electronic communication about what constitutes sort of a meeting. Um, and you're not supposed to be having a meeting that's not open to the public unless you have something that's you've gone through a process on a reason why you would have that. So things like negotiations aren't meetings. I we don't need to go through the whole right to know law, but there's components in there where it isn't considered to be a meeting, but there's other times you might be talking about something with good intentions, but talking about something that the public would benefit from hearing. So you

168have to ideally not have those discussions um electronically and if you did have those discussions you have to be really careful about sort of preserving them so that because the public would have a right to get access to them if they're requesting it. So that's what that one's about. And then the last um one on here is about board member indemnification. That's a good word. And uh it's it's really just to add a little bit more clarity. uh that you know if you did something that was a a willful violation of this and and didn't um sort of properly uphold your oath of office that you may not be indemnified. So it's just I think that was implicit in what was here before but it just spells that out a little bit more clearly in

169the policy. So all of these are amendments to policies. They're not new policies. It really is just to get some more clarity around what the practices are and protocols to make it a little bit more clear both for board members as well as the public. So there any questions about any of the policies related to board members? If not, then I would make a motion to approve uh these policies related to board members, which are BH um excuse me, actually starts earlier. Yeah, there you go. Um BCB the board uh conflict of interest. The BE DB which is the agenda preparation, BC which relates to quorum, BHE which is board use of electronic communications and BIE which is board indemnification. I would move to approve those policies. Okay. All right. Yes. You can move to

170approve those policies. That's fine. You can make the motion. So then someone go ahead. Someone needs to make a second. I will second it. That's okay. I second. Any discussion? Any discussion? Okay. All in favor? I. Okay. Thank you. All right. So the next group of policies are related to sort of finance and budgeting. Um the the first one is really long. This one that's DAFF, which is really just sort of outlining what the federal requirements are. The the changes that are in here are are driven by changes and modifications to federal requirements. So it's really just documenting what those are. Molly pointed out when she spoke earlier that was there was one piece in here that that is the policy committee was looking at didn't seem to match what the law was. Even though

171the New Hampshire School Board Association was recommending it, the policy committee said we really need to match what the law is, not just anticipating what the change might be. So we we made a small change to that. But for the most part, all this stuff just all of these proposed changes without going through each of them just align to some modifications to federal requirements. And so this is just a guide book for particularly the business office, but you know also some others in terms of whistleblower notification and whatnot about um you know about how these financial related um components work and what the requirements are. Does that make sense? Nope. Okay. So, there's a lot that's in here. If anyone had any questions about a particular part, we could talk about it, but I wasn't

172going to review each of the proposed changes because it's really isn't a new policy. It's just a lot of updates to the policy. Um, all right. Let me get to the right page in terms of the next policy, which is um Yeah, what the what's the page number in there? Let me just see. Um, I don't know because I Yeah, it's uh just a moment. I just want to get to the right page. There's a lot of DAFF. I think it's 78. 78. Thank you. Okay. So, the annual budget one is a new policy, but you can see it's a really straightforward policy. It really just outlines something that we already do, which is that talks about that the superintendent preparing and presenting a budget and and the board's expectation related to It's a very

173short policy and just documents a process that already happens. There was some again the policy committee looked at that they made some tweaks to the language but um everyone felt that this is a policy that you know makes sense in terms of some new some clarity. Um and then the next policy about inventory and uh management of assets. This is one that is um a revision and you know again I think you can see this really that a lot of this really you can see the references to that DAFF policy the the longer policy related to um administrative of federal grant funds. So it it really just again provides some clarity about that. And I'm sorry, this is the part that actually had the reference in terms of the dollar amount, but um which I

174don't know if that's it doesn't look like it's been modified in here in the former one on page but on page um the first page of did where it says $100,000 per item. I thought that's about they're talking about depreciation. That's different a different component. Oh yeah, that is you're right. Okay. I just want to make sure we miss anything. So yeah. So again, this is just not a new policy, just sort of making sure that it's up to date with new federal grant requirements. And then the last one is a new policy which is related to um public gifts or donations and just offers both a a process and and guidelines in terms of criteria and what the expectations would be if if gifts are over a certain amount about the process on how

175you would go about deciding whether or not to accept those gifts. So again, new policy, but some, you know, there's there's legal references here in terms of these are rooted in law in terms of what the basis of it is and then some of the criteria that you would look at. It just provides a really the policy committee felt like it provided really good guidelines to give um, you know, uh, protocols on how to go about considering these sort of gifts that might come come our way. So for those I guess I' I'll put it this way. Instead of me making the motion I also look for a motion to approve those uh those two revisions to policies relative to uh finances. So that's DAFF which is the administration of federal grant funds and the

176other revision is uh DID which is inventory and management of assets as well as two new policies which is the one related to the annual budget which is DB and KCD which is uh public gifts and or donations. Second. Okay. So I I'll make the I'll make the motion. That's fine. I'll make the motion. Then there's a second. Um, any discussion? No. Okay. Um, okay. All in favor? I I Thank you. I know it's it's a lot to go through, but it's Thanks for reading those and considering them. Great. Thank you, Patrick, for that. That was um a lot. Um, but good work. Um, so any new business? Um, I just want to welcome Kate to the board. It's really great to have you and great to have you continue on the board, Patrick. And

177you've been here. Um, any old business? I mean, I guess it maybe it's the next item of the agenda. I don't know if it's old business or new business, but is there a need to go into nonpublic? Esther mentioned something about nonpublic. Okay. Just want to be make sure we didn't miss that. Yep. Um, great. So, Esser, are you going to give me the lang? I I know we do need to go on to nonpublic um per RSA 913. Yep. And it would be [Music] under a A32A. Uh, A32A. Yes. Um, so we do need to do a roll call vote. Correct. Correct. Okay. So, um second motion. Thank you. I'll get there. Okay. Um all in favor I I I I I Right. And so going into public at 8:26. We are coming out

178of non-public now at 8:37. Um, and I would like to make a motion um to approve uh the recommendation of the superintendent um as discussed. As presented. Second. Um great. Any uh roll call? All any discussion? No. Roll call. Discussion. Just a general vote. General vote. All uh all in favor? I I Great. Um, and I think without any further business, I'd like to adjourn this meeting at 8:37.