001e e e okay I would like to call the meeting to order please at 6:30 Kristen will you call the roll call please here are you don't can we have your uh thank you aome perfect Tracy bricky here Sally H Dickinson Julia Jones Melissa Muzzy here Jessica wheeler Russell here Laura Vincent here David Nesbit Stacy Jarvis Tom Liberty I understand is absent this evening yes and Laura Carla thank you thank you and now for the Pledge of Allegiance Mr Stevenson oh we'll pretend it's over there usually where it is to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you so at our meeting last Wednesday I re recognized non-resident faculty to speak um I did
002this with intention as the topic at hand has a very real impact on them public concern has been expressed for this decision in the interest of transparency I would ask that the board vote prior to public comment to determine if we should continue to allow nonresident faculty the opportunity to speak tonight uh I would like to make the motion that we accept non facult I mean uh non-resident faculty comments um it has been our practice thank you thank you can any discussion yeah I have one um there we go can I offer an amendment that we also allow nonresidents who have children within parents are allowed to speak even if they're not yes okay thank you yep any other discussion all those in favor of the motion to allow non-resident faculty to speak say I
003I I any opposed any abstain perfect motion passed we'll now go to public comment please and Fred once again will carry the microphone and I'm not allowed to tell him if he misses anybody he already told me I don't know where he is oh okay Chris has the microphone okay go ahead Chris Fred didn't say anything about telling Chris what to do Kelly Den on court Penacook thank you for your time and the opportunity to speak to the board I know you have all been working and discussing tireless ly on this drastic and unforeseen reduction in the operating budget I think it's fair to say that everyone in this room has lost some level of sleep around this I'm currently the special education teacher for K through five at my school my position is among
004those being discussed this evening I am unsure of what the plan is for next year however I am concerned about the student services and if this is going to go back to be in a shared position I'm concerned about the district's ability to meet each child's legally required Services through the IEP if this position were reduced or changed servicing students in kindergarten through fifth grade has challenges such as it is not possible to effectively group kids learning to add numbers with a total sum of five and kids learning how to calculate the diameter of a circle for what I understand all staff members affected by potential Staffing changes have already been informed most will be offered new positions within the district while some will not in that regard I suppose I am lucky that I
005have been told that I will be offered another role though no details have been provided to me this feels like a human chess game with moves dependent on how individuals react to their options I won't pretend that I'm simply waiting to see what happens I imagine that those who like me were informed about the upcoming changes are actively planning their next steps will those who are quote unquote safe still likely feel uncertain and uneasy about as they consider their own options the budget has passed setting Financial limits and tonight's discussion will likely change very little staff morale has plummeted and job security is widespread regardless of the outcome this District will lose grade Educators and this is only the beginning of the repercussions every staff member student and family in the district will feel an
006adverse impact if they haven't begun to already while the numbers on paper May reflect a balanced budget the true cost will be measured in the trust that has been lost and the hope that has been drained the consequences will unfold in classrooms hallways and homes across this District it's up to us as a community to to ensure that we don't become complacent in the face of these challenges the time to take action to prioritize our students in Educators is now before the situation becomes even more dire thank you for taking the time to listen and consider this feedback thank you [Applause] thank you Sandra Gordon Penacook I'm speaking on behalf of the MV music boosters also known as mubo we are a nonprofit parent organization whose purpose it is to provide logistical support to the
007music programs as well as financial support through fundraising we know you are in a difficult ult position to cut a budget that was already stretched thin and we appreciate the hard and unpopular work you're having to do as you consider a pay-to-play program for certain extracurriculars we implore you not to include music programs specifically bandn in that it's not just a matter of we don't want you to cut our program our reasoning is that band families already do pay to play while there are few instruments such as the large percussion piece pieces that are supplied by the school the vast majority of students procure their own instruments through purchase rental or rent to own and this is a significant expense often into the thousands that is already shouldered by Bann Families Our music program has
008struggled since covid it pretty much decimated our band and chorus programs we had some lean years which were not helped by frequent turnover but we are thrilled that the district has hired two amazingly talented music teachers who are so dedicated to helping our programs grow and succeed Mrs Babcock and Mrs Bruno spend countless hours including after school late nights and weekends helping our students because of their guidance and dedication the music program is once again thriving and is just about back to pre-co numbers our fear is that the additional pay-to-play fees on top of already high instrument expenses would preclude many families from participating and this would set us back once again our marac Valley band and chorus students do an amazing job of representing our district with pride at town events such as parades
009at Regional band shows and competitions and through community service activities like performing at retirement homes and Veteran ceremonies our yearly student Le Chocolate Fest was just featured on CCTV these incredible High High achieving students are often the face of our school another Factor we ask you to consider is that band and chorus are not extracurricular they are credit-bearing academic courses music education provides so much more than just academic knowledge however it teaches soft skills such as determination and goal directed persistence it teaches empathy and teamwork it provides for a greater appreciation for other languages and cultures it develops self-confidence we respectfully ask that you consider these things as you make your decisions and thank you for this opportunity to share our thoughts with you and while I have a few more seconds our student section
010would like to invite you all to visit have our musical this coming Thursday Friday Saturday thank you thank [Applause] you I'm Michelle horn from conquered I am a parent at M I've just entered my 20th year as a parent at marac Valley and I'm not done yet since 2012 my three daughters have had a parent in both conquered and MV school districts and all three have made a conscious decision to go to marac Valley in our time here we've had dozens of fantastic teachers we've been offered so many opportunities from various Sports band FBLA National Honor Society student council math team the list goes on and we are grateful for every ad advisor every staff member the administration the bus drivers everybody all these folks have helped shaped my children my oldest graduated in 2018
011went on to graduate sumacum Lai from college and on to an amazing life in Oregon my middle daughter is excelling at her first year at Keen State and my youngest is still here with a bright future ahead it is breaking my heart that my youngest will not will not be having some of will be having some of the items Stripped Away that have helped her sisters Excel I just want to beg the teachers the staff the administration please stick this out I understand that the negative rhetoric and personal attacks are overwhelming I know the divisiveness sells clicks for the conquered monitor but this is not our community for every person that stands up to yell hatred into the microphone there are so many more folks like myself quietly supporting you and sadly this has been
012a wakeup call for us we recognize that our complacency helped us get to where we are today but I promise we are ready to fight for you and for our children and to get the public school experience that they deserve you're all so appreciated for all that you do and that also includes the school board every single one of you is taking time out of your personal life away from your own family for the betterment of our little Community if I could close with one tidbit of advice to help us fight for you please go over overboard on transparency even if you think something is of no consequence to anybody please air on the side of oversharing any perceived lack of transparency allows to detract from the real issues at hand but teachers staff administrators
013please stick out this next year we know it's going to be difficult but our children need you thank you Jennifer lingo Lowden I'm literally speaking off the cuff today as in he walked by and I'm like you know what I'm just gonna say it um I had two kids in the district um each had a different experience um I'd like to thank Miss Masterson because she was heavily involved um with my son Andrew and his IEP and I don't want to cry but this was so many years ago he's actually set to graduate this year um and she was all the way involved back in the elementary school when she was principal and she got involved when she didn't have to so I'm sitting on the side of the room today but I still support
014you we have different views and different things but I still support you as Educators and as teachers and I thank you for what you do and how hard you do work because I know it's a fight every day because I've done this one for 12 years with Andrew and it's been hard every day every year every month with this kid she was there I support you and I thank you for everything you've done my other son is Dylan he actually is 23 um not many of you may not know this but um when Mr Li Liberty was principal at Lowden Elementary actually no one supported breast cancer awareness um Mrs Bey um ended up having breast cancer and that really hurt my son my son came home and said Mom can we get a pcture
015I said for what he said well I want to support Mrs Bey what do I do I said we'll go around get some support from some people talk to your principal he went in and he sat down and he said I have 27 people that want to support her mom and we all want to wear pink and Tom La Liberty he let that happen Mrs Muzzy typed up a beautiful letter that said a fifth grade student wants to invite all of you on October 11th to wear pink in honor of supporting Miss Bey and breast cancer awareness we love Miss Bey still to this day again two wonderful Educators that were there for my children but is still I support you all here today and I thank you thank you theres Bast as loud in
016uh New Hampshire and again I just want everyone to understand I too have a nine and 10-year-old uh in the district one with a severe IEP and I can tell you that when the voters went to vote on this budget they truly looked at information that they had been able to get from the school board meetings and what was on the website to see that last year's budget plus 3% in light of all the covid funds should have been enough to not impact a single teacher or single child transparency has got to happen we cannot continue to sustain year-over-year 78% increases our elderly our fixed income you guys have heard me say it we've got to run this like a business we need every contract to go out to open bid on a regular basis
017we need transparency and then you will render the support of the taxpayers I didn't do this by myself they voted with their wallet they're struggling they want a roof over their head they don't want to be homeless but that doesn't mean they don't also want to educate their children or that you're not appreciated I pray tonight that we walk out of here not with 20 teachers being let go like what was initially said and alarming and worrisome to all of us and I pray that we're here a year from now and know exactly where every dollar is being spent and able to support this District so not a child has to worry about sports or a teacher has to worry about losing their job thank you thank you Christy Donahue Penacook um I also didn't
018have anything prepared tonight but speaking off of whim um a little bit I've heard it brought up with you know the taxes and people saying you know this adding this budget is only $16 this year to your taxes but like I've overheard you know there are people on fixed income I'm not on fixing come but I am a mother that supports my entire family of six so if every year it's raising $16 $16 is a lot some of you may laugh at that but for someone like me it's a lot of money and if it's going to happen every single year it does add up um along with the bids as well I know information in these last few weeks have been thrown here there you got the news you got emails and everything else
019but to see for certain field maintenance is almost $70,000 and we're with the same company just because we have for 25 years we're not here to help other companies grow we're here for our children to grow we're here to support our teachers our staff to make sure they have jobs and can continue doing the great job they are doing along with that note reaching out to our community I think all of us will be pleasantly surprised with the amount of help you will get without a dime being paid for a lot of things that have to do with our schools and your community are the ones that's paying for it through our taxes I also have several children in the school district I have Elementary School I have Middle School I have high school I
020have the Learning Center I also have a child in the charter school which I won't go into but I have one almost everywhere I have special ed I have sports and I have one that's not into sports I will tell you my sports child is saved because of sports and again being a lowincome person if he's going to be charged for sports that is his future that is going to be taken away if special ed is affected that is my child's other future future a child that is autistic at one time that school wasn't an option because we didn't know about it or we didn't have the special ed we have today these are important things for our community for our children to have lives I understand fields are important because they go with sports
021but there are other ways around it and there are other ways to support things but as one that has worked in school district and I will say I W worked in bosin elementary school and to work with a staff that is amazing and I see the things that are done there and I see the change in children thank you is very important to me hi Pat Pike from Penacook um lots of great words I support all the all the discussion about the budget because as my grandfather said you can't make much of a stew on a cold stove and so we do need to press but we also need to support and encourage our board members and our SAU staff that when they make decisions we know that they are doing it with the best
022intelligence and support that they possibly can because this is not something that they can just keep running to the taxpayers every month oh we came up short oh we came up short they're going to have some extra money in the budget it just is and it is run by a it is run like a business it's a $50 million business all right and they get one check essentially a year from the taxpayers so let's build this school up let's support them give them as much advice and suggestion as we can and stop hurling pejoratives and invest Ives at them so please let's give these people a round of applause they get my full support because this is not a personality attack on some of the people in this SAU come on my wife is retiring
023here thank you thank you run for us run you make me walk all the way young lady so the answer is yes hello I'm Hannah Mason from Webster um the stress that this budget movement has brought is hurting both teachers and students as a student I'd like to say that in response to current teachers being asked not to come back next year due to the budget we have made a petition for one teacher which received over 125 signatures by the end of today it was started today we ask that you reconsider taking teachers as a result of the budget cuts as this petition has shown over 100 students showed care over just one teacher imagine how many more will feel hurt and concerned by the suggested 15 throughout the district that will be let go
024the stress that is being brought into to our school is hurting the students education I don't want to have to go to school and worry that the next substitute teacher is the result of a firing this cut is affecting classroom environments by tensing the relationship between students and teachers as we all fear what is to come of next year as students we rely on our teachers not only for our education but as trusted adults people to turn to and a friendly ear in times of trouble please don't take that safety away I apologize that I do not have a solution for where the money is supposed to come out of but please do not hurt our teachers students and education as a result of whatever decision is made thank you for hearing the students and
025understanding that we are greatly affected by whatever is to come of this meeting thank you as a current MV student I just can I have your name please my name is Derek currently live in Penacook I'm a thank you you're here at MV I'd like to emphasize to everyone in this room that the student body we support our staff we stand with our staff they take care of us and we want to take care of them we're not in fear here but we're in concern of how our staff is going to be with their livelihoods with their home life and keeping employed as a student I've had several friends who have been handicapped and it's been a beautiful Journey watching them get help through our special ed program here here with the school and I'm
026concerned for a lot of our members who need that if that gets taken away the other thing I'm concerned about is especially our pay-to-play music program ideas and the sports a lot of people are in poverty here I think that's a common thing that we know a lot of people are struggling to be able to pay for lunches be able to play for dues and introducing that will significantly impact children's ability to come in and be part of these programs this is a lot of what means for people to grow up and they're going to lose that if we take that away from them thank [Applause] you hi Alisa snch pinook hello I've got a 15-year-old daughter in special education here um I just want to say how wonderful I think the school is I'm
027not from New Hampshire um from the south and we pretty much know the how schools work down there um so very happy to be up here I think my only issue and it's a big issue and I know you can't do much about it now is a small group figured out how to do this so that's okay I'm not saying that's good or bad but a small group has done this so next year we're going to be the same exact spot so I'm hoping everyone pays attention to that I think the big issue uh with the when they were having the first meetings were on week nights that's extremely difficult so many people were winding up leaving we're averaging four hours that's kind of crazy I think we need to look at potentially starting this
028on a Saturday or a Sunday it's once or twice a year so I don't know why that's such an issue um that would be pretty much it so one group did it I understand I I get it both sides I really do but that's not this is what five schools five cities or towns coming together so let's do better for next year and good luck thank you Nicole Gretsky I'm the current kindergarten teacher at Webster Elementary School I want to start by expressing my deepest GR attitude to superintendent Dr Randy warmal and assistant superintendent Katherine Masterson for all that they do not every district is lucky enough to have a Randy and not every district is lucky enough to have a Catherine but we are we are truly Beyond blessed to have both of them
029guiding and supporting us in our community for those of you who may not know last summer I made the decision to relocate nearly 200 miles away from my family to join the community at Webster Elementary School it was a big move but I can say honestly marac Valley school district has become a new home the warmth the kindness and the support I've experienced here are things I will forever be grateful for but most importantly this is not about me this is about my students when I first learned that tonight I was up for potential elimination for my position due to the new budget I felt heartbroken I thought about the excited students I met at family fun night eager to meet their kindergarten teacher for the year ahead I thought of my current kindergarteners who
030when winter break came cried because they did not want to be away from their school family for 12 whole days those are the moments that remind us How Deeply our students care about their community in our classroom we often talk about the importance of community how community members support one another lend a hand and make each other stronger so I ask you to help us do the hard things that will keep our community together the things that will help our students remain connected and feel supported the things that will allow us to continue fostering a place where every child feels seen loved and important I often tell my kindergarteners your brain can do hard things and today I ask all of us together to do the hard things that truly matter let's keep our community
031strong and let's ensure that every child can continue to thrive in the environment they so deeply need thank you for your time thank you Sean kitson Lowden so uh thank you to the scoreboard members for thinking outside the box um trying to find the necessary reductions in order to in order to keep I hope all of the staff look everyone has seen what has happened in the other districts and at the Town meetings people are voting to keep food on the table and money in their pockets they're coming to the realization that if they have to make adjustments within their own house then the town and the school have to make adjustments as well it's not sustainable to keep operating as if money's just always going to be there and we can fund everything please
032pay attention to this movement Grassroots campaign or whatever you want to call call it because it's not going away and they're not getting smaller more families are deciding that the money they earn should be kept in their households so I hope the message at this year's town meeting uh was received and I hope throughout the year that this Administration can look for ways to make reasonable reductions and offer other means to cut spending if it doesn't happen I assure you we will be sitting here again next year with deeper funding Cuts thank you Dave hemway Webster I understand all of the reasons that people have decided to decrease the proposed budget to what it is now the reasons are not insignificant but that is now behind us and what we have tonight is figuring out
033the repercussions of that at our last board meeting uh that was In This Very Room the board members the public many people had lots of very good ideas on how to try and weather this storm and prevent the loss of lots of very talented individuals as teachers and support staff my daughter is in the school and she is extremely enthusiastic about her teacher uh who you've actually heard speak tonight she knows who she is and so these are are the things that are important to the community I know that it's not easy I know there may be positions that get lost from this but I really hope that the administration and the school board are able to take the ideas that work here last time to extremely minimize that thank you I support everything that
034is possible uh one last comment that I'd like to point out um my parents were both teachers I've said this a couple times at different places uh and we very often did not get along with the uh unions that represented them that said I want to say very big thank you to the unions for uh offering up the different things that they are as concessions to try and help this process along as well so thank you very much thank you okay so our plan for this evening is to hear a presentation from Randy and from Katherine on two options in response to the budget uh cut and the board will be voting on one of those options so thank you before we begin we just wanted to review what our priorities have been and what
035have guided us as we have done this work so first prioritizing academic growth and achievement we strive to maintain high quality educational experiences for all of our students we have strive to retain as many of our faculty and staff as possible and we would like to continue our work towards our new plan for financial well-being in preparing for tonight we have done quite a bit of work um if you were here the other night I reviewed this Slide the only addition that I have made since then is the mbsd school board work session which was held last Wednesday and so our plan for this evening is as follows uh two options for budget revisions will be presented by myself and Randy at the conclusion of the presentation the board will engage in a conversation about
036each of the options and at the conclusion of the board discussion the board will vote on one of the two options and so with that I'm going to turn it over to Randy who is going to start um by talking about some of the budget lines thank you uh so last Wednesday we uh discussed all of the uh lines that were that we weren't statutorily or contractually obligated and we uh got a lot of feedback both during that meeting we took some notes and uh folks reached out to us you know after that and we tried to pull things together and and sort of parse them out into two of the options one of the things that is not on the table in either of the two options is pay to play so there was
037a lot of discussion around pay to play and with the complexities involved with what does that entail you heard a you know mubo giving giving that side and there's a number of things does it go to Club does it go to sports what does that look like even the the uh numbers that uh that Kenny Edwards you know through out to us maybe those aren't aren't going to work so if pay to play is something that the board wishes to look at that would be something that we could look at next year for subsequent years so we took that off just because of the complexity and we do have time constraints which is why uh the vote on on the two options statutorily we have 20 days after the annual meeting to um get everything
038up to the to Dr for the the ms27 and um get that in place so um that will be a discussion probably through uh the curriculum committee if that's something that the board wishes to pursue uh and pay to play in any um any facet right so I'm going to go through now and show you option one which is our preferred option um and we'll kind of do a little comparison oh sorry I should have passed this out it is up on the screen but just to thank you help so the um the option one that you see the you have some that are highlighted in yellow I think you might be able to see them on the screen but hopefully on your paper as well these are the lines that differ from the second
039option that we're presenting this evening so all the ones that are in white are really in both those were the concessions that administrators went through and made um or the uh Union went through and made so those are in white they're coming off of both of the options so uh this particular one has um the districtwide curriculum line uh subtracted out um that is definitely something that is a one-year moratorium on that that would certainly need to come back uh the following year um then we have the uh summer school reading that we spoke about and one one change and you heard some uh talk about this and the importance of the uh summer curriculum work for teachers that collaboration um so you do see uh the salv curriculum work under 222 under that function
040so we brought some of that back in back to this year's dollar amount so um even though that line was over and we were using a lot of the um Esser money for them and which is why we were able to um Embrace a lot of teachers coming coming through to use that yes so as a matter of fact we have already begun our summer planning um which is a reason that that we are supportive of returning this money to that line uh we have a number of important curriculum projects already lined up um including work around project-based learning think srsd or writing framework thinking classrooms and responsive classroom and so um I think we heard retiring teacher Sally fiser speak to the the importance of this last uh last week and so receiving that
041feedback that uh some of those funds have been restored to that line uh further on down the down the list under uh which listed as curriculum that was um the uh one: one Chromebook initiative and that would represent um not having one toone Chromebooks for first graders what number is that I'm sorry uh it's under equipment it's 66,000 okay thank you yep uh little below that salary for bus drivers that is the late bus um and then there is a reduction in both the site Improvement and building Improvement lines those were uh slated one of the very few discretionary things that were put into that um the original budget um the rest of them were were were requirements those were two that we had had um put in because of past spending uh we did
042cut those down to uh 50,000 each instead of 100,000 each and then uh Middle School B sports that's $118,600 was uh the total that's in the fall and the winter and we have um Town leagues that can um take care of the the soccer and basketball um from what we currently have so that's option one option two you'll see fewer yellow uh lines but bigger dollar amounts because these end up totaling right around the the same dollar amount that was to leave a little bit of uh districtwide curriculum for some of the things that we had talked about that were um sort of ongoing digital resources and then further down towards the bottom under 2740 that is um taking back one of the buses as part of the vehicle replacement and we do have a
043couple of talking points um I'll let I'll let Katherine jump in here to add some context to that um so there were some questions that came up about the buses last week so I just wanted to um I had a a follow-up conversation with our transportation director and I just I did want to speak to a few other things so in our district we provide our own transportation there are many benefits to this uh to us doing this primarily being that we are directly in control of our operational continuity uh the student experience and we have control and oversight districts with private transportation contracts are facing enormous annual increases similar to those that we face with Healthcare um and as a result of having our own transportation Fleet we have an established uh replacement cycle
044and deviating from this creates potential safety risks and compromises Our obligation to our families so the status of our buses is determined by a licensed inspector that person informs us when bus buses are no longer safe for daily operation our inspector is recommending that we replace two large buses for next school year the routs that are of greatest concern for being impacted should we not do this or in Salsbury um a complicating Factor I've learned a lot about transportation in the last few days a complicating factor for these specific routes is that um due to the terrain traveled by these buses they require a specific suspension type um and I share this as I think it's important to keep in mind that when our department leadership takes into account that our department leadership takes into
045account a great deal of information information that we could possibly all be expected to know that's why we hire hire these people to do this great work um and I think it's important for us uh to remember that when they make budget recommendations they're not arbitrary and that they are a reflection of what our needs not our wants are thank you um below the uh vehicle and camera replacement both site Improvement and building Improvement were brought back to the current levels so each of those had a a $100,000 increase um in the original budget so those are brought back down to um to this uh current level and some of the some of the issues with this year with the with the freeze uh you know some of the preventative maintenance sorts of things those
046end up getting put on the back burner um those are things we have to catch up on and um so that's just something to keep in mind when we're when we're talking about building Improvement sorry David hold on microphone could you ask a question again please David I just W oh I guess my mic is on now um uh Randy would you mind just totaling these figures for option one and option two please so option one and option two are almost the same amount so because what Katherine is about to present um for the staffing is the same for both so we the goal was to get the two options in the same dollar amount uh so they'll match up with um with the the Staffing uh changes that Katherine is going to talk about
047now thank you so it is intentional this evening that I'm speaking to you about our recommended budget revisions for faculty and staff you will notice that Lowden Elementary School is impacted not so long ago this was the team I had a privilege of being a part of and these individuals impacted are much more than just colleagues to me a mistruth has been Advanced that Randy and I are taking some sort of pleasure in this or it is an act of retaliation I want to be very clear there is nothing further from the truth in arriving at these proposed reductions we have carefully considered all options worked in collaboration with each bargaining unit and prioritized our students and all that is needed to maintain their highquality educational experiences under our proposal our faculty and staff will
048be reduced by 19 positions and at most three staff members will lose their employment in the Riff process we will be able able to offer these three people positions that are outside of their collective bargaining units so through attrition retirement resignation and vacancy we are reducing the following positions at the high school English math permanent sub uh French which is shared between the high school and middle school at the middle school Ela science and uh the SRO as well as a halftime nurse and a teacher in Lowden through shifts meaning we will move a faculty member from their current assignment to an alternative one for which they have the necessary certification if it's required we are reducing the following positions at the high school PE and a par professional at the middle school a par
049professional a Bosco and Elementary School par professional two Elementry World language teachers one Lees teacher and then two Lees halftime paraprofessionals through our reduction and force process three current faculty members will lose their employment uh one is a high school uh Spanish that's um an indirect uh indirect loss through the Riff process an Lees teacher and a Webster Elementary School teacher again indirect because of the Riff process um and that that's at most all three will be offered a position outside of the CPA we arrived at the decision to make these identified reductions after considering enrollment course signups certification and lure program needs and school and Community impact as we have previously communicated throughout the budgeting process five of these reductions were already planned although previously none would have resulted in job loss many of
050the shifts identified will have faculty and staff transitioning into critical vacancies in our special education department World Language will no longer be offered at the elementary level we have seen a steady decline in World Language participation at both the middle school and high school and in reviewing course signups for French at the middle school next year our numbers did not meet minimum participation recommendations as outlined in board policy a reason for this could be that World Language credits are no longer required by the State University system we will have the ability to offer an alternative to our elementary students during their unified Arts time without hiring additional staff our admin team will present this offering to the curriculum committee in May or June of this year enrollment numbers are on the decline throughout the district
051Lowden elementary school has been significantly impacted by this which is reflected in this proposal their student population has shrunk by 52 students while their professional and support staffing has increased the proposed reductions at Lees will put classroom sizes on par with bosow and ele and Penacook elementary schools they will now have two teachers at each grade level with the tentative ex exceptions of kindergarten and second grade so to reiterate the end result of this proposal is that our faculty and staff will be reduced by 19 positions and at most three staff members will lose their job through the Riff process we will again be able to offer them positions but outside of the CBA I would be remiss not to mention how incredibly grateful we have been throughout this challenge to be able to work
052collaboratively with each of the bargaining units our faculty and staff have been incredible as they've endured the uncertainty of these past few weeks and in spite of this curveball they have not wavered in their commitment to high quality learning experiences for our students and we thank them very much for that so just to just to clarify for the board uh in case you don't understand some of the acronyms so uh riff the reduction in force so when Katherine mentioned the world language program so if you have teachers that have been here longer they have seniority and they have certification then they may bump a teacher from another position which is why you see the word indirect so it's not that uh the you know one of those is crossed off the list but it it's
053that indirect that's through the bumping after a riff has occurred in another program just to just to help clarify so at this point we uh entertain questions that the board may have um prior to uh voting on one of the two options so I excuse me I have a question sorry um so my question is so you said that um you preferred that the SAU um admin team preferred option one to option two can you tell me why sure I think there's a a few reasons and kind of hit on those as we're going down through and even though you see um more lines or like smaller chunks that are that are taken I think it uh spreads um spreads some things out it brings back some important things like the um summer curriculum work
054for faculty it um still hits the the building and site Improvement and some of the other things that are crossed off there are other options so like you know the Middle School B Sports um so instead of that big hit uh we worry about in in option two but because it was discussed and um and talked about you know cutting that down to to one bus not only the reasons that that Katherine mentioned mentioned about you know next year when you think down the down the road to kind of make that up since we've had aad no pun intended um you know we have that replacement cycle of of two per year if we were to go to one then that following year maybe we'd need to look at at three to kind of get
055back on track with that with that replacement cycle because we do have you know some some roads that uh when you get out in salware and Webster particular um that lead to that so those are those are some of our things we um we think even though there's more lines um I think just those smaller chunks and um emphasizes the things that we feel um will have the the biggest impact on on kids or the the least impact by by removing this and if I can just add one one piece to the transportation so it providing this money in the budget is only the first step in purchasing buses just a reminder that before they could be purchased we would need to put them out to bid we would need to bring those bids to
056the transportation committee and we would need to explain our rationale for why we wanted those buses the transportation committee would need to vote to move that proposal forward to the board and then the board would need to vote to spend that money so putting it in the budget does not it the is it is not as good as having the money spent there is still a process that provides checks and balances and I have another question so about attrition so those positions are positions that we don't have the um sign up is that is that true that's what I heard right so those positions are being reduced um through teachers that are either retired yes we do not need to refill these positions okay that's what I okay that's really what I wanted to hear
057thank you I was simply saying so that First Column um the people that currently are in those positions if they are if they are in them for example we know the SRO is vacant we spoke about that last week if there are people in them they are either retiring or they have resigned I've got uh two questions one about the SRO is there currently two sro's then in place and this would have been a third um we currently have an SRO here at the high school and we have a position for an SRO at the middle school but it has not been able to be filled this year okay is that this SRO position yes so we would not be proposing that we fill it in the future okay and would the SRO at the
058high school then what would they share would they be at the middle school as well no so the SRO at the high school is specific to the high school however if there were an emergency event um they would certainly lend their services okay thanks and then a second question um in option one would is the intention that some of these items would be just one year like the summer reading the late bus and the Middle School B Sports yes I think that there's things in both options that would be one year only um honestly um even some of them you know for instance one one thing that's in both of the options uh the concessions made by the union for conference and uh and cours work those need to come back in so those are
059sort of automatics that that following year um and certainly um some of the others um like like I mentioned the district curriculum would would need to but it's again it's the same thing in uh in option two that vehicle replacement we can't you can't go down to one vehicle um purchase each year if it's been you know a constant uh two vehicle replacement cycle could you please uh remind me line 1290 the summer reading elementary through high school is that that's incl that's our summer camp programs or is this a different line item um so the the summer school reading Elementary is the summer steam program so that program um in option one is uh being eliminated so for those of you who may not be familiar with this program it typically runs four days
060a week for three weeks for about three hours a day um IT services a maximum of 50 students we recognize that it's definitely valued by our families and our students who participate they they absolutely enjoy that and we would be hopeful that we could bring it back when we consider the big picture impact of this cut we're talking about 2% of our students losing out on 36 hours and so does this include the Middle School like transitional program we have for incoming sixth graders so those programs have previously been funded through Esser funding okay and I think if you recall the the funding rate we were able to access through Esser is much higher than those those numbers um included there it is our goal to continue to offer transitional opportunities as that has been
061a board goal thank you just a question can can can we ask can Laura sing as oh did not see her sorry no I'm sorry David you hadn't asked a question yet had you I did oh you did okay Laura please Laura um move the move the microphone Laura for summer schol then we will just have the T one fended sumers schol and the special ed summer school correct yeah esy and Title One okay I have another question back in wa you can ask it go ahead um how many nurses do we have in the district like how many nurses between the Middle School and the high school what we have under this plan two and a half okay and those just said those two scools okay correct those are by like we have to
062have that number for the number of students I think we're over on uh what we might need for that I don't know what what the you know breakdown we don't necessarily go sorry David I jumped in go ahead I can deal with it okay uh question uh in terms of the attrition how does this affect uh class size estimations for next year with these retirements that are not being uh replaced so it we would still this would put all of our classes within the the class size recommendation that the district provides um within the policy so um I believe it's I'm going to have to I have to pull this up every time and look um it would be for the high school no more than 25 in a classroom I believe so no more
063than 25 and at the high school um we've had two of our biggest classes are the current senior class and the current junior class so with this current senior class leaving and looking at the numbers coming in um that's why you know some of those positions we're able to um you know the administration got you know really dug in and and took a look at what what those offerings could look like okay thank you can yep Julia and then Stacy is it on y okay um are we allowed to like combine options so like if like I like I like option two personally but I would like to see the equipment line in option one added to option two would that help save or help the staff page at all uh so there was a
064a balance between looking at these lines and as you take things off some of these things have to come back in whereas staff would we wouldn't be looking to add unless necessary moving forward so by taking I mean obviously if when we if we looked at the entire line and took everything out that might have changed some things but when you look at the staff you know with if if we're moving on from elementary World language for instance those are going to be you know two positions that isn't going to be helped by changing um some of those totals um this we tried to do um the balance between these options and the Staffing changes to minimize the the impact on you know any sort of negative impact on on kids so that's we kind
065of went from that lens as far as what's best for for kids uh but also the on the financial side of things again we could add up a whole bunch of these numbers and change that Staffing but then a lot of these things are going to have to come back the following year we don't want to be in a situation where we've you know adjusted you know $1.5 million but then a million of it has to come back in automatically for an increase can I rephrase my question so if we were to take the equipment line the late bus line and the B sports line from option one Tracy come back to me I have to rephrase that in my but I I do think I know what you're getting at um and I we
066have brought to you two options to select from we have heard a lot of feedback I would guess that every person sitting at this table has a slightly different opinion of what it should be and for that reason we're going to be asking that we vote on either option one or option two this evening thank you Stacy um just a question with the reductions to some of the languages is vac still accessible with these options cut yes it would continue to be accessible do ele can Elementary School students do VX yeah there is an elementary V program it hasn't been something that's been widely utilized okay I I just wondered and I was really thinking in terms of the World Language at the elementary um that was it there are other things Jess I'm thinking
067okay I thought you had your hand to process Sally so I'm looking at uh just a couple of the lines here um let's see line what was it uh 1100 new equipment at PES that looks like it's being zeroed out in option one and then there are also some equipment lines uh 2620 also being zeroed out could you give me a sense of what equipment that money would have been spent on since those are more building specific um can't really get into the the details of what that would be but these were uh the administrators looked at past spending and and what they felt they could do without and there that's why there was so many of those even when we first brought you that first draft last Wednesday they went through and said you
068know what we might have had this in mind but we're going to so I think it's very different depending on the building so I'm sorry I don't have a better answer for you Julia okay thank you so regardless p three is not going to change it's either option one or option two three is three goes with option one and option two Stacy Oh I thought you were gonna ask a question I'm sorry I one just popped into my head so thank you you're reading my mind um do we have any indication for those three positions that are listed in the in riff um through your conversations is there any indic if they will take a position offered or um we haven't we haven't actually engaged in those specific conversations yet with the individuals um I
069think that because of the positions that we're going to be able to offer in the compensation rate for two of the individuals it is likely that they will um seriously consider what we're able to offer because I think it will be commenor it um the challenge with one of the additional ones is that this the area of certification we simply don't have a good match for and with the years of experience um unfortunately I don't know that will we will make it available I just don't know that it it's going to be able to work for that individual following up on that then um would that position then be posted to Phil if if they didn't take these positions so uh are you talking about if somebody doesn't take the a move to bump someone
070is that sorry I was I wasn't clear um those three position in reduction and Force if those are not um taken if they're not taken would those then be open to the to be filled or would they be removed from the budget you're um so this is tricky uh the some of it we can't get into because it might involve other staff and we're talking about positions so okay that's fine Jess did you think what you wanted to ask can I propose them oh okay are we allowed going back to the equipment on option one um getting rid of the laptops for first graders that's 66,000 that's a pretty big number you know especially if we have to you know we were struggling for Paras this year and if we have to probably struggle for
071Paras next year like is that able is that cut able to move to option two because it's not cut on option two and I don't think first graders need laptops I think that's that's what that cut represents that's on option one can we move it to option two too uh right now the the numbers of balance for those two options so that's um these were calculated with the faculty and staff um presentation that third the third page that you were talking about um so it's option one or option two that's what the board will be voting on but wouldn't it help with the staff reduction if we move that to no with the three positions that that are on in the the mix the reduction and force that would not help with um what you're
072speaking about the par professional and just a piece to clarify with the Chromebooks this is not to say that we will not have Chromebooks accessible to our students in our Elementary classrooms um Chromebooks and did digital learning is actually required digital literacy is a requirement of our elementary schools so to while uh the elementary schools will would no longer con continue to be part of the onetoone initiative so that not every student in grades one through four would have their own Chromebook that in some grade levels they're able to take home we would continue to need to have uh classroom sets available because digital literacy digital learning um they're critical to our expansion of 21st Century Learning opportunities that we are required to provide our students can I have a followup on yours if increasing
073or decreasing the numbers on these presentations are not a satisfactory action what's to say that we can't um Peace meal together the same amount so like for example I am not okay with the bus situation right like um I I don't want to neglect our rural schools um in favor of um other things so if we could you know take Sports and the equipment for the laptops and the curriculum districtwide that essentially is the same amount of money roughly Tracy please correct me if I'm wrong oh I like is I kind of want to get guidance on that because I I don't if the if it's a number you know the end the end is the number right then why is that not an option there are obviously with all of these different lines a
074a whole bunch of different options even allowing two options most uh districts that have gone through this it's one option and you're voting on the one option there's obviously you know we could do a whole bunch with these lines and different people have different thoughts as Katherine mentioned if you were each going to do your own it'll be slightly different than other folks on the board so what we're looking for is to make the best of a bad situation and to choose option one or option two we we broke it down based on the discussion last week and put things um where we felt it you know based on the discussion and the feedback that we got from folks um sort of the the two different um approaches to this can I can I Pigg
075you back off Jess just so I I think she's at what if we can peac meal it together to equal the same why is it a or b if it's the board's ultimate decision why can't it be something that we're all comfortable with it sounds like a bunch of people are uncomfortable with that when I just said you all would have a different take on it that's what last Wednesday was for for folks to give their feedback and then we pulled that together and put it out there there based on based on that feedback because you might have your thought on it and you might say yeah this this now looks great if I move that over there and then we come over to this side and that may not be the case maybe somebody
076doesn't want 100,000 taken off of that you know site Improvement or building Improvement line because theyd like to have have that bit of an increase no I I understand that Randy I'm just saying that I think that it's really hard if it can be peacee I just don't understand why there can't be like a one two and then a peacee that we all mutually agree on is that an is are we allowed to do that I think I think legally are we allowed to do that is the question that should be answered Laura so I just want to reiterate I think we if we've got 10 people or whatever we'd have 10 different plans because I think we could all look at this and we'd all say oh yeah I like this but I don't
077like that you try to we could be here all night still trying to fight over trying to find something that we all can agree on because I think it's it's just going to be too hard to get a consensus basically on you know you want changes I want changes and at some point it's got to a decision's got to be made um and I I I just want to add something something and I say this with all due respect to the board I very much appreciate your perspectives and your service this is what you've hired us to do and we have taken into account your feedback we know our faculty we know our programs we know our students I understand how very difficult this is we understand all too well how very very difficult this
078is and so we've brought [Applause] we've brought to you two options and we'd be happy to answer questions about them it is our hope that we can take a vote and we can start to move forward and we do need to take a vote tonight I I wonder if you could go over the yellow lines in both both uh options and kind of say what they are because a bit confused yeah so that's what I what I went through excuse me um at the beginning uh though those are the lines that are different from the ones on the other you mean what they are specifically is that the question is this a rejection of this much or what you know so uh we can start on option one the curriculum districtwide that is the um
079essentially doing without districtwide curriculum for the year um and then it is the the summer school reading as we talked about the next three lines those are the uh programs that aren't Title One or special ed one of the things that we looked at was to get rid of you know you know do the things that we have to do that's our subtraction correct those are so the adjusted cuts are the things that are being subtracted so the salary curriculum work FICA and workman's comp those are things that are subtracted from the budgeted amount which essentially puts it back to this current Year's um number numbers because we um we see the value in that year after year uh the equipment that's essentially first grade Chromebooks the next one down is the late bus cost
080which L are you on uh if you go down to it's 2721 where it says salary bus drivers highlighted in yellow that's a late bus yep that's the late bus would be reduced by that it' be reduced by 35,000 have a l correct and then the next two are each reduced by 50,000 in the original budget they were increased by 100,000 so this is cutting that increase in half to still allow us to get caught up on and and check off some of the smaller things on the CIP without having to um touch the maintenance Expendable trust so that we can use that for the larger capital projects as we um suggested and then Middle School B sports that entire line would be um well it's actually multiple lines but um that would be subtracted
081out um because B Sports can be um picked up by the U the town leagues Sally uh just a clarifying point in uh the second to last line in option one under Healthcare there's a blank in the column that says amount from budget can you explain that yeah so the healthcare is in a whole bunch of different lines throughout the budget we actually had an increase in health care costs of which was you know the the I don't remember the exact number one and a half million or something to that effect but by switching Health Care Providers which we have now um got in the books we're going to be able to save 300,000 so we're not really saving 300,000 from what we're currently paying but off of that increase to our health care it
082was one of those costs that drove up the um the budget which was why we were up 6.95% because we had between special ed health care cbas and some of those other things there were there wasn't discretionary money there so those were all increases so this is with that change we were able to subtract uh 300,000 because of the new provider question sure um and so this is another clarifying question um so looking at the faculty and staff impact page just to clarify so um right so the attrition column those are positions that are not being filled simply because people were not going to return to fill them um the shifts column are those those are positions that are being eliminated but the individuals who had held them are being moved into other positions within
083the district okay and then in the reduction and force those are the three individuals whose positions are being eliminated but you had said that in at least two cases they're going to be offered positions outside of their CBA and they maybe commensurate in salary so okay I'm just actually three will we were able to extend the offer to I think it's realistic to um think that two will will be able to accept them okay Jess um I have more questions for my peers um I know which option I'm leading more towards but I'd really like to hear other people's opinions and that we've asked lots of questions about it so I was wondering if you would um indulge me perhaps why don't we why don't we um have a motion can I I can make
084a motion I I'd like I'd like to make a motion that we consider option one to vote on is there a second Sally um so now we I think now that would be a better way to go about it now if you would indulge me I'd like to hear maybe most this reasoning why option one is your preferred um I think option one while it does have a student impact it has a smaller student impact in terms of uh the things that we offer those summer programs were Grant funded and this was the first year we were going to have to budget them in um I think the opportunity for our staff to have that summer curriculum work back is recognizing the fact that they are giving up a lot to make this budget work
085they are giving up their curriculum work for districtwide they are giving up their conference money this year they are working with the administration to make this work and um so I want to recognize that I also am not in favor of pulling all the money out of site Improvement and building Improvement recognizing that if we don't have safe schools clean schools um and safe place for for our kids to actually do Sports then um we're going to not be able to offer those items um I think tapping into our Capital Improvement plan while it might be a great temporary fix in the long R I'm sorry the that's I'm sorry uh me not our CIP our me is not a good idea when we're trying to save for a roof that we know that cost
086is going to continue to go up so every time we take you know 50,000 here 50,000 there we are taking money away from the roof that is going to need to be done um I also feel like the B Sports we know there's alternatives for those for those students who have access and again it's a smaller number of students um that are impacted by that and while it's not ideal I think that this plan offers a little bit of an equitable approach to how we are dispersing the money um I'm also not in favor of going down to one bus that being on the transportation committee and knowing how we have to look at that every year um I don't think that's in our best interest in making sure that kids can get to school
087safely um it's going to cause longer or bigger problems down the road and we're going to be asking for more money next year because all the stuff that's on here I'm really kind of excited to be out Finance this year all the stuff that's on here we want to bring back how are we going to do that if we keep cutting from the things that we need to be doing so I I feel like option one provides Equitable and fair uh dispersement of reduction of funds David and Stacy had their hands up yes I think that option one is pragmatic it's not extreme in any way it takes a little bit here a little bit there and it does look down the road to the Future for again that big roof which is going to
088cost more and more as as the price of metal particularly goes up the other thing I'm glad not to see is the reduction in buses um I know living in Webster um how bad our roads can be I hope our agent isn't here to hear this tonight but our head of the select board is so I uh in any event um buses and things will have a short life out there we I think we need to keep up on bus Replacements so I would certainly endorse plan one Stacy uh I'll call on you after just echoing that I also think that option one would work out the best taking a little bit from several places also I think the big thing for me would be financially it just would not be smart to be taking
089that money out of site improvements building improvements in the vehicle Replacements because those are all items that are going to increase in cost as we put them off um and option one doesn't have that risk thank you Jess um before the motion I was also leaning for option one um mostly because Building Maintenance and vehicle maintenance is just a non-starter for me I also U you know you sit on Transportation I sit on facilities and I know how much work has been put into our schools to bring them up to par and then I don't want to risk sliding back um because all it takes is just one weird storm and then you know what I mean I will say my concern about option one is that some of these are onetime only things and
090I don't want to be in the same situation next year so that's the only word of caution is that I'm not particularly fond of only taking like to get to the other side kind of cuts like that but I respect that this was worked on very hard and that it was with our students in mind um and that whilst being in the situation is not something that I think um was desired it you know I think that our admin has put together the best plan that they can with the least impact um I would only offer that criticism about the one time kind of cuts thank you Melissa i' would like to add that in option one some of those things that we're taking out could be longterm you know maybe we don't bring back
091the be Sports maybe we don't bring back the late bus so there are things in option one that could actually not have a NE or huge negative impact on our students in our district you know not having the Ono one for first graders that doesn't have to go back into our budget I actually wouldn't recommend it um so um so there are things in the option one that also are things that we don't necessarily have to be looking to bring back and if you look at option two everything on that list would have to come back at some point so um that would be another reason why I think option one would be perhaps more sustainable longterm and we would have to when we meet for finance look at how to bring back back the
092curriculum work and stuff like that I oops can I ask I'm gonna ask a question um this is probably a dumb question but I'll ask it anyway the summer reading in all of the um schools do we know if there's any Grant or anything out there that we could possibly look at to fund any of that stuff I mean like robotics or Lego in the summer yes so let's ask Dean Cayman if the if the state does release um a grant we will we will absolutely apply that's um what uh the middle school and Webster and Salsbury have have done in the past um and actually we have a team of teachers at the middle school taking advantage of a farm to school Grant so certainly any grants to become available we are we are
093looking to take full advantage of anyone else Sally so per excuse me per Jesse's um request that we indicate where we stand and why um I wanted to say that I'm in favor of option one uh because option one is a series of surgical Cuts versus a blunt cut or amputation to um minimize to the best ENT that we can the impact of this situation on our students overall academic experience I also want to be clear that these are Cuts they are not not cuts for the claims that have been Advanced that the budget was not in fact cut per Mariam Webster's Dictionary definition 2 D for cut that is to reduce an amount these are in fact Cuts regardless of the magical thinking that would define the otherwise thank you [Applause] Tracy um Julia
094and then Laura you might want her to go first okay Laura um okay I I'm mean move that closer I like option one I am concerned about not having a late Pest and trying to figure what could we but maybe the parents will get together and figure it out themselves that could be thank you you know and I like everything else I mean I don't like the cats but everything else I think is doesn't impact the students too much I mean losing the world languages but things have moved on from that now you have these translators it doesn't seem to be as important as it used to be okay thank you Laura okay Julia so I'm assuming that the next step would be to vote one or two well no we'll vote on the motion
095which is one I since the public doesn't get to speak until after the vote is done and there's mostly Educators in the audience now that they've seen option one and two I'd like to make a motion to go to public comment to see what they we have a we already have a motion on the floor which is to approve which is to move um option one so we will have to do that first and it's the board's vote not the Public's vote we we serve the public I just think it's important to see what they think and and we asked for we asked for um public comment and I think we listened to public comment last last week and this at at the beginning of this meeting I think that we have um and obviously
096it's my opinion but I think that we have done our due diligence listening to what the public wants and um what the public wants is not any cuts at all and that's what every single person on this board wants but that's not what we can have so I think that we need to make a decision about is this the best is this the best with the hand that we've been dealt Tracy I understand that we heard public comment before but the board and the public weren't priv to options one and two before public comments so they were privy to the amounts from last week and we did disc and these were the items that we did discuss last week they have just been organized in a different way but we did talk about every one
097of these items on this list at length last week and we did hear from a lot of people via email over the last week so I I don't feel like um we haven't heard them and we're not listening because we are listening and we listen anyone else yes um sounds like we're winding down and so um I just want to add that thank you for putting this together thank you for all the work that you've been doing thank you to our staff and our building level administrators and everyone who has been putting all their hard work into this thank you to my peers who have also put in a lot of hard work in this this is not easy and I know that um a lot of you share uh in that with me that
098this is not this is not easy that um but approaching this with a weighted and measured and open mind has been I think um some of the best work that I've you know that we've done and um again I want to thank you for that and I want to thank you to our community who has been supportive throughout all of this um and that at least personally speaking for myself and not for the board I don't take this vote lightly and um we've put in a lot of thought and I want folks to hear that um and understand that this is not flippant that this is something that has been uh hard hard thought um and um thank you again for all the work that everyone here has done thank you thank you anyone else
099seeing nothing else we'll vote on the motion the motion is option one all those in favor of adopting option one for the budget revision say say I I I any opposed no any abstentions okay the motion passes it is option one thank you thank you very much and I have to say thank you for all your very very very hard work um Katherine and Randy I know this has been incredibly difficult for you guys staff teachers administrators I know this has been incredibly diff difficult for you Town's people um thank you all for coming out and I know that this has been terrible for you also um I want you to know that it's been awful for all of us and we feel your pain and we hope that the future will be better thank
100you next comes public comment hello School Board um Randy Katherine and especially resident voters who are listening tonight or online I'm a teacher at Lees who is up for transfer or a rift I'm heartbroken at the idea of leaving my current and former students their families and what I consider to be my Community um my name is Alyssa Lear I'm from Lowden I live in Lowden I teach in Lowden but I know that my Administration Randy Katherine Dave my principal did everything in their power to avoid this very situation at the budget meeting Randy clearly stated that if this modified budget passed it would result in a reduction of up to 18 teachers eight PA professional positions and eight programs they were transparent about what a vote for this budget would entail today we see
101the results in black and white and what they said would happen has occurred there is a reduction of 14 teaching positions seven Paras and significant programs I might have moved some of those numbers slightly one might be a teacher or a per I wasn't sure exactly um this next year we will see the true effects on students and their families but it is up to the voters next year to come to participate and to vote if they hope to change marac Valley schools for the better from within we can only do so much thank you thank you thank you Fred um I'm gonna make a suggestion name please Bill Hines of bosquin thank you sorry Tracy um I'm I'm gonna make a suggestion or plan a seed maybe for next meeting um I I think
102it's time for another finance committee meeting because this feels like there's one lever that we maybe haven't hold it was suggested at the annual meeting that maybe we might have some Surplus so I think it would be wise to try to calculate what we think we might have or might not maybe that would be a good thing to know too for Surplus at the end of this year because if there is some or or there likely could be some um then we would want to spend it and my thinking is that probably Fred is a typical recipient of that kind of stuff when we do have it but more importantly doing kept producing that model that proforma and uh and then being able to calibrate it say okay well we did it how did we
103how did we make out at the end of the year is a valuable exercise um so typically in the past um April would come and we would have a finance committee meeting and I know I'm in the past but Robin would come in the room usually with Fred in toe and say here's what I'm comfortable that we can spend because I think we're going to be okay for the end of the year and Fred would have a boiler a roof of something that uh he could tackle um so that that may not be an option this year but I I do think it would be a good exercise to see we might be able to tackle a couple of those these things in this year so that's my suggestion thank you hi my name is
104Renee Thompson and I've had two children go through Louden Elementary School now into the high school and it seems like this is a very difficult and contentious issue for a lot of people and I want to say thank you for all of your hard work um people do have varying opinions from Reading um different pages online um different groups online and this is never an easy decision I'm sure for any one of you I know your best interest is with the children and you wouldn't be in this field for becoming a millionaire to work as a teacher or an administrator in a teaching um facility so I appreciate all of your hard work and all of your time on everybody for everybody on the board and everybody that came and I appreciate all of the
105teachers throughout the years that my children have had and special services they've had and uh it's been a wonderful experience for our family and I love this community and I hope a lot of people and the audience feel the same um and as far as the half a nurse that you're losing I'm a emergency room nurse in Boston I'm willing to volunteer hours to make up for half of that wherever it may be to fill that need thank [Applause] you Melinda F I'm school counselor at Penacook elementary school I just want to say thank you to Randy Katherine and the entire Administration team for coming up with options that puts the least impact to your current employees and most importantly our students you are placed with an enormous challenging challenge in which many will have
106their complaints at this moment I ask that our community that we continue to stand together and stay strong I understand that many of the taxpayers did not want our taxes to be raised but instead of cutting here I ask that you show up and conquered and speak to your representatives let them know that you are not happy with the money being filtered away from our Public Schools the robust programs we want to offer our children do cost money as Educators we once again gave in order to support our students we will continue to support your children and we ask you to continue to support us thank you Administration thank you and it's on on is that correct um Melissa Moore Lowden resident um I did want to say thank you to the board uh and
107then for acknowledging the pain because um I've had three sons go through the school district we appreciated our experience here uh they were able to uh Thrive and their skills were met by professionals uh we appreciate that there's not a lot of you know that people are skilled and people make a commitment to the March Valley District I just wanted I have potentially six grandchildren coming through this District um I don't want to see class sizes mushroom I want to have high goals uh dedication to curriculum which has been the tradition I want to see that go forward I've been a champion for public education I write my Representatives on a regular basis and I do bring up these issues um so I just want to say thank you for all your hard work it
108is appreciated on behalf of our children thank [Applause] you lauel Jordan foot I graduated from marac Valley I own a couple of properties in marac Valley so live skin in the game I am my in my 25th year teaching at the middle school World Language Laura um and I'm president of the mvea so from all of those perspectives I recognize the work of the board volunteers the heart that goes into it the hours that goes into it thank you um I as an educator I think about a lot of what we're trying to do in the classroom and how relationships are so important that's how we start our year every year um I'm thinking about the discourse in our country and in our district which is a mirror of what's going on in the country
109and I'm dismayed to see oftentimes the lack of Civility the absence of facts the seeming um not wanting to hear the other side the lack of collaboration approach matters we hear we keep hearing about fiscal responsibility and in my experience negotiating multiple contracts here I have always observed the other side of the table to be fiscally responsible we go into the board knowing that we are not going to compete with our neighboring District or many of our neighboring districts we strive for middle of the road with salaries because the board understands the taxpayers here have to carry that burden so it's very clear to me that you are not the tax and spend people I also support what is trying to be done with funding accounts for a rainy day and I sincerely hope we
110can get back to that I'm also really concerned about stepping backwards in the strides that marac Valley has made we haven't heard about scall Valley for a long time we don't want to go back there one last piece in all transparency seeing the dwindling numbers in my department a few years ago I did apply to another district one other District I didn't put out a broad search and it was um a really difficult decision I was offered a position I would have seen a $99,000 a year increase wrap it at the end of the day the administrator of the building didn't return my phone call the couple of people who I had shared that I was considering taking a position elsewhere expressed um their sinere feeling that they felt that that would be a loss
111for the district I stayed here because I felt more valued and so I think it's really important that we maintain that thank you L'Oreal my name is Teresa Pike I know I look like Pat Pike uh my wife represents one of the um teachers who is leaving the school district and she could not be more proud of being a volunteer being uh working on committees in the last 11 12 I can't keep count because I got gray hair um of teaching some really really fine students students who are trying very hard every day and she is so proud when people lift up the students be it the parents be it the coaches everyone is a part of the solution here and we have to be very careful this is her words to keep that culture
112moving thank you L'Oreal because it's a it's about being positive and lifting everybody up not trying to find some chish thing to tear someone apart so with that Terry says God bless you thank you so much for all your hard work she's been very proud and she'll be a proud retiree thank you thank you [Applause] GRE Pastor Ash loud in New Hampshire so at the end of the day the voters voted they decided last year's budget plus 3% we were able to negotiate Better Health Care um cost and coming to the realization that it's about $700 a year for union dues and knowing that 90% of that on average goes to political campaigns I'm not sure how politics has gotten so involved in our Public School System but I can tell you that the average
113taxpayer is grateful to hear that there's only three individuals at the end of the day impacted two of which will be offered a better package or a similar package from what we're hearing toight tonight I didn't interrupt anyone else I'd appreciate if someone wants to correct my question is and I may have to 91a at how many actual open positions did the district have going into tonight and in the end everything I've read and all the meetings we've been at for the last two months it's very clear that the board is the final say legally it is the board that hires it is the board that fires is the board that the voters elect to represent us we want to have roofs over our head and we want our children to be educated and on
114behalf of those voters I look forward to next year and I look forward to us becoming a lean mean educating machine thank you thank you can I just say that union dues are never used for political for for political action political action comes in a totally different fund I speak I want to just uh start off by saying thank you for all the hard work I know it is not been easy and I've I've met with some of you and I know many of the board members and I I I know that you've put a lot into this and uh I'm I'm really sorry for the kind of hard decisions you've had to make um I know you've heard a lot of falsehoods and uh I just want you to you know be aware that
115there is a movement not just here but in the country about spreading false information disinformation uh you know we've heard some voices here today that will say one thing here and then they'll go and they'll make their uh messages online and next year they're calling for half the budget so I want you to know that uh we can't be sleepy anymore and next year we are counting on you please come out to the meeting uh we we we can't let them just Shanghai it and and you know wait us out and you know to do a game of endurance so please hang out for the meeting next year there's a lot of cuts that they're making that they're hoping is just a one-year thing and it's going to be permanent and worse if you let
116them keep doing it thank you [Applause] up in the Sky Box again hi I'm Jenna I don't usually like do anything like this but I just want to say that even though I know you guys are working hard but it always directly comes back to the students and the teachers who are being affected by this like we should not be worried about losing our favorite teachers our safe space um and that's really it it just comes down to the students and the teachers who are being truly affected by this and I hope that it will all work out thank you Nick jinus Lowden you know I spoke at the last meeting I just wanted to once again say thank you to all of the amazing teachers here at the valley without all of you our
117learning experience up here in the uh student section would not be as great um and with that being said one of our many programs here is theater so please go watch into the woods our musical this Thursday Friday and Saturday I know this is a little off topic sorry guys but you can scan the QR codes on the posters around around the auditorium to buy your tickets sorry and have a great night thank you Nick my name is Derek I also go here at MV I'd like to thank the board and everyone here for showing such interest in this and for everyone for showing up I think it's defin defitely interesting some of the cuts we've had and how they're going to play out over this next year so I'd like to encourage everyone especially
118the board to be paying attention of those effects throughout the school year so we can be prepared with how we're going to make changes next year otherwise thanks for everyone for coming out thank you seeing no other hands the meeting is oh I lied but I what what did we talk about earlier I have not said a word to you sorry I was just waiting until you came into view so you got me that's all um Jesse Schmid Penacook I just want to say thank you to everybody who's here regardless of what you're arguing for where where we are um it's a great Gathering of support for something that's important and biggest thing is we need to have voices out period again I don't care which side it's from um at the end of the
119day like we're all on sight of kids and teachers I understand different people disagree on the ways to get there but that's why we're all here and something that I just kind of want to throw out is with my experience of going to Schoolboard meetings and seeing them and everything else it's amazing that we do it in here now instead of just in that little room over there because it says something about how much the public is supporting our school board and being there and trying to be involved I think that's so important and I really hope that we keep having to have it in here because of that so I just wanted to say thank you to everybody who's here um I know everybody's here for different reasons but I just wanted to say
120that this is really important is that we actually have a thumb on the pulse instead of just a couple people here and there going and we have no idea what's going on so I think that's a big part of having the transparency and I think the more support we have the more transparency we're going to get so thank you everyone thank you for all the board members and all the decisions being made um and just want to say thank you to everybody thank you thank you thank you Fred now seeing no extra no other hands the meeting is adjourned thank you for