001start with uh public input and per RSA 18974 we'll start the clock at 6 p.m. I'm not seeing anyone for public input but we'll start the clock and the clock will um go for 30 minutes okay great so next on our agenda is the PTO update do we have anyone from the PTO usually okay know that they get May Saturday get get fit in May this Saturday all that Stu and you can register on site right that's right great okay um is there a rain date for that or do they have it rain or shine it's rain or shine okay I think it is trainer huh yeah okay just want to make sure great um thank you uh so we will start with our SAU 16 administrative update and the first first item on the
002list is the fund balance Molly board is Current financial um this time of year bit before this time of year we always tell the teachers that you have to buy things to get so you are a little bit of supplies across the board with people um doing those year purchases um as we move to the new system we took a really big deep dive on encumbrances and employee encumbrances for the days of the year so that's why changes in the hour of the employees um we took a good look at Food Service and we did have to increase the bad debt so the Food Service fund can't cover students that do have to pay for lunch but haven't paid for lunch that does have to get transferred to the general fund so that's why you
003see a little bit of increase of $2,800 in that section um and then just rusty it for summer and get build looking in the operations does anyone have any questions I don't how this one M sent it so with that the revenue more than plan expense less than planned it's looking at 1335 million which is in line with what we said last time um I do know they did place the PO for the literacy program so that's now moved into actuals instead of bottom line where you see the encumbrances so the enum should only be the points at this point in time all right I just like to add that I did um meet with Ryan and he connected with Tanya about sometimes they prepare a wish list on fund balance and there are no
004items for the wish list because they felt like the board has supported the budget and um the big issue was the curriculum which she just mentioned and so they are good and they just want to thank the board for being so supportive and the community for passing the next year's budget I have a question when does the um work get done on the playground at Main Street School when so they'll start with that padding and the chips and everything okay awesome good all right great I just have a few things um one is the meeting calendar for next year was was in your packet and I basically mimiced our normal schedule of the second Tuesdays at 6 pm. um you'll notice around budget time there's a little bit of flex because we have those rsas
005that limit us to a certain week for the deliberative ETC and try to put in snow dates um so unless there's any questions on that I would look for a motion to approve the calendar as presented I move to um accept the dates for next year's meetings second any discussion look good to me all right all in favor say I I great um and I have a couple other things that you would see two uh resumés in front of you one for um I'm not going to say their names in case you have any questions but you have two in front of you one cm and one AC I have met with both of them and they were both the uh nominate the recommended for nomination to me um as you can see they both
006have great experience they are for the case managing positions um probably both will be placed at Main Street if all goes according to a plan um but certainly both candidates are qualified and I feel very confident in nominating them to the board so if you had any particular questions I would ask that we go into non public um if not I would ask for a motion to approve the nominations of the two folks brought to you and Esser just to refresh my memory these are to um these were vacancies these were vacancies yes um okay I move to um accept the two nominees AC and CM do you have a second second any discussion all in favor hi they look like great additions they do and now that you've accepted them I'd like to say
007it's Amanda Collins and Chelsea Morse so congratulations to both of them they're really excited about the uh move to exit school system the other piece I just want to keep the board informed you may hear um about our solar net metering system that uh Chris andruski and Rusty have been working on all year and exitor school district is one of the districts that will be included because they have solar um what that means is the solar panels to get credit for extra electricity that's produced and they did meet with um two other vendors to conduct business with so in other words if we produce extra then we'll get a kickback and when we don't have enough we can draw on that kind of Bank um we went with freedom energy because they already have conducted
008their interconnection study which is part of what they need to do any company needs to do to be able to run this kind of program so it's good news for us the we will get a portion of the Kickbacks as divided by our districts so there the co-op is one the this district is one Kensington stratum and East Kingston are the districts that will be participating based on their solar stuff already so I just wanted you to be aware of that in case you heard anything about it that's what it is so that's good news um end of year is going a lot of hiring Etc we're working hard uh I think to get everybody wrapped up quickly as you can see because we feel like the sooner we can do it the stronger our
009candidate pool so I'm not sure there any other positions we're working towards right now at a fill so PA professionals so if you are again for the folks at home since Patrick isn't here I'll use his words um if you're interested in being a parir professional apply apply apply and uh let's get set up for next year so that's all I have if anyone has any questions or any other thing you want to talk about from central office all right thank you all right great um so moving on to um the approval of the meeting minutes I think we'll take these separately so the first were the public meeting minutes um from April 9th did anyone have any questions about the minutes or need to make any changes motion to approve can I do that
010do we have a second to approve um the public meeting minutes from April 9th second great and I know we have one person that was not there so all um in favor I I I and th uh who needs to abstain Susan is abstaining and then um can I have a motion to approve the minutes of the non-public session from April 9th motion to approve nonu session meeting great great I'll second any discussion all right all in favor I I and abstentions Susan is abstaining great moving right along um we will start with you Tanya with your report from Main Street hello to see everyone mine's pretty short um and our calendar so I'll just give you a couple of highlights that are going on at Main Street school so we've had today our second
011graders went on the first field trip of the year to Great Bay It's a Wonderful Day for they had a great time last week kindergarten walked to the ex River they have a unit that they do on the river and so they go down and look at the animals and then they have their celebration of learning coming up first grade had their celebration of learning last week that was on animal adaptations and they extended it this year to also talk about part of the standard says how could you use the adaptation to fix the human problem so the kids were able to make some inventions and they were really they did a nice job doing that so thanks to all the families that were able to make it out to see that we've also had
012some evacuation drills lately and fire drills those were successful we fortunate we have some guest speakers for our kids we have Bob sh kindergarten and then we have Ellen I don't know she's doing second grade and then this week we started our end of the year benchmarking for assessment so we have I ready that's going and aadience is also going on so hopefully we can see some good end of the year growth there's been a lot of creativity with our teams on um different win groups and organizing them we just met as a leadership team this afternoon and they said they've seen a lot of progress with the kids and the kids have liked the arrangements so we're excited to see if that's paid off on those two formats um we wanted to say thank
013you for our May 24th day again we were able to lock in the trainings for our new literacy program so thank you for proving that allowing it just reminders of families that we have that day out for the kids and uh coming up we have some field days that we're prepping for which always feels like a signal that it's the end when we start looking at all fieldway schedules so it's like now we're in the final stretch and there's still some cool things going on some good learning going on but field days are always a highlight and we have get fit in day on Saturday so we hope everyone's able to attend and then the last thing I wanted to make a a shout out for was um exor Subaru who donated scho to donate
014$3,000 to and so there's some stipulations but we have to pick six teachers each get $500 we don't really know a good way to do that so we did a drawing but those people don't know yet so it's kind of secret until we partner with them to make that happen but we just want to say thank you for thinking of us and for that donation do they have to do anything specific with the money they so they have um they have their own kind of like website that pulls in from different resources that they can shop from so it's kind of like a voucher and then I think they they call and say thank you and they're supposed to take some photos of the supplies that they picked out and then send it into subar
015that's great that's cool that's it any questions thanks that's Ryan good evening everybody it's good to see you um a quick update from Lincoln Street School um as I had mention in in the update that I gave last week we had our spring concerts last Wednesday for fourth and fifth grade well as um fifth grade course was a great concert um a big thank you to miss Le good Miss Carter um for all the stent growth and participation in our music program this past year we also had our art show you can see a little bit of that right behind you and our hallways are still pretty well decorated with a lot of the exhibits um the art room itself was a glow-in-the-dark Under the Sea be which was a lot of fun um the
016kids and families that was one of the highlights of theing to go through that M conc so a big thank you to Ranch as well as volunteers staff members who donated time during the PRS to pull it all together um tomorrow we have kind of an in-house field trip um with the Skydome planetarium which is our first time with this group but they will um students will enter a dome that will basically take up a good portion of our gym um and they'll be introduced fi sky that um will look exactly like the stars appear at this time of the year um and they'll have kind of somebody who navigates them through that we'll be introduced to some Greek mythological characters we see how these here is the P you found on the stars um
017and anyway we're looking forward to it um we think it'll be a really positive thing and all three gr levels will be able to participate in that tomorrow um thank you for May 24th we're very much looking forward to it we've been working quite a bit with our um connections with Benchmark Advance both for May 24 as well as looking at our August days and making sure that we really get the teachers what they need for a good implementation um we have our last celebration of learning next Wednesday on May 22nd um our fourth grade teams will host a celebration of learning event where they share genius hour projects um were largely student driven students chose a topic of Interest develop an essential question subtopics have' been working hard to prepare a presentation for their
018families and peers um next Wednesday um third grade transition is underway so our second graders currently at Main Street School um we've had a lot of our third grade classes do the first part of that transition which is where they go down to Main Street introduce themselves to the Buddy class and I assume later this week and next week we'll second grade classes coming up for whether it be building tours chance to plan playground and learn our playground rules which are kind of the next steps before they come up with their actual Step Up day um and we have a parent night as well for incoming grade three on June 5th at 530 um spring testing we are also pushing pushing pushing we are um mostly completed our I ready reading diagnostic for the spring
019next week is Final Phase of New Hampshire sass for math um and we will take care of that um and again a big shout out to our students were really putting forward a great effort every time I check in teachers is there test fatigue how are we doing is our kids are really taking seriously they're working show with they this year so that's really exciting um we have our fifth grade celebration coming up I just want to keep pumping that up that's scheduled for June 6:00 um we send out a save the date to families and we're going to send out a followup with like all the details this coming week just to make sure that everybody um is prepared for that our event is going to be June 6 l or shine we will
020get to the gym if we do um in weather um our our event schedule will include a guest keeper um ackowledgement of the comp of the Dare program by officer St speaker and certificates for completion photo ops should be a um really nice new tradition and the very last thing is our exra summer skills academy um the dates for Essa this summer are July 9th to August 8th the program runs for five weeks on Tuesdays Wednesdays and Thursdays from 8 to 12 there are 73 students registered between K and 5 this year and just as a reminder we've also contracted The Brown Center for the second St summer to work on social emotional learning wased thanks thank you thank you both lot accomplished great any questions for great all right so we'll move into committee
021reports and I know some of these committees have met since our last meeting so what I think we'll do is go through each one and for the those who are on the committees give the report and then we can talk about committees going forward does that sound good great so deij J we have Beth and Susan have been on that committee so this committee met or attempted to meet yesterday morning um I think that we're still struggling to find a good time to get the bulk of the audit done so I think there's two I think we're going on like every two weeks right now is that right Abby feels like it um and so we're the equity audit was just really sent out yesterday to say it's going to be hard to get everybody
022in the same room before the end of the year which is the goal so answer what you can and then we need to go over it in person together did I get that right okay um we did discuss briefly at the end of the meeting around Andreas leaving you know and how we really want to make sure that the momentum of the exitor school district deij committee stays strong so I think that'll be nice way to end the year and then start next year as well so yay all right we'll meet in two weeks and Esther I don't know did you want to make any update on sort of plans for hiring or is that oh I will at the Joint board great that makes sense okay um I can do it here too if
023you want me to I just be either way fine we just have to hear it twice we'll hear it twice sure um as you're aware that Andreas smia has resigned and so we have posted it we have I think I looked yesterday we had six candidates already I would say skimming those to highly qualified for that kind of position um and so we hope to get more too so that's where it's at the the process will be uh internal with me as always because the joint board only hires me and then I hire everyone else so I'll keep everybody informed but I'm excited about at least two of them looking at briefly at the uh resumes that have come in so great we're well on our way I was happy to see that it was
024a chief Equity officer say yes I think it puts a lot of weight behind that and how we value that in the community so thank you thanks thanks yeah I just want to Echo that thank you for continuing to support de and to support it in exitor elementary but across the sa 16 and not skipping a beat and moving that forward and just to Echo that it's just been great to know Andres and wish him well and um really excited for the foundation he laid for us y there is a celebration I just saw I think it's May 21st does that sound right next Tuesday yep on the Lincoln Street playground do I have that right or Main Street Main Street playground from 4: to 5: and everyone's welcome if they would like to come
025and say thank you for uh helping us move this along great yeah thank you you and as a new board member uh I had my first uh family member come to me uh and emphasize the importance of this role and wanted to make sure that we're doing everything we can to fill that with a highly qualified person thank you wonderful um well maybe we'll maybe I'm gonna I'm going to go back on my so looking forward um the two people that expressed interest in the Dei committee um for the coming year are Beth York and Patrick OD day everyone haven't so I think we've got our two people for that which is great so thank you both um I think we'll go through let's do policy last since we have a bunch of policies to
026move through we'll keep them we'll come back to that one so um the superintendent evaluation committee um it was Patty and I um and I uh we just met last week as a committee to review the feedback from all of the school boards as well as um the 360 uh evaluation um so it was a really in-depth meeting and I think we will be presenting that at the Joint school board meeting so at the May joint board at the May joint yes joint school board meeting thank you so um any questions on that process okay great um and so for next year um we have two people who have expressed interest in the superintendent evaluation committee and that is Tim Reed and Beth York great and I think Patrick has mentioned this before but we
027are um not all of the school boards always have two people we're really fortunate to have two people and it's great when both can show up but if one um you know can show up and the other can't I think it's just important that we communicate so that at least we have we the best chance of having one representative at those meetings how often does that one meet uh it has been meeting uh it has been meeting monthly okay um I think this this year the meetings were Thursdays at 4 pm. they were um at the central office but um I'm not sure if they've determined do you know if they've determined their meeting schedule I'm not 100% sure but I'm anticipating um some of the work they did this year was to actually develop
028the process and I think people were happy with the process so I anticipate it might be more quarterly CU that's when I came like a check on my goals with the committee um with maybe one just organizational piece so I'm not sure it'll be as often as every month but that would that would be the most it would be I would agree with that there might be some tweaks to the process so I imag there would be some discussion of anything that comes out of the joint school board meeting if there's any recommendations there and then typically in addition to designing the process or sort of revamping the process obviously we worked with Esther um uh on her goals and then we presented those to the boards and so that process I imagine will be
029consistent great um let's go on to Wellness um so that is Susan that's you we have a meeting did you get that notification Tim we have a meeting coming up I I don't think so but but um that's all I I don't confirmed he was on it's in the morning meeting um week I think calendar with me so there's an upcoming meeting and you've scooped my news that it will be you and Tim okay carrying forward in that committee okay great um and then we have school safety the School Safety and Security task force and that was um Beth I think that was you and Patty correct so yep there has not been a meeting okay we're meeting the 24th uh 23rd next sorry 23d yeah okay since the last time we met they haven't
030met okay great and so Beth you've agreed to continue on with the task force and Tim you'll be joining as our second person which is great um all right I'm going to go through the rest of the Committees and we'll end with policy so we can go through those policies so for facilities um we have uh Beth York and Patrick OD day um on our facilities committee going forward Patrick of course uh as chair of exiter elementary school board will be on the joint chairs committee um for negotiations um Patrick OD day and we needed a second person I'm happy to be the second person on negotiations unless we have someone else who would like to be on that committee anybody going once going twice okay I'm happy to do that with Patrick um sabatical
031we had uh we have Susan Drinker and Patrick oday on our sabatical committee um strategic planning right now it's just me happy to have a second person if anyone is interested in strategic planning all right and what is um how often is that one meeting so I just developed a timeline with isar um today they're going to take a look at it it's probably going to be what I'm calling the sptf strategic planning task force that sound great um so we'll be meeting probably once a month to similar to what the vision committee did like looking at a survey how you going to send that out and then I'm hoping all the board members will be involved in that Summit um for the actual planning based on the data we get back and what we
032know so one rep is is I think sufficient because you have the opportunity to all be involved in the actual on-site strategic planning activity that will be that half day half day half day all in a row uh looks like in March um um and then we'll take that and do the action measurable action steps based on the work done at the summit to hopefully present a one-pager nice condensed beautiful looking strategic plan um in May to the full joint board okay so it'll be it'll be monthly it might be a little more in the beginning and then all the board members involved as many as can make it to that um three half day Summit and then the um task force will then take that and pull out measure develop action steps for measurable
033goals to meet the Strategic plan so okay so it sounds we're we're okay with one person I think it seemed to work well with the vision Summit that way with the one person to kind of it's about engagement in advertising yeah I think if we determine it not to be like we can add later okay all right that's good to know thanks Beth cuz um and then for wheel right trust we have Susan okay great and then for policy to Circle back um it looks like uh it'll be me and Patrick continuing on with the policy committee and so we did have some policies to review under new business but before we go into new business does anyone have any other questions about the Committees okay great I think we'll go let's look at the
034policies and circle back to the board goal since we're just on committee work okay so um hold on give me a minute to to get there um okay great so we um reviewed several uh policies which are there are summaries of those policies in your packet um and you can see the changes um some of these policies um were new or or many of them were actually revised as you can see through the summary because of changes in the law um so I'm just going to actually um um read the summary and then I'll give you a little bit of context for each one but mostly just interested to see if anyone had questions or further things that they wanted to recommend um for these policies so the the first two policies um are are
035um related um so the first is a policy code jic uh it's student code of contact conduct sorry and this is a new policy and it's a policy that's required um through the Department of Education um so was a new law stipulating that school boards are required to have a policy for rules of conduct and penalties for misbehavior and be disseminated to parents and Guardians um and so there were some amendments to that policy and um just really trying to emphasize um emotional and academic needs of students um through support intervention um prior to using using exclusion or suspension and expulsion um and I'm going to just read the other policy too and then we can talk about them together so that polic this policy is connected to the one just below it which is
036policy code jic CD and that student discipline and due process and so again this policy was revised so it's a um this one's a revision of a current policy um and again this one is related to um ensuring emotional and academic needs of students through support and intervention um it does things like limit um suspensions to 20 days uh limits uh the reasons a student may receive of suspension um and and sort of has stipulations around um standards for short- turn suspension Etc um so these were long policies um and I think we just I think for these policies I'll just say and and when we get to the one around um policy jka uh this was a long meeting we talked a lot about being very clear on definitions of terms um making sure
037that there wasn't anything in these policies and this goes for the one below it too which we'll talk about in a minute that couldn't that we were sticking to the law and also being really clear so that if the policy did need to be followed suspension was required Etc or that it's really really clear um when when things um move into process so first I just going to ask and let's do these two first were there any questions or comments related to policy code jic C and jic CD no okay so can I have a motion to approve uh policy code jic and jic D motion to approve j i and jcd second any discussion appreciate thorough yeah spilling it out so that it's very clear to hopefully the school administrators I think that really
038came through reading through great thank you for that um so we have approved policy code jic and J ICD and then moving on to policy code J Kaa this is called use of restraints and seclusion this is um a revision of a current policy um and I'm just going to actually read um so this was a revision in September of 2023 there were substantial revisions um and um I'm just going to read this because it's a little complicated and then I'll tell you a little bit more about the discuss discussion the impetus for revision was the 2023 passage of SB 179 and HB 491 um and they um refined the definition of seclusion they added a requirement for the use of co-regulators they added a specific definition and prohibition of the use of prone restraint
039which previously would have been prohibited as a form of dangerous restraint Tech um technique and then there was um you know policies Rel relative to mandating reporting um this is probably the policy we spent the most time on in our meeting um and again I just want to underscore the much of this policy is we legally mandated to but we felt that um it was just really important to be incredibly clear about what we were talking about and very transparent around expectations as much as we were able so hopefully that was reflected in the suggestions we made any discussions on policy code jka AA okay can I have a motion to approve policy code jka can I move make motion to approve policy jka AA I have a second second second okay so uh policy
040code jka AA is approved all those in favor all those in favor see I'm great I did I do that for the last one I don't think you did okay can I do that should I do that again just all those in favor to approve Jak the first two I don't all those in favor to approve um jic and jic D thank you okay thanks got my back I'm glad about that okay so these um next two policies the first one jcf was around Wellness nutrition and physical activity um uh this is again a required policy um and it it's I mean maybe more straightforward than the others um around um policies for um food and nutrition and physical activity um one of the things that you know we there were things like to use
041water bottles and what can be in water bottles and um uh water filling stations so it was pretty detailed um we had a long discussion about water bottles um uh but any questions on this one will there have to be any infrastructural changes um with the new water uh Filling Station department or do we already need those we yeah we have them in our building so we're good there I I'm not 100% sure about East Kingston and kington I'm pretty sure K yep kington has one in the as you walk in in East [Music] Kingston just trying to think when I walk in the building I think they have one also too right near the bathrooms okay any other questions all right let's talk about the the next one and then we can we both
042of them so the next policy was efaa that's meal charging um there were no content changes to this policy it was a revision there were some we we spent some time on grammar um but it meets the requirements of the state and federal law um and we're required to review it periodically any questions on that one okay the oh sorry go ahead back to the wellness one yeah please like we have the wellness committee does a policy app like we have ours or do we have okay let me back up it says that we need to have a committee that meets no less than four times a year so is that ours or is that for the whole District it it's a separate it's an SAU 16 wellness policy okay it'll incorporate everybody okay yes
043yep so you can still have this one here but they'll also have this here for the to meet the um regulations the federal regulations and the policy itself yeah cool okay thank you any other questions okay great can um I have a motion to approve policy code JL CF and policy code efaa motion to approve and the second second any discussion um all in favor I I all right so that was the policy committee thank you guys um those I know those were long but uh they're important so appreciate that um great so I think the next thing on new business that we have is a discussion of board goals and um if I'm remembering correctly I think I'm going to go ahead and just read the ones that we currently have they're on the
044bottom of our agenda every month um but just for those that are listening and so we can kind of just Center ourselves in them um and then we can talk about them if they're um these were board goals that we discussed um they say 20 22 23 but they're really 24 goals um so we did make some changes to these last year and these are sort of our guiding North Stars uh priorities for the year um and just as we as a as a board in support um of the work happening in our schools um I'll read them and then if we want to um discuss them now and we we don't have to decide tonight so we can come back if we want to make any changes um for the June meeting um so
045we have five we came up with five last year and some of these are sort of revisions to longstanding goals I want to articulate that um the first is to se seek to establish and maintain Partnerships and effective communication lines with our families and Community to strive to ensure that our schools are fully welcoming and supporting all students and families by considering diversity Equity inclusion and Justice as a core value three support efforts to close student achievement gaps while working to improve academic performance for all students four actively support the ongoing development and review of Safety and Security initiatives at our schools and five support social emotional Wellness of our students staff and school community in meeting the holistic needs of our population so can I add yeah so just so um folks that maybe
046weren't familiar uh number one one reason that was that goal was worked on through that survey that we sent out so that'll go over to the Strategic plan and I think continue to be worked on um the Dei is obviously you have your committee and you be doing that audit and then um the achievement gaps that's why we do the three presentations on the data so you are so the board is aware how students are making growth and progress the um Safety and Security we have that audit that you're welcome to come to the SAU and read we don't do that publicly because it's an audit that tells us areas that we need to improve on um we share some of that in our Safety and Security meeting however we are in really good shape
047some of the suggestions are financially Out Of Reach that the state would make um but certainly we have done things that would support that the same area of safety and then the last one that social emotional you can see I know the summer programming that Brown Center continues to do that as well as they do a screening with Desa and continue that work so just so the board knows that the school looks at these goals and tries to present metrics to the board so you can have see the progress that's measurable on them and I'll just say the fact that you could rattle that off so quickly like it's credit to also all the wonderful reports that we've received throughout the year I it's really clear that the reports are grounded in these values too
048and I know that while these are you know anyway I know that they're often shared values and that we're working on them together so so I think I'll just open it up I mean does any I think I think we can talk about anything that we definitely you know if these values if these goals feel like we just want to keep them and move forward or we want to tweak them or there's something missing or you need feel clar you want to clarify I think we can talk about that today and then we can um put it on our agenda too for next time to make any final changes I wonder if the first goal also is some of the intent behind it like what we in addition to the communication survey like what we
049as a board can do in our community that's differently too like I don't I don't know if we want to think about that differently I do know that some of the other exitor Elementary School boards have thought about different ways of um you know receiving feedback from Community before board meetings um I think one of them actually even meets I could be speeding turn so I'm not going to say that but I think yeah just they're thinking actively about what are the feedback loops as a board like and and also when information gets presented to them is there a way that the board can make sure that it's shared Beyond almost of it yeah agree so there there are some Elementary School boards that um have done that um so I think I I think
050the the main function for the board around this is really around budget so maybe considering how would you reach out to um some folks that don't come to our meeting for example a population that um doesn't have children in our schools how would the board reach them um I know in the past that's been something that boards have considered as far as Community engagement because generally speaking that's a huge part of the role of this board and it's a huge interest to the entire community so that may be one area as you're thinking about what other what other ways can we get a feedback loop in engagement um I know I have um reached out to some of the Riverwoods and things like that to get on their calendar for next year because you have
051to get on way ahead which I didn't know so when I called to ask to come they were like oh you got to get on the agenda way before this so I'm on the agenda for next year but maybe someone from the board would want to come with me what to do that kind of go over the budget and answer questions and things like that um so that's one Area library there have more presentations at the library too that might be so so oftentimes the board if they feel like there's a need or even if they want to reach out that's one topic that's I know always interesting to many people yeah I think also another example was that was that the sau6 communication survey the board members that were on that committee we really
052tried to get you know the word out to you know Riverwoods or um you know in in some towns that had a bullet Town bulletin to make sure it was included and I think that really helped reach folks that might not have otherwise got in those Communications um yes I think that was very helpful for board members to reach out to their local Publications because I will say in my 13 years in central office that Summit was the most well- attended event with community members that I've ever attended so I think that helped when a board member reaches out and it isn't just me with posting things around and trying to go to the libraries and things I think that means a lot when they recognize the name of their own Community member reaching out
053or giving someone a story so that was helpful thank you and estra one thing I'll I'll just say too is if you ever as you move forward I know Partners Community Partnerships has been a priority of yours if there are certain groups that you would like to engage in exiter that aren't coming to events or maybe aren't you know engaging in surveys and things like that that I would invite you to let us know so that we might be able to help you reach those communities as res of exitor yeah that would be great great Beth did that answer your question yes okay any other thoughts on the goals I really love that their go I think they're all-encompassing of our our mission as a board and as um an SAU so I love our
054goals actually I forgot too another thing that you all did to support the efforts to close a student team gas was approved the funds for the reading program MH mhm thanks for telling us all the great things we [Laughter] accomplish I think they're great goals I think they are broad enough but yet specific enough so we can measure them and we can ask for data as a as you can for as a board um so and that kind of hits all the things I imagine will be in our strategic plan great yeah we did spend some time but do you think about them so sometimes if you need to simmer with it and think about it we can bring it back to the agenda in June um before approving them great um all right any
055other new business all right let's move on to Old business I think this is uses we have a wheel write proposal that was on my question actually um here hold on let me help you I I don't have in front of me thank if I can is it in this one I know I read it but I don't know if it was in the packet Beth do you want to come up in yeah yeah Beth would you mind I think it was a a separate attachment it was under separate cover not working here so ah there we go so this um proposal was put forth by the speech and special education department at Main Street School it's um they're requesting um 11 forbrain devices is what they're called um um so some members of the
056department um they did a trial uh run with a few of these devices um with small groups of students and so the device is actually like a headset that um the students put on um when they're doing some small group um intervention work um particularly in the areas of like phology and some speech work um and the it what it does is it actually stimulates the brain's um auditory processes and it strengthens their attention memory speech and other important life skills so it it's actually a um uh a acts as like a amplifier for when they're speaking is very similar to a microphone where they hear a lot of feedback and the way where it rests on the um head it actually works through some vibrations that are right here on the bone that's right
057in front of the ear um so for the students it amplifies the um what they're hearing but it also amplifies like the instructor so when she's giving directions or asking them questions or asking for feedback and whatnot it actually amplifies her um or his voice um even without them wearing like a microphone or anything so their request is um for 11 devices so each of the special Educators would um are asking for two devices to use with small groups or individual work and then the speech department is ask requesting a device for each of the Personnel that work in that department to be able to use with students um and they they did do a pilot program um and they felt like they had some great success with using it with with a small group
058of students over time so the overall request um is for the 11 devices um and then there's microphone covers um for cleanliness that need to be purchased with the total amount requested is $3,487 thank you any questions questions um you know just having used an amplification program when I was teaching in the classroom where the whole class got it whereas this um is specific to speech and language for small groups to help them with those phonological um tasks and skills I think is immeasurable and I and Beth and I chatted at length about this and was very successful in the small groups that that you know Tri did a trial on it so I think it's a um a valuable addition for their program any other questions um Beth would this be something that that
059I mean I assume like do we have a sense of like how often they have to be replaced um I don't know the actual devices um I imagine like any other Tech pieces uh a 3 to four year lifespan depending on how often you use it um the microphone covers low cost right so those could easily be be replaced as needed but um the devices itself I would imine with like a typical like Chromebook type uh repacement so essentially we could help get this started and then it could be something that we put budget for going forward okay I I think it sounds I think it sounds like a great idea from an access point of view but curious what others are thinking and and you mentioned that they saw the teachers saw gains in
060student outcomes yeah yeah they saw um they used it in a like a oneone situation and then with a small group situation and they saw uh Market increase in students being able to produce sounds hear their own sounds um they had some really good valid results from it over a three Monon trial period so any other questions or thoughts on this one I just um want to chime in one more time but I think it fits perfectly in our in our goal and Mission with the whe white trust to um our funds are there I I agree I totally support the purchase of the these devices so do we have to take an official vote okay um can I have a motion to approve um the wheel right trust proposal for the 11 devices and
061covers at a cost of 3,487 motion to approve uh the wheel write funds application for the 11 devices at $3,487 have a second second um all in favor I I I great I think we do have a okay thank you I knew you were gonna all right and if I don't say it correctly you'll eser will help me out so we do um need to go into nonpublic um and can you help me with the what I actually have to say here sure we would need a motion to go into non-public under RSA 91 A3 d c great may have a motion to go into nonpublic motion go to and we do a roll call a roll call so I I I I all right so we will go into nonpublic it's 655 um I'll
062turn off the microphones and then we'll come back um after that great so we're coming out of nonpublic at 7:14 um and I would like to make a motion um to approve the recommendation of the superintendent like to make a motion to approve the recommendation of the super okay do I have a second second as it Susan all in favor I I thank you great and so this meeting is adjourned at 7:15