001Welcome to the meeting of the London School Board to be held on Tuesday, September 23rd, 2025 at 7 p.m. in the Cafe at Londereerry High School, 295 Mammoth Road, Londereerry, New Hampshire. The meeting will also be broadcast on local cable access channel 8 as well as the district YouTube channel. Could we rise for the pledge of allegiance, please? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. All right, we'll jump into the consent agenda. uh some upcoming meetings. October 7th, 2025 will be a regular schoolboard meeting upstairs in the library at 7 p.m. And October 21st, 2025 will be another regular schoolboard meeting back here in the cafe at 7
002p.m. Could I get a motion to approve the consent agenda, please? >> So moved. >> Motion by Sarah. >> Second by Amanda. All those in favor? >> I I 5-0. Thank you. >> And on to four. I will open public comment. If anyone has something to say, come up to the mic, state your name and address, please. And you have five minutes. >> Sorry, it's I'll just bend it. I'll dis. This is not going to work. Just >> yank it. There you go. Thanks. >> Easy. All right. Christina Shamatero, 15 Preserve Drive, London, New Hampshire. Quick question before I start. Is there going to be public comment after the cell phone policy reading? >> There is not. >> Okay. So, first off, I wanted to thank everybody on the board for your response to the
003Alice Alertis um concern brought up at the last meeting. I am not sure that anything would have changed if he didn't bring it up, right? I've been seeing the drills all happening now. It's even in the police log that they're doing the drills. So, I really appreciate appreciate you guys taking that so seriously and making sure that our kids are safe and all the aspects of the system are working as intended, especially with how the world is unfortunately today, which is scary. Um, but Brian really here is I have a couple questions on kindergarten. So March of 2024, it went to the voters for $34 million or roughly around that. I think a year later it went for nine. It looks like it is currently going in now for we don't know how much. Um
004just a reminder that like 34 million, isn't that that's kind of close to our town budget of $40 million and now it's nothing a year and a half later. So, I have questions on how did we go from 34 million to nothing? As a taxpayer, I hate to say it, but I'm so grateful it didn't get voted in because we'd be paying for something that maybe we didn't need the extent of. And I do realize that that incorporated the district office. So, I'm taking that into account. Um, so my questions are if it's put into the budget, what is our cap on putting it back to voters, right? Is it a h 100,000? Is it 500,000? Is it a million? on wondering if we want to pay for that. Um, our superintendent doesn't live in
005the district, so it's easier to spend money that's not yours. Well, some people, so I do really ask you guys to scrutinize how that's all going to be done. Um, the other question I have is, is there really room? I know that um, the superintendent has been going to the schools and that we can make it work, but will it work? Wow. I actually believe that kindergarten should be at the elementary schools. So, I can people might not agree with me, but I do agree with that. Um, I just don't want the overcrowding or what is that going to impact when we move kindergarten in there? And there's a lot more developments. So, in three years, are we going to have all these families that came into these new apartment and condos? We don't really
006know. Um, and I'd love to see the amount of effort put into kindergarten into CTE, bringing some more of those programs to the high school, as well as maybe trying to get home in the middle school. And I know I've been told that we can't find teachers, but all the surrounding towns can. So, why can't we really, let's try to make that our next focus to give different opportunities that our surrounding towns do? Um, and then lastly, jumping back to kindergarten, the elementary principles or the Matthew Thornton ones know that this is the bane of my existence is pick up and trying to get into this high school at 3:00. You cannot get into the high school at 3:00 with all the parents picking up. So, please, if kindergarten does go in next year, come
007up with a really good pickup because I couldn't even get in the other day at 2:40. I had to move cones to get my child out of Matthew 4 and then it just gets worse. So, I'm sure the high school principles probably hear complaints on this, too, that nobody can get in there at 3:00 because parents are lined up to get their kids. Um, and I assume pickup will be much worse when we have kindergarteners because they're in car seats and getting them out and I avoid it at all costs, but once in a while I have to do it. So, those are my only things that wanted to bring up. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else? Hi, Julian Gron 14 Juul Court. Um, I wanted to wait until after the cell phone
008policy was presented, but if there's not going to be a time to speak after that, I just figured I'd come up and give my thoughts just after having read it, what was presented online. Um, so I'm not sure if there is any wiggle room with it, but if there were, I just wanted to bring up that I kind of feel that the instructional time and non-instructional time should have different rules for the kids with the cell phones. Um, letting them use their phones during lunch or study teaches them to use technology at appropriate times, much like using their phone if they're on break at work versus if they're in the middle of something and they shouldn't have their phone out. Um, that would also give them the opportunity to text a parent to say, "Practice
009is canled or, you know, I just completely tanked a test and I'm really upset about it." Um, or I did really great on a test and I wanted to share that with you. Um, I think technology is part of our daily lives and it's not going away. And like I said, I don't know that it's even allowed with the rules that are now in place from the state, but I just wanted to mention that. Um, but if the policy as it's being presented tonight is going to stand, I felt that there was one little gray area that or contradictory. Um the beginning of it basically says no cell phones bell to bell in all the instructional time. But then a few sections down it says that students will be expected to comply with any staff
010member request to cease the use of devices in common areas during the school instructional day. So that kind of implied to me that they are allowed to have them out in common areas or during non-instructional time. So maybe if that's not the intent of that portion that it just needs to be rewarded to be a little bit more black and white. Um and then the final thing I just did have a question about whether phones are only going to be allowed in their bags or if they can have them in their pocket um just in the event of an emergency if somebody needed to call 911 and then they have to fumble through their bag to get it. That was it. Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you. Anyone else? Seeing none, I'll close public comment
011and we'll jump into announcements and presentation with an update of the EOP emergency operations preparedness committee. Come on up. >> So, uh there's a there's a large group of people that are going to come up here. Uh this is our EOP committee and it has representatives from the police and fire department. Um they wanted to kind of give a brief overview of all the things they have done in the re in the last couple years and also just kind of reiterate the safety in our schools. Um they're a great group. Um I've only been part of it for the last four years and I'm I'm mostly an observer and a listener. There's a lot of people who know a lot about keeping schools safe within this group and they're going to kind of just reiterate
012all the things we see in our schools and take it from there. Sorry. >> Hi, thank you for having us. We'll start with introductions. My name is Abby Slo. I'm the principal of MT. I've been on the committee for about 12 years now. >> Ryan Okconor, assistant principal, Lindere High School. >> Sandra Mack, principal Moose Hill School. Crystal Rich, uh, assistant principal at London High School. Tim Westfall, assistant principal at Lemonary Middle School, >> and Sean Flynn, assistant principal at South Elementary, >> Joe Parzik, director of buildings and grounds. De Perry, school resource officer, elementary schools, >> and Fred Harding, acting fire chief. >> Welcome everyone. >> Thank you. So, this is a good subset of our committee. And again, thank you for the time and the space. We're just going to go through some
013information with you. >> So, the Emergency Operations and Preparedness Committee, also known as EOP, is a committee that's been in place for over two decades in the Londereary School District. It's made up of building administrators from each school, school resource officers, Londere Police, and Lendary Fire representatives. We meet monthly and over the summer to discuss plans, trainings, drills, best practices, equipment needs, and concerns. And the work of the group is led to streamline safety plans, integration of the Alice model, improved communication systems throughout the district and community, and innovative safety upgrades to improve our backpack of tools to keep our students and staff safe in the event of an emergency. So, after any uh emergency or or any instance, we debrief to improve our preparation and our responses. So while my esteemed colleagues let me
014know that it is not best practice to have so many words on the slide, this is just a nice reminder of the work that has been done again over the course of a decade. So if you remember or recall even your own students going through this, we began with lockdown. We hid in a corner with the lights off and that was our defense mechanism. We then with the advice of our SRO's at the time we received training from the London Police Department and we adopted ADD which was avoid deny defend. From that their recommendation was that we seriously look at Alice. We had community nights in this space. We pitched it and we sent members to training. Those trainers came back and went through the process of is this a good fit for our town,
015our community. We determined that it was. We believed in the capacity that we have to participate in our own survival. While that was difficult to roll out in a K12 system, we did believe it was what was best for our community. Many of us are alist Alice trained instructors, which means those first years we trained thousands of people, students, members of our community, some of you joined us, our staff certainly, coaches, adviserss, etc. And that is a self- sustaining program where we continue to train people in the Alice model. School messenger was adopted as a communication communication push out piece where we can send messages from our cell phones, laptops, you hear it from a snow day. So it can be a voicemail, a text message or an email. Another big step was through the
016New Hampshire 7. It's a unified response. A lockdown in one building wasn't the same as a lockdown in another building. So we adopted the same language so people at the district office and among buildings. We knew exactly what was being said or what was going on because we use the same language. Classroom phones can dial out 911. That wasn't always the case. We went through recommendations from the Department of Safety and we adopted secure welcome centers where you have to be buzzed in, state your name and why you are there. The decision was made to add a fourth SRO reduction of access points. If you look at buildings such as the high school and the middle school, even what dismissal looks like at the end of the day, trying to reduce the amount of doors
017that open is a huge task, but it's an important safety measure. Reunification training, this is pretty significant if you think about it. So, we are trained to participate in our own survival, but then what? So, we are out of the building. We are conducting accountability. We are gathering people up. What does that next step look like? Our SRO's once again were at a conference. They brought back the I Love You guys Foundation. We had 105 members from around the state including state police, first responders, many, many superintendent and administrators from southern New Hampshire joined us and we adopted a reunification plan so that we have a secure off-site location. We worked with the bus company. We have a lot of systems in place whether we have technology or not. how we are going to reunify
018your student with you after a critical incident that is ongoing because you can always streamline. Um another component which is every single year we update our cameras in our radios. Again radios can die the batteries etc. So that is something that we're constantly doing. We do monthly radio checks as well. Alert us buttons were implemented. Um that language was changed to Alice rather than lockdown. So when they are activated, it activates a beacon. The beacon will then go on the PA and state um go this is you know the principal's name whatever the building it is enact Alice we then respond. Um again that is a beacon that will alert in the hallway similar to a fire pull station. You will also have information that comes across your cell phone if you are one of
019the administrators. And again every computer screen and device in that building will also get the alert. looking at securing our perimeters and interior door locks with new fobs. So, think of a hotel key for our interior and exterior doors. Um, you're eliminating keys. And again, that was another recommendation that we received from the Department of Safety. Establish traffic patterns as best as we can to keep students and parents moving in a similar direction. And again paying attention to when those doors are open that there are adults there to welcome our students that there are eyes on at vulnerable moments of who is entering our building and why they are there. And of course we have our school emergency operation plans. We do those every single year. They are due early October. And again, every member
020of this committee is responsible for updating them, submitting them, um, and again, communicating with the London Fire Department and the London Police Department to make sure that our information is accurate and up to date. And that's why we have their signatures on that document. So, I want to just speak to the Alice model as for what it is and as for who we are as a community. Um, as a staff member here, a parent in the community, a person, a town community member, um, I firmly believe that the Alice model is truly at the heart of what we do. Um, it was it was a hard sell at first. Um, teachers, educators, student people who are in uh, in charge of children, they want to be told exactly what to do. The fire alarm goes
021off, you go off this out this exit, you report to this area. this is where you do accountability. Alice is a menu of options and that really took our staff off guard a little bit but at the same time it was wildly empowering for them. And uh when we talk about our staff, we train our staff and students to participate in their own survival using Alice's proactive response options. Um just an outside example of this, as we all know, there was an incident at Planet Fitness um a little while ago and we had um a student there and very shortly after that happened, she came back to school and reported to us the impact of how she enacted Alice outside of the school. And for us to hear that, that was one of the most
022important pieces of feedback we could have ever received. And it really made us understand that we can have all these fail safes in in in place, but ultimately the humans in charge are the ones who make the best decisions and make actions based on how they're trained. Um, so we really have established a mindset here to survive until help arrives. Um, and if that means that you are able to evacuate, you evacuate. If you need to lock down, you lock down. If you need whatever you need, that's what you do with the information that you have. Um and based on the communication that we provide um so we have also implemented these safety strategies and age appropriate and ability appropriate strategies. We have staff members who know I'm able to do or make this decision
023with this set of students. I'm able to make this decision with kindergarteners versus eighth graders versus high schoolers. Um we all know that if if the Alice alarm is enacted during the day at LHS, our students are trained to leave this building. they will leave this building if they are able to. Um, and the other thing is that this team um stays dilig diligently current with our trainings and our drills. Um, and our our mo we monitor um, navigate 360 for any new updates that are coming out. Um, we've trained extensively in reunification um, which is not always public information, but it's important information for the safety of the school district. Should uh an Alice alarm be activated and parents need to reunify with their kids, um we we make sure that the beginning of
024every year um and it's one of the only points in the time where the entire faculty is completely silent when you're speaking about Alice or Alice protocols and updates with them because they're really engaged in what the next step is. And every year we add a component and we make it better. And it's a hard exercise to go through, but it's important that we're ready for everything. >> Yeah. [Music] Nothing I hope you feel I'm just going to go ahead and jump in. >> So, um, what the that video represents is the, um, some of the training that we, um, went through as a school district. um we talk about Alice and then we talk about Alice um as an acronym. So I'm just going to take a few minutes just to explain um what
025it means but as they've mentioned here Alice is a decision and response approach um when there is a violent critical incident and the focus is it empowers um individuals empowers our staff and our students to participate in their own survival until help does arrive. Alice stands for alert. The L is lockdown, but we call it enhanced lockdown. So, I'll clarify what that is. Inform, counter, and evacuate. So, when you think about the order of things, the first thing you hear is there's some kind of alert. There might be some um PA announcement. There might be some communication or shouts or things coming from the building. There might be other kind of sounds that people hear um staff here in the building or students that alerts them that there is a violent critical incident happening. That's
026the alert piece. Then we move to the inform where information goes out, information is shared to notify um staff and students where is the incident, who who might be in the building. And it is clear, concise language. We're not using codes. We're being very specific because we don't want there to be an interpretation or misunderstanding. Um notifying people where is um the incident. um so that they can prepare and they can decide wherever they are, the children that they have with them. They're going to make a decision whether they're going to either evacuate the building, which is the E if they can, or they're going to do what's called an enhanced lockdown, which is a barricade where within the classroom they're locking their doors. They're barricading the doors to prevent entry. Um and then the
027students unlike a traditional lockdown the students are spread around the classroom they are up they are ready and they are um looking and listening to the adults in the room to know what the next direction is versus sitting in the corner like a traditional lockdown um with the older students only. This is not our younger children. There is the counter component where um they can help distract whoever might be entering the classroom or entering that space. But like I said, that is under the direction of the adults in the room. And that is only with our older students. Our younger students, the focus is to stop, look, and listen to the adults. That's what the focus is to follow those directions. Um and then um when we talk about again the evacuate, just want to
028um say that they may choose to leave this space, they may choose to leave the building and evacuate to a rally point and get themselves um to safety. So we want to make sure all along we're informing, we're communicating information. We have um the alert beacons that will share information that if it can be pushed out and communicated that might show up on those beacons. Um but the informed part is really important that the teachers, the staff and students are hearing what's going on so that they can make a decision. The adults can make a decision on what do I do next? And that's the empowering piece and not telling them if A happens you do this. If B happens, you do this. They have all the information that they need and all the training
029that they have to be able to make an informed decision for their safety. So what does Alice look like in our training? So we have uh blended learning. So staff complete pre-work online through our navigate 360 platform. Uh before the in-person training takes place. This online training includes concepts of the ALIS, which we just went over the acronym. uh there's scenario-based modules and then again at the end of the uh blended learning here reflection questions to prepare participants for the hands-on um application that they come to the high school. So that in-person training, it's uh active threat response and human behavior under stress, how we act, data showing why proactive options save lives, and then we do show them uh real world examples and case studies throughout that training. Uh there's also school-based simulations where
030there's hands-on practice with classrooms, barricading, and evacuations. There's role-play scenarios to reinforce their decision-making and then guided sessions to reflect on the safety choices and then how do we refine our responses. There's some age appropriate lesson plans included. So lessons are by grade levels to ensure that there's uh appropriate instructions for the for every level. There's activities that focus on safety awareness, identifying safe choices, and then practicing decision-making uh choices when it comes down to the nitty-gritty. Uh we do annual Alice drills, drills conducted each school year to reinforce procedures and make sure everybody is ready. And then we collaborate with law enforcement and first responders. And we really emphasize uh communication, accountability and then safety of all those practices. To sum up, as we have heard a number of individuals already say, since we
031have adopted Alice many years ago, and we continue to add a number of um modifications or um other pieces, other safety measures to keep our students safe. The most recent one of course being alert us, which everyone is aware of. Some other uh changes uh to increase the safety. you can't be too safe on school campuses these days. Uh does include upgrading our radios and the number of radios on our campus. Um in addition to that, we had heard earlier Abby speak about the improved locking systems, the the doors uh both to our classrooms and to access the building. We also have received, as Ally mentioned, uh Abby mentioned, excuse me, earlier, uh reunification training as well as uh reunification plans should we ever need to um perform an Alice evacuation. We will continue to
032explore new ways to keep our uh students and our community safe and we are always open to exploring new opportunities to do so. In addition, uh social emotional learning as well as one trusted adult as a key component uh to keeping kids safe uh feeling safe on our campus and we'll continue to focus on that going forward as well. >> This is a quick synopsis of the fleeting days after August 27th after that false alarm and again some of the actions that this committee took. So, we met and we debriefed uh again that evening, that afternoon, as well into the following days and hours. We also referred back to a March 20124 school safety assessment that was written for us after we each conducted a building tour again in the fall of 2024. It was
033a homeland security emergency management and they focused on three areas with us through those walkthroughs and it was the physical security. So they looked at our surveillance, access control, and emergency alerting and we scored very very fair marks with the only real recommendation that is not in place for us is ballistic style class. So that was their takeaway. Um so we did a very very good job in their eyes with that. We also learned that with redundant communication, the information that we need to get out does get out between the radios, alert systems, um even using our voices and communicating with cell phones and phones. That was again reflected in that report. Londereerry Police in the 48 hours after that went through and checked all of the alert beacons in all of the schools. And
034then as you've noticed this week and last week continuing into next week, um our scheduled tests which we scheduled back on August 18th are now being um seen through with our students present and our staff so they can hear that and then again talk about what those next steps would be in their reaction process. We also had visits from London Fire Department who also tested their pull stations as well. And again, as I just reiterated, the drills that were planned back in August are occurring right now. But again, those are some of the steps, but we're happy to answer some questions for you or not. Um, but thank you for your time. >> Questions? Any questions? >> I just want to thank the EOP for their um attention to all this and coming out and
035giving the community an overview of what the process is. Um, I know we did a a joint um memo to the community through police and and district office and as well as the school board to try to communicate that to the people as soon as possible. But we love um the due diligence that you folks put in to make sure and explain all the redundancies of safe nets that we have in place just over and above if one piece is not is is not quite active. um and uh how how serious we take the safety of our students, our staff and our community and that. So uh truly appreci appreciate all he is what you do over and above the education piece because the safety is number one and education is number two. Um so
036thank you so much for all your time and effort to come out and explain this to the community and the school board and and uh our large crowd here. So thank you so much. >> Thank you. [Applause] Okay, I'm just going to jump back. I just wanted to get through them. We have a lot of staff here so they can um make their way home after that presentation and we'll go back to uh student rep representatives. Would you like to update us? Welcome. >> Hi there. >> Hi. Um, so in school with school just starting up, we've had a few uh our first actually major event of the year, which was homecoming. That was this past Saturday. Uh, it was a very successful event. It went very well. Um, one of the reasons we that
037went so well was because we brought back um the ability to have food in the gym that we were handing out. So, it helped keep the dance very central in the main part of the gym. Um, and it kept students together. Overall, it was a much better dance than last year according to the student body. Um, and we were glad to hear that. We put a lot of time and effort into this one. Um, and then I just want to say we had amazing chaperones. They were so great. They helped us clean up after and that truly meant a lot to us. >> Awesome. >> Um, this week is spirit week. Today was surf versus turf. We had a good turnout of students who participated. Tomorrow, tomorrow is Adam Sandler day, followed by anything but
038a backpack and lastly um school colors on Friday. Um the pep rally is Friday for the Mac Plaque weekend. In addition, sports have started with great spirit. This week is also Mac Plaque and we hope to see lots of students fill up and pack the student section. >> Awesome. >> Hang on. >> For the old people, what is surf and turf? Yeah, >> like I could not understand that because I'm reading it. >> Okay. Um, surf and turf is a upper versus lower classman like kind of competition. Surf is for the upper classman. So like beachy kind of vibes and then um turf is for like the lowerassmen like jerseys and sports and stuff like that. >> Okay. Like so field turf. >> Okay. Great. >> Thank you. >> Great question. Thank you for that
039update. I'm glad uh homecoming went well and that congratulations. >> All right, school board leaison. Amanda, >> yes, I'm ready this time. Oh, no. Hang on. So, lots going on at Moose Hill School. Um the biggest highlight has been the update to the staff room. There's been a refresh over there. Um, they got a nice coffee buffet over there and a long table, a toaster, some decor. So, they're vibing in their staff room, which is great. Um, in terms of upcoming events, uh, we have picture day coming up on Tuesday the 30th, um, the LEAP open house on Tuesday the 30th, and then the kindergarten openhouse coming up on um, October 8th. And um that's pretty much it. >> Great. >> Thank you, Sarah. >> For the middle school, some upcoming events we have um
040this Friday is wellness day at the school. Um we are off to starting the fundraising for the eighth grade field trip to uh DC. Then they are doing raffle calendars this year for the fundraiser. We have PSATs for the eighth graders on October 16th and open house for sixth and seventh graders is this Thursday. Students will be taking the I read diagnosis this Thursday and Friday. And um October 29th we have picture retake day. And for the high school, the only thing I have to add to what um our students said is the Mac plaque shorts are being sold during all lunches this week. Thank you. >> Thank you, sir. Tim, Kevin, >> uh, so on the North School front, um, last week they had a very successful, um, Scholastic book fair and ice cream
041social. Um, those pretended to be big hits in the beginning of the year. They were once again, um, coming up this Friday is the first of the popcorn days that they run, the Friday popcorn days. Um, this year they're doing pre-signups and they've already had over 300 students sign up. Uh, and there was one more thing that I wanted to mention. Oh, yeah. Trunk or treat will be coming up. They're starting to plan for that in the um coming up in the end of for the end of October. >> Thank you, Kevin. And South School uh had their PTA meeting last Monday and uh started a uh introduced recess rangers. Recess showing kindness and leadership to the first graders. 47 are currently participate participating where eight go out each day for recess with first graders.
042Um I think that's a wonderful thing to start with the uh with the fifth graders participating with that great great show. And then a lot of the green spaces as well as the courtyard are under extensive makeovers at the school with a lot of volunteers and some of buildings and grounds were there to to help out with a major cleanup. So that's ongoing. And uh upcoming events will be a new Halloween movie night uh on October 24th and then the booth booster will kick off on 10:30. Um and that and upcoming meetings for South School will be uh October 20th at 7 p.m. and November 17th at 7 p.m. And one other thing, I'll give a quick update um on the district office project task force uh with the school district and the town. um
043had our meeting last Thursday to look at a floor plan and then um looked at the size and the cost and we've gone back to take get another look at it. We have an upcoming meeting this Thursday to look at a uh smaller version and see uh where where if that can work or not. So that'll be up and coming and uh we're going to have a joint meeting I believe the 21st here with the town here they're going to come here the town council and we should have numbers and um decisions by the committee to have a kind of a joint meeting here on October 21st uh school board meeting. So that's the update on that project. All right, moving on. We'll go into deliberation 7.1 first reading to amend policy JI. >> Oh
044yeah. Did you want to do that Dan? Sorry. >> Thank you. >> I want to invite up uh Jacob Dalgra. Um he reached out to us through Mr. Dutton at Nor School. He's doing doing a lot of work there as an Eagle Scout. So he wanted to share some of the great work he's been doing. Welcome. >> Okay. Hello. Yeah. Okay. Um, so, uh, if you don't know me, I'm Jacob Dogen. I'm a senior at Lond High School. For my Eagle Scout project, I You go to the next slide? Sure. Um, so I built uh 11 benches at North Elementary School. Uh so if you walk the Nutfield trail they have you will find them. Um this was out of in my opinion necessity as the teachers could not well use the benches there due
045to the lack of them um and makes the trail more usable. Um I went through multiple iterations of these benches to make sure they are perfectly safe for the uh uh elementary schoolers just due to the fact that like my first one was not very safe and could tip over. Not really good things for schools. Um, so I had uh multiple scouts uh help I had some other scouts help me as you can see in the pictures above. Uh there are uh there were six five scouts on my first Eagle Workday and then there's just me and one other scout my second Eagle Workday. We managed to get everything done. Uh they're all out there and made uh quite sturdily I will mention um for the impact of these benches. So for classes wise, they
046can go out there and use the trail um way better now uh just due to the uh support from the or not support what um with like the um usage of them as they can use like as tables if they want benches, chairs, anything they want to better their classes outdoors because I know when I was there we didn't go outside as very much for the teachers. Um in the photo up there is Miss Harlander along with myself. Uh she runs the nature trail there, nature nature trail thing club thing there. Um and so I reached out to her to do it. Um and she usually grateful so she can use them for that which would be great for her. >> Yeah. Thank you for your time. Does anyone have any questions I can maybe
047be able to answer about my Eagle Skip project? >> Any questions? I don't have any questions, but this is great and all the kids, I'm sure, are going to appreciate being outside and being able to use all of this. So, thank you for doing that. >> You're welcome. >> Great work. >> Yeah, >> great job. >> Well done, Jacob. >> Thank you so much. All right. Now we will go into deliberations for the first reading to amend policy JICJ unauthorized electronic communication devices including cell phones please. So um you know very briefly uh in the board packet I'm just trying to find it on the screen too. Um last year I think we had a good process to kind of update how we handle cell phones in our schools. We had a a lot of
048comment um from staff and students and then community members and we came up with a new policy and we thought we were ahead of the curve. We were not. Um over the summer uh there was a new law that wanted to make sure cell phones were banned bellto. Um so what we're doing in the policy now is just trying to update that uh to be in compliance to the law. So in the red were just the changes or you know specific um lines were crossed out. Uh the main difference between our policy and the law is we allowed for students to to still have them in the hallways in the cafeteria at the high school. Um which that would no longer be in compliance with the law. Um and then we added a few more
049things at the end. The law was very specific about how you would ask for an exemption from this if your IEP or 504 asked for it. So we included that and then a few other I thought you know good good recommendations from the New Hampshire school board sample policy that kind of came out in mid August. So here's where we are. Um I know that Mr. Barnes has kind of been working with staff and students to kind of you know get input and be ready for another change. I mean I think the big change happened last year. This is just another revision. Anything you wanted to add or >> No, I mean I think that's it's pretty it is what it is as they say. um speaking with students and as students are apt to
050do and which I can appreciate. I also look for lots of loopholes um and there really are none. Um so it's pretty straightforward what the expectations are within the RSA and I think this policy as a first read is a great start. I think that I know that's traditionally a three- read um kind of way way things are done. If I may, I would recommend knowing that there's a desire to do this sooner rather than later. if we did a second read because I have a couple some some staff feedback and a couple parent piece input pieces I think could tweak this not to create so students can use one device or the other but there's just some points around privacy that I think we just need to consider with like yearbook and whatnot but
051if we made our next meeting uh the second read second and make it final and then if we had like a week just to communicate to parents this is what we're doing so like middle of October we're have shifted over that would be a recommended timeline that I think would be pretty doable and we would still be able get feedback from the we've received tonight and I'm sure there might be some things that trickle in but middle of October be ready to go in implementation. >> Okay, any questions? >> I have a specific part here. Um so, uh to Miss Brennan's point, um she brought up the paragraph and I I think I understand why it's in there because it was blending in from what we had last year. Um I think it can probably
052stay without it um negating the first paragraph. Um basically um the paragraph prior to it stating that like abiding by the new law bellto bell violation of the policy will be referred to building administrators. um paragraph scran was referring to um was stating that students will be expected to immediately comply with staff members thereby implying that they might some people might be able to use that. The reason I think it it could stay and still be appropriate is the law does state obviously that there are still exceptions um for students with medical disability or language proficiency needs. those students obviously would still be expected to comply with staff members telling them you got to put your phone away if if they have a reason to tell them to do so. So I think they that
053can still stay at least to apply to those students. Um but I >> Yeah. No, it's a good point. It was a good point brought up in public comment. The only reason why that paragraph survived is I know the journey is coming in the high school in the hallways in the cafeteria. So, we kind of kept it there to kind of, you know, just message. We know there'll be ch there'll be points where we're kind of relearning this all over again. But we could also just get rid of that paragraph, too. You know, it there just it doesn't matter, but I think that's the only reason why it stayed. >> Yeah. Between now and the second reading, it's probably something that we used to bring up whether it should just be stricken entirely. >> Yeah.
054Yeah. Less confusion. >> Yeah. >> Kevin, now I was going to say the same thing. Probably makes sense to get rid of that paragraph at this point. Make it as streamlined as possible. >> Yeah. There was just a question about like can the kids leave the phones in their pockets and the answer is that is yes >> as long as they're not seen >> as long. Yeah. Correct. >> So as as written it doesn't say that but that would be one of the things I was going to recommend. We've heard a lot of feedback from our community about wanting access. Kids don't use lockers. They're just not going to. Um not all kids have backpacks. So I would agree that away from our earlier conversations is away. unseen, not out. Period. >> Yep. >> Yeah.
055The law specifies use of the device. So if you have it away, you can find >> Yeah. I think I think the way we've been functioning even at the middle school, too, is it's just not out. >> As long as it's not out, that's the that's the point. >> Yeah. >> I just um the only other thing I wanted to mention is I'm sending you guys a script that we came up with in my district in terms of like hypothetically a student says like, "No, I'm not giving you my phone." um like wait I can walk you to where you can put it or just some scenarios where we're not getting into power struggles and and we're kind of navigating those situ situations as they come up appropriately. So I'm going to send that to
056you guys if you want to >> help communicated that's helpful to have some language and like a lot of it's validation. I know this is frustrating to you. It's frustrating to me too. This is the law. We need to follow it. um those sorts of kind of deescalation comments. I don't think we'll have a huge issue, but I think it's important for people to know what to say. >> That'd be great. We appreciate it. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. And I just want to I know we've gotten several emails this late this afternoon. I haven't been able to get back to some of the students uh you know at you know pleading their case why and that. >> Sure. >> You know, we did implement something with you Rick last March. We thought it was
057working well, but the governor signed this on June 25th and and everybody can just go to the Department of Education and and look this up for RSA 1891- A and it spells out what school districts are to do with the bell to bell and it gives all all the information there. This is something we're just abiding by the law that was signed by the governor. We didn't bring this up to change. we just are trying to abide as a school board and a district um by what the governor put in place. So I just wanted everybody out there and maybe uh some of them I will get back to those few students uh tomorrow as well and let them know that. So um everything is on the uh Department of Education website as well. Thank
058you. >> All right. So to recap, what I'll do is I'll update, you know, the the main point is they are away. Obviously, some places could be backpacks or lockers, but the point is they're away. >> And then we'll delete the gray paragraph that that causes confusion. >> I think that's great. So I'll look for a motion to approve the first reading of policy JJ, please. >> So moved. >> Motion by Sarah. >> Second by Tim. All those in favor? >> I And we'll see the second on next school board meeting. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. 7.2 overnight field trips. Mr. Barnes. >> Yes. I'm back. So the you have the the list of trips in your packet. There are two uh sport overnight trips that were not approved over the summer
059that are that's why they're on there. Um the rest of many of them have been done before but the locations have changed. The only one there is one error in there. It's on the first one across country. Everything's correct on there except it is in Bristol, Rhode Island. So apologize for that error, but the rest of it is everything else here is accurate. If you have questions, happy to answer. We left the music one on there just gives you a sense of how much our students are involved and do. But that one has also already been approved. That was a big one for Orlando. >> Any questions? Seeing none, um, look for an approval for the overnight field trips for 2526, please. >> So moved. >> Motion by Sarah. >> Second by Kevin. All those
060in favor? >> I 5 Z. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> All right. 7.3 committee to study tax cap of lendary. >> Yep. Uh if if you recall from deliberative session last year um there was a there was a a support to study the tax cap. Um so we have to form a committee. Uh I got a contact from the municipal association that might be good that might they might have studied this. I don't know how much spare time we have to study it on our own. But I think if we go to the the right resources in the state that might have looked at this, I think we can kind of bring back some of those resources and and and that'll kind of help have the conversation. But it's really what the school board's
061looking to do uh on that committee I think we can carry out. >> Yeah. I I think if uh a couple of us could meet with with DMD, she spelled out a lot of information last year and yourself >> on uh the impacts of it and how it kind of would operate when the when the u voter brought that to us um before the deliberative. So, I think if we just spent a a little bit of time and kind of reviewed it and could do a presentation the pros and cons and um get any information we can from the state level on tax caps or wherever um Miss Small might feel as though some important information could help us and then we could put some sort of report together. >> Sure. >> Um so, why
062don't I reach out to you? Is there anyone here that would like to uh meet with AMD and Dan in the next few weeks here uh one afternoon with everything else going? >> Yeah, it depends on the day and time, but yeah. >> Yeah. >> You want to do it with me? >> Okay. >> So, we'll I'll set something up with you sounds great. um later in the day and just kind of once AMD get some time and yourself to dig up some information >> and then we could do a report and get back to the >> to the taxpayer and do a presentation. >> Sounds great. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. Uh jump into 8.1 full day kindergarten planning and timeline. >> So, I just wanted to recap for the school board.
063Uh thank you again for the the positive uh vote uh last meeting. here's all the things that have kind of happened since then and what your wonderful elementary administrators have been thinking about. Um, so really what it what it came down to is we realized the first step is a master schedule. Once each school builds their master schedule, we'll kind of know all the moving pieces we need for staff. So, uh, they're engaged with that. They'll be done with them later this week. Um, and that's that's a really important process. Um, and what we're going to do is make a projection for kindergarten next year. move up all the current KA to four to one through five and see where things land. And then that brings us into October. Oh, and one thing we're going
064to do too is we're going to send out an informal survey to parents to start to get a read of who's interested and who might actually start to sign up um if this comes to fruition by next August. Uh because the more information we have, the better we're going to be for the budget season and everything else. So, uh I'm going to show that next uh in the month of October. uh then we'll have a real good sense of the staff we need next year for K to 5. Uh that'll really help us figure out the budget and the budget gets delivered by November. Um and obviously we talked about earlier too the curriculum and furniture and really figure that out. Um and then for meeting with the moose sales staff that Jason and I
065did with Sandra, uh they brought up a good point. We have to move we have to move furniture. We have to account for the the cost of moving. Um you know that that's a number of classrooms we have to kind of move to different buildings. We have to get ahead of that too. Um, and then, um, you know, one thing we'll look into is just kind of like a broader picture around the playgrounds. Um, I we don't know all the budgetary pressures hitting us yet. Um, but we'll try and get a sense of if we think there are major playground investments we need to start to make over the coming years. We we'll do the best we can to kind of detail that through Joe and his department. We'll kind of look at a bigger
066um a bigger look at that. At some point, I think we will have another uh full day kindergarten round table to kind of just invite the parents of four-year-olds back again or any interested community members or board members or staff and you know just kind of get a sense of where where they're at and what what questions they have. We know from from all the meetings we we we've done they're thinking a lot about buses, the lunchroom, the playgrounds, where kindergarten will physically be placed. Um so we just want to keep um in touch with them and listen to their concerns and questions. uh Mr. our assistant superintendent is going to kick off the kindergarten committee work that was started last year and kind of paused, but it's just it's the process of changing our
067half day curriculum to a full day curriculum and you know that'll be work we can do throughout the year. Um, and I think you know uh I know a lot of questions come up from faculty that really help us navigate this process. So I think each school will kind of build in that time to you know hear from their staff and kind of really understand what they're thinking about as we you know go through a big change. uh we deliver the budget on November 25th ideally. I can't promise this yet. It would be my goal and again I don't know all the pressures yet. Um based on what we saw this summer, I think there's a pretty good possibility that the operating budget will be lowered in default. Can't guarantee it. Um but that would
068be a goal and we'll see where we're at in a few months. Um, but if that is the case, um, I think I'd recommend that we we move up registration earlier because I think the more we know about who who would show up, the better we would be. So, I think we're trying to move it up by a couple months. Um, I think we can also use that information to really start thinking about uh bus routes um, and kind of how that would work because that'll be a change for us too. Um and then kind of later in the winter uh once all these other things move the plate move into place if they move into place well it's the shifting of staff that'll be a very big process. Um so we talked a lot
069about with the moose sales staff a couple weeks ago kind of getting their preferences of of of where they would want to be um and kind of that happens first and then from there we'll figure out all the other moving pieces. Um but we have a you know we have a big process in front of us and we're just kind of giving you guys an update and see if there's any questions. Any questions? >> Go ahead. >> Um, yeah. Uh, well laid out. The only thing I I see here is you you go right into the kindergarten is um into the operating budget. We we never specified that it was into the budget. We want to see the budgeting process of what what it's going to cost us or savings to go to kindergarten um
070and compared to the budget if it makes sense. So we can see those two budgets. >> Okay. So we want to lay out for the community what it's going to cost us with even if it's a savings for kindergarten going to full day and what the school district budget is if we stayed the same. >> So they they can see the difference. >> Okay. So that's that's what the budgeting meant is let's lay it out for the community, you know, is it ABC for full day kindergarten um with all the cost and then what is the budget with staff? I assume we would be less staff because of the smaller classes. So just like you were doing a budget for uh as we are today and then what is the budget for full day kindergarten
071so we can show that to the community. Okay. >> Is is what I was referring to to move ahead with budgeting. >> Okay. >> Yeah. And I would um I would say and this kind of goes to Miss Chairman Taro's point. Um I've heard it from numerous people in town. How do we go from 34 to 9 to now possibly essentially flatline and still being able to implement it? >> Which if that's the case, great. I just think that it's imperative that we show the work and that that's truly the case. And especially since there'll be plenty of people that say we've gone to the ballot now two years in a row >> and yes, there are a lot of things attached to it going to the ballot that they'll say these two kindergarten projects
072were rejected and now you're just putting it in. Mhm. >> I think it's important that even if we get to a a flat budget with it or even if it's potentially a cost savings given what the state might provide inadequacy money, I think it's important that the town is the one that says yes or no. Mhm. >> And that's what we what we've said the last couple of years, like we've we've made the case that potentially if this was just a cheaper product and we didn't have to reach that 60% number of voters that it would have passed. We played that hypothetical game. This is a way to truly find out if that's true or not. >> If the numbers are flat and we only if we just need to breach the 50% number, let's
073just play it out and see if it happens and we'll move forward with it. So that's the way I'd like to move forward with it. devil's advocate. >> If there's not a building cost, isn't it a curriculum decision? >> And then in that case, what other curriculum tool or decision do we make on the ballot that's not included in the budget? You know what I'm saying? >> I know what you're saying. I'm just saying, especially in light of this being the third the third ballot in a row where we're asking a specific question on whether the town wants to implement full day kindergarten. And I think I mean I actually think that they will I just want to give them the say it's the town's school district public school district. >> I hear that. I
074just think that there were conditionalities in each one like do you want to implement full day kindergarten with a building addition? I get it. >> Do you want to you know >> that's why I'm saying this is now like bare bones. >> This is lean. Do you want full vacuum? >> Yeah. >> And I think as the budget plays out on the two, it's going to kind of show us too. >> Yeah. >> You know, the true numbers of where the savings are between bus runs, adequacy money, and what our upfront cost so the community can view that uh compared to what our regular budget is. And if it's a a negative number, it's a it's a no-brainer. >> So, it just it shows them that, you know, the >> the true sentiment of what
075the cost is or the savings is. um that we can implement into the budget. So, let's get through the budget process and then we can make that decision um moving forward and in the wording for that if that works. >> Yeah, that makes sense. And like including what we're giving back in that whatever if it's a graphic or a breakdown. >> Sure. >> Because that's a lot that's a significant amount >> to the number. >> Yep. That's over a million dollars. >> Yeah. There's going to be a lot of lot of communicating to to make sure we get this out right and that with the numbers. So everybody good? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> I'd say too to answer the first part of your question, we'll have to just we'll have to go back to
076that study we did in in August. It's enrollment, enrollment, enrollment. That that's what kind of drove us there and just how dramatically it's changed in the three and four summers, right? >> That's that's what's driven us to just a very different place. And I asked the local superintendents to kind of give me a sense of where their K1 and two classes are at, too. So hopefully I'll have something maybe by the second uh October meeting to get get a better sense of where what we're seeing regionally too. >> Yeah. And I know you touched on in the last meeting, but I think it's it'll be important to also reiterate, you talked about there even being a buffer if enrollment spikes up a little bit for people being more attracted to come to the district if
077there's full day. >> To reiterate that y those figures because that came up even during the um Matthew Thornton PTA meeting. They ask what if >> are we immediately going to now have to build on if something happens. So just we'll get back into the details. >> Yeah, I think that'll all come out there. We'll make sure we have that all analyzed on what we have for space in each building over and above what we project >> um like the the principles have explained um to us too at that last presentation. So it's all going to be part of the presentation and documents that we get out to the community. So >> everybody good? >> All good. Yep. All right. Thank you, Dan. Um 8.2, the preschool survey for full day kindergarten. >> Yep. So,
078here's what the uh principles came up with. Just like, you know, very simple survey to get names and addresses and phone numbers. Obviously, it's something we just all keep internally just so we get a sense of uh who's interested and if and if and if they're having questions, just trying to get ahead of them. Um just trying to our first run at, you know, really figuring out who who might be interested because I think again the number of kids is going to really drive everything. So, the more we can get ahead of that, the better we'll be. >> Yeah. Perfect. Any questions? >> Okay. Um 8.3, attendance, truency, and chronic absenteeism. Yeah, >> I'm hopeful that my computer doesn't run out of power. Um but it's getting close. Uh so what I did is um
079you know, just a kind of a conversation starter with the school board. Um attendance, truency, and chronic absenteeism. I think there's been a lot of work we've done on multi-ter systems of support around behavior. Um there there's there's a lot of work we did in the past around uh truency attendance. Um but I but I do see the need to probably have a bigger discussion and and it's not an easy fix. It's it's not a quick fix. Um there'll probably be things we need to think about for a couple years here uh just around attendance truency truency and chronic absenteeism. Um so what I included in the board packet um was you know the policies we had and a very quick presentation um by this uh professor Balf fans. He's kind of been the leading
080expert for a couple decades now. I came across him um when I was working with a you know different population of students in New York City um where chronic absenteeism was a really big problem. Um and you know he does very good work to explain why it's a problem and potential solutions. So I thought I would just share that quickly. Um he does have a hopeful message. He's worked with school districts around the country that has helped them, you know, kind of tackle chronic absenteeism. Um and you know, his his message hasn't changed that much over 20 years, but you know, he knows we can get better it. We just we got to figure out what's driving it. Uh we have to organize our response, which is a lot of stuff we do with multi-ter
081systems of support and make sure we have the right resources. Um, but I thought what's good for him is at least in this presentation is he laid out, yes, all these things got worse during the pandemic. Now that we're a couple years after the pandemic, we're still seeing them. Uh, they're probably not as bad as 20 and 21 where everyone stayed at home and people didn't want to come to school, but, you know, there's a lot of reasons that kind of drive these things. Um, there's illnesses, there's transportation, there's, you know, housing and food insecurity. you know, just basically if there's if there's homes with struggles, it's harder for kids to get to school, you know, um that's one factor that can drive this. Um there are just, you know, families and students that don't
082like school. Um and that's one reason why they don't come to school and some of it could be from the parents end. They they didn't have a positive experience and that gets transferred down to their to their kids. um you know and and and you know if if they see you know what they see as bad suspension practices or maybe school systems aren't doing a good job with disabilities or there's issues with caregivers that's why they don't show up. Um there are some you know families and students are just disengaged. They they don't they don't like what they're seeing at school. Um I can give our example. I think we've talked a lot about CTE in the last couple years. I think that's a good thing. I think we saw a big jump for trade
083schools in this year's uh or last year's uh seniors. If if kids are not seeing what they want to do the rest of their lives in school, it's hard to engage. And I think, you know, that could be some of the issues we have to look at uh more closely, too. Um and then I think, you know, you know, absences only continue if the school system doesn't uh jump on them correctly or or we kind of lose track of kids, but if you have a stronger system to kind of make it better, you will see a lot of progress. So, I thought, you know, at least his presentation, this very quick presentation was a good uh example of some of the things we have to think about and kind of dive into and study as
084a school system. So, I thought it'd be a good conversation starter on those topics. >> Any questions? >> I'm not going to talk about retention, >> but I would love to hear this guy's thought of retention. >> It could be connected. >> Well, yeah. If kids like miss so many days and then they're still promoted, everything feels hard and then >> we're just pushing them down the road. But I won't talk about that today. >> And I know this this might sound um silly, but just sending out like a graphic or an image to parents about when you should send your kids to school and when you should not, when you should keep them home, like simple nursing things like that, like it's okay to come to school if you have a little stomach ache.
085um just little nudges that you know you know positive you know feedback for parents you know missing school can cause more stress and anxiety overall for kids. I just think hearing that and and really prioritizing that messaging to parents um is going to help a lot and hopefully kind of curb the shift a little bit to go the other way. That's a great idea if we could come up with almost to what you said Amanda about the script part with the phones is come up with a script that we could work with admin Dan >> going to parents on those situations are >> I think that would be ideal if they could walk through this and we had it at each grade you know elementary level middle school level high school level it could be
086three different scripts right >> or the same script could justify that to come up and try to walk through that I don't know if that's something um that admin can can do on on top of everything else or if we need some assistance through somebody like this person to help us walk through something. I don't know. But that that's a great point on having that same same process and same lingo to get them to come to school when it's okay. And that that's a that's a great idea. >> Does each team have um each school have an attendance team? >> It it falls a lot on the assistant principles. >> Okay. Um, and I think sometimes it blurs with behavior, too. Um, but that that's probably one thing we have to look at uh more
087cohesively. It's probably something it's easier for the middle school and high school to take on because they have bigger staffs. >> Yeah. >> But, you know, the elementary school there is a principal, there's an assistant principal and like everything kind of falls on them. So I think that's one thing we have to kind of uh look at a little bit more closely because I know right before COVID when we're looking at some of these things it was all on the assistant principles >> but now that we have the social worker >> I mean they should >> in one building. Yep. clearly be involved in the attendance team in meetings and outreach and >> um you know even a team of teachers on an attendance team to review cases case by case even >> you know
088if a student's missing you know three unexcused days of school who who's calling and seeing what's going on you know and and studies do show the first outreach should be the teachers because they know those >> you know those kids the best but then is it the guidance counselor is it social worker is it the AP >> um who's who's communicating getting home or then to the next point to who's doing home visits, you know. But >> the other piece to the graphic, which I love, and the script is like sharing and like disseminating some of the research, like I think sometimes in like kindergarten, first grade, it's seems like not as big of a deal, but like did you know for if your student misses more than this amount of days, like it's actually
089an indicator in terms of like their academic success and how they feel about school and them wanting to come to school and just kind of >> I think in the younger grades it feels like it's not as big of a deal and I think it's misunderstood how much content is delivered during those times that I think if some parents read that they might like be extra careful to schedule that doctor's appointment outside of school hours or and we all have stuff during the day but >> um it adds up quickly when you you have a couple appointments and a couple absences and so I think sharing some of that information would be good too. Yeah, >> Sarah, we have those protocols in place too like most schools where there's obviously the daily attendance calls home
090and then after a week we follow up if if they're a week out and then there's a 10day official letter from the school and that's when we begin to get really concerned and start to analyze what are the root causes of this. >> Can you share that with us? >> Sure. Yeah. >> Just what the um plan is and >> Yep. >> you guys. >> Good. Um, no, like I I really appreciate the kind of deep dive into the causes of it because you can't treat the symptoms. You can't just keep treat the symptoms. You got to treat the cause. Uh, one thing I'm actually curious about, what are the actual numbers that would fall into the chronic absenteeism within our school system? >> Yeah, I honestly it's something actually I want to study a
091little bit better. I think we can probably look at it after the first quarter, but I what I also really want to do is I want to look at last year's data and I want to compare it to grades and state test scores and kind of kind of see where things landed out in both those areas, too. So, um I think the schools have a good handle of probably the biggest offenders, but it's all the ones that are heading in that direction we want to get ahead of, too. >> Be great. >> Yeah. And and I know Amanda didn't want to talk about retention, but that is a big big um topic, you know, that we need to continue to to look at, especially the K to five level and make sure that we're um
092getting them at the rate right grade level um before moving on and you know, early signs that we're able to get on it. And I know it's tough when you got a classroom of 20, 22, 24 kids um to keep up if somebody's out for a week, two weeks um to get them caught up. Uh no matter how much help you have, it's it's tough on the teachers. Um but we really need to look at if it is um a lot of truency or you know just for other reasons that if we can't help them get to that point that we we have that deep down dive and and look at you know not putting more pressure on that family and that student and uh the teaching staff. So, I I know nobody likes to
093talk about it, but I think it's become an issue, you know, countrywide, but I'm worried about lendary >> and I think the whole board is and if we can um get some some warning signs and that in place, I'm sure you do have some now, but to really focus on making sure they are ready to move to that ne next grade level, especially before they get to the middle school because then it becomes tougher and tougher as we all know. um getting that K to5 level um in a good spot before they hit that building I think is a big success for the for the school district moving forward and the families and that. So um appreciate the due diligence on everyone's part. Um you know, I'll go back to to what we said about
094accountability and that's that's all of us working together with the parents and and trying to come out what's best for the kids and our staff to be able to do their job. So, I think if we can just keep on this uh week after week and, you know, we're not not trying to be the, you know, do the wrong thing. We're trying to do the right thing across the board for the school district and the families. So, appreciate the help uh districtwide on this area. So, appreciate it. >> That's good. >> Since you brought it up, >> had the poke. I just didn't want to repeat like be repetitive but on my end. But I'm glad you brought it up because the other piece is like some kids are so behind from a grade level
095standpoint that that actually is a motivator why they don't want to come to school. And this is like one of the only fields or disciplines or areas where you move on to the next grade or without having emerging or mastered skills for the grade you're in. which not only impacts our test scores but and I get I get why this started kids obviously to be left behind from your peers there's a social impact of that but when it's done early and it's normalized some kids have one year in kindergarten or readiness was great or you know sometimes you're in first grade until you're seven and sometimes you're six and and normalizing that um this is sometimes some of the reasons kids don't kids don't want to come to school when they don't feel successful. So,
096it's a cycle, you know, and it can start anywhere. But I couldn't agree with you more. >> Okay. Good. >> Good. >> All right. It's good. >> Good. I guess you got anything else to add? I'm all set. >> I do not Dan, anything. J. >> All set. All right. I will uh look for a motion to go into non-public session requested under RSA 91A colon 3 section 2B and C please. >> So moved. >> Motion by Sarah. >> Second by Amanda. Roll call vote from my left to right please. >> I Kevin Gray. >> I Tim Porter. I Bob Slater. >> I Sarah Love. I Am Amanda Butcher. >> Good night Glenn Derry.