School Board Meeting 9-2--25

001Welcome to the meeting of the Londereerry School Board to be held on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2025 at 7 p.m. in the library 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 please rise for the pledge of allegiance to my left or behind you folks? >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation indivisibley for all. >> Thank you. jump right into the consent agenda with some upcoming meetings. September 23rd, 2025 will be a regular schoolboard meeting downstairs in the cafe at 7 p.m. On October 7th, 2025 will be a regular schoolboard meeting. uh back up here in the library at

0027 pm and October 21st, 2025 again a regular schoolboard meeting back down in the cafe at 7 pm. Um could I get a motion to approve the consent agenda, please? >> So moved. >> Motion by Sarah. >> Second by Amanda. All those in favor? >> I 5. Thank you. >> Um all right, on to four. I will open the floor for any public comment. If you could come up to any one of those seats up there with a mic, state your name and address, and uh you have five minutes. >> Good evening. Uh John Brennan, 14 Juul Court. Uh here is a a parent and not a member of any board in town. So just as an individual. Uh I was coming up and I don't come here too often because the news with the

003school district is always so good. Everything's great. the the the buildings uh the business of the district, the standardized test scores, the one-on-one technology, just phenomenal. Right. So, this I think every time I've been up here, I start with that. I did want to come up and I wanted to ask a question about the Alertis system that went off last Wednesday. Um the system that we have uh went off and from where I'm sitting, it didn't work correctly. It went off. people sheltered in place. Um, uh, which is an extremely traumatic event. I think the principal's email that went out in the afternoon really did a nice job, uh, talking about counselors that would be available. We had, we had a very traumatic event where a system went off accidentally and law enforcement and fire

004weren't notified. So, I don't know if everybody here's aware of that and if people want to engage in a dialogue, they certainly can. But the dispatch logs were released and on the day of an active shooter in an elementary school on that day our system went off and nobody was dispatched here. Nobody. So that system best practice NFPA standard 72, the National Electrical Code, anybody with any common sense or any other school district that has such technology. And believe me, we're way behind on it. That system either goes to the PAP and conquered so a 911 call is registered if it goes off or it goes directly across the street and people are dispatched. So that day, that day of school, we all sent our kids to school and said if there was an emergency

005in school, you had to push that button. And now we all know if they did, nobody was coming. That's the truth. That's it. So spoke to enough people across the street at the two other agencies, spoke to conquered, no call. So the system didn't work. And I don't know if that keeps you up or not. It should keep you up tonight because it's 7 o'clock and it's not going to work tomorrow morning either, unless something has changed in the last two hours. It hasn't changed. It's not going to work. So somebody tonight should open up a laptop computer and they should go into the alert system and they should go to the integration page and they should put conquered in as the 911 PAP or they should put the police station in across the street,

006but nobody was dispatched here. Now, there's probably other interpretations of what occurred that day, which is great. We all have other interpretations, but at the end of the day, nobody was dispatched. And we had kids sheltering thinking that somebody may be shooting a school up. And it was four hours after kids were on their cell phones seeing that that's exactly what had happened in Minneapolis. I don't think it gets any more real than that. So I don't know who knows or or where that sits, but it doesn't work. The current system doesn't work. And as far as best practices are concerned, it's a poor product and other school districts don't have it. And ones that do have such technology that go straight to 911. So do the fire alarms work? if you pull him. That's

007a fair question. Pull the fire alarm. Does it go Does it go someplace? Because the guy in the building with the gun doesn't. Sobering, but that's what happened. And we sent our kids to school that morning. A school that's full of the greatest teachers in America. A a a district that has it's just unbelievable. I come here, I gush about the people in this district. I gush. The principal of the high school's emailed that afternoon. It was it was so great to see. It's fantastic. But I told my kids to push that button. So as of tomorrow morning, my kids are going to run across the street if it goes off because I know the button doesn't go anywhere. And that type of response should have been not only London PD and London fire, but

008it should have been mutual aid to Derry like other school districts do. So I don't know if you're aware of it, but that's what happened. The logs were published this morning and I made the phone call and nothing went off over there and that's it. So maybe a school resource officer knew maybe somebody's cell phone went off. Absolutely inexcusable that that occurred. So if somebody found smoke in this building, would we like try to find an offduty firefighter to go sniff first before we called somebody or would we want to? No, we would just call. And that's what we should be doing when seconds matter. So, I wanted to bring it up because it's it it needs to be fixed tonight. It's a system that can I spoke to the alert people today. Uh I

009want nothing to do with this, but I'm in this industry, but I want nothing to do with it up here. Spoke to them today. So, it if you logged into your computer right now at 7:07, you could have this done by 7:10. Nobody should go to bed tonight without this being done. Nobody. Because it doesn't work. It's not going to work in the morning. and this is going out in public. But if this isn't said here tonight, then we all just get up tomorrow morning knowing it's not working and no one's doing a goddamn thing about it. It didn't work. So that's it. Again, haven't had a bad day in this district. Haven't had a bad day. We have the the greatest faculty that have ever walked the planet. Phenomenal. But we're going to talk

010about cell phones tonight. And we're not talking about a potential active shooter on a day when there was an active shooter and the police weren't called. That's insane. It's insane. So, I just wanted to put this in front of everybody and um and and say thank you for everything that you do, but I strongly suggest from uh from a riskmanagement perspective, somebody opens their goddamn laptop tonight and fixes this before nine o'clock because it should not school should not open tomorrow morning with this being this way. Absolutely not. And that system's been up for a long time. the conversations I had today. How long's it been up? A year, two years? Has it not been going across the street for two years? That's just that's just so troubling. My god. So, I assume my five

011minutes is close. I want to thank everybody for everything that you do and the service that you do for this town. Um, and uh I want to acknowledge the principal of the high school for his email that afternoon because that is a that's going to be a super traumatic event for him to be notified whether he was here or he was not in dealing with it the best he could. Uh especially dealing with a broken system. That thing goes off, there should be 100 cops walking through the front door. That's how it should go because if you miss that beat, well, if it happened in Minneapolis, let's just talk about that for a second. If it happened earlier in the day, maybe there would be 10 elementary school kids that are no longer with us

012because there was no delay. Keep that in mind. But do me a favor. Please fix this tonight because it can be fixed tonight. And this is not best practices in the industry and it is certainly not best practices in the K through2 space. Absolutely not. Positively not. I can give you 15 districts that do it differently and have a reintegration package electronically so when the fire department and PD roll up, you know where people are. We don't have any of that. What's going on? taxes are high enough in this town and you people have done a phenomenal job managing the school district and and and the money to a tea like let's let's fix this and the last thing I'll say is this is what you get when you piece meal together a project with

013two or three different integrators and I was here a couple years ago talking to this board about it when when the when the the the current business manager is the best rock solid and prior to that not at at all. Not at all. Failing grade and this is what you get and it doesn't work. And our kids are at risk and they're at risk in 12 hours. So I beg you to fix it. And if anybody tries to dodge it, I'm going to wallpaper the district office with 91 from not only this agency, but the ones across the street. So don't don't come up with an alternative explanation for this in some alternative universe because I got nothing but time on my hands and I've got the story today. So, don't get to the bottom

014of it and turn this goddamn system on. And please do it before my kids show up at school in the morning and care more about the yellow button on the wall than cell phones. But I'll tell you this, with this not working, that cell phone is going to be in my kids's pocket because when there's an emergency, I'm going to know exactly where they are. Exactly where they are because nobody else is with the exception of the teachers that put themselves in harm's way here every day. So, I thank you for your help and if there's anything that I can do to assist you, please reach out. Happy to. >> Thank you, Mr. Thank you. >> Appreciate it. >> And can we uh look into that to make sure get somebody to check it? >>

015There's a lot right now. >> Yep. >> Do I still please? Because I'll tell you if if If you can't say it publicly, which I understand, um I've got some reservations with that. So, this is public, right? This I don't know what can't be said publicly, but the system didn't work correctly. So, so I this is let's not hide behind that. Let's not say we're going to have a debrief or whatever you're going to have or a meeting. Let's not do that. Let's just talk quickly about this. It should be said publicly because what's going to happen is if it's not said publicly, it's not going to change. >> Y I agree. >> Embrace that. It's not going to change. So, say it publicly. We're not talking about disciplining a student here. We're not talking

016about disciplining a staff member. We're not doing that. That's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about a mechanical electronic system here that's not up to code and not up to standard. And I appreciate Dan's position. Absolutely. And I appreciate everything Dan's done for the district. Your biggest biggest fan in town. Really am. This is broken. So, you can talk about it because here's the thing. And this board's got not this board. I love this board, but this board's got a history of of of taking that point of view. Um, you lose every time. Like, because it's a matter of public record. You're not going to be able to hide that. Absolutely not. Then the flip side of it is if you if there's things you can't say, then what is it? The London

017Times or MU are asking who there's going to be another avenue because god damn it, as a parent, we're going to find out why it doesn't work. And it's certainly not for your trying and your effort. Jason, same thing with you. You guys are working hard for this. There's no doubt in my mind. But it's broken. And I'll be honest with you, I don't know who the hell's responsible for the system, but after what happened the other day and it not going across the street. If I was running the school district, they wouldn't be here anymore. There's got to be some level of accountability. I'm hearing that if my kid takes their cell phone out, there's going to be the Benghazi hearings and they're going to get detention and everything else. A godam active shooter

018alert went off from the building. Nobody came. That's like such a problem. And maybe I come my my world is maybe just death and destruction. I don't know. But like that's that's crazy to me. So I appreciate you saying that and I do understand that you've got different rules you got to play by. Totally unacceptable for the electeds that are sitting up here that there's things we can't say. Totally unacceptable. If I'm asking about a I know how much the teachers make. All this public record information. This should be public. This should be public. I've seen floor plans for these schools on the street for projects. Stop. This is not a national security issue. Somebody go home tonight. Open up your laptop and connect it to the police station across the street. So if somebody

019pushes the button tomorrow morning, we know somebody's coming. Well-intentioned teachers. These teachers here are heroes. These teachers are heroes. And some of the teachers that were here the other day barricading doors and taking you, they are just heroes to our kids. But at the end of the day, they need somebody to come over here to meet that threat level, exceed it, and stop it. And they're not coming as of right now. We can go push a button now if you want to want to see what happens. We should pull the fire alarm and we'll pull the alert system. You want to do it? Pull right now. See who shows up because the big red truck will come over, but I don't think anybody else is coming. And God help us. Do the school resource officers

020get these alerts on their phones? >> They do. Are they their own phones or the the police department's phones? >> Well, that's a problem because if they're getting alerts now, the phone's a matter of public record. So, the phone and the pictures of their kids and everything else, that phone's now a matter of public record and can be subpoenaed. That's insane. And I'm not so sure they know across the street that that's the case. Here's the other one. The onus of that police officer getting alert on their phone that there's an emergency at the school and they're on a day off. That's a bad spot to be putting somebody in. They're going to dispatch from home. Curriculum development. Unbelievable. My kids homework. I can't even help them with it. I look at it and I

021can't even help. You need a PhD to help with homework at this point. Running the finances of the business. I This is simple. Simple. Hit the button. They come. That's the end of it. And if they come and it's a false alarm, so be it. So, don't don't I appreciate the position that you're in. No more. No more. We can't talk about it. There's going to be meetings. No more. No more. And I don't think half the parents realized what happened last week that nobody was coming. And I think parents would be a little insane about it. If they're not, I'll be insane alone. That's not a problem. But but this has to be solved. I appreciate, Mr. Chair, the extra time. At Dan, thank you. >> Thank you. We'll talk about this. Um, we'll

022have to talk about this tonight and uh see if we can get an answer. See if he can get us tied in. I don't know if you can get is it John that would handle that. >> We just want to make sure it's active across the street for tomorrow morning fire and alert. Okay. Any other public comment? Seeing none, I'll close public comment and I'll open a public hearing to discuss the PTA donations from North School, Matthew and Matthew Thornton School to fund the replacement of playground equipment. Uh, look for a motion to open the public comment. >> So moved. >> Motion by Sarah. >> Second. Second by Tim with a roll call vote from my left to right, please. >> Hi, Kevin Gray. >> Hi, Tim Porter. >> Hi, Bob Slater. >> I Sarah

023Laughlin. >> I Amanda Butcher. >> And public hearing is open and bring up the speakers on the playgrounds, please. >> So, we're going to invite up the Matthew Thornton PTA and Abby Sloper and the North School PTA and Mr. Dutton. I I'm going to speak on their behalf and they can answer questions. So, all you need to do right now is just look at them in awe and be like, "Wow, they're doing a really awesome thing um for our our elementary schools. So we have Katie Misho and Foresight and I believe Kevin Gray was part of this initiative from the North School side of things and then Deb Deore and Kelly um on the Matthew Thornton side of this. So, um I think we've recognized that our playgrounds could use a a fresh perspective, but

024it's incredibly expensive um to replace structures, to do landscaping, to get things installed and inspected and make sure that they're safe for kids. Um so, North School, we'll talk about first. um they have utilized um their booster thawns over the past few years uh to collect money to replace the structure and really do like a complete overhaul of their playground. Um they posted an RFP RFP last summer. They've looked through the bids. They've worked with Joe Parzik, our buildings and grounds. They've worked with Paul to talk about um what the needs were and what they wanted. And they've selected Ben Schaefer Recreation to replace and install the main structure. um and swings. It's an $85,000 project. So, the fact that this is all donation centered is outstanding. So, we can't thank you enough for that.

025You can see a little visual of what they're going to do. Um tonight, if the school board um votes to accept this donation from the PTA, they will get started and hopefully by late fall um the work will be will be in place to have that going. So, that's the north school side of things. And then similarly on the Matthew Thornton side of things, um they want to use the funds they made in this past spring booster thawn to do some refresh which there's already started. I think there's some um aesthetic things that have already gone on, but they also want to um get some swings and a comet spinner is that that looks intense. You can see how happy the children look in the pictures. Um and they posted an RFP in July. They

026reviewed bids and they also selected the Ben Schaffefer Recreation uh to replace um their their pieces and to install the new one. So, um their cost is $41,325. Um so, they would like to donate this money so that that work could get started also in the fall um to get going. So, that's the short of it. We have very generous families and um PTAs who have worked hard to get some new equipment for our kids. So, if you have any questions for them, >> would you guys like to say anything on behalf of this project? Looks like a lot of hard work went into this in time. >> I would just like to thank the Matthew Thornon families for all their generous donations to our booster thawn. Um, we're so grateful for their generosity. It

027was amazing to watch this last booster thawn and we have really big dreams and hopes for our next booster thawn. So, stay tuned. >> Great. >> Same. Our North community just Our north school community just blew our minds every year the past three years thanks to Kevin. You started it three years ago around this time. We had our first booster thawn in the spring and then each year our families just show up and it just showed that they're ready for some new space for our kids to play and can't wait for the entire community to use it as well. So, um, hopefully this is just phase one, two, replacing the larger structure, a bunch of new swings, which I know the kids are going to be thrilled about, and then each year target another piece

028of equipment to, uh, improve upon. So, thank you to our community, staff, school board, everybody. We're really excited. >> Anyone from the public want to speak on this? >> Seeing none, anyone from the board? Good. Well, I say it all the time. The PTAs do endless work at all our schools. Um, it's just amazing the time that, you know, parents put in and uh and work for what the extra things for our for our students and that. So, thank you to to all he is and every member of the PTA and the Slendidary School District because it means a lot um to to the school principles as well as the families in those districts. So, this is outstanding. So, congratulations Uh, with that, I'll look for a motion to uh accept and approve the cost

029of uh the donation of 85,000 uh on the North School PTA, please. >> So moved. >> Motion by Sarah. >> Second by Kevin. All those in favor? >> I 50. And also I'd look for a motion to approve um and accept the 41,325 from the PTA for the Matthew Thornton uh playground equipment. >> So moved. >> Motion by Sarah. >> Second by Amanda. All those in favor? >> I I 50. Congratulations, folks. Can't wait to see it. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. [Applause] And I'll look for a motion to close the public hearing, please. >> So moved. >> Motion by Sarah. >> Second by Tim. All those in favor? >> I 50. >> And we're on to 7.1. Student representative. Any updates this evening? >> Um, no. >> No. Schools start out

030good. >> Yeah. >> Good. Good. Thanks for coming. We look forward to seeing you in the next uh, you know, coming year here representing uh, your classmates. Thank you so much. >> Um, school board leaison. Amanda, anything? >> Not tonight. No. >> Okay. >> Uh, just one. The first Matthew Thornton PTA meeting of the year will be on Thursday, September 18th at six o'clock for any M Thorton parents that want to come. >> Yep. Just one from the CIP committee. Um our final our sixth and final meeting is September 29th was decided the last meeting. Uh we do encourage public to come and voice any um opinions or or anything they would like to to um convey to the committee uh before we set our final um orders and uh ranking numbers to once again

031it's advisory only committee but those will be handed off to the budget committee and for their use. >> Great. Thank you Kevin. and um not much from the town council a few weeks ago and we had our second capital committee um meeting tonight went off well and uh that will continue probably on a monthly basis moving forward. All right, takes care of leaison. We'll jump into uh announcements and presentations and 8.1 we'll welcome the principles Sandra Mack, Deb Sutherland, Abby Slooper, Paul Dutton, William Van Vaniccom, and Rick Barnes up to tell us how the first week went. Good evening. Um, I think we can all agree that there's nothing like the first day of school and the first week of school when we welcome our students and families back. It happens every year thanks to

032the collective efforts at all levels. And we want to thank our custodians, our summer help, our IT um team, the dining services, all of our administrative assistants, and of course our teachers and staff for all of their efforts this summer preparing for the school year. This year throughout our district, we're celebrating the joy in our schools and the power of collaboration. Our collective district goal is to bring the joy to teaching and learning. That goal is already alive in our classrooms and hallways, and we're committed to carrying it forward every day with more purposeful planning and focus. We saw the joy in so many ways during our first days back. Welcoming students and families back into the building reminded us of the strong sense of community that makes our school so special. It was especially

033heartwarming to see our new students, our preschoolers, our first graders, our kindergarteners at the open houses. They were wideeyed and excited and re ready to begin the year. These are the things that remind us why we do this work. Our halls were filled with excitement, laughter, and the joy of reconnecting. Our students left day one brimming with stories of their first day. Staff were reminded of the joy they bring into their classrooms every single day. The joy of making learning fun, of creating memorable moments that stick with children long after the lesson is over, and seeing the spark when a student makes a discovery. There is true joy in simply being back together again, building connections, creating a community where every child feels they belong, and fostering the love of learning. Another focus this year

034is collaboration and strengthening that through PLC's, grade level, and department meetings. We've seen in our own assessment data, and in our results that when teachers come together, share ideas, plan with purpose, and support each other, both staff and students will thrive. Collaboration allows every child to benefit from the collective expertise in the creativity of an entire team, not just one teacher. You can see it up there. There is real joy in that teamwork and the joy of learning from each other, celebrating student growth together, and knowing that we are stronger when we work side by side. By focusing on collaboration, we are ensuring that students are reaching their fullest potential and committing to a district goal of bringing joy to teaching and to learning. We are also committed to collaborating with our families essential to

035ensuring that every student has success and for their well-being. Through this partnership, we can create a powerful support system around each child. By fostering open communication, mutual trust, and a shared purpose, we build joyful and welcoming school cultures where every child and adult can feel seen, supported, and empowered to grow. Together, we are not just shaping academic outcomes. We are helping students to foster confidence, resilience, and learners who are prepared for whatever comes next. We aim to create forward ready students. The first few days, honestly, uh weeks of school are always focused on setting up new routines, schedules, expectations, and establishing the classroom cultures. Teachers provide direct instruction by reviewing our expectations, focused on respect, responsibility, and safety. In the various school settings, all of us have been so impressed with our students and staff,

036settling in with these new routines and expectations as we just wind up wound up day four today. In our cafeteria, students are practicing clear expectations for entering and navigating the lunch line, using their lunch cards, eating and cleaning up so that meal times run smoothly and respectfully. On our playgrounds, staff have introduced themselves and encouraged safe play on the equipment and field, positive interactions, and structured transitions back into the building. Arrival and dismissal procedures have also been a focus, ensuring that students begin and end their day with safety and efficiency. Students are learning to ex enter and parents are learning to enter and exit the building from either the bus drop off locations or the parent drop off lines. Accessing breakfast if needed and entering their classrooms to begin their morning routines. Within classrooms, teachers

037are building daily routines that support independence learning and a positive and a positive classroom culture. In addition, we have introduced a new printing system this year for students and staff. Each student has a personal printer card with a barcode that they can scan at hallway printers located near classrooms, making printing both secure and easily accessible for all. Together, these routines lay the foundation for consistency, reduce disruptions, and maximize instructional time as we move into the year. We were thrilled to kick off, sorry, we were thrilled to kick off the Can you hear me? >> Sorry. Let me start again. We were thrilled to kick off the school year with a presentation from Katie Novak on universal design for learning, also known as UDL. Her session was high energy, engaging, and truly motivational, setting a positive

038tone for the year ahead. One key takeaway was the reminder that when we designed lessons with flexibility and multiple pathways for success, we were able to meet the needs of all of our learners from the start. Staff left feeling inspired and ready to put UDL principles into practice to ensure that every student has meaningful access to learning. As we begin the new school year, our curriculum remains focused on providing a well-rounded and strong foundation for all students. The curriculum is designed to support academic growth, social emotional learning, and critical thinking while also aligning with state standards and our district goals. With the collaborative work of our elementary curriculum coordinator, Nicole Treadway, we continue to support vertical and horizontal alignment across grade levels and schools. Our curriculum is designed to prepare students with essential academic skills,

039foster curiosity, support social and emotional growth with strong collaboration between staff, families, and the community. We are committed to ensuring that each child feels supported, challenged, and successful in our schools. Thank you very much for your time. And if you have any questions, please let us know. >> Any questions? >> Thank you. I'm glad everything went well. So, at the middle school, I don't want you to be too concerned. I do have several pages. That's only because the font's larger. So, no worries. to sound the same length and I'm going to read that this evening. It's a little easier for me to read than it is to just go at it. I'll just keep talking and talking and talking. So, all right. The middle school faculty and staff were excited to welcome our students on

040the first day of school. Each year, the first day brings a wide range of emotions at the middle school as our sixth grade teachers do an incredible job welcoming our newest students to their first day while seventh graders settle into their new space, moving from upstairs to downstairs and are welcomed by their new team of teachers. for our rising eighth graders who had the chance to meet their teachers before the start of school. As each e each eighth grade team hosted a meet and greet, a new teacher-driven initiative that allowed students to connect with their team of teachers and visit with new friends on their teams. The students eagerly welcomed the change from the pods to the hallway setting, which is one step closer for them to the high school environment. So as the elementary

041schools uh initiated as well, the bringing the joy is continuing, excuse me, continues into the middle school, the excitement on campus was in the air the first day of school arrived. Not only did it bring the usual anxious, balled up enthusiasm for starting middle school, but it also created opportunities for new friendships to form and old ones to be rekindled after the summer break. Smiles illuminated the hallways as teachers and staff warmly welcomed their students, easing anxiety that often accompanies the start of a new school year. And by the end of the week, a strong sense of belonging was seen throughout the hallways. In collaboration, the middle school continues to work through this as we welcome our students. Over three days, teachers and administrators took time to review school and classroom expectations. This year, the

042middle school staff kicked off their year with a model of shifting gears and focused on finding one trait that each of us seeks to improve within ourselves throughout the course of the year. As a new bell sounded and kicked off the school year, it quickly became evident that collaboration among the faculty, staff, and administrators fostered a consistent messaging for our students. We did review the electronic device procedures, and we highlighted the values and beliefs that form the foundation of our school behavior expectations. These messages were communicated effectively and received well by all of our students. There was a sense of comfort in the building as students and staff came together with a shared set of expectations highlighting the importance of the learning process. Within the first three days, the spirit of collaboration was evident, creating

043a positive learning atmosphere and throughout our school. As we establish new routines, as with every start of the school year, it's essential for children as they transition back into a school schedule. For middle schoolers, this can be overwhelming. And thanks to the supportive teachers and staff who are there to ensure each student feels well supported. Middle school students have a lot of stuff. They got a lot of stuff each day. Um, they got a backpack, they got athletic bag, they got lunch, a water bottle weighs close to 20 pounds. I'm sure of that. And soon some will have an instrument. And some of those instruments are bigger than themselves. But we commend our parents, and I really do, um, who took time, I know, before school to start practicing, getting ready each day because that's

044a lot of stuff to get together each day. And it does take practice. And all of this is part of being a middle schooler. And as students adjust to new buses, practice times, and other school route year routines, I want to assure you that the staff at LMS is well prepared to help. And they are. They understand the complexities of middle level students and I cannot emphasize enough the importance of building a relationship with your child's team and teachers and the school counselors and assistant principles at each grade level. All of these individuals are here to help ensure your child is well cared for and supported at LMS. And finally, some of our curriculum this year and our goals. Our middle school continues to emphasize and focus on student academic progress and raising the bar

045for achievement. At the core of the middle school, there are three pillars that support our vision of excellence. Their collaborative practices, their instructional refinement, and most importantly, academic growth. We expect each of our students to grow to their educational pursuits, and with the support of skill staff, they are well equipped to meet the benchmark set forth by the superintendent for the middle school. We have taken a thorough look at our math math alignment to ensure our students are well prepared for their SAS test in the spring. but more importantly are well equipped to enter each grade level they start each year. All of our content departments work collaboratively with Megan Nason, our curriculum coordinator, to ensure each student receives a rigorous and challenging curriculum. In conclusion, we are thrilled to welcome our new staff members

046and continue working towards our vision of excellence which reflects the values and beliefs we instill in our students at LMS. The middle school is a bustling environment and I believe that together with our families we can su successfully navigate these challenging years ahead. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> So the test test the new year at the Londereerry High School began with much like other schools in the district a strong sense of joy, collaboration and renewed purpose. We celebrated academic achievements with our dedicated staff highlighting outstanding gains in student performance across SAT, AP, and SAS testing, SAS science testing. To honor these accomplishments and foster a joyful atmosphere, we hosted a sweet treats event for staff featuring deluxe ice cream Sunday truck, lawn games, and even a pop-up shot competition. These moments of celebration helped

047reinforce our commitment to maintaining a positive and supportive school climate and culture. A particularly proud moment is sharing that Jacqueline Hoffman, an English teacher here in LHS alum, was recently accepted in the into the prestigious Fullulbright teachers program. Her recognition serves as an inspiration to both staff and students, and we look forward to sharing more details on her achievements soon. We also welcomed Sophie, our new therapy dog, generously shared with us by retired member of our staff, Wendy Kalinan. Sophie has already begun making meaningful impact offering support to students and staff alike. She's the big bear on the screen to your left, bottom left. Collaboration is a part particular area of focus for us this year. Teachers across departments shared exe exemplars of the integration of our portrait of a graduate framework into their own

048instruction as part of our staff professional development days. Mrs. Jess Grier shared her the joys of her amazing BOFAB USA project which engages students in advanced technologies, entrepreneurship and career pathways in manufacturing. In mathematics, Mr. Dodge and Miss Sharp and Miss Thompson share their performance task on quadratic functions where students analyze the motion of an Olympic figure skater through collaborative group work. Mrs. Downeying and Miss Braille share their work involving a reading scavenger hunt. Our library combining peer collaboration and AI tools to enhance student engagement. Our music department led by Mr. Bolio, Miss Loavo, and Mr. De Bernardo continues to connect students to their communities through performances at local and international events. As we establish new routines, we have implemented key fob locks to enhance security. The first day of school brought you the usual

049bus jitters, especially with the new buses and traffic patterns. And as you're aware, in the second day, the unanticipated Ellis alarm was triggered, which was obviously very concerning and scary for staff and students. We are proud to report that both students and staff responded with remarkable composure, concerned, and care for one another. Our class meetings welcome students back with celebrations of academic success and recognition of their involvement in sports and co-curricular activities. We introduced updates to the life of Lancer code of conduct, emphasizing the character clause and distributed pins earned through the Lancer letter program. Members of the pay it forward club played a vital role in helping new students transition smoothly, offering support throughout the day and the evening. Curriculum updates reflect our commitment to innovation and the creation of welcoming environment. We are

050guiding students in the appropriate use of AI through the district's AI continuum, helping them understand the balance between academic integrity and technological ad advancement. Grading practices at the high school shifting to a place to place more emphasis on daily homework and formative assessments. We have revamped the steps program to better support students in the building with emotional and behavioral needs, which is now staffed with our current case managers in our new social worker position. Additionally, the launch of the ELO firefighter program allows students to split their time between online coursework and hands-on experience at the London Fire Department, preparing them for graduation and potential careers and public service. As you can see, the start of this school year has been marked by enthusiasm, innovation, and a deep sense of community for which Lancer Nation is

051known. Our staff and students have embraced new opportunities and challenges with resilience and optimism. We look forward to building on the strong strong foundation as we continue to support every student's growth and success throughout the year. And thank you. >> Thank you, Rick. Thank you, William. >> Look forward to updates as a year go on. >> Thank you. >> All right. Moving on to 8.2. Opening message to staff, superintendent, and school board. Dan, sorry. Just kind of continue. We had a very different opening this year with staff. We had a very short meeting in the cafeteria. We had about four staff there and quick collaboration between myself. We took some time to talk through the importance of problems. about students and obviously with families partnerships we want to see more attendance as a school system

052being responsible for their education also preparedness accountability message opening. But then what we did is we kind of split up. >> There we go. Sorry. Um and you know, as we as we heard, what we're really focusing on was joy and collaboration. Um so each school got a very personalized um praise for uh way they've moved their numbers in the last couple years. So that that was nice to kind of do it on on an individual level at least with with six different buildings. Um mostly because you know our schools have been pushing hard for a couple years really really hard. Um and it was good to kind of see the progress. Uh but we shared with them uh that we may have turned up the data dial a lot in the last couple years.

053We're not touching the data dial moving forward, but we really wanted to focus on that joy. Um they've made a lot of academic progress. Uh but I think the next stage is how do we make sure we bring that joy into what we're doing uh to get our kids where they need to be. Um and and we push so hard to protect ourselves from the forces that are undermining public education. There are a lot of them. Um and they're in the state and they're national and we're we're definitely in a tough environment, but the stronger our numbers are, the more we protect ourselves. Um I think we've done it to also recruit new families alone area. We want people to move here. We want to have a good school system where people want to be.

054Um, and you know, I think the the number one reason too is making sure our students can lead the way when they're done because every every time we see a mediocre number, I worry the kids aren't ready. Um, you know, so I think we've made a lot of jumps and a lot of progress, but now we're at a point where where we need to make uh slow sustained growth uh in a number of areas. And you know, Jay and I had a great kind of debrief with every school this summer about where they're at. And every time we saw a strong strong number, we saw collaboration behind it. So I think that's why we we pushed really hard on collaboration and I think what we what we kind of told our schools is um at

055least at the elementary level it's a little bit different for 6 through 12 is we have all these high quality resources right now that are great. Um and you know I think to where we to get to where we want to be it's really making sure our teachers bring that joy of of learning and and what they have in front of them to their students and really pull them in and get them uh excited about what they're doing which I think they're doing a good job. Um, and I think we want to make sure all of our teacher teams are collaborating to make each other stronger. So, that was the the message for the elementary schools and the and the ele the middle school and high school was similar. Um, I you know, we're never

056going to have a canned curriculum um or or a curriculum we buy uh you know, a middle school and high school as much because teachers usually um kind of create their own or work off of other resources. we do have our portrait of a graduate and and if we kind of really mobilize that and we really bring that joy to the classroom, that's how we get the engagement with our students to get to where we want to be and obviously problem solve together. So that was kind of the combined message and then you know what we were trying to say to staff is I hope you all can collaborate more this year to bring that joy in teaching and learning uh to get the best instru instructional practices together. Um and because we think joyful

057fun classrooms, great resources, get the student engagement, get the results and kind of see that connection. So um it was a fun opening um and you heard from the schools and that was kind of what we did on a larger level. [Music] >> Thank you, Dan. >> It's actually quite an event the opening day there with the with all the staff in the cafeteria. It's pretty >> y >> pretty intense in that, but um >> the school board um thanks for the opportunity to speak to them and uh you know let them know all the support we have and the collaboration we want to do as far as uh you know the discipline part and the attendance part we really want to see because I think that'll help us all as a district as well

058as our our teachers and uh administration to to be able to do even a better job. So we're here to work with everybody. um staff and families to to bring that to a next level. So, appreciate the time. All right, moving on to that. We've got uh the upcoming work on cell policy. >> Sure. So, this is an update uh within within the the the school board packet, you have a a copy of, you know, a potential um new cell phone policy. Um, and you know, we'll look at it between here and our next meeting and kind of give some recommendations, but obviously when the governor passed the Belltobell cell phone ban in in July, that was kind of a surprise to us. Um, we did a lot of work last winter um around cell

059phones and I think good work and kind of really address some of the issues. So, all we want to do right now is kind of have a have that same collaborative approach with families and staff and students. uh give people a chance to you know comment and and share their feedback and kind of problem solve together because by the end of it last uh winter I thought we did have a good updated policy um you know so I think we have to do that again uh you know I think the main change in the high school is really talking about not having cell phones in the hallways in the cafeteria that's what last year's policy allowed for so we have to change for that and and give the high school time to kind of ramp

060up a change there too um I was a little bit worried about uh the middle school in terms of I know staff. I probably let kids listen to music when they're doing quiet work at times. But just walking around the the middle school the last couple days, there's all these signs up everywhere, no headphones out or no, you know, AirPods and things. So maybe that's a non-issue, but I think that's what we kind of want to talk about as a school system to be ready for it. You know, I think we made uh the big changes last year. This will be just another update we kind of work on this fall to get ready for. So that's coming. >> So will we uh you bring in a first reading document next meeting? >> Yep. Good.

061Definitely bring a first read, you know, and then, you know, I'll I'll we'll probably start with the one we already worked on and make some updates. But if there's things you like from um what we put in the packet, we can definitely include them. You know, those are the things we have to kind of work through. >> Yeah. Yeah. I would um encourage all of us to just look through what's here and and get them information so we can get get on this. I know it's going to be a hard adjustment, >> but um I think we need to do it sooner than later. um it's going to just get harder and harder. So, um if we can get our input on that and uh get this process in place. So, that's behind us. Uh

062that'd be great. >> All right. >> It takes us multiple meetings to get these things done anyway. So, I I would like to see the first reading for the next meeting possible. >> Good. Good. Okay. All right. Thanks, Dan. Uh 8.4 tiered bus route updates. Amity. >> Yes. I'm here to share the joy about the the bus routes this this uh for this opening. Um first and foremost, um this was a huge year uh for for busing. Um there were two major changes. One we knew of it was the two-tiered um bus change where we have middle school and high school riding together, but they also updated their software. So in the midst of having to do this, they had a new software they were working off of. Um and then there was a new

063format to the roots um that we were getting used to. It was a lot of work essentially for the um middle school and high school. They were starting from nothing and building new um as as far as that went. So a huge sense of gratitude to Jen Lombard and Jen Willis who spent hours weekend time um getting the roots ready. They did come out later than they normally do because of that. We anticipate this to be a one-year um thing. But also a huge thank you to Lisa Muse who fields all of the questions about bus routes and then the changes they come out then they change they come out again. Um and we we have gotten the same amount of feedback we usually get to open the year which is a lot. Um there's

064a lot of indiv individual requests, a lot of tweaking. Um so there have already been changes to address some timing and capacity issues that started um today. Um we anticipate there will be more. That's common for September. It's not really until the the end of September where you really settle in to know what the real time of your bus will be and they will continue to adjust. Lisa continues to um respond individually um to every um request and email that she gets. So, she's working time through that. You will get a response if you have reached out about something. Um but overall, we're in a really good place. I was there to watch um drop off we weren't really worried about because getting the kids there and getting them off the buses is pretty good

065on the first day of school. Getting them on the buses to go home um because you don't want to leave until it's all put together. There were more buses in the fleet for the middle school and high school. Um so I was there for day one and then day three and the difference between day one and day three for dismissal was immense. The kids learned their bus numbers. Um there weren't large crowds. They've reorganized the traffic is just getting the buses from the high school to the middle school. But as long as they they kept coming, the middle school has made it so there is never a backup into the road. There is plenty of space for them. So immense work to those administrative teams for that. On average, looking through the average is for

066LMS that the buses are coming about 11 minutes earlier. That's for the whole fleet. Some are at the 20 minute mark. Um some are the same. There's three that are actually later than they were last year. It's hard to compare apples to apples because the routes aren't all the same. Um they're they're different. So you might have been the last stop on your route last year, but you're the first stop now. So some of those could have happened anyway. Um and then the average for high schoolers is they're getting picked up about 18 minutes um later than they would have. And for those winter months, that's that's pretty huge to not be out there in the dark. Um and then afternoon seems to be working out um as well. and and we just continue to

067ask for your support and patience as we get through. We think this is more efficient. We think this is um a good model. Um good in winter weather if we have to dismiss. There's two routes instead of three. Um and we're we're just working through it. So we appreciate your patience. Thank you to everybody who's making the magic happen and continue to reach out if you have other questions. >> Any questions? I can say two parents called said they had concerns and they were they were pleased with how things were looked at. So, thank you Lisa and Amity and and that I know it's a task but especially changing the middle school and high school. So, uh there was some concerns but all's happy right now. So, hopefully it continues that way. >> It can

068only get better after the first week. >> That's what we hope, right? Every day. Great. Thank you for that update. uh 8.5 federal funds in title two, title four uh and adult ed now on frozen. >> Yeah. Yeah. Very quickly, you know, there's this period for the for the summer months for about six or seven weeks where um funds we thought we would have for professional development or title four, which we basically use for AP testing or adult debt program were frozen. Um they're now unfrozen. Uh Jason has the pleasure of u finalizing all the grant details with the state uh which can be pretty bureaucratic at times. Um, you know, so everything will go forward. There there might be a few things in professional development that we had to cover with the operating budget

069because when we left in June, these weren't frozen. We thought they were there. So we started a few things in August and September. Um, but most things should be able to be woven in there and we'll move ahead and hopefully they will not be frozen again in the future. >> Great news. >> That's great. >> Thank you, Dan. >> We'll jump into deliberations. Um 9.1 schoolboard questions on August 5th presentation on enrollment staffing and space for full day kindergarten 2627. I'll open it up. >> Yeah. What what we thought we could do is we'd invite uh you know Paul, Deb, Sandra, and Abby to kind of be up here with us. >> Sure. I was going to do like a 90 second reminder of the August 5th um you know presentation just as a review

070and then Jason Amity and the four of them can kind of handle all the questions that that come up. >> Okay, >> we'll kind of go from there. >> Great. >> They got to come up, guys. There we go. Okay. So, you know, again, as a as a 90 second overview, um you know, we put a lot of work into the to this over uh the summer, but we we looked at our enrollment and and we got to a place where um it's just changed dramatically over the last four summers. Um I think this is probably the the best uh encapsulation of it right there. Um it's just changed so dramatically and and and we've tried to respond to this enrollment change over time. Um as best we can uh while still pursuing full day

071kindergarten. But I think we've reached a point where we can pursue full day kindergarten at least a start um without a building project because enrollment uh has dropped so dramatically with the last three incoming classes. Um we tried to we tried to tell that story as well as we could. Um there's all the projections. I mean each school is a different journey and we can go into those details and I think every every principal is ready to kind of talk about their own school. Um um but we you know we do have space for growth. It's different in each building, but we we we do believe we can start full day kindergarten in 2627 without a building project. Um that would obviously mean Musale is a preschool building. Um we potentially see savings there around

072not having to have the portables anymore. Um and you know, I think what we've seen from families over the years is the majority just want us to find a way to do full day kindergarten. I mean there there's there's we all love Moose Hill and and um we just don't have the enrollment to kind of continue on the path of of maybe pursuing a full day kindergarten in that building uh based on where enrollment's gone. Um we do intend on having class size stay the same uh within this process. Generally our class size is somewhere between 18 to 22. Um sometimes there's bumps and we always try and smooth them out in in in the budget process if we do see them. Um and then the harder thing So, the easier things to figure out,

073uh, we're staffing, furniture, and curriculum supplies. We spend a lot of time really thinking about staff. Um, you know, our our general commitment is what we're trying to do is redistribute staff and and and meet it to all the needs we have out there. Um, so all the services we have right now, we we we do project to be able to have them in in the three buildings. Um, you know, we're not trying to save money on staff in this process. um you know, we're trying to redistribute uh the need around our schools. Um you know, but most likely because our enrollments dropped so much, we we would we would save money on staff in this process. Uh and we would do that through attrition and and and and natural ways and not pursue reduction

074in force. Um generally because you're just you're just moving, you know, from four buildings to three. So you you would save in that process. Um we also that we've talked about for years. We would we would get more funding uh in this process because right now we don't get uh half the funding for each half day kindergartener that we would get and we would save money on busing without those midday bus runs. Um you know there are furniture and curriculum and supplies and things we have to think through and I think that's good work for us to do. Uh we kind of paused all that last year um when the when the last year's project didn't didn't pass. Um but I think we can kind of figure that out through the budget process. Uh, and

075in general, there will be some cost. I mean, there there is definitely um a small construction project projects we would take on in Matthew Thor. I think there's a there's a bigger one we do want to take on because the 1940s wing isn't isn't the most efficient use of space because they're they're just older classrooms and not set up. Um, you know, there's definitely some furniture and curriculum supplies we need. Um, but the the cost savings around midday bus runs, the modulars at Moose Hill and staff savings are going to potentially be a lot larger as well as the increased state aid. Uh but again, you know, I think we're pursuing this because of the 103 extra days of of schooling each 5-year-old would get. Uh but the finances are there, too. Obviously, this is

076a long process. We're, you know, we think we can kind of wrap it all up within within the budget or the budget process and kind of figure this out over the coming months, but we we felt good about at least presenting the idea last time. And again, you know, Jason uh is going to answer as many questions as he can, as would AMD or or the the four principles. So, kind of see what the school board has to say. I'll just I'll go to a PowerPoint slide if it's if it's helpful. >> Thank you, Dan. Any questions, guys? You want me to start off? >> Start. >> Want me to start? >> Yeah. >> All right. All right. Thanks for being here and um I was able to uh sneak away a few afternoons last

077week and get to meet with Ollie and thank you for taking the time and explaining um how the building with the uh the maps of the where the classrooms and that would be and um the services uh as we know um I had some concerns because DOE had a had a requirement that you need a thousand square feet for kindergarten. students. Um so going through the buildings, our classrooms average from 820, 830 to 880 square feet. So um that was a concern. How many students can we fit in there? Is it allowed? Will do DOE work with us? Um, so good news is on Thursday afternoon, I had spoke with Dan later in the day and had a conversation with uh Tim Kerry up at DOE uh after talking briefly through email with Caitlyn, the

078new commissioner. And uh late fall last year, they list they lifted the restriction for class sizes. So there is no restriction now for size. So that opens up the ability for us to use our space that we have in your three buildings. Uh which is good news. Um the only concern I have is I don't want to overburden those classrooms with smaller space than what's at Moose Hill. So I would probably look at, you know, um looking at 18 as a max in these classrooms where they're a little bit smaller. And I think once you get over 18, it's pretty hard to to work on the education pieces with 18 5-year-olds running around and and that. So, um I think that was a big lift off of the board's shoulders, you know, not wanting to

079go against what's in an RSA and getting that news on Thursday was a was a blessing. Um but just how you folks have worked with the superintendent on utilizing the space that's there. I know Matthew Thornton's got a few hoops to jump through on that, but it'll be interesting to see how that works out, but it looks like there's enough space. Um, so with that, um, you know, if we can we look at, um, going through this Dan with a max of 18. Um, my other concerns are um, you know, I I get nervous because I see the headlines of last week's paper with Bedford and they increased by 52 students uh, went from 177 to 229 um, due to starting full day. And I just want to make sure that we I know things

080shift in elementary schools every year with one less first grade class or an extra fourth grade class, but I just don't want to take the services away, the space for the services. So, I really want to look through this and if there is more space needed for a modular here or there, I I I think the school board needs to hear that. I just don't want to get into a case where we have now 18 um you know 72 possibly 72 kindergarten kids that need services and that or possibly 80 at Matthew Thornton and we need another classroom um that we don't take we have to take the art room or we have to take a a a special services area away for that. So, I just want to make sure you guys and Dan

081work through that and if there is some space that's needed, we need to talk about it during this budget season. Um, and that I think it's great. I think it's a it's a perfect um solution to getting kindergarten moved forward in in this district. It's been a long time coming. I'm exhausted after the last seven or eight years of meetings and scenarios and projects um and that and I I hopefully think you know the the community of Londereerry will support this wholeheartedly where we have the space now and you guys have done your due diligence to bring it into your buildings and welcome these you know 70 to 80 students into a a building for six years rather than jumping um from fifth to sixth. So, I have some other questions that I'm going to,

082you know, get to you, Dan, on on that. That'll come out through budgeting as far as staff, you know, what's required with full day compared to half day. I know we've talked over it the last two, three years, but I want to just kind of get this out for the board um to make sure we're getting enough people, we're retaining enough people, we're we're we're going to have the services that Moose Hill students get in every elementary. I know the principles are are saying they will, but I just want to make sure they're able to get the staff through the budgeting process and make sure we can service these these children in a full day program. There's we don't want to go out and fall on our face and not be able to service these

083children in a full day curriculum. So, I want to make sure that we really go through this uh over the next several months and that. But, uh, you guys did a heck of a job and and that. I appreciate it going through there. And, um, you know, thank you DOE, I guess, for lifting that restriction and not worrying about going to them and pleading our case with older buildings that we need to utilize this space. Um, we probably would have had good luck, but that kind of kind of took that curveball out. And, um, you know, uh, I I think it's great in that. So, I will I will get you a copy of these questions here and you know we can get them out in the public as we as we move through. But,

084uh it was great visit. So, thank you so much. Appreciate it. And Sandra, just the time I spent with you um and you didn't have to go through it with me, but your passion for this early early education and how important it is for the extra 103 days of education of these 5-year-olds. Um, I think if a lot of people could sit in a room with you, um, they would understand it because you describe it very well. It's a passion and, uh, I know these these students will thrive much better with 103 more days and being in that building an extra year to get to know their friends and move on without being uprooted, you know, from another building to that. Um, not that there's a problem with Moose Hill. It's a wonderful place, but

085I think this is going to help us in so many ways having them in the in the neighborhood kindergartens, but your passion, it it's wholeheartedly felt and uh, thank you for that time uh, the other day. Appreciate it. >> Anyone? >> Bob, >> would it be okay to quickly address a couple of those questions that you raised? Would that be all right? >> Yeah. Okay. >> Absolutely. So just to reassure you and our families when we were looking at um the space and the enrollment we had always had that target number of 60 to a max of 18 students there. So we we had that number in mind and that's the number we're going to hold firm to. Um, we asked Sandra to kind of look at different spaces to make sure that what's offered

086in programming and instruction and services at Moose Hill could be replicated at the three elementaries in tighter space and what what might that look like and she can kind of speak to that and I would ask our superintendent if he could go to slide 25. He has a nice uh recap on the space and enrollment and what we think we can handle for growth at each school because I know you had you had you know if we start to see a swell where is that tipping point? We had covered that probably quickly last time around, but I we feel good about particularly at North and South that area for growth. MT a little smaller there, but those numbers are built into his right there. >> 108 students uh at North or 25% growth, 148 at

087South or 33% increase, and then a smaller margin there at MT with 54 students. That's the one we'd keep our eye on. But if if Sand doesn't mind speaking to the shelving and getting things off the floor a bit, I think that was very creative and she's the guru with with the stuff. >> Thank you. So um I did get a chance to uh visit all three um elementary schools just to take a look at the space um where the proposed kindergarten classrooms would be. And just to share with everyone, when you think about kindergarten furniture, when you think about preschool, pre-K furniture in g general, early childhood um education furniture is big. It's big. It's sturdy. It takes up a lot of space. So um we're taking a look at um from our rainbow

088tables to um our regular rectangular tables, our meeting room rugs. Um, also, um, our double-sided bookcases because the shelving that we have is low to the ground for safety reasons, so that the children can, um, access it. Um, plus, you know, we have our dollhouses and and our building blocks and our puppet theaters and everything. So, um, being able to walk through each of the schools was able to see that, um, there's ways that we can be able to fit that, um, furniture and our, um, meeting rug and those other items. One of the things I did mention is because there are so many materials, we will have to look at um shelving on the walls, some kind of shelving to bring all of those items off the floor and up onto those shelves to

089make more space um for wallto- wall to be able to accommodate um the physical furniture in that space. And also there's so many other materials that the teachers rotate through. So, um, at Mous Hill, we do have storage space where all of those materials are stored and the teachers rotate through. So, we'll have to look at some options from external storage to be able to um, have those materials that they do rotate through through the school year. Um, looking at the larger size furniture that we have like our puppet theaters that we may not use all the time and having a physical space to store those so that um, teachers can share them, they can pull them out as um, needed. So, I think just with some modifications to those um spaces, also maybe having

090to bring some things down lower in some of those spaces um for the children to be able to uh access. But um overall, just walking through um with an overview glance, taking the furniture that we have and being able to um fit that in there is something that um we should be able to do. I do think that we'll have to be um very we'll have to be selective and thoughtful about you know what we have 20 over 20 years worth of furniture. What do we need to uh bring with us? What are things that are nice to have? What are things that we want to make sure that we have to support play-based learning? Because with a full day, we want to make sure um that we have an opportunity to incorporate that and

091have the the materials. >> Perfect. >> Thank you. You're welcome. Appreciate it. Anyone from the court? I'll go. >> Sure. So I realize the title of this presentation is um questions. So I will end with a question um but I won't ask it yet. So um I've been sitting up here for I don't know how many years talking about uh developmental milestones and providing kids with the foundation they need to be successful so they can access the rest rest of their education. And then I was thinking about tonight and I realized that I started apologizing for that. I started saying, "I'm so sorry that I'm talking about developmental milestones again and how it impacts children and how important it is for them to get a foundation for the rest of their learning." Um, and I

092realized that I'm not sorry for that because um, all of these kids deserve to be here um, for a whole day and get what every other mostly every other town and most of the rest of the country gets. So, um, I'm so glad that we're being so careful about this. Um, but we did try to do it the right way. We did try for this big fancy building that they should have had. They should have had that. Um and then when that was a no, we came back again and we scaled it down. And now we're in a position like we all of us often are uh where we're deciding between the lesser of two evils. And um for me working in an elementary school, um sometimes we have to put stuff in place and

093it's not ideal and we work it out and we troubleshoot. This year my classroom was cut in half with a divider and um the reason for that was to create a learning space for special education and I'm okay with that. Um and we're really we're realizing just in the few weeks of school that we've had um how that's working and how it's not working and I trust my administrators um will take my feedback and do the best they can with the space that they have. Um but ultimately it's important for kids to have a space to learn and for me to have my office. And so, um, with that said, I will ask a rhetorical question because I feel like, um, everyone's done a really nice job providing the answers. Um, do we feel like

094the risk of doing this and the cons of it is going to outweigh what it would bring to our students. And what I will ask you guys, and I don't I'm not putting you on the spot. You don't have to answer us here, but um, do you feel comfortable coming to us with those things that you need as you need them? And as we hit snags, which we will um and again, you don't have to answer that because we're in a large group. Um but my point is I hope that you do feel comfortable um if this if we can make this happen coming to us with whatever you might need. So that those are my questions. >> Good job. >> Anyone else? >> Two quick questions. I I know you said the bus costs

095will be going down um due to obviously the less routes, but will buses be added to the elementary routes or do we think we'll have enough space on the current buses to fit the kindergarten kids on the elementary school routes? So, we do. Matthew Thornton again would be our hardest. We might have to add there. Um but um and then we have to have the the talk about um how we adjust routes. Right now the kindergartens go doortodoor >> if they're in their neighborhoods, if they have a sibling, you know, we would look at those sorts of things. So a lot will depend on which model we adopt, but we will definitely utilize the lower enrollment to keep um the the fleet of buses that we have and then we Matthew Thornton may need to

096>> have one. >> And now that um we heard from the elementary schools earlier on the playground equipment, will somehow that be new stuff be geared towards kindergarten as well? So Paul can speak to that and I think Abby can as well that they they got them they were based on the elementary five to five was the age that it started with. So just thinking if we're planning that now that we might need to look at that additional support with that but yes >> yeah okay with this in mind as well. >> Yeah. Okay. All right. That's it. Thank you. >> Uh the only if you could pull up slide 35. Um Bob and I have talked about this how it's it's kind of stranger at this point after that the lawsuit that went down

097the state um talking about the adequacy money bumping up a lot. We still don't know the timeline for when that's going to come in. >> No, I mean my my interpretation is is you know the legislature has to act on it and they don't seem they don't seem to want to act on it. I'm I'm not saying the court case isn't valid. >> Yeah. >> But the ball's in the legislaturator's court. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Because obviously that's going to drastically change the figures that we're throwing out here. >> Yeah. >> I know we're using the figures that we throw last year at >> what it is today. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> But that just so everyone in the public knows that that number the projected full day adequacy num number that we talked

098about last year bumping up an additional 400 to 460,000 in revenue will actually be a higher figure when all done. >> It very well could be. >> Yes. as we go through the budget season that obviously should be focused on too. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Uh not too much. I got a chance to go through the buildings on Friday and um very comfortable with the space that's there now particularly with the assurance of the 16 to 18 kind of number for the kindergarten rooms. Um, one thing, one concern, which I think has been voiced by everyone at this point, is just the the overflow plans of Matthew Thor, but I think more details coming on potential room reconfigurations that could address that. Um, alleviate really my only concern from what I've seen so far.

099>> Okay. And Sarah, to your question on Dan, on the playgrounds, we talked a little bit that there is a playground at Mooseill for kindergarten and one for LEAP, correct? Two separate. So we could utilize some of that equipment at some of these schools. >> I don't know what it would mean to move it. Do you have a sense of any? >> Um, no. So we would have to get it inspected. Um, so Joe Parzek is going to be getting his inspector license for that. So I he would go through to make sure that it it could be installed correctly and able to do I know it's it's a pretty old system. Right. >> Right. and also um our uh prek students transition from the LEAP equipment to the kindergarten equipment to help prepare them

100for that transition to the larger size because the LEAP equipment is pretty um it's bite size. So, right. So, we want to make sure that they're prepared to be able to be on some of that larger equipment. So, come um the spring they start to utilize that and become comfortable with um a different type of structure and larger swings on that playground. >> All right. I didn't realize that. That that sounds right, Sandra. Thank you. Um >> but Joe Joe does plan like playgrounds before any of this were on his radar when he came. So he plans to kind of look at all of them. He's doing that now. Yeah. >> Um to to look at what each would need. >> Yeah. Because it'd be nice um to the point to have an area for

101these kindergarten students kind of separated from the one to fives or the K to one in an area so it's easier. I know they they'll be out in different times, but just so they're easier to watch because they probably want to experiment a little more than, you know, they should, you know, at that young age on some of this equipment. So, I think that's that'll be a concern of some of the parents, too, is to make sure we have a safe area for them to play. Um, so I just want to make sure we're getting all this stuff and I'm don't worry, I'll remind you of all this budget stuff and and hopefully we can make it work with this additional revenue coming in um you know, and adequacy and and that. So, um, want

102to make sure these, uh, uh, kindergarten kids have a enjoyable playground area to work and safe and that. So, and again, I will I will state that please, if you need something during budget season, let let Dan and Jason know and that. And it I would hate to go in and then say next year we need this, this, this, and this because we missed it. So, let's do our due diligence and make sure we've got everything that we can educate these kindergartens on a full day program, please. And that I think I think what you're hearing from here, and I don't I don't um I think at at this point, if nobody's got any questions, I would probably look for a motion for the superintendent to move forward with budgeting. um now that we know

103the space is there and that if you guys are okay with that so we can let him go do his work with his staff and uh as we go through the budget season um you know there'd be a ton more questions for us but at least we can get the ball rolling to uh explore going to K to 5 for next uh September um through the budget process for that. So, I'll look for a motion to uh let the superintendent move forward with uh budget budgeting for 2627 full day K at our neighborhood schools. >> So moved. >> Motion by Sarah. >> Second by Amanda. >> All those in favor? >> I 50. >> Thank you. And I just wanted to say, Bob, I know Amanda, you asked that question and um it was rhetorical,

104but I just want you to know that the whole process will have to be very thoughtful and intentional, right? So, you definitely bring up some valid points and some concerns. And I think with the kindergarten team that we have in place now, relying on their expertise, relying on their experience of working with kindergarten students um to help be able to get through this process. whether you're talking about space, whether you're talking about furniture or um curriculum and all of that, that that will be a really important component is relying on that kindergarten team um to help with this um with this process. So, I just wanted to um let you know that. I know that doesn't answer your question, but hopefully it lets you know that that's part of the the process in the in

105the discussion and making sure that we're getting that um input and that feedback. >> Thank you. Good. >> So, random question. Um, you know, so we we scheduled to have a workshop with with parents next meeting. Still still have that? >> I I don't know that there's okay. >> A reason for it now. We're asking you to go forward and start putting it together and see what the best route is come budget season and and what works, what doesn't. So, I think >> I think the input from the parents now we've we've received that. I think the board understands where we're at. We know the space is there. We know legally we can do it. Um I think we've done all the steps. Um you guys did a a tremendous amount of work uh over

106the summer and you guys opened up your doors to show us and any concerns and had had um most if not all the answers and uh we'll work through it diligently through the budget to make sure you've got what you need to open the doors next September if we can get our community to support this. That'll be the next step in that. So, I think this is the first great first big step. Um I um utilizing the space we have. Not that I like to see declining enrollment. Um I want more young families coming to London. It isn't that I want to spend more money. I just want young families to stay in London and be able to afford to live here. We can't control that, but we want to give them the best education.

107I know we all do in this room and we do in this community of Londereerry. So, thank you for all your work and let's uh any parents that want to come and talk at public comment, I welcome them. Uh reach out to any school board members, reach out to any administrators, please do that with any questions, any concerns. They're your children, they're your concerns, but they're ours, too, when they're in our care. So, we want to make sure they get what they need uh day in and day out in London school system. So, >> thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right. 9.2 overnight field trips. Mr. Barnes, >> if if we can, can we actually come back with that next time? There's a few more we had to add. So, we'd rather just

108come back next meeting or >> is that okay, Rick? >> 23rd. >> Yep. Is that okay? >> Okay, >> you got it. >> All right. Okay. Next up, I'm going to bump up first to I'm going to jump in Dan to 10.2 to fourth quarter financial report from AMD then go into 9.3 fund balance. I figure it'd be better if uh AMD can go through that um fourth quarter financial explains a lot of what we're going to talk about on 9.3. So AMD >> um very excited to share our end of year for fiscal year 25. Um, you know, this is the fourth in a series of the fiscal year to see where we actually ended up after our projections. Um, so just uh to let everybody know, we had our field work completed by

109our independent auditor August 11th through the 13th. It took three days. The business department was bustling. Special thanks uh to Cheryl Richie Haney, HR, um Janette Evans, Terry Foley, everybody that was grabbing things. They literally you don't know what they're going to ask for and they come in and they take it um and um it was is quite the the thing to see in in process. They will be back in the winter um to share their official findings, but we don't anticipate anything major will change from now until then. Um so we're very excited. We had a lot of our revenue that was much more than we had estimated. Um so we have almost $900,000 more in revenue than we predicted that we were going to get. And there's a few reasons for that. Um

110we got more in special ed aid was $125,000 of that. Um we earned a lot of interest for our accounts. Almost $300,000 um just gained interest and you can never predict exactly what that's going to be. Um but a lot of things worked in our favor for that. We also um received over $200,000 um for the Vogue transportation aid and then we had $136,000 more dollars in Medicaid funds. That some of it was stuff that we didn't get the year before, but overall almost a million dollars in unanticipated revenue, which is outstanding. Um as for the expenditure side, um we're going to come in almost $2.5 million below the approved budget. A lot of this, the major contributing factor for that is staff turnover with related savings and benefit accounts. Um, we do have some

111accounts that went into the negative, um, which we'll talk about later. So, after all is said and done and the general fund equity balance account, we have about $5.1 million. That's when they take our retained fund, everything that we have left over, our revenues, everything. It's in this pool. We already had um $1.75 million that we had retained, but when you do this process, that's wrapped up in there as well. Um we had earmarked $145,000 uh to finance the equipment capital reserve fund and the vehicle and machinery capital reserve fund. So that totaled $145,000 for that. We had some prepaid expenses, some incumbrances that were there, and then the board in February had voted to use some of the funds uh to transition our very dated and failing phone system from analog to VoIP. Um

112so, um this this will go into the second presentation I'm going to do where the board will officially decide what they want to keep in that retained fund. Um but then if you look through the tables, the tables shows more specifically where the revenues came from. Table two shows what is currently in our trust fund and capital reserve at the end of uh the fiscal year and then we'll talk more in depth about the expenditures. So like I said $2.5 million below what we had approved in the budget. The bulk of this comes from salaries. Um, we had professional staff, which is the teachers, about $976,000 in savings, $950,000 from the support staff and custodial of almost $200,000. All of this is um either unfilled positions or we had a very high retirement number in

113fiscal year 24. So, you make the budget early based on that. We had um I think it was 16 retirements for the teacher side, teacher admin side, and then support staff had 13. So that's a lot of money. And then you usually um hire uh people at a lower rate when they're coming in. And then some of those special ed support staff positions weren't able to be filled. So that's where those savings come from. We did have to contract out some of the support staff. Um but that came in a little over $250,000. Um temporary salary costs were over by $76,000. That's what we pay for our substitutes. That is far less than we've had um in the past. Um we still struggle with shortages. We pay teachers to cover during their free periods, which

114is more expensive. Um but we continue to come up with ways we really want everybody to be in school. The benefits associated with that came in about 1.5 million under budget. But if you recall with the support staff salary, we had $400,000 that was built in to offer support staff insurance. Nobody took advantage of that. So that is where the 400,000 is was still sitting there. Um and then you can just see where some of those other things, the other retirement is the differential between what they um might pay for um the New Hampshire retirement services. Um we had a significant overbudget uh 577,000 um due to out of district placement tuition and then we had a related cost to the um special education transportation that's connected to that which was almost $70,000. Those are

115dictated by IEPs. Um again we budget early on a year later. Um you could have moveins, court appointments, things like that that we have to honor with the special ed services. Um, we also had contracted psych services connected to that that went over um over $100,000. And then vocational tuition is over budget by $125,000 due to increased participation, higher tuition, and the state used to reimburse us at a much higher percentage than they do now. It's a it's a problem um that we're going to have to probably keep paying more for that. Uh maintenance was over almost $78,000. Various school needs account for that. that again. We have aging buildings. We know that that happens. $12,000 at Cell School for some pump, boiler, and water valve work. North School, when they got the new tables,

116it uncovered a concrete deficiency. So, we had to pay to repair that. And then our elevator uh needed door replacement. And elevators were elevator door uh cost us $30,000. So, that's where the bulk of that comes from. Um the professional services line for the office of the superintendent was over $63,000. We knew that the board had approved some costs to get some engineering and architectural work done for the projects that we brought to the voters um the past year. It has their overrun in software. Some of it was needs of updates, increased pricing and then we video was moved for the assistance soup's budget to the software budget. Um and then the interest payment. When we did the budget, we were estimating because we had done the bond later in the process than we had

117initially anticipated. it's been right sized for this year's budget. Um, and then you'll see if you look through some of the charts that it looks like we have over spent um, in B&G. That's because the phones were sitting in there as a cost, but we know that we had okayed that to overrun and be paid with the unassigned fund balance. So then you can just see table three has those specific amounts where we overran. You go on to the next page, it it shows you where the accounts have the surplus that are covering those. Um, table four just has a different version of of how it all breaks down. You can see the different reports. We have this report. We I have three reports attached in this that you can look through that all get

118say the same thing in different ways. So you can see how the um money is is coded and gone through. And then if you go to the next page fund balance again I'm going to talk about that in my very next presentation. Um, and I mentioned at the beginning of the presentation, ESSER grants have been expended. Um, we are not in a bad situation. We use the money that we had received. Um, if you want more details, you can check those reports on our website. The safe grants, um, we got $560,000 from the state that we had used to do the automatic door locks that you've heard about in the presentations. Now, every interior door also has an automatic door lock. We finished that um, grant off spending all our money. And then finally, dining

119services. So right now, dining services still has a fund balance of $277,000. It's still connected back to the reimbursement rates from the state for fiscal year 21 and 22 when breakfast and lunch were provided to all students at no cost and the USDA DA's reimbursement was higher. Um so we got money from that. Um you will see though that we we had a loss of $354,000 over the course of this year. Most of that is because dining is is self-funded. So they bring in money and they spend money and they had capital purchases. So all the new tables at the um elementary schools um showed a loss for that and then a couple of other capital purchases. So right now we are holding um about we're holding that 277,000 in fund balance. They've um come

120up with ways that they can try and get more interest um from students to buy more of the school lunch program. Um they're adjusting with some of the uncertain food costs. Um and they did raise lunch prices um by 10 cents uh for this school year with that. So we are well within our um threshold of what we can hold for fund balance. It's about 660. So we're less than half that with what we have in fund balance. So, that's quarter four as as a whole with all the information. It's a lot to throw at you guys. Um, but do you have any questions, concerns? >> Any questions? >> Not yet. >> Okay. >> Well, well done. That's why I felt as though having that first kind of explained everything you're going to get into

121here on uh fund balance retention. >> Guess what? >> All right, here we are. So, there we are. Um, so we adopted RSA 1984b as amended which allows the school district to retain up to 5% of the current fiscal year's net assessment. Um, it allows the expenditure of this retained fund after the school board holds a public hearing. So that's like what we did for the phone. So it's it's it's an account that isn't designated necessarily to anyone thing, but if an emergency comes up or we need money, um, we can hold a public hearing, go through and use it. So the according to the state, the maximum we can keep in this fund balance is $3,75,758.95. Um this number will be updated at the setting of the tax rate later this fall. Um but

122as of last year, you guys had voted to keep the 1.775 um in that fund balance um and had returned um you had returned $454,000 to offset the tax rate. and then you earmarked 331 of it um to expend on the phone system. So the auditors did complete their fieldwork which I said a few minutes ago. They talked about the total fund equity which was the 5.1 and then they took out the prepaids what the voters had approved to go through the capital reserves and offset some of that tax rate that tax rate. So that leaves you with $4,769,7678.74, which is the total amount for you guys to decide what to do. We cannot retain more than that 3.7 that's up there. So you have to return at least the amount that gets you to

123that number to stay within our 5% net. Um, so if you voted to keep what you had had last year, as an example, the 1.775, that would leave $2,994,000,678.74 to offset the tax rate. Um, you can see it's actually not this past six years, the past seven years what you have returned to voters. So you're looking at returning just to get to that net assessment a significant amount um back to the community for their tax rate. So from there um you know you it's the board decision on what they want to retain and what they want to give back to offset the tax rate. We know that the current economic environment um is is unpredictable. We know that people got their new their new assessments on their houses. Um, but we also know it's important

124to keep some money in that unreserved uh fund balance because if we do have an emergency, if we do lose federal funding, you know, all of those sorts of things, you want to have a safety net so that we can continue to give the the good quality education. If you go under what you've had, it can impact your your actual credit rating. the school district has a a credit rating through Moody's and if it changes too much you you lose that which does impact us if we have a capital project or a bond project in the future. So we want to keep that where we are. We want to have good credit. Uh but we also want to give back to the community um to offset the tax rate. So with that you have your

125chart that's up there. Um, it shows in the Excel spreadsheet if you kept it where it had been last June. That's what you would be giving back to the the the taxpayers, but I would love you guys to chat about some of the things that are on the docket, the projects, and where we are. >> Sure. Thank you, AMD. Um, well explained. Uh, thank you for the breakdowns on where some of the revenue came in. Uh we were fortunate to keep chasing grants and brought in those four additional grants. Um and then the savings on health insurance was huge. I know um we do a good job internally um with with our health care health care um and promoting uh you know healthy lives and that and uh try to keep our rates in check.

126Um, and we had money put aside through the negotiations with our assistants and um, I understand, you know, some the costs are still pretty high, but uh, we we did offer it and we had to cover that. Um, I just want to hit a little bit on, you know, it seems it seems like a a lot of money of three 3.7 uh or 4.7 million, but we had 1.775. So, just over $3 million of um revenue uh or fund savings from last year's budget. And that's that's from years of doing things different and being more efficient uh from top to bottom from from teachers to administrators to the superintendent and and his staff. Um you see businesses, we know we're we're we just talked about it for for weeks and months on declining enrollment. Um,

127we've heard from the public year after year that the budget is, you know, is still going up, but the enrollment's dropping. But enrollment, when it drops in a district of a 100, that's between six buildings, you know, so it might be five in this building, four in this building. You really don't see it until you have consecutive years in a row. And it does just doesn't happen um until the internal people, the superintendent, the business administrator and staff look at better ways to do things. And with our purchasing policy put in place a couple years ago that the staff has been able to do more with less. They've been able to get projects done um that they may not have done and had to wait another budget season which then tends to cost more. We've

128looked at other projects as a board and staff together and said, "No, let's not do that. There's a better way to do it and saved money there." We've looked at bids time and time again that are 40, 50, 60, 70% less because of the new policies that the superintendent is upholding in yourself and in your office. And we've just done stuff more efficient. Now, we see this third smaller class coming in. When you start a business, you look to break even. When you when you go into year one, you want to make 10%. When you go into year two, maybe 15%. It works the same when you're in a declining enrollment in a school district. It takes multiple years to see where you can save. You have to plan for the worst scenario as far

129as not knowing what where the where the enrollment is because we're talking a year from now, year and a half from now. And we don't have a crystal ball. But by the way this district is operating as a business now we are seeing this and chasing all these grants on top of that. Um my hats off to to to all the staff up there and finance and the superintendent on collaborating and finding ways to save our taxpayers money. This is huge, right? This is huge because we're chasing stuff. We're looking at better ways to do things and now we come in with a number like this on fund balance. Well done. Well done. Top to bottom throughout the district, every building. Thank you. It It's just so nice to sit here and not have to

130fight to say, "Hey, can you save money here? Can you save money there?" We haven't had to do that the last two budget seasons. The superintendents come in with honest budgets. We're we're level funded this year. We're the only district in the state level funded. So, it's pretty amazing to do that. And our education is on the rise in big ways. So, I I am just uh excited to see this. And um I don't know if anyone else wants to add anything, but I I've got a motion written up for the fund balance, but I'll share it with you. But if you guys got something to say, jump right in. I assume the motion is going to include discussions for what else we're working on with the working group. >> Yes. Yeah, that's going to

131Dan's going to cover the working group later, but I will um that money will be earmarked for that project. >> How can we top that? >> I know. All right. So, if you guys are good, um I thought about it. Um, I actually had a conversation with AMD today because um, everything is in the open between the board and and staff. That's the way it should be. It was it wasn't always that way. It was very very uh, upsetting when when you're not expecting something to get you. I wouldn't want it done to me and I wouldn't want to do it to someone else. So, I know AMD has her numbers and her reasons. So, I I had conversation with her this afternoon. Um, I've been doing this for a few years and um, explain

132to her why and um, I think I think you're okay with it. >> Absolutely. >> Um, so I want to share it with my board. Um, so what I would like to do is I would like to make a motion or bring it up for discussion um, to retain 1.4 million in the un unassigned fund balance. I want to keep another 2 million in the unassigned so a total of 3.4. four, but earmark 2 million towards the district office project. In return to our taxpayers, 1,369,678.74. Now with that number in the past 5 years, year 20 to 24, if this number is accepted and and goes to our taxpayers, we would have given back over $3 million to our taxpayers in the last six years with this money. um this this by far um is

133the biggest um amount that we've been able to give back, but it's through hard work of everybody in this district to do that. So again, I will repeat, I'd like to keep 1.4 million, not 1.775. I think with the other five trust funds, we have money in maintenance trust, we have money in uh vehicles, uh small equipment, and small projects. So that money is allocated to to projects and then the two million as we know we're working with the task force with the town. They have offered up to two million to help us. I feel as though with our fund balance if we can do the brunt of it and need less from the town. Uh hopefully a million or under we can have that repaid to them in four years, four five years tops.

134um and and then own and be done with district office as well. Um and by doing this with fund balance, we're not looking for a 15-year bond on $3 million with the town's help and our help, which saves upwards of three to 400,000 in interest over those 15 years or more depending on what the rates do between now and whenever if this got approved. Um so that that's my reasoning for that. So, I'll open it up. Uh, put a motion on the floor for those amounts. >> Yeah. >> I I think before it would have to be one, you would make one motion for the 3.4. >> For the 3.4. >> Yeah. And then down the road, you would have a like what we did with the phones and you would have a public hearing

135when you were ready to take out the 2 million. >> So, you want a motion for the 3.4. >> Yep. >> Um, >> can I touch on that? >> Sure. >> Yeah. first. Um, so I know AMD you had put in and Bob you just touched on this but the 1.775 figure um is what the figure we had that we were retaining up until now. Um when I looked at that I was like yeah that's true. That's what we had. But we had also earmarked a good portion of that specifically for the phones and now we've taken care of that. So I'm much more comfortable going back to the figure we had prior to adding that in for the phones. So, I agree with the 1.4. Um, one of the other things here that is

136just unfortunately the way we have to go about our business is we because we're on that working group for the district office together. We can discuss this, but as a group, we can't like you guys are getting told some of these figures kind of for the first time now as far as the rationale for that 2 million additionally, but it just makes all the sense in the world to retain that rather than having that have to go back and then work backwards afterwards where it all just makes sense to save on the interest from going out for a bond, anything like that, and instead using the funds that we have in hand now. Um, so I know a lot of that's new information, but that rationale makes all the sense in the world to me.

137>> Thanks for clarifying that, Tim. Appreciate that. Anyone else? >> Yeah, I mean that seems to make sense to me as well. I just like to kind of piggy back on what Tim said. I hate the idea of paying interest. We don't have to pay. So that if we can save the community from having to pay interest by um utilizing fund balance as well as you know um the additional support from the town that we're looking at um that to me that makes a lot of sense >> and still giving back a significant amount. So >> that's great. >> All right. So you want a motion for the 3.4? >> Yep. >> And um that will in point return 1.36967874 to our taxpayers. >> Yep. >> All right. I'll look for a motion to retain

1383.4 million in the undesated fund balance uh for 2425 school year. >> So moved. >> Motion by Sarah. >> Second by Tim. All those in favor? I >> I 50. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate it. Great work. >> Thank you. >> All right. All right. We'll jump into 10.1 opening day enrollment. Moving back and forward too much. Um, so, uh, as is customary when we open the school year, we give you the opening day enrollment. The official enrollment is always in October 1st in that first October meeting. Um, you will see the official enrollment we kind of use for budget season. We report to the federal and state government and kind of go from there. Um, so here's the opening day enrollment. You know, we're down about a hundred kids um, from this time last

139year. Um, you know, the the Moose Hill kindergarten class is is a little bit larger um than than what I presented over the summer with enrollment. You just got to pick a date. You got to run with it and then you got to pick another date. It's always shifting sands. Uh, but it wouldn't change our overall uh conception of what we just talked about. Um, you know, each school's down a little bit. Um, except for Matthew Thoron, they have one more kid than this time last year. Um, so that's where we stand and we'll we'll bring back the official October enrollment report uh next month. >> So we we're down what roughly 100 students overall, Dan? >> Yeah. So if you go to like the the the right hand corner of the main chart, >>

140that that's where you can kind of compare the overall change. Um 3867 is where we stand right now and when we opened up last year we were 3969. >> So do do we have any sort of number of students on uh EFAS? Is there any way of tracking that? >> Um one of the one of the regional superintendents who's more experienced and smarter than I am, he's figured out a way. So I got to I got to figure out what he does to do that. >> Be interesting to know. >> Yep. um >> and and why they're >> sure >> moving. >> Yep. Yep. No. Um I think there's I think there is a database where we know the total EFA. I don't know if we'll ever know um the number of kids who left

141because of it and left public schools. I think what we're seeing is a lot of kids who access it had already been in private schools or prochial schools. But you know that we can we can try. >> It'd be nice to have kind of some data on on that moving forward, especially where it's open now. Yep. >> Um so hard to forecast, but >> um it's almost almost hard because they're putting public schools against one another, you know, where they can jump around and I'm concerned about that. I know we do a lot of right things, but you don't want to get into uh trying to entice students to come to your town, and that's kind of what I I'm afraid of. Yep. >> And that. So, thank you. >> Um All right. We did

14210.2 2 10.3 universal design for learning. Jason, >> so as uh principal Mack um had stated on August 25th, our school district staff participated in a universal design for learning workshop conducted by Dr. Katie Novak. She's an internationally recognized educational consultant, author, and advocate for uh comprehensive practices in the classroom. Um, UDL essentially challenges educators to rethink how they teach, assess, and engage students, and they proactively remove barriers, offering multiple pathways for our students to find success. Um, her work centered on designing flexible learning environments that accommodate all students strengths and needs. And through grant funding, we were able to secure uh this expert to help guide us through the principles of UDL. So if you go to the next slide there, what we really liked about her message were um the skills that she

143had shared with staff that are on the rise uh over the next five years. And we think that they really align well with our portrait of a graduate. You think about uh creative and analytical thinking there that that coincides with our critical thinking and problem solving as part of our portrait of a grad. Um leadership and social influence, communication and collaboration, motivation and self-awaren self-awareness. um going directly to self-direction and service orientation and customer service and engaged citizenship. So, a lot of similarities there with the skills we're trying to foster in the Londary school district. She shared the in the next slide the self-direction rubric um that's used with students that's tied to the skill um with I can statements. There's a lot of I can statements at our primary level and at our middle

144school level of students being aware of what they can do and how they can showcase uh certain skills and self-awareness and ownership and goal setting. Um so that again intrigued our staff as we went through in the next slide. She real got uh educators thinking about um how they plan their lessons. And she used the analogy of everyone's going to enjoy a meal by the campfire, a delicious beverage and an outdoor activity. And in a host mind, if they have hot dogs grilling and nice drinks and uh a water source there, they've provided a great time for their guests. Um, but she challenged our thinking and and planning to maybe go beyond that um and provide more choice and flexibility. So, what we needed to think about was maybe our guests don't like to eat

145hot dogs or can't, you know, don't don't eat meat. Uh, maybe they don't enjoy outdoor activities or can't swim. Have you thought about those things when you're doing any kind of planning? In the next slide, she kind of brought that home with those lack of choices have created barriers for students where they can't access curriculum per se um or or project work that might be discomfort or they may feel excluded based on the confines that we might have um unknowingly created in the planned thinking we're reaching all learners. In the next slide, she emphasized the points of giving our students more agency in your lesson planning and in your instructional design. So, um maybe providing flexibility within the content and letting students make decisions about what they learn or through process, how they learn to

146do something. People have different styles and strengths. So, it really focused on um again students pursuing uh different choices. and then the end product. Um, if we give more choices to students and give them meaningful options, we might might really see some fantastic things going on in the classroom. Um, she talked about the UDL core ideas and that variability is the rule, not the exception and that all students can work toward uh firm goals with flexible means and good supports from our educators. Um, and that's how we build learners and and give them agency when we remove those barriers and give them more options. She also talked about assessments that drive differentiated instruction, which we thought was interesting. Um, and we all have them and teachers teachers know this. You're always going to have three

147groups of students in research backis where you're going to have students who fully master content and skills. They're ready to move on and and be challenged more. You'll have a group of students with a basic understanding of that content uh or the skill. and then students who do not have an understanding and ha and struggle through that lesson. So, how do we take those pockets of students and work with them so that we can maximize the time that they're with us? Um, in the next side with the frameworks, um, she really got teachers to think about how can I use this data to create different groups of learners and really help help them. What experiences am I providing um that are necessary for each group? And then going back to UDL, you know, how can

148we get to ensure that all learners um are able to demonstrate what they know and they're able to do and can I prevent some of these barriers in achieving those goals? So, it's all about flexibility in different pathways. Another example she used is, can you imagine if you had to make a cake from scratch with no recipe or support, what would you do? I would not be able to make a cake without without doing that. Right? So, automatically our minds thinking, I would do well with a recipe. I could follow the steps because that's how I learned and that's how I can do that. For others, maybe a YouTube video or a guest chef that's coming and working alongside. So, there's all kinds of ways that you can get uh acknowledge how students think and

149how they're able to carry out what you want them to be able to do and it's about providing options. So, then she ended with ways to stay connected to her. Um, I thought the workshops were very well received by our staff and administration and I think they're going to guide our future work in securing um our next steps would be um securing some teacher materials and training licenses to incorporate some of these types of lessons with the plans that our teachers have established. So, it's a good way to kick off the year and get them to think about the learners that we inherit every day. And again, I thought it was well received and we were fortunate to have them. >> Any questions? All right. Thank you, Jason. You're welcome. Appreciate it. >> Uh 10.4

150uh fall Instagram superintendent newsletter. Dan, >> I I'll go very quick and I I can see we're we're fading. Um um you know, so I'm going to rather than do a traditional newsletter, I want to try something a little bit new this year. Um I want to do um Instagram newsletters um and then YouTube videos that kind of have the same messages. Um one in the fall, kind of a wave in the fall, then a wave in the winter, and the wave in the spring. I'll use the communications committee to kind of help me with uh the winter and spring messages. But I really want to highlight all the economic growth that's happened in the school district, I think, in the fall, uh along with some of the community investments we've made in our buildings

151and kind of just give pictures and good videos of of what's what's at play now in our in our school buildings. So, I'm going to kind of work with John maybe in his class uh when the kids can make my videos even better. Um hopefully they can critique them and that could be hopefully their favorite client. So that that's coming. I think we'll probably get the Instagram going in the next couple weeks and maybe the YouTube video a little bit after that. >> Any questions? No. Thank you, Dan. >> Look forward to seeing those. >> Um 10.5 future staff survey work. Jason. >> Okay. I'd like to call up uh Paul and William and Rick if they could join me. And as they're coming up, uh a few of us uh Kevin Gray and and

152I uh got together and uh started discussing the benefits of conducting poll surveys uh with our staff in the future. And really those poll surveys are designed to capture timely insights uh into the experiences and perceptions and needs of our schools. Um they're not lengthy annual surveys. These are brief, targeted, actionable um surveys that we can take results and do something with. Uh we feel that they help strengthen our commitment to continuous improvement uh in our schools. Um provide transparency to our staff and our community and and maintain a positive school environment. Um, and we think that if we can uh implement these short focus surveys to our staff and administrators twice a year uh once at the end of the fall semester and once at the end of the spring semester, we could get

153some really interesting results that we can act act on. Um, as I put in the cover memo, some of the benefits of implementing these surveys are they enhance communication and trust, they identify emerging issues, they support strategic planning, and they improve retention and engagement. So, I think there's value in conducting them. Um we believe that the groups that we would target obviously would be to start with our staff and our administrators. Um and there really would be designed to be completed in under 10 minutes and to take that feedback and see what we can do with it. Um again we see it as possibly the end of January, the end of June to distribute them and then the following months uh do some data analysis and reporting out on those results and then maybe in

154in March or August start action planning to actually implement some of the changes that we see through that data. Um but our next steps really is to see what kind of um support the board might give for us to continue with that. whether we explore a survey platform or perhaps a consultant to ensure the anonymity and ease of use with it. Um and then to focus on the data and creating a small team to do that. Um Kevin, Paul, William, Rick, they've had some wonderful insights uh into prior experiences they've had with these types of uh endeavors. Um I don't know if anyone willing to share or wanted to talk about that, but we welcome the the board's input, but the four of you have been fantastic to work with, and I think we're on

155to something here. So having done some of this work in in other capacities, I think it's the targeted approach is the way to go. Just the quick pulse idea is fantastic. It allows staff to respond quickly and it's not too cumbersome and it'll should increase your response rate. So I think it's it's good work. I think it'll be useful work. I think it'll be well received by staff and the goal is for it to be useful for all of us in real time. And I'll just share real quickly um we we're conducting a quick survey with our staff already uh this year kicking off the school year as we look at uh formulating a goal around professionalism in the workplace. It's part of our culture goal that it's teacher driven. Um we're in the process

156uh Dave Sel and I of collecting data. There's 18 questions. It's done by Jennifer Abrams. She's a researcher out of Stanford who spoke to many of us over the summer at a conference about professionalism specifically designed around teachers, teachers and schools. It's one of the first times I hear somebody really coming forward with that type of research, but it makes a really big deal. So what we do is we collect and it's a really short survey feedback. We collect collect that and then we present that to the staff. The two or three top things that came up and then from there each one of our departments are actually going to form a a professional as a goal that they'll measure throughout the course of the year. So >> again I resonate with what Rick said

157I think targeted surveys short and to the point work really well. >> Great. >> And I think over the years whether in each school formal and informal ways of collecting feedback and responding to that. So I think you know this idea would be a K through 12 all buildings um just having a systematic approach would be really helpful and beneficial. >> Yeah just to echo kind of the statements that were made it's um you know in the spirit of communication and collaboration it's a good way of um finding out what's working um where to where to kind of invest time and resources knowing that both are are limited across the board. uh and really to give a voice kind of to to different groups to to really um you know create actionable items to to

158focus on for you know administration for district office um you know whatever the needs are that come out of it. >> Any questions? I just really love this because I feel like we've talked so much about like the chain of communication and like when people actually have something that they want to say to go to their, you know, next person up, but sometimes you don't really always have time in the day or it's not always super comfortable to, you know, walk up to your principal and say like, "Did you know like, you know, in my town we have two Fridays off in a row in the middle of at the beginning of the year and you know, like there's not it's busy and there's a hustle and bustle and especially for like more of the

159corrective stuff that you don't like, it's not always easy to like walk up to your direct supervisor and say like you know I really hate how you you talk about this every meeting or you know um so I think it gives it's a nice just to kind of open the door and I think we're going to get some good ideas on how to just naturally make stuff better without ruffling any relationships which is nice. So when you gather this info, how are you going to bring it to this format and kind of share what's coming in on on >> I mean we've done that in the past. I think the value is is within the building and sharing that feedback. Yeah. W >> with the staff or or amongst administration. It's nothing that we >>

160obviously >> it would it would be good to kind of have like a you know a little how it's going and what you're seeing and some of the questions and and that just to see the the post. I think the community might like to hear just bits and pieces. I don't think we need a full report, but just a a little update on that by the committee and that once it starts tabulating and seeing what some of these questions are and I think I think the board would be interested to hear some of that and um you know more input the better. I guess you guys know your buildings better than anyone but um be interesting to see what you know moms and dads and students and you know staff are you know seeing out

161there. So I think it's great. Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay. Thanks. >> All right. Thank you. >> All right. 10.6 update on district office working group. Dan. >> Um, so in between the last meeting and and now there was one official meeting by the working group. It's basically consists of schoolboard members, uh, the town manager, town staff and our staff, um, and and, uh, members of the the town town committee as well. Uh, and basically I think over the next couple months there'll be a lot of products. So we made a we made a a website so we can kind of share that publicly. Um, these are all open public meetings. Our next one's on uh uh September 18th. Um, but basically we're we're in the process of coming up with designs for the

162building. Working very collaborative with the town on that. Um, and making sure it's it it fits within the campus, fits within the budget, kind of making all those things work together. Uh, we got some site work done or the site works happening this week. Um there's some collaboration on the outside of the building to make sure it works well. Um we're working on the lease agreement. Um and you know at least at the next meeting we'll look at the 20% drawings. We might actually have cost estimates at the the 18th meeting. Y >> we'll see you know so I a lot of progress has been made. It's a really really strong collaboration amongst both groups. Um and you know we'll keep on sharing out uh as we have more products in progress. >> Yeah. Thanks

163Dan. And it's just uh really nice that we can work um collaboratively with the town with five town and town uh staff and six on the school side to try to make this work um to get us a a place back at the center of town closer to the buildings and um and actually do it cost effectively too. So um it's just kind of exciting. The town needs to do some additional parking and that up there. So hopefully this can all twine into both them getting some areas they need done and a place for us uh right in the center of town again. So uh I think it's a it's a great venture for uh the community and uh for both sides of the government. So thanks uh for your work on that Dan. >>

164All right. Uh 10.7 change in graduation rate calculation related to adult ed program. Yeah, not to end on a down a down note, but we got notified in early August that the federal government has been doing like an audit of graduation rates for the whole state. Um, and there are very similar programs like ours around the state. Um, and you know what the federal government told the state of New Hampshire is so we will still have an adult debt program. Students will still get a diploma. It'll it'll still be a big deal. Uh, and we still feel like we're doing a great job. >> Yeah. the federal government and the state government will longer will no longer consider that part of our official graduation rate. Um so our our graduation rate for last year will

165go from 95% to 88. Um I looked at Bedford's numbers, it was pretty similar. Um you know, so I think that's unfortunate. It doesn't mean that we don't value all that happens in adult ed. Um but they're they're making a change. Um and we have to go along with it. Yeah, that that program is uh out outstanding. Um and to get us to that ratio where if we didn't have it, we'd be at, you know, roughly 88 90% um and working to get higher. But those students, you know, they've had to do it a different way. And there's nothing wrong with that. What we're lucky to be able to uh have people to run a top-notch program and um and that. So, uh I still think uh it's it's a great opportunity for some students

166that um need need to uh utilize that situation. So, thanks for that update. It's I don't understand it from the federal government, but who does? Um just I had one other thing that I'd like to just throw out for the next meeting. Um it was about this time last year we talked about the fire fire prevent uh firemen class for ELO. Um, anything on the horizon? I'd like to see if we could add something for next year, uh, ELO wise and keep adding to that, you know. Um, I know we spoke with our consultant there that >> we should hit areas that other schools don't. I agree with that. Let's not saturate something or take away. Um, if we can do it in house, you know, engineering or whatever it may be, I think if

167we can add one or two programs a year and slowly build up with some of the space we have in the building, um, I think we can do it, you know, uh, not with a lot of cost. Um, you know, where we can hopefully budget it and um, keep adding to our, uh, ELO program internally. So, >> yeah. No, I think uh uh when we did our tour uh on the first day of school, we actually inadvertently walked into the fire science class happening uh which was kind of a great great moment just to kind of walk into. >> Um thank you Katie Sullivan and the you know LP Londere Fire Department for making that happen. It's in great shape and obviously you know Rick and Jason and I and his team are are thinking

168about what comes next. Yeah. >> So we're there. Y >> yeah. So that'd be great. I just wanted to kind of keep it keep it moving in that direction and um we don't want to overburden in that four or five but if we can do one or two programs where we can fit it in and >> start working on it for next year it would be great. >> Thank you. All right with that that kind of wraps up the rate of me. Anything else? >> You hit on exactly what I was going to ask for. So >> no nothing else. >> You're good. >> All set. >> Good. Dan, >> two two quick things. U if there are other things to get done before budget season, >> be thinking about them. >> Yeah, we we

169had that conversation internally today. Uh and then secondly, you know, I I always hate to respond to social media, but there were social media posts around our special education department at South School and Musil that were not very favorable today. They're not true. You know, I would encourage all families to reach out to us or or reach out to the administrators in that building. They do a wonderful job. They do excellent work. You know, they're doing really well. I mean, South School was the elementary school of the year. >> Musil is a wonderful place. Um Sandre and Kim Spears do great work together, you know, and and and I'm sorry that those things happen on social media and social media just tends not to be truthful. So, don't believe what you see. Reach out to

170the people that work in our schools. They do a great job for them. >> Thank you for that. >> Jay, you all set? >> Am All right. With that, I'll look for a motion to go into non-public session requested under RSA 91A 3 section 2B and C, please. >> So moved. >> Motion by Sarah. >> Second by Kevin. I'll ask for a roll call vote from my left to right, please. >> I Kevin Gray. >> I Tim Porter. I Bob Slater. >> Hi, Sarah Lawson. I Amanda Butcher. Good night lended.