001uh good evening everybody my name is Chris Hilson I'm the moderator for the exitor School District Welcome to the 2025 deliberative session uh for the annual meeting for the exitor uh District school um first thing that we normally do here is we stand up and we say the Pledge of Allegiance and then I'll I'll give certain short remarks everybody could follow along I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic which it stands one nation under God indivisible liberty and justice for all thank you very much um I'm going to make some introductions here um and then move into some very brief explanation uh to my left is the board and the superintendent Esther Asal the superintendent Pat OD day uh the chair Heather ik Meer a board
002member Susan Drinker who is not present at the moment because I started promptly I guess uh Beth York a board member and Tim Reed a board member I'm sorry that wasn't a knock on on Miss Drinker um she's just not here uh right now as many of you know uh the deliberative session is an opportunity for us to discuss the warrant ask questions about the warrant and with certain guard rails uh make amendments or propose amendments uh for the meeting to vote on such that we come to a final warrant article uh that is going to be on on the ballot uh on March 11 2025 where the the entire legislature all the voters come and vote on that on that um uh warrant article so typically what I do here is I I read
003each warn article I turn it over to a member of the board to introduce and discuss and if any would like to discuss it propose amendments and so forth they can come up to the the microphone right here pose those questions uh or potential amendments and we can vote on them um so there technically There Are Rules associated with this I have a bunch of rules in the back because I'm an attorney and I have to have rules I've never needed them once in all my years uh doing this and they can be amended uh by you folks if you if you so decide so with that Preamble I would suggest that we move right on to the warrant we have a rather modest warrant for articles this year um and typically this would move
004rather quickly so I'm going to read the first article to everybody uh incidentally I I think most people have a copy of the warrant do we have the budget in the back as well okay it's back there for everybody together if if you would if you would like a hard copy of it thank you very much so article one uh is relative the operating Bud budget and I'll I'll read it aloud shall the exor school district vote to raise an appropriate as an operating budget not including Appropriations by special warrant articles and other Appropriations voted separately separately the amount set forth in the budget posted with the warrant or as amended by vote of the first session for the purposes set forth therein totaling $2,769 231 should this article be defeated the default budget shall
005be $2,792 which is the same as last year with certain adjustments required by previous action of the exitor school district or by law or the governing body May hold one meeting in accordance with RSA 40 colon 13 Roman numeral 10 and 16 to take up the issue of a revised operating budget only the school board recommends uh $2,769 231 a majority vote is required for this article to pass at the town meeting I understand that the chair Patrick ad day is going to introduce this budget and discuss it I'll turn the floor over to Mr OD day okay so for the budget uh as folks probably know when we look at this very carefully and you know we understand that this is an impact on all the members of our community we want our school
006system to be a great school system which it is but we also look closely at each of these lines the major drivers for this year are really related to employee benefits and special education just to give you a sense the it's about $1.2 million would be the increase from the previous year's budget and of that $800 143,000 of those dollars are related to special education needs part of that is about $500,000 that is uh sort of set aside or or we have the budget for for contracted services for uh par Educators for different forms of par Educators particularly rbts and other sorts of par Educators you're going to hear when we talk about the collective bargaining agreement we're really hopeful that we'll be able to hire those folks internally but to extent that we can't
007it cost us more money it cost about one and a half times the amount of money so we're looking for ways to reduce that in the future but we have to budget for that now because we need to be able to meet all of those kits needs it also includes money for bcba which will which is a a special behavior analyst that will work with both of the schools um and it includes some the the other Big Driver I should say is about $290,000 in employee benefits that's um health and includes health and dental and that's something again that's sort of contractually related but and we don't really have much control over or really don't have any control over in terms of what those costs are but um it it does bring the budget um
008up from the prior year the difference between the default budget which means that if this were defeated and the Act and the budget that the board is endorsing is about $57,000 um so even even though there's about $1.2 million in increases it's about $57,000 in difference I I will also say that the administration really looked hard on are there any ways that we could look for cost savings and there are some things for example we used to have five permanent or we currently have five permanent substitute teachers and they're reducing that down to four because they found that we really don't need the budget for that extra position that saves almost $60,000 due to declining enrollment we're reducing one certified position that's about $50,000 so those are just some examples I certainly could uh talk
009about more specific things although I'm going to give one more example uh the professional development line uh which wasn't fully being utilized and and based on what the needs were for the the staff that we have here that's being reduced by about $45,000 so the the Educators that are here and the administrators really looked closely at are there ways that we could reduce things so that again we're not passing on this burden to the taxpayers but at the same time really meeting the needs that uh that we have here in the school system and we felt really good about the budget and as a board we endorse it thank you Mr OD would anybody like to be heard relative to article one the operating budget all right hearing none I'm going to solicit from somebody
010a motion to uh move the question and close discussion on article one do I hear such a motion from anybody anybody I got one do I hear a second you could be the board members too I'll second all right all those in favor of closing discussion on article one please say I I I I'm going to explain something uh any any Nays all right I am going to solicit from somebody a motion to close reconsideration um of article one and the reason behind this I've probably done a poor job in the past of explaining this to everybody technically under these Town meetings people can wait until people go home when their article of interest uh has been voted on and they can wait until there's one or two people here and move to reconsider an
011earlier article I've always felt that that is very unjust and so there is a provision in the law to avoid uh that impact the body you folks can move to restrict reconsideration of an article that has already been discussed I think that's the most Fair way of dealing with something like that so with that explanation do I hear a motion to restrict reconsideration of article one I got a motion do I have a second doesn't matter got a second all those in favor please say I I any Nays all right article one as written will go on the on the ballot uh with reconsideration uh restricted we will move on now to article two collective bargaining agreement that article provides that shall the exitor school district vote to approve the cost items including in the
012collective Bing agreement reached between the exitor school district and the exitor pair professional association which calls for the following increases in salaries and benefits at the current Staffing level over those paid the prior fiscal year for f fiscal year 2026 the estimated increases $356,400 and 2028 17,7 59 uh and further to raise and appropriate $356,400 this is a measure that will require a majority vote uh at the town meeting I understand uh that Miss Ike is going to discuss this I'll turn the floor over to you misser great thanks um so just a a couple of things to build off of what Patrick said I think we had a good negotiation process and um as as uh Patrick said sorry that we have an obligation to meet our special um the needs of our special
013needs students in this District so our pars are really critical to that and they um are feel a really important need um for our kids in these schools so um a couple of things that are related to this um we uh the warrant um includes a The Proposal is to include an increase of 8% in the first year so bump the salary up by 8% in the first year um and that's really to bring those salaries up to competitive rates um and then it levels off at a 2 and a half% increase in year two and three um the other sort of driver is um in the second year um an expansion of health coverage so we um in the second year uh we are uh proposing that um there be a 50% contribution to
014a 2ers coverage um for both plans and then uh in both the second and the third year so we sort of really tried to kind of incrementally get Folks up to both market rate and really um make sure that they um are not only compensated um well but um that hopefully we can incentivize um the pairs that we do have to stay on board um and we do have a gap so as Patrick mentioned earlier that we're filling that Gap when we can't fill those positions with contracted Services which we're paying more for but we're really hoping that not only can um we keep the great people that we have on board um but that we can incentivize more folks to come on and join this incredible team um to really meet the growing need
015in our district um so I think those are the the two big things I wanted to just share as drivers um behind this warrant thank you very much would anybody like to be heard relative to Article 2 please and if you could uh state your name um when you make your comments hi I'm LZ Pitt and Dre um I represent the Paris I am a pa here across all of New Hampshire as well as in our school district it has been difficult to recruit and retain quality par professionals it has been especially difficult to recruit one-on-one prer professionals that provide individualized support to students with special needs these pair of professionals work with the students directly throughout the day and assist with academics behavior management and any physical support of care that is listed in
016the individualized education plans going into negotiations both our association and the school board knew there was a lot of work to be done to bring wages and benefits to a competitive place for Extra Care Professionals the goal was to make our collective bargaining agreement stronger so we don't continue to lose the quality people that we already have in addition to make the collective bargaining agreement attractive so we will be able to recruit more talented pairs to this District we are currently using many contracted employees who are in many cases paid almost double what the district paers receed while still receiving benefits contracted pair of professionals are not bound by The District's rules or expectations they can leave at any time that they choose in addition if an issue arises with their performance they cannot be
017held accountable by the district continuing to hire contracted agency par professionals is not only financially un sustainable but does not provide our students with the dedicated support of quality PA professionals that work directly for the school district who are committed to our students our community and our district the school board and our association are in agreement that hiring contractors is not ideal we should be investing in District employees who understand the needs of our students this is what will best serve our students in the district our students deserve the best that we can provide recruiting and retaining pair of professionals who are dedicated and are highly qualified is imperative these parent professionals should not only be committed to our district but can afford to support their families with this new collective bargaining agreement we believe
018they will be able to do this vital work the wages benefits and other improvements that have been agreed to in this contract will be vital to the support our our students receive an exitor I ask that you support this contract thank you very much would anybody else like to be heard with respect to article number two okay seeing no further comment do I hear a motion to close consideration of article two any motion thank you do I hear a second all those in favor please say I I any uh opposed all right now do I hear a motion to restrict reconsideration of article two I got one is there a second I got two all those in favor please say I I any opposed excellent article two is number going to is going to go
019on the ballot as written uh for the broader populace to vote on uh let's move now to article three special education Expendable trust shall the exitor school district vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $75,000 to be placed in the special education Expendable Trust F previously established for the unanticipated special education costs at the exitor school district this sum is to come from the uh June 30 fund balance available to transfer on July 1 no additional amount to be raised from taxation the extra School Board recommends this appropriation this measure is going to require a majority vote uh to pass I understand uh Mr Reed are you going to speak this particular article I'll turn the floor over to you sir great thanks Chris um to Echo both Patrick and Heather we do have
020the obligation to uh provide services for children who need it the most especially with special education services um so sensing a theme tonight that is a very critical Focus for us on the board with warrant article 3 uh just so everyone is aware um this fund would only be placed in the trust fund if there were uh additional funds at the end of the school year in the fund balance so just know there isn't any additional uh funds to be raised to for this particular warrant article it would be an appropriation of additional extra funds at the end of the school year um but what this is intending to do this fund it is to provide available funds if we had an unexpected uh placement of a child in the district that required special education
021services um as you may know those um that is quite expensive when a a an unexpected child is placed in our district and our current budget um is at the max then we would need to have this trust fund which is the why it's available uh to provide a buffer until we are able to reappropriate the budget for the next school year uh so this uh we have at the moment a little over 467,000 in the fund uh that is almost um the equivalent of funding uh two um spots uh we're hoping to to over time get up to $600,000 in that fund which is why you may recognize this article from previous from previous years um but again this is really to provide flexibility to The District in the account of an unexpected placement
022um and then of course we would look to the next year's budget to confir you know reaffirm that that additional spaces would be available within that that school Year's budget wonderful thank you very much would anybody like to be heard about article three all right hearing none do I have a motion to close consideration of article three anybody I got one do I have a second I got a second all those in favor please say I I all those opposed do I hear a motion to restrict reconsideration of article 3 I got one I have a second I've got a second all those in favor please say I I any opposed all right moving on now uh article three will go on the ballot as written moving now to article four that's the capital reserve
023fund shall the exitus school district Rose uh vote to raise and appropriate the sum of $50,000 to be placed in the capital reserve trust fund previously established in 2002 for the unanticipated capital cost at the exitor school district this sum is to come from uh June 30 fund balance available for transfer on July 1 no additional amount to be raised from taxation the exor school board recommends this appropriation it's another measure that will require a majority vote uh to pass I have Miss Drinker is um introducing comments on Article 4 would somebody else like to take that you'll get me tonight fair enough um so this this fund um is pretty similar to the prior the prior article that you heard about from Tim um it's set up so for those onetime unplanned um expenditures
024that we have not budgeted for through this process um think about like if you bought a brand new car and it breaks down on the side of the road and it's really expensive right so those types of things can happen in schools as well um so um we typically have between I think3 and $400,000 in this fund and currently the fund is sitting at $ 24,26 um so really lower um than we would like to see it again it works the same way if there is no fund balance at the end of the year um we can't appropriate those funds over to this fund did I get that right Molly okay okay um so there's really it's really not that hard so to explain thank you very much uh would anybody like to be heard
025about Article 4 okay hearing none uh do I hear a motion to close consideration of article 4 got one do I have a second second all those in favor please say I I all those opposed all right I'm not going to move for reconsideration because that that concludes the business of the deliberative session of the exor school district for 2025 uh absent any other uh thing that needs to be brought forward the final vote um for these measures that we've just voted on and discussed is going to be March 11 2025 at the talat gymnasium 30 lyen Street nexer people can vote on these articles from 7: a.m. to 8:00 p.m. um so with that and hearing no f further business in front of this body at this time do I hear a motion to
026conclude the deliberative session of the 2025 exitor School District meeting I have one do I have a second second all those in favor please say I I any opposed thus concludes the meeting thank you everybody okay we're going to call to order the exitor Schoolboard meeting and we are following the deliberative session so we already had the folks that were here rise and say the Pledge of Allegiance so that first item on our agenda has been accomplished so the next item is public input uh under the RSA uh 189 colon 74 there's a right to public input for at least 30 minutes uh time during every meeting and so we would open that up right now does anyone have public input that they would want to provide I don't see any one but if someone
027comes forward particularly the next 30 minutes uh certainly grab our attention and we'll work them into the uh flow of the meeting so that folks can be heard uh but let's move forward next up on our agenda is an update from the PTO hi everybody hi do I have a green light on it no oh no it does it does went to school for this I should know how to do it MH um so we have a lot of stuff going on with the PTR I don't know if you guys know but we have a glow party going on talked about the last like three months and um super excited it sold out um it is a free event it's a community event for the school community so um parents and uh students and teachers
028are all invited to come and we were just overwhelmed and thrilled with the response that um we have a weight list now of over a hundred people so um super awesome we're really excited about it but uh yeah basically it's a we have black lights and we've worked with uh Patrick at uh the electrician for sa6 to hang lights safely and um we have some really great raffle prizes to check out uh the community really came together and um we got stuff from Lexis and the Salt Cave and um all kinds of uh prizes for that so super excited there's even like a principal uh Silly String Showdown that's happening um so five winners for that put your tickets in that one um so we're really excited and uh that is this Friday uh the
0297th at 6:00 p.m. so uh 6:00 to 7:30 so we're really excited about that um we also are going to be organizing a teacher appreciation lunch that's going to be on the inservice day we really wanted to give teachers an opportunity to actually take a break and sit down and have lunch together so uh the plan is to have it uh and here at LSS over in the gym and just give an opportunity for all the teachers to sit down talk to each other and have something to eat so that's coming up on March 13th details to come for that our next PTO meeting is this Thursday the 6th at 6: pm. in the Main Street uh Library we actually are having a par professional come and speak um about what they do so uh
030it's an opportunity for parents to come and and learn about what par professionals do so that's one of the things on our agenda um and then we've also been able to purchase a couple of things uh for Lincoln Street some playground equipment and some books at Main Street just some library books so just a couple little items that we've been able to to do for the school and I think that's it thank you there any any questions that folks have board EX for the glow party I know no no no we we called uh early enough so or emailed early so next up we have the administrative update for seo6 great um somewhere up there was just two manifests I think they're right there so I'll grab them afterwards um but also in your board
031pack is a current year Financial we did add $108,000 since um last month but I did note on here what that all had um related to did anyone have any questions on that a lot of it was just encumbrance adjustments um and then additional um special education expense um but some really great news is I did add the anticipated revenue from the close out of the kindergarten project so we've had that sitting out there for quite some time needing to close out so that will bump up your fund balance so as we get closer I know this budget has been extremely tight to the additional um special education expenses but the way that the the warrant articles are written is it comes from fund balance so you know how you usually cannot expend Revenue this
032pumps up your fund balance so if you do get that dangerously close this will help fund those Warren articles okay so that's everything I had unless I didn't had any questions and I'll just manifest over there now in there are goings on at the um SAU at the administrative level the month of January is really just planning um for deliberative sessions and trying to make sure that our professional development day that the SAU manages the morning for um in March on the voting day everyone comes to the high school and they do peerto peer learning and so kind of train the trainer so Jill lier our curriculum instruction and accountability um administrator have put out a call for proposals we got a lot of great proposals everything um kind of like I think it's four
033tracks some are um social emotional one is academic and instruction and curriculum one is technology a lot around Ai and how to use that or not use that and then the final one is kind of a miscellaneous um every everybody else so we're excited about that day and kudos to Jill and everyone that put proposals in it's a lot to organize to get everyone a place to go and and make sure that we're meeting everyone's needs um from school counselors to PA of professionals to you know everybody that's um coming so that's a big deal that's coming up soon and then uh this week is delivered of chest every night depending on where you live so that's basically what we're doing this week and before we know it will be into February break so um
034basically budget season is kind of all consuming for us all right sounds good so next we have meeting minutes from when we were last here on January 7th we both had a public hearing as well as a public meeting and so I'd be looking for a motion to approve those minutes or amend the minutes if needed motion to approve both sets of minutes yes okay so we have a motion to approve both sets of minutes from January 7th or have a second second okay is there any discussion about the motion or about the minutes okay they look very nice I'll say all right let's take a vote all those in favor say I I I I think that was unanimous so we have that passes uh we have a note for each of the principles
035are on here do you have up are there updates that you're providing prep very much because it was the deliberate we weren't sure how it was going but yeah well we we were able to finish the deliver session in less than less than three hours so I think we have time though you have a whole presentation prepared would you want to give a an off the cuff quick uh update about what's happening the projector screen's down yeah wow um on behalf of Lincoln Street um we wanted to just recognize um first of all the wheel right proposal yes um so last month I wasn't here for the last meeting but the wheel right trust um granted us a new sound system which we're not using today however it was already put in ordered delivered and
036Dean from the high school came and has spent some time here putting it all in and it looks really great and we can't wait to use it in April for our fourth grade play so thank you to you guys because it really looks great back there you should go see it really good you um and also I just want to let you know that the ex summer skills academy um that is up and running we are partnering with The Brown Center again if you remember this comes out of our Title One funds and we will be sending out invitations to families um by February vacation so that they can make some plans for their students uh to attend the uh extor summer skills academy so that will go on the febru by February vacation those
037should be teachers are giving um recommendations Beth is handling that from Main Street for us so that that should be up and running again for five weeks this summer great and then just to wrap it up we had our first semester come to a close recently our Alma reports went home um via email to families on Friday as well as the I ready family report from the winter midyear diagnostic so to lead up to that we sent out some communication to families about what the information means how to communicate or engage with your child about it and all of our teachers took some time last week to just have some mini conferences with kids and kind of talk about well this is what this means and try to help them to understand a little bit
038more about what this information entails and kind of maybe have some prompts as far as what that communication from home looked like so we hope that that was beneficial for families um and then just as far as like kind of coming up really soon we have all three grade levels our celebrations of learning are in February third and fourth grade are next week on the 12th and 13th fifth grade is on the 18th all before this upcoming February break so we're excited to get families into the building um and be able to share learning right after we get into the second semester so some exciting things there and then our third annual for both schools our third annual steam night is coming up really soon too after the break where we have um um an
039evening event for both schools and that is March 13th um so we're excited about that as well I just want to thank you because I know we talked about the communication around the alma report I ready last time we were here and as a parent just sort of putting on my parent hat it was like I oh my gosh there's the email and it was really thorough and I when I got it my actually my son was like I was like oh let's talk about your report he's we've already talked about it and then he actually asked for the first time to like go through it with me so I just really thank you for being responsive to the dialogue that we had at the last meeting so quickly and incorporating some of that feedback
040I hope response yeah did we take everything I mean we take yeah he took everything mostly but no we have a couple things we just we just had um exor Pediatric Dentistry they came out and did a presentation for kindergarten on brushing your teeth and flossing your teeth it was adorable so we really appreciative of that partnership we have a book author that's coming that has um what's the dog's name iy Ivy the dog and it's a true story about the dog so the dog gets to come too and so that will be an assembly coming up we have after school enrichment happening we have um Family literacy night is happening there's a fun theme and a Spirit Week tied to that and then a little further on we're having our celebration of learning and
041so and uh a music and um art kind of combo performance to wrap up for second graders some more information will come out but we're just in the middle of planning all that right now thanks sounds good all right so next we have committee report starting with dij Abby I don't know if you're able to give a report SU is not here I think she was at the last meeting I was not able to attend the last meeting we are meeting on Thursday so that's our next meeting date was there is there any uh review of the last meeting I don't know if that happened before I don't think that happened before we had this meeting it happened after last meeting the meeting in January kind of reflected on sort of I don't um I
042can't remember if we had it before or after but basically our last meeting we discussed a lot about the reimagining of Valentine's Day and sort of how we're handling that um and just kind of different teams having a chance to be able to talk about that um tomorrow's agenda is really like a grounding activity to really just kind of help the team uh focus on what we're doing right now that feels really important and valuable and is benefiting our students and our community and how we can really make sure we stay focused and centered on that activity so that's going to be kind of what we're doing to Thursday yeah good all right yeah thank you there was no policy meeting this month and there's no policies to bring forward so that's the update from
043the policy committee their next meeting is I think later this month right I think there's another meeting yes yes there is yes the third Thursday super superintendent evaluation committee is there a meeting recently want to take want to discuss your sure the we we met I believe early January and I think we we all agreed on the goals of Esther's goals for the year and how um we are planning for um issuing that evaluation very shortly I'm not exactly sure the exact date of when those go out but those should be go going out too and we'll have our own U um part of that and an upcoming board meeting as well um I believe we'll be meeting again maybe in April or so but uh I don't think we had the exact date but
044that uh evaluation process should be starting very soon we also had Esther join us for the meeting to go over uh progress thus far throughout the year so that we didn't have to do it all at one time at the end of the year um and then we did talk about our incoming superintendent and how to support them um in this process moving forward so was good meeting we will not be meeting again though until probably the end of the year yeah okay well and Safety and Security task force did that group meet no our next meeting is on Thursday the 13th of this month okay there go Thursday 13th that and that group usually meets almost quarterly MH the sabatical group I know met recently do you have a is there an update could
045you provide an update sure um the team reviewed we had one application reviewed that application and a decision was made and um communicated to that applicant okay uh strategic planning that's me um we have not met since the last meeting but we will be meeting on February 20th to review all of the um survey responses that we got like feel like Christmas morning kind of getting those survey responses um so we're looking forward to that right before the break um I will say too like my daughter got to take that in middle school and she was really excited to be able to be in included in it in the school setting Esther so I think that was a great idea to have the kids do it Beth how was the response we haven't gotten that
046information yet we haven't met since it I don't have the total final numbers yet of responses I I last time I looked we had the least amount from community members that weren't involved with the schools in other words not parents or anything like that we'll have a pretty high return from students because both the middle school and the high school provided time within the school day uh through either advisory or team time or something like that for students to do that so I expect a high Student Response and that was the goal of that when we talked about it as a committee um I think parents and we had the next highest probably and then staff were kind of in the middle last time I looked so negotiations committee is on our agenda but we
047probably can take that off going forward uh the that group hasn't met since I guess early December when we sort of finalized our negotiations and it's going to as you see it's going to go forward on the warrant article regarding the collective bargaining agreement with the par professional group facilities um that group has not met but we should schedule a meeting we did get some proposed language from Rusty regarding the playground and for signage because we're committed to providing some sort of signage we just need to have a more of a meeting to discuss the language and finalize that so that it can come before the board for for approval so hopefully that's something we can schedule in the next couple of weeks before the break um we all WR trust uh no new submissions
048um but looking forward to the fourth grade show with the new uh audio equipment yeah it's going to be great I think that's really helpful I mean I appreciate getting that update on the wheel rde trust projects I think if we can do that from time to time after we approve them we get an update on how they're going either from this year or even prior years yeah we we had discussed that in a previous meeting of having a check-ins from folks who had had their proposals uh accepted by the board and coming you know six months year later and and and showcasing the benefits of what um their proposals have have done with their with the school so uh we're starting to see that in the spring I believe okay so that's it for
049the committee reports under new business um we added to the agenda legislative updat we had a joint board meeting recently about a week ago 8 days ago and one of the we had a number of legislators that were there and one of the topics was about some pinning legislation at the state level particularly regarding uh some of the the funds that would I forget I'm I'm sorry I'm blanking on the name of what those help you yes the go ahead vouchers the the education yeah they're not I I know they're not formly called vouchers but they essentially are vouchers but they're funds that can be redirected to be used however parents want to use them and uh one of the funds one of the bills that we discuss somewhat is that right now there's a
050limit based on um on income for a family or four I think it's 350% of the poverty line but there's a bill that's before our state to uh remove that limit so that essentially there' be no income requirement you could uh make $400,000 a year and still be eligible for a grant to use to support uh educational expenses and there there's some concern particularly among the legislators certainly and we didn't have a full discussion among the board but certainly among the legislators about would not that's redirecting public funds forther uses and might deplete the pool of what would be available to support public education um but it be it also became a larger discussion or at least consideration about is there a way to review and discuss some of these these legislative initiatives both at
051the state level and potentially at the federal at the federal level and I know there was some interest among members of our board about having a discussion about that and whether not there's a mechanism I can also say since our last joint board meeting Esther uh remind sort of reminded the board by sending out some notations about the New Hampshire School Board Association tracks bills at the state level and they're tracking about 250 bills just to give you a sense that are related to education so it's it's not something that's uh sort of easily handled at a board level to to go into any depth over 250 bills some of them won't have any legs and won't go anywhere and others will can be very complex and nuanced but nevertheless there um at least want
052to put on the agenda for discussion because I I know there's some interest on discussing one we want to do anything as a board in terms of having a mechanism to discuss this or uh to have a for for it or potentially a committee uh but anyhow I wanted to open that up because again there's that request to put on the agenda I do like the idea of potentially at the Joint School Board level having a committee to if I mean I guess the question is like what gets reviewed there's just so many um or I just think I anticip at a lot of questions um in terms of how things that do get passed or or both at the federal and the state level are going to impact our schools so I don't know
053the best mechanism but I think that it's a it's good for us to stay informed but I imagine that parents families community members will want to know as things are ped how what I mean I I know that would be updated through you anyway but I just wonder how do people get what's the best way of of informing public in terms of how that affects our schools um and our students I think the model that I foret was it Deb who was talking um what they do with other school districts is the legislators themselves are going to these meetings and doing the education and the followup and really to the school board members and to anybody who's at the Schoolboard meetings but they are there they're invited guest standing agendas um agenda items so that
054they have that consistent presence and they're providing the education and the followup of how things went and really what feels like motivating folks to get out and contact their legislators if they need to did I explain that right yeah no I think that's what happen I think it's said that said W AET it was I think the example that they gave I didn't want to say wi AET at Exit you know I think I I think one of the things I struggle with is just that when I look at the update that from the New Hampshire Schoolboard Association it's a 7580 page document that has that that has just the notations on the bill that's not even reading the bills they've gone through they have their professional staff go through and read all these bills
055and analyze them and sort of boil it down to what they think are the key points based on the priorities of the New Hampshire school boards Association certainly they look at it with that lens but um you know that's pretty unwieldy and I think the other thing that's really tricky is just the timing to the extent that it depends on what the purpose is but if if bills are passed we're just trying to implement them some of that comes to the policy group because they they have to umine look at all those bills and that's part of the new position from what I understand that Chris andr is planning to have the the new assistant superintendent have more of a legislative policy area of responsibility to track that a bit more closely and to be
056more involved um but I I don't know I it just I I just worry about even when we were at the meeting at the Joint board meeting the legislators that were there didn't know what a lot of the text said because they had just been sort of recently proposed and I I tried to ask questions about one of them and they said they hadn't seen the text they they had no idea I do have a question so we have values right like we're and we're we're we've been committed to De work in the school we've been committed to like Safety and Security of our students and our so how do we as things that affect our primary goals and the values of our schools how do we stay informed around I mean things are moving
057so fast um so I I respect that but I guess I wonder I guess I'm asking the question back to you Esther as sort of like what is the best way to funnel things that are really going to make an impact on our students and our schools um while also being cognizant that things are moving so fast and a lot of it is hard to weed through at the moment yeah I think one is about the state level right and so when you talk about the state level I felt like the nhba was the best Avenue for board members a you pay for a membership as a as a board to this organization this organization is very careful not to be one party or the other and I think that is very important for board
058members as a full board obviously if individuals read through things and you have an opinion there's a venue to to do that and that's always linked into the nhba report um that's the other wonder I have about the legislative pieces is that often times for example The Joint board it was one side that was represented that night um and so I think we have to be very careful and this is just my recommendation but you as elected officials do not run as a member of a party you run as an elected official that wants to support the school board and represent the school you don't run on a Democratic or a Republican or an independent and I think we're going to have to work really hard because of our values that may align or not
059align with a certain party to ensure that that's our personal piece and that's your opportunity to be well informed each week and what you choose to do as an individual is different than what you may choose to do as a board I would hesitate I know the representative spoke to for example the board in another town um kind of took a position I personally would not recommend that to the board I'd recommend folks to be informed and take your own position because people don't run on a a ticket for board positions I think what I'm wondering is beyond sort of calls to action as you're like when there so the policy committee meets once a month but there's other policies that also have to be reviewed right so I'm also just thinking when things are
060actually passed and are going to take immediate effect how do we be respons like how not obviously we have to you have to like we have to be responsive and abide by the law yes but how do we what's the best way for and I'm it may not be within the board but I'm just curious for folks so how do I know what going and how that's how I need to respond to that as a as a as a community member right or right well if it's already passed there's not really a response from the community it's response through the board through policy and that's why we get again from the New Hampshire school boards associ Association and from some legal firms they take all that information all summer create a pretty lengthy document for
061us as school administrators that say these are the changes these are the policies that those new laws impact and then we see that and discuss that as a board as you see those policies come through the ones that are priorities for example tit n you're going to see that again because now the rules say we have to go back to 2020 rules not 2024 so if you remember you already looked at Title 9 to incorporate that new law of 2024 now we're going to bring you another policy you'll probably see that in in Mar in Fe Yeah March because they'll discuss it at the February policy meeting so the things that are more immediate that have already passed we have to adjust our policy to a line um you see those as board members we
062keep informed as administrators through the school boards Association that's who informs us of the of those changes that are already law and then impact policy and I'm just thinking in this current environment where things are moving quickly and maybe being passed or not whatever that how I guess the other side of that Beyond policy is communication just how do there how do we I mean we don't have a Communications Community anymore but how are we I guess how are you thinking about that in terms of just being really clear around how that's going to immediately impact procedure at schools what parents need to know families need to know yep again it's a um very hard balance um as we all know there's been I don't even know how many executive orders in a variety of
063areas one of them certainly Dei um and I get a slew of emails on both both sides meaning how are you going to handle this what are you going to do are you how is this going to impact how why hav't it already impacted um and so we're trying to put out information to families that's appropriate as we know it um these executive ERS right now there's so much flux and so much happening if you read the Dei one we have 60 days right so we're trying to make sure people slow down breathe because it's impacting our schools and the work that that's been done which you spoke of right so how do we keep that core value of equity and inclusion and abide by executive order should that need to be done in 60
064days standing here sitting here right now I I honestly don't know how that's going to roll out to schools right we're depending on nhsa nsba we're depending on our National Organization aasa um you know IM illegal immigrant in the executive order around that we tried to put stuff out to our admin ministrators if something if a um ice enforcement came to school we tried to develop an immediate protocol based on legal input from our National Organization and local legal council um we wouldn't share that with our families right because it's a very specific protocol however we have a protocol in place um it's a it's a political kind of hot potato if you will what do you put out um to families and community members while still respecting every Community member right and so that's
065what we're trying to work through now it's a difficult it's it's really hard um and so we're looking at how do we keep those core values in SAU 16 that we believe in that I believe the majority of our board members based on conversations and presentations that we've presented to things like joint board um to support the work around Equity right um I believe that work can continue through the bullying law through our tit 9 through the things that are still as we know it today still in place right it may take a little bit different route but still addressing equity and still addressing um when students and staff are harmed we're working through that we're not trying to rush it though because that's when we get into trouble right so we have to like
066I I know I say breathe take a deep breath slow down get legal counsel when we're unsure which is what we you know we've already got some legal Council around some things and then talk through how how do we continue our work around our core values while respecting executive orders and state law and that's that's a process that's going to be I think in pretty fluid over the next six to eight months and then then we'll talk about how are we communicating those changes out it's a very difficult to communicate anything out now because we don't really know the impact and how that's going to impact us at the local level right for example grants we have Dei aison written into grants right those activities are appr approved through the state in New Hampshire I
067have not gotten any notification from the New Hampshire Department of Ed that those grants and that those stiens for $1,500 for I think it's nine Dei Liaisons for all of the schools in SAU 16 I can't pay that out because it was a previously approved activity I imagine the state is doing the same thing we're doing what does that mean what does that look like right um and so that's just a little small example of a federally funded program because it's a title grant that we have a Dei liaison nine of them written into each school um to participate in the Saud Dei committee so right now we're just kind of holding steady because we're not getting any direction from the New Hampshire Department of Ed and they were the ones that approved the activity
068so that's a good example of I don't have the answer I'm just we're all just kind of waiting to see what happens and I know that's not a great answer and I wish I had a better one but I'm just trying to get people to slow down and breathe and know that our core values that we believe in we're going to figure that out well I see I really appreciate the transparency around that I think that every I think that's true right we can't move at the speed of urgency and nobody really quite knows how things will unfold um and I appreciate the just communicate the sort of standing in the values for now and figuring out how just continuing to keep us up to date on um and trying to provide clarity as we
069know more we will certainly do our best so so I want to go back or just keep the focus on two on on our board I mean it's in conjunction with what the seu is doing but our board is also independent somewhat independent of the sau's activities per se if there are things that we want to do as a board we certainly have the authority to do that so I don't want to keep that I want to keep that topic open with an informed discussion based on what Esther just said um and again I will say I have this document open from New Hampshire school boards Association it's 87 pages long they're tracking 264 bills right now uh it's it's pretty extensive and they take a position on each of those I can tell you
070because I was on that board for the New Hampshire school boards Association board for six years when they say they have values that they're basing on they actually have a conference they vote on each of the values they're worded very specifically they have a values document and so for example local control is one of their uh Prim AR values that they they want things to be controlled locally and bills that don't support that they oppose so they they're very clear about it we certainly have value statements in our vision statement and and other positions that we could rely upon if we wanted to take positions um but I also take to heart what Esther said before I mean I I didn't run on any sort of party line ticket I know some states do that
071I have a brother-in-law lives in another state and he ran with a party affiliation when he ran for office as a Schoolboard member um but you know I feel like my responsibility is to represent all the voters in in exitor and all the folks that live here but there are some things that certainly in terms of the impact on public education particularly this this um idea that there might be reduced funds or there might not be enough adequacy there are some things certainly that affect our budget and affect our ability to support the education that we're that we're building here so it may be a subset of the broader bills that we that we try to focus on it may be all of them it may be none of those things I certainly didn't want
072to ignore the possibility that we could take action with this if we wanted to I don't I we didn't hear from just to give a chance for Beth or Tim I know Tim in particular you had mentioned this as a an idea I think we it was an interesting idea at the Joint board when when those legislators visited and it was almost if you know their position was like we meet with all these other boards you know it it's surprising that we haven't met with your board um it was an interesting idea to have them perhaps come at a you know not every meeting but some of our our own meetings to keep us up to date on on what are those major bills that are being discussed if that is done in as Esther
073alluded to in a way that is sort of one-sided then I I I would agree that maybe that's not the right path but um but it is interesting that for us to know or in us to help the community know more about what are those things that are on their Horizon that might um have an impact on the on our community and our school district um and if there as we've been saying as Heather's been asking too if that's not so easy to do um I don't know if if this the Board Association would be have someone that could come talk to us too I'm I'm I'm not sure that might be that might be another better option yep I was thank you for bringing that up Tim that they are certainly happy to come
074to a joint board and and you know I I would probably recommend that maybe that summer Retreat because then the laws have passed to your point what's passed how is it going to impact us um because again this is so influx for them too as you can tell for um Becky who does the this for the nhba um but that certainly is an option for any board that wanted it or certainly for retreat in the summer would be also I think a great another great option um because then you're getting all the boards together and all getting that information at once about what has actually passed what the impact could be for policy or is to policy so you kind of have that precursor for the policies that will be coming forth to you starting
075in that September board meeting so that may be a helpful timing also I like that idea I mean I just think it's about and and I don't think it's you know to your point about taking sides but I think there's a lot that could change and how do we yeah the the legislators did say that boards have been taking sides and so I'm I'm wondering if that's something we should have a a stance on not taking side or I do have a question though ated to like if something is passed right so I think there's the psychology of like paralysis right when things are chaotic and there's a lot going on I can imagine some of the Educators even with us like what am I what can I do suddenly like and so I guess
076that's my other concern is that in the interim right while things feel chaotic and uncertain how do we guard against sort of paralysis um in terms of what's happening every day in the school right we're super fortunate to have a chief Equity officer that is dealing with some of those issues also Jill for related to curriculum um has we've put out some internal emails to our staff trying to ensure that this is what this could mean this is where your supports are um certainly we've tried to and I'm looking for educators that got those emails um tried to be supportive with as much information as we have and I would ask you know any anyone to maybe let me know if it's additional things that you might think you need but we're trying to at
077the SAU um that that's the other all consuming thing thus far is waking up seeing something okay what does that mean do we need to send something out to our staff um I think we've sent two mass emails out with various topics trying to ensure that we we have you and and again breathe it's all right we'll get we'll get through this we can do what some might interpret hard things and we're here to help you other thoughts about sort of legislative updates okay I mean certainly something we can Circle back to at the moment it it sounds like we're not taking action per se I I think there's certainly an opportunity particularly with some of the reorganization that's happening at the SAU level uh with the new responsibilities of the new hire that's coming
078in to work with that person to to sort of talk through what would be the best way to to work this through and I Tim I think just to go back to what you said that that came up at the Joint board meeting about a board taking sides I'm not sure I I doubt they took sides on all 260 some bills I think they there's probably a a bill or two that was pending that that they've uh took sides on I think I have seen that where some boards have written a letter in opposition or in support usually more in opposition but sometimes in support of a particular Bill uh so that could be an option going forward if folks feel particularly strongly about it but it's always a concern about how much we're representing
079the Community Values versus individual values so we just have to be careful I guess I'm just curious at to the point of taking a stand that we have we have articulated goals like board goals and so if something came up and got P if something came up and it felt in opposition to sort of um I mean the reason you have court values is that they are sort of your Northstar right and so we have goals so if something felt really out of step with the goals of the district or the board I guess that's my question of with that I mean I don't have an answer to tonight but it's just something I'm thinking about is what's the point of core values and goals if they don't guide you yeah well I mean our
080goals are to have Partnerships with the community to ensure that the schools are welcoming with the Deep sense of belonging considering including diversity equity and inclusion so that's part of that but some of that some of that wording you know may be prohibited potentially uh support efforts to promote educational Equity support the ongoing development of safety and and review of Safety and Security initiatives and then support social emotional Wellness of our students that's a short version of the goals so there's certainly some things that we set as goals I don't know that we said those as values per se but they're certainly reflective of values right a division statement definitely has values that have been agreed upon by the SAU uh and and to the extent that the board voted for them particularly as a
081joint board we endorse those values as well so we certainly could certainly could take a position in theory that said that it doesn't align with our values as a as a SAU or excuse me as a board um so that may be something I mean that you're right that could be that could be a way it's and it's not I guess it's taking a position by saying it doesn't align with their values it's just something to consider we spent time right discussing those and and certainly yeah yeah again I although again I would caution that that was not like an open discussion it was pretty all the representatives were really represented one political party that were there and so they all they all came with a particular perspective and and raised bills that they were
082in opposition to I think if we had had Representatives that where was this was at the Joint at the Joint at the Joint board at the Joint board meeting that I I don't I didn't recognize any any legislators that were there from a a different political party I think they were all from the same party and so it wasn't really an opportunity to have an open discussion about that and then to um take a position per se so but in any case I mean it spawned the questions of like how do we edify ourself about the process and I think that's probably where that's where my interest lies is how do I better inform myself yeah of even just what's going on because there's a lot there's a lot of noise so I think it's
083a good discussion I mean it sounds like there's a lot of particular The Joint one of the things I'm taking away from this discussion sounds like there's a lot of suggestions we've make to the Joint board maybe we can talk to the chair or whoever that is and see if they can do something with that but um we can but at the Joint board level I mean you're right there used to be at some of those joint board meetings where we more regularly invite legislators to those meetings I I'm going way back but that used to happen and it was just across the board all the the legislators in the district yeah we would do that in November before the elections and invite everyone that was running yeah and um so it the reason it
084changed was because it became almost a political running spee like vote for me speech and so the board members were like I don't think this is helpful for us because it's the same thing they're saying in the on the campaign Trail um and then so we talked about doing it maybe after elections you know having people that were actually in the position come and maybe bring their point of view forward so that may be a maybe that's the fall activity and then the summer activity is the bills that have passed in the impact you know maybe there's something in the fall or whatever after the elections are done and then something in the summer to kind of the impact of what's been passed you know that's a place to think about something to think about
085folks have other thoughts about that or should we move forward was there any other new business that we want to disc us okay I don't I don't see any then we will we will adjourn the meeting all right thank you for coming everyone officially done