School Board Meeting 4-8-25

001to bring you up to kind of inform you about what happened last night at our council meeting. Um I spoke to uh Chair Slater earlier today. Um, Route 28 and Samborn Road has been an issue uh with buses, parents with in cars trying to get out of there. Um, so it was I brought this up about a year ago to the council and uh nothing was done. So this year I was approached again and I was asked about it. So past 3 weeks I've been actually sitting up there by cozy kids watching the traffic making observations and I brought it up to the council last night. Uh we're going to be discussing this again uh at our next council meeting and I'm looking to uh try to make it safer for our students and the

002parents coming out of that intersection and in hopes that we can get an officer um to direct traffic there. We have it at the middle school. We have it at south school and we have it at times at the high school. I just want to share briefly some of the observations that I saw if you don't mind. Sure. Okay. Anything for the safety of the kids. What's that? Anything for the safety of the kids. Oh, thank you. You know me. I've always been like that. So my observations in the morning and afternoon in this area in the past few weeks uh very few vehicles travel 30 m an hour or less in this area when school is letting going in session or letting out you and um construction season is here and I saw many

003construction dump trucks loaded moving right along well over 30 mph traveling south on 28 coming down that hill. Many tractor trailers going through this area coming from the businesses at the airport uh also going over 30 miles an hour. Vehicles heading south waiting to make a left turn onto Sandborn Road are passed on the right and those vehicles are not even slowing down. Two vehicles, one northbound and one southbound, both wanting to turn on the Sandborn Road. They're unable to do this because other drivers are passing them on the right. Now, people say there's a light up there because of the rail trail, and that's that's a good idea for pedestrians, bad idea for traffic. This is what I noticed. A trail walker presses the light. So, they cross 28 and after the person crosses

004the traffic, the traffic is left in chaos. Nobody knows who's going to go, who should go first. Eventually, Rockingham Road traffic moved and Sandborn Road traffic was unable to proceed. One of the things I did do because I was a police officer in in town for 28 years and I know how to clock vehicles very well. So, I went up on 28 beyond Page Road and I started going south on 28 following vehicles in front of me. And it was amazing, all right, that when they hit that 30 mph zone, when I slowed down to 30, those cars and trucks were gone. And you know, vehicles are behind me laying on the horn. I actually had somebody passing me in a no passing zone. All right? Cuz they were annoyed. So, um, I just wanted

005to point those things out. Um, I'm working on it. Uh, I think it's important for the safety of our children. uh safety of our citizens, our parents. So, we're dropping kids off there and and picking them up. So, appreciate that, Dan. Any questions? I don't I don't have a question, but is this thing on? Thanks for looking at that. Um something else just to kind of add to your points as you're presenting it is that it if you are stuck in that traffic in the morning going up from the middle schooler to north um you also have people I do it safely but you have people start to cut through neighborhoods. So across from Buckingham you can take that left and then now you know now you have people instead of taking the main roads

006taking back roads to avoid a lot of that traffic. If you can get if you get stuck at that intersection, you can get stuck there for 10 15 minutes and then we added all the stop signs to Mammoth the side Mammoth. Right. So now everyone's avoiding that cut through. Yes. To now come on the main road. So I just wanted to add those extra data points to your investigation. Thank you. There I did talk to some engineers also just so you're aware uh at that intersection of Mammoth and 28. I saw the engineers doing surveying and stuff out there one day. So I asked them, I says, "So what are you guys doing?" I said, "We're looking at doing a roundabout in that area. So will that slow traffic down?" Probably for that area, I

007don't think for San Road. That's still a concern. Thank you. Yeah. Appreciate it. And uh if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to the superintendent and the principal of the school, too. So I uh appreciate your due diligence on this as well. Yes. uh for the next meeting at the sorry for for the next meeting at the council meeting um I've already reached out to the bus company and the bus company is definitely going to have people there. I want to pack that room believe it or not. So uh as many people as I can to show up and uh I'll be talking to um the principal and um you know PTAs up at at North School. Thank you. Thank you Dan. Appreciate it. Hello, Christina Shamater 15 preserve drive. First, I

008wasn't able to talk last minute and can't see far with my glasses. Um, but I did want to say thank you guys for everything you did for the kindergarten leap district office um, project. I was upset it didn't go through and all of you know how I feel in full day kindergarten. So, I supported it. Um, and it was really too bad because I think it would have been a huge asset to our town and it's just disappointing. But your work did not go unnoticed. Uh, so why I'm This is loud. Why I'm here today though is last meeting when you were talking about the discussing the standardized testing. Um, I wasn't able to say, but I did watch it at home. And when you were discussing how London has so many people that opt

009out compared to other towns, I'm one of them. I opt out of testing a lot for my kids. Um, and when you're discussing, well, what can we do? Educate more. I have received probably four emails on the SAT test tomorrow. how I saw rating them. So, I I don't recommend sending more emails to parents, but maybe ask them why we are opting out. I have a couple talking points tonight and I have way more that I'm probably not going to share, but reach out to us and ask us, well, why are you opting out of standardized testing? Um, one of my main reasons, this shouldn't come to a surprise to anyone in this room, is I ready? I hate it. I I don't see or I don't like it the way it's being used. So,

010I've been talking to other district people in other districts and say, "Hey, do you use I ready?" Bedford does not for their assessments. I just talked to somebody in Lichfield who has said they're not allowed to use it for assessments anymore. Um, and they told me that they use it as extra for science and social studies. And I didn't even know that was an option, right? Because we all use it for reading and math. Um there's a lot of push for I Ready and there might be value added there but it's just one more assessment. So just one point my now junior in 8th grade by the time state testing came around they had done I ready? They had done PSATs and I think there was another test that some kids did and I was

011like we're done. If you don't know how she's doing I can't help you. Um, come to find out PSAT and I Ready at that time was being tied to some classes they were mandating to take in high school. And I pushed back and said she's not taking a reading class cuz her PSAT scores which were supposed to be practice and helpful were tied to this decision. They ended up district office after talking I spoke with Megan about this um said okay nope we're not going to hold it. I was told she was going to struggle and she's in the National Honor Society. She does very well in high school. So, I it's stuff like that that I think with me I I lo I've lost some trust with the district office and what they tell

012you. Um I would like to know with I Ready and and I keep saying it because they're every semester they do it. They do it in the middle school. It's now being tied to more. Um is it aligned with our curriculum? We change our curriculum so much. I was told that teachers are being told to change kids learnings paths in I Ready. Now, is that true? I don't know. Um, but I feel as if we maybe evaluate what are other towns doing. Are they doing assessments every quarter or every trimester on all these kids? And if they're not, well, maybe that's why they don't have as much opt out. I don't know. This is just my hypothetical, but for me, um, there's a lot that's changed that I've seen in the elementary school from now

013to 11th grade on how things are done, and that's just making me be like, I don't want it. Um, I did not opt my daughter out of the last science test. She did take it, however, it was physics. She's in chemistry. She came home, she goes, I don't know what the velocity is. I don't know how to calculate that. So, I would like that's information I would like is her friend is now in physics and hers was on chemistry and didn't remember like how value added is that if we're giving them tests we haven't taught them PSATs 8th grade they were told you won't know the answers to this why are we setting them up for this um when the PSATs were given when my daughter was an eighth I thought it was a statewide

014thing and I vaguely remember so correct me if I'm wrong that only like three districts did it. Okay. Um, it was mentioned last week that we test in the real world, and we do. My industry tests all the time. We don't test till you're trained. You don't go and take a test on something for your job until we've trained you to do it. You don't go and take the nursing exam until you've gone to school for nursing. You don't go to take your exam to be an electrician until you've done the work. So, you know, when we're giving people kids to tests that they're not ready for, is that helping them? Is that showing us where they are? Do they shut down? Um, so yeah, I think it's just more, we know how I feel

015about I Ready. I think we need to scale I Ready back a little bit because kids are done. They're just pressing buttons at times, mine included, when I'm not opting them out of I Ready. So, I have more stuff here um that I'm not going to get into, but I'm very willing to sit down and talk if you want more information. I'm not the only parent willing to talk. So, I think it's worth either trying to send out some sort of a survey. I don't know how that works, or hey, if you opted out, why is it just you hate testing? There's going to be the parents that are never going to opt in, but then there's parents like me that depending on the year, I will. Um, and my last thing is an ask

016of the school board. I talked to a lot of teachers, staff in this town. I love them all. They're great. Even if I give them a hard time, I know that they want what's best for our kids. I think there's a lot of unhappy teachers in this district right now. And I think we need to fix that. Um, I can give you my opinion. Probably not the place right now. Why, but we need to figure out a way to get these teachers to trust you guys to share information so that we can make their working environment a better place because it shouldn't it shouldn't be like this. I shouldn't keep hearing complaints of not being heard, of how they're spoken to, and it's just not acceptable. So, that's it. Thank you. Anyone else? No. All

017right. Seeing none, I'll close public comment and we'll jump into schoolboard leison on start to my right. Amanda, hang on. I'm ready. I promise, but I'm not. Okay. So, just a couple updates from Moose Hill. Um, April 11th, we have the ice cream social at 5:30 p.m. May 8th, uh, the final PTA meeting of the year. All the meetings are at 6:00 p.m. and available in person, but also online. Um, there will also be um, a Scholastic book sale, buy one get one off um, at that meeting. May 14th is Little Lancer Day. May 15th is the incoming kinder uh open house at Moose Hill at 6:30 for the AM kids, 7 PM for for the PM kids, and then um May 17th, we have the Tuck Touch a truck event. That's all I got.

018All right, thank you, Sarah. We have a couple upcoming events for the middle school. Um, first of all, the promotion ceremony, eighth grade promotion ceremony will be on Monday, June 16th, 12:30 at the high school. We also have the spring concert series on Saturday, May 10th. And a couple other dates we have is tomorrow we have a DC parent meeting at the middle school gym. Next Wednesday, PTO meeting, 6 p.m. in the library. Saturday, April 19th, sixth grade scavenger hunt. And April 22nd to the 25th is when the eighth graders will go to DC. And that's it for upcoming events. Thanks, Sarah. Tim, uh for Matthew Thornton, they've got their next PTA meeting this Thursday at 6 PM. Uh that will get the results for how successful the book fair was last month, and I'll

019report on it next meeting. Thank you. Yep. Uh yeah, North School had uh their dodgeball night a couple weeks ago which was a lot of fun for everyone. You might have seen the pictures in the London Times. Um and then upcoming dates, well today actually was the booster fund run which I sadly didn't get a chance to attend due to a sick kiddo at home, but um sure it was successful. I haven't caught up any one yet on it. Uh and then upcoming dates, we got the uh Reflections art show coming up on April 19th. Uh and then starting to plan for teacher appreciation week. So they're collecting donations and starting to get that planning in place. Great. Thank you. And uh just quick on cell school. I know they had their um presentation and

020day of uh the Yetis. I'm sure we'll hear on that soon. I know they uh had the building looking uh very good done up very well and that spent a lot of time staff and some of the students and that. So, best of luck and uh hopefully hear on that soon. Uh I had one other thing to bring up uh to to the board um and to the superintendent. I was approached this week uh or I got a call this week from a real estate agent that uh has now listed the building at Five Butrick Place. It's across from the one we looked at last year. Uh it's the old Shaver mortgage building and uh it's now for sale and they had a listing. I guess it's been for sale for five, six months. I

021didn't realize that. I looked at it three years ago. Um just as CO started or a year after that and um the asking price was it was actually just for lease. Um I tend I believe before you were on the board you had set that up so we could look at it. Um, and at that time the owner had thrown some numbers around that were unrealistic. I I thought um so I got a call from uh an agent uh reached out because he knows we have a situation with district office and uh wondering if the board would like to get some information on that and have the superintendent I think they may have looked at it. Um um superintendent and Jason I believe might have looked at it some time ago. um and see if

022it's um worth pursuing. It's for sale right now listed at 1.6 million. Um you know, we intended on spending about 1.7 million to retrofit Moose Hill. So, um I'm not sure what it would sell for. The lot next door to it is a separate lot that's included in that price for additional parking in that if it's needed down the road or or whatever. But I just wanted to get a consensus. I can get some information and bring it back to the board for the next meeting and take a look at it if you guys are interested. But, uh, this real estate agent from town knew the situation and reached out to see if we were interested. So, any questions. Is that the brick building with the hair place next to it? That's It is. Okay.

023It's all one piece on that. Both lots are included in it. Yeah. It's got that wooden bridge, the covered bridge that connects over to the adjacent lot. U when we looked at it three years ago three years ago um yeah I mean there's plenty of space inside that building there seems to be ample parking but um yeah especially at that price now if it's dropped like that I'd say we should at least explore it because this isn't going away as far as an issue with the district office right yeah and I'm getting more concerned with the project that's going on at Kittyhawk now that they're proposing a 20,000 square foot building right up next door to you guys and another 6,000 foot and 440 apartments that that's probably going to become, you know, prime real

024estate up there for industry. Um, so figured it doesn't hurt to look at it. He reached out to me to see if we were interested. I told him I'd ask tonight and I'll get some of the marketing and um, Dan, what did you think of it when you looked at it? Is would it work? Yeah. No, I mean somewhere in the blur of the summer. I remember Jason and I went there. Um, I think we went there when we realized the other but property may not work out. Y I don't think we made any decisions yet. Um, I think it it had ample space. It had ample parking space. Um, definitely some renovations would need to happen in in in the uh inside, but it it seemed like a viable option for the district office.

025Okay. I I'll gather some info, put it on the agenda for the next meeting. All right. It's all I got on that. Um Dylan, welcome. I had a lot more last week, so or two weeks ago. So, not as much today, but uh tomorrow is coffee house here at 7 p.m. Uh tickets are sold at the door for five bucks and uh be singing here on the stage right behind me. And it's a good time about an hour concert, just a bunch of students that auditioned and uh very fun atmosphere. Uh, we have spring theater night coming up. I believe auditions for that are this week and I believe the performance is sometime later this month. I don't have the exact date. Um, and then just on my end, uh, I'll let the board know

026in advance, my position at at student council is being, uh, taken off and it's going to be assumed by two other positions. So, um, you'll have probably I'm not sure if they'll switch off. Um, there are two new board members. They have to be elected and all that. So, uh, hopefully I'll have one or both of them. Uh, come and hang out, see what see what this is all about. And, um, yeah, they're both great students. I'm I'm looking forward to working with them a little bit. But, yeah, so you'll see two new faces uh, in the coming year. And then uh I had a quick question on the phone policy just because we uh the procedures had just been put in place a few weeks ago with the uh with the teachers putting in

027a form for detention for the phones if the minute they see them out. I've seen that in progress. Um I've haven't seen too much uh use. I mean there's been a few kids in a few classes but it seems to be working. So, I was just wondering if uh we were still looking at in uh trying to put in a policy or if we were going to wait and see how this worked. We've got It's on the agenda tonight. The first reading, Ellen, of the policy. Third third reading. Huh? Third reading. Third reading. Third reading. Third. Yeah. Sorry. Okay. So I think with a lot of this school system stuff when you build it Dylan it's like you have a set of administrators and they are able to follow through because they're privy to the

028conversations need you know and the rules and things like that. And I think something that we always try to do is set people up for the future in terms of like the systems outlast the people. Um, so having that kind of written down and outlined as things turn over and as people move on to different positions to kind of have that as a a guide, that's helpful. But but I'd also say, Dylan, if if there's some ideas that student council had to update what's happening and make it better for next year, I think Mr. Barnes and the whole team would be willing to listen. I think you guys have built a good rapport with them. For sure. Yeah, I'll have to bring that up. I was just purely just curious cuz the procedures seem to

029be at least in my the classes I've seen have been it's been there's been an improvement. So that's good. Thank you. That's great. Thank you, Dylan. All right, moving on to announcements, presentations. Uh 6.1 fire safety classes at LHS. Um unfortunately, Miss Sullivan is um not feeling well. Um, so she asked me just to say a few things. On Tuesday, April 22nd, uh, there'll be a fire safety info meeting, uh, right here at the high school at 6:00 p.m. in room 221 for anyone in uh, interested and, uh, to to come out and find out about the new class that will be offered in the fall at LHS. Um, this is going to um be working with the Lenardary Fire Department and seeing our Lancers have the opportunity to take this class for school credit

030under the ELLO opportunity. So, we're excited about this. This is one of the things we've been working on and several others that are going to come come in after this. But uh please anyone that is interested again Tuesday, April 22nd right here at the high school uh at 6 PM in room 221 or reach out to Miss Sullivan or Mr. Barnes for any further information. All right, we're going to move um we're going to move 8.1 under the superintendent a two-tiered busing for middle and high school up now because we've got some representatives from the bus company. A+ for effort. Sorry, we needed to get him before he started. Sorry, William. Got to wait a second longer. I know you're anxious. Um, and that. So, we've got some representatives. So, AMD. Yeah. I I was

031going to have the women from the bus company come up here and join me. And I promised I wouldn't make them talk unless you have a specific question for them. Um, and so we have Melissa Konz, Jen Lombard, and Jen Willis joining us from the bus company. Um, they are fantastic the work that they do, and we wanted to get them in early because they're going to be up at 4:00 a.m. to get their day started um, tomorrow. So, we are very happy to work with them. They are fantastic at what they do. They make magic happen. Um, and we started conversations. It was kind of like a a little seed at the beginning of the school year. And then over the past month, we've met um also with Mr. Okconor, um, Lisa Muse, and

032um, Mr. Sutherland just to kind of talk about what we do for busing and if we made this change from a three- tier system to a two-tier system, what it would look like and what were concerns. Um, and the highlight of of this for me was I got to do a ride along because we already have four buses that already do this. So, I kind of wanted to see how that operated and they set it up for me. Miss Jamie was fantastic. Um, so I got to see it in action. Um, she did she had a lot of great information that she shared about um the the morning that I was in there. It was quiet. I guess the end of the week they can have more people on the bus, but basically this has

033been going on for a few years and it's a welloiled machine. So we we are discussing the idea of making this two-tier system um for the entire LMS and LHS run. So this is the information that we put together. Um so like I said, there's four routes that combine LHS and LMS students already. So it's already happening and you haven't heard of anything bad happening with that. It's a welloiled machine, no issues in three years. There are also um a few surrounding communities that already do this tier um system going on. They have middle school and high school students on together. No issues. Um if we do this, we would be able to provide a stop for all high school and middle school students. Right now since CO um LHS families sign up for a

034stop and then routes are constructed around that and it can get a little confusing because sometimes a family just signs up for a stop in the event that they might need the bus. Um this way the routes would be configured all based on neighborhood. So there would be a stop for anybody that needed it. So if circumstances changed, um, they would be able to, no problem, jump on a bus that went through their neighborhood. I think one of the biggest concerns that everybody had was how would the seating work if you potentially have sixth graders with 12th graders. So um, no question the middle school um, students would be the first half of the bus where the high school students would be the second half of the bus. And it happens pretty naturally on the

035bus that I saw. Um, people tend to go with the the people, the familiar faces that they know. Um, and it would be your neighborhood children that are together. So, if there's some older kids, it's might be your across the street neighbor that you've known for your whole life anyway. So, um, they've made it work without any issues. Um, so we wanted to see what the numbers look like. So, they did some mock routes. I asked for one, but Jen was so good. She's like, "Well, if we do this to one and then it changes the stops over here." So, she had to stop herself at a rabbit hole. you would have reconfigured all the buses to already do this. Um, but you can see six bus routes originally if they have LHS and LMS

036or if they're middle school or high school run than if they were reconfigured within the neighborhoods, how many total students they would have. So, it's more balanced as you'll see. Um, better average number. And then right now, a lot of the high school runs are starting at like 6:15 in the morning. In the winter, that's hard. They're up early. Um, and then you know the middle school routes are later, but if you had this one route system, you would be picking all the kids up between 6:40 and 6:50 a.m. So it might be 5 minutes late or earlier for the middle school kids, but it's a half an hour later for the high school kids. And in the winter when it's dark, um, we felt that that's safer, um, to see how it would go.

037Any questions about any of this so far? Anyone? Okay. So on the uh route 29 currently there's LMS kids that start getting picked up at 6:15 a.m. Am I reading that right? So that's just sorry 29 is just a high school bus right now. So I got Yep. Um so one of the questions that also came up was if you're going from one school to another, how long are they going to end up being on the bus waiting to get um dropped off? So, when I arrived at LMS after the LHS kids had been dropped off, um you know, there's there's quite a gap that it takes to drop off at the high school and then get to the middle school. So, you're almost there naturally with the window by the time you get through

038the lights and the stops to get there. Um but we waited 7 minutes. We got there at 7:23 and you can't stop dropping off at the middle school until 6:30 in the back or 7:30 in the back of the building. There were already 10 or sorry, 12 other buses that were ahead of us. By the time 7:30 rolled around, there were already, I want to say, like six to seven buses behind me. The kids were fine. It was part of their routine. They waited, they got off the bus. There were no issues as far as what the behavior was. And they they I believe unload six buses at a time. Um so there was no no issues with the weights that were happening. And then um how long would LHS students be waiting um for

039the different things too? There was no the max that anybody would wait would be like 10 minutes. And from what we saw, it was very different from what I remember in the elementary land. The high school and the LMS students were very quiet and they were just waiting like looking through their stuff. Um, you know, there was no behavior issues that went along and the bus driver said that that's the case all the time. Um, any questions about any of that? Okay. Um, so basically here are the things to consider. When we look at the list, there's more pros than there are cons. There are more efficient bus routes in the neighborhoods. So, right now, essentially, buses are driving through a neighborhood, going dropping at middle or going dropping at the high school, going back

040to the neighborhoods, driving past the same houses again, and then driving to the middle school to to drop off. So, this way it's more efficient. You're going through the neighborhoods twice instead of three times. once for LMS and LHS and then once um for the elementary runs. Um it allows the drivers to make both school start and stop times without changing any of their arrival or the dismissal times that currently exist. It allows later bus stop times for LHS, which I think is really important for those winter months. And then there's a potential um you know the cost savings for fuel for the bus company. um that could be a factor for us when we negotiate a conf a new um contract in the future. Um and then there's a possibility that we could cut

041at least a bus from the fleet which runs about $70,000. So, um the cons are, and it's the one everybody asks, you would have sixth graders with 12th graders. So, you would have that separation, but it would still exist. Um but also once they get driver's licenses, they could have they could be on the bus in September. by November, they're not on the bus again because once they find a ride or have their license, they're no longer on the bus. Um, and always change is hard. So, there would be some bumps just to get used to the timing and that sort of stuff. But based on, you know, our talks with the bus company, other districts doing it, um, and watching how it kind of works now, and talking with Dave and Ryan, um, we

042felt like it was doable. And that's pretty much what we came up with. You don't have to make a decision tonight. I think in in fairness to the bus company, if we could make a decision at the next meeting, that would give them time because they will have to reconfigure all the routes. Um, so the sooner that they can do that, the better. Um, but this is where we are. Yeah. Questions? I don't have a question per se, but I think I learned a little bit about this process u kind of going through it this year um in realizing uh how wonky the the bus routes can be in the middle school um and and kind of how far out of the way kids are going to you know depending on just like a left

043turn or a right turn things um need to go. So, I I do while the age is can be concerning, I think looking at um the roots and and people in your neighborhood and and kind of having that be more consistent um could be a counter positive. So, y um the only question I have is I know brought this up before is how many buses at the middle school, how many kids at the stops be picked up earlier than like 10 plus minutes earlier than they normally would be? So, I think we would really have to dig into seeing that because right now it was 10 minutes. Jen did say once she started once you do the whole fleet, you can probably make up more time with it. So, I I would say I don't

044think it would be more than 10 minutes. It but it could be, you know, half of the the bus routes. I don't know. What do you think? It's a good point. Yeah, it's my only concern with them getting up so early anyways at their, you know, um I would just be concerned about how much earlier some of these middle school kids are getting picked up in order to get to high school hours. Yeah. So, I would just be curious to know. I don't know if you can come back to the next meeting with more maybe a little bit more specific on how many and how like roughly how many minutes earlier it would be for certain stops and routes. Yeah. Well, and that's kind of what we did with the um the sample and and

045it just completely kept snowballing because as I kept getting into it, I realized like, okay, well, there's another bus that does the next neighborhood over so I could pull more kids and that increases the time, which snowballs to the next town, next few streets over. And I'm like I was like, okay. I'm like, I have to stop somewhere. Otherwise, I literally would have to redo the entire sample would be the entire district. Yeah, I'm just cautious cautious about how much earlier it would be for them. So, if we say the max is that that all of them are 10 minutes earlier, but all of the high schools are a half hour later, is that an is that a a good compromise or I think 10 minutes is fine, but we're looking at like 20 minutes

046or 30 minutes and I think we're getting I it didn't look I think it's getting a little bit Yeah, because a few of the proposals here on this list are 20 minutes, right? So, I just didn't And I do think that would shift as we add more because what we'll be doing is we'll be taking the dedicated buses that are high school only and those will now include middle school students. So, they are going to be much smaller routes. So that's going to adjust a lot of times and we'll have much more availability to spread the buses out throughout the entire town of Londereerry versus this many buses to high school only and this many to middle school only. Now we can have smaller pools of neighborhoods dedicated to an increased number of buses. And

047it's really not an increase but it is in in my world because we have to split them up right now currently. And in addition to fuel savings, do you realistically envision this allowing us to drop off a bus or two? Yeah. Yes. Only because we are only going to be going to neighborhoods one time for high school and middle school combined, especially because we do have kids that live in very very far corners. Um, and if we're unnecessarily going out there for high school students that are no longer riding, we don't get that kind of communication necessarily because, you know, sometimes in the spring or the fall, they're in athletics, so they're not they may not ride for a full three months. Um, and then they'll come back in the later seasons when they're no

048longer participating in those sports. This way, they'll always have a spot on the bus should they need it. You know, we have kids who get licenses and unfortunately sometimes they get in a car accident. They're new drivers. Then they rely on having transportation for maybe a two-eek period. And this way we don't have to restructure routes to accommodate those children because they are entitled to those seats. Um but we'll we will always have a bus in that neighborhood. Anything? Um, so is this just is this just talking about morning bus routes or are we looking at doing the same thing in the in the afternoon or it would be both. Yeah. So how would that impact would there be significant impact on times kids are getting home either for high school or or middle school?

049It should be the same. They're still going to be leaving at the same time. And to Jen's point, they're just going to those neighborhoods now. They're not going to all these similar return times. Yeah. I I think you would pretty much they I think it would be you would either not notice at all, it could even be a little earlier. Good. Yeah. I think to Sarah's point, if we could just kind of um just look at it one more time over, give it a couple of weeks for parents to kind of chime in now that they know this information's out there and we can get some feedback, some maybe some other good points that we aren't hitting as a school board. and um revisit it on the 22nd. That would be great. But um I

050think that a little bit more information and give our our parents time to chime in if they have anything at home. Y so appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you for your work. Thank you. I think William's coming now. No, we're not. Before William gets here, I did just want to update um as well that the insurance company is covering the gym roof in its entirety. Yes, I was going to ask you about that. So, everybody hear that? Gym roof. That's fantastic. That's awesome. Make sure that goes into the microphone. Yes. Just for everybody at home, the the roof repair at the gym gymnasium that was caused by those high winds are being covered by the insurance company. So, a good good um good for the community. Thank you, AMD. That's great news. Projected at like

051200 and Yeah, about 275,000. Yeah. So, that's great news. Great job. All right. 6.2. All right. Good evening, everyone. Nice to see you. Good to see you. So, I'm here to start off this evening just to give you an update on our Washington DC trip that we're getting ready to head off to very soon. Um, we have we are excited that we have 248 students and staff members are all prepared to depart on to Washington DC on Tuesday, April the 22nd, 5:30 a.m. on time as we roll out of the middle school parking lot. So, we'll drive down uh basic we have five motor coaches this year. Uh, what we're looking forward to I hope will greet us will be nice warm sunny weather in Washington DC. So, I know the students are very excited

052about um their their time and their down there. Um I do want to say a few thank you. Sue Rouse and um Jessica Pere both have coordinated this trip and honestly it's an ally year endeavor. It doesn't stop. Um it actually gets busier as we get closer. They do work a lot of tirelessly effort uh to ensure that all of our details are covered and there's lots of them. Um students needs are met and then we're all set to go. So I just want to say thank you for uh to them for all their work. I also want to say uh a very big thank you to the generosity of so many of our parents um the school board scholarships that are aotted for the students who need assistance. Uh we received several donations from

053uh parents and community members to go towards this for kids to ensure they can participate. Um and all of the students who worked hard to do fundraising with their parents prior to the start of the trip. So uh it's a big thank you. Um there's a lot of generosity in our town towards the fundraising and it's just really appreciated each year. So um this year uh we do have we will be staying in a new location. Those of you familiar with Tyson's Corner, I think it's in Alexandria, but I know it's in outside of the DC area. We're a little bit closer this year, which is nice. Um our schedule is packed, so students do get up early on as we go around and knock on the doors in the morning. uh 7 am breakfast,

054a little pep talk before we head out the door, and then we really don't get back until 9:30 p.m. at night, just in time to get them all settled into bed as we go around and do some uh checks and rooms, make sure everybody's all all set to go. So, uh this year we have a little change and a little surprise. So, um this year, the Capitol building, which is one of the major attractions that we go to, unfortunately, is closed the week that we're there. Um someone uh decided to schedule an event there, so that we have been kind of bumped out. However, uh we will be spending some more time at the Smith Miss uh excuse me, uh the Smithsonian museums um to allow the kids some time there. But I did get

055a call from a parent in our community who has a very good contact at the White House. So, it appears that we may be visiting the White House on Friday. So, we are in the midst of just kind of finalizing that. As I tried to explain to the people down there, moving around 250 students, it cannot just be on the last minute kind of decide where we're going to park buses sort of thing. So, uh, Friday is actually the last day that we're there. We do have to depart by a certain amount of time. So, um, they have been very cordial in trying to work with us. So, it looks like our kids for the first time, since I've been involved, we'll get a tour of the White House and maybe the possibility of meeting

056some of the folks there. So, we are excited about that. We're trying to firm up those details in the coming days. Um the four days are a very remarkable experience for our students. Um and though the 26 hours on the bus can be very taxing at times, um we all have smiles and we are excitement awaits us as we visit our nation's capital. So we are very excited. Um what I'd like to do if time allows us in May, if we have time one of the board meetings, maybe some of the kids can come visit and kind of share their experiences there and uh what they learned while they were in Washington DC. be great. Thank you. You're welcome. So, I don't know if anybody has any questions at all. Any questions? Are you sure

057you want to take them all on a bus? Oh, we we settle in. We go. Even my kid. Yeah, we got a couple. Usually I get my own seat. That's okay. Right as I sit down. If you really thought this over. Oh, yeah. It's It's all We don't sleep. There's not much sleep going on there. So, um but it's all good. Yeah, we have a good time. The kids are great. Uh one of our best meals. I love this is my favorite meal. It's a family style Italian meal. So, we eat really well while we're down there. It's great. So, that's awesome. Good luck with the trip and thanks for all you do. Yeah. So, we're excited. Thank you, William. Thank you. Fantastic. All right, everybody. Good, Mr. N. All right, we'll jump right in

058while we got you here and bring Megan up and uh the LMS program of studies for 2526. Welcome, Megan. Hi. Thank you. Um, good evening. It's my pleasure to walk you through the London Middle School program of studies for the 2526 school year. This is a thoughtfully designed program that aims to provide a well-rounded program while fostering a love of learning, growth, and honors student choice. As we continue to work towards preparing our student for future success, it's essential that we provide them with the curriculum that not only meets academic standards, but also supports the skills that are encompassed within our portrait of a graduate. Our program is built around the principles offering a balance of core subjects, creative exploration, and opportunities for critical thinking, collaboration, and problem solving. In tonight's presentation, we will highlight

059the key components of our program, the innovative approaches we are using to engage students, and the ways in which we are supporting their success both in the classroom and beyond. A key element of our middle school is the teaming approach, which focuses on building collaborative environment for both students and teachers. We believe at this developmental stage, it is essential that we not only focus on academic excellence, but also prioritize the importance of being a part of our LMS community at each grade level. The teaming approach is designed to provide our students with a sense of belonging, promote relationship building, and create a support system for students that helps them thrive in all aspects of their middle school journey. All right. Uh we continue to strive for excellence setting high expectations and we're always looking for

060pathways for student success. Our motto it remains the same taking what we do well and striving for better each year. Um at a focal point of all the work of our work is growth towards achievement. Teaching children to believe in themselves is an important part of their overall development including the essential skills comprised in the portrait of a graduate. A growth mindset through our values and beliefs, respect, responsibility, and perseverance drive the work that we do. As we continue to refine and expand our middle school program of studies, we are excited to share several key highlights that reflect our commitment to providing a comprehensive, engaging, and inclusive educational experience for all students. These highlights include again that teameming model for core subjects. We are still looking to add more voice and choice as students move

061towards the upper grade levels in an effort to give them a scaffolded approach to the experience they will receive at London High School with engaging quarterly options for students and finally to support the advanced pathways. And you can see this is an example of like a sixth grade program. Um so each sixth grader receives um a English, math, science, social studies, and a reading experience on their team. Um and we have three teams at that sixth grade. And then for related arts, we still have those quarterly options in computers, art, health, and then students get one additional choice where they are able to explore a world language, take an additional computer class, um teched, but they get the option of choosing. So that's the first time that they're able to choose one of those options.

062Um all students in sixth grade also take on a rotating schedule two days on and a day one two and a day three four PE and music. And our music options include band, chorus, orchestra, exploring music and those beginning levels of those performance um experiences as well. In seventh grade, we again have our core subjects again at the teameing level of English, math, science, social studies, and reading. And this is where we begin to offer even a little bit more related arts quarterly options. So, we'll go through um there will be a choice next year in computers um as well as um there's an art class for them to take, health education, and then again, they get one more additional offering. So, another exploration of some world language and culture as well as a teched

063option. And again, PE and music is for all students on that day 1, two, three, four um scheduling model of band, chorus, orchestra, exploring music, and then again, beginning music levels. And in eighth grade is where it really starts to get a little bit more complicated from a scheduling standpoint, but we really do believe that um as we're getting students ready to go to the high school, it's really important for us to start to honor what they call electives. This is part of our related arts options. So all students do take an English class, math, science, social studies, and then they take a reading or a world language class. Students must then have um in the related arts blocks, um they have to have one quarter of health and PE. And then again, it gets

064a little more complicated. If you are a year-long music student, so you're a performance music student in band, chorus, or orchestra, you will then have two choices of related arts in the quarterly model. But if you are a student who does not take a performance music course, you then have six choices of related arts. And some of those even in include music options. They're just in a quarterly um on a quarterly model. So again, honoring that voice and choice for students um and really trying to also expand our music uh performance groups as well. I just want to add a real quick piece as we talked about advanced pathways, but also um the tune in on eighth grade music this year. Um, in talking to our music teachers, the incredible difference with students taking music

065every day, particularly in music, uh, and band uh, chorus and orchestra in eighth grade has been incredible. We'll see that in May, especially when you hear them play, but I know at the recent performances, particularly here on music, March's music month, uh, they had outstanding performances. So, there's already a very even significant difference with those those classes year long. So, and advanced pathways. We've talked about this a lot and you've heard us uh talk about the opportunities for eighth graders. Um advanced pathways for our students in eighth grade provides an opportunity for students who are prepared for a rigorous curriculum and challenging coursework. You can see the list of classes that are available for eighth grade students. includes honors algebra, CP algebra 1, CP earth science which is the earth and space which is in

066this uh preliminary year this year, CP Spanish, CP German and CP French. I know that CP German in its initial year is a full class of 30 students. So they are are there are involved and lots of um uh lots of student interests there. job. All right, this next slide is our new class proposals and these are all in our related arts options. Um, so for computer science, um, these classes are actually not new. We're just taking the required and optional course and and making a switch there. So our technology essentials course, we are um hoping that will be our required course. It's an effort to support the digital skills of our students as they enter LMS. We would like to propose that this class again be required for our students. During this nine-week long

067course, students will learn the Google suite and a little bit of coding, but there will be an emphasis placed on digital citizenship and the digital footprint. So, as our students come in from elementary, um they for the first time will have that computer science teacher teaching them about how to clean up your drive, how to do email, and all of those essentials to kind of give them a level playing field for some of the expectations in our um classes. techn sorry uh intro to computer science will then be optional for students who want um another additional course. So that would be one of their choices and this course um will teach students what computer science is and the importance of it in everyday life. Students will learn what makes a computer a computer and the

068core concepts of digital literacy. The next um change there is in PE and this is for grade eight only. So, we are proposing a what we're calling the venture class. So, um this is to expand the options for eighth graders to include more of a ropes course option. We would only be able to run this potentially quarter 1 and four just because of weather, of course. Um this class will involve initiative and problem solving activities as well as challenging courses for different levels of students. um and would also potentially include mountain biking, archery, frisbee, golf, and things if they could not get outside of course for um due to weather. So that is the PE change. So we will still obviously run our regular PE class, so PE8 and then this is an addition for

069kids who want that more focused course um for the ropes course. And then for art, this is kind of a big change. So, right now we've only had art eight and so every student was taking um that as one of their options, but we really broke this down into some specified um art classes. An introduction to photography, handb building with clay, and an introduction to painting. So, hand uh sorry, introduction to photography is a nine-week course which covers the fundamentals of photography. Students will be acquainted with cam get acquainted with cameras and they will focus on final projects covering the history of photography and also learn concepts of digital software. Handbuilding with clay is like a pottery class um without a wheel. Students will explore clay handbuilding using stoneware clay and they will learn to

070safely handle that with tools while mastering three fundamental construction techniques. And the last one is introduction to painting which students will study and experiment with the variety of painting techniques and processes while working with watercolors, acrylic paint and India ink. So we're really taking that that idea of um the artist and giving them some choice there and hopefully to uh to grow as they move on to the high school as well. two classes um for reading we are looking to remove um is our read 180 class and the advanced young adult lit 8 class. So not the seventh grade one, it's just for the eighth grade one. Um and the reason for the removal of these courses are we are moving in a different direction for our reading classes. Giving students more access to grade

071level courses with that support them in the classroom. This will align us with the work that is being done in literacy at our elementary levels with things like foundations and CKLA. And the eighth grade removal of advanced YA lit is due to the students taking um the many world language options that we now offer. Um the next one there is just a course name change and it is for um guitar jam. So um they're just moving that to a beginning guitar jam because the high school is going to offer another version of that. And the last thing to include here is that spirit of a storm which is um what encompasses the athletes in our building. Um so using that as a emphasis on the academic requirements to support our student athletes. So we would

072like to um include some of that language in our program of studies as well. And I just want to say a couple accolades. on uh some of the work that uh Megan has done this year throughout the year talking with our related arts um our PE and music departments in really pushing them beyond what they typically have done over the past years and really getting these co offerings in place uh to more specific uh interests for our students. So some really great work there and and congrat and I also accolades to our to our teachers who are open-minded and looking at at ways of offering their subject matter in different uh perspectives. So, thank you to all of them and then thank you again for the opportunity to share the middle school's program of studies.

073Uh, we are very proud of the academic program we will offer our students which includes a developmental approach to course selections as Megan outlined from 6,7 and 8 and then a wide range of exceptional opportunities afforded to them afforded to them at LMS. So, we are very proud of what we're offering for our students and our families at the middle school. Thank you. Any questions for William? So number big thing is changes with the related arts is going from um trimester to quarterly that's for all grades correct. So that has already happened that was in last year's change. Um but yes it is for all grades all students. Okay. Yep. And same thing with the with the reading and the foreign language. They have to for eighth grade it's either one or the other. You

074cannot take both. Um so our students do have in the related arts block they would have some introductory courses in there. So there is like a a Spanish B class which is a nineweek long introductory. So a student who is potentially taking reading would have that option as an introductory level but for the full year it's one or the other. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Along those lines are there is there any thought to you know maybe not this year but in the future offering a CP English or CP reading like for those who don't want to go the you know the the world culture path. Just curious. Um, so I think what you're asking is like a high school level English class. Um, so there's been some talk about that. Um, with all the

075changes we made last year and potentially adding German and and the Earth and Space class, um, I'm not sure we were ready for that yet. Um, is there talk about it? Absolutely. Um, because I think people can see those pathways and how they align moving forward. So, um, we're just not there yet. That's fair. anything. Have we ever talked about an honors art class? No. No. This was our first attempt at some of those choices. Um, and you know, you only kind of know once you roll them out to see what's the interest for students. Um, we're really excited about these three options that we have with a real focused approach. Um, but that has not come up yet. Just Thank you. I We're starting that next year. So, okay. See, I wasn't sure if

076that had been discussed with you guys as well. So, great. Everybody good? Thank you, Megan and William. Appreciate it. Yeah. Do do you guys mind voting on the uh program of studies now? Are you guys okay with it or Yeah, we can. Everybody's good. No further questions. I'll look look for a motion to approve the 2024 uh no 2025 2026 program of studies at LMS please. So moved motion by Sarah second second by Tim. All those in favor I I 5. All right moving along 6.4 um 2425 special education LEA determination rubik. Yep. So I'm going to get wait for Mr. parent to kind of get there. But yearly we get this kind of update uh from the state. There it is. Good. Keep go to the next page. We get this big uh big

077long report from the department of ed around how our special ed services are doing. And I think I was just happy to report um they're doing very well. So if you go to the top of that page, the the important part there is it meets requirements. So, you know, what what they're basically doing is are we meeting the the requirements for IDEIDA, which is very powerful federal law and kind of looks at a lot of different things for students with with special needs. So, you have all these metrics right here, which I won't go into because I think it could drown anyone. But if you go to the second page, uh kind of the bottom of the second page right there. Yeah. Uh what you can see is a couple years ago we were four

078years ago, we were at needs intervention. uh for the last two years where it needs assistance and then the whole department just reads meets requirements. So I know that was a ton of work by all of our classroom teachers, our power professionals, the the building level administrators and district office. So I think that was a a great outcome um and you know they're currently going through a big audit um from the from the special education department of the state and um you know we'll have those results soon too. But I thought these are you know really good outcomes. Then, you know, this year too, I think uh Mr. Carpon, we we discussed, do we want to take some of these metrics that that we're judged to every year and kind of fold them more into

079the goal setting process for the department. But a lot of the outcomes look very good. I mean, some things were ahead of the state, some things were behind the state, but this is an overall good message for us moving the numbers and a little bit different than some of the standardized test stuff we've looking at lately, too. Any questions? Guys, good. All right. Good with that. Uh 6.5 preliminary New Hampshire SAS 11th grade science results, Mr. Parent. So, some great news out of the high school. Last Wednesday, uh the class of 26 participated in the uh New Hampshire SAS science uh test. That's a state test. And we're proud to uh share the results. 60% of our test takers, our juniors are proficient or above with another 19% approaching uh grade level or early on

080grade level. So 79% of our students are are early on or on grade level in science. Um last year by comparison it was 32% proficient or above and 23% approaching uh or 55%. So we're really proud of that 24% increase uh in those test scores. There are still 21% um of the students that are below proficiency this year and we're going to work with them. Our department will look at those results to help inform their instruction. But last year it was 45% below. So we're equally proud of the 24% decrease in the kids uh below grade level. We have a lot of people to thank for those efforts. Particularly um the high school administration. Uh the science department, Tony Kiello, who is a competency coach in the science department went to every science class to

081talk to students about the importance of this test, what the student can get out of that test, how to prepare for it. The PTSO sponsored a breakfast for the kids coming in. Um the school offered some incentives with um uh students that were taking the test or had performed um better than their eighth grade score could earn parking points or um other areas chords, graduation chords based on on their performance. So again, I really want to thank our junior class for taking it seriously, for coming in. 280 juniors of the 324 enrolled showed up that day. So that was 87%. Um there were only six optouts and 20 were absent. And then the other juniors u are in adult ed. So we're we're working with those students to take that to take that test. I

082think we'll be well over the 90% when we conclude. Again, by comparison, last year we only had 235 juniors take the test out of 318, which was 74%. So we are seeing increases and gains. Our students and families, we think, are seeing value in that. Um tomorrow is a big day uh for the class of 26. We're going to wish them luck on their SATs and do a lot of the similar things. Provide breakfast. There are some incentives there. Of course, you know, that's our state assessment. Um, a lot of the colleges and universities um will require the SAT. Some are test optional and the students can choose to submit their scores to enhance their profiles and make it part of their application uh process. So, um we're hoping for the same sort of results

083with SATs tomorrow. Um but I want to share that great news. No, that's that's great news after uh what we had heard at our prior meeting. So, appreciate that positive update. Um we had a parent tonight bring up her reason for opting her children out. Is there a way we could find out from these other parents um why they feel as though to opt their children out and maybe we can get to the bottom of it and and see what we can do different or you know just so we have an idea of that. Um I'm certainly happy to meet with the parent um that spoke tonight and kind of talk about a lot of the points that she had raised and and some of them are are well taken as far as the amount

084of testing and um over over a student's career. You know, it can really add up. So I don't want it lost on us. And this is why when we lead with those data presentations, we talk about the importance of the report card of the portrait of a graduate, the competencies and the comments that our teachers are providing. That's really the core of it. These are additional data points and really what we're asking both our students and our teachers are are they meeting grade level expectations. So the way these tests are set up is it's at grade level. So we're seeing if our students are there and that's really at the crux of of that. Um but certainly we can talk to those families. So, a lot of the families will reach out, and I'll credit

085our curriculum coordinators, when they receive when a family reaches out to access um a a test out form, they'll have that conversation, kind of begin to say, can you can you just give me some more information? Why are you choosing not not to take the test? And there's a variety of of reasons. Um and then we talk about the benefits both to the student and to our school. And again, if they want to they want to test out, unfortunately, we do receive the zero for that. Um but I think it's a valuable data point. you know, it's something we believe in. Um, we want to see growth over time and, um, you know, I think we're doing good things. That's not to say we can't look at, you know, how we do things and what

086we're doing, but it really does inform instruction. You want to add anything or does that kind of cover? Yeah. No, I think we've had a good conversation with the middle. They're still still here. Yeah. No, we've had a good conversation. We we do see this fading effect, for lack of a better term, in terms of I Ready. Um, you know, so I think we're having a good conversation on what's our longer term plan in general with the middle school. Uh, you know, that we have some preliminary ideas, but we're not ready to announce them publicly. Yeah. Yeah. Because I know I had Jay, you had sent me the, uh, the schedule on testing coming up through April and May. It's correct. It's a lot. It is by grade level. Yeah. They'll set aside. I get

087the point of some of the parents worried about that point. Um, but I I also feel as though this state testing helps us tell us where we're at. Yep. You know, educationally wise. Is the curriculum the right curriculum? Are we are they backing out because they just don't understand it? Um, it helps our us tell with our staff is it is it working for Londereary? Um, so that's the other part that, you know, I wanted to express to our parents as well. it helps the school board and and and administration, you know, kind of gauge it in our way of we're doing the right thing for the students, right? And our, you know, that it's coming across that way. Um, but I don't want to overburden parents with as they felt, you know, as the

088parent felt tonight, it's too much for the for their students. So, is there a happy medium? I don't know. I mean, you know, there's some grade levels that are just picked on, for lack of a better term, and they've been like that for 20 25 years. eighth grade and 11th grade, you know, there's just no way around that. Or that's just the way the federal, you know, guidelines have been set up, unfortunately. You know, yeah, because when I seen that schedule, I was like, "Holy cow." Yeah. And and that is one area, those those two grades is particularly eighth grade. That's something we're taking a serious look at. Um, between I Ready, the PSAT. Um, she was right. We were one of three school districts um that have our eighth graders use the PSAT as

089their first introduction. It's a PSAT 89 uh exam. it's their introduction into that world and then they take it as ninth and tth graders and hopefully as 11th graders are ready to go for the SAT. So that's kind of the whole point. Is there material that they may not be exposed to at that time? Maybe. There's a few questions probably. But again, it does help um inform us where a student may be falling short so that we can provide the extra instruction or look at those areas or we look at trends. So a lot of our teaching staff are meeting at grade level to kind of really examine, you know, what they're covering, how they're covering it, to your point, and what we can do to help our kids. Yeah. But you can even dig

090individually by student really to help as well. Yeah. I just think it's a good gauge for the for the school board to be able to look at this now that you know and what do you credit the the big change in the science one from from a year ago? I think it's our school celebrating it. Uh our science department sharing uh the value in it and um showing how important it is to us and to the students. Um I'm hoping for the same at the elementary and the middle school. letters will go out next week for those May testing dates uh for New Hampshire SAS. Um as I mentioned before, um I think I shared this data, we had over a hundred students at the middle school level between grades six, seven, and eight um

091choose not to take take the New Hampshire SAS. And in at the elementary across the three schools, it was a total of 50 that had opted out. So we clearly need to do a better job articulating why it's important both for us and for the student. I think the letter uh encapsulate that. I think the follow-up conversations will help, but our school is celebrating growth. Okay. Is there any way we can require a meeting with those families and parents that are opting their kids out of testing? Yeah. Not not through the RS not through the RSA. We could ask for one. We could ask for one. Um but but the RSA enables them to just access that form and and when parents opt out at my school, we do require them to come in and

092meet with us to describe why they want to opt out and the reasons. And most of them really have come in. So, I don't know if it's something we can look at doing. I think it would save that time as to hearing them, you know, say why they want to opt out and really understand the reasons. But yeah, it's a great point, Sarah. And years ago, we've had students, they jump on their telephone and call their parents, can can you get me out of this test? And we're getting, you know, our four administration's fielding these phone calls. uh and and they're uh you know and then to just add on to to what Jason was saying to go back to your comment Bob the fall and the winter data is like practice the spring is

093the major leagues you know so you know when when we look at the fall and winter data we're just kind of gauging how we're doing but it it really is building up to the spring you know so I don't don't always get overly depressed around the winter it's it's just kind of where things are at we we want their true effort and the true um test where they're at by the spring of every year. Yeah. And I can see your point. And then we as a board would like to see, you know, definitely less opt out, but better, you know, the participation to show what our district is doing wholly for our students. Um, and it gives us a gauge in several areas that, you know, we we can look at and express to the

094community, you know, this is this we're doing really well in these areas and and not so well. You guys can make those adjustments. So, I I think to the parents out there, you know, it'd be nice to hear their reasonings for, but if there's ways of uh improving on that, I think it's it's going to be beneficial to the whole school district and the community. So, great. I appreciate that feedback. Yeah, because the more opt outs we have, the more zeros we have factoring in, it's an unrealistic assessment that we have of how these schools are performing if we have these zeros that aren't necessarily real zeros. Correct. Yeah. We need a benchmark which judges. Yeah. And I I know I've talked to you a little bit about it uh you and Dan is, you

095know, I don't have a problem putting a letter together from the board explaining this to the parents, but I'd like to hear some of the reasoning why they're opting out to make sure we're we're covering our our our area and that. But I I wouldn't have a problem putting that together if my colleagues are in favor of that and just what the importance is, you know, on behalf of the school district to to please participate if all possible to help if that helps. Y thank you. Y we'll share the letter with the board that we're sending for next week. Okay. Um but any any support or help of course we'll take Y. Okay, guys. Good. Great. Thank you, Jay. You're welcome. Could I add on? Sure. real real quick just from a student perspective there.

096So you guys asked about um the big difference from last year and this year with the SAS testing um and so I will say from I had Mr. Curio uh and he's like this is important and we're like okay and we got one period to take it and I didn't finish it and so I took it I was like I tried and then they're like well now you have to come in and do it more and so that giving I believe that giving that extra time there's still students who didn't finish but I'm sure there was more of that test that was able to be taken seriously because when we have to come back into it we just wanted to get it done so I don't remember how I performed on that. I remember it

097wasn't I don't think it was a accurate representation of what I did and I think that was just because again the school attitude was another boring test. So I um hearing all of the all the things happening this year and that result of their work um especially being in Mr. Cariel's class again this year um seeing all that work that he's put in and the science department has put in and all the emphasis along with like here's what to expect here's a practice test. Here's just that little bit of effort. Um, I know for me like taking a math test, I take sometimes I don't finish all my homework, but I do the review fully and I look over my notes and I'm all set for my test and I don't think there's anything there

098for the science testing and this year that really shows. So, um, and then on the PSAT real quick, um, I've talked to students at Pinkerton because they don't have the, uh, PSAT because their their whole middle school system is completely different. But I really, from my perspective, seeing the growth from 8th grade to to 9th grade to 11th or to 10th and then 11th, I liked having that extra year. I understand the point brought up tonight about okay we we don't know what's happening but I think it's a great I don't know I eighth grade is a hard year of testing but for me that was a really valuable point saying in eighth grade I didn't know much and this is what I did and look I got 100 more points in 11 or in

099ninth grade and 11th grade or 10th grade so um yeah that that was just thought I'd add that comment in there thank you so let me just ask you Dylan from a student perspective so you had more time to finish your test and and uh be more prepared. What What would you like to see? Well, I I think what they did this year is great. Um I mean I didn't take the test cuz I took it last year. Um I think having again having the breakfast provided I took the uh seal biiteracy test a few uh last month and they had food for us and I think that was just something like oh well I guess we'll take if they're giving us food. So that's a really big motivator. Um I know I had I

100had to come in later for that test as well and again kind of that same attitude of like like I want to try my best but it's it's harder to do it with after time. So I think with the way it's been going, it's going great. I'm not sure what else to improve upon that. But yeah, one thing I had forgotten to mention is one adjustment is they had uh all the juniors take uh the exam with their current science teacher or former science teacher. So there's a familiar face there in that in that discipline. So I think again that was um you know more than a comfort level but also those very teachers are going to be looking at those results and then working with their kids. So I think that made a difference

101as well as opposed to spreading it out across the school. I was I was in an English class so all of us were like the English teacher's like take it whatever like cuz it's not his subject. If it was a English if it was an English standardized test he'd be like here's what to expect. Here's all these things. So um there's a lot of good changes this year and so I hope that continues to happen. Great. Well thanks for that input. Appreciate course you guys. Good. All right. Um 6.6 New Hampshire Department of Education May 8, 2025 conversation with families of students with disabilities. So this this is just a flyer. We're going to start pushing out there. As you can see, um so again, basically um our entire special department is going through this

102large audit, not too different from the PCG re u PCG uh event that happened last year. But as part of this, um, families, uh, that have students with an IEP can kind of be part of this virtual session from 6:00 to 7:00 to kind of give their feedback and learn more about the process or if they don't want to, they can fill out a survey. So, we're going to start sharing this uh, kind of as part of that audit process. Great. All right. Moving into deliberations, we got a couple of third readings and then a few first readings. So I don't there was no changes in uh the JIGJC or the IKL I believe. Um so 7.2 uh look for a motion to approve the third reading to adopt policy JICJ unauthorized electronic communication devices

103including cell phones. Please so moved. Motion by Sarah, second. Second by Kevin. All those in favor? I I 50. Thank you. And 7.3. I look for a motion to approve the third reading to adopt policy I KL academic honesty and integrity. Please moved. Motion by Sarah. Second. Second by Amanda. All those in favor? I. I. 50. All right. 7.4. First reading to adopt policy JLDA, wellness policy. Yep. So, the wellness policy is something we're required to have on the books to be to be able to accept uh funds from the government for our for our food services department. So, every couple years we're required to review it and update it. Uh so, what you have is a copy of the wellness policy that our food services director went through, made some updates. She shared it

104with the wellness committee a few months ago. We were okay with it. So, we're bring it to the board. She will be here next time. Um, but a lot of this is, you know, a little bureaucratic. I mean, I don't there's anything um, you know, mind-blowing in here, but it's just it's just these updates we have to kind of make year to year to stay in compliance or every couple years. Any questions? Seeing none, I'll look for a motion to approve the first reading to adopt policy JLDA, wellness policy, please. So moved. Motion by Sarah. Second. Second by Tim. All those in favor? I I 50 7.5 uh first reading to adopt policy J internet access for students. So I'm going to turn over to Josh uh for a second but what he did is

105you know for for many years now we've been we've been meaning to update our acceptable use policy that kind of governs our devices our network and how they should be used for staff and for students. So he's done all the hard work. Um he's kind of put all these things together. So I don't know if he had any, you know, high level things to share and then he'll be the best one to answer questions. Yeah. So we basically just took this from the schoolboard association policies, read through it, made a few minor changes because ours was very outdated, made references to a lot of things that aren't really technologically appropriate anymore. But even the one that the schoolboard association had, we we did make a few minor tweaks. I think the biggest change that we're

106making is that um in the past we would have kindergarteners sign the AUP stating that they read and understood everything in the eightpage AUP of technical jargon. Uh and then they would sign that in kindergarten and then the kids would never sign it again. Um that seemed a little silly. So we've now changed it so that uh staff will sign the AUP. Um there is still the policy for students. It will be linked in all of the grade levels um all the schools handbooks and the language in it is now that you know as part of the handbook and part of the back to school paperwork that parents and students together have gone over the um the acceptable use policy and the procedures and they understand them and will abide by them. So, um, and

107they'll do that every year. And hopefully, like while parents go over that with their students each year, um, as part of, you know, going over all the the rules they're expected to follow while they're while they're in that school, um, it'll kind of be a nice reminder to them to, um, to play nice with the technology. Any questions? Uh, the next these couple are all on internet. Anything else to add on these other three policies while we got you here? Um the next one is the with our JICR uh acceptable internet use procedures. Yeah. So, so one is basically the the first one is just basically saying that the school board and school have developed these procedures that relate to accessing the internet. And then the the next one is just a more detailed procedure

108of what all those steps are. So that's why there's and there's two for staff and two for students. Okay. The staff and the student ones basically have all the same wording. Again, the only real change is that staff will sign it when they're hired. Students will just um kind of agree to it just like they agree to all the other policies when they sign their uh year or their uh student handbook. Okay. And then you've got GBF, internet access for staff. Anything to add with that one? That's just No, that's the same thing. That's the policy and then the longer procedure that goes with it. And then the the next one is just the acceptable internet procedures for staff. So it's basically the same. Just the same. Yep. Any questions on those? Okay. All right.

109I'll read through those uh the next uh three anyways or four. I'll look for a motion to approve the first reading to adopt policy JIC, internet access for students, please. So moved. Motion by Sarah. Second. Second by Kevin. All those in favor? I I 50. 7.6. I look for a motion to approve the first reading to adopt policy JICR, internet access for students, acceptable internet use procedures. Please. So moved. Motion by Sarah. Second. Second by Amanda. All those in favor? I I 50. 7.7. Look for a motion to approve the first reading to adopt policy GBF, internet access for staff, please. So moved. Motion by Sarah. Second. Second by Tim. All those in favor? I I 50 and 7.8. Uh mo I look for a motion to approve first reading to adopt policy GBFR internet

110access for staff acceptable internet use procedures please. So moved motion by Sarah second second by Kevin. All those in favor I I 50. And then the first reading to resend policy I AE acceptable use policy for students. Is this um regarding the internet as well? The last one there. Yeah, it's the old policy. It's the old policy. The old policy, right? Okay. So, we're just going to resend this due to the new ones updated. Yep. Gotcha. I'll look for a motion uh to approve the first reading to resend policy I AE acceptable use policy for students. So, moved. Motion by Sarah. Second. Second by Amanda. All those in favor? I I 50. Thank you everyone. Um 7.10 updated liaison list. Um I uh had it sent Teresa uh an email this afternoon, Dan, that uh

111same as last year. Okay. Um no changes and the only thing is uh CIP Kevin's going to head that up this year for the school board um and be the main person. uh we were both on there last year, but he's going to head that up and everybody else is the same. So, okay, on to another year. All right, jumping into um superintendent report. We took care of 8.1 uh 8.2 upcoming teacher assistance plan committee work for LEA. Sure. Sure. So I'm going try and give a you know a a broad update of our evaluation system but then a specific uh issue we want to tackle DLEA. So um so the the the specific issue is called the teacher assistance plan but I want to give you guys a better context of how we got

112there. So if you go to the next slide um you know for many years now I think even before COVID we were really working on updating our how how staff are evaluated and and we worked very closely with the LEA U which is great. I mean, it kind of speaks to the strong partnership we have there. Um, and the three things, you know, we're really working on is how can we have a better frequency uh of of of staff being observed. Um, and I'll get to the reasons why in a little bit. Then the second thing we really worked on over the last couple years is a better ongoing dialogue between staff and administrators. And I'll get to the reasons why. And then, you know, a a better summit evaluation and feedback by the end.

113So, those are the three things we're working on. And I think we've made a lot of progress in those last couple years, but I think every year along the way something pops up and I think, you know, this year is probably the year that um the unions agreed to. We're going to work on our teacher assistance plan. There definitely could be other things um that that we work on with them. Um but I think, you know, this would be something we want to kind of tackle and kind of get ahead of before our next cycle. Um and Mrs. has often has agreed to be the leaison and kind of you know we'll share some of the updates we we work on with them with her with so so the school board has a bird's eye

114view of what's going on but again we've been working on a lot of these changes uh and I'll talk about teacher assistance plan another thing to know about is there's this gigantic document we have at the state called the professional development master plan it maps out all of our evaluation processes it's 124 pages and every five years we have to produce a new one we've basically produced a whole new way of how we do things Um and and we we work with the LEA to kind of update that, but there's this big document that we that kind of we're we're bound to and we share with the state every five years. So by 2027, we have to kind of update that to all the things we've updated. Um and you know, with the new collective

115bargaining contract, there's there's a yearly committee where we're going to kind of get together the LEA and kind of, you know, share things we want to get better at. And I think the teacher assistance plan is I think one area we want to focus on. So that all makes sense. Um you know, here's kind of the other context. So in the past, you know, before we made some of these changes, teachers in their first five years basically had these two formal observations um of a yearly summit of observation. And anyone who had tenure would get these two observations over a three-year period. So what you're looking at is is a nice little graphic from someone we worked with called Kim Marshall where he's like, "Well, think about that for a second. You have 180 days

116of a school year. I see you twice and then I evaluate you." How meaningful is that? It's just a small window into what we're really seeing. So what, you know, he's been kind of pushing most of America to do over the last 10 to 15 years is, you know, these announced full lesson and infrequent uh observations really aren't that useful. Maybe there's a better way to do that. Um and and I think and I think we saw that as a system too. Um so we've kind of made a shift to a new model. If we go to the next slide. So now we're going to something called MIDI observations. So now what we've shifted to and I would say our elementary schools made this shift about five or six years ago even before co um

117the middle school and high school we've definitely shifted nearly all the staff over to this in the last two to three years. Um but now what we do is on a yearly basis you have these six to eight unannounced so you can show up at any time and I'll give Mr. Parent credit you know up until this year I used to tell staff hey I'm coming to your classroom this day. I've shifted to the unannounced uh version. It's freaky for everyone because I just kind of walk into your room, you know. Um, but I think we've really turned the culture around where this is like normal where it's just okay where you have an observer come in, they're part of your classroom and and you can have a good conversation about what you saw. So

118now we've shifted these mini observations and that little graphic, you know, it's still not perfect. You're still only seeing a slice of the year, but you're seeing a lot more of it. Um, and you know, so this happens uh for our for staff in their first five years. You get those six to eight unannounced mini observations every year. And then for tenure staff, you get those six to eight uh unannounced mini observations, maybe even more. I would say some of our elementary schools are probably averaging close to 10, I think, um classroom visits uh on a year. That gives you a really good um that gives you a really good view of what they're doing. And I think for our evaluators, it's a much better system, you know, because I look in those first five

119years, you could see someone's classroom about 40 times. Um 30 to 40 times. That that's a lot of that's a lot of visits. You're you're going to know where they're at. you're gonna be able to have a good conversation with them about what's going well and what areas to get good on. So, I think it's been a much a much better system for us and I think we're we're only in our second year of like, you know, fullon this version for everyone. But, I think I think we we've had a good cultural change around it. There's two more important pieces of this, these many observations. So, having this dialogue with your evaluator, but also really good uh evaluation ratings. So if you go to the next slide, what we did in the past is you

120have a kind of a sheet of what our old system looked like. In the old model, like you know, the evaluator would go in, they'd see a lesson, they'd check off for every single parts of the Danielson rubric what they thought they saw and they would score them. They would score them in the moment and they would follow up afterwards. So again, I think what this led to is lots of infrequent conversations and also there's this this pressurized environment. Wow, my my evaluator is going to be in here. they're literally going to give me a score based on what they see in this one day. Um, so you know, we thought it wasn't always the best model. So what we've shifted to to the next slide is basically this ongoing dialogue. So when when evaluators

121go in there for their many observations, they're not going to score. They're just going to capture what they see. They're going to kind of put in the lefth hand column and then staff can kind of reply back in the righth hand column. Um we want we want them to be talking about um the mini observation within a 48 hour period and no scoring should be involved. Um and you know I think what we've seen is and it's still a work in progress um this is having you know a more or more valuable dialogue between the evaluators and staff kind of good honest conversations you know good rapport and kind of hopefully bridging building them closer together. Um, and you know, and again, and I think, you know, for untenured staff over over a 5-year period,

122you could have 40 of these conversations, maybe 30, you know, which I think is is a is a good practice uh for that. So, this is working better. Obviously, still a work in progress. Um, but it's definitely huge growth we've made. And if you go to the final part, so the old model for some evaluations is very much like those form observations. You'd come in and you'd score everyone on the rubric. I think that the problem that I saw was so you had this sheet and you had these rubrics and you had to score it, but the actual rubric was sitting in the professional development master plan. So to to really parse out were you a two, you were you were three, were you a four, both the teacher and the evaluator had to look

123into this 124page document and agree kind of where they were. I can't say that always happened. You know, that's just that's not a that's not a that's not a a very efficient way to use time. So, you know, I think people were a little bit more arbitrary in their scoring back in our old system. Um, so if you see the new system, go to the next slide. What Marshall's done and is, you know, he's someone who was a principal and he and he lived the life of how busy it is to be a principal and how how valuable your time is. Now, we have these very simplified targeted rubrics where literally, if we're talking about a three, the sentence is right there. plans the year so students will meet high standards and be ready for

124standardized assessments, you know, and it really parses out what's a four, what's a three, what's a two, what's a one, and it's all right there in front of everyone, so there's no guesswork involved. So again, it's still a work in progress, but I think we've seen a lot of growth in good, honest conversations where staff are at, the areas of growth you want them to make, the good things they're doing well, and kind of being more specific. Um, you know, so I think, you know, we're always going to kind of make this better, but I think that's been another huge win. But I think what I think what I can kind of see from this year is if you go to the last slide is in the old professional development master plan they talk about

125this teacher assistance plan. So within our culture for for a while if if if a principal or an assistant principal or a special ed director saw some staff member who was struggling only that's tenured which which I didn't really pick up on until I I recently read the professional development master plan again is if someone was struggling and they were tenured we put them on this teacher assistance plan. um you know, so I think um that's a valuable process. It's good. It kind of it kind of signals there's some things we want to get better. Um but we've made all these big changes, but we haven't really thought about the teacher assistance plan uh within our new model. So, uh what the LEA's agreed to is kind of sit down and spend some time with

126the administrators. I think we'll find a way to kind of gather feedback on our side, kind of sit down with them, uh kind of they can have their opportunity to share their thoughts, but I think that ideally we want to get to a place where the teacher assistant plan works in this new model, is a valuable part of the process. Um, and kind of everyone understands the boundaries around it because I think it's something that that probably was only used for tenure teachers in the past. We have to probably think about that a little bit more uh carefully in the future. So, uh, you know, I think that that that's a good process undertake and we'll we'll kind of start that later this spring and, you know, hopefully be, uh, you know, have things mapped

127out for for next school year. I don't know if any questions or thoughts. I have a few thoughts. Sure. Sure. Um, I love this. I feel like it really um promotes open communication. Um, I also love the fact that the frequency of the visits um really kind of will help the administrator in that scenario identify like what the barriers are. Um, you know, there's many different reasons why things can not go well. Um, and I think it's helpful to have uh that deeper lens into what the dynamic is in the in the classroom. Um because sometimes it's going to be an action item for the teacher, but other times after kind of getting to know the class and and the players, it might be that like additional supports needed or there's some referrals that need

128to be made. So I love that piece. I think that's actually more fair to the teachers than um kind of that, you know, brief blink of an eye sample. Um, and I think at the end of the day, everybody has strengths and weaknesses in their job, but I feel like this new model allows the administrator to give some action items. Um, and really that the only action you're looking for is for growth or effort in that area of need. Um, or participation in some sort of um, growth. So, which is only going to benefit the teacher but but then benefit the kids. So, um, I also think it makes the conversation more comfortable. um this is someone that I'm having a conversation with. I have a relationship with. They're telling me what I did well.

129They're also giving me some ideas versus um this is someone I don't really know well coming in and and kind of judging me in a snapshot. So, um I really am optimistic that this is better for everybody, including the administrators. Um that's a pretty high s pressure situation to walk in and start kind of um making observations that quickly. So, I love that. and and just how important it is to get feedback within 48 hours because you know if there are things are that need to improve immediately you know some things that stood out. I mean it's good to know let them know immediately so they can change it right away. So I think that's an important aspect of it letting them know as soon as you can. Yeah. I think um piggybacking on what

130Amanda said, increasing the amount of observations I think is only fair and everyone has bad days in here and there and we're all human beings. So the more of a real picture overall of what they're doing can only be assessed when you have more observations. Um and the last page you presented I think is really important. Um, when you talk about the teacher assistance plan being able to evaluate or be applied to untenured teachers as well as tenure teachers, um, because sometimes just those teachers that are in those first four years, um, they just need a little help getting them onto a plan that can help just maybe boost them forward to get them into their full-time career. Um, I think that's a very important for them to have something like that available. So yeah,

131I' I'd really like to see that implemented for the untenured as well as tenure teachers. Yeah. No, I echo everyone's sentiments on that. I like where this is going. I think it's huge to have a continuous feedback feedback cycle and an open communication line. Um that's really how everyone succeeds in this. I love that this kind of promotes that, opens the doorways that and pushes those pathways. That's great. Yeah, I think this is great, Dan. Um, you know, and we want the other part is we want the administrators to be honest with them and not hold back because we want our teachers to be the best. So I think the two working together knowing the deficiencies or what they're doing well is key to getting them to that next level which you know we all

132have said you know especially at the elementary level you know those are important years of these young kids and um you know hitting don't be afraid to you know put it out there that you know this is what I'm seeing um and that because we're we're helping everybody the the employee you know, and we want our teachers to be the best teachers uh for our students and that. So, uh I think this this will give the administrators more opportunity, as my colleague stated, to to be able to see them, you know, in a in a more broader, you know, time over the school year, too. So I think uh this will this will work on both sides of the younger ones coming in that we want them to be the best they can and you

133know hopefully stay in lend area a long time and the ones um you know that have been here uh we we keep making them better so I think it's a good process. Good. That's good. Awesome. Thank you Dan for that. Okay. Appreciate it. and just let us know uh once you met meet with them over the summer and come up with that an update would be great. Just see what they came up with. Um 8.3 legislative updates potentially affecting the school district. Yeah, I don't I don't normally do legislative updates, but I think there's a couple things we really got to keep an eye on. Um so I I I I put them in your packet. You know, I can talk about them briefly. Um I think I'm trying to find out more myself and

134obviously it's a moving target. uh all this will be kind of figured out I think by the time the budget is done by June. Um you know we we already had a conversation around tax caps but it does look like there's a very serious consideration almost for a statewide tax cap that started with bill house bill 675. Um so what I did is I gave you guys the quick summary of it. Um I forgot in the original board packet to put the bill in itself but I I hand it out um there. you know, we had that discussion this winter around local control and what does it really mean. Um, you know, so the way this tax cap works, and you know, Amy and I are probably going to spend our time studying this one,

135not the one that was proposed on our um warrant only because this one seems a lot more likely. Um, they're similar. Um, but there there there's a tax cap that would be related to your average daily membership, basically the number of kids that we see every day or an average of your last five years of your budgets. That's a ve that's a very that's a pretty big spread or could potentially be a big spread. So I think we want to understand the mechanics of how that works. Uh, and I think we should just kind of understand um where our local representatives are at and and and what's going to happen because this this will all happen over the next couple months very quickly uh around around the budget because I got the sense from from

136listening to my local update that a lot of bills now are just being put into the budget so that they become law that way as part of the conversation rather than its own separate conversation. So there does and I and I know there's been a lot of news discussion on this tax cap already. So if there's any questions there or I can just jump to the next one or um I I did reach out um to Sherm Packard and Sharon Carson. I heard back briefly from Sherm yesterday. Okay. Um on the tax cap actually I wanted their opinion. I didn't get it. Okay. Um I invited him to come here and explain it to us. Okay. Um as well um as you can see nobody's here. Um, so my point to him was, you know,

137everybody's complaining how government overreach and they're sending everything to the state so we can handle this and now the state is reaching into local Yeah. um control which is it shouldn't happen, right? If you're responsible, we know what it costs. We we're very good with budgets here in Londereerry. Um, I think we've done a very good job and you can't base us on Claremont. You can't base us on the western part of the state. You know, the demographics are different, the revenue source are different, the cost of students are different. Um, so I tried to explain that. Um, he he basically said depending on what happens Thursday, um, you know, the budget and they're not feeling very good about it right now. Okay. Um everything they've done this winter could be null and void, you

138know, because a lot of stuff won't won't move. Yeah. Um but it's I I did talk to a couple other local reps uh and they weren't in favor of it, our local London reps. Um so I have invited them to come and keep us updated. I'd rather hear it from them and the community that elect them and uh bring us and update us for you so you know and you have a better handle. and I told them to reach out to your office. Sure. And keep you updated. Um, so I I think it's overreach to its ultimate degree. Um, and I think they should let the towns handle it, but uh we'll see where it goes. Okay. And then you wanted to talk a little bit on the open enrollment. Yeah. The other one that

139really caught my eye was open enrollment. Um, knowing how much effort we have to put into policing residency. So there was a bill uh 741. I don't think it has as much traction as a tax camp, but I think it has some traction. Um, that basically breaks down all of the barriers for public school systems. So, someone could live in Derry and just choose to come to Londereerry or someone from London could just choose to go to Windham or someone from Manchester could just choose to come to Londereary. And I was sitting there, I was like, what? You know, I was I was just trying to think of how our jobs would have to evolve and and and how you manage that. So, you know, I I put a whole bunch of, you know, questions

140here to think about and the logistics of how this works, uh, was frightening. Um, and I I wouldn't even know to begin how to how to manage this or build budgets around it. And I was just looking at this one, um, just and you know, my comment was, "Wow, this is a massive change if if it actually happened." So, it's definitely one we want to keep an eye on because, you know, we we do our due diligence and residency all the time and to to have that potentially go away. I I don't I don't know what the reaction would be um you know, if if all of a sudden we're flooded by kids that don't live here and how would the parents in town feel? I don't know. You know, like that would be a

141whole new ball game that I think we're just not ready for. So, there is some traction on this one which is why I brought it up. Um you know, so that that that was one that I think really caught my eye as well. I think one of them in here because I watched this hearing um is they could if they're from another town they could bring them to the lo the closest bus stop and they could get on the bus that's in the bill. I know. I mean how do you schedule your buses you know? So it's I don't know. Um to your point, I hope you know there's a lot more discussion to have on this one because it's there's no way of even figuring your budget. And if this passes, you've already got

142a budget approved and what if a 100 kids either leave here or come here? Yeah. You know, what's that do? You know, um so again, there's a lot of things happening up in conquered that I I don't know where it's coming from. Um but it's it's not It's not helping any public school system at all. It's uh it's actually hurting public schools. So, um how would that work with like because we obviously work to have the hooks of kids to be able to come here, but they have to pay the anchoring rate. How would that translate? So, when when I read this, that was one of my big questions. It it seems to potentially nullify any agreements that are already out there, which I would hate because um they would only have to in theory

143pay 80% of uh average or whatever it's called per people per people thing, 80% of our hearts maybe, you know, like I'm not really sure what the 80% was based on. So in theory, it is disrupting all those arrangements and I'm sure Pinkerton's sitting there being like we have arrangements with like 14 communities. What are we supposed to do, right? you know, so I I don't know the legalities of that one yet. Yeah, it's a good question. Yeah, really good question. Well, thanks for that update. I'll keep everybody updated too uh as I hear from him, but I have invited him to all future board meetings to keep us uh updated as well. So, he said he would update me on another policy today if he had more information, but um I tried to explain

144to him our two scenarios on these two that you had up tonight. Um where it goes, I don't know. Um but that's what we got. Anything else from anyone? Kev, you all set? I'm good. All set. Good. Good. Guys, all set. All right. Well, 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. Second by Tim. And I'll ask for a roll call vote from my left to right, please. I Kevin Gray. I Tim Porter. I Bob Slater. I Sarah Laughlin. I Amanda Butcher. Thank you everyone. Good night.