001Good afternoon, good evening. Sorry. Um, call to order the meeting of the Keen Board of Education for Tuesday, February 10th at 6:30 p.m. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. I allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. We would normally open with public input. There is no public in attendance at this time. Uh we will keep uh public input open until 7 o'clock. If anybody comes in and wishes to give public input, you can also submit via email to Shaina Pelky at central office. That's s pelky sau 29.org. Um, can I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> Second. >> Any documents people want removed? Any concerns with what's
002on the consent agenda? Seeing none, all those in favor? Any opposed? Carries 80. Thank you. All right. Report of the board chair. Obviously, we're still in the midst of budget season and voting season. Uh we did have a successful first session. Um the district hosted that this past Saturday. We had about 80ish keen voters in attendance. Um there was a number of clarifying questions to be answered particularly around the topic of open enrollment. Uh but at the end our budget did pass first session. So next up in the final step is the actual voting for keen voters. Uh voting day is Tuesday, March 10th, uh one month from today. Uh 7:30 a.m. until 700 p.m. and all voters vote at the rec center. This one does not break down by city ward. Um so everyone
003will be voting at the rec center. You can vote absentee ballot. Um contact our central office to find out how if you think that that is a route that you're going to need to take. There are only two warrant articles to be voted on this year. Uh the first is our operating budget. Um, you can find details about our operating budget on the website if you want to or you can also find um a on our social media and Rob is the video available through the website. Do we know >> sometimes it is I don't >> I haven't found it on on the website but I again I didn't really look for it too hard. Okay. So, um >> we'll try to make sure it's there as well. >> All right. Definitely available through the
004Facebook feed and has usually these feeds are available on um the website, but they're not always easy to find. So, we'll try and get that up there as well if you're looking for details on the budget. Uh and the other question is um on open enrollment. Um if you've been following the news, you know that there's all sorts of stuff happening at the state level about open enrollment as well. This particular warrant article refers to last year's state law, uh which is currently still in effect. Um and what it does is establish parameters for KE's participation in open enrollment. Lacking that um we are susceptible to a number of different billing issues uh that were not contemplated when our budget was created. Um if this particular warrant article passes, all it does is establish the
005the guidelines and parameters that Keen would participate in open enrollment under. Um it doesn't live limit student choice. Uh it still allows people to access um for example the voucher system uh and still keeps in place the previous methods of of attending other districts um particularly academic hardship is the the primary one. And of course the state might invalidate all of this with a new round of open enrollment laws um within the next week but we don't have any control over that year. Uh we're also electing four board seats. Um three three-year terms and one two-year term. Um and there are four candidates for the three-year seats. So that is a contested seat. There will be some opportunities to get to know the candidates better. Um the the district last year um with support from
006uh partnering for public education hosted um a get to know the candidates night with the Keen student Keen High School student council um asking the questions. We are planning to go ahead with that. Um traditionally the Sentinel will also ask um all of the candidates a set of questions that they will publish. uh in the last couple years um one of the WKBK morning hosts um usually Kathleen O'Donnell sometimes one of the others. >> Hi Raleigh. We'll try and get the u the candidates on for live interviews. Um so keep an eye out for any of those if you'd like to get to know the the candidates a little bit better. Jennifer >> uh that might be happening Saturday. I got email from uh Kathy asking, you know, the candidates if they were available Saturday.
007So, >> all right. Thanks. So, watch for Saturday morning um February 14 that the candidates some at least may be on WKBK. Um so, uh we'd appreciate it if everybody can get out and vote and um support our local schools. Uh the other major topic um the classroom assistance bargaining group that uh we were unable to um reach uh agreement with uh for this year which means that they will u be working under last year's contract for another year um as we we move forward with trying to come up to for an agreement for next year. um their representatives have filed an unfair labor practice uh suit against the district. Um that and the district has filed their response as well. Um so that has been posted as a public notice in our schools. Um
008and we thought it was important to get it on the record here in one of our meetings as well. Um obviously it's a it's a legal process and we have to wait for it to play out. So we really won't have any further comments on that. Um but that is um also ongoing at this time. Uh other than that, I just want to thank everybody that's been involved with uh budget season. Um I know Tim Roar and his office actually start on this and the the building administrators start on this as early as um September. Um but it's really kicked into gear uh December, January, and and through now. Um so much appreciation to everybody on the board and everybody in central office and in our buildings um that have that come together to pull
009together uh this operating budget for next year. All right. Report of the superintendent, Mr. Malay. I mean the report starts out with a lot of open enrollment stuff. I don't know that we need to go over that anymore. It is accessible. It is on our website. It's been emailed out to several thousand folks as well. Um, and I I just think it's really important that people are aware what the current language, what the proposed language of the two bills that are moving forward will mean for individuals. Um, I think the chair has already covered the the fact that school choice does exist. Nobody's opposed to school choice. I think the big concern is what is it going to mean when it's put into practice. And so that's in the report. If anybody wants more detail
010on that, please visit the website. Um it's accessible for anybody. Beyond that, um just so you're aware, I will be away starting tomorrow morning. I'll be at the National Conference on Education through the rest of the week and we'll be back in the office at the beginning of next week. Brian Campbell will be acting as a superintendent in my absence. So if you have any concerns that come up during that time, please reach out to Brian Campbell so that he can assist you in whatever concerns might come your way. Happy to entertain any questions as it relates to the report. If you have any now or if you think of them later and want to email me, please feel free to do so. Well, the good news is there wasn't any bad news. Um, we
011got the update on uh, you know, some of the building and safety improvements that are going on. Um, just you like I said, like I said, the good news is there's no bad news. It's just going as scheduled. and um gave us the updated numbers on our own little school buses that we have, you know, taking smaller groups out on transportation runs. And the good news is there the numbers are way up and uh you know, if we hadn't had them, we would have had to have multiple cancellations for some of the small trips. So, it was a quick efficient meeting. Uh but like I said, the good news is there was no bad news. >> Thank you, Randy. um education committee, Miss Freriedman. >> Uh we did not meet because of the switch um
012between the education meeting and the full board meeting last month. So I had an extra long report last month, but no report this month. >> All right. Thanks, Jen. Um finance committee, Miss Hedings. >> So we've had just a few things going on in finance. Um just thank you again to I know, right? But um uh but I'm pleased to say we're it's now in the hands of the voters come March um 10th for uh our budget and the open enrollment warn article um for 2627. Um but we also did have um some additional business. Um quarterly grant report, we went over that. Um we uh we did have some fund transfers in there. I'll speak about that in a moment. Um and then we're also going to be having two additional motions. One about
013um a proposal or an ask that came to us from Winchester School District and um then also a motion um regarding the open enrollment which is not what's on the Warren article but um another one that's currently being pitched around up in conquered. So, um, again, thank you so much, um, to all of those who made Saturday possible, and I was really pleased, as I'm sure everyone else was, that it went smoothly and just really good engaging discussion and questions, um, for members of the public. Um so for our funds transfer um this in the drive um I'll make a motion on behalf of the finance committee that the king board of ed accept the budget transfer report dated January 2026 asformational. >> Sorry. >> Yes. Yes. Okay. So, um let's talk next about the
014Winchester tuition proposal that um came to the district, came to the superintendent's office. Uh Chair Downing asked that it come to finance committee first. Um we reviewed that last week. Was that last week? Yes, that was last week. Um, let me make a motion first and then um we will discuss. Uh, I move on behalf of the finance committee that the Keen Board of Ed respond to Winchester School District's tuition agreement inquiry that the district encourages long-term tuition agreements that give both districts the ability to plan for staffing and financial needs on a predictable basis and had offered such over the years. Um, we do not support a variable agreement, but do support such agreements that commit to taking all of a partners' district students if in return they agreed to send all of their
015eligible students as we have for decades with our ARA partner districts. >> Second. Um, so, uh, for those that that may know already or those that are are new to this, um, we had, uh, an agreement for a number of years with Winchester School District, uh, if memory serves about two years ago. We ceased that ongoing commitment because Winchester was wanting sort of a flexibility of making it optional for Winchester residents to either attend or not attend. Um that that makes it very challenging for budgeting if you have that sort of back and forth optional um vibe going on. Um and in addition, as we all know, we've got multiple school districts that have been ARA uh partners with us for decades. Um and we just actually renewed all of those ARA agreements um last
016year at the polls and um keen voters supported all of that as well as obviously those sending towns had to approve their agreement as well. Um so as I said this came to finance committee first last week and um we overwhelmingly felt that you know we need to support our AR agreements and also it would just be such a challenge for trying to budget um and support you know for a successful outcome in the classroom and for staffing um and all of the infrastructure that goes along with that. My mic's not on. Questions or comments? All right. I'm trying to parse through the motion. As best as I can tell, it's voting yes on this motion means that we do not accept the agreement as proposed, but would encourage interested districts who wish to open
017up an agreement like this to use our more traditional >> forms. >> Correct. >> All right, everyone's good with >> Can I do I can read the last part? >> I read it. And the bottom line is we do not support a variable agreement, but we do support agreements that commit to taking all of a partners' district's students if in return they agree to send all of their eligible students as we do currently with our ARA schools. >> All right. So the intent with this recommendation to the board to approve is not just to deny the proposed agreement but to set parameters on what we would consider in future agreements. All right, >> George, can I say one thing? Go >> ahead. You guys have it all down. I just want to say their specific
018request, which didn't come out in this, there was enough in here, was to allow them to send some of their ninth grade, their current eighth grade students to nth grade. Uh, effectively having the choice to send students, which is why they left in the first place because we denied their choice to do that. So, but the request is specifically about nth grade, but the the committee talked in this kind of language and I want we wanted to capture in the motion the reason we're denying it is the same reason we denied the request before, but it it specifically about sending their current eighth graders by choice to the high school. All right. Thank you, Tim. Anyone else? Seeing no further comment, all those in favor? Opposed? Carries. 8 Z. Okay. And then the um last
019item, I I hinted to it a moment ago, is with another um open enrollment law that's being put into consideration. I'll make the motion first and then expand on it. move to recommend on behalf of the finance committee that the Keen Board of Ed authorizes the district to investigate or join the legal injunction lawsuit against the state of New Hampshire in the event it passes an open enrollment law without sufficient protection for local districts and state funding for such a mandate. >> Second. So again, to be clear, this is currently House Bill 751 that initially was going to be voted upon last week and then they they hit the brakes and um for two more is it coming? Okay, so on Thursday it is going to be uh voted upon. This is again separate from
020the current law that's part of our second warrant article that we discussed at last week's um deliberative session. It's also well explained in the um annual report and also in the superintendent report. This is separate. This is the bill that um if it were to pass, the only word I can always ever come up with is it just in my opinion becomes a bit of a free-for-all. You've got students having the ability to go to another district outside of where they reside. Their home district has to pay that other district. Um this would just make it such a moving needle in terms of budget and staffing and um it it jeopardizes, if you will, sort of the the benefit for a few at the expense of many who choose to stay within their district. Um
021and and I do have to say, Rob, I think you spoke very clearly and eloquently about it last week with giving some really good examples on that. Um but that is what is before us now with this motion. Um and what is the latest now? Are there other districts that have also um moved forward with a with joining the lawsuit? >> Yes. >> So just to be very clear, there is no lawsuit at this point in time because there is nothing to take action against. Um this is this is to prepare in the event that a bill passes and does get signed into law. So there is interest in many districts around the state, not just our district, not just our SAU 29 districts of of joining to take some form of action against what
022I wouldn't use free-for-all in this instance. I would use what is clearly unfunded state mandate. Um I think that that's the language that we need to be very mindful of because it would come at expenses to local taxpayers and I think that um there is a a lot of momentum in many places around the state. So that's basically what I would say to that unless Tim or Brian or Ben wanted to weigh in a little bit more. Specifically, this would be Gordon Graham's law firm, Leslie Sulenkar, numerous districts, and Andy Valinsky, Andrew Valinsky action with additional districts. Um, but that's if they pass a law that mandates open enrollment without either state funding and protections against local districts rights and and taxpayers not being shown the burden locally of an increased cost to local taxpayers.
023So the committee was not against open enrollment or choice. What they were against is choice without controls to protect local taxpayers and school districts. That's what they're against. And I have offered to the state and continue will continue to offer to help craft such legislation that would allow for school choice without being harmful to local control and taxpayers and that is what we would be guarding against the unfunded mandate of throb said. >> So just to be I want to be really clear because this is something you're voting on. It's not just if it passes the This is if it gets signed into law because if it passes the house and it gets vetoed in the governor's office and they don't over override that veto then there is no action to take. This is just
024about preemptively taking steps necessary to authorize on behalf of the Keen School District um the ability to join in action. Any clarifying questions, any concerns, any commentary from the board? All right, seeing none, all those in favor? Any oppose? Carries 800. >> George, if I may, there's one more item. >> Go for it. >> Um, I want to get all of our these key things in these motions um taken care of first. The other thing um that we discussed at finance committee last week and to make the board aware is that we may need to have a budget freeze this school year um due to the deficit that we've got in special ed right now of 1.5 million. Um so Mr. Roar wanted to make sure that the rest of the board knew this. Tim,
025is there anything else that I should touch on with that? No, I think you hit it. I I I just don't want it to be a surprise if that happens, but it's looking likely. We are about 1.5 million negative in special education currently and it's not clear how to stem that. We have to provide the services. We're not seeking to cut services, although we are hoping to have a as a revenue have $3.5 million to return or an unreserved fund balance. If we don't hit that number, let's say we only hit two million. Then instead of a $5 million tax increase, we'd have a $6.5 million tax increase. I think it's paramount that we hit the number that we say. I of course did not a deficit in I don't know 14 years I haven't
026seen one in this district and I was a little surprised. Um maybe that's my bad. I I I I did not fathom a deficit in that area. Um but it's clear that things are changing and that we're tighter this year and we may have to take some actions to make sure that we hit those numbers. If we didn't have such a impactful tax projection already, I would be less worried. I would just lower our I would have just lowered our projection. Although I think with the cuts that the board made and the administration made, I felt like it was paramount that we do not impact taxes any more than we're already doing. So when I say a budget freeze, it'll be a well-reasoned budget freeze. We'll try to impact students as least as possible, but
027we're going to have to try to tighten our belts for the rest of the year to hit this. Um it doesn't mean that we're not going to do the stuff that's planned or have stuff that we need, but we're going to have to curve a little bit going through the year. Um, for sure to hit that number. The the financial report started out at 2.5 million. I thought we would we need to hit 3 million on that. We have $500,000 in stuff that always comes up. That wasn't going to be a problem. The last budget number that I projected was 1.7 million. So, um, that's that that's going in the wrong direction. Uh we still have the $500,000 in stuff, but we might need more like a million. We do have we need to hit
028three million because a half a million is coming from the reserve fund. We are planning on turning that back and not rer reserving that. So we have that cushion, but we threw that in during our meeting. Um so we need to hit three million out of our operating budget. So, I I just want you to be aware. I would hate for you to get calls and not have heard of it. Uh I know I let the finance committee know. We've talked about it at Colt. We'll talk about it with our administrators, but I don't see another way around it. And unless that department has a miraculously good fortune because of a lot of his fortune, one student could cost $400,000. Move in or out. That that can happen. But as you get later in the
029year, that's less likely to be that impactful. So, just thought I'd let you know if there's any questions, I'd be happy to answer. I do think it's important to clarify just because this just hit the news from another neighboring district. Um, this is not a contemplation of midseason letting teachers go, which several other districts around the state are having to do right now. Um this is um you hear us talk a lot about um mandatory and discretionary spending. This is talking about the discretionary spending going on for the rest of this year. Um just reducing our costs beyond what we would want to do normally um hopefully in ways with minimal impact on the students. We are still um you know we're not in great shape. very few districts are in the state right now,
030but we're not in the same dire straits that you see in the news from a bunch of other districts around the state. So, it is not a reason to panic. It's just a heads up that we're not where we would like to be. >> And again, this is really impacted with special ed, which as Tim said, and as we all know, you know, that's that's required by law. We need to serve our students. um this this is not a matter of um spending that went unchecked or um something you know that was not done correctly. This this is really making sure we serve the students and you know we don't know sometimes what those costs are going to be for some of them particularly if their needs change. >> Anything else from finance? >> Oh
031yes, go ahead. Yeah, I'm just curious just to understand it a little bit more. Is this related to which pocket of special ed funding is this? So, I mean, I know that we're spending we have to spend on out of district costs, right? And transportation. I mean, we all saw those big numbers in the budget $7 million or something out of that pot or does it have to do with some of the unfilled positions? And I know that we've also had to pay, you know, consultants to be be coming in. We've, you know, approved a lot of those budget transfers. I just want to understand the whole picture a little bit better and why >> where that's all coming from. >> It's really that entire cost center and and you've hit some of the key
032elements right on the head. Some of that is due to out of district placements and transportation that goes with those placements. Some of that has to do with having to hire contracted services that are more expensive to meet IEP requirements. And so when you add it all up, you get that that deficit that Tim has reported. And so our intent tonight was to let you know, look, there is a possibility that we might have to freeze this budget. Um, we work really hard to make sure we don't have to do that. But in the event that we have to do that, we didn't want you to be blindsided. So, I can't say that it's one pocket that it's coming out of with special education. It's multiple pockets that it's coming out of, but it was
033all because of meeting student needs. So, >> and finance committee did go through um a a deeper dive into where the the lower projection is coming from. Um when those minutes become available in another week or so, um if you poke through those, you can get a good idea of how that discussion went. Um, and if you have more questions after that, um, just come back through me and we'll see if we can can figure out how to clarify that and whether it's a question that ends up needing to come back to the full board as well, which it may depending on where those questions land. You good? Yes. All right. Thank you, Jacqueline. Um, personnel committee, Mr. Roberts. >> All right. Um, I think it's Yeah, it is time, right? All right. All right,
034we're going to officially close public input at this time and then move on to policy committee. Um, so on behalf of the policy committee, Tim, I think you're all set if you want to go home. Thank you, Tim. Uh, on behalf of the policy committee, I'd like to move that the full board approve policy IHBI, alternative learning plans as presented. >> Second. >> Thank you, Randy. Um this one has uh some minor changes due to state law. Primarily is some clarifying language around eligibility especially in um the McKini Vento arena which is which governs homeless students um as well as uh making sure that it um aligns with our other existing policies in the same area. Uh questions on policy as presented. All right. Seeing none. All those in favor? Any opposed? Carries. 80. On
035behalf of the policy committee, I move that the full board approve policy J, instructional resources, as presented. >> Second. >> All right. Again, um state law. Uh this one now has stronger um supporting language involving um more details on on what it covers um and how it gets um followed and implemented by the U. Administration. questions? Seeing none, all those in favor? Any opposed? Carries 8 Z. We do have three policies under first read, which hopefully we'll get to in policy committee this month and bring to you for approval next month. If you want to uh look ahead and have any questions on what's in your drive, you can send them to me as the chair of the committee. Um policy, summer activities. Um this all three of these are existing policies. This one expands
036the existing policy um to make sure that it specifically would include our ELO program so that students would have the opportunity to earn credit over the summer. Um that would still be governed by our own ELO policy. Um and we do have um an ELO coordinator who oversees that. So that would redirect to that area. Um but it does make sure that IHCA covers that policy. M sorry ah daily physical activity. Um again based on uh state law. Uh there's new language in this one. The existing policy is um one of those basically meaningless policies that the state has made us approve over the years that basically says yes the board thinks that physical activity is a good thing and we encourage it. Um really means nothing in application. So this uh puts some teeth
037into it. um adds a little bit of detail about what gets supported under this policy um and puts oversight under the purview of um our wellness committee which does already exist um and that has its own policy governing that as well. But that's essentially the intent of this is to is to make it a little bit stronger and have an actual impact for our students. And then finally, JLCK, special physical health needs of our students. um very similar. The new one will be much stronger than our existing policy. Um this current policy uh again based on state law is again very vague. Um the new one will have more specific um details that the district must implement as they apply this policy. So those are all in there. JLCK will probably have the most work
038in policy committee before it comes to you. Uh any questions feel free to forward them to the policy committee. All right. School leaison Keen High School. Mr. Romero. >> Thank you, George. Cindy and I actually met twice between these two meetings, but I wasn't able to give a report because of our January budget meetings, but I would like you to know that the enrollment at King High School continues to drop. The February 8th numbers show an overall depth of 1,237 and that is down from 1,252 in December. And if you go back to October 1st, we start out with 1,263 and again we're down to 1,237. So we're seeing nutrition even within the school year, not just not just year to year. The second semester started on January report cards went out. So hopefully there's
039a lot of happy parents out out there and we had several people make musical achievements. For example, the New Hampshire MEA jazz all state. Adah Giles made it on the trombone. Brady Samson on the baritone sacks. Henry Wickland on tener with his tener voice. The NHMEA classical All State. Kathleen Lenel on soprano voice. Katana Martin on violin. Leah Frost on bass. and Max Jagger on trumpet. Now, the the next one, the New England Music Festival, may be the one of the largest ones in the area because it draws on everyone from Northern New England and even Connecticut and some from Rhode Island as well too. And we had a number of people make this. Martin on violin. Leah Frost on bass. Caitlyn Lordy on flute. Evelyn Ormarrod on the French horn. Finian Hornbeck on bass
040voice. Henry Wickland on tener voice. And Seth Wickland on bass voice. And if that's not all, there was a chamber music festival sponsored by the New Hampshire BDA and NHA which stands for New Hampshire Music Educators Association and Leah Frost, Martin, and Caitlyn Lori. So, we've got a couple things that are making this possible. We have a very proactive leadership in the music department, which is very which is very good. And we have students that are in a are are in an environment where they can learn new skills, new musical skills, and so they're very talented. So, I'm very glad that this district has been able to support that. Some of the upcoming events that you might want to be aware of is that um February 12th is early release. There's a senior parent scholarship
041night on February 18th. We have the winter break coming up at the end of February before our next meeting. So, it's February 23rd to 27th. Coming up right in March, 7 PM music March 10th. Yes, same night as the board meeting. Music in our schools. And I don't I'm not going to go too much more into March, but there is a STEM night open house and there's also a on March 13th the Katie Preston Holocaust survivor assembly. So that brings us up until the happenings up until our next next board meeting. So this this concludes my report. >> Thanks Ry Rob. >> So just just one quick correction because um I don't want folks going through their emails. The report cards for the semester have not gone out yet. They will be coming out shortly,
042but they have not gone out quite yet. So just I don't want people to say, "Wait a minute." You know, I heard at the board meeting report cards went out and they're digging through it saying, "I didn't get it." And then the high school getting overwhelmed with a bunch of folks saying, "Well, I didn't get mine." But they will come out shortly. >> All right. Thank you, Rob. Um, Chester Career Center, Miss Freriedman. >> Okay. They are uh in the midst of their um every four-year comprehensive needs assessment and they have started to do focus groups and are planning on more focus groups in the in the coming months. Um enrollment is open for the 2627 school year. They are hosting tours of interested students um from all of the sending schools. Uh so they're
043getting a getting a glimpse of the various programs that are being offered there. Um uh several of the programs are uh in the process of finalizing articulation agreements um with uh some of the local community colleges as well as uh Southern Maine Community College and Wuset uh community college down in Massachusetts. And uh this will allow our students coming out of CCC programs um to earn credits that these uh local colleges then accept as college level credits. Um so this is a win-win. Um the students can start uh programs at these schools uh with already credits uh in their in their pockets. So it is a wonderful uh program and uh it is rapidly expanding. Um let's see. Uh the cosmetology students um the first years have recently got they they got their regulatory um
044you know their their credential of um the New Hampshire state cosmetology apprentice permit and that allows them to start um working on their supervised hours that is necessary for lensure. So, uh that is happening and some of their senior students are going to be competing um in a Skills USA championship um this year and it allows cosmetology students to compete in various um skills, hair cutting, color styling, all kinds of things. And we have three students going. So, that is uh exciting. Uh the health science students were hosted by the Keen State nurses. Um and they had a like a practical field trip where they got to um practice checking blood gluc glucose uh levels and taking vitals and transferring patients. So this was like a really handson lab that they got to go and
045experience what a nursing student um you know and eventually nurses actually do. Uh and that went very well. Um and uh the yearbook is on target and ahead of schedule. Uh and they're looking for more pictures. So if anyone has anyone uh they can email them to taraafollows29.org. >> Thank you Jennifer. Um Keen Middle School Miss Walker. >> So my like Raleigh um I have a report from January but February had to be rescheduled for next week. So I guess maybe I'll double up next month. Uh so briefly just because this is somewhat outdated. Um Mike and I did talk about the accreditation that he's uh going after the NEA NEASC. Um so I just wanted to clarify how long that takes to get and so I explained that's a two to three year process.
046He's guessing. He'll know more. Well, he probably knows more now, but he didn't. Um, second quarter ended January 22nd. A little outdated here. And, um, KMS had a go. So, that means that's short for geography B. I know. I was trying to figure out what's G. I spell it J O. But, um, anyway, an eighth grader one, Dominic Heath won. Uh there was a spelling bee. Um and I and I my son told me who won. Uh and so I will update you next next time. Uh and then the last thing is that Mike Smith has been handing out Cardinal awards left and right which is super exciting. This is uh kids who who really uh embody and the the pillars of KMS. >> It is All right. Thank you, Paige. For Franklin School, Miss
047Hedings. >> Yes. Hi. I've got um four updates from Mr. Crest. Um with me here. Just bringing it up. Hold on. There we go. Okay. Um first off in academia um their winter Ames web scores rose by 10% in both math and reading. That's a great achievement. Always good to hear that. Um as we all know we've had quite a bit of snow here. Um so the good news out of that is um Franklin did have a successful winter ski club at Granite Gorge um with 16 students who learned how to ski or snowboard over five Wednesdays. So it was good. They had a good season for learning that. Good to know. Um the third and fourth graders enjoyed uh after school time in cursive club. Don't say cursive is dying. It's apparently not at
048Franklin Elementary. Um and this was put on by the art teachers and I apologize if I mispronounced the names. Um Mrs. Ben uh Ben Svena and fourth grade teacher Mrs. Gian Ferrari. And then the last item to report is the fourth and fifth graders. will have a special presentation from King Arthur Bread, learning how to make bread, and then they'll have their own kit to bring home to bake with their families. Uh, all of the kits were donated by King Arthur Flower Company and brought to Franklin by fifth grade teacher Mrs. Hayer. Again, apologies if I did not pronounce that name right. So, Snow, good test scores, Baking Pursive. >> There you go. And good job on Mrs. Hayer's name. Fuller school, Mr. Filio. >> Uh, thank you. Fuller school also did have snow. So,
049I just wanted to point that out. Um, met with the principal of Morty this morning actually. Um, one of the things and I always discuss what her concerns are. That's how I always always start off when I meet with her. What are your concerns? Open enrollment. And I mean that's just we talked about it here tonight. And I think the open enrollment issue is not only among us and administrators, but from the principles, the teachers and all the way down. She had mentioned that parents are concerned that there's talk within the city about oh maybe a parent can they can switch their elementary school from within the city. So there's all of that rumor going around about what does open enrollment mean? And honestly, the only you know what I can give her is it
050depends who you talk to because that's really what it is. I mean the state has their own version of it. So everybody's concerned about it and I just basically told her the truth. Just stay tuned like the rest of us are because we're watching, you know. So open enrollment I think is probably the biggest concern not only here in Keen but probably all the public schools in New Hampshire. Um so we talked about that. We we talked about um concern that the vacancy issues. Um you know we did a lot better this year uh with hiring teachers. Our vacancy rates were way down. Um one area especially is still special ed. Um and as we know the funding of special ed is always an issue also but I know 25 to 30% of all the
051fuller school students out of all them 25 to 30% of some version of special education. So obviously uh you know being short a special ed teacher um was imperative to them to hopefully uh this year we can uh you know fill that vacancy and also they're still short of behavioral specialist and a reading specialist. So the the vacancies are still of a big concern and also we discussed the vacancies citywide issue. So those are a lot of the concerns coming out of there. She still sends her um her love to Ben White who um feels the open communication is so imperative. So, the issues that she spoke with me, I know she's spoken to Ben and so um she's uh very uh appreciative about the open communication um from her to the school board uh
052from me and and to Ben. Uh the open communication to her is very important that she feels that if she asks a question, it gets answered um immediately. Some of the good news also um the charter schools, we we talk about issues with that. They've had five return from charter schools since school began and one return from a religious school. So the gr they're proving the grass is not always greener on the charter school side of the fence. Um so they're seeing returning students that uh the parents weren't happy with their education they were getting at charter or religious schools. Um also she mentioned that behavioral issues there are way down and math scores are up substantially similar to what J said. Um so it appears to kind of go hand in hand. Um, so
053that's always good news. Also, um, went over their their newsletter. The good news is it's called the Panther Print from uh, Fuller School that it goes online. She printed me a copy that the parents are downloading this at pretty much record numbers. So, that's a great positive also that the parents are are paying attention. It's a great newsletter, too. It goes over everything, including, you know, renovation updates. So, it's not just fluff. Um, it's letting the parents know what's going on at the school. And um and the kids have a Valentine's party this Friday. So that's what we'll end with with more good news. So things are looking good. >> Uh yeah, so I was able to meet with Susan Grover a few times. Um I attended a Friday assembly. They continue to have their
054Friday assemblies. Um, I got to go to one before my semester obligations began in the early part of January and it was a lot of fun. Um, Mrs. Grover is really, um, I would say, um, skilled at creating a culture of community at Simons and I've really been able to see that and experience it in my visits there. Um, I did also have a chance to attend a staff meeting on January 15th. I met the staff. Um, also a great rapport, really a culture of acceptance. I really noticed that people are not afraid to speak in the meetings, talk honestly about their challenges. Uh, like Randy, I did hear about some of those challenges. Um, the biggest one that I heard about is really in the area of special ed. Uh, current case loads at
055Simons are 21 and 23. Um, and then when you include the evaluation demands that result in less classroom time, the hiring of substitutes, um, when the teachers really want to be spending that time with children. So, it's a challenge that they're grappling with and that they continue to try to work through. Uh, January 23rd was a teacher workshop day at Simons. They address topics including planning for state assessments, improving attendance, improving their special ed model, and promoting a safe culture in the world of social media. Simon school continues to have what they call fancy lunches where they pair younger grades with older grades uh for a fancy lunch where they all dress up and have goblets and and feel special. So they had one on the 27th of January with second and fifth grade and
056another on February 3rd with two other sections of second and fifth grade and then on February 10th just today uh with first and fourth. February 4th was a visit from the middle school, Mr. Smith and Ms. Harden who is one of the counselors and students learned about in fifth grade learned about sports and clubs and other opportunities. And then later this spring they will visit the middle school themselves. Um there is a b a bingo night coming up at Simon school from 6:00 to 8 on February 13th. Uh two of their teachers, Mrs. Strong in kindergarten and Mrs. Bradford in fifth grade will be the bingo callers. And finally I will share that the word of the week at Simons is nonchalant. talk to um at Jonathan Daniels. Shoot, can't think of her name right
057now. Joanne, is it? Yes, Joanne. >> Talk to Joanne. She is happy as can be. Um everything is going fine and again she wants to be totally appreciative to the board to what they have done to the school as she would say what we have done as a board for her kitties is going to be well um going to produce positive results in the future and um what she's doing here a lot of people don't realize is reducing our special ed costs because some kids may be coming speech delayed and if she gets them here at three and they're ready at kindergarten or first grade, it's not coming speech delayed at kindergarten and have to spend all those special ed funds. So she re not only does her people here and she's extremely proud of
058the quality education, but she's extremely proud of the lifechanging things that we've given her the opportunity to to do. And um every time I talk to her, she's kind of like a a teenage girl just get accepted to the prom. She's just bubbling about how great her job is. >> Thank you, Chris. All right. Um, >> if she's listening, she's probably laughing right now. >> NHSBA, Miss Walker. >> Um, so as already mentioned about uh House Bill 751, uh, relative to or relates to open enrollment. We're looking for a vote for the House on February 12th. Uh I've signed up for the NHSBA bench, which is supposed to give us a bit more like uh insight to the bills going through. Hasn't really kicked off, so I can't talk too much about that. Um, and
059then finally, I wanted to make sure everybody saw the strategic planning survey that was sent out. Uh, I think um, EGA had forwarded it around. George, you forwarded around. Um, so feel free to to fill that out. It's interesting just helping them prioritize what uh, what they're going to focus on. And it sounds like they're having a couple of new initiatives in terms of partnerships with other cobba cost. Yeah. Um and maybe the principles and a whole bunch of questions around that. >> All right. Thank you, Paige. Um yeah, I agree. I did go through that survey and it reminded me of a lot of the things that they do that you know we tend to think of them as policy and and then some trainings that we don't attend and not much else and
060and they're also talking about ways to expand and make the trainings more accessible. So it was it was fun to go through even not just for their purposes but just for mine. All right. Um, SAU 29. Um, the next SAU 29 full board meeting is not until um May or early June, I forget which off the top of my head. Um, there is an advisory meeting um next week. Um, but that's just the advisory board um for a preliminary look at Thank you, Rob. Wednesday, March 25th. That's early. >> That's not the reorg meeting. That's May, >> right? >> Okay. So March 25th is when we'll preview the superintendent's um evaluation stuff. All right. So March 25th, that's still over a month away, but um and then there's an advisory mute board meeting next week
061um just for us as advisory board members to start looking. But um that's that's just me. You guys don't have to worry about that one. U we have no old business. We do have one item of new business, which is the uh 2627 Keen School District calendar. That's uh next year's school calendar. There is a link to that in your drive. Um and I believe we need to approve this tonight. Yes. Or attempt to approve. Anyway, so um could I have a motion? >> Motion to approve the 2026 2027 Keen School District calendar as presented. >> Second. Ben, did you have anything to comment on this one? It looks very very similar to all of our previous calendars. >> Yes, it's uh very similar. I will just make note of one of the changes. Um
062just as a reminder, the calendar committee is a group that comes together and it's approximately 30 members that are invited and it is also including regional members and it's all members across our SAU and the reason for that is that we collaboratively work towards the creation of the Keen School District calendar as a base and then every district then votes on their own individual calendars. with the hopes of alignment with KE. The question every year we just we start with taking feedback from all the buildings from reps. Then in our meeting we decide what is the greatest area of focus for the year. Then we survey all the staff on what we decide is the greatest area of focus in this year. That was a survey around the uh extension of the uh December break.
063So there was a lot of interest in adding December 23rd as a no school day to extend that holiday break. So the survey we sent out was predominantly in favor of making that shift and specifically with doing that shift adding that day at the end of the year because with a no school day we have to add that student day back somewhere. So was pretty favorable results and we built that into the calendar which you have as a link within the agenda and also in the drive and here it is up on the screen. So everything else is pretty much consistent with how it has been in the in the past. It was a little bit delayed this year in getting the New Hampshire Department of Ed's baseline calendar, but we do base a lot
064of our feedback uh a lot of our creation of the calendar on the common dates. And then we always have topics that come in through all the survey data that we take that may be of consideration for a future year. And so we have this document that we just house Well, this has every calendar since the inception of 1960 and that took some digging to get all those digitized. But the right here is the feedback for to consider next year. So, some of the topics where we're we're still working towards the alignment of being in sync with Fall Mountain uh in specifically in terms of uh days that we're in school as part of our agreements with them and we're, as you know, this has been a conversation town has brought up, but we we're
065still making good progress. Uh there's an interest in some conversations around the instructional nature of when when we're uh uh presenting report cards or progress reports at the elementary level and potentially moving those to a quarterly schedule and then some al some feedback on uh the December break as well and potentially uh further extending that is what came up. So, in addition to that, there's a lot of other surveyed feedback, but we we kind of highlight the the big topics. With that being said, are there any questions about the calendar committee's work or anything else you want me to answer? >> They they do realize that every time you extend December break, you're extending the end of the school year, right? >> Yeah, I do remind them of that. Uh but, you know, it sounds
066so much better when you're closer to the break. >> Yeah. So, I think you were here, Ben. >> Right. I think Yeah, I think you were you were with us already when we started talking about the whole snow day debate and we put out a survey to, you know, all stakeholders in the district about snow days versus, you know, and all of the different calendar permutations. And basically the conclusion of the community was overwhelmingly that they wanted more days off and to get out earlier and to not impact student learning. Um, >> so, uh, there there you have it. Um, any questions for Ben on next year's calendar. All right. Um, to expand just a little bit on what he was saying about Fall Mountain. I saw you, Jacqueline. Um, Fall Mountain and Manadnok are
067the other two schools in our regional career center agreement. Um, catchment, if you will. Um, and a relatively recent state law, I think about three years ago, mandated that you can have no more than 10 conflict days with sending schools and receiving schools for uh career centers. And um that has been a pretty significant challenge for a couple reasons. Manadno functions on educational hours rather than educational days. Um so they're they have some more flexibility in that sense in building there's some trade-offs but it does mean that they have more flexibility in their calendar um which has um led to some conflicts with them. Um and then Fall Mountain um the biggest conflict with them is that they don't use early release days. Um, and if we can't figure out a way to educate their
068students on our early release days, then um, those don't those end up counting as conflicts as days that we weren't able to educate Fall Mountain. Um, and those if you start by saying six early release days are conflicts, it doesn't leave you a lot of wiggle room after that. So, um, it is much much better than it was when we first started trying to bring them into alignment. I think there was something like 25 conflict days and now it hovers between 8 and 12 depending on when you specifically look at the calendar. So, but it's a work in progress. >> Right. Jacquine, you had comment question. >> Um I'm pleased to see we've got um Martin Luther King Day off. Did we have because we didn't have that this year or did we did we
069Okay, it was this year that started. Okay. >> Few years ago we didn't. You're thinking of Junth, I believe. >> Okay. Thank you. Apologies, >> George. The other thing I'll just add, um, it's a simple thing, but out of all the documents that live in a family's household, the school calendar is one of them that has a placeholder on the fridge, and it is often the most coveted document that people want early access to for various travel reasons. This was the previous calendar. So that's what we had and then the committee moved to this beautiful streamlined version which fills it up very readable. So it's simple but I think the committee did a lot of good work to put something that almost lives in every one of our households into a very readable digestible format.
070>> Yeah. And I'll I'll just uh make my annual plug that we should make this a lot easier to find on the website. Um I just clicked on calendar on the Keen School District page and what it brought me to was the same Keen School District page upon which I clicked the calendar button. Um I have to go through the SAU 29 page to find uh the Keen calendar. So um let's try and make that easier. Are you wishing to speak? Go for it. So, just to keep on everyone's radar, Senate Senate Bill 403 proposes to require all schools to start the school year after Labor Day. Um, that is a bill in the current Senate right now and there will be a public hearing on February 17th at 9:15 in the morning regarding that
071specific piece of legislation. So once again, you know, um it takes into question local decision making, local context, um local control versus no, we're telling you to do this for whatever ultimate reason they're trying to tell everyone to do that. So, if you have opinions and thoughts on that, please reach out to your senators um prior to February 17th, >> which can I add to that, George, which pers in perspective is eight instructional days. >> I was just looking at that. >> Yeah, because Labor Day is a little bit late this year. So, we would go to school uh assuming we use our snow days until um we can't legally we can't go to July, but it would be like June 28th. It looks like roughly 16 17 18. No, it would be the week
072after that. You're adding eight days on the end of that calendar, >> right? So, right now we get out on the 15th. >> So, >> yeah. >> All right. >> Yeah. >> But then you add the snow days and now you're out to the 27th. >> Correct. >> So, >> pending no snow. >> Yeah. So, this is a great year to get like people that normally don't care about this to weigh in as well because nobody wants to go that late. All right. Um, any other comments or questions? All right. All those in favor? Oh, was that Yeah, go ahead. Okay. microphone. >> As someone who spent his whole school career going to school the first Wednesday after Labor Day, the cost is one of your vacation periods. >> Yeah, certainly. We'd stop the whole
073talk about extending Christmas vacation if we couldn't start for a whole extra week later than we >> All right. Um, all those in favor? Any opposed? Carries. 8 Z. Uh, any other new business before the board. >> All right. Seeing none, can I have a motion to go into non-public session in accordance with RSA 91A3 for a stat? Any student requests? >> So move. >> Second. >> Rob, any student request tonight? >> No. >> Okay. So, it's staff and negotiations. >> Uh, roll call, please. Jennifer. Yes. >> Yes. That concludes the public portion of tonight's meeting. Uh thank you to those who watched us on live stream. Thank you uh Jennifer Srizzy for recording us. Uh and to the administrators who uh stuck it out for the night and to Mr. Roar for everything he's
074done for the last three months. Uh we will take a what time is it? 7:40 5m minute recess and reconvene in the back room for a