001All right. Uh it's 4:31. I'd like to call to order the uh East Kingston School Board uh meeting. And we're going to start first with the budget hearing. Uh it is June 8th, uh sorry, 2026. Um and the budget hearing is on the trust fund expenditure for the uh upcoming work that's going to be happening for the septic system. Um, I'd like to actually close that though and move directly to the East Kingston school board meeting and we can move that as an agenda item under the financial update. Um, so we'll call the meeting to order and we can first start with uh actually public input is open for 30 minutes. Um, anybody that does uh come up and speak, I'd like that they ask please state their name and uh their address and their
002affiliation with the uh East Kingston Elementary School. Great. Um, so let's first start with the approval of the meeting minutes uh from the May 11th meeting. Um, any questions? Any anybody notice anything about those minutes? That meeting correction? >> Good here. >> Let's make a motion to approve the meeting minutes from May 11th. >> So, >> all right. All in favor. >> Great. And then uh we also have approval of meeting minutes from May 18th, the special meeting draft public minutes. Any questions on those? like to make a motion to approve those minutes. >> Second. >> Okay. >> All in favor? >> Okay. Great. Let's move to the central office update. Uh starting first uh with Allison, superintendent's office update. >> Thank you. I have a few things this evening. The first one is um
003the capacity report which should have been in your packet. Um, this was we discussed this [clears throat] at the joint board meeting, you may recall, and this is connected to a policy that we'll talk about a little bit later in the agenda. This is really, um, one of the reasons that we we pulled this together, we're pulling these together for all of the the districts in SA16 is just to have a really clear picture of the capacity of each of our buildings. um proactively as we're hearing about legislation connected with open enrollment, just making sure that we're really clear about um in the event that um there is some legislation that passes that we're we really know what our capacity is in our building. Um open enrollment did just uh was just tabled. It's not
004moving forward to the governor. You may have heard that. So for right now, there's no movement on that, but uh we we continue to just want to have that report available to the board. So, this is a draft that you have in your packet and uh we'll continue to work on that and I'm sure we'll have an update in the fall for the board on that. >> Bren, I'm just curious what is our capacity limit for the school >> uh for students? >> Yeah, students. Yeah, >> that that will depend on the square footage um which is part of what we're >> part of available for the fall. >> And one of the [snorts] things we're finding is that space is used differently than perhaps when the building was first um built. just we just
005have different needs for our for our student population. So that will all be part of the report. >> Um the second thing here is just this is actually I think a non-public item or something that you you can determine how you want to fill out the SLT feedback form. I think that was sent to you today. >> Yep. I received it from Chris. >> And then I if you don't mind I might just pop down to a couple of things under new business just to to finish those up early. Um, one is we're looking for approval from the school board for super superintendent and to have the authority to hire over the se summer months because the board doesn't meet during the summer months. So, I would be looking for approval for that if you
006feel comfortable with that. >> Okay. >> And then the other thing is just I would bring to your attention the schedule for meetings for next year papers here. [snorts] Um, but I think in that schedule for the meetings, it includes a retreat date, which was listed out as a separate item under new business, but >> um I can't find it now, but I think it is um maybe the first there might be an August date to review August 26 to review goals. So, okay. >> Um again, that's just something that the board can decide if if you feel comfortable with those those dates and times and things like that or if you want to make any adjustments. >> Okay. So, I vote on both those things tonight. >> Yes. Okay. Um, yeah, I think obviously
007it's in the past there's been no issues with Chris hiring over the summer. So, I'd like to make a motion to approve uh Superintendent uh Indriski to hire over the summer. >> Second. >> All right. All in favor. >> Thank you. >> Great. Um, then the meeting schedule. So, we need to vote to approve that. Correct. >> Correct. And that does include a board retreat so that you don't have to do that separately. >> And what would the board retreat consist of? I just I we hadn't done one in the past. So just curious how that you might look at structuring that. >> So I I think if I understand correctly in some places in the past it's been an opportunity to look at your goals goals and >> make any adjustments if you want.
008Um talk through what that might look like. Um the other thing it could include is um if you wanted to do any kinds of kind of training, schoolboard training, but we we could talk about that if that's a need of the board. >> Okay. So, we've done that in the past where we just meant to re reevaluate the goals and readjust those. So, I Yeah. I didn't know if it was like when you said retreat like I know if it was like an off-site thing with all the other boards or >> No, just a fancy word. Okay. >> Your first meeting. >> All right. 26. >> Uh personal request the So, I unless there's a reason for it. Do you guys have objection if we did the later so the March, April, May, June meetings
009at 5 instead of 4:30? second that. >> Yeah, I have no problem with that time. I think we had adjusted before. Um, >> we kind of switched with the time change. >> We switched with the time change, I felt. Yeah, >> is that what it was? >> But I have no problem meeting at 5. >> As long as you guys are okay with us being in the building a little bit, it just makes life a little easier trying to get down here on the minutes. >> So, do we prefer 5 or 5:30? I know that there's a couple different times here that are >> Yeah, I mean, I'm open to whatever. I mean, five is great. Honestly, 5:30 is perfectly fine, too. I mean, but I'm fine with five. >> Is there a preference? I'd
010say that either either is fine with me. That extra half hour though. >> Yeah, exactly. Extra half hour sometimes. >> Okay. >> No, this is if I'm I'm fine with five. Fine with five. >> Yeah, that's fine. >> Okay. >> Five across the board. You want to or just starting in March? >> I would say five across the board. Just keep it consistent. We have no questions. >> Okay. [snorts] Um want to make a motion to vote for that change? >> Yes. I'm just seeing if there's the I guess the only one that wouldn't [snorts] be would be >> that's deliberate. Yeah. Deliberative sessions. >> Yep. Okay. >> Yeah. And then there was Yeah, that was the only one was an AM one. >> Okay. So, make a motion to um change to vote to
011change the times for the upcoming. >> Sorry, just one more. So, that October 13th meeting is that the >> Yeah. So, I'm fine leaving that one later to make it easier for folks if that's the one like the public hearing. >> October 13th, >> which Yeah. Which one has the asterisk? >> That is >> That's because it's a Monday holiday for veteran. Uh, >> oh, that's the only thing. Okay. >> And, um, thank you for bringing that one up that there's actually a conflict with other board meetings on that evening. Are you is it do you have availability to move that to Wednesday? And if not, that's okay. I'm just checking to see if if that >> So, we'd move the Tuesday, October 13th meeting to Wednesday. Correct. >> October 14th. >> Yeah. Nothing on
012my calendar yet. >> Yeah. [laughter] Thankfully, too busy. Okay. Yeah, that's great. >> Okay. >> All right. So, five o'clock across the board. 13th becomes the 14th. >> Okay. >> So, I'd like to make a motion to um vote to approve the changes to the uh East Kingston 2026 2027 school board calendar. >> Second. >> All in favor? Great. All right. Back up the agenda. Alison, anything else from the anything else exuded from the superintendent's office? >> No, that's it. >> Alison, one thing that came up at the last joint meeting was there was a bit of conversation around how the different superintendent designates are working with each group. So, this isn't an ask to do anything more, but does Chris do written reports for some of the And if so, would it be possible
013just to see those? Like, I don't want to create new work for you whatsoever. And I think the verbal update is great, but if he's producing it already. Yep. So, Stratum um I believe that Stratum has a board goal around communication with the um community. Uh and so I think what you're referring to is it's actually board members who create a report and work with Chris to finalize it. >> Okay. Um that being said, we have had conversation in the last week or so among superintendent designates and actually the whole SLT team about um being a little bit more intentional about preparing what we bring forward to board meetings so that we ensure consistency. We generally do have the same topics that we're bringing to our boards, but we meet weekly and um >> I
014know it's a goal of the superintendent as well as all of ours really is just to make sure that we're giving a consistent message across the board. So, >> um we'll we'll see how that goes. If you're feeling like you need more, we can certainly >> Yeah, I don't like it's it's nice just to be able to have the thing to pre-eread, you know, in addition to kind of the voiceover, too. So, >> I Yeah, I can bring that feedback >> piggy back off that. To me, I kind of sounded like some of the boards that he's the representative for, he kind of included a uh encompassing SAU16 update. >> Um I could be wrong. I don't know if Brentwood and Newfields. I'm not sure which ones he's >> he does um >> the co-op
015and strap. >> Okay. In >> Yeah. And he said in our SLT meeting that it was really up the strap school board member who created >> okay seemed like though the it sound like Chris was providing something >> that's and maybe yeah and I think it was not coming from him. It was coming from somebody else. So >> okay. [snorts] >> All right. Um great. So if nothing else we can jump down to updates from the finance office. >> There you go. So, in your board pack, we gave you our latest financial. Um, unfortunately, we did spend some money in this last month. Um, the breakdown on on the page that was provided to you. I'm just going to dig a little bit deeper to give you a little bit more. Um, so you saw
016some wage things and some, you know, utility things, some special ed services, and so on so forth. Um but substitutes um were $6,800. We had some co-curricular statements for $2,500. Special ed services for $1,200. Legal, we had to increase legal by $6,930. And I can talk about that in a minute. um FER in retirement on the um increases in wages for 2000 the food service loss with the latest data that we have we had to increase by $1,400. The sewer service um for Bodwells we had two purchase orders that we increase it by for $7,434. Um and we also had uh our final audit bill in for another $500. So hopefully that gives you a little bit more detail. >> So um so did the work already happen with Bible? >> No. Okay. >> Yeah.
017It's just it's just incumbrances for what he he expects to have happen. >> Okay. So the total on top of what we had already discussed before. I believe it was around five or six estimated and now it's looking like it's 9100 give or take. Is that correct? Well, the 9100 includes some other um encumbrances that are already out there. So, we have other incumbrances for Second Wind and RTH Mechanical. That's where we come up with a nine. But specifically for Broadwells, we have encumbered $7,434. >> Okay. So, it's about maybe 1,400 more than Yeah. >> we had initially discussed. Okay. Uh, and then the legals, the the 6930, that's on top of the previous legal or is that in to is that a >> It's on top of So, since [clears throat] so I brought
018some data on that. Um, since our last meeting, we did get a bill um for that lawsuit. Um, an additional $2,758 for April. So since it has not appeared to close um to be safe, we encumbered more money for May and June in case we get more more bills in for this year. >> Is that still open the [clears throat] case? >> Um there's there's no I'm not sure. There's I don't know that we have any updates. Well, I I just asked if there was has been what we would consider a final resolution and I was told that not yet. >> Do we do we have a total about uh for what was spent? >> Yeah. >> Um to date with that April bill um it has cost us $11,78. Okay. And did we uh
019there were some questions I think that we had Alison in one of the last couple meetings about >> um potential seeking recoupment of those fees. Um >> I spoke with Renee about it and um >> at least unless something's changed, he said there was really not a great case um it wasn't legal recommendation to pursue any. >> Okay. Um, you said 11,000 what was the total Michelle? 11,000. >> 11,708. >> Okay. >> Yeah. It's just a significant amount of money. I want to make sure that that goes on record. $1,78. >> Yeah. >> Legal fees. Okay. >> So, right now, how much do we have encumbered for potential additional bills? So the incumbrance is um 5,908 is is still incomp. >> Okay. So we're paid up to 11. Hopefully it stops there. We have an
020extra 5,000 if something comes in for the summer. Okay. >> All right. >> Okay. >> Um Okay. Okay. So then looking at and know a big topic the last couple of meetings was the projected ending unassigned fund balance. So what are we looking at for that for >> so so with that spending and the additional revenue that we have we're projecting that we end the year at 68563 which would go towards funding the trusts the two trusts one for 50 one for 25. So, as you see below in that second box on the right, >> we would be able to fund the first 50 going to special education and then we would be able to put 18,563 into the second one, which is the maintenance. Now, this we we're obviously still waiting for invoices to
021come in. So, um we try to be conservative. Um we don't know if we'll get more legal bills. So it is possible that things could get a little bit better. >> Um but that's where we stand now until we can finish all the >> Yeah. Okay. >> The warrant article was 25k we were trying to put into the maintenance fund. >> 15 25. >> So how does that get decided which one gets capped out? >> It was it was the listed >> how they listed. The first one gets filled 100% then the second gets whatever's left over >> or 100%. Yeah. Okay. Uh, when will we have when will [snorts] we have like a final understanding of where we're at in terms of your end? >> Honestly, it's usually around the end of July because
022especially for special ed invoicing with those companies, it's usually a 20 to 30 days before we get their invoices and can get them processed and paid. Um, same thing with utilities and we're always kind of on a waiting for those final utility bills to come in. So we usually figure by the end of July is when we'll look pretty good. >> Okay. >> All right. Did we uh I think I think next up is the discussion around the uh trust fun expenditure. Um I mean I think the initial intent was that we would be in a position where we're hopefully you know I think giving something back to the taxpayers. Obviously we have the two warrant articles that we're looking to fund um which are great. Um I guess so the way that I'm sort
023of looking at it now though is I don't know if we necessarily need to pull from the maintenance fund if that money's already >> That's where I am. Yeah. >> I mean unless we're gonna pull more than seven, it's not gonna do anything anyway >> because if we pulled seven, we're just going to put 25K back in. Right. So >> and so then Brandon um and this question for Michelle too. So once they come in and do the work, we already have the invoice for the 74. Once they come in, say they find something else and it's a bigger bill, bigger issue. How does that then get paid? Where's that where do those funds sort of come from in that situation? Would it come from what we have left over and then be and then
024the warrant articles would be handled in >> So, so because we're low on money this year. Yeah. >> So, if he came up and more services needed to be done, we probably maybe hold him off until July. As long as the services can be done in July, we would pay them out of next year's maintenance line. And then when you guys reconvene, then you could make the decision whether, you know, say it was another $10,000. If you if you knew that you didn't budget for that, you could make a motion in September or October to take that out of a trust fund at that point. >> What's the maintenance line for 2026 2027? >> I don't know. >> What's the balance? >> Yeah. What's just the terms we're looking to work with? So the balance
025before we put any money into the maintenance line is 131,820. >> So that's >> okay. So that's the Yeah. current Okay. Current balance here. I see it. Sorry. >> And so that was that was the balance as of like July 1 of 2025. We only get a year a report once a year. So I'm assuming we earn interest in that. So that will change slightly for you. >> Pop. Were you talking about that? >> I was talking No, I was talking about budget wise. Sorry. Sorry. >> Oh, I'm sorry. budget for for this year or next year? >> For next year. So saying if we end up doing say there's more expenses that need to be incurred because they find something else when they get in there and we put that off until July. I
026was just curious what we're starting off the year. >> 35 pull from >> I know I could have found it probably if I just searched but >> repair and maintenance 35,000. >> Yeah. >> Is that it? Okay. >> Right. >> About it. Yeah. And then we could pull from the trust to re replenish that >> right >> in September for [snorts] >> So one question though, what so let's say he comes out in a couple weeks and it's going to cost more. Why not try to use up to at least the 185 that we'd currently be putting in the trust but use it this year? I mean, so it's not great, but we still have a 68k fund balance for this year. Wouldn't it be better to try to pay as much as we can,
027right, >> with this year and then try to be able to start next year a little bit cleaner? >> I mean, that's if that's what the board would like. >> Yeah. >> It's just a thought. >> Yeah. No, no, I think I again I think the initial approach was again assuming there might be money that'll go back to taxpayers. So, to me, it's the same thing. >> Yeah. At this point, we've unfortunately can't do it. Yeah. >> Is when the services can completed. >> Yeah. I mean, yeah. If they can't do it, they can't do it. But if there's any way to pay or encumber with this year, great. >> But yeah. >> So, do we need to vote on pulling back what we had previously voted on in terms of pulling for the maintenance
028trust? >> You did not vote on that, did you? >> We didn't vote. I don't >> No, I think you just decided to >> We decided to have a hear discussion. Okay. >> Yes. Yeah. Yeah. >> Okay. So, do we we don't do we need to vote or decide on anything now in terms of what we're going to do in July? >> Right. >> Okay. Brandon, have they been back out or is is uh like this pricing and stuff off of their >> Yeah, just on hold until the kids are out. >> Okay. >> Do they have a date? Like are they showing up Friday? >> It's No, it's in I don't know if it's next week or early within the next two weeks. >> And does that include trying to put the patio back
029like putting the patio back together or are we >> So right now the initial quote is without touching the walkway. >> Got it. Okay. Okay. Okay. So, no action, no vote needed. >> No, we'll just go ahead and move forward with the regular. >> Okay. All right. Um, so in terms of the finance office, uh, moving down to the 2026 2027 school meals prices, >> I'll start and you jump in. >> Sure. >> Okay. Um, so we uh our food service directors uh fill out a tool that comes from the USDA. It's called the paid lunch equity tool that helps us to determine if the prices that we're charging are sufficient for um to cover the costs of food service. And East Kingston is um definitely in a deficit position. Um, and so in doing
030the tool, the food service directors are recommending a 10 cents increase to both breakfast and lunch. So right now the current price for breakfast is 225 and lunch is 340. And so the recommendation is just to bump both of those by 10 cents. Um, it's the board's decision. So um, but I bring that to you. Anything else I'm missing, Michelle? So, we would be looking for a vote for that if you um if you wanted to go with that recommendation. >> There's nothing in the packet on that, right? >> No, there's not. Um you you could bump it more and still be, you know, we're still dealing with the deficit. >> My question was like how big is the delta we're trying to make up? I guess. >> Yeah. And I Michelle might have more
031information about that. They generally don't recommend a big bump just because of the impact on families, but so that 10 cents is pretty typical for >> So, so the deficit for you for this year, we're projecting at 39,800 >> This fiscal year. Yeah. >> Break even may be pretty high. [laughter] >> Some expensive. Um, well, I mean, part of that is is paying for the labor and benefits or whatever for the person. And then food, as we all know, food has gotten way more expensive whether you eat out or whether you go to the grocery store. So, um, I'm not sure really where you can find lunch for. >> We can are we making a dent in that deficit year-over-year or is it sort of staying consistent or is it increasing? >> Um, it slowly
032it slowly increases. not not major jumps but it slowly increases each year. >> So two questions and I know the answer. So is there a way to figure out what the appropriate lunch would be to in order to run flat and what the appropriate breakfast would be to run flat is one question and two what is what's what is our responsibility as far as the lunches and breakfast goes? Is it sort of a district understanding that taxpayers subsidize those costs or is it sort of just however we want to do it and we could leave it flat but that just means everybody in town is covering more of the the students lunch like is there sort of a consistent policy across the district on that? >> Each each district decides yeah >> actually just decided
033this last year in their budget to not charge any parent for any meal. So, um, but you have there's a gamut. Do you have all the food prices for that are in each district? >> Yes. >> So, it it is definitely and it's high. What? And in in the next thing, we're actually going to be discussing a potential cost savings that we were going to let you guys know about um that would decrease that deficit for you. >> Yeah. And I can jump right into that now just as part of the conversation. So, we um we are moving toward a um a structure where the co-op will actually oversee food service here at East Kingston. Um which saves the district about $4,000. >> It's $5,960. >> Okay, even better. So, that's good news. Um, and
034what that allows for is there will be somebody we'll have somebody in the kitchen, but the oversight and the the you know the paperwork and the ordering and that kind of thing um will be done through our um food service director um at the co-op. Um and it saves East Kingston. So that is that's good news for for this district. >> Um and to your your first question, I I don't have the number. I do think that tool probably could tell us exactly what the cost would need to be. So I can certainly look into that and let you know. Um >> so just as I think ahead, you know, next year year after this, this has been something I feel like we've kind of been not behind but and I know every other sort
035of district and school is kind of probably doing the same thing. Um but we voted on price increases, you know, the last two years. So, is is there a way besides obviously, you know, we just discussed Allison with the um [clears throat] with change with food service, you know, make up some of that some of that um deficit. Sorry, stuck on my words for a second. Um how what else can we potentially do or start thinking about other ways to make up that deficit? because it just seems that it's, you know, I would hate for this to just be this increasing ballooning >> deficit that we're just trying to tackle with slight increases in pricing for meals. Um, so, you know, not looking for an answer right now. It's just something else to think about.
036And I don't know if there's a way to either budget for it or fund for it or just something else, right? So, >> do we have like is there a way to get like a rough average on how many kids are actually utilizing >> the meals? >> Yeah. Yeah, I mean there's a lot of that from food waste, too. >> I mean, even just trying to whether it's letters or something more engaging to the parents. I mean, to get I'm sure there's significant food loss, too. Um to get more kids to actually buy the lunches or the parents to buy the lunches is um certainly an avenue. I think >> I had done along with the costing of [snorts] so I'll try to find this. [clears throat] Um but in the meantime, what would happen
037with this is that um we've spoken with the um food service director from the cooperative and what will happen is is um we'll actually have a contract established. So we determine what her cost would be on a for you know average cook as they call it or whatever um and her benefits and then that's that will be a hard number for you. So there won't be any guessing. There won't be any how much is food costing us now and oh we had to hire a sub for this person or whatever. So it'll be a hard line. So it'll make budgeting for you going forward a lot easier. >> Will they be replacing a position here or will there just be overlap because somebody's obviously doing that that work now? >> It's a different structure next
038year. So um it will be uh it will be new position. So, anytime there's a new position, we we open it up and >> for the hiring process. >> I mean, well, more so like who I guess who's doing that work now and if that's being taken over by the SA I mean the co-op as a whole. >> Um, are we are we still sharing a director with Kensington? >> Yeah. >> Okay. The other thing while you're looking, Michelle, we um we always encourage families to fill out the free and reduced lunch form as well, even if you're not sure if you would qualify, just because um we worry sometimes that families who could qualify don't fill out that form. And um that's really beneficial as well for the district to um and for the
039student most importantly to be able to access food. So, >> um, >> is there a cap in any way on what the reimbursement for free and reduced would be? >> Yes, I don't have those numbers right now, but um, there is a reimbursement for students who qualify for free and one for reduced, which is less. I I don't want to misquote. >> That's okay. >> But, um, >> but I'm assuming we aren't close to that yet either. >> All right. >> Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen. There's someone sitting on their key fob. Somebody's horn has sounded twice in the past 10 minutes out front. >> You know what vehicle? >> My keys are in my car. I was say my keys are also in my car. So I have them in my pocket. >> All
040right. And every time I go outside to determine which vehicle it is, >> stop. I want to go like check mine. >> Thank you. >> Haven't had an issue. [laughter] Um, maybe we kind of already discussed this, but I didn't ask it explicitly. Like, what is the thing that's driving most the deficit? Is it food cost and loss? Okay. >> I mean, if you went out for a lunch, you wouldn't be paying $340. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Um, yeah. I mean, I I I think 10 cents is reasonable. I think um, you know, the one thing I appreciate about this board is that we're very transparent with the issues and challenges that we're dealing with. So, um, and obviously we have the best interest of everybody in mind. Um, and I hate to increase
041costs for folks, but I I think it's a reasonable, um, expectation. So, >> yeah, I'm good with 10 cents for sure. I'd love like if we could find a way to dig into the numbers a little bit more throughout the year when we do this next year just to try to understand like is there a target where it is, how do we best utilize the reimbursement rates, etc. try to try to figure out what the right rate is because, >> you know, at the end of the day, as long as the students that need the support in order to get the meals aren't going to be, you know, super burdened by it. I mean, I know our kids love the lunches here and we should pay what we're buying and not necessarily passing that off
042to everybody else. >> We can certainly plan for a more extensive presentation. >> Yeah. I mean, just if we're running $4,000 understand uh like what percentage of the meals being >> Yeah. purchased are free and reduced. >> Yeah, we should be able to get that because I know that's all part of the state formulas. >> Okay. Um like to make a motion to vote for a 10-cent price increase for um breakfast and for lunch. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I'm going to go make sure it's not my car. [laughter] Do we need to make a motion to approve for hiring new food service person or is that just because it's not contracted? >> It's Yeah, you don't need to. [snorts] Yeah. Start. >> Make sure it's not done. >> You need to pull
043anything up for presentation. >> All right. So, so when I did this, when we were talking with the cooperative food service director, >> since this year wasn't finished, I couldn't come up with a number of meals. So, based on last year's meals that were served for fiscal year, East Kingston served 1,115 breakfasts and 7,798 lunches full throughout the full year. >> So, it's 9,000 meals >> total. at an average cost of what? $3. It's >> 27,000. Do we know what like is there a So, if we have those numbers, do you have like sort of what the estimated food service cost is like an operating number? Because if we have the 27 and [clears throat] it's and you know, it's going to cost. I'm just curious. >> So, we usually do that. We usually actually
044create a budget which is part of the presentation that we present to the public locks here. >> Okay. >> Worried you might have locked yourself out the front. [laughter] >> So this happened like with our other car. We left a key in and pretty bad died. [snorts] So actually so for next year >> so last year Tom it's about 9,000 meals purchased $27,000 >> not maybe correct what was like just like $1,100 >> $1,17700 so we were saying about 900 so about 25 $27,000 >> so for next year we budgeted for food service 555 >> 761 >> so if we budgeted 55,000 and say we sell, you know, another 9,000 meals this year at an average of $35 give or take. So again, another 27,000. >> Yeah, >> this what $28,000 deficit, >> not claiming
045any possible increases in the food cost. >> Do you know what the food like the deficit was? Not this year was 39, I think you said. what it was last year. >> All right. So, I just want to stop that. I misspoke. So, the 55476 that I used for this was just the labor and benefits. So, there's more in that makes sense. Okay. For food and stuff like that. So, I'll pull that up for you. >> And what I'm sorry, what was your question? >> Just like what where we were last year deficit wise at year end. Okay. >> Versus this year. I'm just curious >> what the jump was from up to 39. >> You're always going to run a deficit. You're never >> Yeah, I assume this is pretty standard across Nobody's Nobody's
046going to buy the lunch or >> Right. Once it gets up to $12 for lunch, then >> Yeah. only grow if people aren't buying it, too. >> Yeah. >> You still have to provide it. >> Okay. You want to get started? Michelle can just let us >> I'm good with this for now. For sure. Do we need to do for tonight? Um, so just an update on kindergarten. Right now we have 20 that have registered uh for next year. So uh we may get a couple more over the summer that we don't know about yet, but right now we're looking at 20. Our enrollment numbers as of 61 um have stayed the same. 25 kindergarten, 17 first grade, 18 second grade, 26 third grade, 22 4th grade, and 12 fifth grade for a total of
047120. Uh last week uh Friday, I think you were all there for our family barbecue and field day. Um, we just want to thank Mrs. Cattle who's leaving us um this week to uh to head down south. Um, thank her for all the effort not only the last, you know, last week but also of the last three years that she's been here. Um, and uh especially for Friday, right, because it's such a a special day for us. And also want to thank Miss George for uh all the work in the kitchen to prepare the food and all of our volunteers. Even Allison volunteered that day and uh serving and Paul and the hot dogs made a meat hot dog which is wonderful. >> Best hot dogs you ever had >> and uh many volunteers that
048helped with field day and with helped uh with serving and setup. So uh it's definitely a group effort and it's one of our favorite days of the year. um up up on the screen. I just wanted to I do this every spring just show where we are uh looking at the fall to spring I already reading and math uh data and then what's not going to be on the screen um is uh the New Hampshire state assessment data. I'll give you the preliminary um numbers right now what they look like. >> Grant, real quick, I'd like to close public comment at 5:09 p.m. >> What's that? I just wanted to close public comment at 59 p.m. >> and then in the fall I'll give you uh the report numbers that are official. >> So starting
049with reading uh this is the fall down here. I'm sorry the spring got cut off there but the fall um we typically see way more yellow and red in the fall which is very normal but what that means is uh the students that are down here are ready for grade level instruction. Um obviously the big jump uh going from uh 47% of our students that were in the green in the fall to uh 71% um sorry 81% in the spring. Our goals are always to close down the red and the yellow uh which is one grade level below if you're yellow, two or more grade levels below if you're red. Um, and the three or more grade levels below if you are in the red with kind of the lines crossed. So throughout the year,
050I mean, this shows perfectly how much choice our students have made from from fall to spring. This is for reading. It's just first through fifth grade. Our kindergarters participate in everyday reading. Um, so we're always excited about the growth and all the growth that we've made. Excited to close those gaps. We know you'll see on the math too. Um, we've always closed gas, but we're really excited to see, you know, our wind blocks that were really main focus of our of our school this year. We felt like with uh the interventions the students were receiving that we were going to close down, especially the red areas and the yellow areas. So, that's where we're looking right now um for ready reading. Very similarly in math, uh we're again seeing big jumps across the board. Um,
051in the fall we had 29% of our students that were in the green and 62% in the yellow and you can see even more so with the math this year. Um, we really closed the gaps going from 10% of our students in red to 2%. and uh 19% for uh the spring ready diagnostic math assessment and um up to 80% of our students proficient or ready for grade level next year as they bump up. Our kindergarten students um don't take this in the fall, but they take it in the spring. So, this is just our current first and fifth grade just because we had no data to go back on for um What's the difference between the green with the slashes versus straight green? >> Oh. Uh, so the green with the slashes is that
052on the other one. >> Yeah, I just can totally Sorry about that. >> Yeah. >> Um, so the green with the slashes is is basically on on grade level or above. >> Okay. >> And green regular green is just on grade level. Yeah, >> it's Yeah. >> Yep. Um our next steps for us uh so we had a lot of conversations this year. This [snorts] is our first year of doing our 190 now time uh the way we've done it this year and uh we surveyed staff uh just recently to to look at all of our systems in our school not just when or PLC's but all of our systems and you know there were some definite wonderful things that we've done this year but also we we we know there's tweaks we need to
053make and we're going to make those. We're we're going to try to do a better job of providing resources to teachers um as we kind of build our win. We're going to build our recess recess a resource uh block or folder um so they're not having to constantly go look for specific information how to extend a student or how to provide information to a student. We're going to have a whole um recess I keep saying recess resource folder for our for our teachers to use. As you know, your your children and all of our students went through the reading pilot this year, the reading and writing pilot. Uh we are moving forward with fish tank, which I'll I'll talk about in in a minute. Um so for any implementation of a new program, there's going
054to be some upfront PD that our teachers are going to go through. Um the biggest need for them based on surveys that we um took was really finding time to collaborate with each other within our building. But also Strata Memorial School and Kensington Elementary School also um piloted both programs and all three schools without planning this. All three schools um are moving forward with fish tank which is a really positive thing. It just shows that fish tank is going to work really well for our students here and across the SCU as well. So that's going to be happening in the summer and through the fall. And then Mr. Stevens and Mr. Susa were our K through2 and 3 through5 team leaders this year for our PLC work. They're going to be doing that again next
055year. And uh they're going to be spending time over the summer to continue this work um and be ready to roll for the fall with fine-tuning our PLC's and our ML. Any questions on anything I've talked about so far? Okay. Um, as we uh look at our state assessments, again, this is preliminary data that we have. Um, so I'm going to share that with you. Uh, we don't know if it's going to change at all next year. Um, we we know that there's some challenges that we have as a small school. For example, our fifth graders, um, there's 12 of them. And you know, as you look at I forc there's a certain amount of students you need in a grade level in order for it to be public. The scores still count, but as
056it's publicized on I forc next year, you're not going to see how well our fifth graders did, which is really unfortunate because they knocked it out of the park. Um, but we also did as a whole school. So, I'm going to give you our preliminary numbers um as of today and then as they u go through everything over the summer, I'm saying they as in the state. It may change slightly. It's going to be very slight if there are any changes. Uh math um we were as a school we were 67% proficient uh in grades 3, four, and five. And the preliminary state average uh was 49% proficiency across the board. um ELA, we we did really well as a school and um just going back to if if you guys remember these conversations at
057deliberatives or public hearings and all the changes we made starting four years ago to how we operate literacy and and reading and writing and all the trainings our teachers went through with Orton Gillingham and letters training over the last few years, we knew it was going to take a few years for us to really make a big jump in the LA which we did as a school right now. um 80 81% of our students are proficient in reading um and writing and the state average right now is 54% proficiency. And then our fifth grade students um take the science and uh the science we were 82% proficient um which uh which is a huge jump. You know it's it it's difficult to to kind of look growth over the years because it's different students always
058taking the science and there's nothing to compare to. Uh but we do compare to the state average which right now preliminary is 38%. So we we are sitting sitting far and above what the what the state averages are as of today. Um and again in the fall um we'll take a much closer look at uh grade levels across the board and we'll have more uh formal data to review with our fall data presentation. >> Yeah. If we're looking at kind of the next couple years, Brandon, like which uh which current grade level is it? The kindergarters that are going to be sort of the benchmark for because you know because in terms of like students that are consistently getting the same curriculum throughout the years, do you understand what I'm saying? Like because you mentioned
059the fifth graders, kids are changing curriculum change. So like what's the great current grade or is there a current grade that we can sort of look at? >> So it it depends on what we want to look at. If we're looking at if we're looking at math in particular, the students have been using the same vertical program. Our current fifth grade >> Yeah. >> is the first group that has ready math for all five years. >> Yeah. >> Um our current third graders, which did exceptionally well with the literacy portion of of SAS. >> Um they're the first group that started with Horton Gillingham training, so focusing on phonics. Um and uh we we we told we told our community back back when we started making these changes just give us give us five years
060and uh our third graders. So year four for them um we are seeing big time the benefits of >> really uh a real focus on the foundational skills specifically phonics. Um, and we know the reading the reading and writing program is is in one of the areas that we looked at um was we never really had a K to vertically aligned program. So, we're really excited about Fish Tank and how it's going to fit our school specifically K to 5 and having um being vertically aligned for the first time. >> Yeah. >> Um, did I answer your question? >> Yeah, I did. >> Yeah. And then next year's kindergarters will be the first group obviously to start with a new literacy program. So we'll take a look at that data as we get into third
061grade. >> So look back at last year's June meeting. >> Mhm. >> And we were projecting a loss of 20,536. So this one is significantly >> there's 39,000 this year. >> 39. But but it almost seems like every every June we get like final deposits and things like that. So So it's it's just a projection. That's the best what the information we have. So it could get better. >> Any questions on any data before I move on to reading program? >> Are you So that's all those are incredible on on the math one. Obviously math is typically lower than ELA. Is that sort of a if you were to think about like what's the next three or four years like is there a path to getting math into that 80th or 80 percentile? >> Yeah.
062So it's it's it's uh yes. I don't know what that's going to look like yet. You know the the >> the one thing that we have going for us that that we don't have that that we have for ELA or literacy that we don't have for math >> is a true specialist in our building. Mrs. Schustster, our reading and writing specialist. She not only provides intervention, but she does so much for um our school community as far as coaching teachers, taking professional development and turnkeying it to her team. She's she's certified in Orton Gillingham, not just trained, but certified. So, she she provides way more to our school environment than just intervention. Yeah. >> I don't know if a math specialist is ever going to be financially feasible here. Um, other schools have them in
063our SAU. Um, so that would be one area that we could potentially look at down the road if we want to as a as a school. Um, and I'm not saying that's the only reason why, but I think the changes we've made following the science of reading, which was a big deal, um, and finding the buyin for our teachers to get Horton Gillingham trade and really focusing on the early foundations are are things we did. I don't know what that would look like yet for math. Uh but it's it's something we notice and we know we're going to see ups and downs as students come through with specific grade levels. Um I mean right now our our current third grade um did exceptionally well in in math 2. Um so uh yes, I just don't
064know what it's going to look like yet. >> Okay. Are there any are there any elementary schools in the SAU that have a math specialist in [sighs] >> So there's math specialist. Uh yes, there are. I don't know which ones. Um I know uh Stratam definitely does. Um other schools also have curriculum coordinators in their buildings. Um which Newfields um uh and both exit schools do. So which fill very a very similar role. Um, us and Kensington, I think, are the only two schools without a math specialist or curriculum coordinator in our buildings. >> Would there be an opportunity down the line to say share like we do with the food services like share some math support between the two smaller schools? >> I Yeah, I mean, it's it's it's definitely discussions we've had with
065the smaller schools in particular. M >> um it's just figuring out how to fund a position. You know, >> adding positions is always really difficult. >> So, um there's no law there's no policy for the DOE like there is with a reading specialist. Like we have to have a reading specialist on staff. >> Um there's no law that I'm aware of that states we need to have math. Correct. >> Correct. >> So, >> that's a good conversation. >> Yeah. as we're going into budget season which will be here you know before we know it we can certainly >> talk about >> yeah so in terms of going off JT's comment there like what is sort of that process and is it basically you having a conversation with building leave in Kensington to say hey our
066school board was at least quasi interested is this something you guys might be like is [clears throat] that sort of how like we take a next step as we move towards >> yeah I mean both superintendent SMBs would be involved in that conversation uh with a principal rule and I but yeah It's definitely something that we've we've broached. >> Yeah. >> Um >> it's just figuring out a way to make it work. >> Okay. >> The other Hey, so the idea that it took a couple years, you told the community it's going to take a couple years. I'd love to figure out how we told the community. >> My next question is going to be the same thing. >> Great news. And it's like sort of that thing to say like, you know, invested in
067the school and the school's doing what we hoped it would do. >> It's a huge pride point for a small town. >> It is. And it's it's something that I really hit on during deliberative. Yeah. Um >> um but also, you know, we we I mean once the scores become official, I think we can really try to blast them out there. And >> you know, the thing we try to be careful of is just not focusing on >> that test. We want families to see and community members to see what we do as a whole. But that's a really big piece that >> people have access to and to really get it out there is really important. And you know there was always there was I mean when I first you know I came out
068of the position there was always this you know uh get back to you know a get back to academics mindset and uh which we've never gone off that but there was just this idea around that we were losing focus on core academics which is far from the truth. >> Yeah. um having having teachers that are invested and I I say this all the time and I think people just probably just think I'm making stuff up, but our teachers here are so invested in their students in our school and becoming better educators. They're the ones that are really seeking the PD. They're the ones that are going to workshops. They're the ones that want people to come into our buildings and and uh they're the ones looking to collaborate with other schools. and if there's schools
069that are doing things right, like we want to know what they're doing and they're never shy about reaching out to colleagues and other schools in our district or visiting. Um, so there's all those conversations that we have as an SEO finding time to do that is really difficult. Um, but we're hoping with things like fish tank and having three schools adopting the same program, we're going to be able to start doing that more often. >> Yeah. Um, but our teachers, you know, I I they're they're they're the ones that are making this what we are and they're so dedicated and uh I see it on a daily basis, you know, it's just really special to see. >> Yeah. So, >> awesome. >> Uh, great. >> One more thing to talk about. Uh, yep. So, ELA
070program >> um piloted two programs this year. Uh there were definitely benefits to um to arts and letters and benefits to um at the fish tank. Our teachers um uh really thought about what would work best for our school. Um we had several meetings uh grade level team meetings but also classroom teacher meetings along with Mrs. a shoe star reading specialist and me and to talk about, you know, h how we're going to make this really fit East Kingston Elementary School and um Fish Tank was pretty far uh ahead of the other one and um so we're going to adopt Fish Tank and we're going to move forward with PD right away starting in August and looking to collaborate with other schools. uh for us uh or as a board, it's a significant cost savings
071using Fish Tank. Um $27,000 was kind of the estimate we had for Arts and Letters. And um right now, this is approximate because we still have some work to do on on on what units we're going to pull from and what books we're going to pull from. Um but right now like we're approximately $89 to $9,000 $8900 to $9,000 which is significantly cheaper than than the other one. So, um, our teachers, [clears throat] some of them this summer will, um, calibrate, uh, our competencies, especially in the area of science and social studies, and, uh, look at specific units that Fish Tank offers and try to build in more than we do right now, science and social studies, into our literacy programs because science, social studies seem to be the ones that kind of get left
072to the side. Um, and we're trying to figure out ways to really bring in those two areas within our literacy program. So, our teachers are going to be looking at specific competencies and specific units in fish tank because they have alternate units and I can't give you a more uh a more concise cost at this time because we have to look at the books that go along with that. Um, so >> that 27,000 that was covered by a grant. >> That was covered by a grant. >> Okay. So, >> so that frees up that frees up grant money. Um, >> then we can still use that grant money. >> Yeah, that we'll still use. Yep. >> Is this like a yearly contract or subscription or is there a set amount? >> So, the nice thing
073about this is the uh the approximate cost for the license uh is $2400, just under $2,500. So, that'll be yearly. The books, we're going to purchase the books. So, it's we know it's going to be up upfront more because we need to purchase the books. Um, so once we purchase the books, you know, we're looking at a much lower cost >> in 27 28. >> I was just wondering too, I guess if more schools are doing it, is there opportunity down the line if [snorts] >> for I guess bulk purchasing of Yes. of reading materials if you get on the same page and once you get used to the program. >> Yeah. >> How else um obviously I assume with the grant it's going to still fit within the criteria. How else are you envisioning
074potentially using some of those funds that now you can sort of look at is it still going to be for because if that cost is if it was $27,000 we got from the grant but it's going to say $9,000. So you're looking at 18 grand. >> Yeah. >> How how is how can that money be allocated? >> So this was through something called the REAp grant which is the rural education grant. And the REAp grant is uh we have a lot more flexibility on how we use those funds. >> We we've typically used REAp almost exclusively to cover professional development over the years >> because we received very let alone title two. >> Yeah. >> Which is specifically for PD. [clears throat] Um and we no longer receive title four money anymore which was around
075we were my first couple years we were receiving around $10,000 a year. Yeah. So, um, Reap has been, um, all the Orton Gillingham trainings, um, the, uh, PLC at work, which is what our some of our staff went to. >> So, that's how I envision it being used. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Great. >> Okay. Yeah. I just don't know if we have to if I have to be here for the policy policies. >> Yeah. And we would need a vote for to approve the fish tank literacy program which we can do now or we can do it >> after. Make a motion to vote to approve the fish tank literacy program. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I move on to uh board reports and committee reports. Starting with policies first. >>
076Oh yeah. Um so I think the first two are uh read only. Um the AI one's pretty comprehensive. Um, we obviously talked about that, but there's a lot there and it's ever changing. Um, so I don't believe that we're making a vote on that today. Um, and then I think it was the second one to the enrollment capacity. >> Yeah. >> Um, that one I think that's more due to the legislation that >> right >> didn't pass. Um, so I guess that one could be tabled if anything does come forward in the future. >> [snorts] >> Um, one that we had quite a bit of discussion on was the uh sex offender registry information and school access. Um, there were uh a couple opinions on it. Um some wanted full access and I think it
077was more so uh I would say the majority of the policy committee um they didn't they wanted to give the um the principal the ability to share sex offender information not make it an obligation. There were some members that were concerned about the student of a possible family member, brother, sister, uh, father, mother. Um, but that's something there's it's definitely interesting situation. Um, but I'd be interested to understand from a principal what your thoughts are on that information and whether or not it's something that you should have the ability to share. Obviously, not I don't think personally I don't think it should be an obligation, but in the right situation and um I think it might be beneficial. Can I just add a little bit JT to that just to give a little context? So
078I I think and correct me if I'm wrong, the sharing piece was around if you had information about >> um >> a sex offender who potentially could be coming on campus and there was somebody on staff who was responsible for supervising that area that you would have the ability to share that information with that staff member. um and not be initially the the sample um policy had some language around how how you a staff member could be punished for sharing or I don't know if punish is the right word but there could be some consequences for sharing that information but we we took that language out so that in the event you had information that you felt like was crucial for supervision of students that you would have the ability in that situation to share
079with the staff member if you knew that somebody might be coming on campus, you could you could have a set of eyes. Yeah. You know, looking for that person. >> Can you only talk with like possibly like parents too? Um >> I don't know if this policy would cover um I don't think it says one way or another. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> So, how would that be shared? Would it be a a conversation? So >> it doesn't state in the policy I'm reading right now. >> So typically >> I think it originally said that they are not able to >> share or basically discuss that type of stuff. >> I don't believe it's with parents. So I think there is language about that's really the responsibility of the police department to share that. >>
080Um >> yeah I mean it says this proposed policy establish procedures for the district's use of registered sex offender information in order to support student and staff safety. >> So it would really just authorizes the district to use registry information for employee and volunteer screening campus safety and administrative purposes while also eliminating access to school property by registered offenders except under specific legally permitted circumstances. The policy further outlines expectations for staff confidentiality reporting procedures for registered sex offenders observing school grounds without authorization. >> So, and sorry, I should have paid more attention. I don't actually think my packet has the policy. >> Yeah, I agree. I'm just not that too. And then on the enrollment one, did we I also have like a blank page that I think is supposed to be the first page
081of the enrollment capacity policy. >> There are some blank pages that were um >> Yeah, but if you go to page 23, right? >> These aren't in the packet. >> That was just the summaries that I read. >> Yep. So, a couple things we can do. I can The enrollment one is a read only anyway. So, I can send that to you separately. So, you have the full um >> Yeah. the AI and the enrollment one are in there, but the other policies are not. >> Um, I can look for that one right now or we can table it and vote. >> Actually, the sports injuries one is in here >> which you already voted on. So, >> okay. So, just the sex offender one is missing. >> Yeah, that's >> I mean, unless we
082feel like we need to do it between now and either probably when we come back in September, right, would be the next official meeting. I'd be fine tableabling them. >> I can make sure that you have that one for that. Okay. >> Sorry about that. >> Yeah. So, the original one it said like you said it's basically up to the law enforcement, but it said therefore the school district will not disseminate uh sex offender registry information to parents. >> Yeah. >> Um that obviously brought up a lot of conversation for and against. The against was mostly for the student. >> So, is there anything we need to vote on tonight, Alison? No. >> Okay. We don't need to vote table. Okay. >> Um, [snorts] >> yeah. >> No, I don't think Is there anything else
083we need? We have a board member that does need to leave for a personal matter. Do we need to >> I think that's all the votes. >> That's all the votes. >> Yeah. Thank you guys. >> Thank you JT. Um just continuing with board report and committee reports. A few things on safety and security. Superintendent Eval planning uh safety and security last met on May 14th. Um know there were several table talk exercises, excuse me, that were ran. Uh during the meeting, um I don't believe there's another meeting scheduled, but I believe we're going to pick things back up in the fall, probably September time frame. Uh superintendent evaluations. Um Tim Reid uh the head of the uh superintendent evaluation committee met with uh Dr. Andriski uh I want to say a week or two
084ago um as part of the conversation for a little bit uh but he did present uh the feedback that all the districts had provided the evaluation committee um to Superintendent Drisky. So uh that conversation went well. Um, I'm not sure if there's anything else to share there, Alison, but uh I think we're probably going to be reconvening again in the uh new school year. Uh strategic plan committee. Um from my understanding, there are going to be some I think just sort of results based on the plan and sort of the metrics and the KPIs and everything that we were looking at over the last couple of months are going to be published at some point over the summer. I know that uh they were still gathering some data, waiting for the school year to wrap
085up and then information will be made available publicly on the uh SA website. Um and then I believe that committee will again u meet probably uh in the fall school year kicks off. So all right, uh school board goals. I know JT left. Um anything academically, Tom? I know there were some great discussions. Obviously Brennan had a great report. So, >> no. >> Yeah, that was good. >> Okay, we'll table JT's update on the community engagement. Um 5-year capital improvement plan. I know we have uh you know project going on in the next couple of weeks over the summer specifically with the septic system. Um Bren, anything else to discuss there in terms of building maintenance? Not >> right now. >> Okay, great. [clears throat] So, I think that wraps the agenda. Alison, is there
086anything else? >> Um the SLC feedback form, I don't know how you want to handle that. Um if you want to go into non-public or if you want another >> Yeah, we can I can update you. We can go into nonpublic, but is there a specific RSA? >> Yep. Under seat. >> Okay. Um going to make a motion to enter into non-public uh in accordance with chapter 91A uh 3 I uh C. Second. All in favor? >> That is uh 5:38 p.m. Uh it is 5:40. We are um leaving uh non-public entering back into the public meeting. Uh I would like to adjourn the meeting at this time. Thank you. Thanks.