School Board Meeting - 04/15/2026

001meeting to order and begin with the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Are we connecting remotely tonight with Mr. Peoples? Okay. So, we have a three-member board this evening. Mr. Dewitt is not able to join us. Yeah. And uh Mr. Peoples is going to be connecting in remotely, so we're going to give it just a moment for that to occur. Just while we do that, uh are there any changes to tonight's agenda? Not for me. No. Anything off consent the board would like to speak with tonight? Okay. Give it just a second here to connect in the uh conference room. >> [clears throat] >> Looks like it's

002just you and Yeah, it's just It's just me for now. Okay. Just get me off that chair. Well, let's go ahead and proceed. If Mr. Peoples connects in, we'll have to take action to allow him to proceed remotely. I'll text him and tell him it's up. That's all right. Uh so, we have the summary of non-public actions from April 1st, 2026. Mr. Shoemaker moved to approve the March 18th public minutes. Mr. Plantsy seconded that motion. That motion passed 5-0. Mr. Shoemaker moved moved to approve Marion Abney's resignation as CHS social studies teacher. Mr. Plantsy seconded that motion. That motion passed 5-0. Mr. Shoemaker moved to approve Michelle Stover's resignation as an LMS science teacher. Mr. Cutter seconded that motion. That motion passed 5-0. Mr. Shoemaker moved to adjourn the non-public session at 8:30. Mr. Plantsy

003seconded that motion. That motion passed 5-0. Uh with that, we're rolling right along here. Tonight, we have uh presentations and recognitions. Uh and we have Principal Grantham with us representing LMS and the student council. I'm representing the student council tonight because as with many student councils, they are multi-involved in a lot of different things in a lot of different places. So, despite a request, it was a busy evening to fill this evening, but our student council has been um actively involved throughout the school year in helping to make our school a better place. Um we really feel like it's nice to have the student voice as they're talking about the things that we have going on. They're in the process right now of actively planning for tomorrow night, which is our fourth grade information night

004where we're welcoming all of our friends from GMS that are coming up to become links next year. And our student [clears throat] council C3PO student council students will be hosting the tours tomorrow. So, instead of hearing from grownups, kids are going to be hearing from kids tomorrow and they're the kids that are part of uh C3PO student council. For those of you that don't know what C3PO is, it's creating a culture and climate for positive outcomes. It's something that we started uh I think when Zoe was there, C3PO existed back then. Um and it has kind of grown and morphed throughout the years as we've uh gone on here. Um They are also working on Do you want me to mute the TV there? Here we go. They're also working on um actively prepping for

005our cornhole tournament, which is next week. So, our student council is helping to support We work with the Litch- Litchfield Veterans Association. This is the fifth year running for our cornhole tournament that helps to um place wreaths on veterans' graves at both Pine Crest and Hill Crest. Um it was It's expanded over the time we started because it's become very popular. Kids like to participate. Miss Corbeil um is amazing with getting all of the little trinkets and prizes and baking brownies to feed kids if they get their teams together. Um and it's really about connecting our kids with their community. So, that's a great activity that has been ongoing. They're planning for spirit week next week. Um and they're planning a change to the schedule because everything isn't always exactly as it's been in the

006past and we've always done spirit week the week before April vacation with a Friday pep rally to end at the last day before vacation, which is great and there was there's a tradition that has gone on for four of the five years I've been there where eighth graders have done a dance to kick off their last thing. Uh we're going to move that pep rally to after vacation and it's instead of becoming a pep rally to kick off vacation, it's going to be a pep rally to kick off our New Hampshire SAS testing. Um so, we're going to be making it a little bit more exciting. So much fun. A little bit more exciting and really talking to the kids about how important it is to get involved. So, our student council is in the

007process of planning that. Um we as a staff and a team, um we're going to be providing breakfast to our kids for all of the days before they start. So, it's going to be free breakfast for anybody that comes in a free free to them. Not free to us, but um we're using uh Lauren Crowley and catering to help us to give them a nice healthy breakfast to feed their brains before they're testing their brains for the almost the entire month of May. There's a lot of testing that's going on over the course of the month, but we're going to do that. We've also looked at incorporating I know last time you were talking about incentives. Talking about those incentives for kids if they are improving um their SAS scores from last year to this

008year, which is always the goal. Um they're going to get to silly string Mr. Peterson and I in the front parking lot. Last year it was water balloons, this year it's silly string. Um I know it was very motivating last year and we're hoping that that is a motivator for kids to want to see us make fools of ourselves in the front yard. But if if we can see some value to why it's important to take the test and why it's important to do our best, I think as we've gone through the course of this year, they've done the New Hampshire SAS modular assessments uh at least two a quarter, um one in math and one in uh language arts as well as some science. Uh they don't have the modulars for science, but they

009have a different version of the test for science and they have been taking that as well. Um so, we're really hoping that we can see that proof in the pudding uh and that the kids are putting their energy and effort into it, but C3 or C3PO student council is planning some fun things along the way to make it engaging and entertaining and hoping that kids want to do their best and get involved and try hard. So, they are wonderful. Um they are uh hosted with uh Megan Glod and Heather Cunningham are our two advisors who work really hard with these students on a regular basis and have very positive relationships. The kids planned all what the days are for um spirit days next week and we're back with anything but a backpack and some other

010fun events that they've they're talking about. Um And what's great that we're seeing morph and change is that was very heavy on the fifth and sixth graders and we're starting to see seventh and eighth graders joining and staying and bec- staying involved throughout the course of their four years, which is really nice. >> Awesome. Yeah, that's great. Awesome. Good stuff at LMS. Great stuff. Yeah. Any questions? Appreciate the update. All right. Thank you. Sor- sorry to not have the kids with me. It would be way more fun with them. Yeah. All right. Uh next up on the agenda, we have the student representative [clears throat] report. Hey, Zoe. Hi. How you doing? I'm good. How are you? Good. Good. Tell us what's going on in our schools. All right. Give me one sec. Take me

011a sec to get up here. Cuz I think I have to share my screen. They said it was SAT day. It wasn't on. It was. Yeah. Okay. Uh this the the tech is too crazy for me. All right, wait. Now, if I go back here >> [snorts] >> and then slideshow. All right. We'll go from there. That might be the best I got on the screen. >> [laughter] >> Um okay. So, our spring sports just started up like the games and everything. So, girls lacrosse, they played against Pembroke for their season opener and won 16 to 12. Boys lacrosse also had their home opener Monday versus Souhegan and won 5 to 4. Softball had their first game versus Milford. They unfortunately lost 9 to 7. And then baseball also had their home opener Monday. They

012played Derryfield and they won 5 to 4. And then track competed in their first meet last night and they won. [snorts] Good stuff. Yep. So, for some of our past events, we had a FBLA state leadership conference. Um they're actually still selling prom tickets. This is the last week that they're selling them. And then March 18th was the CHS trades and career fair day. And April 4th was the Easter egg hunt, which was at the CHS and GMS fields. And then April 6th through 10th or 6th through 10th, sorry, was the CHS musical. And then April 8th was the army exhibit. For some of the current events today, they had the SATs for the juniors. And then the 17th is the music all state classical festival. >> [snorts] >> Um April 22nd, they have another

013Spain info trip meeting. And April 24th is the blood drive. April 23rd, they have the National Honor Society bingo night, which is put on by the National Honor Society students. Um kind of just like as a fundraiser for Litchfield. May 5th, we have spring athletic photos. And then May 6th is the driving towards zero presentation. For the future events, May 6th through the 14th is the AP testing. May 8th is the junior and senior prom. Um May 21st is the senior project evaluation. May 26th is the uh start of Spring Fest, but I think it's only 4 days this week since we have that Monday off. Basically, it's like 4 days of like just like the spirit days and then at the end of the week we have like the big pep rally and everything.

014And I think that they're actually doing something new this year where we're having a mental health specialist come down and talk to us for like the first half of Spring Fest. Kind of just like to fill that gap and then June 1st we have the senior dinner cruise. For Litchfield Middle School, they also just started their spring sports. They actually have over 140 athletes. And with girls softball, they won in their scrimmage last week 14 to 3 verse Goffstown and they also just received new uniforms. This year they also have coed baseball, girls lacrosse, boys lacrosse, and track and fields. And then >> [laughter] >> Um and they their drama club also just put on a play. It was the real story of Alice in Wonderland and there's a bunch of photos from that. Awesome.

015Um for some of their upcoming events, as Ms. Grantham mentioned, they also have a spirit week [snorts] May Sorry, April 20th through the 24th and then their fifth annual cornhole tournament which benefits the Litchfield Veterans Association. Um Earth Day the April 22nd, they have a campus cleanup during their links classes and they also are doing a going back in time which is a tech-free 24 hours. And then their pep rally which launches their New Hampshire SAS testing. And again, as Ms. Grantham mentioned, they will be silly stringed by all the students who improve their test scores from last year. And then they also have their color run PTO fundraiser for GMS and LMS May 21st from 6 to 8 p.m. For GMS, their first grade had a wonderful field trip to Beaver Brook last Thursday

016and Friday. And this week all grades will be participating in their artists in residence junk to funk. They had an amazing assembly on Monday and the fourth grade will perform at another assembly this Friday. Um they have WMUR's Kevin Skrupa will be visiting their kindergarten classes on Thursday, April 23rd. Also [snorts] on April 23rd, they're recognizing and celebrating their GMS volunteers with a reception at 3:30. And April 24th is their first annual GMS wellness day with activities all day for students to choose and participate. They really loaded you up this time. Holy hell, right? [laughter] It's a lot there. It's a lot there. When is the Spain trip actually occurring? Is it during April vacation? >> It is next year during No, this year. This year April vacation. I can't keep track. >> This year

017April vacation. >> Yes, they go there. So this is there over April break. Okay. Yep. And I'm assuming we have all the adequate permissions now in place and everything signed off and We have all [clears throat] copies of people's passports and all the things and collection of paperwork. So and the meeting I'll I'm going to the meeting next Wednesday too just to help reinforce the expectations and safety. Yep. Got it. Yes. Uh quick question about the middle school sports. There's 140 athletes I think I saw in there. Do we know this is kind of putting you on the spot, but do we know how many are like what the grade distribution is? It's pretty equally distributed. One of the things I think our coaches do a great job of is working to build the programs.

018So although fifth graders might not get a ton of playing time, they get put on a team so they can start to see how the routines go and um you know, there are some fifth graders who do get field time depending on the sport, depending on how the game is going. I will say actually one of the things if I have a second to tell how proud I am of our boys lacrosse team. Um yesterday they played Runlett Middle School um and it was a very uh LMS strong team. They could have totally wiped the field with them and that's not saying anything to disrespect Runlett in any way, shape, or form, but we got uh two amazing emails. One from a Runlett parent who complimented our boys for being kind and polite and when

019the kids recognized that they weren't as well trained as our kids are, they coached them through like, "Hey, you might want to stand over there and the next time we're running down the field, this is where you'd really rather be." They offered gloves to the kid who was in We had a student on the other team who was in the um in the net for the first time and didn't have the right gloves to protect his hands and one of our boys had extra gloves and he gave it to the other team. So when we say kindness matters, we saw it in fruition yesterday. >> Fantastic. That's awesome, boys. That's amazing. [clears throat] That's awesome. Yep. Yeah, I was just curious about that because we were we did the very well attended forum last night

020that we'll talk about and uh you know, one of the things that we had covered originally with the options of potentially reconfiguring the schools, sports would have been impacted for the middle schoolers. So to hear that there's 140 kids, that's good to know. It's it's great. It's great to see them all involved between track and field and lacrosse with boys and girls, coed baseball and softball. They're all awesome kids and awesome teams. So I was out with the girls softball team this afternoon as they were waiting for their backpacks to be picked up before they hiked down to GMS and they had a great game yesterday as well. So Awesome. Good. And those field conditions are okay for them to play on this year? Yes. Awesome. Awesome. We have some work to do on the

021trail between, but that's an aside. Okay. All right. Excellent. Any other questions on happenings in the schools? Nope. All right. Thank you so much. Appreciate the update. All right. Uh we have community comment on agenda items. This is our first uh of two community comments this evening. Uh I'm going to close community comment cuz there's no community here. Uh but again, there's another opportunity should anyone show up. Uh we have correspondence this evening as well. I'll turn it over to Vice Chair Plansky. And again, very slow correspondence the last few weeks. Uh mostly bill paying and manifests. Um we got the minutes on April 6th from the last meeting from Jan Sullivan and then we had uh 403B manifest from Annemarie Annemarie I have a hard time with that name. I really need to work

022on it. for um from the 7th and then uh the agenda for this meeting came out on April 10th from Renee Burgess. And then the 13th, a flurry of manifests from Ann Periol AP and then uh credit card manifest. That's really it. Okay, thank you. I do think Just checking my internet timed out here. We don't have a legislative update. I might give a quick brief one. You have one? >> there was one more. Right. So there was also a email to the board um from Ms. Laflamme in town. Hopefully I'm pronouncing your name correctly. Uh regarding um just some direction of the school system. I I did respond to that email asking or just offering a a phone call. Uh that has not been arranged yet uh but acknowledgement to the the response [snorts]

023was provided. So I just wanted to let that be known as well. Yeah, I'll add that to the sheet. My apologies. I thought that was just an initial email just to you. Yep. I'll go on board. I'll get it. I just want to make sure that was covered. I'll get it in there. Awesome. Okay. Uh yep, legislative update. We don't have Mr. Peoples. >> Sounds like he's not. >> I'll just have a quick thing just to keep on the board's radar um [clears throat] with the open enrollment cuz there was an article I think in the Union Leader or Monitor today or or MUR somewhere um that I believe it passed the Senate uh or no, it passed the the education policy committee. So it passed out of that group and it's moving forward to

024to votes in the Senate and the House there. Um I think Ray said they were voting tomorrow, right? >> I I believe he said that last [clears throat] night possibly, yeah, um when we talked about it. But that did move forward um that and if you have not a chance to read the adjusted bill, it got adjusted from what originally went out there. Um I I think the it's an improvement of what was the original bill. So I think there's some some questions that need to be answered and you know, we've talked with Ray about in the past about special ed funding and stuff like that. Um but that's something just to keep on everyone's radar still is the open enrollment bill. Okay, thank you very much. Uh we'll just keep it with you and

025get into the superintendent report. Yeah. Um first thing I want to bring to your attention is athletic training and this is more to bring bring something to you. We're not in a problem or a solution stage yet, but want make you aware. Um so we currently contract out our athletic training services. Well, many school districts do this. Um we have a provider. There's I think a couple in the state that do this that provide athletic trainers for schools. Um there's a uh high likelihood that our current athletic trainer that's we get through the the the provider um is moving on for some positive things in his personal life. I don't want to overspeak my my um on his behalf or anything like that so that he'll no longer be with us um next school year.

026And when that occurs, the provider is very concerned whether or not he'll have a replacement for for our athletic trainer. So we could be facing a situation where um we do not have an athletic trainer which is problematic because we need medical [snorts] coverage for at a minimum any games that we host. That is a requirement of being part of the NHIAA which is who we play all our sports from. When you don't have that athletic training, you can contract out with local EMTs or other medical professionals, but that gets very costly very quickly. Um just looking at regular season games, Tony priced [clears throat] out what it would take to just cover the games in like that type of format and be about $50,000 at least. So um it's not not a practical solution.

027Um And so that's something we need to work on a solution for that. You recall we had a warrant article a couple years ago um related to trying to to bring on an athletic trainer of our own. I think other districts are recognizing the shortages through these contracted services and are also pursuing those ideas as well as trying to find their own athletic trainers. I think one of the challenges that that we're going to face is that warrant article at the time we were kind of ahead of it and because we were ahead of it we did not include benefits with the position. And it seems like now people who are bringing these positions on in-house are providing benefits for the positions as well. So, if we're going to keep up with the Joneses shall

028we say, that's what eventually we may need to look at doing that and then re-going out to try and and get that type of position. So, that's >> like a full-time position you would need to hire for? I we got to talk it through. I'm not coming with any proposals or anything like that. But it brainstorming, you know, as we were brainstorming with, you know, Tony with Tony Reynolds our AD. You know, if we could bring on a full-time person and then what other things could this full-time person do for us to because I think there's a need from the after-school session through any games and any practices and stuff like that. But the schedule is going to vary day-to-day, right? In the fall, if you have a heavy set of games, you might be

029going from, you know, right after school till till, you know, 8:00, 9:00 at night if there's volleyball in the gym as well. You know, other days you might just be staying for practice. You'll be done by 6:00 cuz everyone's out and done with their practices. So, if you're going to maintain that as a full-time position, what other things can that person do? Can you bridge their day from like 12:00 to 9:00, you know, 1:00 to 9:00, something like that and give them other responsibilities in the school day to help with the school system. If it's you know, there easy things like subbing for classes, helping with administrative responsibilities, those type of things that we could always use help for. Um and maybe that just becomes part of the job description, but we would have to

030need to iron those things out. I do think it would need to be some sort of full-time position if we're going to be competitive with other school districts that are going in this direction. So, we used to have a athletic director athletic trainer, but I don't know if at the time if he was been had benefits or not. Yeah. So, he was here for a previous for a good long time. He's actually in Amherst right now. >> Previous school district that we were a part of we were very fortunate one of the PE teachers was also certified as an athletic as an athletic trainer. So, the position was a part-time the athletic trainer position was part-time not benefit dependent because there was someone in-house who already had the ability to to to do those duties.

031Um but that was a fortunate situation, you know. >> [clears throat] >> Um and I think it's less likely than probable that you're going to find those type of people who can double-dip in that capacity for you and stuff. Um it's something we're still in the early stages of exploring, but we were alerted to this potential issue between the last two board meetings. So, I just wanted to bring it to the board. >> What happens when there's multiple sports at the same time? You can spread yourself out cuz you have the coverage. I mean there we utilize the golf cart the golf cart or the Gator or whatever the case may be and the trainer can bounce back-to-back. Everyone's got radios on them. So, the emergency kits that go out the trainer every day um

032gets the medical kit ready for for the teams. The team picks up their medical kit and as part of that is a walkie so they can quickly walkie, "Hey, you know, if you're on the football field and there's a sprained ankle on the soccer field, you know, he can hop in in the car well in this bad analogy cuz you still have to hop in a physical car and drive down to the soccer field, but you can get people to and from in that way and they can go bounce around the different activities. >> a time requirement for the middle school? Well, right now with our contracts, you know, our athletic trainer does not cover the middle school, right? I think if we were to bring on a full-time person like that, it would be

033a requirement of position you're also covering the athletic the middle school athletic events. Would that be more difficult though? >> to cover. Yeah, for Right. I think if if we had a legitimate issue at the middle school right now, our trainer would go address it, right? Like I he's not going to not help the kids. >> man. Right cuz of that situation. Um but by contract we're only contracted for the high school um events. >> for the high school? So, what are we obligated to do [clears throat] as a district in terms of training? We're obligated to cover the medically games for NHIAA events, which is High school. the vast majority of all the high school events. Home and away or just Just the home team is always responsible for the coverage. >> same that

034same requirement is not applicable for the middle school. Not currently. Okay. But Tri-County is starting to get folded into NHIAA, so it could be down the road. Okay. But it's not currently. Are [snorts] we required not that I'm trying to go this direction, but just out of curiosity, are we required to host a certain number of home games? I don't know the answer to that. Like you usually split, right? Like it's a split about half and half. I don't know if there's a requirement you have minimum And the costs and costs go up. [clears throat] Yeah. Well, yeah. And that's the analysis, but I'm just curious like >> You have minimum games you have to schedule, right? Like lacrosse for example, I believe you have to have scheduled a minimum of 12 games. You can

035schedule more than that. You can schedule 16, schedule 18, whatever the case may be. But the minimum to be tournament eligible is to schedule 12 games and have it be an official sport. Now, I guess in theory you could schedule 12 away games, right? I don't think schools are going to Love that. Well, I think other schools don't mind. They're hosting all the time. You know what I mean? But I think our kids would get tired of traveling. Families would get tired of that all the time, too. >> And again the the you know, the transportation costs would be huge. I you know, but I I think we >> a van. As we start to well, Yeah. The whole lot Lacrosse seems up in the air now. Um I think as we start to analyze

036these things though with costs, right? Like we have to think of what is every possible scenario because at the end of the day, you know, one unfortunate scenario would be that we can't have sports anymore because we can't fill our obligations. Um but as we look at each of them, you know, one of them would potentially be doing less home games, but we would need to figure out what the transportation costs would be. So, something to be aware of as you're working through. And this is a quick aside, but related. Uh I've always thought, you know, observationally we put a lot of supervision into the school day understandably, right? That's where the bulk of our people are every single day and everything like that. And when we shift out of the school day into co-curricular

037time, not just athletics, but any co-curriculars, theater, music, whatever the case may be, just clubs and activities, our supervision lessens so much so, right? Like we no longer have like during the day we have a nurse in each building, right? The evening we don't, right? Like the only real administrator on during the night is the high school athletic director, right? Like for everything going on. So, it's kind of never been a huge huge issue with schools across >> to get trained up. I don't know. What's that? >> Sounds like Tony needs to get trained up. Well, I think he is, right? He's capable of handling any situation that arises, right? Like we've had situations where the fire alarm's gone off and he's the one organizing everything kind of talking to the police, doing those things.

038So, there is value to having this type an extra adult who is can go to different buildings and have some sort of supervision capacity. And help with safety stuff like if a kid sprains their ankle doing the play or stuff like that, you know, like be able to address that. Again, I think Jesse who's our current athletic trainer would help out if there's a legitimate emergency, but like contractually he's not obligated to do that. So, just food for thought, something to bring to the board tonight. >> sure you're going to keep us posted as we progress through the rest of the year here. We will. I mean yeah. Yeah. It'll probably be an ongoing thing kind of moving forward to talk about a little bit of ideas. All right. Health insurance. Health insurance. All right.

039Just to recap for everybody. >> Let's recap and make sure that the public is along the journey with us in this one. >> That's that's where I want to go, right? >> [snorts] >> I hope I actually wrote down notes for this one so I don't forget stuff. Teleprompter, here we go. Yeah. All right. So, I hope people well, I don't know if hope is the right word. Um [snorts] I would hope people do remember that in the fall school care offered assessments to school districts across the state of New Hampshire. It totaled 30 million dollars. Litchfield specifically was $430 a 400 430,000 dollars, right? We as a school district were very First of all, this was shocking to everybody. We got no advance notice of it. It came out even though it was an

040expense from the previous fiscal year, we were told in this fiscal year we couldn't budget for it, couldn't do anything about it. And a whole lot of money to have to come up with quickly. We were very very fortunate as a district that we were able to access in the year funds from the year before to pay this bill. >> [snorts] >> And that was not only because we had the funds, but also the state allowed us to reopen our books and go back to to do those expenses. That was an exception done by the state for school districts and municipalities that were in this situation. >> and lawyers were all >> Everybody was on board for it. Are allowing us to do that because the books were closed when we were closing up, right?

041Like when [snorts] we were in the process of doing all of this. So, we were fortunate that we were able to pay it and really not interrupt any services for our people, interrupt our services this year by having to cut things and rearrange money in this year and everything in that type of situation. >> [snorts] >> And then we kind of solved that issue and we kind of moved forward. But if people can remember back then we talked about we need to find different options. We need to look at different options for health insurance so we're not in this situation again where we're surprised with $100,000 bills in new fiscal years and and everything associated with it. So, we have been diligently working on that out of the SAU office, right? We've been getting different

042numbers from different brokers, different organizations and groups that provide health insurance, the different networks that are out there to provide health insurance and doing all our due diligence of learning about the different ways to provide insurance, self-insurance versus full insurance versus combinations of them, captive stop losses, everything kind of associated with it. And getting different different quotes and different numbers from the different groups that we that we've been reaching out to and getting this work done with to figure out a solution that works for this district long term because what we cannot to do is be in a position where we're repeatedly have the fear of an assessment coming for our district. I have concerns about how where SchoolCare is headed in general. Other districts are leaving SchoolCare. Or just not paying. Or not paying.

043>> Just refusing to pay. Um [snorts] Dover School most recent most public district to to have a pretty public dispute with with SchoolCare right now. People can read about that >> [cough] >> at their leisure to learn about it. Um but it is a huge uh challenge in our education industry right now what to do with the risk pool situations that are put up there. So the school districts are starting to look at other options, ourselves included. We've done all the due diligence and work to do it. Our goals if we're what I'm building up to is that we're we're going to shift next year. Is that what I'd like to shift next year. Um and as we've gone through this process, we've looked at the cost of our plans saying the plans have to

044remain the same cost for us both the district and employees for next year. We cannot we're not we're just not doing anything that would result in more cost. >> [snorts] >> All issues with SchoolCare aside. And that it's got to be the same place same exact plans in place for everybody as we move into next year cuz that's not fair to anybody, right? We have CBAs we got to honor. We got different things we have to honor for people like that. So with those parameters in place, we were having discussions with the different brokers and and and everybody kind of appointed that. We've gotten to a point and through this process we we've met with the LEA, we met with the LSSA and informed them at various stages of where we were in the process

045as we're kind of going going through all this. Um made sure we were aligning with the CBAs. The LEA CBA is allows us this flexibility to look at different brokers. The LSSA was very specific so we had to work through an MOA with them to potentially to to make the to execute this. And moving kind [clears throat] of forward to where we are now uh we have a broker OneDigital who has agreed to all the things that we need and is able to provide us with the same exact plans that we have with the same cost for the district and for the employees um and then um we the new network that they'll be going to that people will be on is the Anthem Health Network, right? Um which is the biggest network we have

046in the New England kind of area when it comes to health insurance. So it's a positive from that aspect. Signa who we're on right now is good network too. Don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to pick one or the other. Um but we want to ensure that we're still with a strong health insurance network as we're kind of looking at these changes. So we are prepared to leave SchoolCare and move to OneDigital with the same plans in place, same costs in place with everything kind of associated with health insurance. So I'm coming to the board this evening um with [clears throat] that request to to leave SchoolCare effective June 30th and move on to OneDigital effective July 1st for everybody in the district for health insurance. Um and I can't stress enough nothing is

047changing. That is the the absolute we had with everybody as we went through this process. Um now what people may ask what is why why OneDigital is the advantage to this? >> [snorts] >> What it allows us is a slightly different different model. I'm going to try to summarize a lot very quickly and make it simple if I can. I'm going to flip I have more notes for this to make sure I do this correctly. So to summarize SchoolCare is a collection of public entities, school district municipalities. They come together and receive a pooled insurance rate, right? So all our rate like that big group of organizations, thousands of people come together and that thousands of people get a rate on their insurance, right? So SchoolCare the entity is a self-insured entity. The groups that

048are are part of SchoolCare are considered more in the fully funded model of insurance, right? Cuz they're not necessarily controlling the rate exclusively based on their organization. They're part of that bigger group. And they're not dictating the plan that's available for for employees that are part of that group. We're going to shift to a model where we become more of the self-insured and where we become involved with other entities is when we take on um some shared risks in a captive environment. So we shift into a captive where responsible for our own claims. If claims hit certain thresholds, we shift into a captive level and then a stop loss level that offers us protection if there are too uh if expensive claims come across and there's thresholds for those different numbers and stuff like that.

049One of the nice things about doing it in that kind of reverse model where we start with the self-insured to join groups later on is we control aspects of the plan which is why we were allowed to get exactly the same plan we have in place now. And it allows us to look at our own data moving forward and make adjustments based on our actual claims history, right? When we went into this process and we started getting quoted from networks, our claims are actually pretty positive. Right? Like we we more often than not are doing better than the larger group, right? So our history is it's not true every single year. Sometimes, you know, we're a little bit more dependent on the group. Sometimes that we're less dependent on the group and and [clears throat]

050and helping a little bit more. But we're pretty strong overall. So we were able to get some good a good rate with our broker people that we're we're working with here. And so we are allowed to to to budget at this um level of maximum exposure which is what we have budgeted right now and it potentially allows a savings if we don't hit that maximum exposure. If we do as we project, we will not hit that maximum exposure. And the maximum exposure is only if we go bad and everyone else in the group goes bad. That's the when the maximum exposure hits. So it's not likely that that would hit. The the the advantage of this is while we can budget for max exposure right now as we have history and hopefully can build up

051reserve funds. We've talked about we had warrant article this past March about trying to build up our own reserve funds for insurance. We can budget [clears throat] more and more towards our projected numbers which is where the savings comes in for the district. So instead of like the rate of increase from last year to this year for school for insurance is an average of 14.4% for us across the district. We're looking to lower that increase. I don't think we're going to be able to decrease the amount of money we're paying in health insurance. But if we can slow down that increase compared to where it was in the risk pools, we're saving that difference between the two groups there. That savings for us in insurance allows us to budget at a lower amount. And we

052need to do that by building up our reserve funds. So that's the difference in the model is essentially we have more control. That's what we're looking for is we want the control. Now the risk is we are taking control, right? Like we have to do this correctly. We have to be dedicated to following it. We have to be reactive when we see our claims history and everything that's coming forward with it, right? We have have positive history from the our claims recently in the time and that needs to continue. Doesn't mean it has to be perfect all the time. Doesn't mean everyone has to be healthy all the time, it's assumed people are not healthy all the time, right? We just got to be careful of anything. And this is why you have different protection

053layers with the captive group and the stop loss and everything like that. Um but we got to be attentive to what's going on with our own insurance insurance information that's out there and claims that we're we're filing and stuff like that. So that's um where we're at. And I'm looking from the board will first any questions and ultimately what I'm looking for is is approval from the board to to leave SchoolCare and shift to OneDigital. By all means. Um I'd like to thank you for the update and thank you for bringing everyone along so everyone can follow at home and kind of get to where we are today and why this is ultimately a positive change for the district, right? I do view Litchfield as a pioneer in a sense, right? Because we are kind

054of setting the course. We're small and nimble enough as a district to be able to do something like this. But I want to make sure I take the opportunity to thank, right? To thank yourself. To thank Business Administrator Darling. To thank Holly, right? Thank [snorts] Mr. Shoemaker, right? Who really led the efforts on a lot of this work for for us to get us to this point, right? It's been a tremendous effort by a lot of people. I'd like to thank the LA the LEA, the LSSA, right? For just you know, being being open to the change, right? I understand change is hard. I understand [snorts] it impacts a lot of people for insurance specific matters. But ultimately, we truly believe that this is a good change to make not only for our people but

055also for the taxpayers in town and for our district. As the superintendent mentioned, uh there's you know, a lot has to go wrong in order to hit those max numbers that are just not probable, right? It's possible but they're not probable. Uh we are assuming more risk as a district. So I'd also like to thank the taxpayers who voted to approve warrant articles this past March cuz we're now able to build up a bit of a reserve account in our health insurance specific account uh that allows for a bit of coverage in the event that there is risk that comes back to us as a district as a result of this change, right? So as we take on more of these risks and more of these responsibilities, right? We're trying to do so in a

056way that is beneficial to the district and the taxpayers. So Mr. Shoemaker, I know you got a lot to say here. I don't know if I have a lot. I'll try to I'll [laughter] try to keep it brief. Um I think you know, one thing that I just wanted to reiterate is that uh when we were assessed, we were told we do not have a choice. Uh we were told by our legal counsel. So we did we did try to fight. Um it looks like I just Googled it. It looks like Dover's still trying to fight. Sounds like they're the only holdout that's still trying to fight. Um we really are a pioneer in this because other districts that are larger like Dover, um I I didn't really look into their situation entirely but they're

057probably going to a closer to a true fully insured model where they are it. Um the thing that's really interesting for us is that the captive model is a model that's going to allow us to be still in a pooled risk program to some extent with other schools. The captive that we're going into is largely uh private schools, but it's still other schools. So, it's a similar um risk sort of group. Um But uh one of the biggest problems with what we found with SchoolCare in the situation with SchoolCare is it is regulated by state statute and one of the biggest problems is that there are limits on the reserves and that proved to be a huge problem. So, I think we were go we were potentially it's going to be very interesting to see

058what happens to the other people who are stuck with SchoolCare still. Um we had a very unique opportunity right now because the stars really have to align to be able to make moves. Um our as the superintendent said, our uh risk profile right now was favorable. So, we were able to be welcomed into this captive. Um it's not a you you can't just say to this captive, "Hey, we want to be a member." and they just they don't have to accept you. Um so, we were very lucky. Now that we're in, we're in and we have the ability to really kind of forge ahead and hopefully continue to have some really good savings. The the um the reserves are critical to us [snorts] being able to function and to really optimize this. So, I really

059think it's again, it's we really appreciate the taxpayers voting to put that money into reserves and ultimately if we are able to save money every year, the goal will be to continue to put money into reserves because the more that we can do that, the more that we can sort of level out the costs associated with health insurance and um provide value to the taxpayers in the form of level leveling out the tax obligations. So, um the nice thing with this is as we've we've already our budget this year was already to the max exposure. Um and with this type of model, there is stop-loss insurance at the top. So, we will not go above that. The unlike with SchoolCare, I believe there was stop-loss, but it was incredibly high, which is how we got

060assessed. Um So, I think it'll be really interesting to see how we perform. Hopefully, we perform really well and and recognize some really great savings this year. Um And hopefully, it'll be a great path forward. Yeah, I think one of the things I'm excited learning about this process excitement. I don't know maybe excitement's the right word. Intriguing things about this is the ability to really understand our own data and how we can look at what we're offering to cater to our specific employees, right? And I think the more we learned about the SchoolCare model. Yeah, I I don't necessarily want this to be bash SchoolCare even though it's going to come across that way. They've been good partners for the district for a while a long time. Assessment aside. >> [snorts] >> But you're offered

061you're at the mercy of what they're offering, right? Like and so, if we're not having a lot of high claims for example, right? And we could benefit from different thresholds in a captive group or in a stop-loss, we can then go and negotiate that ourselves in that right right? Like and we have that a flexibility to pivot and look at our own data and figure out what matches for us specifically. And that will ultimately lead to savings for the district and those savings also are for our employees as well cuz they pay a percentage of the insurance, right? If we're saving money, they're saving money. Like it works we're codependent in that way, right? Because we both have stakes in the insurance model because we don't fully pay for the insurance for employees. They're paying

062a percentage, right? So, it's it's they they will benefit from it as well. We're looking at ways that we can do this smarter and more intelligently. I think from an education standpoint, this is an aspect that that in our profession, we really really really need to start investing a lot of time in. Usually typically, it's been you're either in health trust or or or SchoolCare and you just call it a day. I think when we started this process, you guys asked me, "Well, why do we do this?" I don't know. It's just what we do, right? Like and that's how you handle this. But the more we learn and dig into it, we can be attentive and look at things that actually work for this district better and smarter for for everybody. The district, our

063employees, the town and everyone who's who's who's who's contributing. So. Um I'm optimistic about this. Again, we've been working this through with the the two unions um and uh even our non-union people, we've we've been trying to keep them up to speed with with where we're going. So, it's not a complete shock for for everybody as we go through. Um we'll offer I have a message ready to go in the event that this meeting went well. So, >> [laughter] >> you know. Um we're we'll outline opportunities to talk with our employees um about specifically their own situations and general questions kind of related to everything. I actually while we talk about it being a big change, because we're able to keep the costs the same and the plans the same, we're not actually there not

064going to be a ton of actual change for employees, right? Like they're they're going to have a different ID card, right? From a different different network. But again, the network's Anthem, which is is the largest network we have in New England and and everything. Um so, we're we're hoping it's actually very minimal like effect on what's going on for employees on the day-to-day, you know? So, cuz everything remains the same in the plans. >> [snorts] >> Any questions? Comments? Um I really just want to echo what what Mr. Cutter and Mr. Shoemaker have said and I I think the biggest advantages when we when this came came to be, the superintendent and the board acted very quickly of what are our other options. I think there's other districts out there now saying, "We really should

065have looked at this 4 months ago when it first came out." cuz now they're they're a lot of them I think are stuck with it for another year whole another season for with um And hopefully not a whole another assessment. Right. Well, I I I I think that sorry to interrupt, but that is something I just want to be transparent on. We are in SchoolCare right now. If SchoolCare was the issue an assessment based upon this school year, we would likely have to pay it. I don't anticipate that, right? Because They didn't send us a lot of money. Right? But like I just want to be clear with that, right? Like we are in SchoolCare to June 30th and are still responsible for any expenses through June 30th with SchoolCare. Sorry. Do we have any

066idea how they're doing financially this year? They tell us they're doing better. Like that's what the the quarterly reporting out is. Um I like to believe cuz I think there are there are genuine people there, good people there. Whatever mistake they made was significant. I I don't want to underestimate that, but they have been more attentive of keeping us up to date on where their finances are. And I think people have been more attentive of asking them how their finances are and stuff like that. >> plug them in forever. Just Right. That's what we're doing. So, I do think they're healthier entities from where they were at this time a year ago. So. Okay. All right. I will make a motion um to as of July [snorts] 1st, right? >> July 1st. >> Yeah. I'll

067make a motion to approve the district shift from SchoolCare to One Digital Yes. uh effective July 1st, 2026. Second. Motion by myself, second by Mr. Shoemaker. Additional discussion? Thank you again for all of the tremendous work that went into this. This was not just a uh a quick decision. This was months and months in the making with a lot of research put into it. Yeah, I do want to shout out Holly um Felz owner human resources person who um her work on this uh obviously me and Julie have been a a part of it in our respective roles, but Holly um you know, she's worked exhaustively on this and helped to make everything right for everybody. Her knowledge of all of it is incredible, right? She's asking the right questions and pushing uh the different

068groups we've talked with throughout the whole process to make sure that it all is correct, right? And that we're not putting anybody, employees, district, anybody in in a in a bad place with any of this. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed? Abstained? Well, it's not a 5-0, but you got a 3-0. >> [laughter] >> All right. All [snorts] right. Appreciate that update. Thank you. All right. I got end of the field end of the year field trips next. I just want to open this up for questions cuz I know there've been questions about different field trips Well, before we do you know, I know um Ms. Burke, you have school work and a lot of other things going on tonight. Is the board okay if she enjoys the rest of her

069evening? You're welcome to stay as well, of course. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. So, it is field trip season. It is field trip season and uh >> [laughter] >> field trips. I have a like personal like >> [snorts] >> uh I say I say this with a smile. I have a personal kind of like shrug to field trips, not in a negative way, not in a positive way. So, um as a as a teacher, I never went on field trips and I had no interest in going on field trips. As a building principal, I think I approved literally every field trip that crossed my table and there were so many field trips in in my previous school, we had a weekly section of this is the five or six field trips going out. So, I'm

070in that zone of just like, "Hey, they're awesome, but like I'm not putting that >> [laughter] >> so, that's why sometimes I'm a little like whatever on field trips. But I know they're they're important and that they're valuable and that they're um and what we're trying to and why I kind of left this as a bigger thing. Um I would love we got to deal with current issues, but then I want to take a step back this summer and really try to focus I think as we've seen at the schools is try to figure out what are core experiences for our kids that we want the kids to participate in. And I'm [snorts] going to use the senior cruise for example because this has happened in three different school districts I've been a part of

071where the senior cruise is a core concluding event for kids because it's it's just an incredible field trip. Even though my indifference in general, I love that field trip to death. Um because it's this great experience with a class you're saying goodbye to and it's just like you're it's just a great great field trip. You're on the water in Boston and so on and so forth. So, what are the events that are core trips that we need to make sure that kids are experiencing at different points of the of their life? What Why are we doing field trips, right? Like making sure there's an educational value to everything that we're doing. There's there's ability to have social field trips, which is great from time to time building camaraderie of class of group of kids in

072the class, but there still should be an element of some sort of academic academic point to all of this. Um and then just being transparent of like when we can go on field trips, right? Like um so on and so forth. So I say that cuz eventually I'm going to put something out and I'm going to look for input from community people. This is going to be over the summer likely and putting a little committee together to map this stuff out. Um so we can answer questions more easily when things kind of come up. Now I know we want to talk about um And I think this will lead into what we're we're looking at eighth grade. You know, field trips is is one of the things that we're looking at. And this is uh

073actually has happened again in multiple places I've been with where it kind of originated where kids used to go on the DC trip, but for a lot of different reasons DC trips don't exist anymore. Um across lots of I did DC in eighth grade when I when I was growing up, but it it just doesn't happen anymore. Um and that's been true of a lot of school districts that have moved away from that trip for different things. And as we've gone away from that type of trip, which I actually think is the right decision, you know, like I I have feelings about that type of trip. It's it's a tough trip to to actually execute nowadays. But if we're moving away from when we've moved away from those trips, what have we done to kind

074of replace them and making sure we're all on the same page. There's also it helps with the adults. Like I'm going to use the high school as an example of this. As you turn over advisors all the time, right? Like having their set trips like this is set for you, right? like this is the experience you're going to go on, doesn't have competing like Well, I have a great advisor who raised all this money for us. So we're going to go on 10 trips. Well, this advisor didn't raise all this money, so we can only go on one. Well, what are we establishing that are the set things for us to kind of do and stuff like that. Um so that was a roundabout way to say like I know there's been some discussion about

075the eighth grade field trip to Boston and I would like to kind of just hash that out so where everything's on a on a good up and up when it comes to field trips knowing that we need to have a bigger discussion about it in the future. Yeah, okay, great. Um So working with Ms. Grantham, I think we're trying to figure out a way to make the trip down to Boston happen. We're working on the chaperone component of it. We have a day kind of circled up right now super tentatively. I'm looking to you to help me along here if I get stuck. >> want to come up? It's up It's up to you. Um so Speaking specifically of the Boston field trip, um this was one that our teachers uh were not super comfortable

076with uh leading up before this year and and this year. Uh the trip itself has an educational component that they walk the Freedom Trail. It's a 90-minute walk from um the Boston Common to Faneuil Hall and then there has been a past practice of at Faneuil Hall kids going off and doing eating and shopping and doing some things at that point. That's where the teachers have a little bit of panic because we're still talking about 13 and 14-year-olds in a major city and not to pick on Litchfield, but we are not a major city in any way, shape or form. So there were some safety concerns that the teachers have expressed in the past, but our previous social studies teacher had booked it despite the hesitation of the teammates on her team at the time.

077With the new social studies teacher, the team this year didn't feel comfortable as teachers uh to take that trip because it's a supervisory concern. Um you cannot possibly keep the kids all in one section or one area in Faneuil Hall. For those of you that have seen it recently, it's kind of spread out all over the place. A lot of the restaurants have packed up and left and some of the stores have packed up and left. So it would be, you know, kind [snorts] of giving these 14-year-olds free access to a major city. So and it's an extended day trip. So the staff had decided to alter it. And in my time in eighth grade, it has been four different sets of field trips. They have not been the same all four years. Um this

078year being the fifth year. We have had three trips. We have had two trips. We have had one trip. We have had two trips. So it's been up and down. They used to do the Cog Railway. When when we started with the group that is currently seniors, we went to the Cog, we went to uh Portsmouth Harbor Cruise, we went to Boston in replacement of that DC trip. Then they went to the Cog the second year. They decided that trip took too long to get up there and there were you know, it was a great experience, but it was really cold on the top of the mountain when you're going in May. So they took that one off the table. Um so this was the idea this year from the teachers was that they were

079going to provide some more spread out throughout the year field trips. Um so they did not feel comfortable with taking the kids to Boston and it's not about the group of kids per se, but just about the experience itself and safety and security. So it was they're not interested in going as teachers, but as Superintendent O'Connell said, we have looked at because I've heard from parents that have said that they're interested in going. Um it would require us to have 10 parent chaperones in a very short turnaround window and along with a lot of funds because it is not a cheap trip to take. Um we're talking about probably around the 20 I haven't calculated the buses yet and I haven't secured the buses yet, which is the other moving part and pieces. So it

080hasn't been a hard no, but it has been a no in that there are safety concerns that have led up to this, which is I hear the parents' concerns and wanting to have that opportunity for their kids. Um however, I have also talked with Brian at length about, you know, not wanting to take something away from kids that they're expecting to have happen without that clarity of what what does a field trip look like. So we have secured the walking tour as a date um tentatively, but we have not yet secured the buses. So once we figure out if those two things can happen simultaneously, we're going to send out communication and we would require 10 parent chaperones that are are vested and vetted to be able to go and understand that it's a supervisory

081challenge to keep kids safe, not to run across the street, not to buy things they shouldn't buy in the stores. Like we hypothetically, without disclosing any information, have had kids buy a One Chip Challenge and try it down there, which is that really hot chip that can cause 911 to have to be called if you consume it at the wrong time. We've had situations where kids have purchased little trinket things that seem like they're fun or interesting, but might [snorts] involve things that shouldn't come back to school. Um so it's there's a lot of supervision that's going to be required. I will go as a staff member if that's something that is requested um as long as we can secure those buses. So do you have a date? Not with the buses yet. That's the

082what we have to wait >> a date for the walking tour? We have one secured for the walking tour with the tentative tentative information from the walking tour company for May 11th at this point in time. Cuz it's also we have to move it around all of the other parts and pieces in May and June because we have eighth graders go to Canobie, which is their Are we still doing Canobie? >> Yep. So that is confirmed. >> That is confirmed. That is already set. It's an extended day trip for the teachers. They are staying beyond. Um so they are going to Canobie. They did a field trip in the fall. Um so they've already had two field trips for this year, which is one of the things that used to happen when I first came

083to LMS is there were like 19 field trips in May and June. What I asked teachers to do as I've worked through field trips, cuz I'm not opposed to field trips as long as they're educational value, have a purpose, and are safe and secure for our students. >> [clears throat] >> Um I've asked them to kind of spread them out over the course of the year. So it's not all like all of a sudden, wait, where's our whole building in all of May and June? And it starts that once you start the field trip train, it kind of starts the behaviors slipping up in other things as well. So When the decision was made to not do the Boston trip, was there any parent communications with that with that decision? Um I don't know cuz

084I wouldn't say there were communications when we got rid of the Cog trip. It just Here are the trips that are being offered for this year. It would just in year to year it I I've never had it be where it's an assumed expectation that you're going on every single trip the previous classes gone on. But I would expect if you need if if chaperones was truly the issue that there would have been communication out to that group of parents before a decision was made just to cancel it all together. Right? And now and now to be reactive to and say, "No, we're now we're going to put it back on the books if there's chaperones." You'd think there'd be some type of communications with the parents to say, "Hey, this is what we need

085to do in order to make this successful before decisions are What I'm hearing is it wasn't an offer. Is Is that what you're saying? Is that wasn't even offered as something that was on the books this year? But because we've done it for the past few years and it >> And many many years. Right? They had a lot of parents from South London this one, right? >> Traditional. >> There there was an expectation, so to speak, right? That, "Hey, this is what the eighth grade class does. We we do Boston, we do Canobie, right?" And now all of a sudden there's no communications and it's just taken away from these kids. I think that's why I want to take time away from the heat of the moment and establish what are these things, these trips

086or these experiences that there's an expectation that they occur, right? Because I think that's where some of, you know, hearing different different talking with different people about about this issue. And I think everyone's right >> [laughter] >> as often, right? Like where I don't know if if if people thought that this was one of those marker trips, right? Where it sounds like there were parents that did believe that it is one of those marker trips. So, like, let's clarify that, right? Let's figure out is this one of those experiences that is it going on a trip or is it going specifically to Boston, right? You know, those type of things that that we need to kind of step back and figure out what is what we want to do. [snorts] And like, I think we're

087going to have a similar discussion [clears throat] at the high school around the senior stuff because we want to make sure that that's a concluding experience in the same vein. Um and figure out what that is. I think you know, I don't know where they were in the field trip process, right? Like the spring when things kind of kind of started coming up related to this field trip. Um you know, I word got out there that there weren't any trips being planned and we knew that Canobie Lake was being planned, so there's a lot of confusion and that's okay. We'll figure that stuff out. That stuff happens, right? It's fine. But we do want to make sure that But this is again why we want to establish this is the stuff that we do and

088this is why, right? So, just for Canobie, right? Are you going to need the same level of chaperones? I mean, the kids there are pretty spread out as well. It's an enclosed area, right? So, if you go to Canobie, they have check-ins with the chaperones. They do They do have additional chaperones, but they have staff chaperones and it's something that the staff are signing on to because again, it's beyond their contracted day. You are asking them to They're staying till 4:00 or whatever the given time is for that day. Um the kids have check-ins in different point points. In a city like Boston, when you're walking down narrow streets and it's they're not closed to the public, a lot of times the days that we go to Canobie in uh I think the date is

089at the end of May. I'm not sure what the date is off the top of my head right now. But they're for school trips. It's a lot of school trips that happen during the day, so it's a bunch of eighth grade classes or a bunch of chorus classes or a bunch of whatever it is that are there for school purposes. It's not as open. Um you know, if if a kid decided to cross the street on the tour and we didn't catch them crossing the street and going the wrong direction, we could be halfway down the block and not realize we lost a student. Not I'm not saying that that would happen cuz if I'm there, I'm going to make sure I'm counting heads the whole time and groups are going to stay together and

090it's going to it's just it's just not as easy in a situation like walking through the city streets of Boston. Canobie has security, too. Mhm. They have a lot of security guards. Mhm. I feel really secure. >> [laughter] >> Yeah. Okay. Um >> So, are trips are trips basically like is it the beginning of the year that we we say like, "Hey, these are the trips that are happening this year?" It just kind of like trickles and >> It It trickles as, you know, for example, seventh grade this year had a trip that popped up. They were able to go see Christmas Carol. Um they went to see Christmas Carol last year, but the year before they didn't. Instead, they went to go see a movie at see The Outsiders at the end of the

091year to go do an activity that was tied to the reading that they were doing. Um each group of teachers, in my experience, has formulated a plan together of what trips they wanted to take. There was no communication that went out when we got rid of the Portsmouth cruise. That was a one-year done. There was no communication in regards to that. It was just because that group did at that point in time they went to I think they went to a Fisher Cats game instead. So, the teachers try to put together a package for the students so they have a similar experience, but it doesn't necessarily mean the same trip. When parents have reached out in regards to wondering what's going on with the Boston trip, I've been open and honest in regards to what

092what the responses are and what the the teachers have worked on planning together and that they are still getting an accommodating activity with the idea of the Canobie trip. I I'll go back to I think it's sort of been traditional that the Canobie trip and the Boston trip happened for the eighth grade. It's kind of their end of end of their middle school experience. Um also disappointed [clears throat] that we don't go to DC with the sixth grade. I think that's a great trip. >> I think that should be part of your questionnaire again or you know I I think it's a hard >> Can you I know it's a wicked hard trip to staff. >> trip. But I think you can get parents together. >> you can get parents to do it, too. Yeah,

093I think one of the things with those overnight trips, like just maybe I just wear my administrator hat too often nowadays where just like I can envision every issue that could possibly happen in these situations. DC's a volatile place right now, period. Um one of my concerns is uh I don't know how to say this in the most PC way, so I'm going to probably screw this up, but like back when we were young, we didn't have social media. So, if we like not that any of us got into mischief on these trips, but we weren't necessarily like putting that mischief all over the place, you know? And putting other things at risk because we are developing, you know, kids are developing their their thought process and how they handle stuff and and their responsibility

094for things. So, if anyone was to do something stupid, say in a hotel room on their eighth grade trip, not that I have any experience with this myself, but like it wasn't ended up on social media that could have more dire consequences than than necessary, right? So, I think maneuvering some these new age challenges that we have when it comes to these overnight trips, who's supervising them is a tough ask for staff. I'm grateful for staff who do example the Nature's Classroom. adventure Yeah, the adventure classroom thing that they do cuz that's a week away from their family overnight. I did Nature's Classroom? Yeah, and and any of you one who chaperones it. >> campus that you have a girls' dorm and a boys' dorm that are locked. It's not going into a hotel. That's

095great, but boys will be boys. You can also Just just to also add to the DC thing just and then I'm going to stop talking. Um we have about eight families that can't afford to go to Nature's Classroom, which is $400. >> [clears throat] >> The last time we quoted DC, it was over 1,200. And [snorts] we would have to be able to fund that as a school because faith exists and we would need to make sure that we have the money to do that and we don't have the coffers to You know, our school pictures accounts don't generate the same amount of money as they used to and that's all the extra money that >> money to to pay for the the fundraising, right? Cuz we had an issue a few years ago. I

096I think in any event, right? I do think having a structured plan in place for how we handle field trips is a good idea. Yep. And I think having that plan laid out in advance of next year's school start saying, "This is the plan." This is the plan. the philosophy >> kindergarten first, right? This is this is what we do. Yep. Right? That way it's structured and ready to roll. Yeah, and I don't know if it's the age of the kids or just happens to answer just sure kind of dumb luck at this point, but elementary has a nice model. They do a fall field trip with the kids [clears throat] and they do a spring field trip. >> Doing the butterfly place, right? And sometimes they're different and sometimes they're the same. Kindergarten, I

097noticed with the butterfly both years, right? Um where I think like third grade is doing a slightly different trip or fourth, one of the two grades is doing a slightly different trip in the spring this year than what they did last year. I don't don't quote me on which one, right? But they all And then they don't go on anything during the rest of the year. Now, maybe that's cuz of the age of the kids and and probably definitely plays a role. It's probably really challenging as someone who chaperoned a third grade trip earlier this year [laughter] to to manage that, but um is that something not necessarily that model, but that idea that's pretty clear what happens at that at that age when it comes to field trips. Can we replicate something similar at

098the other schools? Okay. All right, anything else on field trips? I don't think so. >> Any parent concerns, you know, please feel free to reach out to the building administrators and I'm sure they'd be delighted to answer your questions. Thank you. All right, thank you. Oh, giant spider running across the floor towards you guys. >> can have a perfect >> coming right towards you, Peter. Great, good luck. Um June school board meetings. All right, so we had talked about moving this to the 10th and the 30th. We booked a room. We did all that. I have a slight problem. Oh, no. [laughter] What's wrong, man? We secured this. You I know. June 10th, which is the first one. Yep. Um That's a Wednesday. >> It's a Wednesday. I might need to work the state lacrosse

099semifinals games. I'm part of the the lacrosse committee for NHIAA. Okay. Um and that is where they're slotting is dependent on final locations of venues and stuff like that. Um but but being a committee member for that, that's one of the things that we have to do is So Is there an opportunity for you and I to connect and I can share the updates? >> Sure. Yeah. I think there's ways around this. Yeah, I think that you know, I I trust Julia. I trust Sarah. You know, that we can do all that. I can hop on a call really quick. It's low uh low stakes when I'm just watching make sure nothing screws up. I haven't had to actually do anything in the four or five years I've been doing it now, so um but

100yeah, I have that potential conflict on the 10th. Okay. Well, thank you for the heads-up there. So, we are secured for We're secured for >> Not on your calendar yet. We'll send the invite. June 10th and June 30th. >> I need a formal invite. >> [laughter] >> June 10th, June 30th are the school board meetings for the month of June. Great. And the next one would be July 8th. Correct. Got it. Yep. Okay. >> [snorts] >> Are you Anything else? >> Can you actually have that sent out, though? I like the formal invite. Now that it's official. All right, I think that covers it from your reports tonight. Yeah, the only thing I got to add is the 25th. I mean, Peter came to the last event. He saw it firsthand that I had to

101wrestle for control of the district. It was awesome. So, >> [laughter] >> yeah. You didn't lose. I survived. You know, thankfully, the Campbell High wrestling team came to my defense. >> Right, they did rescue you. Yep, they rescued me, so we have the second part of our fundraiser on April 25th at Campbell 6:30. Yes, I'm actually going to wrestle that night. So, if anyone wants the comedy of watching me get beat up, feel free to come on April 25th and watch me get get beat up and hopefully not lose. So. Are you training for this? I am training for this, yes. >> Oh, yes. I saw the video. >> the videos out there on social media. >> [snorts] >> Uh it's a good time. We raised actually a a lot of money at the last

102event that we made. So. >> You were raising money for mats, right? >> We for three different components. So, the wrestling mats for the wrestling team, student council did concessions that night just a general for them, and the class of 2027 did a 50/50 raffle. So. Awesome. >> Um it was a really good experience. We're hoping to have more people cuz it generates more money for us if people can come. And again, you get to watch me get beat up. So. I would expect that you'll be in full wrestling attire. >> We have some attire we are working on. [laughter] I don't know if you'll see me in full speedo. I'm a little not in the same shape I used to be in my younger days, but we will have some Campbell-inspired uh gear for

103me to wear. So, there we go. Well, thank you for all you're doing on that front. It's an experience. All right. Uh Carolyn, what do we have for business operations tonight? All right. Um so, we are still um working through um as I said for the month of April, we're really working through encumbrances um trying to hone in on um what we're going to have for fund balance um predicting out as best we can. So, um for this month, we're really um going through um in particular employee um salaries and benefits are, you know, obviously the biggest part of our budget and usually where the biggest part of the underspend would be lying. So, um we will be taking a look at that as well as um you know, as we're changing seasons, um certainly

104um facilities and grounds have been very busy um getting fields ready and whatnot. So, a lot of extra expenses there. So, I just want to make sure that we're good with um encumbering everything through at the end of the year so that we have a really good handle [snorts] on that balance. Um so, um for the May meeting, so I will have that for you. Um with regard to uh I don't have any transfers right now for you. [snorts] Um with regard to um solar, um I did reach out to Kay to follow up on some of the um questions that we had. There was additional solar production information that we are seeking from her. Um I spoke with her today and she did have um she just received the information. So, she wanted to

105review that before sharing that out with us. Um so, once I have that, I'll go ahead and share that out with the board. Um and I also had um followed up with her on a couple of other things. We're still um looking for confirmation on the dates that they'll be working to do the site work over at LMS um during April break. Um so, I'm just looking for confirmation on which days they'll be there. Um she is waiting to hear back from KW Management to coordinate that. Um she's also um anticipating getting um a more solid ship date from Toshiba um by the end of the week. So, I will follow up with all of those things um and see where we're at. I've also requested um you know, photos of production. Um so, I'm

106going to follow up with her as [laughter] well. Just uh yeah, just um just to stay on target with all of that. Could she send us a picture of the factory that it actually >> Well, yeah, right. I mean I mean, with AI now, she could send us a picture. That's true. I You know, I look, it's no knock on on the efforts of the administration, but it's a lot of continued to wait. Right? And that's the frustration. Um and then I'd say the only benefit just for those watching again, right? And as a refresher is the the clock doesn't start to tick for us as a district um in regard to our 20-year kind of payment cycles or the payment cycles that we have for that fixed price buyout to year seven, that clock

107doesn't start on year one until this work is all complete and signed off on, right? And so, there is a benefit to the district while this has been taking a tremendous amount of time. Yeah, it is a set amount of money we are paying for the energy over at the middle school, and we are making out on that. Like we are saving money on that. >> But, the annoyance is incredible. So. We I guess we did see Yeah, I was noticing this at the forum last night when we were [snorts] looking at the energy usage for the schools. Like we definitely are seeing at least seeing a benefit of some of the stuff that was done at that school. I guess the other benefit, you know, based off of the next agenda item, is that

108uh a little more time will help us determine whether they're going to pull in with those batteries and they're going to fall into a sinkhole or >> [laughter] >> So, let's shift to the LMS parking lot. Is the is the um the the failure fixed at this point? Yes. Um I mean, it's the temporary fix is what we did. So, yes, so it is now safe um at that point. Um we haven't addressed anything underneath as far as the drainage goes. Um but we do um the the update that we do have is that we have um a company that's going to be able to do um a survey of the parking lot to let us [snorts] know exactly what does need to get addressed and also um give us um a design for um

109ADA compliance to make sure that we're up to code with that um when we redo the parking lot. Um obviously, if there's any opportunity for us to increase the number of spaces, that's something that, you know, we could look into as well. That I'm sure that all of that information will be provided um as a part of the assessment. Um and that assessment, we we did sign off on um with with your approval from the last meeting. Um so, we're going to hopefully get that scheduled. I think we'll be able to get that scheduled fairly soon. Um and then uh once we have that, you know, as a part of that assessment, we'll have the um plans that we'll be able to give um to Continental so that they can give us an appropriate quote

110on if they are paving the exact same area, how what what's going what that's going to look like. I mean, the key here is turnaround time at this point in the year. >> Correct. I I I think that you know, the civil engineers we're working with understand the timeline that we are under. So, they're optimistic on getting the work done ahead of what they laid out in their proposal. So, we they we appreciate that. Um Continental is aware of our timeline and, you know, appreciative of that, too, that they're aware. Um circle back, who was it? DLB Paving? >> going to say DLB Paving. I do want to Yeah. Absolutely want to thank them. They um DLB Paving is who came out and did the repair on the sinkhole, and they did not charge us,

111which was extremely generous. We are very uh grateful for that. That was Thank you very much to DLB. That's um very much appreciated. Um just a quick question on this. Uh so, they're going to be doing a partial condition survey. It Is there any I'm I'm assuming that was probably a discussion that you guys had with them. Is there anything that we are looking at coming up with with GMS um that would [snorts] require us or would benefit from us doing a full survey? Or, you know, did they at least say that if they did a partial condition survey and we needed to do something else, they'd be able to come out and and complete the rest of the of the survey? So, help me understand your question. >> So, so like I'm looking I'm

112I'm scanning through I I'll be honest with you, I didn't look at this ahead of time. So, I'm just kind of scanning through it right now. So, it looks like they're going to be surveying essentially the the circle and then the front parking lot. Um with respect to like what we may be trying to do in terms of like reconfiguration or anything like that, is that encompassing enough of an area of a survey or do we do they need to go further? Cuz they're only doing a partial condition survey, which means that they're not doing a full site survey. They're not surveying the whole parcel, which the whole parcel is much larger. So, that's more economical both in time and cost. Um So, I'm just curious, is there anything that we're that we're contemplating doing

113that would require a survey that's beyond the scope? Um I don't think so, but let me follow up a little bit more about it to make sure that I'm understanding fully cuz this is a little out of my comfort zone. Yeah. We asked them to focus on that parking lot, right? We want that parking lot. We'll eventually pay Well, part of this will be quoted around the back, right? Like but there's not work that necessarily has to be done for that. It's just a repave. is to address all the issues in the LMS parking lot, ADA compliant and the stuff underneath so we don't have to re-tear it up, right? We didn't talk at all about GMS or anything connected to GMS. >> No, no, no, no, no, no. That's not That's not what I'm

114thinking. I'm just thinking in terms of like I don't know what the ultimate reconfiguration like when we're trying to make this ADA compliant, what the ultimate reconfiguration would entail um or, you know, anything with related to like the fields or anything like that. My my thought is just like I you know, if there's anything else that needs to be done if we're doing the survey. No, I think we're focused on just the parking lot, right? Like and not looking at the fields yet or anything beyond that because of the immediate need we need in that parking lot. So. Well, just in terms of my only question is just in terms of they're coming out to do a survey. So, like is it, you know, We can ask, right? Yeah. And see if I am told

115because one of the residents who for this firm lives in town and is tuned in tonight, >> [laughter] >> uh that the engineers were out today walking the property. Excellent. Yeah. I I would think if they're going to make it ADA compliant, there's going to have to be additional spaces created somewhere. It's really just regrading, I think, the top part of the parking lot. >> talked about Again, don't quote me on this. It's out of my comfort zone. But, you're going up to the edge of the building, like where and like even that sidewalk that's kind of right in front of the where the buses drop off and stuff like that. That all has to be kind of lifted to be the ADA, but you can do that section ADA compliant. That's what needs to

116be and then like lower levels, right? So, like not the entire thing has to be raised or lowered. So, that's the work that they're doing. I don't know if that was addressing your question. >> um well, I just would think they'd get to put spots someplace else. If they're going to put stuff at the top on that top plateau, I would think there's going to be spaces >> Well, let's be clear on ADA compliance, right? Cuz there is um there are parking spaces behind the school that have easy access into the building, right? That you could figure out how to make that work for 88 compliance as well. Yeah. Yeah, so they're going to look at it and Yeah, I think they they can I think that they can add on to it. >> Conant

117old guy was like, this is what you should do. And it sounded wonderful. He's like, but you need someone to design it. I was like, we're out. >> [laughter] >> Yeah. Yeah. Just circling circling back to DLB for a moment, >> right? And again, super appreciative to DLB for their prompt assistance with that. Did per policy, do we need to accept that work as a donation? That's uh Well, they quoted us at $0. So, That is true. >> I guess maybe formal maybe we should just for We probably should and I'd like to ask if you could send us the thank you note on behalf of the board. >> Absolutely. Thank you. Given that we know that, should we just accept that now? Yeah, that's what I'm saying. So, do you want to make a

118motion? I'll make a motion to accept the gift of the repair to the LMS parking lot from DLB Paving. Thank you. Second. We have a motion by Mr. Plansky, second by Mr. Shoemaker. Any further discussion on this one? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. 3-0. All right, thank you very much. I'll send that thank you. >> [snorts] >> Um the next thing I want to talk about was technology pricing just to kind of have it on your radar. Um Brendan Collins, our [snorts] um IT director, has been really wonderful in um being responsive to what everyone, you know, is really dealing with with technology equipment increases. Um and just trying to be as proactive and creative as possible um with, you know, thinking about buying for next year and how that's going to

119look. Um so, right now, you know, with with Chromebooks in particular, that's one item that is just astronomical um in prices. Um and so, he's keeping an eye on that and doing what he can to um basically shore up as many Chromebooks as we possibly can at a certain price cuz what's happening is um you're getting, you know, used to what used to be a 30-day quote is now like a 5-day quote. Um you know, if if you're not able to lock in at that time, then you lose that price. Um there there's some vendors I think that are even, you know, until that item has shipped, even if you've signed off on it, that price goes up, you're going to have to pay the increase. Um so, Brendan's been doing a really great job

120of um you know, working with the vendors that we have and um trying to get those prices to a good point and also um you know, even being creative and purchasing things we're looking at doing like a lease that would just have a one a single payment. Um so, it would still be within one budget year, um but you can actually lock in your prices that way. Um so, we're just being creative with that. >> the price of a Chromebook right now? Um so, right now, um the most recent pricing is like he got a price of $333 per Chromebook, whereas um just in March of this year was $243. [laughter] So, I mean, just in a month's time, it's gone up $100 per piece. Um How many Chromebooks would we typically purchase in a

121given year? Uh that's 90-ish per for grade five 90-ish. I think it's 93 technically in this budget for five and nine cuz it's since they're new incoming grades. So, when you buy the Chromebook, [snorts] you have the Chromebook itself and then you have the license and that's Yeah. But the licenses are not going up. So, one of the things he's, you know, considering is I I think on our end of year list, he's put some items on there for us to consider. And one of them would be the licenses if he could figure out the other, you know, paying for the actual equipment um beforehand, then that we could perhaps free up some money by purchasing the licenses ahead of time. So, just something to kind of keep in mind as we're moving towards end

122of year expenses. Um and that just to know that that is something that we can >> We have the we have [snorts] They are there in the budget. >> And I feel like I'd have to go back and look, I'm going off the top of my head, right? But I feel like we budget three something for each of these Chromebooks. We did not budget >> the license. We were closer to the 200 for the something for the actual device and then the license on top of it is an additional 31 per device. So, we budgeted I think like 25,000 for like 93, 95 Chromebooks. So, doing that math backwards, um we at these prices, it would be higher than what we budgeted for. So, we either got to >> We shouldn't be asking for the

123full encumbrance. We should be using what's budgeted and then asking for the difference. >> That's what I mean. Yeah, that's what he's thinking about doing. Right. So, that but he's wants to lock in some of these prices now because of the rate they're increasing so quickly. Okay. More to come? Yes. More to come. There it is. And then yes, end of year expenditures, we're just continuing to um add to that list, getting quotes. Um Um but certainly if there's anything for consideration that um anyone on the board is thinking about um that's not on there, please let us know. We're always happy to look into that. Okay. Thank you. And that's it? That's That's it. Okay. Appreciate the update as always. Uh we do not have Dr. Taylor with us tonight, but is there a

124curriculum update? We don't. She she had a family commitment that that came up that um took her attention away from us this evening. So, Sure. Okay. I know they were meeting the curriculum committee was meeting today, but I don't know the results of of that conversation. She did want me to highlight though um the unified um basketball trip that happens um last Friday. Maybe Jen can jump in here a little bit um over at Pinkerton Academy. Um and cuz uh Dr. Taylor got the pleasure of chaperoning that with with um >> [snorts] >> with the team over there. Yeah. We were invited by um the Special Olympics group. Uh they have a event at Pinkerton every year. So, I don't know exactly how many schools went, but our um unified basketball team and then some

125additional students and the mentor students uh went on the field trip. They spent the day competing in various uh events and came in I think second place overall. >> Yep, second overall. So, they did phenomenal and like I said, I know there were a lot of schools there. That's why they have it at Pinkerton. Great. Yeah. Their gym is Huge. Massive. >> [laughter] >> So, they're first gym. I think they have All right, they have two. They've got a couple of them. Yeah. So, yeah. It's like London. So, it was really great. The kids came back. They were excited and it was it was a nice time. Um the only other thing I want to add for CIA is it is the start of assessment season for us. SAT was today. We talked about it

126earlier in today. After break, um the other two schools will start jumping in with their assessment. [snorts] AP testing is when we return from break as well. Um high school has their science SAS assessment next week, right? Next Tuesday. Do you want to tell the incentive you have for them or not quite yet? All right, then might as well say it. Send them a message. Um last I don't I know that Campbell has had midterm and final exams in the past, but and then they've gone away and then they so now we have them again. Um and I might have stolen this from another school and I'm not going to say which, uh but I asked I'll say, it's Bedford. [laughter] I asked our It's not stealing. It's using information readily available. >> [laughter] >>

127That's a great way to put it. Um I asked Dr. Taylor and uh Superintendent Hall if we could adopt it. So, any student who scores in the proficient or above proficient range on the science assessment will not have to take their final exam in their science class. Um And the reason being is if they've proven that they're proficient on Why do it twice? What then That is Phenomenal. So, I remembered our conversation we'd had a while back about trying to incentivize. Yeah. Um You do well once, you don't do it twice. I don't love incentives. So, but I really like this one cuz it made me it it's it makes sense at least to get the kids to take it seriously. I think they will. I think we'll see some [snorts] improvement. Um SATs today

128were great. The kids were awesome. I think they really bought into it. Um they had some time this morning to just kind of decompress and grab [clears throat] some breakfast if they wanted to um instead of just like getting to school and going right into the test. I think it's nice when they can kind of get the jitters out a little. >> Use them to the day a little bit. Yeah. Um so, it went really really well. We had a good [snorts] amount of students take it, which was also great. Um and a few that will have to do the makeup, but Okay. And everybody has to take the SAT at the high school, right? Right. You can opt out, but They yes, they can opt out. So, technically there's there's an opt out, but

129they it's a prop they have to complete a form. So, same with SAS. >> [snorts] >> When Remind me, when do we see results of this testing? July for SATs usually. Um but the SAS is pretty quick. The science SAS I don't know. Why do you usually You can Teachers can get the results online almost immediately. I think the portal for the parents doesn't open until June ish. All right. But we they want all the they want all the windows across the state to close so that you can have that comparative analysis and the comparative data as it comes out. Got it. Thank you. Okay. So, we'll be Hopefully everyone can hear Principal Mitchison and Principal Brandt in the back. I don't know if that thing's on or works, by the way, but maybe it

130does. >> It works. >> Let's hope. Okay. Our voices both carry pretty >> We're going. We're going with it. Okay. All right. Excellent. Thank you very much. All right, we have the public minutes from April 1st. >> a motion [snorts] to approve them. >> Motion by Mr. Shoemaker, second by Mr. Plantsky. Additional discussion on the minutes. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. It carries 3-0. We have new business. And who is going to be representing FIC for for an update tonight? I guess me. By default. By default. [laughter] And we got to push this cuz we were hoping to appoint people to the FIC and I've got zero interest so far. So This is what happened years ago. Yeah, so if people let's we can push it for another meeting. It's okay. Like

131if I'll make another stance. They have had it in my message a couple times. We've been trying to get it get it out in different avenues and stuff like that. I know Dan's been posting it online as well. On behalf of of the FIC. But if you have interest in being a part of the FIC, we have three open seats the way that we're cycling it. All you got to do is is shoot me an email and let me know that you're interested. If you have questions, reach out. You can give me a call, email me. I can talk you through what the responsibilities are, frequency of meetings, what what the role looks like. We've done some great work with FIC, so I would like to keep that momentum. It's going to be important. They're

132going to have a voice in the project in the process. As we bring the project forward next fall like we're bringing that to the FIC in September for their feedback. Before bringing the final version to the boards and the budget committee. So if you have an interest but specifically at this point GMS that's like a huge focus of the FIC, the GMS project. And you have interest, please shoot me an email that you are interested and we will I'll keep this on the agenda for next meeting and hopefully we have have some interest and and can And just to make sure everyone's aligned, FIC is our facilities improvement committee which is a subcommittee of the school board that has been absolutely instrumental in helping us with the guidance and direction of how to >> [snorts]

133>> how to solve the the infrastructure issues at Griffin Memorial School notably. Right? It's it's for the district but notably the focus has been on Griffin Memorial. And as the superintendent mentioned, this this committee is is very critical over the next year, right? As we chart the course to March of '27 where we are optimistic about putting a a warrant article on the ballot for voters, right? We rely upon the facility improvement committee's guidance and and help informing the board of recommendations for for consideration. So three seats. If you're interested, please email the superintendent and the superintendent can fill you in on some of the details behind it. Policies. We have no first read and a few second Yeah, these are all the same ones from last time second read. Has the board had a

134chance to once again scan through the policies? Any recommendations or updates or changes? No. All right, I'll make a motion to approve policy ACE procedural safeguards on discrimination on the basis of disability. Policy ACN which is the accommodation of nursing mothers. Policy BEC which is non-public sessions. Policy EB which is workplace safety program and joint loss. And policy EBB which is school safety. Second. >> There was a motion. >> [laughter] >> Thank you for the second. Motion by myself, second by Mr. Shoemaker. Additional discussion on those policies for second read? No, sir. Okay. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Great. That carries 3-0. We have old business tonight. Enrollment, how are we tracking for kindergarten? Not as high as I want. We did gain one. So we gained one. So we're at

13550 Oh, no. Look at that, 59. We gained it two today. We must have before cuz I last talked to to Joyce yesterday. So >> 59? Up to 59. So maybe we're getting some momentum there cuz that's three since last meeting. So Okay. So that's that's now the number that we need staffing for four or five, I believe. I believe that's what Dan told me. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> [snorts] >> Right. So that's that's the trigger point for four in kindergarten. But they're lower per policy. >> classes. So >> They're not the smaller classes. Hopefully we'll continue to get get enrollment get registrations here. As kind of time goes and that number can keep going. We've been pushing pushing pushing. So >> Yeah. All right, basketball court. As follow >> [cough] >> from last meeting.

136I know the board wanted to think. I know I got a couple questions from you guys about it. If one was around um putting advertising on the playing surface around center court and not if we could limit it to just the sidelines or anything like that. We have some flexibility in what we can do. It would change like how much you're charging people and stuff like that. But like you it seems like you can work with the company to like put the stuff where you want it, right? Like they have that flexibility cuz it is just ultimately it's a high quality sticker but it's a sticker, right? Like they It's our decision. It's our court. >> it's our court. Yeah. But it changes like what you're what you're going out to the people who are

137advertising instead of being at center court which is obviously a lot more visible. Like it just changes the dynamic which is fine. That's what it is. You know, I was talking with Mrs. Mission sent about it earlier today. Some more talking to Tony about it. And uh we don't want to pressure anyone into doing this. We're just trying to get creative, right? Like and we think this is an avenue that schools are going to start looking at not just us but others. Like how can you generate revenue, right? Like in these are ways to generate revenue. So we don't necessarily have to rush to this. If we want to take our time, we can take our time and see what others are doing as well. I know Tony's been asking around see if other people

138are are thinking about it, too. I think it's one of those where everyone's waiting for who's going to be first. Yeah, [laughter] you shouldn't be telling other people about decent ideas. Right. We should be getting We should be getting that revenue first. >> [laughter] >> There's so many places that He's pretty confident he has sponsors lined up. You know, he doesn't want to publicly say that in case this doesn't work out. But like he's pretty and he's told me who and yeah, I think he's he's got them lined up pretty good. So um And [clears throat] so ultimately, you know, we do need to decide cuz we're going to do the work in the summer. We got to we got to do it. We got to get >> So a couple things on this, right?

139I know I sent you an email with some thoughts and all this jazz, right? So it's great that we're talking about CHS. The focus on courts over the past several years has always been on LMS. >> I wrote I wrote that So the question is is why are we focused on CHS and not LMS which I'm told still needs a complete replacement. Yeah, and I I I don't have a great answer for that. Not because I don't have a great answer but I just don't have a great answer. I think you know, we get high schools but like focus sometimes, you know, and thinking that's where we get the largest crowds in the vast and that type of use where we we're doing it. So that was where the focus began was on the high

140school court, right? I think there's nothing that stops us from looking at doing this at the middle school as well. It's not as much surface obviously. So it's a different type of setup but it's something Tony's open to looking at for the middle school as well. >> should be the priority. It shouldn't be Campbell right now. Yeah. Right? In my in my opinion, right? If that floor is truly in need of replacement as opposed to just a um resurfacing >> resurface. Like that should be the focus of where we're we're like this advertising could really benefit us. >> Yeah. Right? Um just back on the center court and one of the thoughts that I shared was it feels like selling the center court. I get it. But it feels like selling our soul to me,

141right? I've I've talked to a lot of I I I've talked to a lot of people on this topic. And like I do think it should remain as Campbell in that center court because that's the core of our school. Yeah. It's the core of our school. When you're having pep rallies and everything and that's that's Campbell, right? Um it just feels like we're giving up a piece of Litchfield by doing that to me. Yeah. Right? I like the idea of advertising. I love the idea of fresh thinking and bringing in new sources of revenue. Um just so like on different placements of the court. So I've had similar conversations with people and they like great idea. I didn't talk to people about the center court. I cuz I had saw the picture and it was

142going to be sort of around the baseline and on the on the >> The details of that contract, the first one says center court. Oh, really? Oh, yeah. So I wouldn't I would agree with Andrew. I wouldn't want that the the crew to be gone and what what what what what what we have in there for a logo. Um but same thing. LMS, I remember a couple years ago we talked about LMS needing a thing. Do we even even go on that? Was it a warrant article? We couldn't get the money. No, we rolled it into it was actually on the capital improvement plan. But never Yeah, never got it. >> never happened. So Correct me if I'm wrong. There's money in this year's budget to do work on the CHS floor. Is there not?

143It's the typical yearly resurface [clears throat] resurface like the re-boxing lines and doing all of that. Yeah. Do we have an idea how much that is? It's like $4,000. No, it's the it's what you just do every year. I'm assuming the same thing is in for the LMS but Yes, correct. too. So Yep. So I know in the past there was fear of even buffing the LMS floor for >> floor has gouges in it. Yeah, it's I did I did ask him to price out like where those those pieces. I think there's some edges near the door like near one of the [snorts] the side door that needed to be replaced. So I did ask him to get an estimate for that and then you know, to to refinish if we need to. Just so

144we have an idea. Yeah. Okay. I mean we can take a step back from this and look at both courts [clears throat] concurrently with more of an eye on LMS to see what we can figure out. >> Yeah, I mean, if we're going to do it, it should be this is a good thing for the district, not for a building. Yeah. Right? And if there's a way to get advertising at both courts as a way to offset some of the costs for refinishing, I think that's a great idea and a great win. Right? And I'm open to banners and all that [clears throat] stuff, right? I'm also, you know, for CHS specifically, I'd hate to put the money in cuz I know we're talking potentially about um well, socially we were talking about having that

145uh gym repainted. >> love to repaint it. >> Right? But I'd like to do that before you do anything with the court. >> Yeah. Oh, yeah. Right? You know what I mean? Right. So. Splash. Okay. So, we can take a a slight step back. I I want to keep this idea out there. Obviously, timing and sense of like this is the type of work that happens over summers, right? Um but I'm glad we've had this discussion. I have a feeling we'll be back here next year, maybe with a slightly altered Can we focus on painting the gym this summer? We can make that uh more of a priority, yeah. We'll map up uh a fresh >> with the painting last year. Yeah. Yeah. >> Um I know what I would like to see, but I

146don't know if that's the best idea, so I would like to hear from the principal of the building. >> actually I probably trust Jen's view of this type of stuff versus mine. I don't know. I made Brian actually pick the color. I narrowed it down to three and was like pick one. So, that's how it was a lot of pressure >> hallways? Well, they know. I asked if we got to paint this one too. >> Y'all can work together and figure out something. >> [laughter] >> But I agree, I think the gym needs some some TLC just like a glow up that it needs before thinking of like >> I mean, it's 25 years. That's a 25-year-old paint job at this point, right? >> know um that the um custodial and maintenance staff are going

147to do some more painting at the high school over April break. I know they're going to focus on getting at least up to some of the stairwells >> [clears throat] >> cuz they stopped. Yeah. That was enough work at the time. >> to go up, so um it'll look really nice I think too once upstairs everything's painted. Right. >> [snorts] >> All right. So, we'll continue just socially talking about the basketball courts, but would love the idea of uh having LMS included in whatever those decisions are. If anyone wants to advertise, I'm willing to wear anything. Sure. Anything? Well, let's not get carried away. We're like Can we put it on the side of the wrestling mat? Some logo. >> [laughter] >> Like right on the butt. Place your ad here. Yeah. I'm down. All

148right. >> [laughter] >> All right. GMS. Uh yeah, so how was I was out of town, right? So, I was not able to attend the community forum, but very interested in There's more people in this room right now than there was there last night. >> Yeah. Um it was low attended, which we kind of expected because we weren't presenting new information. Um and uh people aren't in this mindset right now. It's still important for us to do it. And I think one of the huge benefits is we recorded last night, so we were able to get all that information that we've done up to this point recorded, um which we will uh we'll we'll put out there everywhere, you know, once we get the recording back from Jen and [clears throat] stuff like that. Um

149so, because that was one of the things we heard when we were for example going to the 55-plus communities um in February there, he's like, "Hey, can you record some of these community forums so we can watch it at our leisure. We may not be able to get there in the moment." Um so, it was valuable in that aspect that we were able to get that recording accomplished. Wasn't highly attended, but that's okay. Um we're going to have another one on Monday, May 18th. We'll keep keep grinding at it um and keep trying to as much as possible um promote the project so people are aware of what's what's going on. So. I I think what's going to be really really important is getting numbers out and getting ti- like project, you know, details of

150like what what it's going to look like for the project. I think once that information gets out, people start to pay attention again. No one's [snorts] really inclined to come hear us say what we had to say last night. >> [snorts] >> I think it's great that we got it recorded, but >> Right, I think it's important. But until we until we have stuff that people feel passionate about, which is the numbers and or what it's going to mean for their lives, it's going to be hard to get people out there. Yeah, okay. >> [snorts] >> Well, thank you for having the community forum. When is the next? Monday, May 18th. >> Monday, May 18th. >> follow-up for that. Okay. Does it make sense to delay that? I think we run out of time. Like

151one of the reasons why it's a Monday is because like almost every other night it has stuff, right? Like when you start talking about concerts, you're rolling in the June, there's senior there's awards nights at the schools, there's Do we wait until September? I think we're going to do one in the fall, too. Like this isn't it for community forums. Like we're going to do these two now and then do at least one, maybe multiple in the fall as well. I think let's see what the the proposed content is going to be in the next couple weeks cuz I don't disagree with you. Like if we're going to particularly be paying for consultants to be there, if we can't if there's not more >> not if we're just regurgitating old information, it's probably not worth

152it. So, let's see what they you know, they're [snorts] working like they're working pretty hard on this right now, so let's see what they have That's what I'm saying, right? If there's if we're if you know, this is a cost to the district for these individuals to be here, it is, right? And I want to make sure it's valuable to the taxpayers in the community to get to have their questions answered. And if there was low turnout, while great that it's recorded, that's unfortunate, right? >> Right. And I would just want to make sure we're getting bang for the buck. So, I'm curious as we start the new school year and get closer to that 6-month mark of March, if then it makes sense to start a >> if they've worked through if they've worked

153through, [snorts] you know, substantial things about, you know, that to update, I mean, >> People are going to People are going to forget though between May and September, you know. True, but I think that one thing that would be help One thing that we do need to work out again is like there's going to be some, you know, sharpening of the pencil now to say, "Okay, like what can we do to really fine-tune the costs on this?" And also like um there was even some mention about maybe [snorts] not having to use the portables for staging and other plans on that stuff. And And that may have an impact where we would may want to solicit feedback sooner. Um so again, I think it's just I want to know where we're at with like new

154information at that point to make a Cuz I think that at some point we're to your point we're going to do some trimming. Right. So. Until people hear a number that is a real not just a Let's get some detail behind it. >> It would be nice to have optionality, right? I don't know if that's a possibility, but hey, if you we're all going with 1B, right? But within 1B there's some options for construction materials, design, layout, whatever it might be that influences cost. It would be great to understand that. >> Yeah. And that's what they're really dialing. They're they're digging into it at the current moment, I think. Cool. Okay. All right. Videos. We met with StoryFirst um and then Eric who's who's who does the StoryFirst stuff. And he is uh you know,

155a recommendation for the Hollis project most recently at their elementary school where they uh did some nice video work. Um and some other projects we learned talking through them of um building projects across New Hampshire and and New England uh as well. So, me and Dan met with him uh last week and we were just like, "Throw us some outlines of what this could look like." You know, like if we want to do some videos um about the projects, what what did you do with Hollis? Like we were to replicate that, um different ideas. So, what you're seeing is a proposal. This isn't necessarily what we're doing, right? We he gave us some ideas and options and we're going to fine-tune it um if the if this is something the board wants us to pursue.

156So, um like he presented three options here. Again, we can go in there and take out pieces and do this or do anything kind of connected to that. He's open to whatever, but he wanted to get some ideas out there. So, I want to bring it to the board. Is this something It's not cheap, you know, as you can tell. It's high quality as we saw the videos and stuff like that and he showed us some. Um is this something that the board wants us to continue to pursue and iron out some sort of plan that is uh feasible fiscally for us, but also effective in what we're trying to deliver? >> Thank you for running with it and getting us in meeting with Eric and getting some numbers behind this. Interested in the board's

157thoughts. I I unequivocally believe that this is imperative for us. Um I can tell you that when Andrew sent me this video, it like like knocked my socks off. Um and having gone through the process of like, you know, the my [snorts] like background with this project was I was pulled in as a community member to try to help with this aspect of it, right? And it was nearly impossible to try to facilitate. Um and that was at a point that we had a public relations person that was supposed to be sort of spearheading things, but it was kind of, you know, whatever. So, um like I I have like intimate knowledge about like what goes into this. Um and then beyond that, once I was on the board, I did try to bring in

158a lesser expensive film option um and, you know, Dan Mitchell, like God bless him, like really did a lot of work on that one. But like again, like what we saw is I'm a lawyer, he's a principal of a school, like we are not storytellers. We are not people that can produce information that is going to be packaged in a way that really can help the taxpayer understand like, "This is what you have in front of you and this is why this is important." And I think it's just absolutely imperative for the next bond vote because if we can't get the proper information conveyed, it's going to make it that much harder to get this passed. And if we don't get this passed, it's going to be an eternity of us doing the same thing.

159So, definition of insanity, right? >> Um so I like the idea. I think it's a little premature. I think we would rather have similar more numbers more detail behind it than pushing this out by in June. No, this is not I don't think this is a >> June thing. I Well, one of the things we talked just talked about different things, right? is to do a initial video by the end of June that we would have available for us like all summer, right? Stagnant as people would come to it. I Well, I think that might be the case. We're just throwing batting around ideas. >> I think that they I think that where we need to be [snorts] is we need to be at a fully developed like here's the here's the costs, here's the

160you know, we need to be able to talk through the logistics of like this is what's how it's going to impact like the timing and stuff like that. I mean, we need to know a little bit more about the bond stuff Right. for our needs. But I think once we have that, it is a it is it's going to be a like we need to get it out. >> And I think timing-wise, if the board decides >> [clears throat] >> to move forward with something like this, timing-wise for me, it's more aligned with like when deliberate would be, right? And then you have a month to get this circulated out in the out in the community. Yeah. I might I might be interested in a little bit sooner than that only because what I don't

161want to run into is we we find that we like we push something out and then all of a sudden everyone starts [clears throat] talking. Like I would like to have time to like really truly field questions and inquiries. So, I mean, I would think if if we were able to know by Well, we're going to have we should have bonds what we've asked is that the bond information is kind of we have that structure going forward into the budget cycle. >> October should happen October, November, we should have that information where we're already starting to socialize this with the budget committee. So, I think I would like September, early October for budget season, I guess. So, one of the ideas just this is all great. Like one of the I pushed what did a

162June timeline look like, right? Just out of curiosity. It's something I was thinking you do a video now. You can just slide it. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh Eric was like, that's quick. I was like, well, I just hear me out. Play it. What would that look like? So, like you do something in the spring. But one of the things we were batting around is not necessarily represented as here is quick like FAQ videos, right? Like about specific things related to the project at some point, right? Like I have a question about portable like something about portables, right? Or HVAC or whatever where it's just a quick hitter video of like this is the question, this is the answer to it, right? You know, those type of things. Um but I think the bigger thing

163is to tell a story on why this is why this project is needed and stuff. And he initially was like when we first sat down, he was thinking the fall as well. And when I brought up like, well, what would it look like the spring? Just out of curiosity. He's like, oh, wow. Okay, yeah. And this is where he kind of ran with it. >> cost-wise, I think what you're talking about is more than what he's quoting us. I mean, I think that what he's quoting us is Hollis is what Hollis did. And I think that what they did was absolutely phenomenal. Um and I think that that is uh I mean, don't get me wrong. I think that what you're saying would be wonderful. Like we that would be very helpful. Yeah. Um but

164I think that Hollis was option one here. Like of the these these these three options right here. So. I I guess my other thought is devil's advocate, right? Is it necessary given Well, but but all the publicity behind it, right? The failed vote 2 years ago, right? We've been talking about um needing to address GMS now for over a decade, right? The town knows that GMS is an issue. Like everyone everyone gets that. But but Think back to that video we watched, though. It wasn't just it wasn't just the I know you were. So, it wasn't just a hey, we know we need to do something. It was it really pulled everything together. And it really it really helped illustrate like here's why what we're doing now really matters and why you really need to

165pay attention to it. Because otherwise people are will just keep saying, look, I know it needs something but this isn't it. Like you're saying it's whatever $30 million. Like that's not it. That's not the number. It's like, well, did you consider a new build? Right. Right. Right. I I really truly like I can tell you I just I feel so strongly that the the having something that ties it together for everyone that we can really get in front of everyone and a video is the the you know, at that length is the is the right way to do it because it's people are going to be able to watch it. They're going to be able to you know, understand it. It just it made everything make sense in my opinion. Well, I'd like then to

166just make sure that we're being inclusive and we have Mr. Peoples and Mr. DeWolfe talking to us as well before this is done. >> Well, I don't we're not in a place where we need it. >> Yeah. But I really appreciate you guys getting this information, though. Yeah. And I appreciate you sending it to us because honestly, this is what I was like, how do we find this? Yeah. Yeah. No, it was Yeah, can you forward that out to the rest of the group? The video? I didn't. Yes, I can. But I'm surprised I didn't I don't remember seeing it. I can definitely email that, but it was like it was in the middle of a work day, so You probably were doing something else. Sorry. Yeah, definitely forward to. Um great. Okay. So, let's

167add this to the next agenda, right? And make sure when we have the full board that we can talk about Sounds good. Um it may make sense to circulate uh to circulate recirculate cuz I don't think Ray was on the board at the time that you circulated that. Was he? I'll just send it to everybody. Cool. It'll be added to correspondence next time, too. >> [laughter] >> All right, great. Uh so, now we're shifting into Harriman pre-bond. Yeah, so this is just the amended contract that Harriman sent us cuz they're obviously doing more work. Um so, I think the important um kind of um uh what's the what what I want? The big black line there is like pre-bond work, post-bond work, right? So, like if this doesn't pass, we're not paying all six phases

168of this out, right? So, like obviously um it's a lot of money if the the the project passes, but it's based upon the total cost of the project. We were hoping to get a project under 20 million before, which is where the initial prices came in. Now that we're looking at a project in the 30s, that potentially in the 30s is going to increase um the cost of their services and stuff. So. So, we we do need to sign this if we're going to continue to work with them. >> Right. Because we need to revisit this uh So, their fee is based upon a 29.15 million dollar number for construction. >> Construction, right? Not including [snorts] soft costs. Not including soft costs. That's far more than I believe we even spoke about in their rough

169numbers from the fall. >> When we were interviewing going through the bid process with everybody, we asked we were hoping for a project that started with a one. Yeah, so everyone was bidding on Their prices and costs were all based upon that assumption. I don't have the plan 1B numbers behind me, but I think this just seems higher than that. >> that you don't think plan 1B was at Correct. >> I feel like it was closer to 28. It was, but they're anticipating the increase in costs now cuz that was based upon if we had went to vote in March of 26. Now we're going to March of 27, so it's 3% increase, say roughly, from what that cost is going to be. If that makes sense. Does, I don't like it. None of us

170likes it. Yeah, I mean you know, when you when you get to these numbers that are now truly with a three. Uh-huh. Which is why we really want to get to I'm going to I saw more solid pricing >> I I get I get it, right? My question is at what point do we consider that being astronomical and saying do what's a new cost what's the what's a new school cost again? I mean, I wasn't going to be the one to say it, but I mean, again, it's you know what it is behind this and I like I get it. The decisions of the FIC, the board, renovation, right? That's what we move forward with. I get it, right? But these costs are now like it's a bit of a sticker shock at the moment,

171right? Cuz it's higher than what I was even expecting. And if there's an opportunity to have a build a you know, on the LMS land that we already scoped and it comes in at a similar cost. It's LMS land, actually. It'll be LMS land. Right. It's baseball Touché. Touché. Look at that. But if there's an opportunity to come in at or near this price point and I'm not disrupting kids for 2 years doing it. Like at what point do you make that educated decision? >> I hear you. And I'm I will be the devil's advocate here. >> Okay. You can't do this to yourselves. Like we made >> [laughter] >> a decision, right? Like We made a decision basically like low to But we did. And like I think it was >> And and if

172And that new building is no longer 44 million, right? And that building A that was part of that to bring that number down is no longer >> I get all that, right? But we already know that that cost was 10 million higher than it could have been. Right. Yes. Oh, yes. We know that. Maybe. But like >> I think that the I've you know, I I to just step back because like I don't want to be the champion of like a new building, but my concern is that we're doing cartwheels to try to modify and twist and whatever and we're seeing that it's super expensive and my biggest question would be like on a design build basis, which is I think what you know Carrie was ultimately saying at one point. Um what like how

173much how far off is it? Right? Like how how much of a difference is it? If you're going to go build us a box >> were to build us a box If they were to build us a box right next to where GMS is today, same footprint, what would the cost be? I [snorts] I have no We can ask. >> You know, and I know and I know >> [laughter] >> and they're going to say that's not in our scope. And I appreciate that answer. I do, right? But at some point there's a sense of reason behind this. I Yeah. I mean, I have not had the history that you all have had with all of this, right? Like I'm jumping in and that's two years of history. You'd be much older than Andrew and

174I. >> [laughter] >> But >> Somehow older than I. You have another kid on the way though. >> [laughter] >> Yeah. The saying is it's always better to build new. That's just how this works with schools and stuff like that. But will new pass in this town? And like that's something you have to ask yourself. And if I'm if you're asking me today on April 15th, 2026 I don't think a new build would pass in this town. And I think a renovation has a chance. So regard So in terms of of cost, you can't you you You got to pass something. And and But I I think that I think to Andrew's point though, I think what what is interesting about the questions he's asking is they're having to They're having to do a lot

175more work to figure out how to facilitate this because there's so much that goes into planning logistics and lifting shifts. Right. How much Versus versus on a basic level. I mean, even just on a on a just just give us an idea. Like you know what your cost of construction is and you know if you're going to do a design build it's going to be a essentially a box. >> Right. If I'm going to build another 70,000 square foot building, what's that cost? Right. I It would just be It would be interesting to know because I I do feel like too like if if they said like you know, 37 million and we're at like 33, it's like we're at 33, but we also have to move and I mean, we It doesn't hurt to

176ask. They may say they Look, they think we're crazy anyways. Um We are crazy. >> [laughter] >> They may be like, "You're asking us that if we're going to give you a real answer, it's going to cost you." And I would not blame them for having that response. They'll say it politely, but I would not blame them. Or because they do like us and find us amusing at least initially. Um they might say like, "Yeah, we'll give you a rough estimate like The rough estimate should be they know their cost of construction. That's what I mean. Like they'll they'll tell you You know it's going to be about a 70,000 square foot building. They'll tell you like, "Look, don't quote don't This is We could do it in 36." Like Hypothetically, they could tell us

177they could do it in 36. Maybe it would end up being 36.5, 36.7, whatever the final price is, but they could give probably pretty close of an estimate of what they could do because this is what they do, right? Especially if we're not >> Yeah, and and there's no unknowns because it's just we're literally digging a hole, pouring in concrete, and then we're slapping the sticks together. Like I think I think that the Are we going to undo all the work we I don't think I don't think we're I don't think we're going to undo the work. I think that it's important to understand because you have to remember like we were really really really hoping that this was going to start with a one. And if this was going to start with a one,

178there's no reason to even be having this discussion because if it starts with a one, that's substantial. >> That's what we did two years >> you're talking about a difference of like if it starts with a one, it's worth taking the risk on well, there's going to be some unknowns with renovation. Well, we're not going to be fully refreshing, you know, there's certain parts of the building that we're only going to be lightly refreshing. They're not going to you know, like we're still going to be we're going to be slapping a little bit of lipstick on a pig in some of this, right? But with a if it starts with a one like, okay, that's fine. We have to be prepared to answer the voter that to the voters that that question, right? Cuz somebody's

179as we get a little bit further on the year, they're going to ask again, "Well, what's the cost of new?" Right. We know the cost two years ago and we know that that failed, but what's the cost of new now to have that in our back pocket. Yeah, we'll ask. Brian's quitting. >> [laughter] >> No, it's all It's I I understand the logic behind it. We're talking about Well, one, if we're going to pass it whatever project it is, we have to be able to answer every question that is asked. That's the only way we can even start with thinking of passing a project, right? Like ev- like we had to For example, we had to address the reconfiguration question, right? Like we priced that out and we saw it was the most expensive of

180the three. They were all pretty close, but it was the most expensive. Like we needed that answer cuz that was always going to linger as a question. People may disagree with their assessment, but we have we have an answer that is backed up by research and work that people did, right? If the question's going to linger, what is the cost of a new build under this different set of idea, right? Where you're not doing this What did you call it before? A green zero energy Yeah, zero. whichamacallit thing, right? Like what is the difference in that? Like and we need to have that answer cuz that's the only way that this thing's going to pass and we need to get that answer. That's right. Didn't we get that from the last architect when he came

181back? Parker? You know >> He gave us a >> us a It would be He said that >> significantly less. Yeah, his number Those numbers ended up being pretty close to what Harriman came up with for their work, too, you know? Like not exact, but like pretty close. >> was for the new build if it didn't have to be net zero. Right. Cuz and they because they and knew it I think said that he wanted it to be a certain size. We wanted to make some things smaller. He wouldn't allow it. He the former It was actually the It was actually the New York-based design firm that was the So. I I It's worth the question. Yeah. And they should be able to quote a design build because they have Harvey on board. And that's

182what it would be. Yeah, I mean, it would be We'll ask. See what they give back. May change that form on the 18th. Well, you know, I mean, look, at the end of the day even if we can just go back and say to the community That's what I mean. Like it maybe that's the focus of the form, right? Like when we talk about like if we like go and ask them and just be like, "Look, what's the Give us a super rough cost, right? Like what are we talking about? Like is it 10, 15 million than what we're talking about for a renovation or is it one, two, right? You know what I mean? Or roughly what is the real difference? And then like that becomes the focus of that form. I mean, people

183will come out, I think, if that was the discussion point on the 18th, right? Like because if we were to pivot, as we learned last year when we tried to like do all the work into the fall for a March vote and ran out time. Like that's what happened. Good work, but we still ran out time. We if we're going to pivot, it's got to be like now. Like now is the window to pivot. I'm not suggesting we pivot. >> Yeah, I'm not saying you are, but just like This is when we have to ask the question. >> I think we should have a compare. Yeah, a refreshed compare, right? Because when you talk about this size of number, right? The tax impact's a tax impact, right? Either way you're paying it, right? So now

184what's less disruptive to us getting the job done? >> Well, and I think what are the I mean Not to not to do this conversation in circles, but like we're not touching the renovation is touching needs, not wants, not wishes, right? It's only touching the parts of the building that need serious addressing. For example, came up last night at community forum. We're not touching the gym, right? Like the renovation does not touch the gym. This community needs gym space as we learned, right? Like if we were to go down the new build road, it would obviously result in a new gym and we would probably ensure whatever gym needs we need for the community that is appropriately sized for them, right? Like The other thing that I just I think then we can just at

185least explain, right? And again, no no agenda. Like if the community comes out at large and says, "No, it's absolutely renovation." Fine. That's fine. But like the other thing we can explain is just like the study that they've cited where they say, you know, by 60 years buildings are typically abandoned in exchange for like being demolished and then new buildings built unless a community has really kept up with a building, right? We are taking the buildings that generally speaking in architecture are demolished and rebuilt and we are insisting on renovating it just because we we were thinking that it was going to be more cost effective. And so I just want to at least be able I want to be able to stand up and say like whatever the whatever we put in front of

186the community, whatever they vote on, like I don't want them 15 years down the road to be like, "What was that dumb school board that like said we should do this and like now we're stuck with the heart of a you know, 100-year-old building again." You know, like and if the community whatever the community wants, we do, but All right. We've we've battled this one. Are you looking for a motion on this tonight? What do we even Do we need a motion? Do we need a motion? Um I mean, I suppose we we still need to also sort out the funding piece of it, which we could do at another time, which is fine cuz it would be an increase to the overall amount that we >> What What is that increase? Um so, it's

187basically Sit Let me see. I think it's 59,000. Yeah, with um it would be an increase of like $59,198 um over what we had for the $225,000 for pre-construction services for Harriman and Harvey. >> to carry it forward for another year. Correct. What's in the account? Um so, right now we have $245,000 in the account. We've only expended um 87,000 so far of the 225. Um And we've already approved for use, right? >> We've approved up to 225. >> Correct. >> our original motion. Correct. >> Once again. Yeah. >> Right. Um so, with this the basically the new total would be 295 would be that um is is the new amount. But but we can pay this what they're looking for out of that money, right? Mhm. We can. I just want to make sure

188we have enough in the account to do so. Yes, we do. And we passed the >> Right, we have 245,000 and as long as we have the money at the end of the year we would have another 250,000. >> That's a big if. That is correct. >> Well, look. I mean, this is one of the things that the community needs to understand is like every time that we can't move something forward, it gets more expensive. And so, like we've already we vetted these people, we went through that process. We have no choice but to continue. Look, I'm just saying, right? Yeah, as as we think about end-of-year transfers and the like, right? This decision could impact us from being able to make key decisions that we're also going to want to make. 100%. I agree

189with you. Mhm. What? I think a motion to continue with Harriman would be helpful. So moved. And then as the funding situation develops, we can come back with the specifics because we have a lot of room between what we've spent and what you've already approved as a board, right? Cuz if we don't actually need to get to that, then we shouldn't we shouldn't make that request, right? >> Yep. So, your motion is to continue with Harriman. >> To continue with Harriman, but that also includes increasing the cost to do so. Potentially. >> So, that's great. No, so that motion's also including the 59,000. So, we do So, that would be >> If you continue with Harriman, that's what you're approving. Yeah, I see what you're saying. Yeah. Right. [snorts] So, it's Is it 59? Is

190that what the number is? Yeah, 59. The number I see here is 59175. I don't Julie, you mentioned a different number, so. Right, that Yeah, that that we should probably 60,000 is probably safe to just Is it not 60,000 twice? Phase one and phase two or we're just doing phase one? >> It is, but based upon the net of It just happens to be like it's very similar numbers. Right, exactly. Like because you already did the 225, which covers Harriman and Harvey, remember? Like both of them. Their additional fees here, some of that falls still under that window of that 225. So, the net of it is 59 something, which is gets you the two 295. >> 295 total. 295. So, okay, but that covers phase one and phase two. Yes. And Harvey and Harriman.

191>> It gets us to the pre-bond vote. Correct. Right. My My challenge with this and the the hesitation is in the capital improvement expendable trust we have 245. Mhm. We don't have 295. But we've already expended some of that. Um So, right now um we've expended 87,000 um which is giving us that balance of 245. We still um we have the 77 462 right now that's remaining of the 225 that we can still expend. If we expended that right now, we would have 160,000 [snorts] still in that account. Then you're asking >> the 250,000 deposit. >> And then you're asking for an additional 59 potentially. Correct. So, if that was all spent before the 250 >> Right. We still have 100 and some thousand in the account. Yep. I got it. Math The math maths.

192Yes. Okay. Math always does. >> [laughter] >> Follow with drama motion. No, your motion's about I don't know men. You don't care. Good. Two. So, so are we going to authorize By approving the contract, you approve the dollar amount. But do we have to authorize that money out to come out of the We've We've already authorized that money. >> do a a public hearing for that anyway. Okay, so we got to do it at another public hearing. Okay, so I remake my motion. So, your motion Your motion's to approve the Harriman contract. To approve the Harriman Yeah, the To approve the amended Harriman contract. >> Okay, so the motion by Mr. Shoemaker, second by Mr. Plantsky. Additional discussion on this one. Okay, all those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. That carries 3-0. Do

193you want to public hearing next meeting? Yes. For the additional For the additional We'll get the exact dollar amount, but it'll be like 59 We'll say 60. 60. Round 60. >> Yep. Yes. 59 change. Yep. Okay. There we go. I am scrolling down here. So, that's uh Great. So, that's Harriman. That's old business. Anything else on old business for this evening? Uh I hope not. Okay. All right, great. Uh we have manifest tonight. Uh the manifest that the board has signed and three signatures on. Uh we have accounts payable for $114,739.68, another accounts payable of $68,161, payroll manifest of $412,114.76, a payroll manual check of $1,017.79, a payroll manual check of $329.46, a 403B of $8,626.53, and credit cards of $10,247.62. I would just ask Mr. Rowland to make sure that what we discarded earlier

194comes out. I don't know where that falls in this manifest that is read. I'll make sure that comes out. Okay. Thank you. All right. Uh we have our second round of community input this evening. I will open the floor. Seeing since nobody has joined us from the community tonight, I'll close that second round of community input and turn it over to the school board for comments. Commented out. >> Lots of comments tonight. I would once again uh just like to thank the administration for all the hard work put in on um on the health insurance specifically, uh as well as all the continued hard work on GMS, right? It's noticed and appreciated. Yeah, we'll get there. Okay. Um All right, the board does have some business tonight in non-public under RSA 91A3, and this is

195going to be A through C this evening. Uh with that, I will entertain a motion to move to non-public. So moved. Motion by Mr. Shoemaker. >> Second by Mr. Plantsky. Roll call vote. Mr. Shoemaker. >> Aye. Mr. I Mr. Plantsky. Aye. That carries 3-0. All right, everyone. Thank you very much. We are now in non-public. Our next meeting is May 6th, 2026. Have a great evening.