[0:01] I know her.
[0:02] We're going. Good evening everyone.
[0:04] I will now call this meeting
[0:05] of the DER School Board to order.
[0:07] I'd like to invite our friends from east starring Memorial
[0:09] Elementary up to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance
[0:19] Flag of the United States of America,
[0:23] and to the Republic for a wishes stands,
[0:26] one Nation under God, indivisible for the liberty
[0:30] and justice for all. Well
[0:32] Done.
[0:36] Thank you very much. We will start
[0:37] with the roll call if everyone can introduce
[0:39] themselves, starting from my right.
[0:42] Jane Ard, business administrator,
[0:45] Michael Flynn, superintendent
[0:46] Brenda Willis, school Board.
[0:47] Michael Thiel, school Board Chair. Jen
[0:49] Thoreau, school Board, vice Chair.
[0:51] Jenna Paradise, school Board Secretary,
[0:53] Jamie Crew School Board.
[0:55] Karen Ran school board.
[0:56] Good evening. David Clap, school board.
[0:58] Anthony Henry Pinkerton Academy Liaison.
[1:01] Thank you everyone. Our first order
[1:03] of business will be the consent agenda for tonight.
[1:06] We have the public meeting, minutes of March 24th, 2026,
[1:10] the non-public meeting minutes of March 24th, 2026.
[1:13] The manifest in the amount of $13,661,415
[1:18] and 80 cents, of which $4,207,691
[1:22] and 15 cents is general payroll
[1:24] and $9,453,724
[1:28] and 65 cents is general expense.
[1:31] The following, professional staff nomination.
[1:33] Eric Cobain's,
[1:34] special education teacher Gilbert H should middle school,
[1:38] the following, professional staff resignations
[1:39] effective June 30th.
[1:41] Aaron Boyko, special education teacher,
[1:43] south Range Elementary.
[1:45] Jillian Gobo Elementary classroom
[1:47] teacher, Grinnell Elementary.
[1:49] Miranda Littleton named male art teacher,
[1:52] east Area Memorial Elementary.
[1:54] Olivia Taplin, math teacher Gilbert H Should Middle School.
[1:58] The following post deadline, notice of Intent
[2:01] to retire effective June 30th.
[2:03] Kathy Tropel, reading specialist East
[2:05] Area Memorial Elementary.
[2:07] The nomination for the, the nomination of Kathy Kennedy
[2:10] for the position of school board Deputy treasurer.
[2:13] And we also have the election of professional staff
[2:16] for the 20 26 20 27 year.
[2:18] The nominations being brought forward by the superintendent.
[2:21] So to explain this item RSA 180 9 39 calls
[2:25] for superintendents to nominate
[2:27] and for school boards to elect all teachers employed
[2:29] by the schools in our SAU.
[2:31] Mike has provided us with a list of teachers, so nominated
[2:34] for 20 26, 27.
[2:36] These are all returning teachers verified to hold a valid,
[2:38] appropriate credential moving forward from tonight.
[2:41] New hires for next year would be considered individually.
[2:45] So do I have a motion to accept the consent agenda?
[2:48] So moved First by Jenna. Second. Second by Jamie.
[2:52] All in. Is there any further discussion? Mike, do you mind?
[2:58] Can I say something? Sure. Okay. Thanks.
[3:01] I just, you know, as we nominate staff for each year,
[3:03] it's, it's always a big moment for any superintendent.
[3:05] Just wanted to thank the staff for hanging in there with me
[3:08] so far through 11 months as we begin adjusting
[3:11] to certain norms and regulars.
[3:13] But I'm excited
[3:14] to offer these contracts forward for the board.
[3:16] It's a big deal and I think our,
[3:18] our biggest prize in New Hampshire are our staff
[3:21] and it shows daily with what they do with our students.
[3:23] But I just wanted to thank them.
[3:26] I would echo the same. It'll come back to everybody
[3:28] who is returning next year.
[3:31] So with that, we have a motion on the table.
[3:35] So, all in favor? Aye. Aye. All opposed. Motion carries.
[3:39] Seven zero. Our next order
[3:42] of business will be a presentation from our friends at East
[3:44] Star Memorial Elementary.
[3:46] So I'll turn it over to everyone and Principal Hill.
[3:51] Good evening everybody. I wanna start
[3:53] with thanking everybody, the students, the families,
[3:56] and you guys for having us.
[3:57] This was one of the easiest
[4:01] school board presentations I've ever done.
[4:03] It's, I almost feel uncomfortable because I'm not nervous
[4:06] because these, these kids with Katie Cheri,
[4:11] Kelly Hogan, and Stacy Campbell created a student council
[4:14] that hasn't been at East Area.
[4:15] Kelly Kelly could remember when the last time there was a
[4:17] student council and they came together
[4:19] and I wanted them to make a presentation of what they did,
[4:23] how they became a member, what they've been doing,
[4:25] what they plan on doing.
[4:26] And they literally got together at their meeting,
[4:29] broke up into groups, they created the slideshow
[4:32] and they're ready to present.
[4:34] So I couldn't be any prouder as a principality.
[4:36] So thank you for having us.
[4:42] Hello. I'm used to being at, I've never presented it this,
[4:47] it's been at West Running Brook.
[4:48] So we decided to do a student council.
[4:50] This is the second year
[4:52] that fourth grade has been the oldest at our school.
[4:55] And I just thought we should do something to honor them.
[5:00] We, they're gonna explain how they got here
[5:02] and how, what they had to do
[5:04] to get into beat into student council.
[5:06] Luckily my new teammates, Katie Bary
[5:09] and Stacy Campbell joined me in this endeavor.
[5:12] It's been really exciting.
[5:13] I've stayed after for a lot of clubs, ski club, et cetera.
[5:18] This is a, this is a club where I literally can sit back
[5:21] and watch these amazing kids decide what we should do.
[5:26] Really take charge. I mean they made the slideshow.
[5:28] I just spruce it up a little bit.
[5:31] But they are ready to present.
[5:34] We're gonna start with Lily.
[5:39] You might know this is Lily Thoreau.
[5:41] Can you Oh, actually, can I ask, can I ask Lila
[5:44] and am I to go first?
[5:45] Just they're gonna tell us the members
[5:49] of this Yes, Lily.
[5:52] Right here. You gotta talk in li you talk in the microphone.
[5:56] They're gonna tell you the members of our student council.
[5:59] 'cause they're not all here today.
[6:00] So I just want everyone to get a mention.
[6:03] McDonald. Gonna stop at cc. Perfect. Okay. Right here.
[6:08] Start.
[6:10] Amelia ssi. Morgan Hammer. And Amira Payan.
[6:16] Aya. Costas. Keens. Juliette Reynolds. Taylor Kelly. Ruby.
[6:20] Bossy. Pantos. CC Tuttle. Good job
[6:27] Right there.
[6:29] Julian Martinez. Vera Gove.
[6:31] Freya Es Hadley Maglione. Olivia Farland.
[6:36] Ellie McDonald, Lizzie Ulrich. Lara Dominguez.
[6:41] Lizzie. Thoreau, Madison, McCabe Madison. Taney.
[6:46] Keep going. Okay.
[6:48] Reagan, Welch. Lila Burns. Delaney, Montero.
[6:53] Nora Ferna, Emerson, Hansen, RA, Lynn Broin.
[6:58] Liam Vega, Charlotte Sinclair, Genevieve Ward.
[7:01] Calvin De Lance, Logan. Lord Seamus, wone. Lily de Shane.
[7:07] Paige. Cassie. Kay.
[7:11] Good job. So Lily's gonna read the notice
[7:16] that we sent out to students
[7:19] Attention.
[7:20] Fourth graders wanted students that love E-D-M-E-S students
[7:24] that wanna be leaders, students that that like
[7:26] to help their community, students
[7:27] that like to help other students.
[7:30] We would like you to join the student council at A-D-M-E-S.
[7:51] Step one, How we became members of student council.
[7:56] Step one. We had to write an essay on why we had
[7:59] to join on why we wanted to join step two.
[8:01] We had to get teacher signatures to recommend us.
[8:03] Step three, we had to return our papers on time.
[8:10] I got this right here. Step who? Step four. Step four.
[8:18] Ruby. Ruby, Ruby. Come up kiddo. Step four.
[8:23] Step four. The teachers had to check over our papers
[8:26] to see if we deserve to be in student council.
[8:29] Step five. They announced our names on the intercom
[8:32] to tell us we got in.
[8:44] We're a little excited you guys
[8:49] Meetings.
[8:50] We meet on Monday. Our first meeting.
[8:51] We set goals and talked about our ex
[8:53] our club's expectations.
[8:54] Each meeting we have, we have activities we complete.
[9:03] Remember this part first? Okay.
[9:05] We made posters to hang around the school to
[9:09] to help kids understand better
[9:10] what our school expectations are.
[9:12] Fourth grade student council members worked
[9:15] so hard on the posters so kids could be safe.
[9:21] These posters were used to keep them in check
[9:23] and to show them how to control their impulses.
[9:31] They were also used
[9:32] to strengthen school community and cares.
[9:39] Wait, there's one. This one right here.
[9:44] This one. The students,
[9:46] students will follow expectations better if we use fun
[9:50] posters, cares Assembly by our student council program.
[9:55] Hang on. So one
[9:57] of the things we've done at East Area is we all take turns
[10:00] doing assemblies for cares.
[10:02] And this year I volunteered the student council
[10:05] and they ran the entire assembly.
[10:08] Okay, now you do that one
[10:10] CARES assembly.
[10:12] In the CARES assembly, the whole school comes together
[10:15] to watch a group performance in, in front of the school.
[10:18] The whole CARES School is split up into color groups
[10:22] and everyone has a CARES cooperation,
[10:26] assertiveness responsibility, empathy,
[10:28] and self-control department.
[10:30] During the assembly, we do
[10:33] a place slash skits and sing songs.
[10:36] There were five different things we do in a assembly,
[10:42] cafeteria, recess, hallway, bus and classroom.
[10:46] And every class does one performance
[10:48] kindergarten through fourth grade.
[10:53] What we did in the CARES assembly, Mrs.
[10:55] Campbell's class and Mrs. Kerri's class presented.
[10:57] This is what we presented. Mrs.
[10:59] Carrie Kerri's class presented. Mrs.
[11:02] Kerri's class did a skit
[11:04] where they had someone not showing self-control
[11:06] by listening to impulsive thoughts.
[11:07] And in the end they showed self-control. Mrs.
[11:10] Campbell's class did a bus where there was some PE children
[11:12] on the bus showing what not to do
[11:15] and showing what not to do.
[11:18] And a problem. In the end, they learned how
[11:20] to self show self-control.
[11:24] What Mr. C's class in Mrs. Hogan's class presented.
[11:28] What we presented. Mrs.
[11:29] Hogan's class did a song about self-control.
[11:32] It was, it was to the song material. Go Mr.
[11:36] C's class. Did a class,
[11:38] did a skit on self-control in the hallway.
[11:40] And Mr. Re is his class get,
[11:43] they had a student running in the hallway,
[11:45] not showing self-control.
[11:46] But then the other students set an example for self-control.
[11:53] The, the teachers did a skit about how
[11:56] to show self-control during lessons.
[11:58] First they set an example of what not to do.
[12:00] Then they said in this an example, how to show self-control.
[12:05] Then when the teachers presenting the lesson, the
[12:10] How did we act?
[12:11] It was pretty funny to see the misbehaving
[12:15] And we didn't even rehearse.
[12:20] Okay?
[12:27] So Mrs. Hill and Mrs. Breen wrote this song.
[12:33] It's our school spirit song.
[12:35] Or as the fourth grade team calls it, it's our fight song.
[12:40] You ready? 1, 2, 3.
[12:45] Say, we can learn.
[12:49] We can learn each day.
[12:52] Can say we can learn all day long.
[13:00] Cheer, cheer, all friends, all cheer
[13:07] all day long.
[13:09] He goes up and up, up
[13:13] and up, up and up he goes.
[13:17] Up and up. Go Owl.
[13:28] Helping our community, helping 68 hours of hunger back's,
[13:32] about ending 68 hours of hunger.
[13:35] 6.5 million homes in America are affected by hunger.
[13:39] This program gives, gives students food
[13:42] to bring home over the weekend.
[13:43] Each child is given two breakfasts,
[13:46] two lunches, and three dinners.
[13:48] Our donations help fill these bags.
[13:51] This, this is our second time.
[13:53] Our school has participated this year.
[13:58] Here are some foods we
[13:59] that we are collecting Canned food likes,
[14:02] snacks like goldfish or crackers, cereals like Cheerios
[14:06] and puffs of any kind, ramen and any non-perishable food.
[14:10] This means no fruit or vegetables.
[14:15] We made posters
[14:16] and the boxes for the food drives
[14:19] so people in our school can donate.
[14:21] We are going to have a competition
[14:23] and see which team can raise the most food.
[14:27] The food. Most food.
[14:29] The winning team will earn an extra recess.
[14:36] What's next for student council? Ellie Fundraiser.
[14:42] We are planning to have a fundraiser for dogs.
[14:44] Our therapy dog, Ellie, is our inspiration
[14:47] as we did for the food drive.
[14:48] We will make boxes so kids can donate dog supplies.
[14:51] This will help families and shelters in need.
[14:54] We are hoping to get many donations.
[14:58] Kindergarten orientation.
[15:03] We're planning to help kids now in pre-K
[15:05] to feel comfortable going into kindergarten.
[15:08] We will show the kids to their classroom
[15:11] and help teachers in kindergarten.
[15:13] So the younger kids will be, will
[15:15] be less nervous or overwhelmed.
[15:19] Here. Some pictures of us cooperating.
[15:21] Here's some pictures of us cooperating.
[15:27] Okay, Thank you for having us.
[15:31] Any questions?
[15:45] Any questions? Does anybody
[15:46] have any questions for the kids?
[15:50] I do. What do you guys think you learned most
[15:53] about being in student council?
[15:57] Repeat Your question. Can you
[15:59] repeat your question please?
[16:02] What do you think you learned most
[16:04] or took away most from being in student council?
[16:07] I think we learned most that we have
[16:11] to show cares if we want to be
[16:15] and participate in any after school programs.
[16:19] And being nice to people
[16:22] and just having a good attitude and stuff.
[16:27] Great answer.
[16:35] Any other questions?
[16:43] I, I don't have a question. I'll just make the comments.
[16:46] I mean, I have a lot of insider information on the East Air
[16:48] Memorial Elementary School Student Council.
[16:51] I've actually heard it be likened to mini school board and,
[16:55] and that's a very, very, I think, accurate way
[16:58] of describing it because
[16:59] you're trying to make your community better.
[17:00] So I think it's great that you guys
[17:02] have all stepped up in that way.
[17:03] And I appreciate you coming here tonight,
[17:05] taking time from your evening to be here.
[17:08] Thank you.
[17:14] So when you guys get to West Running Brook next year,
[17:16] they have an election for the student council.
[17:19] So you get Yeah, you, you get to write a speech and campaign
[17:23] and there's an election in your advisory.
[17:26] You think you guys are gonna be
[17:27] interested in doing that next year?
[17:28] Yeah. Oh, that's good
[17:32] to start writing those speeches now.
[17:35] Thank you everybody, we appreciate
[17:37] Thanks.
[17:38] Thank you for coming.
[17:45] Will take a five minute recess.
[22:37] Richard, I fully
[22:38] Expect See you dance.
[22:39] Welcome back everyone.
[22:41] Our next order of business is delegations
[22:43] and individuals At this time, residents
[22:45] of dairy parents have currently enrolled dairy students
[22:48] and employees of the district may address the school board
[22:50] on matters that pertain only to school
[22:52] and district business for a period of time not
[22:53] to exceed three minutes per person.
[22:55] As a reminder, the board welcomes input,
[22:57] however questions are not
[22:58] entertained during the comment period.
[23:00] If you would like to speak, please come up
[23:01] to the microphone at this time and state your name
[23:03] and address for the record.
[23:05] Honor what the,
[23:13] say Hi.
[23:16] You say that again? Did you get that one?
[23:22] Good evening. Derek Anderson, fifties Star Road Dairy.
[23:26] I'm here to this evening to advocate for the creation
[23:28] of a sports program at West
[23:29] Running Brook Intermediate School.
[23:32] A recent cross-sectional study of 28,000 children,
[23:35] including fifth and sixth graders,
[23:36] showed a positive effect on academic
[23:38] performance when they were in sports.
[23:41] Systematic reviews have showed school sports resulted in
[23:43] better academic results by increasing motivation
[23:46] and investment in school.
[23:48] One study specifically saw increases in academic success in
[23:51] English and math grades,
[23:53] which I think we all are looking to improve those.
[23:56] The Washington Post recently reported on a study showing
[23:59] students who participated in sports
[24:00] or a third less likely to miss school.
[24:03] Findings suggests students had stronger peer connections
[24:06] and increased sense of purpose in school.
[24:09] One keynote is that sports participation in fifth
[24:13] and sixth grade may improve school attachment early
[24:16] before the typical seventh
[24:17] and eighth grade disengagement occurs.
[24:19] We're already seeing that we can't field some sports in our
[24:22] middle school, which is interesting
[24:24] because we thought once we combine the seventh
[24:26] and eighth graders for the whole town,
[24:28] we wouldn't run into that problem anymore.
[24:29] But right now we don't have the younger grades
[24:31] to support that system.
[24:33] Obvious improvements in physical health
[24:35] and wellbeing while reducing the chances
[24:37] of childhood obesity are key.
[24:39] Sports have shown to be associated
[24:40] with lower anxiety and better mental health.
[24:43] School sports offer increased equity
[24:45] and inclusion over club sports, which can be expensive
[24:48] and have demanding travel requirements.
[24:51] By developing a hybrid intramural interest scholastic model,
[24:55] we can utilize a no cut system, limited practice volume
[24:58] and emphasis on skill development.
[25:00] Basically, a developmental feeder system
[25:03] for our middle school funds already exist as part
[25:06] of the CBAs Appendix A If
[25:09] by chance we don't use all the hood funding, we could use
[25:12] that as a feeding system to start the program.
[25:14] We could also fund drive if we needed any additional
[25:17] equipment, which we probably wouldn't need to start,
[25:19] but if we need, I'm sure there'd be fundraising efforts.
[25:22] So I, I'm here to request the school board create a
[25:25] committee to develop a hybrid five,
[25:27] six grade sports program.
[25:29] The committee makeup could be the ad at Hood
[25:31] and a couple of coaches from Hood, a couple
[25:33] of interested west faculty that might wanna be coaches,
[25:35] some parents, some school board members and admin.
[25:38] And that's all I have for you. Thank you.
[25:40] Thank you, Eric.
[25:52] Good evening. Brian Ello, six Rollins Street.
[25:58] Just an observation and some construction.
[26:02] Constructive criticism, I think,
[26:05] I don't wanna be looked upon as the the the bad guy,
[26:08] but when we're talking about the,
[26:14] the scores for the English and reading
[26:16] and math, we already know the proficiency scores there.
[26:21] And I noticed that we have on our website SAU
[26:24] 10 goals.
[26:27] And when I go to the website
[26:29] and read, I don't really necessarily see
[26:32] goals, like a goal setting.
[26:35] I see mission statements of what you wanna achieve,
[26:38] but I don't see, for instance,
[26:40] if we're have a proficiency score of 40 48 in reading,
[26:44] maybe a goal that we can try to strive
[26:47] for would be 50 or 51.
[26:51] That to me is a goal.
[26:53] I I don't really see anything in the website.
[26:55] And I don't know if you've discussed that in,
[26:57] in the curriculum side of things,
[26:58] but I think it's important to set those goals
[27:03] and to strive to make those numbers.
[27:06] That way we can see what works, what doesn't work.
[27:10] So I just wanted to share that with you.
[27:13] I'm hoping that maybe there's some discussion about
[27:15] that later and maybe you kind of can incorporate that into
[27:19] the website and try to strive for that.
[27:22] So thank you.
[27:24] Thank you. Brian
[27:28] couldn't pass it up, could you, Richard?
[27:31] Well, he said something
[27:32] that piqued my interest. You know, you have
[27:35] To dance first.
[27:38] Well, I already told Mr. Flynn that
[27:42] yesterday I went to see my orthopedist
[27:46] and I wanted to talk
[27:48] to him about my right ankle.
[27:52] 'cause there's times when I can't put any weight on it.
[27:54] And he was around when I had my left ankle replacement,
[27:59] so that's what he wanted to talk about.
[28:01] So, so now I
[28:07] still don't know what I'm gonna do about my right ankle.
[28:09] But anyhow, the, I thought Brian,
[28:14] when he, when he brought up the, the topic of proficiency,
[28:18] proficiency, that's a topic
[28:22] that I think a lot
[28:24] of people don't really understand what it means.
[28:27] You know, I believe when I go on the, the
[28:32] New Hampshire ED website,
[28:37] they talk about there being four groups
[28:40] in the, in a proficiency.
[28:42] You know, like there's below proficiency, extremely
[28:46] below proficiency, you know, at proficiency,
[28:50] extremely above proficiency.
[28:52] And when people use numbers like, oh,
[28:54] they're at 48% proficiency,
[28:56] that I don't think really describes where the child is
[29:02] in a proficiency rating, you know?
[29:04] So I would suggest that
[29:09] perhaps at one of the board meetings, you have somebody
[29:14] put a presentation together as to
[29:16] what proficiency really means.
[29:18] Because like I said, I've,
[29:21] I've looked at the proficiency scores
[29:24] and there's situations
[29:27] where there's like 10% in the extremely proficient category,
[29:31] and that means that that's really good
[29:34] even though it's only 10%.
[29:36] And when you've got, you know, 30% in the
[29:43] non proficient, that's really bad.
[29:45] But I don't think that a lot of people understand that.
[29:49] So I, that's, that would be my suggestion.
[29:52] And no, I can't dance. Thank you.
[29:57] Thank you Richard.
[30:08] Hi, David Preventer, 26 Milton Mo Road.
[30:13] I just want to speak out against the idea of like trying
[30:17] to hit specific numerical goals.
[30:20] There's this, this concept in statistics
[30:23] where when a measure becomes a a goal,
[30:27] it stops being a good measure, right?
[30:31] You, it's like, oh, you want to get certain percentage
[30:32] to be, you know, above the
[30:34] proficiency threshold or whatever.
[30:36] Now you, you know, get people fudging their numbers to try
[30:39] to hit hit that goal.
[30:41] It's not gonna be good at measuring
[30:43] what you're trying to measure there.
[30:44] That's all I wanted to say.
[30:50] Thank you.
[30:59] All right. I am not seeing anyone
[31:01] else come to the microphone.
[31:02] We will move on with the meeting,
[31:03] however, the public comment period will remain open
[31:05] until 7:23 PM if you wish to speak prior to that time,
[31:09] approach the microphone and I'll recognize you
[31:11] at the next break in the agenda.
[31:13] Our next order of business is student member updates.
[31:15] I will turn it over to Anthony
[31:17] with his Pinkerton Academy update.
[31:20] Alright, so I have a couple things I wanna share.
[31:22] First, I want to share the top 10.
[31:25] You may have seen, we announced our top 10 academic students
[31:30] for the, for the senior class,
[31:32] and they are as follows, Alyssa Kamel, Sophia Kaho,
[31:37] Alexander Fody, Brooke Bens, Jack Welch,
[31:41] Rebecca King, Olaf Holmes.
[31:45] This is a name. Yani Ka ka
[31:48] I think Boris ha Jev.
[31:51] And our valedictorian are of Mahan Hanen.
[31:55] And I especially want to recognize Alyssa Kamel,
[31:57] Jack Welch, and R of Hanen.
[32:00] I know them very well because I have been in class office
[32:03] with them for all four years.
[32:05] And I have to say that has probably been the best experience
[32:09] of high school is doing class office, helping
[32:12] to plan events like prom
[32:14] and organize community events like the Veteran's Day
[32:18] breakfast, which Richard, you're there every year, right?
[32:21] I'm always hungry, Knew it.
[32:25] But that really has been a great experience.
[32:27] So shout out to all 10, but especially those three.
[32:31] And we have a couple fundraising updates I wanna talk about.
[32:35] Day of Giving is April 22nd this year.
[32:38] We, we host this every year
[32:39] where basically we encourage all those in our community
[32:43] to give, whether they be alumni, parents, students, families
[32:47] of prospective students.
[32:49] This is a day where all the benefits will go
[32:51] to the Rein fund to fund things such as clubs
[32:54] and sports and things like that.
[32:56] We typically do very well.
[32:57] And you're gonna see information on the
[32:59] website for that very soon.
[33:01] Lastly, I want to talk about Astro. Who here knows Astro?
[33:06] Yeah, so we did very well this year.
[33:09] It is hosted by student council every year.
[33:11] Basically, students stay up all night at Pinkerton
[33:14] and play games to raise money
[33:16] for Boston Children's Hospital.
[33:17] And this year they raised $39,319
[33:22] and 47 cents. Awesome.
[33:24] Wow. That is, that is my update.
[33:33] All right, thank you, Anthony.
[33:35] I mean, congratulations to, you know,
[33:37] the top 10 students at Pinkerton.
[33:38] You know, that's the biggest school in the state.
[33:39] It's, you know, pretty impressive
[33:41] feat to finish in that top 10.
[33:43] And fantastic job on Astro too. Such a great cause.
[33:49] All right, our next order of business is deliberations.
[33:52] We have four items tonight.
[33:54] I will turn it over to Mike to speak
[33:55] to the last day of school for students.
[33:57] Thanks.
[33:59] I get a lot of emails every day,
[34:00] but the number one is when is the last day of school?
[34:04] So I think we finally cleared the hurdle of any type of
[34:08] weather in inclement weather day.
[34:10] And, and with that earlier this year, we revised the policy
[34:15] to allow us to shift to instructional hours rather than
[34:18] total number of school days in your board packet.
[34:22] Our, our principals did a great job of doing the equation
[34:26] that the state of New Hampshire provides us in regards
[34:28] to calculating actual instructional hours.
[34:30] What counts, what doesn't count? Passing time doesn't count.
[34:33] Lunch doesn't count at certain ages, advisory counts,
[34:36] research recess actually counts at the elementary level.
[34:39] So with that, the numbers are in your packet,
[34:41] but we clearly meet the, the minimum standard of hours.
[34:44] So with that, I would ask the board to,
[34:47] I'm gonna make a recommendation that the last day
[34:49] of school will be Wednesday, June 17th,
[34:51] which will be a half day.
[34:53] And we'll meet all instructional
[34:55] requirements by the state of New Hampshire.
[34:57] I'm still working with the adults, which are contracted
[35:00] for the number of days, so I'm working
[35:01] with DEA on finalizing the plan with them
[35:03] for the remainder of the school year.
[35:05] But if you have any questions, please ask.
[35:08] If not, I would make the recommendation of school board
[35:10] to change the last day of school to Wednesday,
[35:12] June 17th for a half day.
[35:15] Thank you, Mike. I know we, you know, we talked last week
[35:18] and I, I've been here that long,
[35:20] but I don't remember us ever
[35:21] voting on the last day of school.
[35:22] But I understand the argument for why you want us to do it.
[35:26] You know, the state statutes do require the board
[35:29] to provide standard schools for a set number of hours.
[35:31] And the schedule, the schedule
[35:33] that we sent at the beginning of the year is tentative.
[35:36] So this is essentially a vote to finalize that last day on
[35:40] that tentative calendar
[35:41] that we approved at the beginning of the year.
[35:44] So I would accept a motion to set the last day of school
[35:46] for students as Wednesday June 17th, 2026.
[35:50] So, moved first by Jen second. Second by Jenna.
[35:53] Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor?
[35:57] Aye. Aye. All opposed. Motion carries. Seven zero.
[36:01] And I would say that that is probably also the number one
[36:04] thing that I get asked too,
[36:05] is when's the last day of school?
[36:08] So Mike, we'll keep it with you for Yeah.
[36:10] The start times. Yeah,
[36:11] We've, we've had a lot of stuff kind of hanging out there
[36:13] and now we're getting to wrapping it up.
[36:16] One I'm, I'm probably most excited about is started early on
[36:19] with discussions with the board,
[36:21] but when I was onboarding, it was really an opportunity
[36:25] to reevaluate start times, right?
[36:28] I know the discussion began around some bus busing concerns,
[36:33] but the real deep dive in the evaluation of the data
[36:37] that received was what's, what's best for kids?
[36:40] Sometimes we start to lean away from that.
[36:43] And I think that was a challenge
[36:44] because even though logistically this makes a lot of sense,
[36:47] we wanted to make sure it encompassed the right move for,
[36:50] for all of our students.
[36:52] So in your packet is an executive summary from
[36:55] where we started back in November to the four meetings
[36:58] that the committee held updated you along the way.
[37:01] The evaluation, we had nearly 1400 respondents.
[37:04] I think it's probably our most responded survey,
[37:06] and quite some time the committee did some work diving
[37:10] through it, you know, no change is easy for everyone,
[37:14] specifically on the family side.
[37:16] It's, it can be a significant change.
[37:18] What we're presenting this evening is an adjustment
[37:20] of 15 minutes at the elementary level
[37:22] and then 40 minutes at five through eight level.
[37:26] Some of the core logistics that will help is we'll be able
[37:29] to run three different bus fleets, well, one fleet,
[37:31] excuse me, three different routes.
[37:33] So dedicated to elementary, dedicated to West
[37:35] and dedicated to Hood.
[37:37] And then they get to wrap back around
[37:38] and dedicate to Pinkerton.
[37:40] So it's really gonna help our efficiency.
[37:42] We won't have kids hanging out at Pinkerton
[37:43] anymore for a long period of time.
[37:45] We won't have our students arriving super early at other
[37:48] schools for athletics
[37:50] because the other schools aren't even out at that time.
[37:53] And then more importantly, in the morning,
[37:56] I don't know, I have three kids.
[37:57] I know the extra sleep is always a benefit
[37:59] when you're coming into school.
[38:00] So a lots of po a lot of positives here.
[38:03] There was some discussion around the challenges that may,
[38:07] it may may happen more specifically
[38:10] with the memberships we work with.
[38:12] So DEA and sme, I always mess that up,
[38:15] but once you reach a threshold of a certain amount
[38:18] of minutes, you have to discuss impact bargaining.
[38:20] So I know we'll get to that next,
[38:22] but they've been a pleasure to work with.
[38:24] They've been outstanding. So in the packet you'll see
[38:28] specifically, I just wanna say it again.
[38:30] Middle elementary would start at 8 35.
[38:32] Intermediate would start at seven 20.
[38:35] Middle school would start at seven 15
[38:37] with a dismissal at elementary at three 10.
[38:40] A dismissal would intermediate at 2 35
[38:42] and a dismissal at the middle school at two 30.
[38:44] So I would love to open it up for any discussion.
[38:47] And Jen, do you wanna add anything from the committee level?
[38:50] No, I, I think you covered it.
[38:52] I mean these, the committee,
[38:53] the start times committee brought together
[38:55] stakeholders starting in November.
[38:57] I think we met over a series of four or five meetings. Dr.
[39:01] Dancy and Dr. Crawford led that.
[39:04] There's a lot of thoughtful discussion covering
[39:06] the areas that you highlighted.
[39:07] I do think that there will be people who have challenges
[39:11] that they face logistics and things,
[39:13] but I believe that this is in the best interest of
[39:15] certainly instructional time at West Renbrook.
[39:18] That was a very major concern of mine.
[39:20] I also know it was a very major concern of Mr. Fox's.
[39:23] So I think, I think he'll be happy.
[39:25] Yeah, he gets his 15 minutes.
[39:27] Interesting that the 15 minutes kind
[39:29] of came into play when the discussion of instructional time.
[39:31] So we had to, we weren't able to count all of them.
[39:34] So 15 minutes a day added up to four school days,
[39:39] essentially something along the lines over, over
[39:41] of 180 days.
[39:42] So every minute counts in, in our, our profession.
[39:45] More specifically, another part
[39:47] of the analysis is we have the shorter school
[39:49] day of the local areas.
[39:51] So most, most other towns have about 15
[39:53] to almost 30 more minutes, longer a day.
[39:55] So they all, every minute counts.
[39:57] And this will help for sure.
[40:01] So Mike, I noticed the committee was split,
[40:04] split on whether they wanted to recommend this, this policy
[40:09] outside of the life event challenges.
[40:11] Was there any other things they brought up
[40:13] that they had concerns about?
[40:17] Interesting. You know, if you're taking it at face value,
[40:19] there are people that recuse
[40:20] themselves from the vote as well.
[40:22] So, and it was anonymous, so I don't, I don't know
[40:25] where maybe some of that, that, that fell.
[40:28] I know I, I didn't run the committee, Joe, and,
[40:30] and, and Clifton did.
[40:32] But I think, is there anything else other than those
[40:34] that were a real high flyer?
[40:36] I do think, I think part of it was at least like,
[40:38] it's not broken, don't fix it sort of thing.
[40:41] I would argue that it is broken
[40:42] and that's why we do need to fix it.
[40:44] I think particularly again at the, at West Running Brook
[40:47] with instructional time, the busing issue at Pinkerton.
[40:51] So I, but I do think that there were
[40:54] various voices at the table who all kind
[40:56] of took over the information too,
[40:57] that was gathered in the 1400 surveys.
[40:58] It was a lot of information to comb through. But,
[41:03] And we did have representation of,
[41:06] if I remember correctly, it was two school board members.
[41:09] It was elementary school, middle school, high school,
[41:12] intermediate school.
[41:14] So there was somebody who had a seat at the table who,
[41:17] and this obviously was all volunteer
[41:21] and like Jen said, they, they all did present,
[41:25] there was interest of childcare, there was interest
[41:28] of getting out in to work
[41:30] and time, which is part of the bargain agreement
[41:33] that's coming in for the other teachers and stuff.
[41:35] So everything did come to the table,
[41:37] but at the end of the day when we had to kind
[41:40] of weigh things out, it was what was in the,
[41:42] obviously the best interest of the students
[41:45] and the best interest that was going to meet both the busing
[41:48] and the time needs.
[41:50] Yeah. So I would, I would say
[41:52] I, I think this is a great idea.
[41:54] I think anything that we can do
[41:55] that doesn't hurt student achievement
[41:58] or help student achievement, we need to look at, clearly.
[42:00] There's been a lot tonight, there's a lot
[42:02] of discussion on student achievement and what we're seeing.
[42:05] So anything that we can do to help that,
[42:07] and I'm all in favor for,
[42:09] and this seems like an another lever to pull to try
[42:12] to make that happen.
[42:14] The one thing I would say is, you know, we've done a couple,
[42:17] I think over the years, we've done several things to try
[42:19] to see that gap or make improvements that we wanna see.
[42:22] One thing I I would say that I don't hear a lot
[42:24] of is people have to remember student achievement's.
[42:27] A shared responsibility, right?
[42:29] The school, the, our district
[42:30] and parents as well play a role in this responsibility.
[42:33] So, one thing I don't, when we talk about test scores
[42:36] and student achievement, this is a collaborative effort
[42:38] between our district and our families.
[42:41] And so that's just wanna make, I, I don't hear that a lot.
[42:44] I just want to kind of articulate that
[42:47] to whoever's watching.
[42:52] I think this is, this type of move
[42:54] has serious impact, right?
[42:56] Not only on the adults, but on the kids positively.
[42:59] However, it may be, this is one
[43:01] that's not gonna make everyone happy, right?
[43:03] This, this is one of those that it's,
[43:04] that people gonna email about the complaint,
[43:07] about the change of time or whatever it might be.
[43:09] But there's, there is also significant people
[43:10] that are very thankful for this.
[43:11] So we, we try and thread that needle as best we can.
[43:15] But if you go back to the core of, of where we started it,
[43:18] it's instructional time specifically at West,
[43:20] there were some challenges and it's gonna,
[43:22] it's gonna solve some of our,
[43:24] our scheduling conflicts that arise throughout the day.
[43:30] All right. Thank you everyone.
[43:32] I mean, I would echo everyone in thanking everyone
[43:34] that was involved in putting this proposal together.
[43:36] You know, the months of work, everyone
[43:38] who submitted survey responses, everybody
[43:40] who served on the task force,
[43:42] the administrators have put together the final proposal.
[43:45] Now I know this is something we want it to be done
[43:47] as deliberate deliberatively
[43:49] and with as much public input as possible,
[43:51] because we know that this is gonna affect every family,
[43:54] every employee differently.
[43:56] So, you know, thank you to everyone
[43:57] for all the work that went into that.
[44:00] You know, the proposal itself,
[44:01] I think there's a lot to like about this.
[44:03] You know, we've been one of the earliest starts
[44:04] for middle school for many years now.
[44:06] This is hopefully gonna get kids more rest, you know,
[44:08] it's gonna get them to school on time, you know, protect
[44:11] that instructional time, cut down on the number of kids
[44:14] who are heading to school in the dark in the mid-winter
[44:16] months, you know,
[44:17] and ease some of those transportation issues.
[44:21] So if there are no more questions
[44:23] or comments, I will take a motion to change the student day
[44:27] to the following, beginning with 20 26, 27 school year,
[44:30] 7:55 AM to 2:30 PM at the middle school level 8:00 AM
[44:35] to 2:35 PM at the intermediate school level,
[44:37] and 8:50 AM to 3:10 PM at the elementary school level.
[44:42] So, moved first by Jen. Second. Second by Jenna.
[44:45] Any further discussion? Not hearing any,
[44:49] we will take a vote on the motion on the table.
[44:52] All in favor? Aye. Aye. All opposed? Motion sustain.
[44:57] Motion carries 6 0 1.
[45:01] All right. So thank you everyone for that.
[45:04] As a result of this proposal,
[45:06] the administration has been engaged in impact bargaining
[45:09] with our two unions over the past several weeks.
[45:11] So I will turn it back over to Mike
[45:12] to discuss the two MOUs reached
[45:14] with their memberships. Yeah,
[45:16] So the, as I explained alluded to a little bit earlier,
[45:20] once you reach a certain threshold
[45:21] and you change the actual working time as the employer,
[45:24] we have to enter into something called
[45:25] a impact bargaining, right?
[45:27] So it's not negotiation, but
[45:29] because what we're doing, how will impact the, the faculty
[45:32] and the, the staff, I have to say both DEA
[45:35] and AFME were first class, if I'm being really honest.
[45:39] They came to the, the table with all the ideas.
[45:42] That always makes my job a lot easier on my side,
[45:44] rather trying to figure out what they want.
[45:46] They were very forthcoming
[45:47] and we really worked together to try
[45:49] and support them in this transition.
[45:51] So I've reviewed this with you a couple meetings ago,
[45:55] and this, this evening, I, I shows you the ask me impact.
[46:01] I would, I would just ask for a recommendation
[46:04] to accept the, the MOUs as as presented.
[46:08] And if you have questions, feel free.
[46:10] But they were, again, they were,
[46:12] the leadership was outstanding.
[46:15] All right. Did anyone have any questions
[46:16] about either of the MOUs? Do we have to
[46:18] Discuss the MOUs individually or just
[46:22] You'll vote on 'em individually?
[46:23] I encompass them both in the discussion. Yep.
[46:27] Yep. So if there are no further questions
[46:30] for Mike about either MOUs, we'll do two votes here.
[46:34] So I would ask for a motion
[46:35] to approve the memorandum agreement between the district
[46:37] and Theder education Association as presented.
[46:40] So moved first by Jen. Second. Second by Jenna.
[46:44] Any further discussion? We will take a vote on the motion.
[46:48] All in favor? Aye. Aye. All opposed? Any abstentions?
[46:54] Motion carries. Seven zero. Next step.
[46:58] Well, we've already discussed the ask me MOU.
[47:01] So I think we can just move straight to the vote.
[47:02] Move forward. Yep. So I will ask for a motion
[47:05] to approve the memorandum of agreement between the district
[47:07] and the dairy education assistance.
[47:09] Ask me, council at 93, local 1801 as presented.
[47:13] So moved first by Jen. Second. Second by Jenna.
[47:17] Any further discussion? Not hearing any.
[47:20] We will take a vote. All in favor? Aye. Aye. All opposed?
[47:24] Any abstentions? Motion carries. Seven zero.
[47:29] Thank you again to everyone for their hard work on this.
[47:32] We will be sending out communication both from my office
[47:35] as well as building offices principals, so that we continue
[47:38] to repeat this message for the remainder of this year.
[47:41] People will see it several times,
[47:42] so no one's caught off guard.
[47:45] And then as the new busing schedules are developed,
[47:48] those will be communicated out.
[47:50] But you're gonna continue to hear this message
[47:52] repeatedly so that everyone's aware.
[47:54] With that, I'm on to policy.
[47:56] EBBB presented a couple board meetings ago.
[47:59] We made a few changes in regards to accidents reports on
[48:01] who it is reported to and the seriousness of the injury.
[48:05] Rather than death, we change it to Sirius.
[48:07] So if no other questions, I would ask you
[48:09] to adopt EBBB as presented.
[48:13] All right. I will accept a motion
[48:14] to approve policy EBBB accident reports as presented.
[48:19] So moved. Second, First by Jen. Second by Jamie.
[48:22] Any further discussion? All in favor? Aye. Aye. All opposed?
[48:28] Motion. Carrie? Seven zero. All right.
[48:32] Our last item up for deliberation is
[48:34] board committee nominations.
[48:35] I had mentioned at the last meeting
[48:36] that I would be gathering interest in committees
[48:38] and bringing forward nominations tonight.
[48:40] So board policy BDB sets the appointment
[48:43] of committees subject to approval
[48:44] of the board as a duty of the chair.
[48:46] So I have presented the board with a list of committees
[48:48] and liaison positions, which we will form
[48:50] for the 20 26 27 year and appointments for each.
[48:54] We will form five standing committees
[48:56] with three board members, each one serving as co-chair
[48:59] with a member of the administration.
[49:00] Those will be the communications committee, the curriculum
[49:03] and assessment committee, the facilities committee,
[49:05] finance Committee, and Policy Review committee.
[49:09] These committees will coordinate
[49:10] with the administration members appointed by Mike
[49:12] to set a schedule of monthly meetings for the year ahead.
[49:15] In addition to the standing committees,
[49:17] we will have a transportation appeal committee
[49:19] of three board members that will meet
[49:20] with the transportation coordinator as needed
[49:22] to hear appeals under board policy EEA.
[49:25] And we will have an ad hoc committee formed
[49:27] to negotiate a new agreement with afscme.
[49:29] The union representing education assistance
[49:32] as their current agreement is up at the end
[49:33] of the 20 26, 27 year.
[49:36] The board also assigns liaisons to a handful
[49:38] of external organizations.
[49:41] Board policy BCEA sets appointments
[49:43] to these liaison positions.
[49:45] After discussion with the board as a duty of the chair,
[49:49] we have a voting member and a non-voting member sitting on
[49:51] the next charter school board of directors.
[49:53] Two members sitting on the executive board
[49:55] of the 21st Century Learning Community Corporation executive
[49:57] board, and three members sitting on the
[50:00] town's legislative task force.
[50:02] So I will ask for a motion to accept the list of committees
[50:05] and appointments that you've been provided
[50:07] and then we can discuss before we take a vote.
[50:10] So moved. Well, I'll ask for the motion first.
[50:12] I will, I will. I'll accept a motion
[50:15] to approve the board committees appointments
[50:17] to those committees and appointments
[50:18] to the external liaison positions
[50:20] for the 20 26 27 board year as presented first
[50:24] by Jamie. I
[50:26] I just wanna make sure that the 21st
[50:28] century has been changed. 'cause it's
[50:30] Still here.
[50:31] Yes, it, it was updated in the folder.
[50:32] Okay. I didn't get the update
[50:33] One.
[50:34] Sorry.
[50:35] Do we have a second? Second.
[50:37] Second by Jen, any discussion?
[50:42] I'd like to know why you removed committees.
[50:45] Those, the committees were set by the board.
[50:48] So you don't really have the power
[50:50] to just remove them without talking to the board about it.
[50:53] Well, I'm asking tonight
[50:54] to approve forming these committees for the update
[50:57] Here.
[50:58] So I think we should add the PIN committee back.
[50:59] I think we need a special education committee.
[51:01] And I would also like to see the building in Grounds
[51:03] committee added back in.
[51:04] Wouldn't that fall under facilities?
[51:06] No, it's diff it was different. Oh, okay.
[51:09] We would tour the schools, we would see what was,
[51:12] what was needed or what we could talk to Jeremy about it.
[51:16] It's completely different. Facilities is has taken on a
[51:19] whole different role than building a grounds.
[51:21] But can, can facilities then just incorporate
[51:25] Orders?
[51:26] I don't know. I'm just asking. Okay.
[51:27] I believe facilities and buildings
[51:29] and grounds were merged maybe three years ago
[51:32] into one single committee.
[51:35] And that again was brought forward as the, you know,
[51:38] proposals from the chair for the committees for that year.
[51:41] The special education committee,
[51:43] I believe the last incarnation was formed around a study
[51:46] that was done in 2018
[51:47] and it was supposed to move forward
[51:50] with looking at the recommendations of that study.
[51:53] You know, I think what I would say
[51:55] to any adding any additional committees at this time is,
[51:58] you know, I think we're obviously not gonna go back
[52:00] to the days where we had 15 plus standing committees.
[52:04] You know, we need to be careful first.
[52:05] Are you making that decision or are we as a group?
[52:09] We are if approving the list
[52:11] of committees that I put forth.
[52:12] And if somebody wants to make a motion
[52:13] to add an additional committee, then
[52:16] by all means you can make that motion.
[52:17] Just statement was, we're not going
[52:18] back to that. It wasn't
[52:20] Discuss.
[52:21] That would be my preference.
[52:21] That is what I am proposing. Okay. That's
[52:23] Your preference.
[52:26] Can I ask you a question, Brenda?
[52:27] Yes. I kind just
[52:30] forgot so special ed.
[52:33] I wasn't here. I don't know
[52:34] what happened on those committees.
[52:36] How often did the special ed committee meet?
[52:38] Was it like a very intensive demanding committee?
[52:41] The original first special ed committee
[52:43] was very demanding.
[52:44] Okay. We did a lot of work around programs
[52:47] and repairing a lot of bad feelings.
[52:53] It was, we had parents, teachers
[52:55] and administrators on the committee, school board members.
[52:58] It was an excellent committee. We made a lot of change.
[53:00] And actually, Chris Kellen was our special ed director then,
[53:03] and he was on the committee as well.
[53:05] Made a lot of positive changes to special education
[53:10] and brought in new programs, eliminated programs
[53:12] that were not beneficial.
[53:16] We built a lot of bridges with parents and families.
[53:19] It was a, it was a very good committee.
[53:22] We did end it during COVID.
[53:24] Oh, a lot of things ended
[53:26] During COVID couldn't. Yeah, exactly.
[53:28] And so that sounds more like a task force, right,
[53:30] because it wasn't just board members.
[53:32] Right. And there were, there was a lot
[53:33] of discussion from parents that they were going
[53:36] to start their own group special education group if we
[53:39] didn't support them in a committee.
[53:42] And it just made more sense for us
[53:44] to have a committee understand why people were upset
[53:46] or not upset, why, what people liked, what they didn't like
[53:49] and bring those things forward. Hmm,
[53:54] Okay.
[53:55] It was a good discussion.
[53:56] Who, who consisted?
[53:57] Like what, who did this committee consist
[53:59] of? How many parents,
[54:01] Teachers, administrators,
[54:02] special ed director, school board.
[54:05] So if you were to want to bring that back
[54:08] and say make a motion to bring back special ed,
[54:10] are you offering to then chair that committee
[54:13] and then set up that committee
[54:14] and reach out to everybody to make it?
[54:16] Absolutely. Okay.
[54:20] So this sounds to me more like it would be a task force
[54:23] or a temporary ad hoc committee that would,
[54:26] I don't see it as temporary.
[54:27] We have a lot, we have a high special education
[54:29] population in our district.
[54:31] We need to have a connection for families to understand
[54:34] what, we used to have workshops for parents.
[54:37] This is what you need to look for in an IEP, this is
[54:39] what you need to tell us if you,
[54:40] if you don't understand this is there was a lot
[54:43] of more collaboration.
[54:45] I don't see it as temporary at all.
[54:47] And if we don't do it, that's okay.
[54:49] There will be a committee of parents that form
[54:52] and that's a whole nother situation.
[54:55] I think we also wanna make sure that we're not
[54:57] treading into areas where we're micromanaging the
[55:00] superintendent and the administration
[55:02] and getting into his ability
[55:04] to lead the day-to-day operations of the district.
[55:06] You know, whether or not we have a standing committee
[55:09] of board members, it doesn't prevent the board from
[55:11] providing oversight in the area.
[55:13] You know, whatever the area of concern may be.
[55:15] You know, if we wanna ask Mike to have the special
[55:20] or the student services department form a task force
[55:23] or a focus group to, you know, with parents to look into
[55:28] what, you know, where the concerns lie
[55:30] with special education.
[55:31] That's certainly something
[55:33] that we can ask the administration to do
[55:36] and board members can be a part of that.
[55:38] But whether or not we need to have standing committee
[55:41] for every concern, I don't know that
[55:43] that level is necessary.
[55:46] My personal opinion that I think that if Brenda
[55:49] sees a need to this and has something that she's been a part
[55:53] of before, that she saw that something's beneficial
[55:55] and she's willing to chair it and take the lead on it.
[55:59] I don't see an issue.
[56:00] I think if she wants to reach out and do that
[56:02] and whatever comes from it, obviously it's only as good as
[56:07] however long, you know, Brenda's on the board
[56:10] and then, you know, if the board changes over
[56:12] and then it would have to come up onto the
[56:14] next board when they vote on it.
[56:15] But as of now, I think that if she sees a need for it
[56:19] and wants to run with it, I am not opposed to it. I
[56:22] I what I, sorry Michael, may I have a Go ahead.
[56:25] I would just reiterate what Michael said
[56:27] because I believe that we really need to define clear liens
[56:29] between the board's job and the superintendent's job.
[56:33] The superintendent runs the day-to-day
[56:35] operations of the district.
[56:36] I believe it's the superintendent's job to make sure
[56:38] that the special education department is clearly
[56:41] communicating what the purpose of an IEP is.
[56:44] How to advocate for a child
[56:46] who may need more services for their IEP.
[56:48] I don't see that as a board member's job.
[56:51] I think that we need to be very clear about lanes when we
[56:53] create committees and the purpose of them
[56:56] and the tasks that we hope to
[56:58] complete when we have these committee work.
[57:00] Because I also think that we need to be mindful of
[57:05] school board members' times this is a, a volunteer
[57:08] job essentially in the community.
[57:10] And I think that we provide a great deal of oversight
[57:15] to Mike and to, to the team that works under him.
[57:20] I would say too that the board is gonna meet
[57:21] for goal setting within the next few months
[57:23] and we're gonna lay out our goals for the coming year.
[57:26] You know, if as a part of that discussion we agree on a goal
[57:29] that would necessitate forming a committee, you know,
[57:31] we could flesh out what the work around
[57:34] that goal is gonna be, what the tasks would be.
[57:37] And then, you know, once we've had
[57:39] that in-depth conversation
[57:40] and really fleshed out what the goal is,
[57:44] what the committee would do, you know,
[57:46] if we wanna take a vote to form that committee,
[57:48] we can form a committee at any time during the year.
[57:50] You know, we don't need to form a committee tonight.
[57:52] That's not the last opportunity that we have
[57:53] to form a committee until next March.
[57:56] Okay. But we are talking about,
[57:57] and Sue specifically said that it could possibly, it's more
[58:00] of a task force than it is a committee
[58:01] And that may be the conclusion
[58:03] We come to.
[58:04] So, well of course this is the one specific thing.
[58:04] She had mentioned a couple other committees,
[58:06] the Pinkerton Pinkerton and we,
[58:08] Our contract is, we'll be doing our contract in 2027.
[58:12] Makes no sense to dissolve that committee right now.
[58:14] Did we have to meet Well again,
[58:16] But it never weren't We On that
[58:17] Committee we can form an ad hoc committee specifically
[58:20] to negotiate the contract with Pinkerton
[58:22] and then it would dissolve when that work is done.
[58:26] So can I ask other school boards around New Hampshire,
[58:30] do they have a special education task force? Yes,
[58:34] Some do.
[58:35] I mean, most, most boards have in the range of five to
[58:39] to eight committees
[58:40] and some have a special education committee.
[58:42] You know, some have committees that we don't have a lot
[58:44] have committees that we have.
[58:46] It kind of depends on the needs.
[58:47] And what was the third one? Brenda?
[58:50] Building and Grounds. Okay.
[58:51] I I, that one I, I feel like if, if we want, I don't know
[58:54] who, who's on facilities, who was the,
[58:57] That is David, Jen, and myself.
[58:59] Okay. If, if that came down to,
[59:02] if there are building tours or whatever and we can go off
[59:04] and do that on our own as school board members.
[59:06] So if we wanna go take tours or we wanna do something
[59:08] and there's something of interest, we can follow down that.
[59:11] But I feel like facilities comfort that.
[59:13] But I think the one that's really standing out
[59:15] and in Pinkerton, obviously we go to our meetings.
[59:18] I, I'm not, and we haven't met with that them in a year,
[59:21] but I think the special ed one is one that is, I I see it
[59:25] as being a need and I see what Jenna is saying about,
[59:29] you know, staying in Elaine
[59:30] and making sure that people are
[59:31] doing what they need to be doing.
[59:33] But I again would say that if Brenda wants
[59:36] to lead this task force
[59:38] and she wants to reach out to administration and whoever
[59:42] and wants to set this, then I don't see the need
[59:46] to push back on this.
[59:47] Especially if there's one school board member
[59:51] and other administrators.
[59:53] If she wants to lead this, then I say
[59:56] that she can start this back up.
[59:58] That's my personal opinion.
[1:00:01] Would How would it work though?
[1:00:03] 'cause the other entities would also
[1:00:06] have to agree to this. Right,
[1:00:07] Right. Well
[1:00:07] She'd have to take that on and then
[1:00:10] Okay.
[1:00:11] Engage interest again. I mean, what I would recommend is
[1:00:12] that we don't hastily form any new committees tonight.
[1:00:16] You know, like I said,
[1:00:17] we will have our goal setting meeting within the next couple
[1:00:19] of months where we're, you know, we'll sit down
[1:00:22] and we'll really have an in-depth conversation about our
[1:00:25] goals for the upcoming year
[1:00:27] and if the board comes to a decision that we want
[1:00:30] to set a goal around special education
[1:00:31] and form a committee, whether it be an ad hoc committee
[1:00:35] or a task force
[1:00:37] or, you know, to instruct the administration
[1:00:40] to conduct focus groups
[1:00:41] or whatever that may be, you know, I would suggest
[1:00:45] that we put it off until
[1:00:46] that time when we can have a really
[1:00:48] in-depth discussion about it.
[1:00:50] I mean, and based on that, I wasn't asked if
[1:00:55] we should just get rid of transportation committee.
[1:00:57] You know what I mean? So I I guess I'm with Brenda on that.
[1:01:00] Like where, where's the balance?
[1:01:02] Where, where do we all come together as the school board
[1:01:06] and decide what committees are important,
[1:01:08] what committees are not important or,
[1:01:10] or is that just a chair and a vice chair decision?
[1:01:14] 'cause that's what it seems. It was, it was like all
[1:01:16] of a sudden there's no transportation committee,
[1:01:17] which I really think we need that right now.
[1:01:20] Especially with the electric buses coming come December.
[1:01:24] There's gonna be a lot of, a lot of parents with questions.
[1:01:28] Well, I, I, I just first
[1:01:31] of all committee work is the board, right.
[1:01:32] I want to be honest, but also committees only advisory
[1:01:35] towards the board.
[1:01:36] Right. Committees don't make wholesale decisions.
[1:01:38] They don't, they only bring recommendations forward
[1:01:41] to the board for discussion as a whole.
[1:01:44] I wanna also, and I know our attorneys here to,
[1:01:47] to do some training around committee work specifically.
[1:01:50] I, I just wanna say like publicly, if people have questions,
[1:01:52] they should be reaching out to me and my team.
[1:01:55] We're, we're the, we're the, we're the people
[1:01:57] that are operating the district.
[1:01:59] We're the ones that know the answers or have the solutions
[1:02:02] or, or trying to work with the community.
[1:02:03] So I, I just want to be careful of, of what the purpose
[1:02:07] of the committee is
[1:02:08] and behind, you know, the, the special ed committee,
[1:02:12] we didn't have one in Hopkinton.
[1:02:13] We didn't have one in Hamstead. We had one in Timber Lane.
[1:02:15] Like, it is, it is a district by district decision on
[1:02:17] what committees wanna run.
[1:02:20] I think we're still trying to establish new
[1:02:22] norms of committee work.
[1:02:23] If I'm being honest and I'm being
[1:02:25] reflective on my first year.
[1:02:27] I'm not sure what occurred previously through committees
[1:02:30] and goals and objectives and,
[1:02:31] and the purpose behind we're really trying
[1:02:33] to level set on what they are.
[1:02:36] That's just me coming from this chair in regards
[1:02:38] to the management of all of the committees
[1:02:40] because they're not board committees.
[1:02:42] They end up being administration committees and,
[1:02:43] and we have to be able to manage all the workload on top
[1:02:46] of the operations of the district and things like that.
[1:02:49] So as you're, as you're discussing this, I just wanted
[1:02:52] to kind of add a couple points from, from the seat.
[1:02:55] That's all.
[1:02:58] Thank you Mike. And I mean, I think that kind of goes back
[1:03:00] to a point that I made earlier in that just
[1:03:02] because we don't have a committee for something doesn't mean
[1:03:05] that we're not working on that issue.
[1:03:08] You know, like a committee is just advisory.
[1:03:10] If there is something where there is a lot of work, a lot
[1:03:13] of research that needs to be done, perhaps around a goal
[1:03:15] that we set, we can form a committee
[1:03:17] and then, you know, that committee does the in depth work on
[1:03:22] that issue to bring forward
[1:03:24] whatever it may be suggesting to the board.
[1:03:26] You know, his committees don't make decisions.
[1:03:27] Only the entire board makes decisions.
[1:03:30] And you know, Mike makes a point too in that the, the work
[1:03:35] of committees, you know, bringing things forward
[1:03:37] to committees, attending the meetings, setting the agenda,
[1:03:40] a lot of that does fall on the administration.
[1:03:42] And we need to be mindful of their time
[1:03:45] and we need to respect the fact
[1:03:46] that they're doing their jobs, you know,
[1:03:49] that they're getting these things done without us
[1:03:53] sitting over their shoulder and,
[1:03:56] and telling them what to do.
[1:03:57] You know, we give them a broad direction and Mike
[1:04:00] and his team runs the day to day operation of the district
[1:04:04] and we wanna make sure that we're not
[1:04:07] micromanaging every little thing that they do.
[1:04:17] So do we like vote on it even though,
[1:04:19] So we have a motion on the table
[1:04:21] to accept the committees as proposed.
[1:04:24] Like I said, if anybody wants to make a, a motion
[1:04:26] to add a new committee tonight, we can do that.
[1:04:29] But I would recommend postponing any decision
[1:04:32] to add any additional committees
[1:04:34] until the goal setting meeting
[1:04:36] and where we can really hash out our goals
[1:04:39] and if we need a committee
[1:04:40] to address the work to reach those goals.
[1:04:44] So say we vote tonight as is without special ed committee
[1:04:49] and we decide to add that, I'm assuming we would have
[1:04:52] to vote again at that time to approve it.
[1:04:54] Yeah, we would come outta the goal setting meeting
[1:04:56] and then that would be one
[1:04:57] of the first steps toward working toward that goal
[1:05:00] for the next year would be establishing that committee
[1:05:02] and, you know, appointing members to it.
[1:05:04] You know, Mike and his team would appoint their members
[1:05:07] to it and then we would set a schedule of meetings for it.
[1:05:11] It would set its own goals
[1:05:12] and then it would be off to the races.
[1:05:14] Okay.
[1:05:21] So we had a motion on the table
[1:05:23] to accept the goals as presented.
[1:05:25] Did we get a, a first or a second?
[1:05:27] I don't even remember at this point So moved. Yes.
[1:05:30] But first by Jenna. Second. Second by Jen.
[1:05:34] Is there any further discussion? Right.
[1:05:38] We will take a roll call vote. All in favor? Aye. Aye.
[1:05:43] All opposed? No. Motion passes. Six one.
[1:05:51] All right. Our next order
[1:05:52] of business is administration reports.
[1:05:53] First step is Jane with the business administrator's update.
[1:06:01] Okay. I've included in your board packet
[1:06:04] my executive summary.
[1:06:05] And just as a note, the timing is always gonna be off
[1:06:09] with the financial report and my administrative update just
[1:06:12] because of the timing and when we issue checks.
[1:06:15] So as of when I wrote this report,
[1:06:18] we had received Pinkerton AC Academy's bill,
[1:06:20] which was the final bill of the year.
[1:06:23] It includes general tuition resource
[1:06:25] and all of their specialized programming.
[1:06:28] And I also so that you could see the comparisons of
[1:06:33] what we budgeted and
[1:06:34] what the actual student enrollments were.
[1:06:37] I've included in your board packet, a spreadsheet
[1:06:40] that I've worked on for the last several years, just so
[1:06:42] that you can see those comparisons.
[1:06:44] And as you know, I think we mentioned the last meeting,
[1:06:49] we started out the beginning
[1:06:50] of the year being having over 40 students
[1:06:53] more than we budgeted.
[1:06:54] And we ended the year having about nine students more than
[1:06:57] we budgeted for general tuition.
[1:07:00] So if you just wanna look at that historical information
[1:07:02] that's included for you.
[1:07:04] And also I've included some of our special education costs
[1:07:09] that we've been following each month
[1:07:12] and we're watching those closely.
[1:07:15] This is also the time of the year
[1:07:16] where we are looking at all of our open purchase orders,
[1:07:18] going through them modifying, making sure that everything is
[1:07:22] a valid open encumbrance for the district.
[1:07:26] So these numbers are gonna change in the next month or two.
[1:07:31] Also, we've included your
[1:07:35] interest on both the general checking account, which is,
[1:07:38] as you remember, we have a Citizens Bank account
[1:07:41] and a P DIP for the general account.
[1:07:45] And as of the time of the report, we had earned 139,000.
[1:07:50] The PIP account for the bond project
[1:07:54] has earned 584,000.
[1:07:56] If you remembered in the board vote for 26 27, we voted
[1:08:00] to be able to retain 700,000
[1:08:04] of the interest earned of the bond.
[1:08:06] So our projections are that we will definitely make meet
[1:08:09] that goal by the end of the fiscal year.
[1:08:12] So we're right on track with the projections of that.
[1:08:16] I also included some of the expenses for bond projects
[1:08:19] that were paid out in the month of March.
[1:08:21] We just had some payments to job and construction
[1:08:25] and actually that was two months worth
[1:08:28] that were paid in March South Range.
[1:08:31] Had some engineering work done by Gale Associates for 4,500
[1:08:35] and we had LaValley Resinger doing some work.
[1:08:38] Those are the architects in the amount of 5,700.
[1:08:41] And that was to work on the specs to get ready to go out
[1:08:45] to bid for East Derry, Barca and Gilbert H Hood.
[1:08:47] And that's for the doors and window replacements.
[1:08:52] Lastly, on that report, we'd like to remind everybody
[1:08:55] regarding the free and reduced applications.
[1:08:57] Christina actually brought two today to me
[1:09:00] that were both approved,
[1:09:01] but those were actually direct certified
[1:09:04] because they were approved through snap.
[1:09:06] And as a reminder, I'd like to make sure I
[1:09:09] Snap is the supplemental nutrition assistance
[1:09:11] program run through the state.
[1:09:14] So people apply to that directly and
[1:09:18] although these two families filled out an application
[1:09:21] with us, it actually would come
[1:09:23] as a direct certification from the state as well.
[1:09:25] So we're happy that those are getting forwarded to us.
[1:09:29] Christina continues to send out notices to families
[1:09:33] or families that seem to be struggling with their accounts
[1:09:37] to make sure that she gets them
[1:09:39] to apply for free and reduced.
[1:09:40] So we feel comfortable with that.
[1:09:43] Also included in your packet.
[1:09:45] Aside from Pancreatin Academy,
[1:09:47] I've also put in the 24 25
[1:09:52] full audit.
[1:09:53] That's 57 pages
[1:09:57] of the financials.
[1:09:59] And also, and that was for 24 25.
[1:10:03] I've also included the single audit for 24 25.
[1:10:06] Again, that focus for the single audit is
[1:10:12] was focused on IDEA,
[1:10:14] which is our Special education Federal Pro grant, as well
[1:10:18] as our ESSO program
[1:10:20] because we had more than 700,000 in that program as well.
[1:10:24] And, and there was also,
[1:10:28] there was one other representation letter
[1:10:30] that was included in there, which had to do with
[1:10:35] long-term leasing in GASB 87.
[1:10:38] So I just wanted to make mention of those of,
[1:10:40] of course in all of those audits
[1:10:42] because the same finding is gonna be there with regards
[1:10:46] to being a super user.
[1:10:47] But I'm very proud I'm over it.
[1:10:49] But I'm very proud of the audit
[1:10:51] because there are no other findings in any
[1:10:54] of the either of those audits.
[1:10:56] And while it's only 57 pages, it's a ton of work
[1:11:00] and a lot of hours of preparing
[1:11:03] and getting through an audit.
[1:11:04] And so I just wanna make sure that I thank
[1:11:07] the staff in the finance department, Glenn Simon,
[1:11:10] Steve Schafer, Patty Doyle, Mary Webster, Tracy Lore.
[1:11:13] They're an amazing group of people in that department
[1:11:16] and they, they do a lot of work a daily basis to make sure
[1:11:20] that our finances are in good standing order
[1:11:22] and meeting governmental accounting standards.
[1:11:26] So just really proud of them. And that's all.
[1:11:30] I also included the general fund expenditures,
[1:11:33] general fund revenues,
[1:11:36] and that is it.
[1:11:39] That's all that was included in there. Any questions
[1:11:42] Briefly? Oh, go
[1:11:43] Ahead.
[1:11:44] Sorry. What's the, the closing date for the free
[1:11:46] and reduced applications for this year?
[1:11:47] Do you know
[1:11:49] That people can apply for the closing
[1:11:51] Date for the free or reduced applications? Free
[1:11:54] And reduced applications?
[1:11:56] I think it's rolling. It's, yeah,
[1:11:58] I don't think there's a closing date.
[1:11:59] So they can apply right till the end of, I think there is
[1:12:01] Actually, I think it was on the, the only reason I know
[1:12:03] this 'cause I dropped off so many applications
[1:12:05] and it was on the
[1:12:06] Application then I, I don't have that,
[1:12:07] but I will find it for you. I think
[1:12:09] It's definitely before the end of the school year.
[1:12:10] And also, do we know what happened
[1:12:11] to 31 students at Pinkerton? Go. I'm
[1:12:13] Gonna gonna speak to that. Okay. Yep.
[1:12:14] Thank you. Taking a note. Okay.
[1:12:19] So in your packet is the trend we shared at finance,
[1:12:22] if you recall, in regards to enrollment at Pinkerton.
[1:12:27] And, and David asked some great questions about it too.
[1:12:29] I, I want to, I think this is great data
[1:12:32] that Jane has just tracked internally
[1:12:34] and we've kind of spoke about it
[1:12:35] through the budgeting process in regard
[1:12:37] to maybe some new norms.
[1:12:39] And interestingly, when we talked about it at finance,
[1:12:41] if you go back to let's j let's just say the difference in
[1:12:45] 1819, we were over budgeted.
[1:12:48] Like we over budgeted the amount of money by 86 students.
[1:12:51] And then last year it was all the way down to,
[1:12:54] to 20 a difference of 20 going into this year.
[1:12:57] You heard us from the beginning, we were under like,
[1:12:59] we did not budget enough for 42, but now we're only at nine.
[1:13:03] Now I, I just want to communicate that
[1:13:05] that means when we got billed the first bill we had to pay
[1:13:08] for an additional 42.
[1:13:10] Right? That's not, even though the numbers have gone down
[1:13:12] since they're, since we're reporting out,
[1:13:14] we still paid that bill.
[1:13:16] What happens between then and now is a couple things.
[1:13:18] One is graduation.
[1:13:20] So students that may not have fulfilled their requirement
[1:13:22] prior to the end of last year, we have
[1:13:25] to pay for that next semester.
[1:13:27] Some may have dropped and went to high set,
[1:13:29] some may have relocated moved
[1:13:32] and some may have homeschooled.
[1:13:34] So there's a variety of factors that we're seeing.
[1:13:37] The the significant, the more significant one that we've,
[1:13:39] we've been noticing is graduation high set
[1:13:42] and then drop to homeschool.
[1:13:45] So that's how those numbers tend to reduce.
[1:13:48] I've been saying, and I'll still say
[1:13:49] that I think next year will become the new trend
[1:13:52] that we're seeing with the people that access the EFAs
[1:13:54] or go to charter K to eight
[1:13:55] and then drop into Pinkerton as a freshman.
[1:13:58] I think that'll become the new trend line.
[1:14:00] And then I think through the budgeting process this fall,
[1:14:03] we'll have a little bit more of an articulate answer.
[1:14:05] 'cause we already have that first
[1:14:06] bill by the time we're coming around.
[1:14:07] So does that answer where
[1:14:08] most of them go? Yes. Thank you. Yep.
[1:14:10] Yeah, what's interesting here is, you know,
[1:14:11] if I'm doing my math right, 22 of the students
[1:14:14] that have dropped since the first billing
[1:14:15] are in 10th and 11th grade.
[1:14:17] Yeah. And there it could be a reco. Yeah.
[1:14:19] So you figure that they're going somewhere. Yep.
[1:14:22] Yeah. Do we get any, like, so you said we already paid
[1:14:24] for those students though We don't get a
[1:14:26] partial reimbursement or anything.
[1:14:28] Yeah, because you pay 'em for, they bill you
[1:14:29] for the days they attend.
[1:14:31] Okay. So we didn't pay for the
[1:14:32] entire year upfront for them. Correct.
[1:14:33] Yep. That's the reduction of those numbers. That's good.
[1:14:37] I mean, the good news here is you budgeted 1374
[1:14:40] to start next year we're at 1354.
[1:14:42] So we're starting on a good Yeah. Good number for next year.
[1:14:45] Yep. We bought a cushion of 20, so that's good. Yeah,
[1:14:48] And that's what we really emphasized in the fall was just
[1:14:50] allowing us to carry over our eighth grade
[1:14:51] and then let's see what happens.
[1:14:53] So thanks everybody. Tina,
[1:14:57] I just wanna say this is good information, good stuff.
[1:15:00] Very high level. Good summary level to, to kind of
[1:15:03] look at it and really easily see where we're at.
[1:15:05] So if I'm reading it right,
[1:15:07] we're about 1,000,004 to the good.
[1:15:09] If, if everything ended today, June 30, if this is June 30.
[1:15:12] Yep. That's good. That's typically where we run.
[1:15:14] That's nothing outta the ordinary.
[1:15:16] So that's a good thing. So thank you.
[1:15:20] Thank you. Thanks Jane. You had a lot tonight.
[1:15:24] Any more questions? Think we'll move on to Mike's update.
[1:15:29] Yeah, you know, it, we had a lot of work out there.
[1:15:32] Interestingly, I, I wasn't gonna mention much,
[1:15:35] but the, the two this evening that came up,
[1:15:37] the five to six sports by Derek.
[1:15:39] I think, and I appreciate Derek coming, it's something
[1:15:41] that's come on my radar in the last 48 hours.
[1:15:44] We had something occur.
[1:15:45] Can't get into details obviously,
[1:15:47] but I learned new m Tri-County rules
[1:15:51] that really impact some of the decision.
[1:15:53] But I also learned that moving the goals
[1:15:56] to move away from Tri-County into N-H-I-A-A rules,
[1:15:58] which will allow a lot more flexibility of what, of
[1:16:00] what Derek was mentioning in regards
[1:16:03] to those, those accounts.
[1:16:04] We've, we've actually overspent right on like
[1:16:08] clubs and activities, right?
[1:16:09] Yeah. Because we've been
[1:16:10] fulfilling anything that comes forward.
[1:16:11] So any request that to come forward,
[1:16:13] whatever club it may be, we're paying for it
[1:16:15] and we're figuring out where to, to locate the,
[1:16:18] the funds and transfer it over.
[1:16:19] So I want to commend everyone at West that's been going
[1:16:22] above and beyond and trying
[1:16:23] to create new activities for the students.
[1:16:25] We have a new field hockey club that's in the motion.
[1:16:27] So some of the challenge that Derek mentioned,
[1:16:29] having low numbers at seven, eight,
[1:16:31] we wanna keep kids involved.
[1:16:32] So they're working on creating a field hockey club,
[1:16:36] you know, not that that's the long term solution,
[1:16:38] but it's definitely on the radar.
[1:16:40] And then, you know, it's,
[1:16:41] the data is always interesting, right?
[1:16:43] Data is what you make of it.
[1:16:45] I think the, the challenging part
[1:16:46] that we face in our profession, and I've said it
[1:16:48] before, is the state data is
[1:16:51] what we typically get reported out on.
[1:16:53] And more specifically, it's on the ballot now,
[1:16:55] so there's no running from it
[1:16:56] and we're not, we're not trying to run from it.
[1:16:58] I think the, I like the idea that, you know,
[1:17:01] we've been talking about it internally, but Mr.
[1:17:03] Tripp mentioned it as well of trying to find the right
[1:17:06] points of the year with the board
[1:17:08] to report out on some type of data, right?
[1:17:11] 'cause we have our own internal data,
[1:17:12] we do our own assessments
[1:17:13] and our own assessments are,
[1:17:14] are far higher than the state assessments
[1:17:16] because we're targeting
[1:17:18] what we're educating or what we're teaching.
[1:17:19] And it's, it's really scaled to what we're doing.
[1:17:23] And then I just, I never want to get too far away from
[1:17:25] what we're creating, right?
[1:17:27] Data is one thing, but as you saw this evening, I'll,
[1:17:29] I'll continue to emphasize it as we bring students,
[1:17:31] we brought fourth graders
[1:17:33] that have leadership that we're developing.
[1:17:35] Where's the data on that, right?
[1:17:37] That, that's showing the skills
[1:17:38] that we're, we're doing for our students.
[1:17:40] Or I mean, my bow tie guy who came up,
[1:17:43] you know, quancy, Mr.
[1:17:45] Quancy there and was like, anyone have any more questions?
[1:17:48] That's called confidence and we're instilling it somewhere.
[1:17:50] So I'm never gonna run from it.
[1:17:52] I'm never gonna be afraid of it. The, the internal goals
[1:17:54] that we have through the curriculum
[1:17:55] department on raising the standard.
[1:17:56] And I'll keep saying we're gonna raise the bar
[1:17:58] around here and we're gonna expect big things.
[1:18:01] So I I, I don't want anyone to think
[1:18:02] that we're trying not to answer those questions.
[1:18:04] We're just trying to figure out where we're going
[1:18:06] and how to get there and, and we're
[1:18:07] doing a lot of good things internally.
[1:18:08] So two weeks April break, it's a big thing for us.
[1:18:12] It's been a long stretch for us in this world.
[1:18:15] You know, the I New England,
[1:18:18] we love talking about the weather,
[1:18:19] but the weather does impact us with our operations.
[1:18:22] A lot of inside recess creates a lot of long days,
[1:18:25] creates a lot of antsy stuff.
[1:18:27] It's been a long stretch since February breaks.
[1:18:29] So I think everyone's looking to kind
[1:18:30] of letting the steam out and coming back
[1:18:32] for the last stretch of seven weeks.
[1:18:34] So that's it from us.
[1:18:36] Thanks Mike. Yeah, to go back to the, the,
[1:18:39] the sports thing, you know, when we were going
[1:18:43] through the restructuring, there were some, you know,
[1:18:46] casual discussions of the idea of an alliance
[1:18:49] with the other districts that have five six schools,
[1:18:52] which I think is Wyndham Bedford, I think
[1:18:57] is, is five, has five six school, you know, where
[1:19:00] that the five six, you know, you'd form a five six team
[1:19:04] and they would travel with the middle school teams to,
[1:19:07] you know, go play at the,
[1:19:08] the five six team at those other schools.
[1:19:11] And I think that there, there might have been some
[1:19:13] preliminary discussions
[1:19:14] with those districts about this idea.
[1:19:17] So I mean that's something I think would be interesting,
[1:19:20] you know, interesting to look into,
[1:19:22] To, I think the challenge is it wasn't on
[1:19:23] my radar until it is, right?
[1:19:24] So this thing that popped up is a benefit.
[1:19:27] So now I've started to ask questions
[1:19:30] and recall the conversations
[1:19:31] that were happening previous, this is the challenge, right?
[1:19:33] I'm new, I'm still new, I get to play that card
[1:19:35] for a couple more months.
[1:19:38] So it's like, all right, well why was it made then?
[1:19:41] And what can we do differently? 'cause I am,
[1:19:44] and that's why we're, we've spent all the money,
[1:19:46] I want kids engaged, I want them busy,
[1:19:49] nothing good happens from sitting around.
[1:19:52] I was a busy body myself.
[1:19:53] So anything that we can provide is an opportunity.
[1:19:56] I think going to NHIA really allows a lot
[1:19:58] of flex flexibility within the districts and the schools.
[1:20:02] And we're gonna run into new challenges then, right?
[1:20:04] So how do we get kids from one building to the next?
[1:20:06] Only kids that have, right?
[1:20:07] Like, there's still other things that are gonna be created,
[1:20:10] but we want to keep kids busy.
[1:20:11] We want to have full teams
[1:20:13] or you know, the boys, the cross team
[1:20:15] that didn't run at Hood, you know,
[1:20:16] we talked about do we join with Hamstead
[1:20:18] and then you ran into those.
[1:20:19] So those discussions are being had,
[1:20:21] but we have to come to some, some better answers
[1:20:23] of of what's going on now.
[1:20:24] So we're on it.
[1:20:28] All right, any more questions for Mike?
[1:20:32] We will move on to committee and liaison reports.
[1:20:34] First step will be Jen with an update from the
[1:20:36] curriculum and assessment committee.
[1:20:38] The last meeting of the curriculum committee was
[1:20:40] on Thursday, March 26th.
[1:20:42] Feels like a very long time ago now.
[1:20:44] There were two topics of conversation during that meeting.
[1:20:47] First was the discussion of the public facing guides
[1:20:50] and the second was the three year rolling curriculum review.
[1:20:55] Both of these topics address school
[1:20:56] board goals for this year.
[1:20:59] The first topic was really a status update about
[1:21:01] the public facing guides.
[1:21:03] Once approved, these guides will be available on the
[1:21:05] district website and they'll cover our Q
[1:21:07] eight and all content areas.
[1:21:09] Kim provided an update on where she's at with those guides
[1:21:12] and the committee decided
[1:21:13] to essentially make this like a two tier process rather than
[1:21:15] having them all completed at once and then published.
[1:21:19] There'd be like a process by which the first tier
[1:21:23] overview is provided
[1:21:24] and then a second more deeper dive tier would be added on
[1:21:29] after the fact once they're completed.
[1:21:32] So Kim provided an update about that goal.
[1:21:35] And then the second topic of discussion
[1:21:37] and the bulk of the conversation was about the three year
[1:21:40] three phase rolling curriculum review process.
[1:21:43] We started calling it a three year rolling curriculum
[1:21:45] review, but really it's 3 3 3 phase process.
[1:21:49] Again, this directly relates to one
[1:21:51] of the school board's goals in the curriculum area
[1:21:53] for this year, Kim walked us through a draft
[1:21:56] of what she's created.
[1:21:58] So, and that draft basically articulates the purpose
[1:22:01] of the review, the steps involved in each phase
[1:22:04] of the process, the stakeholders involved in the process
[1:22:08] and the evaluation criteria for the curriculum review.
[1:22:12] I wanna give a very sincere thank you to Kim
[1:22:14] for the work on this protocol.
[1:22:15] I was very pleased with the progress
[1:22:16] that's been made in developing this review process.
[1:22:20] The committee members are able to weigh in
[1:22:21] with feedback on the framework that Kim developed.
[1:22:26] I believe the district as a whole
[1:22:27] and the curriculum department in particular are all striving
[1:22:29] to be more data-driven, evidence-based
[1:22:31] and forward thinking in our decision making.
[1:22:34] And this development of a three phase rolling curriculum
[1:22:37] review is a very positive step forward in ensuring
[1:22:40] that we're heading in that, in that direction.
[1:22:43] I was also very pleased to see
[1:22:44] that teachers will play an active role in this process
[1:22:46] because I believe that they know the curriculum needs
[1:22:48] of our students the best.
[1:22:49] And it is so critical to have teacher buy-in when we are
[1:22:52] investing in new curriculum programming in our or or
[1:22:55] and resources within the district.
[1:22:58] I'd also like to highlight, because again,
[1:23:00] I know Mike just mentioned it in his own superintendent
[1:23:02] update, but this rolling curriculum review
[1:23:06] as a school board goal doesn't directly relate
[1:23:08] to assessment scores
[1:23:10] or provide a data point for assessment scores.
[1:23:13] But I would like to highlight
[1:23:14] that when a process like this is followed with fidelity,
[1:23:16] the result is an investment in quality curriculum
[1:23:19] programming and resources that teachers support
[1:23:22] that they're excited to use
[1:23:23] and to teach with in the classroom.
[1:23:26] That will elevate instruction in the district
[1:23:28] and that will result in higher assessment
[1:23:31] scores in our district.
[1:23:33] Finally, I'd like to say
[1:23:34] that I've enjoyed co-chairing my co-chairing the curriculum
[1:23:38] committee with Kim over the past,
[1:23:41] I don't know, nine months now.
[1:23:42] It hasn't been a full year, but I'd say for nine months Kim
[1:23:44] and I have collaborated on this committee together.
[1:23:47] I really enjoyed my time co-chairing with Kim.
[1:23:50] I'm passing the Baton de Jenna as curriculum chair.
[1:23:54] I'm not going anywhere. I remain steadfast in my
[1:23:57] commitment to the curriculum area.
[1:23:59] I look forward to continuing to make contributions to
[1:24:01] that committee and I'm very excited about the direction
[1:24:04] that we're heading in this realm.
[1:24:06] Mike, I totally forgot.
[1:24:08] My real important part was enrollment update.
[1:24:10] Brenda asked me about it. Can I go back to, okay.
[1:24:12] So Brenda reached, reached out about an enrollment, kind
[1:24:14] of a big deal, had reached out about an enrollment update.
[1:24:18] I think more importantly it's in your packet, which is fine,
[1:24:20] but I'd like to focus on the
[1:24:21] kindergarten enrollment if you don't mind.
[1:24:23] Really quickly, this year we changed our practice
[1:24:27] not opening enrollment until after February break.
[1:24:30] I would say that was a benefit for us.
[1:24:31] We got a lot more people that were paying attention.
[1:24:33] So rather than a trickle in effect,
[1:24:35] we had a pretty hard hit quickly.
[1:24:37] So I think our numbers are settling in.
[1:24:39] Interestingly, we're probably gonna have some
[1:24:41] discussions as a board in May.
[1:24:42] As you can see, the number of enrollees at
[1:24:46] Barca is at its highest ever right now at 90.
[1:24:48] And actually East Dairies at nearly 70.
[1:24:51] So when we talk about overflow,
[1:24:52] it's been barca the last couple years.
[1:24:54] It's not gonna be barca this year, right?
[1:24:57] If you're looking at the other schools,
[1:24:58] those numbers are are lower.
[1:24:59] So we're gonna have to have discussions on what do we do
[1:25:02] with overflow if that's where it heads
[1:25:04] or are we talking about adding
[1:25:07] a teacher or moving a teacher?
[1:25:08] Those, those types of discussions.
[1:25:09] So we want to find a balancing act at kindergarten.
[1:25:12] I'm, if I'm being honest with this group, it's weird
[1:25:15] to me still because the thought of overflow, I still don't,
[1:25:20] it doesn't sit well with me.
[1:25:22] I, I want to try
[1:25:23] and make sure that that kids
[1:25:24] are going to where they're gonna be.
[1:25:25] It's hard to send someone one, one year
[1:25:27] and then move them back the next, right?
[1:25:28] So we're trying to find that line of, of
[1:25:30] what we can accommodate and what we can succeed.
[1:25:33] So you can look for principles and us are already on it,
[1:25:35] but we might come for some recommendations on May on,
[1:25:38] on trying to evaluate that.
[1:25:39] So everything else is pretty standard in there.
[1:25:41] If you have any questions, sorry about that.
[1:25:44] It's okay. Alright
[1:25:46] Janet, finance committee update.
[1:25:49] You know, I have to say that trying
[1:25:51] to take the baton from Jen with curriculum
[1:25:54] and how she writes, I am going to sadly fall behind
[1:25:58] because here I come from finance
[1:26:00] and everything I have to say is everything
[1:26:02] that Jane always says.
[1:26:04] So I have no real update
[1:26:05] because basically we talked about the full
[1:26:09] and single audit being completed.
[1:26:11] We talked about the PANCREATIN numbers,
[1:26:14] which she's already gone over the ninth student difference
[1:26:17] that she did also mention
[1:26:19] that we were down in special ed numbers as well.
[1:26:21] And if I'm correct, my numbers I have down, we were at 2 41
[1:26:25] and now we're at 2 22.
[1:26:27] Does that sound right Shane? Yes. Okay.
[1:26:30] So there's one bit of information
[1:26:32] and Mike did mention that we are gonna start discussing end
[1:26:36] of year projects such as the intercom system
[1:26:40] that is hopefully going to get put into the schools
[1:26:44] and that that was still, I guess being researched.
[1:26:47] I'm not sure where we are in that.
[1:26:48] We still have people evaluating
[1:26:50] and then the bids will be coming in.
[1:26:51] But that's a great point.
[1:26:52] If you don't mind, can I really quickly, yeah.
[1:26:54] So what I'll be doing in May is coming to you with a list
[1:26:56] of, I'll call 'em hanging chads, you know, the things
[1:26:58] that have been hanging out there repeatedly.
[1:27:01] And we'll come with more of a balance.
[1:27:03] I know David brought it up, kind of of
[1:27:05] what we have to, to deal with.
[1:27:06] So you can make a recommendation to do a project,
[1:27:09] you can make a recommendation to retain like all of those,
[1:27:11] those fun things you get to do.
[1:27:12] But I want to start it in May so
[1:27:14] that you can have decisions either the second meeting in May
[1:27:17] or the, the, the meeting in June.
[1:27:18] So thanks for a reminder. Yep.
[1:27:21] And that was pretty much what we covered in finance.
[1:27:23] And I will be passing the baton, thankfully over to David.
[1:27:28] No. Oh man. Oh, Karen.
[1:27:31] Oh, okay Karen, have fun.
[1:27:36] All right. And I believe we had a next charter school
[1:27:39] board of trustees meeting.
[1:27:41] No, I fun. Do you have anything to report from that?
[1:27:44] The one thing I do have to say, it feel so bad for next,
[1:27:48] the leak that hood had.
[1:27:50] The flood. The flood, yeah, the flood.
[1:27:52] The flood really did a number downstairs.
[1:27:56] 'cause of course NEX is in the basement.
[1:27:57] So they had a lot of damage in some of the back rooms.
[1:28:01] The, that piping hot water came down
[1:28:03] and dissolved their ceiling tiles
[1:28:05] and went directly into their ceramics room where all
[1:28:09] of the kids had all of their projects
[1:28:11] that had just recently been completed.
[1:28:13] But before they were kiln put in the kiln,
[1:28:16] they were all ruined, thankfully.
[1:28:19] Obviously it was done on the weekend
[1:28:20] and no children were hurt.
[1:28:21] So that's the upside.
[1:28:23] But they did, there's a lot
[1:28:25] of drywall that needs to be replaced.
[1:28:27] All their projects were gone. There's missing ceiling tiles.
[1:28:30] So that was kind of tough.
[1:28:32] But thankfully it didn't touch any of the new side
[1:28:35] that they just had completed.
[1:28:36] So if it's not one thing, it's another.
[1:28:40] The one really cool thing I'd like to highlight that we got
[1:28:42] to see was that they have a new program there that a bunch
[1:28:45] of sewing machines have been donated to the program
[1:28:49] and somebody's coming in in to volunteer
[1:28:52] and is teaching the kids how to do quilting.
[1:28:55] So they're working it as part of their competency.
[1:28:57] They're either writing about it
[1:28:59] or they're doing math involved in it.
[1:29:01] They're working as part of their program,
[1:29:03] but some of the work that they're doing is just stunning.
[1:29:05] All the materials have been donated, like I said,
[1:29:09] the, the sewing machines.
[1:29:11] And they're taking time to make these beautiful quilts
[1:29:13] and they're donating them to,
[1:29:16] I believe it was a hospital program.
[1:29:18] And also they're gonna be making some lap blankets
[1:29:22] for like senior citizens
[1:29:23] that are being transported from like doctor's appointments
[1:29:27] that can't have full blankets.
[1:29:28] They just have nice little lap blankets.
[1:29:30] So that's their next project.
[1:29:32] So that was really nice to see.
[1:29:33] And the last thing is, I know
[1:29:36] that they have graduation coming up.
[1:29:38] They're going to have a whopping 11 students this year.
[1:29:42] This is one of their smaller classes that they've had.
[1:29:45] And of course they're extending the,
[1:29:47] we will be extending the invitation out to the school board
[1:29:49] and to administration.
[1:29:50] And they would very much like for Mr. Flynn to come
[1:29:54] and take a peek and go tour next, take a peek at the place
[1:29:58] and then welcome you to their graduation.
[1:30:00] Awesome.
[1:30:03] All right, thank you. Jenna. Next
[1:30:05] to our business will be member
[1:30:07] updates and any other business.
[1:30:09] I have a couple of things to mention.
[1:30:11] First, the New Hampshire School Boards Association issued
[1:30:14] its call for resolutions
[1:30:15] that would be considered at the
[1:30:16] next delegate assembly in October.
[1:30:18] As a member board, we can submit proposed new resolutions
[1:30:21] or amendments to current resolutions.
[1:30:23] In the past, I know our dairy board has proposed,
[1:30:25] has proposed a resolution relating to school meals
[1:30:27] that was adopted at the assembly.
[1:30:29] So if any member would like to suggest a proposed
[1:30:32] or amended resolution to submit, let me know.
[1:30:34] We can schedule it to be brought before the board.
[1:30:36] The deadline for submissions is July 3rd,
[1:30:39] so the board would need to act on
[1:30:40] that no later than our June 23rd meeting.
[1:30:43] And I'll also be looking for volunteers later in the year
[1:30:46] to attend the assembly as our voting delegate and alternate.
[1:30:50] I also want to note a couple of pieces
[1:30:52] of significant legislation to keep our eye on
[1:30:54] and Concord, SB 1 0 1 relative to open enrollment
[1:30:58] and HP 1563 relative to special education funding.
[1:31:01] Those continue to wind their way through the State House.
[1:31:04] So I would advise everyone
[1:31:06] to keep their eye on those two bills
[1:31:07] and advocate as you see fit.
[1:31:10] Did anyone else have anything for tonight?
[1:31:12] I do. I went to Hood School.
[1:31:16] They had an author come in
[1:31:18] and everybody read the book because of Mr.
[1:31:22] Tar. This guy, he's a local author, Rob Bowie,
[1:31:25] he's from North Endo.
[1:31:27] Phenomenal. I can't say enough good things.
[1:31:30] Kim Conan, thank you very much
[1:31:32] for bringing this book forward.
[1:31:34] Very uplifting. He actually, he was right there
[1:31:38] where the kids are at.
[1:31:39] He met them there even to the point of AI
[1:31:42] and how a lot of people are now writing with ai,
[1:31:44] but it's not personal anymore
[1:31:46] and he doesn't understand how that's gonna happen.
[1:31:48] And it was just really cute what he did, but high energy
[1:31:52] and very well done.
[1:31:55] That's great. That's awesome To hear.
[1:31:56] And he signed my book.
[1:31:58] It's awesome to hear about those kinds of opportunities
[1:32:00] that our kids get in the district.
[1:32:03] The only thing I would add is to Michael's point about
[1:32:05] watching different legislation, so we have a member
[1:32:07] of the audience who comes every week or every meeting.
[1:32:10] I would encourage, encourage updates from your run two Mr.
[1:32:14] Trip since you're here
[1:32:16] and you can give us updates, what your thoughts are and,
[1:32:19] and what we can do as a community to support efforts
[1:32:23] to our local school board.
[1:32:24] So keep that in mind next,
[1:32:26] next time you come to the meetings.
[1:32:27] So thank you. You welcome.
[1:32:30] Oh, I I would like to respond to David.
[1:32:35] I'll give you the opportunity.
[1:32:39] Simple request. Unfortunately,
[1:32:43] I don't sit on finance, I sit on judiciary,
[1:32:48] you know, so I've, if I have an
[1:32:52] intimate knowledge on any bills, you know, it's,
[1:32:55] it's something that comes to the judiciary.
[1:32:57] So how do you vote The future?
[1:32:58] I do. Wait minute. If you
[1:32:58] Don't have knowledge, how do you vote?
[1:33:01] I, I was going to tell you, you know, got you.
[1:33:06] You and you were interrupting me. That's fine.
[1:33:09] I'm just gonna back set down and you had no, alright,
[1:33:13] Let's give Mr.
[1:33:14] Trip the opportunity to explain and then we'll leave
[1:33:16] It at that.
[1:33:17] I, so I, I, I spent a lot of time on our bills and,
[1:33:22] and, and the other bills.
[1:33:24] I think we had, I think it was close
[1:33:27] to a hundred bills one day, you know, so I,
[1:33:30] I I readily admit that I was not up
[1:33:33] to speed on all the bills,
[1:33:34] but you know, I tried to, you know, to read all the bills
[1:33:38] and, and, and,
[1:33:39] and look at the reports that the, the committees submit,
[1:33:43] you know, after the exec.
[1:33:45] So it's, we are not, I,
[1:33:49] everybody thinks
[1:33:50] that all we do up in Concord is eat cake and ice cream.
[1:33:54] That's not true.
[1:33:59] Sorry. That's
[1:33:59] All right.
[1:34:00] All right. Thank you Richard. Thank you.
[1:34:04] So if we have nothing else for tonight,
[1:34:06] our upcoming meeting schedule in May,
[1:34:08] we will meet on Tuesday, May 12th,
[1:34:10] and Tuesday May 26th,
[1:34:11] both at 6:30 PM here at the municipal center.
[1:34:15] That will wrap up our public agenda.
[1:34:17] The board will be going into non-public session tonight.
[1:34:19] So I would accept a motion
[1:34:20] to enter non-public session pursuant
[1:34:22] to RSA 91 a Section three, paragraph two, subparagraph L.
[1:34:27] So moved First by Jen second. Second by Jenna.
[1:34:30] The statute requires a roll call vote. David. Yes. Karen?
[1:34:35] Yes. Jamie? Yes. Jenna? Yes. Jen? Yes. Brenda? Yes.
[1:34:40] Chair votes? Yes. Motion carries. Seven zero. The board.
[1:34:44] Will I move to the training room?
[1:34:45] Goodnight everyone and enjoy your April vacation.