School Board Meeting - 12/3/2025

001Evening everyone. Welcome to the December 3rd, 2025 Lichfield School Board meeting. Uh it is now 5:30. We're going to call the meeting to order and begin with the pledge of allegiance. >> I alian 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. >> All right. Do we have any uh changes to tonight's agenda from any of the board members? Okay, hearing none, we have consent. Anything off consent tonight? I think just one program update for budget committee. Uh just as an update for the board, uh budget committee does start voting on the school budget tomorrow. So I'll be there, I believe, along with the superintendent and business administrator as well. So all right, uh moving into

002summary of non-public actions from November 19th, 2025. Mr. Plansky moved to approve the November 5th, 2025 non-public meeting minutes. Mr. Shoemaker seconded that motion. That carried 4 Z. Uh Mr. Shoemaker motion to accept the resignation of LMS mental health counselor Greg Pan and >> Mr. P. Mr. Thank you. Uh Mr. Clansancy seconded that motion. That motion passed 40. Mr. Shoemaker motion to approve the proposed LEA contract. Mr. Cutter seconded that motion. That motion passed 40. and Mr. Shoemaker motion to adjourn the non-public session at 8:14. Uh Mr. Cutter seconded that motion and that carry 40 as well. Uh we have uh some presentations tonight and we have an LMS crew with us. So welcome everyone. [snorts] We'll turn it over to Principal Granthm for some >> not me >> kickoff in some Okay. >> Yeah.

003Hi everyone. >> Cheers. >> Take one more. >> Everyone have a good remote learn day yesterday. >> Yeah. >> All right. >> Well, we're going to make it work. So, this is totally >> before we start, I'm going to ask you guys first names just to introduce yourselves because this is a very important crew. I don't you've seen their live report for this be a live broadcast right in front of you. >> So, [clears throat] we're going to go ahead starting with Kieran. Introduce yourself first. >> I'm Kieran. Hello. >> I'm Lyla. >> I'm Brooklyn. >> Hi, my name's Kylie. I'm Abigail. >> Hi everyone. >> And we have the links here. He still has yet to get a name, but he's here. >> All right. Well, welcome everyone. >> All right, Karen, you're up.

004>> Hello, Lynchfield school board members and Superintendent Okonnell. Did you know just a few students came together to bring a serious school spirit to Lynchfield Middle School? That's right. Today we're here to tell you about our incredible journey with Lynx Cast and how a simple idea turned into a super exciting thing for our community. It all started when a small group of students had a bright idea. What if we had a Lynx mascot to represent our school? Since we didn't have one, we thought it would be a fun way to boost school pride. We went to Miss Granthm with our idea. And guess what? She loved it. >> From there, we found the perfect Slinks costume online to help and use school funds from student picture proceeds. Yes, your photos helped us make this happen.

005To buy the mascot costume, now our Lynx mascot is ready to cheer on at sports games, school competition, and school events like our upcoming Celebrate the Season. It's all about spreading school spirit and fun. But that's not all. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, part of our school day is Lynx Time. Links time is a special period choice where students make school activities they love. And because we're passionate about drawing positivity, we started Lynx Cast, our very own school news team. >> Each week, we meet with Miss Grantham to produce a fun, informative newscast that keeps everyone in our LMS community in the loop about school events, wins, and even silly moments. Today, we made a fun video about our Giving Tree fundraiser, which is going on till next Tuesday, December 9th. We hope it makes

006you smile while reminding you to support a great cause. So, we want to talk about how we've learned and improved our newscast. We start by brainstorming ideas about what our students need to know what's happening at LMS. It was funny when we started because we have more bloopers than Kevin Hart. Each [laughter] year improve our ability to speak publicly. We also have more enthusiasm for what we are doing and have made our videos more engaging with interviews from students, staff, and community members. We especially enjoy making the funny videos like our Little Mermaid lost and found video. It breaks up the normal announcements into something humorous that provides information. Here's today vid. Here's today's video. Go giving tree. >> I didn't realize that was my cue, sir. [laughter] [snorts] >> Maybe it's coming. >> Maybe

007>> it's on my screen. >> [laughter] >> No pressure. [laughter] >> Maybe the one time it doesn't work. Right. Right. >> You >> mentioned a blooper reel, right? >> This is the guy. [laughter] >> What do we have? What do we learn from when things like this happen when we're recording? >> Um, we learn to um play it out and just to have fun. >> That's it. That's all you can do, right? >> Technology. >> That is life advice right there. [laughter] >> It's not just Lynxcast advice. >> So, links links time. What do you guys like about Links Time? We'll we'll we'll go off the cuff while we're waiting to see if this comes up. What's your favorite part about coming together for this? >> Probably the bloopers are always really funny. >> We

008We have a blooper reel that we have going on that is probably longer than any of the recordings we've sent out publicly, but it's it's usually really good. What else, guys? >> Um, I like when like we get to get together and kind of just make videos to kind of show the whole school kind of like what our school is doing and what's kind of happening at the school. >> If you can't get it up, it's okay cuz you have it in your in your link. We'll be okay with that. Do you want to conclude our live broadcast today? >> Um, one, >> thanks for listening and remember, stay awesome, LMS. >> Awesome. GREAT JOB, GUYS. >> [applause] [applause] >> THANK YOU FOR COMING IN AND PRESENTING. >> I think it has to do with

009the cable. We've had this issue before. >> Yeah, cuz it's doing the thing on my screen. >> Yeah, it's finicky >> where it says it's connected. >> Have a good night, everyone. Thank you. >> Have a good night. Thank you. LMS apparel. >> Yes. [laughter] >> Yep. >> All right, we'll switch gears and move it over to the student rep report. And Dom, I know we're having some TV issues, but the board has it linked. So certainly we have access to it if you're um if that works for you tonight. >> Sure. Yeah. >> Um, so >> are you guys good? >> Yeah, we're good. We have it on uh the winter sports. >> All right. Me, too. All right. So, for the winter sports, uh, um, the boys and girls basketball held their triyouts

010on November 24th and 25th. Um, the boys have a game tonight versus Eping and the girls game is tomorrow. Wrestling triyouts were held on November 17th. and uh hockey and track um triyouts were held on December 1st. >> Great. >> The past events, the district wide make a difference food drive has come to an end. Junior golf grams for uh CHS. Uh the NHS inductions have also come to an end and student council food drive as well as the Thanksgiving break. Uh other things that are currently happening within our school, um the spirit of Lichfield holiday event was supposed to happen on the second, but that was cancelled due to snow or due to weather. Uh the winter stucco conference as well as the St. Paul's school summer pro uh school summer program presentation and

011the CHS auditorium Santa's breakfast which is put on by our NHS society and the winter sports triyouts that are currently happening now that things coming up for us we have the student stoco Christmas carolling which I was briefed about that today we're doing it in the 55 plus community and that is a mandatory event for all STCO members so everyone's going to be there. Uh the CHS chorus con uh concert staff breakfast as well as CHS tree lighting assembly. After the middle school, the robotics team is heading to the state competition on December 6th. Uh the annual door decorating competition is coming up on the 11th. >> It's fun. >> Yeah. >> LMS Drama is presenting high school musical the junior version on the 12th and 13th. Uh, spirit week is going on from the

01215th to the 19th and the 25th annual giving tree um, uh, down at Griffin. There's not there wasn't too much going on, but they collected over 12,000 items for the Make a Difference food drive. Uh, this Friday is the Disney Day at GMS and PTA PTO holiday store is um, next week, December 9 and 10. And that's what's going on in the district. >> Okay. Couple of weeks to uh to the holiday break, right? >> Yeah, exactly. I think everyone's holding up for that one. So, [laughter] >> thank you for the update. >> Sure. >> Any questions for Dom and what's happening in the schools? >> Okay. Appreciate the update. Thank you. >> Sure. >> Uh next up, we have community comment. This is our first of two community comments tonight. >> Welcome, Mr. Robinus.

013Ah, good day or evening I should say. Thank you. Um, I will be brief. I did send you a memo uh that responded to information that you supplied me. Um, >> name and address. >> Oh, sorry. Ronald 15 circle. >> Thank you. >> I should get a name tag. [laughter] >> Um, and I won't I won't read it into it. uh provided if you would just agree to put a link to it in your meeting minutes and I'll >> I'll share it with our yeah minute taker and they can >> Okay, that would be fine. >> But what um what [clears throat] I really want to talk about tonight is a comment you made last week, Miss Ames, that uh and I went back and looked at it and you talked about where I'm fighting

014you all every step of the way and I really want to highlight that that's not the case. If you remember, my engagement with this board began about two years ago uh last month when I began to question uh the proposal for the new school. And if you remember uh through participation with the council and listening what was presented as facts in a short period of time through December, I actually supported the new school. I actually made a video to support that >> and I actually you'll see it uh went on with Mr. Glassing and and spent a lot of time supporting that. So it's not that I'm fighting you every step of the way. What's changed is following that particular episode, I went back and did a whole bunch of research and found a lot

015of the assumptions that supported the new school were false. I also want to go back to the fact that in 200 and I'm sorry uh the n 1995 I think it was when we started to look at this building my name's on the plaque that's outside there and that lady right there Pat asked me three times be on the uh building committee I refused her because I said I don't think we need a new building she said okay that's fine just as long as you come on. I said, "I will join it provided that we seriously look at every option." And we did. We actually hired a civil uh excuse me, a structural engineer and looked at, if you remember, the the town hall and the police station were in the little building that's down

016in the town center. And [snorts] we discovered that uh the the joistices in that building were made out of hune timber spaced quite far apart. Clearly not able to uh support a modern office space. Following that I changed my mind. I supported this building. I actually gave the presentation. I'm not sure if anybody of you remember being there support presenting this to the town. It was done at LMS. LMS gym was full. I did the presentation on that. So, I'm not here to fight. I'm here to hold some accountability. And I I want to know that I can be convinced to change my mind as I just described. But the difficulty is is that the situation for the taxpayers is very difficult. In fact, from the memo that I talked about, I'm just going to

017read the last paragraph said the uh the reason this issue was so critical to understand is that the overstaffing situation is a major contributor to the out of control increases in the school budget. Based on analysis of the tax rate from just 2021 to this tax bill of December 2025, the school board portion of tax rate is increased a total of 30.48%. The average increase is 7.62%. Due to the town tax cap, the budget at the town portion has only increased a total of 9.97% and the average increase per year is 2.49%. In short, the increase of the school budget cannot continue at the rate unless the school board and the budget committee undertake make serious reductions such excuse me such as suggested in this memo. A school budget cap is not far away. I'm

018the reason I come here is I come here as a taxpayer and I'm looking for solutions. I think there's lowcost solutions that we're not looking at. I'm not here to fight you. I'm here to find a solution for everybody. It's been 30 years that GMS has been in the condition it's in now. I find it difficult to continue to expect that we're going to continue that for another 10 years. If we don't look at options that taxpayers can support, they're going to reject it. The CIP met on the same night that the that um the last forum met. They have in the next six years 20 if I get the numbers right $22 million are going to be spent. Add that to the tax rate. It's that it is unsustainable. So, I'm asking for you

019to provide some accountability and really look at some of the things I suggest. With that, I appreciate the opportunity. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Mr. >> All right. Uh, any other public comment this evening? Seeing nobody, we'll close that. And there's a second round of community comment this evening. Uh, and we'll turn it over to vice chairs for correspondence. >> Thank you very much. On November 20th, Julie Darling emailed the board circulating the FY27 budget changes after our schoolboard meeting. Uh, also updated the default budget, and there was a response from the superintendent. On November 24th, Jan Sullivan emailed the board circulating the draft public and non-public minutes from the November 18th board meeting. On November 24th, Mr. Cutter emailed the SAU staff wishing the team a very happy Thanksgiving and expressing our

020appreciation for their time and dedication to the district and there were responses from Holly Felzone, Peter Pansky and Julie Darling. On November 25th, Jen Grantham emailed the board circulating the latest edition of Lynxcast. On November 25th, an enamor circulated an accounts payable manifest which included live checks and EFT. On November 27th, Mr. Pollinsky sent a text message to the board wishing the board a happy Thanksgiving and there were responses from all members in the superintendent. On November 28th, Ron Oblinus emailed the board circulating a memo which it was just referred to in response to uh the email related to staffing numbers. On December 1st and Inamarati emailed the board circulating the additional accounts payable manifest for utilities and timesensitive payments. on December 3rd and Inamarata emailed the board circulating the 403b payroll manifest and there

021was a response from Mr. Plansky. Okay. And on December 3rd um Heidi Ames emailed the board and the superintendent uh advising that I would be relocating out of the district um effective December 12th and therefore um would be resigning my position from the board. I'm going to say it without crying. Just give me a minute. I'm going to read my letter. Um Mr. Cutter, it is with mixed emotions that I'm writing to formally resign from the Lichfield School Board effective December 13th as I will be relocating to Hampton, New Hampshire. Um, it is difficult to put into words how much the last four and a half years have meant to me. Um, well, not easy. Definitely definitely not [laughter] easy. Um, I have always felt a sense of pride and purpose being a part of

022the board and being a part of this district. Um, I did want to say to the amazing teachers and staff, you are truly the heart and soul of our district. Your kindness, professionalism, and dedication to our students is top-notch, and Lichfield is lucky to have you. Um, even though I won't be a resident, I will be at deliberative sitting in the non- voting section with you, ready to sing your praises. Um, and so I'm excited to be there. To the administrators, to the superintendent, to the SAU team, you are the glue that holds our district together. You lead with compassion and collaboration and respect. Your passion for education shines through everything that you all do. Um, and it inspires those around you to want to be better. To the board, um, you set the tone

023and I'm happy to say that the current tone is collaborative and supportive. Um, I respect each and every one of you and your commitment to the town and the district. only those who volunteer truly understand the amount of time that it takes and the sacrifice away from family, friends, and sometimes employment. Um, [clears throat] and you do it willingly, and you do it for a greater purpose, which is to help make our schools and town better for future students. And I'm so grateful for you. And to the town of Lichfield, um, I wanted to say thank you for your support. [laughter] Uh, you are a small but mighty town. And while I read some of the negative chatter about traffic online this weekend, there's 10 times more positive things and actions happening in a much

024quieter way sometimes. From the school plays to sports championships to the beautifification to the Fourth of July parade, spirit of Lichfield, farm stands. There's just so much good happening in town because of the wonderful people in it. And I am grateful to have lived here for 20 years. So I thank you for the opportunity to serve. I made it through mostly in one piece. Um, I wish you all the very best. So, uh, my last meeting will actually be tonight. Um, I this has happened very quickly, [clears throat] the closing of the home and the way that it worked. And so, um, I I do wish I was able to give publicly more notice about what my plan was. Um, I certainly have appreciated my time here and we'll do everything I can if I

025can be helpful in terms of the next however many days, but that does leave a little bit of a hole in terms of vice chair. It leaves a hole policy. Um, it leaves a hole for joint loss. That one's easy, I promise. Um, someone should volunteer for that one because that one's quick and easy. Um, >> yeah, [laughter] 15 minutes a quarter. That's about it. Um, but truly, um, I'm happy to help in any way that I can and and I will be here for deliberative because, um, as I served on the negotiating team, I feel like it's important for me to be here and see that contract through and to, um, help support our teachers, um, the LEA for sure. So, thank you for letting me speak and say that out loud. And obviously,

026it's up to you guys in terms of how you want to proceed. >> Yeah, thank you. and and certainly uh big shoes to fill on the board, right? There'll be a hole in this board for for some time. Um we no loss for words, right? Uh certainly and I I shared this through a message. >> Yeah. And I already cried over it once. So thanks [laughter] >> friend neighbor, right? We've been through a lot over the last several years even from the GMS playground committee. >> I mean that was years ago years ago, right? That's that's a blast from the past, right? But we've we've done [snorts] a lot and um you know I've always trusted you and and looked to you for your opinions and and valued those opinions. So >> appreciate it. >>

027Nothing but the best. >> Um education is so important. I encourage our town to continue to invest in it. It's I understand it's difficult and that we are facing difficult financial times but um investing in our kids there's no greater gift than that and that is the future. So, and I know you guys will look after that and care for that. And again, I feel, you know, the one thing I did say to someone is I do feel like I'm leaving the board in a better place than when I joined it. More collaborative, more supportive. I really feel like in terms of our administrators, if we have the right people in place, I I feel really good about where it's left. And so, I feel like extreme guilt about not finishing my commitment, but um

028I'm sure I'll get over that by the next time that there's a Wednesday meeting and I'm not here. and Peter and [laughter] I decided >> here I'll sign such a great partying gift. Thank you. [laughter] >> Thank you. Thank you. So, thank you very much. >> All right. Um, just in terms of process, right, and before we move into general business, this obviously leaves a hole on the board, right? And in the past when we've done appointments typically uh we'll put out a form to the community um in the superintendent I don't know if you want to share in your weekly communication just a general >> uh link to a basic form right for those who expressing interest right generally in that form it's hey you know tell us why you're interested in serving an

029appointment the appointment will be for uh from now until March and that March will be up for town election right and that town election will serve um Heidi's remaining term. Your remaining term is one more year. So that that position will be on the ballot for one year. Uh and then it'll be a three-ear cycle from that point forward. >> Sounds good. >> Right. And then at our next um maybe that's open for a week and then at our next school board meeting uh we can evaluate those who are interested and go from there. >> Why why you want to serve and what why you think you're qualified? that was asked when when I do it. I thought I thought hearing other people talk was that was helpful to yalate. >> Yeah. >> So, we'll

030get it out there in your message. We'll get it out there to to um the WhatsApp page and other community if there's others interested, you know, please let us know and we'll get we'll get you that link as well once it's uh available. >> Sounds good. >> All right. uh and that our next meeting will um we'll start off with nominating a a vice chair as well and we'll also look to fill those open positions for the subcommittees. So if anyone wants policy or [laughter] you get to spend a lot of time with me >> there's also one other subcommittee that she's on. >> Yes. >> Yeah. The curriculum. >> Okay. All right. >> It's an amazing committee. Just going to say that >> policy is pretty boring. [laughter] I did selfishly I mean I

031did policy for before I so it kind of makes sense right so >> um okay anything else uh on Heidi's departure from the board members >> you will absolutely be missed I mean you definitely helped me uh ease my transition into this board and >> thank you >> showed me how to campaign and all that fun stuff >> hold a sign it's really hard in the cold >> sea coast is a great place >> it snowed the day that I got >> it's true it's true >> 8° for 24 hours. He had it easy. >> We appreciate your commitment. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. Thank you. And I'm only 50 minutes away. And if anyone ever wants to stop by on the way to the beach, please do. [laughter] >> What's the parking rate?

032>> Uh, we'll see. [laughter] >> We'll work something out. >> I got to pay for the house somehow. So, [laughter] >> all right. We'll turn it over to the superintendent to get into general business tonight. >> I just want to say thank you, too. Um, you're the one who hired me. I got the phone call from you. I remember sitting in my office at Bo uh when you called. I was just so happy and you were so kind through the process. I mean, the whole board was, but um I was talking most with you, Heidi, at the time and um just incredibly welcoming and I I wish you the best of luck and we're going to miss you here. So, >> that was like one of the best phone calls I got to make. [laughter]

033So, >> so thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um so, shifting gears like 18 degrees here to warrant articles. Um that first link is kind of our working document on warrant articles for um the March elections. Uh we'll have to update article A there which is about electing school board members to include slightly different language. Now um so we'll update that with with our attorneys to make sure we get that correct. Um everything here has been already vetted through our attorneys. the um articles related to the potential building project are being reviewed by um bond council right now as well. I just haven't heard back from from Renell yet. So, but our attorneys he has a couple suggestions on on article one there that we've updated for this here. Nothing nothing major. Um and uh

034we can kind of go through them. We don't have the numbers yet for one. We're hoping to get those by the end of the week. As soon as I get those, I will share those out to all relevant parties, including the board, obviously. >> [clears throat] >> um so we can have those discussions and start looking at what the actual bond is and the rate and everything kind of connected to that. The second article is the operating budget and the default budget while we're wrapping things up with the budget committee. We've kind of left those numbers out for now, too, but we'll just put those numbers in once we finalize that. And then the third is the LEA contract and how it will look to the voters when we put it on the warrant. Those

035are the accurate numbers. Once we uh put in, you know, the increase for for contracts, there's from this standpoint, there's a decrease for health insurance. Now, there's an increase to the rate, but how it shows up here, there's an initial decrease to the health insurance. So, that's reflected in this year one uh dollar figure that you see there. Um and then the the stuff that we did with stipens, which is very minor in the big scheme of things. Um and then article four is the one that if three is defeated that we can have a special meeting related to it. And then four or excuse me [clears throat] article five is the naming of the baseball field um for [snorts] coach Gorum that we discussed um last board meeting. >> Um there's a link there

036just for for your sake for the policy. So if you needed to see it again that's what that link is there. And then articles six through 10 are for the various reserve funds. We've put dollar amounts in there. We can discuss some more. We've included we included an article for um not all of the funds but the ones that we talked about last meeting. So we don't have to keep them all there. We can add a change the dollar figure. It's up to the board what you would like to do. But we put uh the figures we did talk about last meeting um in there now for now as placeholders. So So open it up uh questions, discussion, whatever whatever you like. >> So in terms of articles six and seven and beyond, right? Is

037there any board comment change in ordering? >> I think I mean I think article six we do need to have a discussion about adequately funding reserves u in light of what we've learned about health insurance. >> I I certainly think that funding it only to the extent of u retirement projections is insufficient. >> Okay. Um, I mean, obviously we're not we're we're evaluating options to try to figure out what's going to be the most fiscally responsible for the district from a health health insurance perspective. Overall, um, I certainly don't think that we need to I I don't think w with school care, I don't think there's any way of predicting because there's no caps, there's no way of predicting what we would need in a reserve account. Um, I think that's part of what we're

038trying to tackle is figure out something that will give us some more [snorts] uh definitive idea on what caps would look like and therefore we could more accurately budget. Um my impression is that uh we will be able to become much more fiscally uh tight with uh if we look at some of the other options potentially um and could really save the district quite a bit of money by leveraging uh by you know hedging our risk by having adequate reserves. So I think we need to start looking at funding that. I think we should take a step towards that this year. I don't know what the right amount is though. >> That's it is what is that right dollar amount right? Also, I mean, you and I have talked about this in the in the

039insurance meetings that we've had, right? I mean, it's certainly appealing to start to think about that, but what is that right dollar amount? And this is where sequencing matters, right? Because article six, the way it stands, would essentially get funded first, >> right? And is that the right ordering? And what what does that >> what does that look like in terms of a dollar amount and in terms of, you know, does it take priority over the other articles at that point? Yeah, I mean >> I guess my initial thought would be that it would come after some of the other funds given especially given that we don't have a number or where we're going to go but it was like 400k right for the short fun this year it wouldn't be that number it would

040be some percentage of that >> I I my gut says that I think like around a hundred >> I think when we've looked at some the other options that we've had. And just for transparency sake for the public, we've been meeting with different health insurance providers to see if there's something that's makes more sense for us as a district. It makes more sense for our employees um from a financial standpoint. And when we've had some of these conversations and we're looking at protecting the district, $100,000 seems to be kind of the window we're looking at. We're still exploring these options. We're not ready to present anything to anybody yet because, for example, we're meeting with a company this upcoming Friday that we haven't met with yet. We want to see what their proposal is. Um,

041but as we we look to the future of of maybe readjusting, we saw the issues that arise with school care and we need to do our due diligence to look and as we look, it seems like $100,000 is the thing that could probably help us protect us in the future of any issues that could arise while we're looking at different options. If that makes sense. it wouldn't cover a month and a half assessment like we just had this year, but it would, you know, be a good start towards that if we were reach another assessment like that. I would find it hard to believe that we'd have that level of assessment because I would hope school care would learn from their mistakes. But at the same time, I wouldn't say with 100% certainty there won't

042be an assessment because we just have one, right? And I don't think health insurance is getting >> and the risk that we face as a district is if other districts start to pull out of school care that will lead likely to another assessment. Right. >> Right. And so what we're trying to do is be a little proactive and plan >> for worst case scenarios. >> Now in terms of these warrant articles here and this is just my feeling. I it's my feeling right. I would want to talk to lawyers first but um just shooting from the hip here. We leave this as the first of these articles because the specific that 4,700 is is kind of spoken for, right? Like it's tied to to to retirement benefits for for people who have put in for

043for retirement. And so this is a spoken for money in a way. So that's why we leave it first because it's kind of the most critical to shift to to a reserve fund. And um I say that but this particular year is not a lot of money. So if you were to try and do a different amount there in the event this article fails, we could probably find that money. >> Meaning we could move the order of it. Is that >> you can move the order. So if you wanted to like if you felt some of the other articles were more critical, you know, because if people are going to like have think about like you're representing the importance of the articles as you put this here, right? >> So if you wanted to take

044a risk and say like maybe that one doesn't pass, right? like because you're going to make it a larger dollar amount there than the $4,000 and it was to fail, we probably could figure out a way to cover the $4,700 next year, right? If if we had to pay it out next year >> without without going like getting too far into the weeds on on the rationale behind it. Um I think it is important to note that that 100,000 is not really just targeted at oh you know we need to protect ourselves. It's it's a piece in a potential uh solution that could also result in substantial savings. >> Yeah. >> And so I think that that's the the idea would be that if we had that level of security, we have potential options that

045could result in substantial savings. um because they could come in much lower um but there's there is a cap and this would allow us to protect ourselves up to the cap so we would not exceed that whereas with school care there is no cap so we don't know there's just no way of ever accurately predicting what it could be and I think that to Andrew's point like we really this year in particular it's it's a big tossup because if other districts leave their rates have already been set uh and the only way that they would be able to in my opinion the only way that they would be able to address any shortfall would be another assessment. I don't because they they can't change the rates at this point. >> Well, are are the other

046towns kind of kind of stuck with them for this year? Right. >> Well, at this point, >> we're not yet 100%. Right. I I think in the timing of the year, it would be challenging to leave them, but not impossible, right? Like we've talked about dates, about time, timelines, and all that type of stuff, right? Um it's certainly not we don't have enough time to reenter negotiations and talk about this, right? So like that's a conversation that would have to happen with our LEA and stuff. Um but there is time to make a different decision for next year. It's not a ton of time. Like I don't want to think it's like definitely happening. [cough and clears throat] >> But we also don't know from like a other district perspective though like what's going to

047move the needle. Is it one district leaving or is it five districts leaving? >> Probably depends on the size of the district. I do think a lot of people though I I think that's a real fear because I've talked to other districts and they're certainly looking at their health insurance options, but I think they're also the same exact spot we are, right? Like it's tough to do that move so quickly if you're going to do your due diligence for it, right? So, I wouldn't anticipate a radical departure this year from school care. >> I guess my point is we don't know what's we don't know what's radical in the in the equation of what then changes the need for an assessment. >> Yeah. And and again, I'm speculating. I would say it's bigger districts leaving,

048right? And if you look at some of those bigger districts, they're going to have to negotiate that with bigger unions with different needs and different different expectations. I think there's a lot more moving parts for a bigger district to leave something like school. I'm speculating. I could be >> could be the districts that have if it's if it's a couple districts that leave that have a better risk profile, right? Because the whole thing about a pool risk program. >> So that's the ask, right? is, you know, do we consider adding some additional funds to this article to cover insurance and potential options for for insurance costs in the future? Heidi, Dan, what do you think? >> I think one of the big reasons why the assessment happened that they were open with is the fact

049that claims are up and from what they said, claims are up again still this year. So that's why they couldn't recover. Um, and so I think it's only smart for us to plan that that is going to continue to be the case. Um, because there may not be a the hope is that there isn't a time when [clears throat] we have that much in out at the end of year funds to be able to just to cover it, >> right? >> And if we don't, then what do we do? If we don't have these reserve funds, >> right? we, you know, I'm not going to say we were lucky because it's still that's still money we had to pay and that still took a hit to taxpayers, but we were going to have to pay

050it either way. And so if we can plan it out a little bit better, I don't know that we necessarily need to do the full sum of what the assessment was, but maybe a portion of it to at least have some sort of cushion. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think it can we can do 400,000 435 at once. >> I also don't think we need to do 400,000, >> right? But having, you know, 100,000 in there wouldn't be the worst idea. >> Yeah. I mean, I'm in an alignment. I think adding funds and if we want to do up to an amount of, right, versus the sum of, then that gives us the ability that we can build it over a couple years, right? If any follow on assessments are smaller, then it gives us a

051allowance to build up the cushion. um re and I would say in terms of [snorts] I guess it comes down to in terms of importance and priority right it's reordering where that falls in the list of the warrant articles I I [clears throat] think is a different it is another question that comes in um because I would say you know I I would like to see a couple of you know if anything I would like to see what was it a warrant article like nine be higher on the list >> just from it's the technology >> just from the the hearing Brandon talk and understanding you know and just doing a little bit of my own research so um where it can be covered and then maybe we could do a you know and build

052into it I I'm all for it. Okay. >> So, how much is in the building maintenance capital reserve fund today? >> Right now, um >> Mark, >> we have 375,000. >> And the capital improvement >> capital improvement is 323,000. >> That's the one that we're using for that we can use for pre-construction, right? >> Correct. And then building repairs, you're targeting CHS roof replacement five years down the road. >> Yeah. >> Or parking lot. Yeah. >> That one I think is pretty important. >> Yeah. I I think article seven is pretty important. >> Yeah. >> I would agree. >> And all of these say raise and appropriate, right? They're not based off of >> we still appropriating it from the end of the year expenditures. >> Okay. Is there eventually language that comes? I feel

053like I thought there was from Andy. >> So if you keep going down in the article, it says with the sum that come from the June 30th fund balance for trans July 1st. >> So maybe flip seven and six and do a 100. Does that make sense? >> Maybe flip seven and six and do a 100. Oh, and put put a 100,000 in article six. >> Yeah. I'm of the opinion that I don't know that's even too much, right? I mean, I think we need to start to build it, no doubt. But is 100,000 too much? >> Yeah, I I was thinking, you know, 50 50,000 range or even 25. >> I mean, >> did the 250 we did last year, for whatever reason, I thought that was separate. That was a raise and appropriate

054compared to raised it. Right. >> So, are we not looking to do that this year? This year, we're looking >> Well, we can do whatever you want. Last meeting, we did talk about trying to do it all from under spend this year because we tried both approaches last year and while that one passed with the tax and it it uh as like raise and appropriate, which is great. I feel like our sensitivity to the tax rate increase this year, it made more sense to try and tackle that through >> um through the fund balance at the end of the year. We could certainly go back. We have the same language from last year. we would just >> or is it because we're we've already raised and appropriated it. Should we just continue that because the

055tax impact for that's already taken we've already taken that hit. >> I mean that's that philosophy, >> right? Because we're not asking essentially for new raise and appropriate it's continuing which is the taxpayers have already approved that >> right >> but are they going to >> you're still going to see I think you're still going to I know what you're saying and you're correct like that. I want to double check on what we have to show from that test an estimated tax impact because we're read >> it's not zero. >> Yeah, it's not zero. That's what I mean. Yeah. Yeah. >> Like it would be like the point >> I don't know that I don't know that the taxpayer would would under >> that's what I worry about. Like your point is 100% correct and

056I believe in but I don't know. I think people are going to be so sensitive to anything. >> How much would we be >> that we raise with taxes that's not >> the big three that like I don't know if it passed. How much would we be giving back if we did all this from under spend? >> There's no way we don't know until there's no >> not yet. >> I mean, there's no guarantee. Why the like order here is important is because we may not have enough money to do all of this, right? Like this is dependent on having the underspend. like we would like to get to the point where we like improve that underspent number where it's not where we were the past couple years in this district, right? >> So we

057don't have this massive underspend to do all this stuff, right? Like it's right, >> you know, you have about 400,000, you do about 200,000 of this stuff and 200 back to the taxpayer. Like that's a good rhythm to get into, right? Like and we're working towards that. So we've put some big numbers here. There's no guarantee we're even going to hit them. That's why the order is important. >> So we're going to move towards if we you know not if when we achieve that we're going to move towards having to raise an appropriate from taxes for for things like this >> for this I think we're also doing some heavy lifting now to get your reserve funds to appropriate amounts right so you don't have to do this every single year right like we did

058that with special ed last year so like we would only have to revisit special ed for that amount of money if we actually take that money out >> so that's my question right So looking at that and knowing knowing some of the articles that we have in front of us and knowing special ed as an example and seeing that back on here, do we even need special ed, can we remove that? Do we even need capital improvement knowing that what's in there? Can we remove that knowing that we have knowing that we have GNS? >> Yeah. Like if if you're asking my opinion, sorry Sarah Puller, I would say cut the special ed out, >> right? That's my that was my reaction. So why are we asking for special >> edition? I we left it

059there for a discussion point here, but if you're asking my advice, I would advise you to cut it. He did a good job. The district, the community did last year with that warrant article. We put some money in there. We were fortunate that all of our bets last year worked out. We didn't have to access that money and we're trending in the right direction this year. Now again, special tricky can change on a dime, but right now we're trending, knock on wood, really good direction there. Again, I would I would >> I just want to make sure of one thing though. We you are proactively working to change up our sort of staffing equation because we have so many unfilled positions, right? And that's largely how we've been able to why it hasn't been a

060problem when things shift or change, right? Are are you comfortable because the special ed thing I mean the special ed thing scares me because that's one thing that could just in the blink of an eye it can change drastically. >> Right. We've seen that in districts across the state. >> And we're not it's not like we we are sitting on reserves that are >> sufficient to handle two or three movements. >> Yeah. We're about one and a half s highest case worst case not worse is I don't like to use that word but highest costing moveins. We're sitting about one and a half, >> right? which is not bad, but I mean it's not but I just want to make sure that like because again we got a lot of moving parts here and you're

061doing a great job of trying to pair things back. But just keep in mind you're pairing things back. So that extra money that is, you know, we're able to pull from those things won't be there. >> Yeah, I think we're okay, right? Like again, knock on wood. I think we're okay. And we have put just a little bit. This was a small amount here. was $50,000 which is not a small amount but it's a small amount for these type of placements with the idea I think we were that would get us to be more comfortably at two out of district placements if it came to it right that would put us over $400,000 in that account it's a little over 200 when you factor in you know tuition transportation for these type of situations we'd

062have two in our back pocket if needed right um and we've really trimmed down those budgeting you know just remind everyone a special ed specific specifically is down like $400,000 proposed for next year right now when you factor in that and that's because we are seeing a decrease in the out out of district tuition and associated cost with it right um and there's a number of factors to that but um so we we are going down in that area in general but like again it can change on a dime like and that's the trickiness of >> if you're comfortable with I mean I agree that it'd be good to remove it I I would love to >> or move it up to that other article will use that money in six >> move it up

063to the other >> like let's talk about that separately right so if the board's comfortable let's scratch article 10 >> yeah I'm comfortable >> what is the what is the board uh position on article eight >> agreed I think that I think that for this year we have how much are how much money I guess the question is how much money are we expecting for pre-construction services >> so the board approved up to 225,000. Um, and we just So that's going to bring that down to about 108,000. Um, taking in account the 11,000. >> Is there is there anything else? So, is there anything else like at the beginning of this project that we would need this money for in order to lessen the tax impact? I mean any any dollar in that account you

064can use to let like if you go back to article one built into that article one is you're taking money out of that account to offset whatever bond you want to do. Right? Like let's say that you're using round numbers $100,000 left in that account. Right? You in article one can say you're going to take out that $100,000 and apply it to like lessen the bond by $100,000. Right? Um, so last year, >> but that doesn't help you with this article because you can't factor that money in into that. >> So all this is doing is giving you what it is is kind of like in allowing you to just like put some extra. It's not >> I know that we can't rely on it, but it's just but it is one other place to

065just be cognizant of. So because the other concern that we had with the bond was the timing of payments of the bonds. Have we have we figured that out? >> Yeah, we have a schedule. >> You've worked with uh Kim Kleiner in terms of when like tax flow and stuff like that. >> Yeah, we've had some preliminary conversations and she told us some issues with the >> She was concerned about that last year. >> So, we would absolutely go that go through that. >> Okay. Cuz I just want to make sure that we don't need to be like relying on an account like this to make a bond payment. >> No, we met with her probably about a month or two ago at this point. Probably longer at this point, two months maybe. Um, and

066she spoke of specifically of that that the proposal from last time had some timing issues with the town being able to transfer the money into the school district to pay for the bond. So, we took those notes and have them to make sure that doesn't happen when [cough] we set up the bond. Right. [snorts] >> So, if we don't need the if we don't if if we don't there's not a need to add more money to that, then I agree. I think it's >> well I I guess >> I would be okay leaving that one on but at the bottom I think if there was money left over I mean you know from year end if we got to it it would be nice to put more money in it because I feel capital improvement

067if we had to it is renovation of existing facilities it could be used towards a roof >> technically it's not just building and repair for the roof it could be if we needed that there so if there is that money at the And I don't think it's a bad thing to transfer it over. >> So it's trying to limit the number of articles. >> No, I get it. I hear you. >> That was really >> I and I honestly I I hear you too, right? So >> yeah. >> So and and so I think I'm in alignment with Heidi, right? I I think one of the things that we should think about is what do we want to set as call it an upper limit for these types of funds. >> Yeah. >> Right. So

068for like special education, you had two, right? Is is like a good number just to have in our back pocket. What do we want the capital improvement to be at? What do we want the building maintenance to be at? >> Um and for that, right, this is where I agree with Heidi of if we just drop that to the bottom, right? And then if even if we wanted to take that and say reduce it down to I I think uh Julie you said it was like 120k left right after we pay after we pay Haramman. So put in 50k to bring us in around the 180 range right just something in case something comes up and then it's a lower dollar amount. Um, >> the other thing, and I I hate to be negative here,

069but got to think of all scenarios, right? >> Is [clears throat] if you leave that warle article on and the building doesn't pass, you've put more money into that warrant or into that reserve fund that if you go for the building again, say the next year, right? You can take the money out to offset that bond in the future year, right? Like, so it's like protecting you of that. Now, one of the things in general here that we didn't we didn't do this last year. We talked about it last year. We didn't do it. We didn't put it in these warles is percent caps, right? Where you can say a percentage of like you can cap the amount of money you're taking out to up to 50% of what's remaining at that time. And you

070may want to do that with some of the lower ones to ensure that you're giving money back to the taxpayers, right? Um because if you don't put those percentage caps in here, you could be in a scenario where you've spent every penny of your underspend and you're not returning any to the taxpayer in that situation because you've tied it all up into these warrants and stuff. Again, we can talk through some of that. You might want to do that for the bottom one. Like if you're to move this to the bottom, put a 50% cap in there, right? So it ensures that you're not >> that we always have something in there. >> We've done that in the past. like a 50 2030 I think is what we did. Yeah, I >> mean, article 8,

071the spirit of article 8 or the intent of article 8 was always for >> GMS, right? That that's what it was for, right? And if we're talking about roof and while, you know, other kind of infrastructure type of needs, that's really what the building maintenance reserve fund is for. Now, I get it. Could capital improvement be used for those purposes? I guess technically, but that wasn't the spirit or the intent of that, right? And I guess my view is because we're potentially likely going for a renovation project for GMS, why also have an article for GMS? >> I think only the only point that just resonated with me was the point of if it doesn't pass, >> if it doesn't pass and I like the percentage idea, but what is that right percentage and what

072would that >> Right. >> It sounds like we all agree that one if we have it at all would be at the bottom, >> right? Yep. >> And I think it sounds like, you know, it would be a lower percentage or lower dollar amount if it's there at all. >> Okay. So, let's shift that to the bottom. >> Yep. Agreed. >> Right. Let's drop it to 100,000. >> Yep. >> Yeah. >> Right. >> I would even say 50 if we're >> Everyone's okay that we can revisit. We're not voting on this tonight. So, >> yep. >> Okay. So then [snorts] I do I I would like to see six go to 100,000 or I mean if you think less that's fine. I mean I guess in a in a worst case scenario if we're looking

073at 100,000 [snorts] like if we had to hedge 50 to find like to try to find in the budget. Do you think >> I would like to see 50? >> Right. >> I think if it came to came to it we could find it right. Like and when I say find it I don't want I want to be careful here. Like it's not like we can just find random amounts of money, >> but like >> other things. >> I think the the benefit if we were in that situation because if playing that situation out, we would be doing that because either of an assessment or we've changed insurance providers and something happened, whatever the case may be, >> we would value taking care of that situation before and freezing other aspects of our budget so

074we could shift the money over and take care of it. Um I think freezing a budget and then finding 50,000 for everything is something we can do, you know. Um just to like talk about scenario we literally went we did this year like we did put a freeze in our budget. This is stuff that happens behind the scenes like where we told everyone in the district you are not spending a dollar until we solve the school care thing, right? Like when we were looking at that assessment thing and so we froze our budget so we could not buy stuff in case we needed to use money from this year's budget, right? it's not how it played out. So now, you know, people could go back and and do some different things. But yes, I think

075we could figure that piece out. >> Okay. So I I agree that 50 is probably a good number. >> Okay. So let's do that. And again, we're not voting, so let's just see where that lands. >> So do you want the 4725 plus 50 or do you just want 50? >> Just 50. >> And [snorts] back to Dan's point about the technology. What has the board thought about changing the positioning of the technology fund? Well, I I think that's just by the other decisions that we just talked about. That's going to move up anyway, right? If we're going to drop article 8 to the bottom and we're going to get rid of >> Yeah, it's going to move up one spot. >> Yeah, it's going to move up one. >> I think that that's really

076as far as it can go. >> I I and I would agree with that, right? is I think it needs to be before the capital improvement, but um it it's naturally we're we're reducing one and shifting the other one to the bottom. So, >> okay, >> article 7 I would just put out there for consideration when we did this last year and we did raise and appropriate the amount rather than having it come from year end funds. I think we had talked about if I remember correctly, I'd have to go back and watch the video. The purpose was to get this so it is was a habit. So, it was a regular >> that was >> yes >> that the habit of it was >> because we >> and I'll just say it because the

077district hasn't been the best at doing the repairs and putting aside money for future repairs as needed. I think it's important that we keep that consistency for the years forward. And so, if that one isn't going to be year-end funds, I don't know if that changes the order of it. It comes up above. But that would be my only thought with that one is I'm not again I I understand why it says year end funds but I think it has to be a priority. >> No, I agree because I think there should also be a record of the voters. If if we're going to be accused of not maintaining the district, then there needs to be a record of them voting to approve us to maintain the district. >> So, do you want to see

078it like last year's? >> I'd like to see it like last year's and I'd like Yeah. Okay. Yep. Did you get all that? We went back and forth on a lot. >> The only thing if the [laughter] only thing I couldn't get actually I guess it doesn't matter if you're going to see both versions of it with the the building repairs one so we can work on the order next time like where we want that final that article to final to be in the end. So okay >> the build the building repairs isn't you said that's moving up if it's raised from taxes. Right. >> Correct. So that's going to automatically move it up. Right. My question was going to be, did you want to flip six or seven? >> I don't think we need

079Yeah, I don't think we need another bill. >> Nope. Just do that one. >> Just do that one. Just one. >> Yeah. [snorts] >> Same amount as last year. >> Yeah. Keep it consistent. [cough] [clears throat] >> And then we would do just the other one. So that's going to come up and then we're going to do insurance and then just tech if that other one has come up because we're not going to do special ed and we're not going to do capital improvements. >> Well, capital improvements we're still discussing whether we want to drop it to the bottom. >> Oh, we're going to drop to the bottom. >> Yeah, that that's going to drop to the bottom >> and we're going to put that as 100. >> That's going to be reduced to 100.

080>> Okay, got it. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> All right. So, if we can make those updates um and if I can ask for the updates to be shared with me so I can get it over to the budget committee in advance of tomorrow. >> Yeah. >> Right. Because uh they've been active and asking for a pre-eread of these warrant articles just to start to get familiar with them. >> Yeah. >> Thank you for that. >> No problem. >> All right. Anything else on warrant? All right. Open enrollment. So, this is more of an awareness thing. What what's linked there is the open enrollment case. um that's between the Pittsfield School District and the Prospect Mountain School District. These are both districts that are up north um in the state. So, open enrollment is just

081a pretty hot topic from a legislative standpoint right now. Um there's been some movement. So, f first this particular thing, this particular court case, but Prospect Mountain is an open enrollment school district and Pittsfield um is nothing, right? They're not open enrollment. they're not not in open enrollment. And so they had um some students who lived in Pittsfield enrolled in Prospect Mountain, which they can do because it's an open enrollment school. And Prospect Mountain went to Pittsfield for the bill and said, "You have to pay us because we've accepted these kids as open enrollment students. Therefore, you have to pay their tuition to us." Right? Pittsfield said, "Nope, we're not going to pay you that because they chose to go to your school. We [clears throat] didn't send them to your school. if they want

082to go and pay the tuition, they can pay the tuition. So that resulted in a law school lawsuit between the two districts and the families that were involved and ultimately came down on Prospect Mountain side, which means Pittsfield has to pay the tuition bill for these students to attend Prospect Mountain. >> Full tuition bill. >> Yeah. >> 80% sorry. >> Yeah. >> Um doesn't include transportation, but it's whatever their tuition that the tuition like we set a tuition for our district and stuff, right? um which one kind of shocked a lot of people in the education community um because we have a lot of other practices in our world that that's not how things are handled when it's comes to special ed placements and CTE placements and all these other things. So it was kind

083of surprising to us um the case is being appealed as you would expect. Um so maybe that that decision is not going to stand or whatever the case may be. Um, but it did kind of just and with all the other legislation stuff going on in open enrollment, we need to make school boards aware that this is all going on and right and your vulnerability or opportunity or however you want to view it that open enrollment potentially could be. One of the RSAs or one of the laws last year that was passed was that we have to have every district has to have um a budget line for open enrollment in it and you have to fund it. So, we put a dollar in and that is the kind of standard for school districts across

084the state. Um, and right now there's a lot of different legislations looking at open enrollment. Some are expanding kind of the rules and kind of the the functions of it all, defining it better. Some are putting are proposing to do a committee study of it. Everything you can think of is kind of coming through the legislation like right now. Um this was been a heavy conversation up at my level, the superintendent level on what districts um want to do about it because it just there's a lot of uncertainty around the rules of it. Like we haven't we haven't seen really technical advisory about it from the DOE yet, which makes sense because there's not really hard and fast laws for it yet. So I think everyone's kind of kind of waiting and seeing what's kind

085of going on. We as a district, uh, there's only two open enrollment districts in the state. One is Prospect Mountain and the other is Franklin. Um, they're both schools up up north. Technically, we could have a kid from Lichfield attend one of those schools, you know, and then based upon this lawsuit, we would have to pay the tuition to 80% of the tuition to those schools for our kids to to attend there, right? in our specific specific situation. Um that's quite and remember we're not on the hook for transportation. So that's not likely to happen because the kids would have to get to and from there every single day and that's a long drive and and the practicality of that happening is is not high, right? Um, and there's kind of been like uh I

086don't want to say like gentleman's agreement, but I will say it between the schools in this area that like we're all going to kind of wait and see how some of the legal stuff plays off and not put anyone in a tough or vulnerable spot yet by declaring you're an open enrollment school and screwing other districts over without knowing how this is all going to work, right? Um, and this is different than like what Pinkerton does. Pinkerton has private school capabilities. They're an academy. they they play by a different set of rules. When we have kids from Listfield who attend Pinkerton Academy, they're paying their own tuition. Like we we don't pay that tuition or anything connected to that. So that's a different kind of local version of this that that's very different and stuff

087like that. And they kind of straddle that private school, public school kind of they're a unique entity in the state period. Um so I want to bring this to your attention just so you start following some of the legislation around it. Um, at some point we may need to declare what we are, right? One of the things that schools are looking at is their capacity on how many um, kids they would be one willing to accept in an open enrollment situation, right? What would your cap be? Like for example, maybe our open enrollment cap could be 10 kids, right? We'd be willing to accept 10 kids into our district for open enrollment. Now, that sounds great, but like we don't get to pick those 10 kids, right? Like we they come in and whatever they

088come in with, >> we're we're covering the costs, right? Like we're we're we're getting that money from somebody or whatever the case may be, right? >> 20% of the cost. >> Covering at least 20% and then depending on how these court cases kind of go. >> And they could be special education. >> Could be special education, right? And the ruling in this is that special ed is dicey. Like no one knows the answer to that yet. So that's why I like proceed with caution. On one hand, it could be interesting. We're a smaller district. I could definitely see some advantages to where our location is and like the size and our capacity of welcoming students into our school. But we also don't want to put ourselves in unfortunate financial burden because um maybe a student's

089coming in with expenses that or unique needs that we don't have programming for right now, right? And we wouldn't be in a situation to turn that student away, right? On the flip side, we would have to declare whether or not we would be ascending school and we would allow students to to leave us, right? Like you could say we are a receiving school but not ascending school. And there's been talk about everyone declaring themselves receiving school and everyone declaring they're not ascending school, which means >> nobody can move. >> No one can move. [laughter] >> Now, I don't think that that makes sense, right? Like >> it's a way around the rules. >> Pitfield declared as a ascending school. >> It declares nothing. >> No, >> they're neither. >> So, if you don't declare as

090>> if you don't declare, >> you're just on the hook. >> You're on the hook. That's why this was kind of shocking to us that there's reading through it, right? That was a part of the follow-ups in the legisl in the legislation of that whole thing. Does that undeclared get you into a rough spot? >> Right. >> So, our rep state representative is on the education committee. He may be a an asset to get additional. >> Yes, we we've actually had offline conversations about this a little bit, you know. Um, and just like I'm all for looking at different things. I mean, there's versions of open enrollment that exist right now. Like the CTE stuff is an example of this, right? Like we have kids who go to both um Alvin and Pinkerton, [clears throat]

091right, for CTE education. We pay a cost associated with that that comes out of our budget. It's not 80% of the tuition. I'll tell you that it's a much uh more reduced uh rate than that. Um for for kids participation in those programs and it works incredibly well. Um, I've been in situations from special ed standpoint where schools have talked and from best interest standpoints where we've come to different agreements where for particular kid this might be the best thing and this is the the situation between two districts and this is how you know money is going to exchange hands and and stuff like that if it's needed and everything. Um, so there's been a lot of examples where this type of minds like I understand where the idea is coming from like I I

092think there's good intentions behind it. there's just a lot to be worked out for before trying to do this in mass to make sure that kids schools aren't aren't vulnerable one way or the other to it, right? Um so I think we just have to be careful. I want to make you aware of it so you can follow it. So when we do have to take action, you know, we're ready to make that action. I want you to think about, you know, the possibility of being an open enrollment school, being a sending school, what that all means, is that stuff um you know, that we're going to be kind of interested in. We just got to be careful that we don't accidentally like there's real interestingness of of being in our situation and being able

093to have additional kids in the building in our buildings, but just like also not making sure that we're not jeopardizing us from a financial standpoint, >> if that makes sense. >> So, is all of this on hold while this this is appealed? >> No, all the legislation actually is like ongoing, right? like this is all all going and um it's kind of all moving at at like you know jump in jump in like >> it's going at a really rapid pace and districts are scrambling cuz things are changing so fast that we're like okay where do we go first we had to okay we have to have a budget line but it can have a dollar okay but now now we could be on the hook if we have a student go to Franklin now

094like and Franklin just quickly put in a policy to be the an open [clears throat] enrollment school and have like no kids not be ascending school so that [clears throat] they were not on the hook for it. Like I think some people are moving a little too fast because it's still uncharted territory that we need to really research so that we can make sure we're making the best decision for our district in both ways. >> And it's like receiving >> say it's also not just a matter of changing your policy. You actually do have to have a warrant article as well that there's a lot there's a lot of things that you have to do that >> but this wasn't a New Hampshire Supreme Court case. Are they appealing it to the US Supreme Court?

095That's the next step. >> I do not know with certainty. So this is all like rumor and gossip. I don't I have not spoken to anyone from these districts. >> We don't have an appellet level. So if you appeal from a lower court, you appeal the New Hampshire Supreme Court. And if you want an appeal from there, >> Yeah. Yeah, you're going to the US Supreme Court essentially, which this doesn't seem like a federal issue. >> District thing. It's not a district. >> There is for federal issues. This doesn't this was not in federal court. This is state court. So, it's a state. >> I've been told this is not done. Now, that may be just like, okay, the >> you know, >> there may be something else happening. >> All the little gossip when

096we're texting each other be like, can you believe this court case? Oh, yeah. That's getting appealed. Don't worry. >> I just when I see a New Hampshire Supreme Court brief written out, I mean, that's that's usually for most cases, that's the end of the road. >> Yeah. So, and maybe that's what it ends up being because obviously this is could be costly if they're going to pursue other things. But, >> um I think there was a general kind of eyebrow raising that that's the way that this thing fell. So, >> so that was a lot of information. >> Yeah. [laughter] >> Right. I mean, so should the board be prepared to make decision and if so by when? I would advise you not to do anything right now like because the the legislation that's being

097develop there's so much different legislation being developed right now, right? >> Like Sarah said, some districts are rushing to get warrant articles in >> and I think that would be unwise because we just don't know what you're committing to yourself to with those warrant articles, right? There just needs to be more definition on how open enrollment's going to work, right? Before you declare yourself as an open enrollment school that you can look at your capacity, too. So, you could do it by grade level, right? Like you could say, okay, we could get two second grade, we could get four fifth grade, right? Depending on what your [clears throat] numbers are. So, like there's just a lot to look at to rush to get a warrant article cuz you don't even know what that's going to

098say yet. >> And we really don't know the special ed pieces yet. >> Yeah. >> Which is like >> I really don't want a warrant article this year, >> right? Like [laughter] >> you're just trying to reduce that. >> And like one of my my concerns is like because as like high-end administrators in education, we're a little dicey in what all this means. And so putting a Warner article into just people who aren't in this world every single day and asking them to decide because like and I I don't mean this in a negative way. If I'm just a random person and I see like Yeah, open the doors, let more kids come here, right? Like that sounds great, right? Like I can understand like in our position, >> but as a taxpayer, I don't

099think that's great. >> Well, people may not Yeah, exactly. Right. Like they may not understand what that really entails. It's not as simple as just open the doors and let people in, right? like there's all sorts of other pieces attached to that impossible commitments on our part to educate additional students. So like we just have to be careful that like we understand the rules fully before committing to anything here. >> All right. So let's keep this discussion going and add it to a future agenda. >> Yeah. I mean in general I would encourage you to follow what's going on legislationally in the education world. Um, I say this a little unjust, but I don't like this the SAU consolidation thing, I think it's real. And for like a smaller school district like this, you want

100to pay attention to what's happening there so you don't get eaten up in the big process of things, right? I'm obviously biased because part of that is eliminating the superintendent job, right? Like, so like I have feelings. Um, but [laughter] but like removing that. I mean, I did look at what early retirement looks like [laughter] a couple weeks ago. Again, I say a little bit of this in Jess, but just like for a smaller school district, like because they would do that by county, right? And like that is gaining real momentum and like you're in a county with a lot of big school districts, right? Like I don't know if the needs of Lichfield are going to be met if you're also trying to meet the needs of Hudson and Windham and Londereary and all

101these other districts, right? Like you just got to be careful and kind of think these things through. We are spending a lot of money on education in the state. It is an issue. I don't want to pretend that it's not, but I don't want us to rush to rash decisions that actually makes make it worse for everybody. So, and I like working here. I would hate to to lose my job. [laughter] All right, that's all I got for that. >> You know, our taxpayers aren't looking for us to be absorbed into >> Yeah. >> Um, so next thing I have is just budget update. I don't have any new information. We we're going to budget committee tomorrow night. Nothing's changed since when we last met, like no different anything unexpected or anything like that. So,

102I had that as just a placeholder, but unless anyone has questions teacher contract numbers yet, >> or are they going to see them for the first time tomorrow? >> Uh, they're going to see them for the first time tomorrow, but I'd like to share again the warrant articles with them. >> Yeah, I mean, that's public. Anyone can see it, and that has the real numbers in there. So, >> no, I know they were >> they were asking >> anxiously awaiting. Yeah, I have not specifically sent it in an email to them with that. >> That's all I got. >> Let's talk about solar panels. >> Okay, we'll turn it over to business administer Darling. >> All right. Well, um, one conversation actually kind of goes with um the open enrollment piece that we were just

103discussing is the tuition rate setting. We're going to revisit that. Um I did provide um some more information um with regard to the cost per pupil. Um so we do have a a linked document there um that basically has the breakdown of how um the DOE um arrives at the number that they do um for cost per pupil. is basically taking all of the expenditures um that are related to pupil costs um but then it um takes out food service revenue, transportation expenses, and then supplemental expenditures. Um and so I just did a kind of a a few different scenarios that you could look at um with regard to setting tuition rates. And this would of course just be for um regular education um non-resident [clears throat] students. So unlikely that we would take students

104in this situation. It would be more of a EFA situation honestly like the student had an EFA now that we do have the ability to accept tuition from those students. Um so I did reach out to um legal to see if there were any parameters um with regard to the school board um making the determination on cost per pupil. And they did say that while most districts do um use the DOE formula or some version of that [snorts] um there are no restrictions. So it really is um the the board's authority to set that tuition rate as you see fit. >> So our last discussion was you know what are the actual costs right and making sure that we're at least thinking about that as a part of uh the tuition rates as we or

105before we make any decisions. So this what you have here is what the DO E says it should be, >> right? So at the top where it has the current expenditures, that's where all of the numbers are going to be coming from. Um and then the at the bottom is where the adjusted cost per pupil. Those are the um rates that the DOE uses for cost per pupil. So that's deducting out the transportation, supplemental expenditures, and food service revenue. Um, if you wanted to, you could do the other scenarios where you're just taking out transportation. Um, or you're including all of those costs. >> I'm a simple math guy. The cost for me is the dollars we spend divided by the number of kids, >> right? But I mean, I do think with all the

106recent past couple years discussion on food service, right? like that should be part of the equation, right? If we're going to be running at a loss for food service, like that should be part of the factor. I I I would think. >> What goes into supplemental expenditures? [clears throat] >> That is a great question that I would need that the number um that's provided for the supplemental expenditures is provided by the DOE that comes out of our DOE 25 report. Um I don't have the exact um amounts that that the things that come from that. >> I imagine that's stuff like our legal >> I was gonna say I'm sure a lot of it is more administration fees >> like it's not necessarily the administrator themselves but like our legal expenses the the fees to

107run elections that like we have a little dollar amounts to >> to do that type of stuff. >> I don't know about that stuff but I would definitely say food service and transportation. Those are direct student related costs [snorts] that >> would impact. >> But if someone is coming in from with a tuition rate, they're not going to have transportation. They're going to be self transported. That's why those costs are backed out. >> True. So, I guess I think I'm in agreement with you, Heidi, that transportation would not would come out, but everything else would stay in >> because the our ability to do these other things, the supplemental expenditures still would be required. >> Sure. >> Okay. Any other thoughts? >> Okay. So, if we can adjust those numbers, >> okay, >> we should

108be in position to [clears throat] make a motion at our next meeting. Sounds good. >> Does that timing work? >> Yeah, we we [clears throat] don't have anything pressing right now. Perfect. Absolutely. Yeah. Okay. >> And then the next item I have is the safe grant. Um the application is out right now. Uh we are looking to um apply for some of that safe grant funds. Um we've had discussions with our emergency management team. Um I have a couple quotes that I'm waiting on. One of the items was another repeater. I think it was for LMS. Um, so Mr. Bernell is getting that um, quote to me. Um, and then we're also looking at some additional cameras that are needed and um, all three schools. So getting quotes for those as well. Um, another item

109that I was going to actually discuss tomorrow at the emergency management meeting was um, perhaps um, addition to the blue light system. I know when we did um, you know, one of our drills, there was some discussion about maybe having some lights that are a little bit different. um that might be able to see them a little bit better outside. So um I do have a uh someone's working on a quote for that as well. Um but those need to be um submitted by um December 8th. Obviously very timesensitive. So um I'll be getting those applications in. >> Okay. Thank you for all your hard work with that. >> Sure. Solar >> solar. Um the state fire marshall has approved um the electrical plan [clears throat] for the battery that um dynamic grid will be

110building for us. Um so at this point um we're still waiting for the permits. That will be the next step in the process. Um and the battery plans um are being shared with the building inspector. Um some of the um items that the fire department here wanted to make sure were done as far as the site work was um perhaps having to cut back some more trees and having some more clearance from the site. Um so that's um information that we'll need from the building inspector. They'll let us know what [snorts] that um how how much you know square how much square feet we would need to clear of that. So, um, that will also be the next step so that we know what else they need to do for their site work. [snorts] >>

111Okay. >> Was there a state building inspector that had to look at this, too? >> Uh, no. It was just the state fire marshal, a local building inspector. >> Do we have a local building inspector? >> Yeah, we do. >> He's great. I just talked to him. >> Okay, great. Is there a way to get the electrical plan or the battery design plans from dynamic grid? >> Yes, I have them. I can >> Okay. I would I wouldn't mind trying to take a look at those. >> Okay. I have no idea what I'm looking at. That's >> good on you, man. But [laughter] all you all you All I um Oh, I'm sorry. I did have one last item. Um the town to school payment um we um set the payments before the tax rate

112is set. So, we just set that until December. So, now we just need to do the rest of the fiscal year. So, I did attach um what we're proposing um for amounts that we'll be asking the town um to pay the portion of the local taxes. I did send this to um the town administrator to look at to make sure that she [clears throat] didn't have any issue and she did not. So um if the board is good with that um I would just ask for approval. >> Okay. Any questions on the schedule provided? >> All right. Uh I'll enter a motion. >> Motion by Mr. Shoemaker. >> Second by Mr. Plansky. Additional discussion. Okay. All those in favor of approving the uh town to school payment schedule, please say I. >> I. Opposed. Abstained.

1135-0. >> Thank you very much. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. Uh we'll turn it over to Dr. Taylor for an update tonight. >> All right. So, um it's busy as always in CIA world. Um the biggest thing we're working on right now, um is the upcoming December 22nd and December 23rd professional learning days. Um I sent out earlier this fall a professional learning needs assessment survey to all the staff to see what they were kind of seeking to um have provided for professional development overall. And um there were three kind of strands that stuck out. So that's what we're going to do for the morning of the 22nd. We're going to do um professional learning breakout sessions on personalized learning and differentiation, building AI capacity, and then um using our digital tools that

114we have. So, it's going to be a nice morning of learning. Then, we're going to do our um instructional resource inventory in the afternoon. Um then, um the 23rd is going to be a really nice wellness day. We had a great one last year and we're going to continue that cuz we got a lot of very positive feedback from all the educators and how that day went and we'll do a student connection activity in the morning. Um that's led by Superintendent Okonnell. Um a dance party might break out again on the stage. I'm not sure. Um that happened last year just imprompted. [laughter] >> We led we came in to singing what was it like celebration or something and then Val and I went on the stage and ended up just dancing it up. It

115was quite fun. >> Um so yeah um really excited for those two days. It's going to be a great um >> what's involved with building AI? uh building AI literacy just um AI has become very prevalent in our world and um I've actually done a lot of research and I've gone to workshops and things about it because um it's embedded in a lot of things that we do and there are a lot of companies that are saying we want people coming to us that know how to use it like [clears throat] um There are like Wells Fargo and um other there were three other companies I just went to a workshop a a few weeks ago on it that are actually requiring all of their employees to go get trained on prompt engineering and all

116and to use AI. They're like you will use AI. So when we're talking about building our students to be future ready, we have to build ourselves to be future ready. And then we have to decide what does that look like for our students and what does that look like at each level, you know? So, um just kind of start to build our capacity in that like cuz we need to cuz they're using it, right? Do you use it? >> No. [laughter] >> Smart answer. >> Good answer. >> Really? And it's not a bad thing to use it, but it's teaching how to use it. And I went to a really great um workshop on not using it as a butler. I loved that analogy, but using it as a thinking partner, right? Like don't just

117say like do this for me, right? Like how do we teach people how to work with AI to make it so that it's a thinking partner and a back and forth kind of collaborator as opposed to write my essay for me. Right. So, um those [clears throat] it's been very interesting and the landscape is very interesting. >> It's interesting you say that. Even my company is uh mandated that we they're having KPIs for us to to use AI this year. >> Yeah. Yep. It's it's there. It's out there. So, we need to gear up and get ready for that so that we can try and I mean I would say keep up, but we're starting from behind. But, um, we need to recognize that it's there and how we can model and teach best practices

118for its use and what it's there for. It's not there to do work for you, right? Like, so what is that? What does it look like? >> Yeah, thank you for that. That's good. >> I'll be interested to hear the outcome for that. >> Yeah, >> I have a uh question for you. >> This is not This is not This is more of like a precursor to you know, you don't have to answer this today, but we kind of talked about it a couple weeks ago. >> Um, you know, when you first came on, like we're talking about what does success look like in Lichfield, and you've been doing a great job of trying to build that. I know we're working to improve test scores and doing a lot of great stuff. Um, you know,

119this I'm only bringing this up because I just happened to be on Zillow today and was looking at Lichfield Real Estate and you scroll down and you see that we have a >> five out of 10 for GMS and LMS and a seven out of 10 for CHS and um, you know, I know that ultimately sometimes those things are that's based off of great schools which I was trying to read about their algorithm and they [snorts] claim that their methodology continues to move beyond proficiency and standardized test scores. the latest methodology prioritizes student growth through measures of equity and school quality. I don't know what that means. However, I do think um it would be really interesting to know what those are based off of and why we're reflecting as a five out of 10

120for an elementary school where we have great in middle school where we have great teachers, right? And and great students and stuff like that. Um so I I know you have nothing else on your plate right now. nothing at all. I was waiting for something. >> But there there seems to be great schools in the like niche or something like that. Um I get it. I get it. But like look at the end of the day like it's >> people look at look we all do the same we look at it. Right. Right. >> I think one of my frustrations is there's stuff like just just like out of your control. like the niche one niche one would always drive me nuts when when I was principal at bow cuz maybe I was a little

121competitive with Oyster River where I used to teach and like we would get hurt for like silly things like we weren't diverse right it was like yep we're in New Hampshire I don't think we're ever going to score high on diversity >> yeah I mean it would be I would be you know I think that when we talk about the the general public and how they view a school district right >> I don't know that they're digging into our state testing scores I think that are logging into this, right? And so if we could at least have an understanding of, okay, yes, it's not we're a town of 8,000 people. We're not very diverse. Well, that's fine. We that's hard to change, right? But >> if there's things in there that we can be changing

122that move us from a five to a six to a seven. Um, you know, I don't think we're I don't think any of our schools are a five out of 10. Personally, >> I agree with you. [snorts] I just >> um I I would say is that like Andrew's company my company has gone to the point of we have built our own AI repository because I can't use globally globally public ones. >> Yep. So with that um we've read in some very interesting cases of where uh of howing of how to protect our company from nefarious use of AI. >> So I I think just I would caution to we need to do it but we got to learn how to protect ourselves against it as well. >> Absolutely. myself, Karen, and Brendan have already

123met and we've um looked at the school board association's AI policy and um we kind of flushed that out a little bit and then we're talking about once that policy comes to the board and goes for approval, really fine-tuning procedures and um really looking at those protections. like Brendan's all about data privacy and all those things and um really [clears throat] gearing um our users to use Gemini as opposed to ChachiBT for example because Gemini is within our Google suite so we can it's more it's closed and it doesn't keep it can't >> record how you're using it for its learning purposes. Yeah. >> Right. So um he's definitely looking at that and we're looking at that. That's why like that's part of building our own AI literacy capacity, right? Like what does it mean?

124Like if you are trying to respond cordially to an email you got and you're putting it into chat GBT for example and you're copying the whole thing that has names it has you know like oh you don't want to do that but people don't understand that >> they're collecting that data on the back end right unless you're told that. So that's where these kind of PD sessions and all of that kind of stuff really are important. >> Yes, there there's >> Yeah. And I will look up great schools for you. [laughter] >> You're welcome. >> Dr. Taylor tonight. >> All right. Thank you as always. Appreciate it. Uh we have the minutes from November 19th. >> Motion approval. >> Motion by Mr. Shoemaker. >> Second by MS. Additional discussion. All those in favor, please say

125I. >> I >> opposed. Abstain. 5 Z. >> I >> Oh, you're absane. Okay. Yes. So, >> I wasn't here last meeting. >> That's right. 401. >> Thank you. Uh policies. We don't have anything for first or second read tonight. >> I just have one note on policies. We did get the New Hampshire School Board Association update. We're currently applying that to our policies. So, you're going to see a bunch in the near future based upon their updates. >> Nothing too bad. It's actually all not too bad. It's very minor things. >> This is like It reminds me of doing laundry. Just like never goes [laughter] away. >> I legitimately love it. Like I'm not just saying >> you have 260 plus of them. >> It was like my my CAGS like big project. >>

126They all required updates. >> Like I I love it. I don't know. I find a phone. I'm a dork. [laughter] >> Just kind of like I want to see the battery design plans. [laughter] >> I should just email them to you. They're all there. >> All right. Old business. >> Uh enrollment. It's enrollment. Nothing drastic. Yep. Um >> GMS project. Just some general updates from when we last meet. We're going to do our next community forum on uh Monday o Monday, December 15th >> at 6 p.m. We are shifting to the CHS auditorium because our hope is to present the cost of the various options, which we figure might attract some more people. [cough] Um so we're having a bigger venue. We're going to record it. We're working on that with uh with John and

127stuff like that to make sure we can record it. Um, it's going out in the Union Leader like we did last time. Um, in that kind of weekend, whatever you guys call it, the Nasha Hudson weekend edition thing that people get here in town, >> Nasha extra. >> Yeah. Um, putting our big boards up around town. We got those printed off today. We're got to laminate them tomorrow and then get them out. And >> you signed a big orange board. >> Have not located big orange Ford yet. No, sorry. Um, so we're making progress on that. We've met with the group, I guess, advisory group. I don't know, however you want to define it. Um, the 20th was the last time that group met. Um, we're waiting on the numbers from uh Harvey right now.

128They've told us by the end of the week and my fingers are crossed that we get it by the end of the week. Um, they deliver on that. So, like I said earlier, as soon as I get them, I know that's the big piece. I'll send out >> I did want them and I made that known. [laughter] >> And correct me if I'm wrong. I think Herman said they needed them for a few days to >> Yeah. >> I'm still going to I mean to the board. I'm going to when we get them, we're going to share them with you so you can start wrapping your head around it and stuff like that. So, [snorts] um >> they it it sounded like they were going to do everything in their power to at least maybe

129think about having them by today. >> Not here for >> I don't The guy from Harvey said, >> "Yeah, he was >> absolutely positively not going to get him by the [laughter] third." >> I was pushing him. >> He made no bones about it. Um but they have been good to work with. Harvey's been great. >> They they've had a great track record of delivering things when they said they would. So >> yeah. >> Um just I guess just in general just I had a lot of stuff going on during the last forum. How did it go in general? >> I mean we had good turnout. You know we had more people than before. I think it was positive. We had a bunch of staff. You know I think >> because we're talking about educational

130>> um considerations that attract staff, right? We did have people obviously be on the staff that were there. >> Um tried to present you know essentially the two options like the um solely at GMS, work solely at GMS versus work both at CHS [snorts] and GMS and tried to show what the considerations are for that and stuff. So um hopefully we can have some more people next. I think cost is going to be what attracts people, right? Like that's what everyone's waiting for. Um because you need to do that analysis like I I think because people are creatures of habit. They like the the way that we currently do things, right? You know, um whether that's a staff person, whether that's families that have kids in the system, whatever the case may be. Um but

131they got to factor in the cost difference of of the two things, right? If they're the same exact cost, I think people lean one direction over the other, right? >> If there's a huge discrepancy between the two, people are going to go for the cheaper option, right? If it's that sweet spot where it's like, huh, we really got to weigh the difference in cost versus the educational considerations, that's where I think healthy discussion is going to fall. So the cost piece is the major part now and then kind of seeing where it goes from there. So >> Okay. >> Yeah. I mean, this next meeting is really important to attend. >> December 15th, we're trying to sort of >> get it in here before Christmas obviously and busy Christmas times. I know there's concerts and

132plays and everything else going on, but people can come out for that. Is there is there the advisory group meeting before then? >> Yeah, the 10th. >> The 10th. >> Okay. I >> think we sent an invite out. I know. I know. >> And that will be on. >> Yeah. >> All right. Thank you. Uh then we have job description updates. >> Yeah, this is from last time. Um you know, the board asked us to go back and revisit a little bit. Um we did go ahead and send them to Peter in advance. He had the most questions. So, and I think you were pleased, Peter, with the and stuff. So if the board has any other feedback, we're happy to apply it. But if not, if we could have you vote to approve the

133updated job changes from my side. Any >> other comments? >> Nope. >> I have a motion to approve job descriptions for technology director at IT Tech. >> Thank you. Motion by Mr. Shoemaker. >> Second by Mr. Plansky. Additional discussion. >> Okay. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. I. >> Opposed? Abstained. There you go. Zero. >> That's it. All right. Uh we have the manifest this evening. Uh, and so with the manifest, do we have three signatures? I know as the names departs. >> Yeah, that my final gift. All right, thank you. >> You're welcome. >> You're up. >> So, we have uh several accounts payable tonight. We have accounts payable for $41,69.73. We have another accounts payable for $58,764.68. Another accounts payable for $26,5731. and uh a fourth accounts payable for $16,560.98.

134Uh we have a payroll of $424,84145 and then 403b of $9,859.86 and that covers it for manifest. Uh we will move into our second round of community input this evening at this time. No. Okay. Uh there is no other community input this tonight. Uh, and we'll shift gears into schoolboard comments. >> I've commented myself out. >> Commented myself out. I didn't know we were going to be wishing Heidi well during correspondence, but >> No. No. Well, I figured that was I couldn't read that I had sent it to you and not read what I said. >> So, yes, >> I think Don has >> I have some on what you spoke of earlier, the ratings of the schools. Yeah. >> So, I heard niche was mentioned there and I looked at uh niche for some

135of my colleges. So, I um I'm looking at this is our overall Lichfield School District. We're rated as a C++. Um then I have all the ratings here. Now, I don't know what it's based off of. I don't know how this was rated, but um our academics are a B, teachers are a B, clubs and activities are a C, sports are a B+, resources and facilities are B minus, the food is a C, administration, [laughter] I'm calling them tomorrow about that. >> YOU HAVEN'T TRIED THE COFFEE YET, RIGHT? [laughter] Administration is a C minus. College prep is >> old. [laughter] This is like old stuff. This is why I get a little like whatever. >> Fresh last week. [laughter] >> I'm telling you. And diversity obviously is a COS. >> Okay. Yeah. >> Yeah. >>

136That's that's it. But I I would be interested to know how they measure those things though. Like >> like the niche, too. >> I would love for you to know. I looked at my previous school that I came from which was Bishop Girtton in Nshawa. So like the comparison that one is an A minus and then >> we're a C plus here in Lfield. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Appreciate you doing that. >> All right. >> Uh the board does not have any non-public business this evening. Uh but we do have the non-public minutes from November 19th. I'd like to move uh into into final voting for tonight. Uh we can do that in public session if there are no other comments or questions. >> Sure. >> Uh I'll entertain a motion for the non-public

137November 19th minutes. >> So moved. >> Motion by Mr. Shoemaker. >> Second by Mr. Clansancy. Additional discussion on those. >> Okay. All those in favor, please say I. >> I. >> Opposed. Abstain. >> Abstain. So that's 401. >> I have a motion to adjurnn. >> All right. Excellent. Yeah. That concludes our meeting tonight. Again, there's no non-public session for this evening. We have a motion by Mr. Shoemaker to adjurnn. Second. >> Well, Heidi, do you want to do it as >> second? Oh, sorry. I should Wait, no, no, no. [laughter] I'm good. I'm good. >> Second by Miss Ames. All right. Uh, all those in favor, please signify by saying I. >> I. >> All right. That carries 5-0. Thank you all. We appreciate it. Our next meeting is on December