001here at MT alongside her trusted partner, Mrs. Brown. Marilyn has been a steady source of care, professionalism, and kindness. Whether offering comfort, a calm presence, or expert care, she was always prepared for and always there for our students. The partnership she shared with Miss Mrs. Brown helped shape the daily rhythm of our school and will be greatly missed. Marilyn is also famous for her legendary cake creations, some stretching over four feet long, made to celebrate Matthew Thornon's milestones, birthdays, retirements, and countless special occasions. Through both her care and creativity, Marilyn brought joy and sweetness to our community. Her dedication extended far beyond our building. Through district travel, Marilyn supported students on trips to China with the LHSB band, as well as to New York City and the Rose Bowl, always going above and beyond. At
002school, her thoughtful and informative bulletin boards kept students and staff engaged and informed. As Marilyn begins her next chapter, we know it will be filled with energy and purpose. Whether she's teaching Zumba, working as a personal trainer, or enjoying time with family as her role as a grandmother, Marilyn, thank you for your many years of dedicated service, generosity, and care. You have left a lasting mark on Matthew Thornon and you will always be a part of our story. We wish you health, happiness, and a wonderful retirement. Congratulations and thank you for everything. >> Thank you, Amanda. Um, continuing on on the consent agenda, upcoming meetings. May 5th, 2026 will be a regular schoolboard meeting upstairs uh in the high school library at 7 p.m. And on May 19th, 2026, again will be a regular school
003board meeting up in the library again at 7:00 p.m. And on May 28th, 2026 will be adult ed graduation over in the gym at 6 p.m. Could I get a motion to approve consent agenda, please? >> So moved. >> Motion by Amanda. >> Second by Sarah. All those in favor? >> I 50. Thank you. >> Jump into committee reports. Our student representatives are here. Welcome. >> Hi. Um so this week at the high school, it's currently spirit week. Um we have a bunch of new days that we uh have done this week and we're really um excited with how they we hope that they're going to turn out. Um, in other news, we were approached by Miss Sullivan a couple weeks ago about helping her with her stepup day, um, and everything that goes on
004with it. So, that is a huge thing that we're, um, so excited to help out with now. Um, and next week, the music department is taking a trip down to Disney and performing there. >> And then also, today was the state science testing for juniors, which went well. And then also um voting is open for all grades um and student council for um board positions for next year and the results will be announced at the pep rally on Friday. Great. >> Excellent. Thank you. Appreciate the updates and uh hopefully uh the results of today's testing uh come out well too. I know everybody's been working hard with the science part of it. So thank you for that update. >> All right. uh school board leaison Sarah >> just have a quick few things um lendary
005middle school they are eighth graders are off to DC they left today and have arrived um SAS testing will begin the week of May 6th and the PTO is looking for leaders for next year so please reach out to them if you are interested um for the high school the PTO is looking for assistance for teacher appreciation week please reach out to them if you're willing to help out we have the thrift fair coming up on May 9th and uh the class of 2027. Um you should have received an email about senior picks. Um and those are the updates I have. >> Awesome. >> Thank you, Sarah. >> Commander, >> I don't have anything to say. Also, >> I've got a few for Matthew Thornton here. Uh they're in full swing with the booster thon.
006It's going really well. Uh wanted to give a shout out to KBD Landscaping. Uh, owner Keegan Demurs um volunteered his efforts to blow in the mulch needed to make the new swing safe for the kids. Uh, so that got that all set for them. Uh, the booster thon all their goal is $50,000. They've already cleared $40,000 with uh the three final days to go for the push into the Friday fund run. Um Bob and I were able to attend yesterday uh to greet all the kids coming in on the uh the pickup line, give them all high fives as they went into the school. >> Pause. >> Got the pause going. Uh so as far as what they're lining up for these um the funds raised, they have enough to go to uh new playground
007tables, courtyard benches, new flex space, chill zones, and a whole lot more that it's all going to go towards. Um they also have um they're getting all set for staff appreciation week, which is May 4th through the 8th. and they've already received generous donations of food for the entire staff from Chickfil-A, Tuscan Village, 501 Pizza, Lacaretta, and O'Shea's Coffee. So, thank you to all those local companies. Um, and lastly, uh, today I had the pleasure of joining the Mackie Thornton fourth graders as they went to the state house. They got to, um, visit with president, uh, of the Senate, Sharon Carson from Londere. Uh, also Sharon Packard and the speaker of the house along with Doug Thomas um, member of the house and then they got to go up to the governor's office as well.
008So, it was a great time had by all up there. >> Thank you, T. Kev. Anything? >> Uh, yeah. From North School, we just have a couple updates. One, they they wrapped up their fundraiser. I don't have the exact numbers, but they were able to uh, raise enough for two pieces of equipment, which will round out their playground. um the new playground that the PTA has been putting in. Um they also had a big turnout for their bingo night uh last week and they plan on running it again for the kindergarten first graders um this summer before school starts as kind of a welcome to the school. Um and they are looking for actively looking for lunch volunteers um to be able to uh work through on staff appreciation. >> Great. Thank you, Kevin. and
009uh South School attended PTA last night. Um their tall and small dance went very well. Um great turnout and then they also had their first uh pajama party. Um and what was nice is 20 of the high school volunteers from Pay It Forward spent time and with the kids and had a blast. So it was uh about a 2-hour um event and uh fun had by all. And then their big event coming up uh later in in May is their Hawks walk for inclusion and end of the year picnic on 529. So uh stay tuned for that. And uh uh they hope to have a a better day. Last year it got the late week and uh ended up being inside even a week later. So they're hoping for a nice day on the 29th
010uh of May. So that's what I had there on the town side. Um just uh some regular stuff going on. They're talking about their plan unit development process and changing that on projects moving forward and uh planning board was a big part of that. So uh stay tuned on some more information on that on larger projects coming to town. Uh that's all I have there. So we will now jump into announcements, presentations 5.1 curriculum associates press release. Mr. Thank you. Good evening. So, um, Curriculum Associates, who's the parent company of I Ready, has recently been named in a civil lawsuit relative to student data privacy and security. Um, we use I Ready to support teaching and learning and have been in touch with the company representatives and the CEO also issued a press release. Uh,
011they claim in um in this lawsuit it's meritless. um the um protection of student privacy they take very seriously. They had indicated that they do not sell student data ever. Um they do not use student data for advertising or marketing. Uh nor do they create commercial profiles of students. So London Dairy does have a signed uh data privacy agreement with I Ready and Curriculum Associates um which is secured and managed with servers uh in the US and the systems are regularly monitored, updated and tested for security. Our IT department also is on a list serve, you know, kind of monitoring these uh these things with all of the companies that we have DPAs with. Um in their press release, they've also indicated what student uh information is collected and why. So with the I Ready
012um they they request basic student information, name, date of birth, the school they attend, and then their academic performance data is loaded on that site, their their scores, the lesson pass rates, and that helps teachers support the learning as we as we talk about those um seasonal assessments that they take. Um and then they uh also acquire limited technical information, you know, the device or uh browser type, which they're using uh the Chromebooks for. They also have um full privacy policies in place um which are accessible to the public. So um this uh lawsuit as I understand it is out uh in California um from several families that are challenging this. Um but they have are vigorously um responding through the legal process. We just wanted to update the board in the community. Um again,
013we've been assured by our local representative and the CEO of the company that no data has been compromised. >> Okay. And and I'd say also, so remember all these companies that have to abide by the very stringent data privacy laws in New Hampshire have to go through this law firm, this consortium. >> So that they looked into this case, you know, they're they're keeping an eye on it. They said we we should continue with the relationship right now. If something changes, they'll let us know. >> Okay. >> Um and actually the the CEO's email I thought was pretty good. We got that yesterday. We can forward that to the school board, too. >> Okay. >> So, >> well, thanks for that update. Appreciate it. >> Any questions for Jay? >> No, thank you for that.
014But I found a lot about that online. So helpful. >> Yeah, >> actually. Um, so you said this is coming out of California. >> Yeah, >> that's specifically for the California Privacy um act because that's a lot more strict than the rest of the country. In fact, it's um I think it's actually on a par or stricter than even the um European Union privacy laws. And that's what they basically come around. So you have a right to see everything that's being sent everywhere. California kind of made that a its own thing. So if it's coming out of California, it may not it may be and I don't know the details of it, but we just want to be careful that their their laws are a lot more stringent than the rest of the nation as
015a whole, including New Hampshire. Sure. >> Um around who how they're able to um show that data back to the people who are requesting it. So I'd be curious to know if is coming out of California if that's what they're actually the root of the lawsuit itself is. Just a piece of data there that that's a different state law than everywhere else in the nation. >> Good point. >> All right. Thank you for that update. >> Um, New Hampshire reading lead podcast with Londereerry, Mr. Marin. >> Am I on there? >> I want to go. >> Yeah. Go ahead. Sorry. >> Sorry. >> He wasn't there today, so I put his name next to it. So last week um Emily Mahoney, Jennifer Fair, and Danielle Bowers socks along with uh Nicole Treadway got to participate
016basically in a podcast with the New Hampshire Reading League. Uh the reason why this is a big deal, you know, we've been talking a lot about the science of reading. Literally one of the main authors of the science of reading, Carol Tolman, lives here in New Hampshire. So this is this is kind of her baby, this this New Hampshire reading league. And what she wanted to do was kind of spotlight the whole district uh and kind of you know go through the journey of what we've been through the last five or six years around literacy. Um you know so uh Emily and Jennifer got to kind of share their perspective from the classroom. Danielle got to share her perspective as a reading specialist and Nicole got to share her perspective kind of on that district
017level of all the things we've been doing. So we thought it was a great way to you know to to celebrate all the hard work that's being done and also you know get some kudos from the New Hampshire reading lesson. That was a really nice event. Anything else you'd add Jay? >> Yeah. No, just that um kudos to our staff members. You know, this this is um this podcast runs nationally here. It was a big deal and um Carol Tolman and some of the you know, the guru was highly complimentary of the things that are happening in the Londere School District and with that staff in particular. So, >> always good ways to get stuff out. >> Yeah. >> Even with our own podcast as of late. So, if everybody at home doesn't know that,
018try to find it and look at our our podcasts that have come out. I think we've done two or three to this point and >> um >> we seem to have a lot of fun at it. >> We do. We're having a good time. >> Our superintendent with his jump shot. >> That's right. >> The last one. So, stay tuned. >> I'm willing to show it, too. >> So, if you visit the New Hampshire Reading League, that uh link is right there and it was a one-hour segment, but terrific work. Thank you for that update and it's great to see staff uh getting recognized in the district. So, thank you. All right, jump into that. Uh we're at six. I got public comment. I'll open public comment if anyone has anything to say. Seeing none,
019I will close public comment and move into deliberation. 7.1 Approval of Gen general asurances for the federal program. I did review it today, so I should be able to initial everything and drop it off tomorrow. Okay. And then so I went through last year's and the year before that. Nothing's changed. >> Um I see you've already reviewed it, Dan, and initials. So I'll get my initials on it and bring it by. >> Great. >> So we'll be all set. >> Okay. >> Um 7.2 CIP submissions. >> Yes. So, it's a time of year where the town is looking for the capital improvement plan proposals um from the school and various departments for the town. Um basically, it's an advisory docu document that we put together um to help the town in future planning um so
020that we're not all um proposing big projects at once and burdening the taxpayer. Um we bring them through. anything that we think we might bring to voters um in the next six years, we like to have in the queue um so that they can um plan accordingly on both sides. So, we are very fortunate um this past voting season, two of our major projects that we said were high priority, the full day kindergarten um and the district office passed. So, we feel very fortunate. The town was very supportive of of those things and worked with us to come up with solutions. Um but nevertheless, we still have to think ahead of what plans we have to come. So tonight, um before you are the we we presented five proposals last year. So the two that
021or the three that have not yet passed are the three that we were going to bring um to the CIP committee uh to present. Uh the first of which is the high school. Wait, is that right? Do I have it wrong? Okay. First of which is the high school. Um so we had a study um quite a few years ago that um basically talked about um areas of concern in our high school and we know that phase one is a major area of concern with what it was built out of safety things like that. Um so that is our first item that we want to have in the queue. when we got the proposal and did the facility study, they kind of gave us a super school proposal with all the numbers and also included
022an auditorium with that because it had been something that NAS um had reported as a deficiency for the past several decades I think at this point since we've been open. Um so we want to have those in the queue in the event that we're able to get some building aid and move forward or something more pressing happens with the um structure in particular. So we're going to do that. And then the other two are connected are two phases of a turf field proposal. Um we are working we commissioned a group almost a year ago um that we we believe in turf. We believe that it would be good for our fields for our players for our programs that it's on par with what a division one high school um should be offering and it would
023be an asset to both the school and the um community partners we have in the wreck programs. Um but we also realize it's a an a huge expense. So, we believe that given some of the um businesses we have in town and some of the interest that we we have launched um a capital campaign project to try and get donations to to uh fund both phases of this project. So, there wasn't an option in the new um application that the town has that said donations. So, I went with grant funding. I figured out was the closest because we're looking for we're looking to do our best to not have to bring this to voters at some point that we can um fund it with um donations. So, the first phase would be the field, the
024lights, the fencing to get players on the field, get that going, and then this and that's about $2.5 million. And then the second phase would be once we have that up and running to get concessions, the press box, the um more advanced seating um to add to that campus. So, those are the three that we would like to submit uh to the CIP group um with your blessing tonight. >> Yep. And numbers haven't changed from last year. We kept the same numbers. >> Yeah. So, >> 25 2.5 2.5 and 40 for the school. >> Yep. >> Perfect. Any questions for any? >> Nope. No, I just wanted to clarify too and just for for everyone listening in that those numbers aren't the numbers that are going going to a ballot rate along those lines. Those
025are the placeholders that we know about now. Nothing has been detailed out. They're longer term projects specifically the high school at least. And then as we said, we're going for grants for um grants donations for the field. So just clarify for anyone listening in that's kind of it's the long-term plan for the high school. >> We're not proposing a bill tonight. Correct. And and this is basically to your point, Kev, which is a great point, um advisory only. It's just to give the planning board and the town some guidance to what we're looking at so we can work with those entities on their needs and that and see what the priority is as a committee. And Kevin chaired it last year and uh hopefully we'll have that chance again this year. um to do that
026is just to kind of get all the information out to the community, what's coming, what's needed, and then uh have that over the for this next six years. So, great great comment there, Kevin Govern, on that. So, nothing is planned at this time. Advisory only. So, thank you. Um if everybody's good, um I think you're good to go. Okay. >> So, can submit that. >> Perfect. >> All right. uh 7.3 purchase requests. >> Yes. So, I have two. So, I'm going to I'm going to start with the less controversial one because I know there's some concerns about uh the copier one. But to start off, just to give some background about how we post our RFPs and and get proposals. About 3 years ago, our purchasing policy changed. Um the thresholds changed from when we
027needed to um um post an RFP and how we had to collect proposals. And we have been doing that for the greater part of three years. And I think we've done a good job um saving the district money um and choosing vendors that are going to support the vast needs that we have as a district. Um I also want to point out that though the business um office oversees these, posts them, looks at what comes in, I do not work in isolation. I work with the groups that these are going to impact um for um what we're going to put together in the RFP. What is the list of things? I look at everything through the financial lens. So, I don't always know like what version of equipment or what Joe might be looking for
028in buildings and grounds or Brandon and it. Um, so we work together. We use information we already have. Um, we build it, we post it, we set the windows, we have that first initial meeting. Then we have the period where things are coming in where we're answering questions. Most of the time the questions will come to me, but I don't have the answers that the people are looking for. So I will um send them to the different departments or I will ask the departments and forward off um what we're having and then once the window has closed sometimes we have a few vendors that are like hey um can you give me one more day because I I was out I needed to get this whatever. So we've been very flexible and I think we've
029prided ourselves in trying to have a quick turnaround with questions and filtering them to where they need to go. Um, and then once they're all in, we sit together as a team, whichever department it's it's in reference to, and most of the time it's it's usually it or B&G that have the bulk of these um projects that come in and we go through with whichever technician, maintenance person, department head, and myself as we go through and then filter through them and then make our decisions and and I draft the memos and bring them to the board. Um, so though I'm the one presenting, this comes from a lot of work um, for multiple people in the district and I really defer to the departments for the most part um, on who they think is is
030the best um, person to work with, the best value, the best service, all of those sorts of things. So um first and foremost tonight we have our last actually there is one more is the duct work that will be coming after vacation but um the three projects on the BNG capital reserve purchasing requests for tonight um were part of the B&G um capital reserve the vote that happened in March to approve these projects um and then they were posted in that same March 11th through the 23rd window. Um, so the first of which is an LMS bathroom floor epoxy project. Um, Joe and I went through them with his guys. Um, we had three bids. Um, and 603 epoxy was the lowest bidder. They also answered questions the best. Um, and we we would like
031to proceed with 603 epoxy. >> Any questions on LMS epoxy floor? Mhm. >> See, >> good. Um, I'll look for a motion to approve 603 epoxy for $16,75 for the LMS bathroom floor, please. >> So moved. >> Motion by Amanda. >> Second by Tim. All those in favor? >> I 50. >> Okay. Similarly, we have another floor project. Um this one is actually it's a pretty neat room that we've been you know chipping away at. A former locker room has been converted into a team room to get coaches and players down um there for more presence um to have a spot where they can go over some team meetings, films, all of those sorts of things. Um for this one um we only had two that put in for that. Joe reached out to the
032one of the companies that had put in for the one above um and they weren't interested in a project of this scope. So we only had these two. Um, and same thing, Joe would like to move forward with 603 epoxy. They had the lowest bid and he felt like they could meet the demands of what he was looking for. >> Any questions? No. >> Good. >> I will look for a motion to approve 603 epoxy for 17,110 for the LHS gym team room flooring. Please move. >> Motion by Amanda. Second. >> Second by Kevin. All those in favor? I >> I zero. >> Okay. And then finally, a big roof project uh that we're excited about. Um so, uh this is for the first grade, the current first grade section of Matthew Thornton. Um the
033age condition. We watched this one very closely throughout the winter cuz we were worried. Um so we were very excited to get this project done. Um and um it's coming in a little under what Joe had thought it was going to cost. Um but he felt good with all the proposals. Um they were going to put in tapered insulation, um replace the wood blocking, and then take out the old and put in the new roof so that we're ready for another New England winter. Um so we had three that put in Academy Roofing, Meansen Company, and Skyline. Um and Joe would like to recommend that we work with Skyline again. They're the lowest bid and they did a great job on our last project with them. >> Any questions? Seeing none, I'll look for a
034motion to approve Skyline Roofing for $324,450 for the Matthew Thornton roof replacement, please. >> So moved. >> Motion by Amanda. >> Second by Sarah. All those in favor? >> I I 5 Z. >> Okay. And this one is our next one is the copier bid. So this one I think there there may be some questions. Um we had one of the reps I think that Yep. Um Michael Shrimp is here tonight um from UBEO but just to give some history on this one. So we have had a relationship um with um NBM as our copier for I want to say almost two decades. It's been at least 15 years I believe we've been working with them. Um and they've had various leadership people that have transitioned out. um when the purchasing policy came into play,
035this was a little more complicated um to kind of unearth because we have copy leases, but they also don't all expire at the same time, which we have talked about um the past two years when we've brought this. Um the first year we brought this, we had a ton of people put in for them. Um and we quick quickly discovered, it was my predecessor, Lisa Mckenny, that there was um they're not apples to apples with with how they come in. Um, so MBM we have one price. Um, Lisa negotiated this several years ago to get this all in there because we would, you know, have our our budget for printing and then all of a sudden we'd get a budget for service, um, unaccounted for copies, all this sort of thing. So, we've worked to
036bake it all in so we knew what those costs would are so we could plan for it during the budget season. Um, this is a highly coveted um, contract that people want. In addition to it being a highly coveted contract, it is something that is imperative to the day-to-day operations for a school system, whether it's the academic or the business side. If the copers go down, we are going we're going to feel it. And the longer they're down, the more painful it is for wherever it is that that's going to happen. We know that MBM responds to us right away. We know the relationship we have with them. We don't have any complaints about it, especially as we've worked out things. last year. They were one of two people that put in for the bid.
037Um we pushed back cuz we only had two. We asked if they could include paper cut. We negotiated. We were able to get some um leeway and get some more things um with them because they house our fleet. They also help us tell or they tell us like what is up in the fleet like what do we have? So we get the list from them of what we need to replace. So I do use their information to create the list of what we need for the RFP. They do not have any say in sitting in any of the meetings with what we are going to look for. They don't have any other say um in the process at all. Once they turn in their um proposal, then we have the other proposals. We meet in
038a committee. And for this one, we actually had to meet twice. Um I will say I know that there are some concerns from Michael. I I was really kind of um surprised by the way UBO came came at it because we have questions about this all the time. I had five groups that contacted me with questions that I filtered to the different spots. Um, one of them sent an email to me. I sent an email, sent it back to the group and he replied all. Um, that was something very disparaging to me. So, he decided not to put in with with that. Didn't like my answer to that. Didn't intend that it had gone to reply. All UBO showed up and had questions for me and what I thought was it was a representative. It
039wasn't you. It was somebody else who came in um and had a list of questions unannounced um and I invited them in. I had 10 minutes to talk and it started out right away very combative. Why did we have did I realize that the MBA MBM rep was on the RFP? Did I realize um how some of these things look like we were hiding things and things like that. So I said, "I have a meeting. Um I hear what you're saying. Happy to answer your questions. I would welcome you to put that in writing and get back to me so I can get the right people to answer your questions. He said, "I'm surprised you would want me to do that. Um, I thought a conversation might be better." And I said, "I don't have
040anything to hide. I don't feel like we've done anything wrong. So, I would I would welcome that to be in writing and then the people who actually have the things you're looking for will be able to answer that." About a week later, I got a from you um a 91 FOYA request uh for public records. It was a day that the office was crazy, but it was the week that the RFP was closing. So, I didn't want it to come across that I wasn't answering um that I was omitting documents and information that they were asking for. So, I gathered everything from our IT department um from the different pieces. There was a lot of paperwork. It didn't all make sense to me, but I put it all back to there and I replied to
041you and said that I was surprised at the approach. I had never had this approach before. Um, but I didn't want it to appear that I was not on the up and up. So, here's the information. And if you need anything else, please let me know. You replied with a lovely email saying, "Thank you." And it ended saying, "I have all the information I need. I don't need anything else. We look forward to working with you." And that's how it ended. Um, so I had all this information. I brought it to our committee to look through. Um, we determined pretty quickly that we didn't want RICO machines. And one of the one of the groups that put in one of the three only put in RICO and then UBEO put in RICO and Canon Sharp
042sorry and Sharp. So um the two that I defer to Brandon and Ryan were like we really want to work with Sharp if we're going to make changes to Rico's in the future. Um that's a bigger conversation. I don't think it's something we want to do at this point. So I did not put your RICO one in because in that group we had decided that that wasn't the direction we were going to go. That's on me. Um I could have put that. Rico are cheaper, but we felt the maintenance and what they have would in the long run they hadn't performed as well for the volume of things that we go. Um so then um we we go through and it becomes really hard for us because NVM one price covers all the copies and
043the maintenance and the things like that and paper cut. Um so then we try and price out based on what the bid says um what you know our overage cost would be. Additionally, both the the two that we hadn't worked with um we do we ended the meeting going through some of those calculations knowing we were going to have to have another meeting but because we hadn't worked with RICO or UBO before we wanted to look and see if any surrounding districts um were using them if they were able to meet that volume. So I asked my NASBO group nobody was um in my group and Brandon couldn't find any other information either. Um, so UBO had kind UBO had kind of come to us because they knew somebody in the office. I had actually
044encouraged that person, hey, the RFP is posted. Let's let's get it out there. Um, so we came back to the table. We did some calculations. I underestimated on purpose because I wanted to be conservative what our usage, maintenance, and paper cost would be for the other two groups that didn't include them. And this is what we came up with with potential numbers. also not knowing if things could come up in the future, things like that. um based on the conversation with the group, we felt like we weren't ready for for any sort of change with these close numbers that it would be a major undertaking um to to have a new group come in to work with service one that we don't know a lot about and then to also still be working with MBM
045with the other other things without a huge potential savings that we we felt that we wanted to move forward um with Northern Business based on our estimated calculations paper cut was in the UBO, but the cloud service we don't pay for now was not. Um, so so that that was where that was what the IT department had said for that. They weren't sure where that would fall in in the the breakdown of it. So we we we feel pretty good about what we're bringing forth tonight. Um, we are not trying to hide anything, not trying to cook the books. I've I've prided myself on getting back to people, being open. um when we have gone through the purchasing policy and wanted to go with something that was higher, we've given reasons why. Last year we
046went through something similar with the copers with the paper cut. So we presented then we took it back and we came with more numbers. Um we feel like um MBM's deal is fair. It's not an unknown. Um and there were several unknowns with the different ways the other things could play out. So tonight I I come to you looking to move forward with Northern Business, but I know that there were some current concerns that were brought to the board's attention. So um we have that as well. So that's the background. That's where we are in the business department with it and the coffee machines. >> Yeah. >> And I I know the school board and I we both got a similar email around 3:30 today. Um you know, so I I reviewed all this with
047with Ammy before we got here. I'm not inclined to to stop the process. Um, I think we did have a fair process throughout the way. I mean, I think a few of the things that caught my eye is, you know, I saw the email that AMD wrote that sent all the information we had and then at the time they said, "Yep, I have all the information and now they're claiming here it's not all there." That makes me uh curious about their business practices. Um, but I think too it's like what I heard from the business department along the way was just I would say unorthodox business practices, you know, trying to bully their way into our business, you know, which is, you know, I guess it's one way you could do it, but it's not
048really how we do business in London area. We're we're an open book. We have a very good policy that the school board put in place. We follow it all the time. It's led to good contracts. We have actually changed a lot of vendors in the last couple years. You guys have been part of that process. >> So, we are not beholden to anyone. We're always looking for the good value for the taxpayers, but also something that's going to help us be a good organization. So, we feel like we did that for this one, but we're happy to answer the questions the school board has. >> Any questions? >> Thank you for being so thorough. >> Yeah. >> And and I will hit on what the superintendent said. We have a process in place. You trust
049your people to do their job. We have proven that we've gotten better product, maybe at a slighter cost for the district, for our taxpayers. We've gotten other products at a substantial savings. It's good business and you guys have to be comfortable that they're going to service you and that's what you've built on the prior relationship. This was a fair bid by everything you've explained. You followed our policy to to the tea and so hasn't staff along the way. So, um, kudos to you in that. I, for one, being a businessman of the long time, um, would be appalled at an email like that to one of my employees, as the superintendent just stated. And I personally would not do business with that company. So, I will support our people all day long that follow the
050process and try to do the right thing. And I applaud the superintendent for sticking up for our business administrator and all our other departments as well. I think the process is fair. We we are open book. We've proven that to our community. We are here about saving every tax dollar or using it wisely in areas we can't save where we can do business that way. So that's my opinion to the email that we received today and thank you for doing a great job. >> Thank you. So, um, with that, any other questions? I will look for a motion to approve using Northern Business, um, for this RFP, uh, of a monthly total of 9,875, please. >> So, moved. >> Motion by Amanda, >> Second by Tim. All those in favor? I >> I thank you.
0515 Z. >> Thank you. All right. 7.4 tuition amounts for 2026 2027. Okay. Based on our updated policy, I'll try and make this simple and if I lose anyone, please let me know. Um, you know, we have to make a tuition rate now. Um, so I think there's two ways to do this and there could be a third way. If the school board has other other ideas, we can base it off of Hooket U because we have a tuition rate right now or we can kind of base it on the state calculation of what we spend per student. Um I think they each have benefits. It's really it's really uh what the school board's most comfortable with. So uh the reason why I bring up the the hooks rate is that is a rate we've
052known for a while. It's out there publicly. Next year it'll be 17,910. Uh what's interesting about that is if you look at what our pure pupil spending is, you know, the high schools at 20,3365 adequacy is built into that. So actually the lendary taxpayers only pay 16,000 of that, you know, so there's the differential right there. So if you wanted to to build the tuition rates off a hook set, the high school is very clear and then it becomes very confusing. Get eight. So what I what I try and argue is you can base it on a ratio. Um if you turn the the page over um you know the hook set is about88 ratio compared to what we spend. So you can take that same calculation and then base that off of our uh
053state tuition spending. So that would that would make the high school rate 17,910, the middle school rate 16,828 and the elementary rate 20,299 if you like that method. Um, that is a lot of math, a little complicated, but it's it's kind of based on what we already do right now, which is why I I recommended it as one option. If that's too complicated, um, I think the easier way to go is just say we'll base our tuition off of the per per pupil spending. Um, I think the only, you know, the the only drawback to that one is we don't have a good reason of why it's different than the Hookset rate. If you're at the high school level, um you could say that um you know the reason why Hookset has a rate is
054they're coming as a group and you're getting like a a group discount in some ways. Uh so it's a little bit different. Um but then that rate would be 20,365 1919 and then 23067. So those are two possibilities. They're fairly close, but they're a little bit different. So it's really wherever uh the school board is most comfortable. >> And why are they looking for this? So remember in in our last when we updated policy JF fab staff would have half of that cost. Got it. >> So we have to base it on something. We've never done this before, right? >> So this is a new practice for us. We have to start we have to start somewhere. >> So I tried to I tried to come up with at least our past practice when hookset
055was the closest thing. >> Sure. >> Um and we don't normally have uh kids K to8. I I I can't think of examples. It's usually high school where people come in. So we always use that hook set rate in the past. But we need to come up with something for K82 then if because it does seem like there are some staff that' be interested in having their K8 students with us. >> I I think it kind of makes sense with the hook set, right? >> But option one, >> I would agree with option one. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> You guys agree. >> Yeah. At the 88. >> Okay. So that's what we'll we'll run for next year and then we'll just base it off that and if things change things change, >> then we
056can change it, right? Okay. >> Sounds good. >> Yep. Option one it is. Okay. Uh 7.5 Matthew Thornton summer project contract approval. >> Yes. So um when we were planning for full day K it was clear during budget season that we were going to need to renovate an area of the building at MT to make space for two additional classrooms. So Paul Marines, who had been our resident full day architect um along the way, um did some plans um and then worked with some different groups for estimating on what that would cost and to make sure that the timeline could be adhered to because we have a very small timeline to get this done. Um and in that he found that Morren Contracting Services had the the best bid and could adhere to the timeline
057laid out. Um they've been great to work with so far. Um but we they're looking for us to sign a contract so that they can get work started July 1st and be ready uh to roll so that the classrooms are ready to welcome the students at the end of August. So um what I attached in the uh in the packet is the proposal of everything that they will do um and then what the costs are. Um there was an addition we we added um some money on to it for the alternate of um getting some more natural light. We discovered that there were some windows into the hallways that had been covered over with like um almost like plywood um that that we thought would be good to bring natural light into that. So that's
058the audition that they had. Um the exclusions are there and then I have the uh the AIA uh contract in more detail if you guys are okay signing it tonight so that we can proceed and be ready for that work. So, the total you've got here is 166,420 and then the extra just under 5,000 for the lighting. Is that correct? >> Yep. 4,979. >> Yep. >> For some 32x 32 um window um piece of the tempered glass. >> Yep. >> To let some more lighting in. >> Yep. >> Okay. So, roughly 5,000 more. So, about 171,000. >> Yep. >> Okay. Any questions? I think we had about 200 in the budget, right? So, we're coming under budget, which is great. We had >> said 200 and there might be some incidental things that come across.
059Just keep us updated and >> and we'll work with you on that. But, >> um, any questions on about 171,000 for >> Matthew Th? >> No. I'll look for a motion to issue a a contract to MREN Contracting Services for the work at Matthew Thornton. Um I should probably have the total laminity. Do you have that please >> with that additional >> I do I just have to find the motion. >> It's 171399. >> Thank you. >> So I'll look for a motion to issue a contract for the work at Matthew Thornton for the amount of 171,399 to contracting services. Please >> move. >> Motion by Amanda. >> Second by Kevin. All those in favor? >> I 50. Thank you. Um 7.6 girls ice hockey team co-op with Alurn and Salem. >> This is very
060exciting. Uh Jimmy was at a track meet. So uh we walked this in tonight uh so we can get this um hopefully approved by you tonight. Um but at one point we were part of a girls hockey cooperative. It kind of went by the wayside. there weren't as interested girls, but it came to the athletic director's attention um late this fall that there are some uh eighth graders coming up into 9th grade that are ice hockey players and would welcome the chance to play. So, Jimmy did some research. Um and then in this Salem and Alvin would love to be a co-op with us. Um it would be about a $1,500 cost for our three girls to play. Um if somebody were to move in at some point, that that could go up. But, uh,
061the way Jimmy described it is usually it's something that you don't just decide you want to be a girls ice hockey player that they we would have a way to kind of know who was coming up, uh, for this and then moving forward, we would make it part of the the budget um, process to factor in the number of players we would have. >> Great. Any questions? >> Great. >> I think it's great. Yeah. Opportunity for three three girls. So, >> absolutely. Um, look for motion to uh approve uh the girls ice hockey team co-op. Please move. >> Motion by Amanda. >> Second by Sarah. All those in favor? >> I I >> Thank you. >> Yeah, we're excited. >> Yeah, it is. >> All right, moving right along. Jump into the superintendent report. Uh,
062third quarter financial amity, you're still at the >> Oh, boy. Um, yes. It's the moment you've all been waiting for to hear how we're doing. Um, in all seriousness, quarter 3 is a super important time for us. Um, because we're out of winter, um, we we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, so we have a better idea of of what we're projecting to have and what we need. Um, so as we look into where we are or where we were as of March 31st, um, we did have an increased winter maintenance impact. We had to address some snow removal that we'll talk about later. there were some overtime costs because it seemed like every storm came in on a weekend um and required things like that. Um but even with that,
063we still feel like we're in we're in good shape. Um the general fund revenues are looking to run about $400,000 over projections. Um most of that is from increased special ed aid and then interest earned. Um you can see the chart um on page on the next page, table two um that kind of shows you where they all come from. On the expenditure side, we're thinking we're going to have about 700 to $800,000 of of surplus left. Again, most of this comes from staff turnover that we've had and then the related savings in benefits accounts. Um we are thinking, you know, that we will have um an increase of about $800 to a million dollars, but then remember we had about three thou $300,000 of uh the surplus that we're using to fund some of
064our capital reserves. Um so those will be used uh to offset some of the costs that were approved by voters. Um and then if you look you can see where our capital reserves have been. We have at the next meeting we will go over the withdrawals for this year. So um you'll know where we are with those. The revenues are there. And then as we look more specifically into our expenditures, we have um about 1 point almost 1.9 million savings in um professional staff support and custodial combined. Um that is that is what most of the surplus is is coming from and then the related benefits um things that the related benefit savings that come with that. Right now for the subline, we have about $118,000 left, but based on trends and the way that
065spring operates, we're anticipating that we'll still be over about $75,000. Maybe not. We'll really get to see how how those impacts of the increasing the sub rates and changing some of the things we did over the winter. So, we we'll keep an eye on that. Um most of the benefits are about $700,000 under um from the taxes and retirement lines. Um but again we have health insurance that has run over significantly um due to the assessment that we received the $2,16,000 and remember 672 of that um came from the general fund. The other piece came out of our retained fund balance that you voted on last week. We also have $23,000 of retirement benefits that we're obligated to pay and we have about 25 retirements that are coming through. So that's what accounts for that.
066Um we had several purchase services lines for student services over budget. Um hiring contracted services for paras psych and nursing and increased legal fees. Um we had some staff gaps that we needed to fill. So a lot of that savings of $800,000 for the support staff is covering some of those overages. And then right now out of district placements are about $162,000 over. Um, again, when we budget, we we don't always know what's coming to us from IEPs or students that move in, and they're difficult to predict. Um, professional services in the office of the superintendent are over about $160,000, but a lot of that was because we knew we were doing some future planning with the architecture, engineering, things like that, um, to get plans ready for for the vote. Um, and then the
067repairs and maintenance line, um, vape detectors, middle school generator things, and then most recently the snow removal that we had to do at Cell School is is what has knocked those things up. It software continues to increase every year. The prices that these companies charge seems to go up up. Um, and we we do our best to adjust and predict that that's coming. Um, but yeah, that's that's where the overages are. You can see in table four where we have our surplus in some of those accounts to cover the overages um that are listed at the last half of the table four um more specifically. And then the dining service program ended last year with $277,000 um in its fund balance. A lot of that fund balance has been dwindling down since we were reimbursed
068for free meals during the COVID era. Um, now as it's coming down, as we're back to regular practice, um, we continue to see a loss. Um, we're thinking it'll be about $110,000 of a loss this year. Um, we'll still have some money in that fund balance, but we have to work really hard to start to get more revenue generation for our dining services. And Crystal will be presenting to you on May 19th with some ideas that she has. Um, there's increased food costs and shipping and all all the transit of things. Um, so we are likely looking at having to raise some of the prices for lunches for next year as well, but she'll get into that when that comes. Um, but that's that's where we are financially at the end of quarter 3 and
069quarter 4 is, you know, is passing by very quickly. >> Concerned with anything going the the last quarter? I know some out of out of placement out of district. Is that number a little bit higher? >> It's definitely higher than where we want to be. Um, I don't foresee of any new ones coming, which I think is good. Um, there is $220,000 in a reserve account if there's any if there's any issues. Um, obviously student services is something we want to work differently towards. Um, I think Ammy and I have been working with the current director and the future director so that we're ready uh to not have um some of these big overages. I think contracted services uh we just have to do things differently. Uh there certainly there might be some we cut
070right out of the gate this summer and just kind of reduce uh on. I think we are actively talking about how can we use our current staff a little bit differently and make sure we kind of focus on need rather than just buildings. So I I think we're ahead of many of the things that are on this list, but it's obviously concerning knowing how much tighter next year's budget is. So we don't want to be in a in a in a bad place. >> So I actually had a comment about that. So, and I apologize because I know nothing about finance, but I think it would be helpful to tease out the out of district placement >> into grade levels or elementary, middle, high because we have all of these multi-tered systems of support that
071we've put time and resources into, right? So it would make sense if we were seeing that middle and high school, but like we would expect that that should be tapering or preventing that from happening in middle and high school going forward or >> y >> we need you know we had talked a little bit Dan about >> a different model in terms of and and we obviously talked about the MTSS um a lot lately but um looking at a model where you know we have an intervention team and then we also have like a behavior coach like maybe that's not a BCBA, but it's like a first responder. And like, >> you know, we have a we're able there's a a huge trend of kids who are nonidentified coming into schools that are requiring intensive
072supports in essentially using a lot of resources from from special education, but they're not necessarily special education. >> Got it. And so if we were able to tease that out financially, I think we would be able to see like is what we're doing working or where do we need to put those resources? Because to your point earlier about contracted service providers, you know, I'd go in and charge as a consultant, my company would charge 150 grand, >> but like I was making, you know, half of that, you know, cuz they're you're paying for that person, that person's boss, that person's health insurance. So like ultimately, you know, even though we want to stick to the budget, you're ending up spending less money if we >> actually hire our own people people and build that model,
073which we're doing. >> Yep. >> But I think it could be a different way. I think that needs >> is it an 18-year-old who's having aggression or is this >> Yeah. >> a fifth grader that we didn't get to. >> Yep. >> There there's enough time. >> Yeah. There's always a range we see. I mean, I think in terms of your your proactive questions, what I'm seeing at least at the elementary schools next year is I think we have the ability to kind of start to do what you're saying where we we do have someone on staff in each building who has a good focus of behavior that can work with more kids and it's around, you know, building the capacity in that way too and and getting everyone comfortable with that. So, I think
074that's that's the beginning and I think the middle school and the high school, we have to kind of really think through staffing and how that works to kind of make sure we can do that well, too. Just bigger buildings are just harder to do, >> right? And I think with a new director coming in, it'll be important, but like that requires the ability to meet and collaborate and train and spend time with teachers on classroom management. Like you can't overbook that either. So, we have to like be reasonable about how we do that because, >> you know, um, like we started a new system in Salem and we track office calls and the secretaries do it, but now we were able to see like from a data collection standpoint like how many times a day
075I'm called for people that are not even on anyone's radar, right? Not identified, no diagnosis. So, like we need to tease that out. >> And if you do that, then you can justify >> the time in in the staff people, right? You're going to spend less money over time if you have your in-house people, but those people need to meet and give feedback and troubleshoot and say what's not working. Like it's a whole >> I don't know. Sorry, tangent, but >> that's good. But not not to put Jay on the spot. >> It's but you know, I know you you've done good work with the MTSS committee, at least on the B side of things. They have the capability right now to kind of do what Amanda is saying. >> They do. >> Yeah, I
076would agree. >> Yeah. >> I think we still have work to do though. Yeah. >> Yeah. I have kids with full-blown behavior support plans that aren't even >> on anyone's radar. And then they graduate and they're still not on anyone's radar. And those are the kids that if you don't get to by the time they're 60 or 70 lbs in fourth grade, then then you're sending them out. And then in terms of their best interest, too, they could have stayed. They could have been with their neighborhood peers. They could have done public school. And now, >> you know, um I don't know area of passion. Sorry. >> Things things bubble up in the middle school for sure. That's usually that age, you know. So, >> and you're already talking to the new new uh pupil
077service. >> Yep. We've been having multiple transition meetings and kind of layering on all this big picture and actually Emmy and I did meet with her to kind of uh address the uh psych psych psychological services and our plan for next year. So, we we already kind of >> working. >> Yeah, we already uh undid what what's currently in place so that we have a better shot of being in with the budget next year. >> Good. Good. Mhm. Can I skip back for a second to the food service? >> Yes. >> Payment. >> Um, so essentially you said that we had this fund balance that was residual from the co era. Yes. 277,000 going into this year. >> Um, and this says 95 on here, but you said 110,000. >> So it was 95 for
078um, right now, >> but it's projected at one. >> Yes. I think by the time the year ends that's where >> so is the idea then that essentially what we're doing is by default we're still using co era money >> to supplement >> yes >> like we're running a deficit each year but eating into that balance. >> Yep. >> So are we planning on basically staging increases so that it's not a huge sticker shock once that 277 is depleted? >> Yes. So basically what happens anytime it goes in the red and there's nothing in the fund the general fund has to cover it. That's how the legalities work um with that. So we are trying like we probably have realistically two years that fund balance could cover a loss. >> Um so we are trying
079to strategically plan where we can get revenue. So part of it will be an increase in prices. Um because the food is more expensive, the transportation of the food is more expensive. So we have to adjust with that inflation naturally. Um but then the other piece of it is we got to find ways that the kids want to participate in the lunch program. So um we're trying to look at things the menu items that would be more appealing. Um food service does some catering inhouse. So using them uh for things as another way to generate revenue and then um in prior um leadership they had the vending machines which got a lot of traction. So, we're looking for ways to increase participation and revenue so that less has to go back to the food prices
080or and um come out of the general fund. >> And how much of that year-end um delinquent fund gets covered? >> So, I would have to look it. It's partly it's not like all of what we owe is there because some of them it's not a loss until they're not in the like our bad debt is a lot of people who have moved that we cover and pay moved or graduating or have aged out. We carry that debt while they're still active with the hope that we're going to get it back. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> All right. Everybody's good with that? >> Uh 8.2 to uh fall 2026 kindergarten enrollment. >> Yeah. So, just give a quick update of where we're at. Uh Matthew Thor and South School, North
081School all had very successful open houses last week. I mean, I was told that uh kindergarten and first grade parents came out in droves in all all buildings. So, I think it was great. Um and here's where kind of kindergarten enrollment is heading. Uh, so we have 88 kids at Moose Hillale now that are that are that are part of the the half-day uh program, sorry, that are part of the preschool program that would go into the full day program. Um, we've had about 105 registrations for new students um that are that are somewhere else. 48 of them since uh the March vote. So that's about about little bit little bit less than half of them. And then we have about 60 families that have at least said they want to uh come, but they
082have not finished the registration process yet. So, we're kneede with those 60 families right now trying to figure out exactly what's going on and try to help them get over the goal line. Got it? >> Because because if all of them show up, we'd have around 98 at Matthew Thoron, 75 at South School, 79 at North School, around 250. Um, you know, the big change from kind of like recent historical patterns is definitely South School. uh this year's South School first grade is only around 50 kids. So there's definitely a jump there. >> Y >> uh so I think I I think I think we are seeing the effect of just kindergarten could have been some of the driver of some of the things. Um and you know I think what we're just keeping an
083eye on is like okay depending on uh tracking down these families and completing registrations will be at five or six kindergarten classrooms at Matthew Thoron, four or five at North School and four or five at South School. Hopefully that is all kind of figured out by midmay. And then the other moving parts here are some families do live in North School but want to go to Matthew Thornon or live at South School and want to go to North School. So we have to kind of deal with the little shuffle there and then some of the programs and then uh retentions but those are generally where the numbers are at this point in time. I think we have a pretty good handle of it. We have a pretty good handle of hiring and hopefully by mid
084May it kind of calms down and the only thing that makes me nervous is obviously new people in the summer and be prepared for that >> that move. Yep. What has that number been the last couple summers? I feel like last year wasn't that a pretty good spike. >> Last year was the change. Um for the past couple years, we have we've been getting, you know, minimal rush for kindergarten in August. Um last year was a little bit different. We got about uh 15 kindergarten students in that August time frame. We had about 20 to 25 first grade students. So that was different uh from the last couple years. I can't tell you why uh but it just kind of changed. So that's obviously um what we need to be prepared for if if it
085does happen. >> Any questions, >> exciting >> think we're good and keep our fingers crossed, right? >> Yeah, exactly. Yeah. >> And that great update. I just wanted to hit on one thing that I didn't bring up um in the beginning was I just wanted to thank um Katie and Captain Chetum for the bring back the trades uh this past weekend. Was able to attend for a couple hours. Uh they saw a steady flow from 9:00 a.m. till 2 2:30. Couple of uh buses came down with kids from up north. Um but they estimated about 1,200 students came through over the 5 hours. Uh, Governor AOT was here for about an hour, hour and a half >> um meeting with all the business people and taking pictures. So, she spent a lot of time here.
086I want to thank her for coming down and um supporting uh that program as well. But I think it it just goes to show uh you know what we're trying to do here in London with our Lancer Academy and the bring back the trades. It's um you know trying to give our students um as much as possible uh to be successful. So, thank you to build back uh bring back the trades um Steve and his crew and um Captain Chetum and and Katie Sullivan for a huge success last Saturday. So, uh can't wait for next year. They're already in planning phases for next year to make it bigger and that. But parking lot was basically for vendors and a lot of outside stuff. Uh so, some good stuff. But thank you to all that um
087made that happen. Anything else before cab got anything? >> Good. >> You guys good? >> Good. >> Can I just say I just want to thank um the eighth grade uh teachers and Megan Nason over at the middle school for the CU for reality event that they hosted. I thought it was terrific. Uh St. Mary's Bank, thank you as well. their representatives worked with our eighth grade uh students um who uh were working on a two-eek unit really going through uh their they did a career inventory and a life worksheet that they had to fill out and I think it was really um again uh the the title speaks for itself I'll see you for reality when they're crunching the numbers on making a budget it was very eye opening and talking with them and
088thank you to our board members who were able to make that as well and just talking to the kids um I talked to one young and he said, "I I have $56 left over for the month and I pinched every penny." He's like, "I can't have a pet, but I have $56." So, just these choices that they're making, but um again, kudos to to St. Mary's Bank for working with us and really presenting um the tough choices that these uh young people are going to have to make later on in life. >> The most common common comment that I heard when I was there was, "I'm broke." And the second to that when I was there a little earlier was I had to get a part-time job to pay my bills. >> So they had
089that opportunity too. So it was >> those are the two comments. You're right. But um no, it was great great event. First time I've been able to go to it and uh great great to watch the kids and some in panic mode. Yeah. I don't know what I'm doing or you know you'll figure it out and >> and that but they do a really nice job with that and a lot of volunteers. So >> um with that I will uh look for a motion to go into non-public session requested under RSA 91A 3 section 2B and C please. >> So moved. >> Motion by Amanda. >> Second by Sarah. Roll call vote from my left to right please. >> I Kevin Gray. >> I Tim Porter. >> Hi. Bob Slater. >> Hi the Butcher. Hi
090Sarah. Welcome. Good night, London.