Exeter School Board Meeting 12-12-23

001again when the weather supports other out outdoor activities so start in the spring we'll do something else I think we'll probably move over the grass field we said and a lot of the kids were playing and things like that so those community events are something that we're looking to um to do that was that one we didn't have any fundraising at at all um we real realized now we could have had just a bucket if you want to put money in you can otherwise you don't have to so we'll be doing that at future events we've done Spirit we we''ve done um Auto uh Pizza fund Rising um night and then we had um Square One art so it's been kind of busy with go here buy this go there um that and we have

002one more coming up January 21st is um we're bringing back the UNH hockey night so that'll be really fun I think if we get the support we anticipate the kids will be able to go out to into the tunnel and IOD the players as they go out so that's what we're working on um for for that we've also some support of the Green Team and and some other um field trips and and those typ of things it's been fun I know that K my kids are certainly enjoying the field Tri been on so you're all ready to go to Philips ex if anybody has a name any questions on what we've been doing I think that cover to no um okay for the meetings we're trying to do a mix of virtual and in person

003the virtual we're not trying not to take up the teachers time since we weren't weren't getting participation is you know from the parents to really warrant having a teacher from every grade so we're trying to do more in person and less often and the first and one that we did at Nam Street we did we definitely had more parents and they were engaged they volunteered afterwards and and stayed for the whole meeting so um we'll do that again I think the next one for that is February okay thank you so much um next on the agenda would be the administrative update should we move the discussion about warrant articles up um we have discuss of additional warrants on here do you want to do that first yeah that's what we're here to talk about right

004um so we're going to move the discussion of additional warrants for the FY 20242 ballot um to the top of the administrative update to save these gentlemen time um Molly want should I give everyone one of these I think everyone has okay does everybody have this no no oh now it's on yeah I don't think yours are on we can't hear look can you hear me no I don't think it's I think it's just for that it is it's on yeah these are on okay so um earlier today I made a summary to help explain what these guys are trying to achieve to do um so last time Peter Lennon and sorry I forget your names Leon Salis was last okay trust okay had come and talked about um and be hiring an investment manager

005for the trust funds so what I did is I went back and when I found out it was three bearings that was chosen we actually have four other districts in sau6 that used them so I listed them here it's Brentwood East Kingston Kensington and newfields well so the money will be invested so there's no way to promise that the balance won't go down however in all four of those districts I have not seen the balances go down they are very conservative Investments so I took the largest because that's probably the most comparable to exitor being Brentwood and I put what they're invest invest in so once a year in the SAU office we get the statement from three bearings so the most recent statement received back in July had it in four different funds they're

006all either short-term investment grade high quality funds or treasury bonds that are backed by the US government so I mean I do feel comfortable it is a very safe investment um also we reached out to attorney Gordon Graham who's our school district attorney to get the proposed wording language which I put at the top so that's how it would appear on the ballot it's not a tax impact because the investment manager investment management fee would be paid from the income we receive um on page two and three of what I handed out I've received this directly from Peter this is the proposed fee structure so probably about little less than halfway down the first page it says the estimate annual fee for the exitor school district District would be 3,284 they mention both the cooperative

007and exiter on here and then the last page which is on the back Peter you I don't know if you want to speak to it but had a question to answer with the town of exitor and these are the question and answers from that discussion these These are actually the questions and answers oh from from we red teamed it as to who would ask what questions we have um and I think I sent it to you but I can I can make that available if you think it's necessary there's another set of uh questions and answers that the town um Finance director and the town business Town manager asked us we we we sat with them and and went through what we were trying to do and and they raised some questions um and I

008can pass I'm more than happy to pass that down um I can tell you that um we we were approved by f a five to zero vote these are the questions from the from Russ Dean and from Cory Stevens that three bearings answered for us um we were approved just um on the 4th of of December by a -0 vote by the select board and as part of that process both Russ Dean and Corey Stevens agreed that this was a sound proposal and that we had done our homework I I've got the I've got the draft minutes if you want me to pass that down I'll be happy to do that as well um but um so I apologize if we gave you too many questions and answers but we were trying to make sure

009that we we we covered everything that we could think of and hopefully that you might want answer so you said something about the fee is getting paid out from the funds from from our investment from the income so if we make no if we don't make anything then there's no fee paid technically that's correct but the Investments um that we're going to make in certain accounts or in certain funds um or even in the the separate large cap um equities a small part of our portfolio are going to be in in pretty conservative uh companies and and as far as the 15% that we think is going to go into the large cap equities um even no matter what the stocks have done in the terms of their prices over the last 20 years they

010they've continued to pay dividends so the from from our point of view um there's a very small possibility that there would be no income at all to pay the fees but let me refer that to David May who's the president and chief investment officer from three bearings who's here M yeah so the rest of the portfolio is in income generating vehicles short-term cradit rebonds and C bills and investment grade corporate bonds so current yields on those are going to be about 4% so our fee is half of a perc anually and those bonds are never going to go to zero income so I can't conceive of there being a zero income scenario okay you certainly could have negative Total return so don't confuse the too but zero income to me is just not a possibility

011okay and then another question I had was how does this relationship work with our school district are you the liais on like working with well I would right um I mean the three bearings will work for the trustees of the trust funds okay and um we'll have a contract with them um and an engagement letter if you will right um but going forward um and I haven't talked this out with with Molly yet but as we've done in the past as we've gone through the process of changing our investment policy um we've sent drafts of certain items to to Molly um and uh to the town uh Finance director and manager so at a minimum we'll be inviting Molly or whomever she designates to our quarterly performance report meetings okay and and she's invited at

012any of our trustee meetings were they're all public meetings um and in between the quarterly meetings um you know I can make a point of reaching out to Molly or she can make a point of reaching out to me with any questions and and it won't be one of these things where we say no sorry we can't we can't answer it or wait until the courtly we'll we'll get an answer one of the reasons we hire three bearings um or we want to hire three bearings if the voters approve is um that we believe they're very responsive they have been throughout this process including the interview process that we had with them in three other investment advisory candidates so if if Molly has questions that and you have questions we'll do our best to get

013them answer and and quickly so to answer your question on the SE involvement we annual well we would get periodic updates from the trustees but annually we get the report from three bearings and so that usually happens in the summertime so we would reev we can see what's being invested it's really up to the truste trust funds on how it's invested and what they're investing in we just get the statements to show what our balance is okay so you do that oversight like you me okay and and and and we send uh monthly reports to um Kristen LEC your your account okay which which lits all of the trust funds not just the school board The Cooperative or just the exter School Board um and you and you'll see what the the interest each month

014is or dividends or and I think capital gains in this case correct oh yeah um so there'll be a monthly report that that we'll be sending um that will have the will have additional information that if you wanted explain we'd be happy to come explain it with with David or another member of his staff I um if if this does go through and we approve this warrant article I think on some level maybe a member of the school board should participate and maybe we'll talk about that maybe a couple times a year years so we I don't speak this language to be honest and um if we're endorsing something and I don't anticipate anything going sideways but I feel like we should be kind of in the loop a little bit in addition our school

015district Treasurer called me today our friend Neil bin who is happens to be an investment advisor offering his services to help us yes right so well doesn't hurt we we would be very happy to have regular attendance by one of the school board members right at any of our meetings um and one of our objectives this year was to try to establish that kind of relationship um and um they they would be welcome or any any of the members who wanted to come for any particular meeting okay we normally don't have a regular meeting schedule except for quarterly reviews if you will it's normally uh um it's at hot to respond to uh requests for reimbursements from the school districts in from the town um but um you know we're not Avers to having a

016regular meeting schedule if there's business to be done okay it I don't know is this your document yeah I've ispo um says from capital reserve funds income actually oh no that's so that that's the um warrant language oh that was that was the warrant language that Mr Graham and I worked up he was pretty adamant about the mark yeah so it's saying it's asking the the voters for the ability to do this and then just a really quick question not how long have the four districts that are engaging with fre been I don't know how long but I know all of them are before I started working here which was um in 2019 I don't know if you know the answer I don't know the ex do any other board members have any to say

017well um I would like to make a motion to support adding the warrant article as suggested by attorney Gordon Graham to the ballot and the spring election sure or the March election second okay all those in favor please signify by saying I I I Heather so you're in Mr did you have a question no I don't have a question I thought we were going to have a discussion but that's okay we just went to vote that's oh sorry it's all right we could have feel free to speak up I can't really hear you down there um Madam chair while we're on the topic of other warrant articles could I ask the board a question while we're on this topic y um so in the past um The Exodus School Waters usually added uh up to

01875,000 from fund balance to the special education trust fund um currently in your packet you'll see in your regular board packet you will see the um balance of the current balance of that special education trust fund is 379,000 as I recall I think the goal was 400,000 is thator I'm looking at Patrick is that what we were trying to get to I think it was 300,000 but that's okay I mean either way there's you know the need varies I know yeah so um because we're right around what the board had hoped to do um Chris andruski um as in charge of um technology and Facilities he want meet you bring to the board is going to all the boards in sa6 if boards would consider um doing starting up a tech trust fund for I

019think what you spoke to last time these one-time expenses that come up like every five or six years like the um Wireless that we pulled out because it was a one-time expense they're recommending over the course of five years maybe build it to 50,000 so that would be about a $10,000 um request out of fund balance to to start a um technological fund for more of those one-time expenses or maybe you want to do 20 given um rate of inflation Etc if you don't want it in the operating budget so that was one suggestion I'd like the board to consider another one was for um some districts don't have maintenance trusts we do our maintenance um our capital reserve is 153 the recommendation is to have 150 so that we're there for exit um and

020then the last one was to perhaps start a trust fund for Safety and Security again for things that maybe um would go like our our cameras go down or something like that that wouldn't necessarily be an expense that you would build into the operating budget always but it might be a one-time expense so those are what are being proposed to other boards to consider so I certainly wanted exiter to consider those again our special ed trust they're about about a it's about about 220,000 for one student counting Transportation um so I would continue to maybe put some more in there so we at least have enough for two just because when we started that we were in a different place for expenditures um so I would encourage the board to consider maybe not 75,000 but

021a smaller amount to get to that for um for 40 for two folks right now as I mentioned we're at three I think what did I say 79 380 um so those are the warrants the additional warrants beyond the operating budget warrant we do not have um any collector bargaining agreement warrant this time as we did last year so that wouldn't be on there um so right now we would have the operating proposed operating budget whatever that gets decided upon for the final number you know as it goes through the process this um include trust trust fund management warrant um which doesn't have a tax impact and then um if any or all of these in addition to the special ed trust fund so I just throw that out for conversation okay so we have

022the one from the trustees we're going to continue with the special ed to get it up to are we going to continue with the special ed to get it to the 440 is that the consensus of the board think we should yeah pck yeah I I mean I I think it's a so I mean I can say something about all the things that you just said I I think it's a good idea to have it pay for two spots cuz I think that was the intention whatever the number was before I think the intention was to get it up to pay for two spots and 75,000 is what we've been doing I mean it makes sense that we'll put it around 450 that could be two spots it varies from place to place and so

023that's and that is something you can't always anticipate when people move into the district or their status changes or something happens whatever there's a variety of reasons why so you can't always anticipate that and that covers Us and it's a significant chunk of money that it's hard just to shuffle things around to cover that yes I I guess my question about all these different additional trust funds is my initial reaction is that I'm not in favor of it I would just add more money to the capital reserve fund because I think all these are capital reserve type of items with technology or whatever so if there's a a thought that 150 is other non- Tech and non whatever else needs and and there needs to be you know 50 plus that then I would add

024money to the capital reserve fund because I think that gives us flexibility you know instead of having all these little pots that can't be touched for this reason or that reason we can we can use it if there's you know a furnace goes out or something to help cover some of the expense or whatever that's something that's not anticipated mid year and um we've been I don't know fortunate or whatever the past few years that there's been quite an an excess but that is not always the case right it might be the budget might be closer to um the budget amount might be closer to what we need to spend and so we may not have that cushion necessarily to cover these things and we have to cut positions or something to meet the needs

025so I think that's why you have it so I I I like the idea of covering those sort of things like technology but I would just add it to the capital reserve so I would just have two warrant articles one to add something to special ad because I do think that's a different sort of category and one to add to the capital reserve whatever that amount is that seems apprpriate well if we're trying to build to 50,000 additional in each one maybe put 50,000 and then we'd be like say 25 and 25 and then do it again next year MH 50,000 total which would be kind of in our minds 25 if something intact or just trying to use the numbers that um Chris gave me based on they did some research and some audits

026of general costs of things and that was their recommendation so with 50 ,000 be a good number to put do you think out of fund balance I assume correct I mean for both of the of the for both of them yeah to start to build cuz it's that was over for Tech and safety right basically a total of 50,000 in each one was what they were recommending over the course of the next three or four years to build up um so that's 100,000 right so you could put 100 if you wanted now in back in that capital reserve but if you did 25 you're saying if you did 20 you do it over four years right to build up to that yeah how does the capital reserve get money otherwise is it an annual thing

027or no it we'd have to we'd have to designate money to go into it or there was times like we sold a we sold a building years ago and we had like like uh $400,000 or something for that and we held on to it and then we used it when we expanded the kindergarten we took that money so we didn't have to raise that as part of the bond to bring the number down down but yeah I mean it's it's we don't we don't we can't we don't have authority just to add to it at the end of the year if we have extra money we have to get permission from the voters to do that and what that means is um at the end of the year if if both of these passed that

028money has to go into that first now let's say you're in a situation that you only have $50,000 period at the end of the year and both of them passed whichever was first in the order of the warrant that's where the money would go so we usually the language will say up to so if you don't have 75,000 in the year you have to put say you only have 50 you have to put all 50 into that okay so I I I mean my I'll just tell you I'm talking a lot but my I mean my sense is to is just to do 75 for the special ed one because we've been doing that and then just if that seems sufficient not do it the following year and maybe do 50,000 for the other one

029because I think then you can get up to it in a couple years and then not do it right and if you if we're needing to tap into it because there's not those cushions at the end of the year or whatever then maybe we do it for three years or four years but then the money is sufficient for it right Y and then if we want to spend out of the capital reserve it goes through a board discussion and a vote yeah and it has to be for the purposes specific capital reserve Patrick is it gives you a lot of flexibility which I think is is a great idea than making it specific um I think we used some money out of capital reserve even when we did like the improvements along the roadway between

030the buildings we did some of the lighting out of capital reserve and some so we did things at different times to sort of bring some of those cost Downs for special projects that that we hadn't budgeted fully for so it can be other emergencies or special projects that come up so it sounds like are we in agreement for those two for special said 75 and capital reserve 50 from fund balance for both those up to 75 and up 250 is there a preference on the order I'd like to see Special Ed I agree special ed capital reserve I agree because I mean I think that's a such a big hit if we can't meet that or capital reserve it seems like we have a variety of ways that we can wait on things you can't

031wait on the special education you just have to do it immediately all right great thank you I just wanted to make sure and those um we'll have in January for the public hearing and you'll get a copy of those first that we read through they should be pretty familiar the only one really that takes us maybe something a little new as any changes in this year's budget but again it's pretty pretty cut and dry this year with no Collective Bing agreement to explain so it's also nice like uh Patrick spoke to if we can get that special ed up to the number we don't have to do that and it's the collective bargaining agreement year it's one less even though it's not a tax impa it's one less money amount on that warrant so that

032also is nice this year to do both of them I think in anticipation that maybe we won't have to put both on um when there's a CBA on there that's a good point right so we don't have to do any votes nope I just needed to know what to what to do and both of those don't have a tax impact right right that's have that sort of language in there from balance yes no tax impact correct so the only one on the warrant they will have a tax impact is the budget operating budget right um want me to go back to the rest of the administrative report that'd be great the vision Summit just to bring you all up to date um that is where we're taking um the current vision of a graduate and

033then our uh Dei mission statement and uh holding a summit in I think it's April I haven't don't have the exact date yet have to meet with the committee again um for a half a day and we're going to try to get high Community engagement and high board engagement um because the purpose is to look at that Dei mission statement and take the intent of that and put some language in addition into our vision statement so our vision statement we're not taking out anything we're trying to add so that um that Equity language and that Dei language are the mission of that so that's really begins to become how we do business here they're not Standalone right it's really part of our culture and climate around equity and diversity and um so right now they're

034separate kind of like we used to doal separate a lot and that now is kind of how we do business with mtss that's what we're trying to do because our MTS systems are are both um Dei work so trying to get that language into our overall vision statement is the goal of that Vision Summit and that's critical because that will drive the strategic planning work the following year we'll use that which is why we wanted to try to do the vision Summit now and get that solid by June um so that we can use that for strategic to drive that strategic planning as the foundation spring um yes it'll be in in March or April I just can't remember the date I can look it up in my book um but there's also an invite

035because right now it's the um curriculum philosophy committee that's helping me do the vision kind of timeline and work and how to advertise it so if anyone from this board would like to participate in those meetings you're more than welcome just let me know and I will send you an invite too if not that's okay too we'll continue we just want to make sure that the boards feel like they had voice into the process certainly participating in the vision Summit you'll have voice but if you want any more voice into like what we're doing or how we're advertising it's going to be very similar I'm looking at Heather to how we're doing the communication survey so you'll see how we're going to push that out with a QR code and lots of different places and

036posters you'll be seeing that come out um the very beginning of January um we're going to that's kind of our test pilot to see what kind of return we get because that's open to the community and students and everyone just like this would be to see if it helps having a QR code and we're going to have child care and food and things like that so hopefully we'll get a higher level of Engagement but once I get that date I will let everyone know so hopefully you can block off those few hours on your calendar um but again if you're interested in attending just send me an email and I will send you the invite um dates if you want to come and participate to help us advertise really it's really just advertising the vision

037Summit so um the budget update in the financials m going to turn that over to you so thank you for signing the Manifest um so also included in your board pack is the budget for next year so when we discussed it last um last month we had given you a pack that looked almost exactly like this but we had talked about removing the two items the literacy program and the access points so this budget removes those two items so on the front page I put the number we presented in November versus the number we are presenting now and the Delta is those two numbers so nothing else has changed and then on the current year Financial which was in your board pack provided you'll see the changes from November to now so we had um

038some substitute some uh cost related to substitutes um we had an employee where the employees on leave and the new person to come in so it's a bit of a timing of the ter not termination but putting the employee on leave um we had some um extracurricular and Student Activity which is fantastic um and then the big thing is the board improved encumbrance so this is a little bit larger than what was removed from the budget because we put in the K5 rather than what was in the budget was the K2 I believe it was right for the literacy program yes yep sorry yes and the access points are also in there too so even with those added in the current year budget the remaining expense is 1.3 million which at this point in time

039is very healthy so did anyone have any questions that's what we anticipate having left over right now y even in huming the ly and the wireless so I believe Molly if as I recall this now is a overall a 3.3 correct increase yep so if you look on the front page here um 3.33% increase and it equates to 790,000 825 so if you go to page two this is the same breakout that we provided last month you'll just see the two lines where the access points are removed has gone down as well as the literacy program is now $81 instead of the large amount that was there before I just have a question around the just so to refresh my so from a timing perspective we're not by waiting I can answer that yes no

040we wouldn't we wouldn't purchase that until July 1 anyway if the budget passed right so you would approve it out of fund balance we would you would take a vote and it would so the timing would be the same as far as purchasing yes know that you will see overall an increase next year in that line over $800 because there'll be consumables that will be replaceable Etc like we have seen in the past for Journeys or um our math programs Etc and but those aren't one-time expenses those are reoccurring consumable so did anyone have any questions either on the current year Financial or the budget or any proposed changes if this is not what you wanted for the public hearing think I mean I think the budget looks fine one of the questions I have

041is just about on page three sort of the default budget versus oh yeah sorry I didn't go over that yet yeah y so so for the default I included that so the basis of your default budget is the current year budget plus or minus any onetime expenditures or mandatory um obligations either by law or by contract and by contract meaning it's been on the ballot um before or part of the SAU assessment so what I did is the basis is the 24 budget but what I've done here for you is done the 25 default versus the 25 proposed because that's what people are going to see on the ballot so when you go to the ballot you're going to see the two numbers and so this box in the middle is the difference between those

042two numbers right so the first line is the non-union salary increases including F and retirement so anybody not in a union would not be able to include any increase in the default um the leadership in summer Institute siphons I did not see those anywhere in the CBA so therefore could not be included the non-union health and dental increase that 9.9 % gmr cannot be included it can be included for those in an active CBA but not for those that are not in a union um any permanent Subs that have come out of the grant into the operating budget you can't add new positions it's technically an ad you can't increase the daily substitutes any supplies because of anything because of inflation you can't include um now for the admin maintenance contracts and the tech some

043of that decrease move to the tech so that's why there's a decrease there but you're taking the old number from both sides but again the increases in the tech we can't include same as professional development the first student and bus monitors can't do it even though we have a multicon multi-year contract with first student that first student contract wasn't on the ballot it's part of the operating budget um and then all increases related to the increase of utilities or the increase of cleaning costs or the rising cost of everything pretty much in facilities you can't include um and also all the facilities wages because we contract out facilities to The Cooperative they're not in a union so all of their increases would not be able to be included um and then Food Service as well

044the increase in the cost of food would not be able to include be included so that is the Delta between the two numbers that we calculated for the default and the proposed so one of the things that I guess one of the ways I look at this and maybe I'm I'm not a investment person so you can tell me why it's wrong okay but um the one of the ways I look at this is that the default budget no matter what is going to go into effect and so the $430,000 instead of it being a 3.3% increase it's less than a 2% increase really above the default budget because that $430,000 is really the additional money that we're asking for that's not going to be approved even if it doesn't get even if the budget

045doesn't passed yeah you can look at it that way I mean sometimes the defaults higher than the proposed sometimes it is sometimes it is this but in this year I mean that's right sometimes it is sometimes the default can be higher than what we're what we're asking for in different scenarios but this year it's it's it's about 1.8% above the default default budget or something like that and there are things in here like busing which has been horrible very difficult to get across the state and substitutes that we have you know that that's a big chunk of the money right there that's like almost 150,000 of it we just add those two together I mean that's those are things that we have us we're putting money towards a solution that meets student needs it's it

046would be hard for I I don't know I think we have to be prepared to explain this to the voters so we can you know we can say why these things are really needed and if they weren't passing how much it would really affect daily life I mean of course the I mean I'm not minimizing the you know increases for keeping good people here that aren't on you know that aren't part of the union and those things too I mean those things are important too but particularly those couple of things are very recent needs that we've addressed and if we didn't have the money for it we couldn't address it otherwise correct well to your point Patrick too some of these things obviously we would have to provide like Transportation so we would have to

047cut and usually it's positions because $430,000 we're not going to make up in supplies or anything like that so you just position Andor programs right yeah that's a good point this might be a question for the principles but um what for so for the past several years we've been talking so much about the substitutes can you remind us sort of where we're at like are the just where are we at in terms of permanent Subs um and sort of the need versus do you feel like this is working and it's covered and I mean obviously that would be a huge loss it was not passed um sure I mean the I would say for Lincoln Street School probably about 90 plus per of the substitute coverage that we have are through our permanent Subs um

048it is a rarity right now to um we have maybe two to three people that are wonderful but based on their schedules or or what they're looking to do you know are are sporadic um so without the permanent steps that we have budgeted for and that we have filled in those positions right now we would we would be shutting down intervention on a regular daily basis Etc would be an impact across the school i' say similar we did survey our staff uh what two months ago maybe that just talked about like what is the what's been the impact for having these permanent Subs in these positions as we were building the budget we had a lot of Staff response actually that said please keep them it's huge it's for kids to have predict people who

049going come have familiar faces when we were down some pair of Professionals for students who required legally to have one-on ones sometimes we had to shift and put those people in those positions so students were supported they it's it's been incredibly helpful we had a difficult time filling a couple of the positions but I think right now both of our schools have those positions full just been really it's incredibly helpful on a day-to-day operations yeah I just think it's important to underscore it and to have it a few minutes because we work so hard to get those folks in place and it does seem like it's helped a lot yeah and just to clarify that survey was put out um as a as a barometer to the Esser funds being spent which that's why it

050says usually was Grant vented because we wanted to ensure that everybody felt they were useful before we put it in this budget but that was funded by Esser money because I know sometimes that comes up as a question from the community and that's why that survey went out as part of the tracking for the grant system the other thing is that that I mean this topic also has come up as part of the collective bargaining with you know both groups has has come up in terms of how much you know people being spread too thin and that sort of thing and it was important to provide that sort of support so even if it doesn't get embedded into collective bargaining agreements I know that those topics come back to this board and we discuss it

051and look for ways to try to meet that need so do anyone have any other changes before the public hearing I do not okay great all right thanks so that wraps up your update yes I do have a school calendar question which I can do now or save it for new business um you can go ahead um so I have a request to the board your school calendar we did get the date um for the primary which would be January 20 3rd right now in our school calendar that's a regular student day many of our elementary schools have um voting in their school exitor does not however if we all have the same PD day we can combine resources and and like our um unified Arts folks and stuff can meet all together from all

052the schools so that's why we're asking exit also even though the voting isn't in our school because all the other ml schools are doing the same thing so we would like to flip initially there was um an inservice day on March 29th we'd like to flip March 29th to January 23rd because January 23rd as I mentioned we'll have voting so March 29th would be a regular school day with students but the 23rd would be a professional development day so to flip those two um so it doesn't impact the number of of student days or like that it's just a swap because they we get the voting date was given to us so late as you know for the primary so that's the first question about the calendar um the second additional question is May 24th

053which is a Friday before um Memorial Day Administration has requested that the board consider making that a professional development day for our um staff to work through the new literacy program that should be chosen by then um Julie and Carla have made contacts with um all of them to ensure that the teachers could get resources that would make that day helpful for like teacher um additions Etc so and those are usually free other we don't have to buy those so even though the you know the board wouldn't have approved the expenditure of the money yet to your question hea we could still do that professional development day um in the past when we've done a new program such as the math program we've tried to offer professional development over the summer some teachers do you

054know are able to make it and and some Educators can't for a variety of reasons and um so we it was our hope and I support the request to have that May 24th which is that Friday before Memorial Day to able to have all the staff participate in that professional development some may choose to do some work over the summer and some may not but I also hear from Educators that if we had had this over the summer we would have looked at it or we would have just they would have had some time to be more comfortable with it not that they have to have to don't have to but um it does provide opportunity for them to have access to teacher additions Etc a little bit ahead of time so um we have

055plenty of student hours which is how we do our calendar with the state um so we we are very excessive in that for our kids so reducing the student Day by one um would not have a huge impact for our school approval um but it does allow our staff an additional professional development day because we have the new literacy program so I have a question why why not just have it on March 28th um I I think was there a reasoning you wanted it the 24th the 24th I mean we typically see lower attendance on that day just because it's the Friday before the long weekend so just as far as impact on I think also the timing of choosing the literacy program and getting the it yeah because I was just saying you were

056talking about changing the March date to January and essentially canceling the March date right yeah because there's already one PD day in March the 12th I know but if we I was just thinking if we already had it on the schedule right and if the literacy program was at a point to be available to tackle at that point maybe it isn't but but just to use the date that's already on the schedule and just schedule an additional date instead of my understanding was a timing issue but time you because I think the goal is to have um the options narrowed down to two by January 10th and then they're going to be using February March to Pilot and then make our final decision right and then do the training I couldn't remember the timeline yeah

057I think it's a good idea to have it during the school year not we have the summer yeah yeah I don't well they'll have continued training all year normally when you get a new program you you can do that but it's nice to have just a view with a trainer to say here's a teacher's addition here's what it looks like here's where you find information here's how you can things you can look at over the summer they'll have additional scheduled training next year with the um PD normally there's I don't know usually it's up to 10 days or something like that as when you buy a new program um so that will continue it's just to get it to allow our Educators to get a a feel for it and a jump on it instead

058of trying to have only 20 people come in the summer because that's who could come and then you're trying to start the year and people are in different places because 20 people went to the training in the summer and the others weren't able to so it's trying to build I think a consistency and um a smoother transition to a new literacy program for our kids will there have to be a lot more PD days than next in the next year's calendar um no usually they do it like during the day and like so during PLC time or they'll they they go in into the classrooms and they observe teachers and give them feedback on on the lessons Etc I mean I personally don't have any issue with adding PD days if it makes sense I

059guess I'm a little just curious about the impact on families if they 've been planning for that March 28th date it's right before the the Easter weekend and so I don't know if I mean I know there's school on Friday but I don't know if people made plans anyhow to be just thinking aloud about whether or not that's that's affected some families that they've already made their plans to go away and and taking that day away if that's going to have an impact yeah I mean certainly we could use two additional PD days we always it's something we consistently hear I think in negotiations also Patrick is that we never have enough time um even to discuss how the piloting is going you know would be an opportunity in March between the final two programs

060um as well as Dei training um you know PLC training there's plenty of things that have been ongoing that certainly they could use both days I'm sure of it yeah if you wanted to keep that day too I would still advocate for adding then the 24th May Day because of the no I understand the reason for the one in May because of the literacy program that's I'm not saying to not do that yeah I think I'm thinking out loud more than taking a position yeah I don't know where the school hour totals would it be possible to keep that March yeah we're way over so we could keep the March you could keep both yet you could keep the 29th and just add the 24th um and the 23 the 23rd of January and the

06124th of May and keep January as is I thought we were adding we were flipping the March so so the motion would be either to add to additional professional development days January 23rd in May 25th or to flip the March 29th day to make it a school regular school day and still add those two professional days for the 23rd of January and the 24th of I think I think that I think it sounds like either way the motion is to the potential motion that hasn't been made yet is to add those two days but it's whether or not to eliminate that March day I mean the the so the other side of me just thinking alloud again remembering in Co times with parents coming in here Furious about having to F provide child care for

062that day or take off work for a day um this would be a little different because they'd have a lot of advanced notice but still it's it's you know it's they were not going to have a lot of advanced notice for January but there's not much we can do about that they would have notice for the other ones but um you know I guess that's the other side of the argument in terms of the impact of the family side of the coin exactly what I was going to say I think it's either way you slice it it's some impact right it's not very much noticed for the January one and that could affect families that's true to um if anything I think that would have the most impact because it's you have to we're coming

063up against the holiday and then we're right back in January but I think either way it has an impact it's just weather yeah I mean think that's that is a consideration but either way I think the January one probably has more immediate you know just because there's not time to plan much so I think I think my after thinking out loud my my my uh two cents is to is to add the two days but eliminate the March one because it still sounds like it's going to that's going to meet the needs that we're planing I know folks could use more but then there may be some families out there that say well we don't want our kids to be missing more school days and what not it's easy to justify adding one day but

064adding two days is a little harder mid year to do that so that would be my my sense would you like to make a motion I'll make the I'll make a motion that we add two professional development days in January and May you'll have to remind me what the dates were January 23rd and May 24th and uh remove the professional development day scheduled for March 29th March 29th this the second one I guess they're two in March already 29 the whatever the date was on that yeah second I'll second any more discussion all those in favor please signify by saying I I I thank you can I can I just ask one question just related to that point of notice and Communications I'm going to ask the principles to put it out this week in

065their little switch particularly for the the January day but sooner we can let people know they better that's true yeah okay moving right along um approval of the meeting minutes um for November 14th public and non-public I looked through them and I did not see any changes okay would you like to make a motion make motion I move to approve the minutes for the meeting held on November 14th you just the clarification you're moving both the public and nonpublic minutes oh yeah right yes I'm Mo to approve both the public and nonpublic minutes from our meeting on I'll second all those in favor please signify by saying I okay principal mclusky all right good evening everyone um thank you again for the approval on the um the calendar um particularly the MayDay we we really

066appreciate that um the update this month um our our reading coaching with u Maryann nice who's consulted with us for a couple of years is ongoing using coaching model marann Works closely with classroom teachers and to Target instruction and assist teachers in growing the reading strategy tool kit that's been ongoing and will continue through the rest of the year um and we are we are excited with that work um our second round of math win um began at the end of November this cycle the focus of the cycle includes building solid foundations of multiplication and division students will increase their strategies to solve increasingly difficult multiplication and division problems um moving right along to field trips last week our fifth grade students um went to the C Science Center in Manchester it was part of

067their kickoff for their um learning exhibition later on this year um and they they um focus on a range of topics from chemistry and biology to geology and physics um while there they spent time exploring a marble steam challenge a chemistry mixing station and an exploratory session involving over 30 different science exhibits um and students really are practicing and working um using the scientific Pro process of claim evidence and reasoning CER which is something that aligns with what they are using up at CMS so really familiarizing themselves with the language as well as the process um today and tomorrow students in fourth grade were able to go to the state house and conquered um as well as the New Hampshire Historical Museum the field trip supports the fourth grade social studies curriculum specifically Civics and

068government as students studied how groups of people make rules to create responsibilities and protect freedoms um after school enrichment fifth grade pal is underway in collaboration with exer Police Department fifth grade students have signed up and participated in the after school program um with games and activities with local police officers strengthening the connection between um students and police officers from the community today they went bowling at Shooters which is kind of one of their I think they have one more week but kind of like one of their culminating activities with that um our winter session of after school activities is scheduled to start shortly after we come back from the holiday break I think the second week of January and we have a new um kind of listing of activities that kids are signing up

069for this week um and then we've had a couple of events actually quite a few events um over the last month um on November 17th players from the Harlem Wizards visited um third and fourth grade students ahead of the CMS PTO fundraiser that was held that evening at the high school students um were chosen to play against teachers in a shot contest students prevailed um several lucky students were given free tickets to the game headbands wristbands um and you know it was it was a very high energy it was a lot of fun um the players from the Harlem Wizards really know how to get a crowd excited we hit a deciel level unheard of at the gym so that was that was fun um fifth grade students were not able to participate at that

070because they were actually here in the cafeteria um watching a student performance of the LSS drama club presentation Junior Broadway raise your voice and it was really just we had a small window where the Wizards were able to come to the school we and we wanted our fifth grade students to see their fifth grade peers perform so um but a lot of our fifth graders I can assure you were at the high school that night um and so this this performance featured our fifth grade actors and actresses um and they had two school day performances as well as two evening performances for families in the spring we have our fourth grade students invited to participate in the fourth grade show which I believe will have a Willy Wonka theme um and if you know what's

071coming out in the theaters there's a strong connection there um our Lincoln Street Winter concert for band and chorus is sched sched for this Thursday at 6:00 in the LSS gym um we're looking forward to that um students our musicians will also be performing for their peers um earlier in the day so they get two performances that day and um that's pretty much where we're at right now certainly when we shift the calendar to January we're going to start thinking about end of the first semester our progress reports um you know getting that new round of I ready data so there'll be a lot happening that we're starting to shift our conversations with staff about you know as we prepare to really hit the ground running in January thank you okay Tanya yeah hello so

072it's been I think the last time we had a board meeting we talked about the budget so I kind of was trying to look through the calendar to see if there was anything that we didn't update from back then um we did have our student leg conferences were which were great we did have some parent feedback and so we've talked both of our schools on some improvements for the next go next semester so hopefully they continue to be good and we just keep working at improving them on November 9th We are continuing our work on with our udl which is universally designed for Learning and that's we've kind of talked about it briefly at some point we should probably put together a more thorough presentation so you understand all of the work that's going on

073with it it's really cool but it's just making sure that all of our lessons have an entry point for every type of learner and so it's just removing obstacles to learning so that all students can find success and so there's been a couple rounds of different groups of teachers but we have um a group this year and they are there's a partnership that they're doing they're going through classrooms doing some observations coming up with some feedback of what they might be able to offer to make some of those lessons more accessible to kids but it's just it's really cool and just good learning for staff and for students um we had a team Beth and Deana and then our social workers they went to nabina in Florida so they attended that conference and represented there

074and ran a couple of sessions um we have after school enrichment that's getting ready to start next month couple new options one is French that comes from a new permanent sub that we hired actually he speaks French and then he's taught music and so he's going to offer one of those sessions and then we have another gentleman that started as a permanent sub he's going to be offering like a film making so there'll be a couple cool new options up for kids which is exciting we had a group put together Thanksgiving baskets um with a dij lens we also extended it to any family who has like a celebratory meal that their family is involved in and so we were able to put together meals for family and we also this past weekend held it's

075our third year doing it which we call Holiday hope it's not largely advertised outside of our school Community because we want to maintain the Dignity of our families but we have um over 40 families between Main Street school and Lincoln Street School who we know this can be a challenging time of year and so we gather donations and we create up like a mock store in our cafeteria with wrapping station and families come through and they shop and so we held it on Saturday and it's just super cool and our staff comes and volunteers and they wrap gifts and we have a room for kids to hang out and play so that they are not aware of what shopping is taking place and just a really nice fun event so that happened on Saturday and

076our nurse um kayin Anglia was oversaw a lot of that so kudos to her if she's listening sometimes she watches but it was a lot of work and coordinating with Community Partners including exit or fire and so just really grateful for everybody contributing to that our work with literacy committee has been going strong we have two more presentations one is tomorrow and then one is early in January and then that kicks off the timeline uh at the beginning of the school year next year to kind of narrow those down and and figure out what programs we want to pursue we are going forward in our um professional learning communities working on our math proficiency tasks and rubrics to ensure that students are having similar learning experiences and common language and common expectations which should transfer

077to how we report out so that families understand exactly what we're talking about when we say say that a student is proficient in a competency so there's lots of work taking place there to build that understanding um we have some di Choice sessions at our school that's being offered on the last student day it's a half day in the afternoon our teachers are going to be signing up for different topics all dij related and so we're looking forward to another round of those and then we'll offer a follow-up session in the spring I don't know if anybody is interested in attending them but I'm happy to send the links if anybody would be interested in what some of those sessions are if you ever wanted to come by and kind of check them out or

078join us you're welcome to I wanted to say thanks to Marne bird who displayed some really cool student artwork at the SAU offices she took some time she had like an extra prep on one of her days and she went down and hung up a bunch of our artwork and it's just kind of fun to see it displayed for a real audience that's going through uh we have a partnership our second graders are working with officer Petroski and getting their dare lessons those are all on safety that's what he focuses on and our first graders had um a freshman from exitor high school who went to suy I think and she started the peach project and so she came and explained how you can be a good active role model in the community and had

079some of our kids generate ideas for what they could do to improve their Community it was a nice brief lesson but it was nice and the kids were excited to see that something she started at their age has come to fruition and had some pictures and so that was neat we have quite a few classes that are putting together cards for meals on Wheels I see him coming through the office all the time decorated and happy to contribute to that uh we got exor youth basketball starting up um I wanted to announce that Morgan Ryan one of our second grade teachers had her son so she had a baby boy so we've got a new member of our family and um we are still we've hired a few paas which we're excited about a couple

080just started this week I think three are starting this week but we still have a couple positions posted if anyone's watching we need reset and some special education pairs those are what we are in need of right now that's it thanks yeah are are all conferences all year long um at both schools I guess are they parent student I have there there's they are student-led conferences we've met with our leadership team and try to take some parent feedback and so what we've done at Main Street School is that time is kind of divided where students showcase work and then there's an opportunity for parents to have some conversations with the teacher and so I I I think that's been pretty well received that's been the feedback that we've had so far some more of our

081feedback this last time was on um even though it's it's awesome to see the kids talk about their learning that sometimes parents don't always have a direct understanding if if what they are seeing is what is expected for grade level or or whatever so we're trying to figure out how we can do that where students can be really proud of their work and also parents walk away with a clear understanding of what of where they are in relation to their peers this is a totally wild idea but has it ever been I'm just wondering if there's a way for students to demonstrate their learning via video that parents see and then they get to I mean I guess you miss that that actual live in action which I love but as a parent I have

082that same experience where like it just feels like we're yeah we just need more time it is like a rush day cuz I think like in order to fit everybody in on those days like it it can be a little bit challenging but to what Esther's saying to her point is like we do have the resource of using seesaw where videos can be uploaded and so some of that is like conversations that we're having with our teachers and Brian and Diana can speak to what's happening over there too of like what is a quality artifact to include on there and how do we link maybe a rubric so that it's it's more than just like seeing a cute video but then families like what is the information coming out of these artifacts that we're presenting

083and how can we articulate that more clearly outside of just like our two report cards that come out each year so what we're talking about so originally when we purchased seesaw the purpose was to develop the portfolio k through eight then the pandemic came and the shift for teachers had to happen to use it as a daily kind of a daily exchange of information um so getting back to the true purpose of seesaw where their where their lessons they choose to be artifacts are tagged with standards and their competencies yeah is has got to come back around we just were at the conversation that they've returned to is what is a good artifact H what does that look like how do we do we is it they always ask for a number is it four

084is it eight what how many which is hard to say right because some teachers have different paces and different projects um so it's in conversation but that's really why seesaw was purchased the intent was to develop that portfolio so as an eighth grader you could see your development K through e8th grade in Reading in math well it just makes me think about when we were talking I think last year about um aligning the I ready reports with the report cards like in a dream world how would it be if if we could maximize that tool and as a parent you get the eye ready you get the student snapshot you get the um report card right and then and then you can kind of I don't know speak I know the timing doesn't always think

085up give us five to eight more years we hopefully we'll idea but I also wonder like yeah I just appreciate that you're continuing to like mostly I just have enormous appreciation how you continue to iterate on how to make that you know just both a a good student centered process and a process that parents can really track and understand where are at yes and something that like I both of our schools right now are working on with Jill lizier that's the curriculum director at the SAU office is coming up with like really clear proficiency scales for each one of our competencies kind of like the Ians under the competencies even like it it's really delineates that and then when we have those and they're kind of task neutral then you'll be able to attach them

086with almost anything that came home so that a family would be able to see and start sending home some more artifacts like we would collect them so that we have you know a a compilation of work when we go to make our reports but also that stuff more stuff is coming home for families to be able to see like oh I can see that they just need like these extra skills in order to reach proficiency so there's more communication instead of just these couple of touch points along the way so it's stuff that we're working on and building right now anything else all right thanks thank you they're looking at you like what are you doing I skipped something I also wanted to apologize I forgot when we we had the budget meeting last month

087so we skipped the school report so we had we had a very successful student Le conference as well highly attended but with some feedback that we're looking to move towards April but I also was very excited to share with you that um last week we had a classroom Library refresh at all three grade levels we had some exra money that we encumbered and designated for just looking to really um just kind of broaden our classroom Library offerings and as well as updates so what we did is we serveed teachers about some genres that they felt like were maybe underrepresented in their classroom libraries we worked with Water Street Bookstore um and they worked with us to get not only discounts on the books but additional discounts from the Publishers and really increase the number of

088books that we were able to get based on the money that we had allotted for the assignment um and we worked with them and talked about the desired genres based on our teacher survey um and our commitment to deij um to incorpor titles with broader representation so we ended up every classroom in the school got about 40 new titles um so third grade had like a batch fourth grade had a batch fifth grade had a batch so the next step in that process is to in our our school librarian is working to kind of talk up those new titles to increase engagement and awareness of what has now been added to the library so whether that be through some recorded book talks or some live book talks Etc so we're working on that piece but

089anyway just wanted to let you know that that was something that we're very proud and excited about thank you thank you okay moving on to committee reports um the first committee is deij not me they meeting 20th right is the next meeting next week Abby how is that like the way the committee has formed this this year and it's how is that working like how often are you getting together with the school deij committee it's been about once a month since we got up and going but Lincoln Street has like a kind of offshoot committee that also meets more frequently and Main Street has some stuff that's going on more frequently too so our broad okay committee meets um and then some of us meet with the sa committee as well okay so I would

090say it feels like we're visiting the topics quite frequently um and like we talked about at our last committee meeting our purpose this year for that larger committee is really going to be to go through an equity audit together okay great thank you uh in the next meeting for you guys is when next week the 20th okay um policy I didn't see anything in our packets so the policy committee is mean again on Thursday um we met last month and what we're focusing on last month and this month is looking at a set of policies to create a inaugural sort of joint board policy manual um there's a couple policies that are unique to the Joint board things like how to um how to figure what Quorum is for example um and right now it's

091in the co-op policy manual which really doesn't make any sense it's not unique to the co-op we just didn't have anywhere for it to land there's a couple of those are like that and then there's some other ones that are already in policy manuals things like um public meetings and um public input and uh the right to no law and the roles of a chair person and things that are like that um so it's not going to be the initial policy manual isn't going to be anywhere near as comprehensive as as what we have in our district it's going to be much smaller but just to give some common Touchstone so that if someone wants to know how to um reach out to the Joint board or what the responsibilities might be or just how

092they do business that there' be some guidelines that are there and it's not relying on you know one or two or three or four people that might have all the knowledge in their head it's a shared understanding of what's there so it was really useful because we took some of these policies that were on the books and it's you know I I had looked at them initially and and thought you know you know this would we don't need to change much and then the more we started to have discussion people saw really good opportunities to make tweaks that fit more with how we wanted the or how the joint board actually works or you know notice things that might have been unique to the board or a little bit out of sync or might have

093been opportunities to improve something I know I'm being very general here because we don't have the actual policies to look at but it was a good discussion I we thought initially it was going to be a half an hour I think we met for the full hour and a half the whole time yeah and we um and we're going to continue to come back together just to fine-tune it more and the plan is that at the January joint board meeting we'd present that to the board to potentially approve or at least to consider if they weren't ready to approve it so I me we've operated for a long time without having a separate policy manual a lot of joint boards across the state don't have them some do this is a project that I think

094I I spoke with David about a probably a year and a half ago um and it's been you know it's been in the works there hasn't been an urgency because it's it's something we've operated fine without it but I think it will be a valuable addition if um you know whenever we approve it okay thank you um superintendent evaluation committee we are meeting this Thursday in person with Dr asbell um as a committee I think that's been a couple months right um as a little like side note to the superintendent evaluation as part of um Dr asal's goals it was community engagement and um Heather and I belong to a um an anti-racism group outside of the school board but she um attended and spoke with our attendees it was a bipo family event at

095the YMCA and um I just find you very approachable very open and um I thought that people were very receptive and and I think they were happy to see your face so thank you for attending that welcome um Wellness whoever is in charge of Wellness I never get invited so I don't know who I have to talk to to get on that committee I think it's Jean Pierce so I'll send you oh I did actually reach out to her last time I did yeah she cancelled that last okay um and then the Safety and Security task force will not meet meet again until I think January y I think so sometime in January Y is it on the calendar it's um Thursday February 22nd actually I lied um at the high school 9:00 a.m. there

096will be snacks this time oh good got a lot of feedback on no parfet from those First Responders yeah right um okay and then the I can give an update on Communications great Community engagement task force committee um so we met what was it last week yes um we uh we are getting ready to collectively uh launch our first uh sa6 communication survey so this survey is for for um all six towns in the sa6 um we're inviting caregivers parents community members students um pretty much any Resident of the SAU 16 to participate it's brief it's under five minutes um we're going to be uh the committee is working to uh get Flyers printed and posted all over all six towns um come see us if you want some flyers and we'll get them to

097you we're um we're also going to be posting on some of the um you know social media forums um and uh I'll talk in a minute but we did talk about maybe getting some advertisings in like the carage toown news and other um local uh media sources so we really want um broad diverse engagement in this survey it is not a survey for people to give feedback on Communications for their specific IND for the individual schools within the sa6 so it's the sau6 as a whole um and it's a great opportunity I think for people to share where they feel like they're really getting information what's really working what they're proud of as well as to make suggestions for improvement and even like drilling down into um questions if you do have um a student

098with special needs you know if there's how you're getting information there's uh questions about frequency of communication um but it is designed to be really succinct and easy to to fill out and we'll have QR codes posted everywhere so hopefully it's just easy um to to do too it's it's currently ready but we've decided to open it up in January um and um stay tuned and I think um the committee did talk about um I guess what I'd like to invite some discussion around and maybe make a motion to approve is um we did look at um some of the local papers and some of the ones like the carage town news that are shared by the six towns about the possibility of taking out an ad in January um and reaching some people that

099way um eser uh correct me if I'm wrong but we talked about um possibly getting board approval to approve up to $200 in advertising is that yeah we don't necessarily need board approval you just wanted to inform the board because it's a $5,000 that we need board approval or three quotes on but I think you just wanted to inform the board so it wasn't a surprise if you saw that in the carriage like to inform you prior whatever it is yeah and I think um we're still looking I mean we still looking to see if that's you know um we're meeting again in January to discuss that um but the committee members are currently researching um you know how to get announcements into local papers and also um for for uh if we would get

100more visibility through an ad um to look into options for that you may how are people going to take the survey is like a QR code link it's a QR code and Link yep and so and you can do it you can do it right on your phone from the C code y that'll be on the flyer I'm assuming you're going to put this on social media yeah the members are going to put on social media yeah okay they yeah so we're we haven't made decisions that's why we're meeting in January to make decisions I think as to some people are submitting some of the other towns that have newsletters like the BR word newsletter are submitting um things for publication which have to be submitted in advance for it to be out in January

101um and then one of the committee members is looking into some advertising opportunities yeah how I how I understood it was that each um Town that's represented because every town has representation was going to kind of look into their own towns kind of personal whatever folks all read and then contact and see what the what the deadline for submission was for a January run Etc um I know in in Brentwood they have to have it in by December 15th y to run in January AR um so we're going to send uh Kate who's the rep she's going to then take that flyer and get it in so um I think it's more just an awareness thing and if um other towns choose to do that some towns didn't feel like they really had something that

102would be good so it's really up to the members representa representing the town as to how they want to kind of circulate that certainly on our end we'll send it out to all um the principles to send out on email as well as the teachers that still send home a hard copy of something there was a request to print it and put it in the folder so parents would have that QR code easy to access so trying to do both um as well as we do have a subscription with the chamber to so we'll get all the chamber blast we'll get all that uh population that might not get it through our family um emails and then really the representatives on the communication committee are really about outreaching to the community um cuz we'll it's

103easy for us to hit students and families with emails and flyers and things like that it's the community engagement we're looking for that people are really trying to brainstorm on yep for the emails this is a silly point but we shouldn't are we emailing the flyer or the link because like you can't scan a QR code from your email it's the flyer the flyer will be open it up and you if you're on your phone though doing it I would also provide a link yes but it will both both will be on the F on my screen yep the flyer has the link and the QR code in the corner yeah and it'll be little text easy to do right um just trying to reach as many people as we can great is it multilingual

104I think we we they can choose it yeah that's two qual tricks and there's I don't know how many languages he said something like I want to say 50 something whatever so they just check that and then okay they'll get the language of preference um this is my error I should have had Esther add this to the uh committee reports but I wanted to bring the wheel right trust back up again um Beth and Abby worked on a proposal for additional equipment for the playground that is going to go into Construction in April down at Main Street school and I did share it with you did anyone get it m yeah um I fully support this I I would make a motion right now I just want to open it up for discussion um so

105anyone has anything I thought it was a really thoughtful proposal it's very thorough and I think it makes a lot of sense to timely before the yeah I just don't want to hold it up so when ordering starts we're not the reason that anything's being held back I agree I also really appreciated the inclusion of like that you have like involved students in the process that really um I just want to underscore that that they had a voice in the process and even at some points you know talk informing sort of what pieces excited them and um I think it is something that will benefit the school Community but also the larger community and really Mak for us to be doing at this point in Project mhm so the total estimated amount was um so

106I'll make a motion and then we can still discuss it if anyone would like to but I'd like to make a motion to I don't guess give 20 up to $23,000 of the wheel fund for the Main Street School playground I second it I just wonder for those who might be listening and haven't seen it if I don't know if someone from or we can just summarize briefly what was in there just in case people are listening and they don't know what's included right well um the both playgrounds are being refit to be ADA Compliant and before the construction starts at Main Street we missed the opportunity with Lincoln Street but I know they're happy with their playground as it is right now um we're going to be adding in addition to what the revised

107playground was initially we're going to add an idg full kitchen set and what at the EDP EDP oh I'm sorry at the EP I didn't see that um at the developmental preschool and then at Main Street School there will be a inclusive playground equipment for handicapped kids Premier Park and play it's a sensory roller table and um also a spinami nice job which is spinning thing I'm assuming and um yeah so those are three additional it says the component for the kitchen it say the compon are purchased individually so like does it come with I'm assuming like things that go in a kitchen that's the whole set so it's not food it's like a so the PRS have been wanting like a mud kitchen and actually that was something that was hoped for even before

108we were able to get the rubberized surface it was a solution that we were thinking we could put on like a hard sort of grass surface area it's grass is very loose but um an area that we felt like would be really accessible to all kids and then offered is kind of like um the teachers are really excited about how to like integrate a lot of the skills that they're working on in their classrooms in this setting outside because of course three four and fiveyear olds um you know so much of what their play is as part of their learning and um it would be accessible but it's like a kitchen sink and then like another I mean it's like many pieces that would be the other thing I like to is it could be

109hard installed so it wouldn't have the opportunity of being T like like we've seen with some of our other you know even our story walk and just different things like that like it it can be prone to vandalism unfortunately but these would be put in the ground ohce it's pretty cool it's awesome but good catch but that's all the pieces that's all the pieces yeah yeah yeah can I just ask one question about um like what's so exciting is that we don't just at one piece and you know but is I think at one point we talked about like if in an Ideal World if you could just do the whole thing over again would this be it or do you foresee other pieces being added over time and then how wow that's a big

110question big question I think I mean you have shared money it's two [Music] schools schools you good with yours I heard it right I mean I think we're very happy with with the way it's turning out there are some some pieces that were purchased kind of before many of us were a part of the preschool and they're still like in great shape and they're accessible for kids and you know um I think those work really well so I think we're I think it's it's really cool I can't promise that we won't ask for something also just but my current best thinking is it's looking pretty good that's great cuz I know you know even we were talking about the Labyrinth it was like oh we do this but then that takes space you know just

111it's like a you know it's like a jigsaw puzzle right yeah they say that we wouldn't be there like cuz we had kind of looked at some other stuff and they're like nope you don't have room for that uh like you'd have to look at like some flatb pieces and stuff when we were talking with the company over at the preschool so there definitely like is a limit to what we're going to be able to put in um but it's it's it's it's cool it's it'sing for our school I feel like there's lots of things for kids to do we've been keeping an eye out on stuff that is not really being used and that's where we would swap out a couple of pieces that are just like it's not like there's kind of like

112this ladder to Nowhere that nobody really uses there's not that much to do so like the spin whatever the official name is it would be in that location and we would swap it out so there still is space for Mobility because once we have that rubberized surface but I'm super pleased I think it's going to be great I can't wait to seek it though um did I say I don't know if I mentioned this and if not I think I did it at the deij committee meeting but um I we had a Community member that moved here recently it's their first year in town and um they came from another area school and their first comment was about the communication boards and our desire for accessibility that it was notable when they walked on our

113playgrounds and um that's just really cool right made that family feel like they they belonged here that's nice okay we had a second right you second it did good all those in favor please signify by saying I I I just to before I leave that topic can I just also suggest that as we go into May and June and are looking at funds that people that you keep in mind what what those things are I mean I think it's such there's such an interface with the community Beyond just our community of people that come to school here of the you know extra community and family members that are visiting and whatnot it it really is a big impression for folks and so keeping that looking nice and looking having things that are usable and whatnot

114is is um I think it makes a big difference and it's not a lot of money in the scheme of things but it makes a big difference um and then talking about the whe right process moving forward Patrick was the one that pointed out that we can use this money at any given point I don't think projects just pop up not not I mean you guys are so well planned year to year but we'll get into that maybe next year and we'll figure out what the process should look like in the fall um but it is something that should be thought of when things that are not anticipated do come up I guess it's another place where we can go and we can always have those disc questions because there's no um there's no deadline

115for this particular budget and I think that's it do we have any old business new business no okay all right I am going to make a motion to um end the meeting at 7:35 second all those in favor please sign IFI by saying I I I do I have to a roll call for that thank you