[0:00] Of course.
[0:02] Good evening everyone. I will now call this meeting
[0:04] of the Dairy School Board to order.
[0:05] Please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance,
[0:10] PGI Allegiance to lie of the United States of America,
[0:14] to the Republic which stands Nation under indivisible.
[0:19] Liberty Justice.
[0:24] Thank you everyone.
[0:26] We will start with the roll call if everyone can introduce
[0:28] themselves, starting from my right,
[0:30] Joe Crawford, Assistant Superintendent,
[0:32] Jane Ard, business administrator,
[0:34] Michael Flynn, superintendent Brenda School Board.
[0:36] Michael Field School Board Chair,
[0:39] Jen Thoro, school Board, vice Chair, Jenna Paradise,
[0:41] school Board Secretary, Jamie Crew, school Board.
[0:44] Karen Rand, school Board.
[0:46] Good evening. David Clap, school Board.
[0:48] Thank you everybody. Our first order
[0:51] of business will be the consent agenda for tonight.
[0:53] We have the public hearing minutes of May 26th, 2026,
[0:57] the public meeting, minutes of May 26th, 2026,
[1:01] the non-public meeting, minutes of May 26th, 2026,
[1:05] and the manifests in the amount of $4,005,196 and 8 cents.
[1:10] Of which 2,000,900, $4,963 and 98 cents is general payroll
[1:15] and $1,100,232 and 10 cents is general expense.
[1:20] Do I have a motion to accept the consent agenda?
[1:22] So moved first by Jenna. Second. Second by Jamie.
[1:27] Is there any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor?
[1:31] Aye. Aye. All opposed. Motion carries. Seven zero.
[1:36] Next up we're gonna be welcoming our department directors
[1:39] from the SAU office for their end of year reports.
[1:41] Thanks Mike. This is the end of the year report.
[1:45] The, the heavy lifting is in your board packet
[1:47] with their extensive reports at the end of the year.
[1:50] They're gonna give highlights
[1:51] and certainly ask any questions.
[1:53] Jeremy has been excused from this meeting,
[1:57] so those questions will be directed at me towards the end.
[1:59] So without further ado, Dr. Dancy.
[2:02] Looks like you're ready to go first.
[2:12] Hello Is is on. Good, good evening.
[2:16] The 25 26 school year has been a busy one
[2:18] for the both the information services and transportation.
[2:22] The department continued to support the technology systems
[2:25] that staff, students, and families rely on every day,
[2:28] while also leading several important improvement
[2:32] projects across the district.
[2:34] Major accomplishments included replacing aging wireless
[2:37] access points, improving cybersecurity protections,
[2:41] distributing new teacher laptops,
[2:43] introducing copier badge access,
[2:46] enhancing district communications and social media outreach
[2:49] and redesigning webpages to make information easier
[2:52] for the community to find important information.
[2:54] The department also supported the transition
[2:56] to new state reporting requirements, is in the process
[3:00] of expanding Google Services through a grant
[3:03] and has begun planning infrastructure,
[3:05] infrastructure projects such
[3:07] as managed fiber service at East Area School,
[3:10] a new PA system throughout the district,
[3:12] and charging stations
[3:13] for the district's incoming electric bus fleet.
[3:16] In addition to these projects,
[3:18] the department continued providing daily support
[3:20] for classroom student devices, staff technology,
[3:24] security cameras, phone systems, websites,
[3:26] software platforms and district operational systems.
[3:29] During the year, the team responded
[3:31] to more than 2,500 help desk requests while maintaining a
[3:35] high level of service across all schools and departments.
[3:38] In the transportation world.
[3:40] Joe and I facilitated the school start times task force
[3:43] composed of teachers, staff, administrators,
[3:45] board members, and parents.
[3:47] After months of research, discussion
[3:49] and community involvement, the committee's recommendation
[3:51] was adopted by you all and I thank you very much.
[3:54] I'd like to take this moment to publicly
[3:57] recognize the guys behind the curtain.
[3:58] Dan Boyle, our student data administrator, John Harding,
[4:02] our media coordinator, Dan Scanlan, our lead technician
[4:06] and technician at Grinnell and East Airi.
[4:09] Simon Hasek, our technician at Gilbert Hood.
[4:12] Tyler Timlin, the technician at West Running Brook
[4:15] and Dylan Scott, our technician at South Range.
[4:18] And Ernest p Barka.
[4:21] I thank all of them for the fine work
[4:23] that they do every day.
[4:24] And that's my report. Any questions?
[4:27] Questions for Dr. D? I do. Thanks Cliff.
[4:30] So my last year on the board, the year
[4:32] before last, we had a meeting with first student at,
[4:34] near the end of my term and we had talked about the whole
[4:37] electric bus and what we can do to help recoup some
[4:41] of the costs that they're gonna save with new fleets
[4:44] that were funded by the federal government.
[4:46] With the budget coming up in October, September, October,
[4:50] when would be an appropriate time to restart
[4:52] that conversation with first student?
[4:53] Because I really believe there needs to be some,
[4:59] kickback's the wrong word, but you know what I mean?
[5:00] There needs to be some something that we should get
[5:03] as a result, some sort of savings on our contract
[5:05] as a result of them getting new buses
[5:08] on the behalf of the federal government.
[5:09] So I'll leave, I'll leave that in you guy.
[5:11] You don't have to answer right now, but think about that.
[5:13] If you could do me a favor and think about when the
[5:14] appropriate time is, just to recall that committee and,
[5:17] and discuss this with first a student so we can
[5:21] get any savings that we might get
[5:24] and can, we can recognize it in the budget in the fall.
[5:26] That'd be very helpful.
[5:28] Well, Dave, every time I brought up the subject
[5:30] of electric buses, that that question comes up
[5:33] and honestly we haven't talked about it yet
[5:35] because for a little while we didn't
[5:37] know if we were actually gonna get them.
[5:38] And so we really don't want to talk about it
[5:41] until we actually see the buses on the, on the property.
[5:43] But once we see the infrastructure is there
[5:46] and we know that the buses are coming, then certainly yes.
[5:49] I would think that in the fall we'll be talking about that.
[5:52] Since the contract is negotiations are gonna come up,
[5:54] not in this coming school year,
[5:55] but the following school year.
[5:58] I appreciate it. It's just one
[6:00] of those being proactive kind of things.
[6:01] Sure. That we wanna make sure we get it on our calendar.
[6:03] 'cause I feel really strongly about this
[6:05] and I have for a couple years now that we are, I think
[6:08] as a district we deserved some, some savings from that
[6:13] big increase we got certainly
[6:14] four years ago, three years ago.
[6:17] I have a quick question also in regards to the buses.
[6:20] So we are not going to be owners
[6:22] of the buses of Of the buses.
[6:24] Of the buses. First student still will own them.
[6:28] When you talked about the, the charging stations, is
[6:32] that going to, that cost going to be incurred by us
[6:35] or they are gonna be the ones who owned all also own that?
[6:38] We own nothing. Okay. Of the bus company. We own nothing.
[6:42] Okay. They own everything.
[6:44] The grant was based on our free and reduced status.
[6:48] That was what gave us the leg up
[6:50] as far as the other districts.
[6:52] Oh, I thought you were correcting me. Oh no.
[6:55] But other than that they were, they own everything
[6:59] and if for some reason we broke our contract
[7:02] with them, they would keep the buses.
[7:04] Okay. So, so the stations aren't gonna
[7:06] be anywhere on our properties.
[7:08] It's going to be something that they
[7:09] No, it's all at the first student based over there on.
[7:14] Okay. Yeah. 1 21.
[7:15] Okay. Thank you. Any other questions?
[7:20] I had a quick question. Who is it that takes care
[7:23] of creating the content that goes on the website?
[7:26] That is a team effort.
[7:29] Just about anybody that submits something to me
[7:32] and says, Hey, can we get this on the website?
[7:34] We do not have a communications director
[7:37] that dreams up all this stuff.
[7:39] It, I put it there when it needs to be revised.
[7:43] I do put on my creative cap and try to make it look better.
[7:46] But other than that it's really, I did create,
[7:50] within the communications committee a, a way to meet
[7:54] with every director and every principal as far as
[7:57] submitting stuff to be put on the website.
[8:00] But there is no central person other than me being
[8:02] the vehicle to put it on there.
[8:03] Yeah. Yeah.
[8:05] I wonder, I know we used to have a, you know,
[8:07] there was it a technology leader stipend
[8:09] and there was a teacher in each school
[8:10] that I think actually ran the, the websites back
[8:13] before we had this platform. Right.
[8:16] They did the individual schools. They didn't do the
[8:18] Yeah. The individual school websites.
[8:19] Yeah. Right before that, Tracy Graham was responsible
[8:23] to do what I have been doing.
[8:26] Yeah. For the website. But we really haven't had anybody.
[8:29] Yeah. That was one of the, one of the responsibilities
[8:33] of the technology lead teacher.
[8:35] It was certainly not their main responsibility. Yeah.
[8:38] It's not their only thing. Yeah. Yeah.
[8:40] But what I've done with the new sites is limited
[8:44] each school's content
[8:47] and directed most of it back to the district site.
[8:50] Because I don't, what we don't want is
[8:52] to have multiple versions of the same information
[8:55] out on different school sites that can be conflicting.
[8:59] Yeah. Yeah.
[9:00] I mean, I wonder if it might be worth looking at somewhere
[9:02] down the road, you know, like a more limited stipend,
[9:05] you know, for a teacher at each school to create content,
[9:09] not run the website post things,
[9:11] but to, you know, provide content, things
[9:13] that are going on at the schools, photos, stuff like that.
[9:16] We do have the tell our story initiative
[9:19] that I've been working with the principals
[9:21] with every month about this year.
[9:23] John Harding went into this this spring.
[9:26] He went into each school and took about 150 pictures
[9:29] and those are being cycled through the school's,
[9:32] websites and social media.
[9:33] And so I just, it's, it's, it's a process of, I have
[9:38] to have the, the principals go through the pictures,
[9:40] identify the kids that can't be posted on there
[9:43] and then give me some sort of context
[9:45] of what's going on in the picture.
[9:47] Believe it or not, that takes a lot of effort by the and
[9:51] and so it's not always as fast as we would like it to be.
[9:55] Alright, well thanks for that
[9:59] One last question on the buses back to them.
[10:01] Are we still looking at a December stat time for that?
[10:05] The last I heard was late October, early November.
[10:08] Awesome.
[10:12] Thank you Dr. Nancy.
[10:14] You're quite welcome. Nancy.
[10:18] Your call anyone?
[10:27] Hello everybody. How are you doing?
[10:31] Alright, so let's get right into this.
[10:32] So this year was a really a foundational year
[10:36] for the Human Resources Department.
[10:38] My goal wasn't to come in and change everything.
[10:42] It was to learn, build relationships
[10:45] and evaluate our processes
[10:47] and identify any areas for improvement.
[10:51] What I'm most proud of is that we created a team
[10:54] that embraces change.
[10:56] Every idea that I brought forward, Kim
[10:58] and Mary Ellen were willing to take on.
[11:00] And together we challenged ourselves
[11:03] to find better ways of doing things.
[11:06] We focused heavily on modernization and efficiency.
[11:09] Whether it was moving fingerprinting out
[11:11] of the SAU transitioning teacher contracts to panoc
[11:16] redesigning the staff portal for it to be more user friendly
[11:19] or implementing a new remuneration process.
[11:23] Our goal was to spend less time on administrative work
[11:26] and more time on supporting our employees in our schools.
[11:29] In your packet you saw that we fingerprinted,
[11:32] or you know, externally employees were fingerprinted
[11:35] 236 for fun.
[11:38] I decided to ask Mary Ellen how much time it took them
[11:40] to fingerprint one employee
[11:42] and it took them 20 minutes per employee.
[11:44] So that's about 78 hours
[11:46] that we got back in the human resources department
[11:48] to work on efficiency, operations,
[11:52] processes, things like that.
[11:53] So I just wanted to throw that piece in there.
[11:56] We also spent a great time of defining
[12:00] responsibilities within the, the department.
[12:01] So just establishing some clearer lanes between the three
[12:04] of us and building systems
[12:06] that will support the district long after this year.
[12:10] Most importantly,
[12:12] I believe we built a human resources department
[12:14] that is approachable, responsive, and focused on service.
[12:19] The work reflected in this report is a direct result
[12:22] of a team that genuinely cares about the district
[12:25] and the people that work here.
[12:27] I couldn't be more proud of what we accomplished this year
[12:30] and I'm excited about where we're headed next.
[12:33] I know Mary Ellen and Kim will hate me for this,
[12:35] but shout out they were the best thing
[12:39] to happen to me this school year.
[12:40] I couldn't have asked for a better team
[12:43] and I'm just super grateful for them.
[12:44] So, thank you.
[12:48] Questions? I had a quick question.
[12:49] How is I, I lost all your numbers.
[12:53] How are you doing in the substitute teacher area?
[12:56] Are you finding that you have, I saw
[12:58] that there were I think 38 new ones
[13:00] or 38 people came in this year to be fingerprinted.
[13:03] How are the classes being supported by subs this year?
[13:07] Are you still lacking or is everyone getting
[13:09] the coverage that they need?
[13:11] I think we're still lacking in some areas for sure.
[13:13] I think what we've seen, and I still have to pull this data
[13:16] 'cause I wanted to wait till the end of the school year
[13:18] for some other purposes,
[13:19] but I think I pulled some data at the middle of the year
[13:22] to see how many substitutes we have fingerprinted
[13:25] and how many have actually worked.
[13:28] I'm gonna be completely honest with you, I forget
[13:29] that percentage, but I'd be more than happy to get
[13:31] that number over to you guys.
[13:32] But I do know that we could always use more subs.
[13:35] So if you know anybody, please push them to apply.
[13:39] 'cause I don't think we'll ever have enough.
[13:41] Okay. It's a quick question for you.
[13:45] What challeng are you seeing trying
[13:47] to get our contracted services down from,
[13:49] I I assume it's all like OT speech, those kind of positions.
[13:53] What, what challenges are you seeing?
[13:54] Is it a just availability of people?
[13:56] Is it wage rate or what, what are you seeing as the
[13:59] driving force of struggling to hire these positions?
[14:03] I can't speak on that
[14:05] 'cause I don't, I'm not heavily involved in the contracted
[14:08] services portion of those related services that we need.
[14:11] But I'd be more than happy to work with Laura
[14:14] and see if there's anything that we can do to work together
[14:16] to make sure that we're, you know,
[14:17] not filling it with anyone.
[14:19] I use school psychs as a, it's always the example I use
[14:20] 'cause it's the hardest for any district, not just dairy.
[14:23] And it's, it's, it's the wages that are tied to the,
[14:26] the collective bargaining agreement, right?
[14:27] So no matter where you place the school psych,
[14:30] if they're in the bargaining unit, they can make 30%, 40,
[14:33] sometimes 40% more outside of it.
[14:35] So they're getting jobs with these agencies and then supply
[14:38] and demand plays, right?
[14:39] And so that's districts
[14:42] or education is gonna have
[14:45] to really think about contracted services
[14:47] or service providers
[14:48] and whether they should belong
[14:49] in a collective bargaining agreement.
[14:50] You know, there's a lot to that.
[14:52] I know that's a simple statement, but there's a lot to that.
[14:55] But the, what they're making outside of it, you know, they,
[14:58] they know better than to, to join a district.
[15:01] Yep. Cool. Questions?
[15:06] All right. Thank you. Awesome. Thanks guys. That's all.
[15:17] Hello everyone. So I am so proud tonight
[15:21] to share several highlights
[15:22] that reflect our tremendous work really
[15:25] that's happening across our district this year.
[15:29] Our team, which is Erin Rinard, our elementary coordinator,
[15:32] Patty Thomas, who's here, our secondary coordinator
[15:36] and then Mitch Edwards.
[15:38] Our, our goal this year was really to strengthen curriculum,
[15:42] improve instruction, use data to inform decisions
[15:46] and ensure that every student has access
[15:48] to high quality learning opportunities across the district.
[15:52] In literacy, we continue to strengthen our K
[15:55] to four framework through the science of Reading
[15:57] and Uly Foundation that is aligned to all
[16:00] of our instructional materials.
[16:02] This has also allowed us to create a consistent
[16:05] and coherent learning progression in our, throughout our,
[16:08] all of our elementary schools in math.
[16:11] Our math specialists and teachers continued their work
[16:13] through the targeted focus block,
[16:16] focusing groups using assessment data to provide students
[16:18] with additional support
[16:20] or enrichment based on the individual
[16:22] needs of those students.
[16:24] This work has strengthened our number sense mathematical
[16:27] reasoning and personalized instruction
[16:29] for students across the district.
[16:31] The results of these efforts are encouraging District-wide,
[16:35] 60% of our students met achievement benchmarks in English
[16:39] language arts and 59% met benchmark achievement
[16:43] benchmarks in mathematics.
[16:45] More importantly. And that's
[16:46] through the NWEA assessment data.
[16:49] More importantly, this marks the second consecutive year
[16:53] of strong growth
[16:54] and achievement across all of our elementary grades.
[16:57] Demonstrating that our systems and instructional practices
[17:01] we have put in place are making a positive difference
[17:04] for our students at our
[17:06] intermediate and middle school levels.
[17:08] We implemented our new grades five
[17:10] through eight ELA program called Open Up.
[17:12] While the curriculum implementation is never without
[17:15] challenges, teachers embraced the work
[17:17] and students are already demonstrating as readers, writers,
[17:20] and critical thinkers beyond student achievement.
[17:24] We continued important systems work this.
[17:26] This year we developed public facing curriculum guides
[17:30] for families, which will be up by fall on the website.
[17:33] Established a formal curriculum review process
[17:36] and finalized a three year curriculum review cycle
[17:39] that will ensure that all curriculum areas are regularly
[17:42] evaluated and updated.
[17:44] Our assessment work also continued to evolve.
[17:47] Teachers increasingly use the NIWA reading fluency
[17:50] classroom, common assessments and progress monitoring data.
[17:54] Not only to measure learning,
[17:56] but to really guide the instruction, identify the needs
[17:59] and celebrate the student growth assessment is becoming an
[18:03] ongoing tool for improvement rather than a single source
[18:06] of an event that we used to have.
[18:08] Finally, I'd like to highlight the work of our CARES team.
[18:12] In response to teacher feedback,
[18:14] educators from across the district collaborated
[18:16] to create grade level pacing
[18:18] and resource guides that improved consistency and usability.
[18:22] This work was recently recognized
[18:24] by the responsive classroom
[18:25] and fly five developers as an innovative model.
[18:28] And that mirrors enhancements
[18:30] that they're gonna now make nationally.
[18:32] None of these accomplishments would happen without the
[18:35] dedication of our teachers, our specialists, support staff,
[18:38] administrators, families and students.
[18:40] And their commitment to continuous improvement is really
[18:43] what drives this progress
[18:44] and that we celebrate really tonight.
[18:48] Great. Any questions coming in? Curriculum?
[18:54] Hi Kim. Hi.
[18:56] I was wondering where the district is at in adherence
[18:58] with the state initiative to be using ELA curriculum
[19:01] that complies with the science of reading by 2027.
[19:05] And do we need to purchase any curriculum at any
[19:08] grade level to get there?
[19:10] Currently we have the law states that we have
[19:13] to use evidence-based curriculum by 2027.
[19:17] In the elementary levels K through four,
[19:19] everything is aligned to a evidence-based curriculum.
[19:24] So we use uly, we use, you know, we align it
[19:28] to the reading rope and the science of reading letters.
[19:31] There's a whole list of different things
[19:34] that I've been working with the state on for that
[19:36] because we have evidence-based for every single aspect,
[19:40] the six different aspects of, of reading.
[19:43] And then we also have been using
[19:44] and aligning that to open up, which is our five
[19:47] through eight, which is an
[19:49] evidence-based curriculum program.
[19:55] Hey Kim, it might, this might be a Michael question,
[19:57] Michael question, but I'll ask it.
[19:58] So when we have the Warren articles every year, now we have
[20:01] to put the proficiencies of the district.
[20:04] Yep. On page three here, the 60
[20:06] and 56% is that, what would be an example of
[20:08] what would show up in the Warren article?
[20:09] 'cause the numbers I remember from last year,
[20:11] they were a lot lower than these two.
[20:12] So these are the, oh sorry. Did you wanna No, go for it.
[20:15] Okay. So these are the NWEA
[20:20] proficiency scores of achievement, which they have grown.
[20:24] However, I can't speak to the SaaS data,
[20:26] but the SaaS data right now is embargoed.
[20:29] But we have, we, it is trending.
[20:31] I've been watching the trends
[20:32] and we are trending in an increase across the district in
[20:36] both ELA and mathematics.
[20:38] That is what goes on the ballot art warrant article.
[20:42] That is increasing though. So
[20:44] Yeah, it's embargoed so we can't talk about it publicly
[20:46] yet 'cause the state doesn't allow us.
[20:48] But as soon as we can believe me, we'll be sharing it.
[20:50] 'cause we've seen, we've seen growth. Yep.
[20:54] Thank you. We've gotten this question before.
[20:57] Could you elaborate more on, you know, when the SaaS results
[21:00] or the ER results a proficient, what does proficient mean?
[21:04] So proficiency is at grade
[21:06] level, so it's a different thing.
[21:07] So for SaaS data, SaaS data is a grade level assessment.
[21:12] So that is made by, you know, the norms
[21:15] of grade level for New Hampshire.
[21:16] So that is really looking at our curriculum,
[21:18] curriculum alignment, how
[21:20] of our students are doing based on a grade level assessment.
[21:24] So that would be like going to the doctor
[21:26] and you have a physical, your height is your height.
[21:29] That is just like a test.
[21:32] You know, a third grader has to do this amount of standards.
[21:36] There's no wiggle room. And niwa,
[21:39] which is our individ individual assessment,
[21:42] that is an assessment that goes a,
[21:44] it will increase if the child is getting the answers right.
[21:48] It goes to a little bit of a harder question.
[21:50] If it's not, it goes down
[21:51] to a little bit of an easier question.
[21:53] However, it's based on a norm scale
[21:56] and that norm scale is exactly what,
[21:58] like if a second grader took it in May, it is, it is
[22:02] against a second grader in
[22:04] New Hampshire that took it in May.
[22:06] So it is referenced.
[22:08] Yeah. Can you elaborate a
[22:09] little bit more on the percentage?
[22:10] So let's just say someone says we're a district's 50%.
[22:13] Does that mean only half our kids can read? So
[22:15] At 50%?
[22:16] Yes. So at 50% our kids, yes.
[22:19] So what I'd like to see is in reading for example,
[22:23] if we, if you have,
[22:25] you have an achievement and you have a growth.
[22:27] So we always look at both, if I can, if I see
[22:30] that our reading is at a 60% growth, that means that 60%
[22:35] of our kids are growing over what they're expected to do.
[22:39] That is exactly what we're seeing right now.
[22:41] We are closing the achievement gap
[22:43] as we are moving in both ELA and in mathematics.
[22:48] So it is a slower progress.
[22:50] We are still seeing some of the effects,
[22:53] unfortunately, of the pandemic.
[22:55] And we are in our last, our last grade level of that.
[23:00] But we are closing those fundamental gaps.
[23:03] Numeracy, screener has shown that we are proficient.
[23:07] So kindergarten and first grade, second grade,
[23:11] that is all where we lacked our foundations.
[23:14] And so that screener is showing proficiency.
[23:17] We only have maybe two or three kids in the red.
[23:20] Everything else is above, which is an indicator that our
[23:24] niwa assessment will be good.
[23:25] And then that will also be that our
[23:28] SAS data will increase as well.
[23:30] Does that make sense?
[23:33] Yeah, thank you. There's a much more blunt
[23:36] way of asking my question. Well,
[23:37] It, well, well it's true.
[23:38] It's the reality of where it is, right?
[23:39] And we, we can't be afraid of, of where we are.
[23:42] But it, it more importantly is where we're going.
[23:44] And you can't go from 56 proficient to 74.
[23:47] That doesn't happen. Right?
[23:48] That, that growth that she's talking about,
[23:50] if we're seeing 60, 65, that's a, that's positive growth
[23:55] that closed that gap
[23:56] and it trying to, how do I,
[24:01] I'm trying to, so it doesn't happen overnight.
[24:04] Yeah. It's a progression
[24:06] and if, if, if we're continuing that ladder
[24:08] and continuing to grow, then it's gonna improve.
[24:11] And the internal scores that we're seeing through new are,
[24:14] are, are more important to us honestly
[24:16] because that's showing us fall,
[24:17] what we lose over the summer.
[24:18] Then it's showing us winter how we do when we got back
[24:21] and then it's showing spring.
[24:22] How do we do all year long that
[24:24] that's a very important internal score for us.
[24:26] And that's showing progress. Yes.
[24:29] You know, when, when you try
[24:30] and compare New Hampshire state
[24:32] assessments, it's challenging, right?
[24:34] That that, that's depending on when we give the assessment,
[24:37] we might give it after recess one day after April break.
[24:42] Another like there's a lot of components that go into that.
[24:45] That's why the NIWA was very important to us
[24:47] because it's pretty regulated,
[24:49] pretty calculated on when we do it
[24:50] and when we're able to achieve it. So,
[24:52] And I can take that data, I take the SaaS data
[24:54] and the NIWA data and,
[24:56] and then I look at the classroom data.
[24:58] 'cause now our classrooms have common assessments
[25:00] that they have to look at
[25:02] and the teachers score that as a whole grade level.
[25:04] So it's consistent. Then I look at all of that data
[25:08] with the grade books and I triangulate it so
[25:11] that I can see if we need curriculum improvements
[25:14] or if we have to increase a little bit more here or there.
[25:17] So that's all the work that happens.
[25:19] And we do that with task force teams over the summer
[25:23] teachers around those task force teams.
[25:25] So back to my blunt comment,
[25:26] 'cause I don't want someone to twist my words.
[25:27] Okay. When we talk about 50% proficiency,
[25:30] that doesn't mean someone can't read.
[25:33] That's not, that's not it. It's the standard in which
[25:35] they're being assessed at.
[25:36] Right? So it's whatever that competency is in third grade,
[25:39] fourth grade, fifth grade, sixth grade, seventh grade.
[25:40] And whether they can meet that that,
[25:42] that's not like I can't open a book and can't read.
[25:43] That's not absolutely accurate.
[25:45] It's comparative to the norms throughout
[25:47] the, the state of New Hampshire.
[25:48] So we're seeing growth. Yeah, we,
[25:51] We are seeing a Lot of growth.
[25:52] I've said to the board since the beginning, if I come back
[25:54] one year and we're not clicking in
[25:56] that direction, that's a me problem.
[25:57] Right. And this year I feel, I mean I can't wait
[26:00] to share the results honestly.
[26:01] I know because you're gonna see the work
[26:03] of the common assessments, the embedded curriculum,
[26:06] all the things that we're laying in place,
[26:08] you're gonna see continued growth.
[26:10] I have a quick question, Kim and I, this might have been
[26:13] before your time, but I know you said that we're still kind
[26:16] of feeling the residual effects of pandemic,
[26:18] which is wild to think.
[26:19] We're on year six already.
[26:21] So K through six are now aging out of,
[26:23] well they still have two more years but they're aging out
[26:25] of the assessments and whatnot.
[26:27] If you were to go back to pre pandemic
[26:31] and we were to look at the NIWA scores.
[26:33] Yeah. Would they be, I don't know if you've done this,
[26:37] have you gone back to that time to say,
[26:39] I'm just gonna pick third grade.
[26:41] Are their proficiency scores back pre pandemic better than
[26:45] where we are trending now?
[26:48] Or have we seen an overall,
[26:50] I don't wanna use the term degradation
[26:52] 'cause it's not that bad,
[26:53] but are we seeing an overall trend that is maybe
[26:57] not just pandemic related
[26:58] but other factors coming into play?
[27:01] So the pandemic, the biggest effects
[27:03] for the pandemic is in math.
[27:05] That was nationwide.
[27:06] Not just New Hampshire on a national level
[27:09] because they didn't do enough math.
[27:11] They did a lot more reading on the computer. Right.
[27:14] So then as a 2019, if we went back to 2019,
[27:18] I did look at the NIWA scores.
[27:20] Our NIWA scores, growth is higher right now.
[27:23] So that means that we are,
[27:25] our kids are accelerating at a higher rate than before.
[27:28] Our achievement is pretty much the, the same in ELA
[27:33] for niwa, for math, it's increasing SaaS.
[27:36] We, we both what, right.
[27:38] What now I'm seeing on SaaS we have trended higher than we
[27:42] have in 2019.
[27:44] So I did do a, I did look at 2019 data.
[27:48] Okay. That's great. Thank you.
[27:52] One more question. I was curious about the,
[27:56] I know the grades five to eight had the ELA rollout
[28:00] with the open up resources introduced.
[28:03] I was wondering over the past year, one
[28:06] of the things I was concerned about when
[28:07] that was brought forward about a year ago now, Dr. Crawford
[28:10] and you came here to talk about that introduction,
[28:13] starting in the fall now, making sure
[28:16] that we are very mindful a bit about getting teacher
[28:20] feedback on that and using that information
[28:23] to inform whether or not we use that.
[28:25] And I know this overlaps a little bit
[28:27] with the work we've been doing in committee,
[28:28] which is coming up with the rolling review
[28:30] and having people weigh in on different stakeholders,
[28:34] weigh in on the curriculum,
[28:36] but making sure that there's formalized mechanisms
[28:39] for teachers to provide that feedback.
[28:41] I think it's, I mean there was certainly a need
[28:43] to provide some sort of uniform curriculum at that level
[28:46] and to align it with what's going on at the lower grades.
[28:49] I think that a curriculum is not necessarily, you know,
[28:53] better than, like it's better than nothing certainly.
[28:57] But I'm just curious like what's the feedback been?
[28:59] Are teachers providing that feedback in any sort
[29:02] of formalized way?
[29:03] If not yet, will they have that opportunity to do that?
[29:06] So that we're thinking really well, my concern is
[29:08] as a board member is really about
[29:10] where are we heading not only a year from now,
[29:13] but literally five years from now.
[29:15] Are we making good choices for curriculum right this moment
[29:18] that's gonna lend itself to that later on? Yeah,
[29:20] That's a me question.
[29:21] 'cause it, it's when I'm directing all of them
[29:24] to seek feedback, not just curriculum, special ed feedback,
[29:27] human resource feedback, technology feedback.
[29:29] So it's pretty calculated on when you
[29:31] wanna receive that feedback.
[29:32] June is typically not the best month
[29:34] to seek feedback at the end of the year.
[29:37] But what we've been doing, I know I'm pointing to Patty
[29:39] 'cause you know, they've been reporting out at the direct
[29:42] director level, the anecdotal feedback at the weekly
[29:45] meetings or the, or the bi-monthly meetings they've been
[29:47] receiving that we've changed on the fly.
[29:49] We've pivoted several times this year already.
[29:51] Instant feedback, but more about the long-term planning
[29:55] that's gonna be coming in the, in the summer
[29:57] and slash fall when people were, you know, the, you know,
[30:01] the temperatures come down
[30:03] and we'll, we'll send direct feedback surveys, types
[30:05] of information so that we can garner.
[30:08] I know we pivoted on a book this year. Two books. Yeah.
[30:11] And, and I, it's so important
[30:14] because they're the ones
[30:15] that are directly in front of the humans, right.
[30:17] The, the students. So we can say all we want from these
[30:20] chairs and these offices and these seats,
[30:21] but we need to be listening to them.
[30:23] We changed our schedule in the middle of the year
[30:25] because they, there, there was a lot of challenges.
[30:27] So we've done those pivoting.
[30:29] So the short answer, Jen,
[30:31] is we have not received like a formal one.
[30:32] It's all been anecdotal through the meetings,
[30:34] but we're going to, yep.
[30:37] Thank you. Yeah, thank you. Thanks
[30:40] Kim.
[30:41] I'm just wondering, oh, so sorry. No,
[30:43] It's fine.
[30:45] Back up. Six years ago the thought was
[30:48] there would be a 10 year cycle to move past
[30:54] the pains of C with children and learning.
[30:57] Right. But with all the changes that you've made,
[31:00] I'm wondering how we decide, is it the changes
[31:03] that we've made that are positive
[31:07] and how do we know
[31:09] that kids have really caught up
[31:11] the learning loss from COVID?
[31:13] So that was a very good way to ask that question. No,
[31:16] No, it's a good and and really what it is,
[31:18] is I have to look at both.
[31:19] So yes, there has been a lot of changes in the curriculum.
[31:22] We have aligned a lot the, you know,
[31:24] over the past two years we have done a full
[31:27] full alignment rehaul.
[31:30] And so, and, and that is working. I can see that.
[31:34] But for the particular, you know, strands of
[31:39] what they were, so for example, math, the
[31:43] numeracy, the early number sense was always a weak area if
[31:48] you didn't have number sense.
[31:49] So you're not gonna understand algebra,
[31:51] you're not gonna understand geometry.
[31:53] There's a lot to it. We didn't have that.
[31:55] So I had to back that up.
[31:57] And so now in the data we can actually see
[32:00] the different strands.
[32:01] I pull apart the SaaS and I pull apart the, the NWEA
[32:05] and I will look at the different strands
[32:07] and I will say, okay,
[32:09] what does this align to the curriculum?
[32:11] I can now look at where our curriculum maps are for pacing.
[32:14] I can now look at the assessment data
[32:16] and I can see, okay, where are they off pacing?
[32:20] I can tell if a teacher's off pacing
[32:21] or if they're on pacing just by what the data shows me.
[32:24] And we have more of the classroom assessments
[32:27] that will also, that are aligned to all of the things
[32:30] and all of the targets.
[32:32] So long story short, the kindergarten through fourth grade,
[32:37] we are showing major improvement in the elementary,
[32:40] sending them strong to the fifth, sixth, seventh,
[32:44] and eighth grade level, the sixth,
[32:46] seventh, and eighth grade.
[32:47] We're still at that tail end. We are narrowing the gap.
[32:51] Like I said, 60%
[32:53] of our district is in achievement and they're growing.
[32:56] So that's, that's rapid.
[32:58] And so that you typically see, like
[33:01] before it was like about 30 to 40% growth.
[33:04] And so now we're doing 60% in some cases in eighth grade in
[33:07] our ELA we had 74% growth in one of our ELA classes.
[33:11] So I mean we are seeing that the, the scope is,
[33:14] is tightening, but we still have, they missed a lot
[33:18] of those key foundational things.
[33:19] So it is going to take a little bit of time to get them up.
[33:22] But that is, that is again not a dairy thing
[33:25] that is a national problem.
[33:27] It's an interesting question 'cause you know, you're,
[33:30] my brain actually goes to how we've had
[33:33] to the younger students specifically
[33:35] learn how to play school better.
[33:37] And so we've had some major behavioral challenges
[33:40] and I know it's one of our special ed heavy things is
[33:44] that acclimation back into a controlled
[33:46] environment having to learn.
[33:49] So as an interesting question, I, I'd be really intrigued.
[33:51] I'm pulling some data specific, pulling it out specifically.
[33:54] 'cause you, when you, when you reference
[33:55] one through four, right?
[33:56] We, we've now got him in earlier
[33:57] or that's that, you know,
[33:59] 5, 6, 7, 8, that was that bigger gap.
[34:00] And I'm just referencing my own eighth grader at home about
[34:03] how he was home at that time. So yeah,
[34:05] The studies that did the 10 year reach where they're kind
[34:10] of interesting to look at and to see where they are
[34:12] and if it really is 10 years or is it 12?
[34:15] I mean I can go back to
[34:17] the nineties when I was not on the board.
[34:19] However, we had a huge budget cut in dairy
[34:23] and we had not a lot of opportunities for our kids.
[34:26] And even then educational experts said it's going
[34:31] to be a 10 year catch up.
[34:33] And it really was a 10 year catch up just from not just,
[34:36] it was horrible, but it was a 10 year catch up kind of.
[34:41] It's just interesting to me.
[34:42] It is. And after the pandemic, the science
[34:44] of reading came out and then it's a whole,
[34:46] that was a whole different change.
[34:48] I meander, they had the Lucy Calkins
[34:51] and so it wasn't a systematic, explicit how
[34:53] to actually decode a word.
[34:55] And so now that we moved into uly,
[34:57] which is a evidence-based program that aligns to the science
[35:00] of reading and it's really the science behind how
[35:03] to read and decode words.
[35:05] So there is a lot of shifts in curriculum in general.
[35:10] Thanks
[35:12] Off the hot seat.
[35:13] We good? Go quick. No, no, go quick.
[35:26] Hello everyone. That's a tough act to follow, Sheila.
[35:31] So this year in special ed,
[35:33] I feel like it's been as busy as ever.
[35:36] I always joke about the fact that, oh, I can't wait
[35:40] for this season to be able to get the kids all settled in.
[35:42] Okay, the, oh, the holidays are here
[35:44] and then there's the, you know, the, the long winter months
[35:47] and then there's the end of the school year.
[35:49] So there's always a season
[35:50] and it's always busy this year we are
[35:55] actually full staffed at the SAU at this point.
[35:59] So it's been nice to have assistant directors
[36:03] and some assistance with going out to schools
[36:06] and building those relationships
[36:08] and really just realigning what we are doing in special ed,
[36:12] looking at our processes being more efficient.
[36:16] We've developed an organizational chart, so we're trying
[36:19] to really distinguish who is responsible for what.
[36:23] So it's not everybody answering the same question and
[36:26] or going to me for one thing, going to Christina Kasowitz
[36:29] or going to Kristin Mitchell and,
[36:31] and really having it be drawn out.
[36:34] So we're, we're really working on our organizational
[36:36] structure and I think that's been really helpful.
[36:39] I think it's helping facilitators and teachers
[36:41] and principals as well to get their answers,
[36:44] their questions answered.
[36:46] So that's been a, that's been a big piece of this year.
[36:49] Clarifying those roles and responsibilities.
[36:52] One thing this year, every year in the spring we get our LEA
[36:56] determination, which is kind
[36:58] of our report card for special ed.
[37:00] And it goes through all of the different indicators
[37:03] and we get marked with a zero one or a two.
[37:06] This year is the first year in a while
[37:08] that we have met requirements across the board.
[37:11] So I'm very proud of the staff with those pieces.
[37:15] You know, one of the focuses that I think back to even just
[37:19] to deep is really having kids integrated as much
[37:22] as possible in the general ed curriculum with their peers.
[37:26] You know, going back to playing school
[37:30] and knowing how to be in a classroom, how to be a student,
[37:32] how to be around your peers, that's gone a long way for some
[37:36] of our more disabled kids
[37:38] that they have positive role models
[37:40] and that's really allowing them to grow
[37:42] and flourish in the classroom.
[37:45] So that's, that's been a focus
[37:47] and you know, so there's always is those areas
[37:49] that we still get a one or we still get a two in,
[37:51] but we are fine tuning those
[37:55] and improving along the way.
[37:59] One big thing is that students are becoming more
[38:01] and more complex with their disabilities.
[38:04] There is a rise on multiple disabilities and autism.
[38:09] One thing that really shines through
[38:12] and I appreciate technology for helping with this as well,
[38:15] is our nonverbal kids.
[38:17] So there's been a real big push with training equipment
[38:22] using a a C devices
[38:25] and that's been I think a growth for all of the areas.
[38:28] You know, whether it's a teacher using it, para is using it,
[38:31] speech and language programming them
[38:34] and really working on developing that vocabulary
[38:37] and having students be aware
[38:39] and asking kids to use their board and,
[38:42] and having that be a very accepted way
[38:44] of communication at this point.
[38:46] So I I, that has been a huge area of growth
[38:48] and that's something we'll continue to work on.
[38:53] As far as challenges, Dave,
[38:56] you brought up the staffing pieces.
[38:59] Contracted contracts are almost as challenging as hiring
[39:04] at this point because everybody's using contractors.
[39:07] So that's really pervasive across the district.
[39:10] I meet with South Central monthly, we have contact
[39:14] throughout the month via email of who has somebody to share,
[39:18] how can we share our resources, you know,
[39:20] whether it be transportation, going to another district,
[39:22] whether it be, do you have a program that we can use
[39:25] because we don't have the capacity or,
[39:29] or even staffing at at charter schools that were, you know,
[39:33] trying to work with with other districts
[39:36] to share those resources
[39:38] and share that, to cut down our costs
[39:41] and other districts costs.
[39:42] So that's, I think it's been a lot of networking, a lot
[39:45] of relationship building with the areas, schools around us,
[39:49] the area districts.
[39:50] And so that's been kind of exciting this year about
[39:54] with being able to use those resources.
[39:56] Unfortunately it doesn't grow the resources,
[39:59] so we're still always looking for speech paths,
[40:01] school psychologists, OTs.
[40:04] Right now we're, we're actually full, which is beautiful.
[40:08] Paraprofessionals, nurses,
[40:11] it kind of runs the gamut.
[40:13] That's always, and contracts I can call
[40:18] five or six agencies and nobody has anybody.
[40:21] I get lots of, you know, we have
[40:24] and then you reach out, okay, let,
[40:25] I'll have my recruiters look for people.
[40:27] And that's, you know, kind of the way
[40:29] and we're dealing with recruiters from
[40:30] across the country at this point.
[40:35] As far as, I think the, the biggest piece
[40:39] is really the area of growth.
[40:40] Really looking at, you know, where we could be better,
[40:44] how we can fine tune what we do.
[40:46] We have the PEGS process coming up,
[40:49] which is the program approval and general supervision.
[40:52] That's a cycle that every district goes through.
[40:55] Really looking at their special ed process, you know,
[40:58] right down to forms and IEPs and,
[41:00] and going through very general pieces
[41:03] and very specific pieces
[41:05] and really going through the whole special ed process.
[41:08] So we'll be doing that with a cohort of other districts
[41:11] with a support from the state.
[41:14] The state has been wonderful to work with.
[41:16] I find them to be a very supportive group up there right now
[41:19] with the DOE for special ed.
[41:22] So they are always open for questions and and guidance
[41:27] and that's been a resource that we've, we have used
[41:30] and I think developing a nice relationship
[41:32] with the state state as well.
[41:34] So overall just a busy year of kind of realigning,
[41:38] getting the team together, working in a common, I think
[41:42] taking other people's perspectives as far
[41:44] as I've been here 20 years, the staff
[41:46] that I have now is new.
[41:48] So it's been kind of nice to have that lens as well
[41:52] to look at, have you tried this?
[41:53] Have we done that? How can we look at staffing
[41:55] different to meet kids' needs?
[41:57] So, so it's been a big year. Any questions
[42:01] Just briefly?
[42:02] I I, I'd like to commend Laura's team
[42:03] with actually on staffing on the other side non like,
[42:07] I think we're almost full for the first time in years.
[42:10] Fully staffed by June.
[42:12] So we're down to a couple case managers that I know
[42:15] that are in my calendar to be interviewed.
[42:16] Yep. So we're getting there. So we're gonna,
[42:18] going into the fall might be the first time we're fully
[42:20] staffed in, in years.
[42:22] Wow.
[42:23] Yep. So that's exciting. Yeah,
[42:26] It is very exciting.
[42:28] I have a question. Do we have any process in place right
[42:32] now to track parent feedback with special ed department?
[42:36] Not, and actually Mike had asked me that,
[42:37] the question the other day, we have not put out a survey
[42:40] that the, there's a yearly survey that goes out
[42:42] through the state, but we haven't done a district
[42:44] survey in some years now.
[42:46] Okay. Yeah. It's, it's in that same category
[42:48] of soliciting feedback, which is, I don't wanna say it's new
[42:51] for the district, but it's gonna be new for the district
[42:53] that we'll be, we'll be soliciting information
[42:58] not only in in special ed
[42:59] but you know, I wrote website down, like
[43:01] how can we do better on communicating through that.
[43:03] So it it's definitely in the pipeline for sure.
[43:06] Okay. Do we know like how far
[43:08] along are we in that process? Like
[43:10] It, like I said, targeting the end
[43:12] of the year is a terrible time to solicit feedback.
[43:14] So it's gonna be coming in the summer
[43:16] or fall once we have really articulated
[43:18] what we're trying to improve upon.
[43:21] But it's, it's trying to time it so that it's not
[43:26] the end of the year is very challenging.
[43:27] Yeah. I mean we, we we do get,
[43:29] I mean I wanna say all time. I would say all
[43:31] The time I would, we get a lot of feedback.
[43:33] Feedback's not the problem, you know, and I think that,
[43:37] and that's for good and you know, good
[43:38] and challenges, you know, I think that a lot
[43:41] of the relationships with the schools, that's really
[43:44] what I rely on is their relationship with their families
[43:47] and their teachers and really an open line of communication.
[43:52] I receive phone calls on my end
[43:54] and try to bring it back to the team in the building
[43:56] to resolve issues and it's, you know, it's always nice
[44:00] to get a nice phone call about something that went well
[44:02] that's always a welcome as well.
[44:04] So.
[44:05] Awesome. Thank you. Alright, anybody else?
[44:10] So in the past, you guys have done a really good job
[44:12] billing Medicaid exceptional job.
[44:14] Is that still we still tracking
[44:15] that in, in that direction? We
[44:17] Are still working hard at Medicaid.
[44:20] I have had to give that up,
[44:21] which has been a challenge for me to give up.
[44:23] But Kristen Mitchell has been working really hard
[44:26] with MB MSB who is our, our provider
[44:29] that helps us with that billing.
[44:32] And there are big changes going on in New Hampshire,
[44:35] which I can probably talk more about in the fall of
[44:37] how Medicaid is going to be processed.
[44:41] Which is, I keep hearing that it's going
[44:43] to result in an increase in our, our,
[44:47] the matter we get back.
[44:48] So fingers crossed for that.
[44:51] So we're, we've been to multiple trainings over this,
[44:54] this spring, getting ready for that process.
[44:58] So we're still working on that.
[45:00] We're on target, we're on the same pace as normal. Yeah.
[45:02] I'll call it, when she said she had to give it up, it's,
[45:05] 'cause I directed her to give it up for the record,
[45:08] but Kristen's done a great job taking it over.
[45:11] Now you can, you don't need permission to bill Medicaid.
[45:14] Right? You can if, if a service is
[45:16] provided, you can just bill it. Right.
[45:18] We need consent from who? From parents.
[45:21] Really? Yep. Do they have to say no?
[45:24] Yes. Really. Yep.
[45:26] What's the re I'd be curious
[45:27] to understand why, how does that affect them?
[45:31] From my point of view? It doesn't right?
[45:33] 'cause it doesn't affect their doctor visits
[45:34] or, you know, any kind of health insurance. Is that
[45:37] Like a rampant problem or is that something that's
[45:39] It?
[45:40] No, it's not. Our, our families are, are very willing
[45:43] to do whatever they can to help the process
[45:45] and help the district gain money.
[45:46] So if I go to the doctor's office
[45:48] and I'm on Medicaid, I have to give permission
[45:49] for 'em to bill me for my visit.
[45:51] Is that, am I being too obtuse there or
[45:55] No?
[45:56] I think, I think that's the families who are resistant
[45:58] to the school doing that are, that's, they see that
[46:01] as just medical insurance.
[46:02] They don't see that as something that is our business.
[46:06] Gotcha. Okay. Just curious.
[46:07] Thank you. Yeah. But overall our parents are wonderful
[46:10] about, you know, signing the permissions and,
[46:12] and it's a one time permission as well. Okay,
[46:14] Thank you.
[46:15] We do bill for everything internally. Yes. Right.
[46:17] So whether it qualifies or not, we bill for everything
[46:20] and then you get the yes or no.
[46:21] Gotcha.
[46:23] Yeah, we have, there's a lot of stop gates to make sure
[46:26] that privacy's protected
[46:27] and we're not billing for things that we can't bill.
[46:30] 'cause I certainly don't wanna sit here at the end
[46:32] of the year and tell you if we have
[46:33] owe money back to the feds.
[46:35] So thank you. All right. Thank you. Thank you.
[46:38] Thank you. In your package,
[46:42] Jeremy's, you did a great job.
[46:43] I think highlighting and,
[46:44] and low lighting some of the challenges they've been having.
[46:48] You've seen Jeremy a lot this year.
[46:49] So I don't, not a lot of secrets out there, but,
[46:53] and if that, if that I will dismiss them
[46:56] and let them go about their day.
[46:58] All right. Yeah. Thank you all for being here tonight.
[47:00] I mean I'm sure we all appreciate the opportunity
[47:02] to hear what's going on in your departments
[47:04] and the community, you know, being able
[47:06] to hear what's going on.
[47:07] And I know you guys don't get the summer off,
[47:11] but enjoy the summer nonetheless.
[47:13] Thanks everybody. Great job. Thank you.
[47:20] Sorry Dr. Dan you gotta stick around. One more bullet item.
[47:23] Don't.
[47:26] Alright. Our next order of business is delegations
[47:29] and individuals at this time, residents
[47:31] of dairy parents have currently enrolled dairy students
[47:33] and employees of the district may address the school board
[47:36] on matters that pertain only to school
[47:37] and district business for a period of time not
[47:39] to exceed three minutes per person.
[47:41] As a reminder, the board welcomes input
[47:43] however questions are not
[47:44] entertained during the comment period.
[47:46] If you would like to speak, please come up
[47:47] to the microphone at this time and state your
[47:49] name and address for the record.
[48:14] It's been a while, Richard, we missed you.
[48:18] Well, you know, I got other things that I'm
[48:22] Glad you've been busy I have to important contend
[48:27] with other than just you guys.
[48:30] The, anyhow,
[48:33] Richard Trip 44 Winter Road.
[48:40] It's nice to be back.
[48:41] 'cause I, I learned a lot more being here than
[48:46] watching it on TV later on, you know,
[48:52] 'cause but I,
[48:55] the first thing I wanna say is, I remember when
[48:59] we got our new superintendent,
[49:05] he was going to make sure that everybody spoke
[49:11] English and not educates.
[49:16] But I, I noticed that there's, there's lots of
[49:19] educators tonight.
[49:21] You know, I I would appreciate
[49:24] at least the first time they use an acronym that
[49:29] they explain what it is because I can follow things,
[49:33] but it makes it a lot easier
[49:36] if I know what you're talking about.
[49:39] The, but I know the,
[49:44] I spent some time this afternoon going to the
[49:50] Department of education website to look up what,
[49:56] how the children are doing in the schools as assessed.
[50:00] And, you know, it was, I was, I was glad that
[50:07] the department heads explained that they have
[50:11] not only annual assessment,
[50:15] but which is external,
[50:18] but they have internal assessment
[50:23] and the internal assessment is done quite frequently.
[50:27] You know, which makes it makes sense
[50:30] because that gives you the opportunity to, to know
[50:34] what is going wrong and,
[50:36] and make changes to correct it, you know, whereas the,
[50:41] the annual assessment that the state does
[50:45] is just a, a,
[50:49] a stake in in time.
[50:50] So the,
[50:56] I remember a couple years ago
[50:58] that we went from letter grades to proficiency.
[51:02] I was just wondering if there's been
[51:06] any review of that to see, you know,
[51:09] whether the letter grades are more efficient or,
[51:12] or more communicate better than the proficiency.
[51:16] 'cause I know when you ask something about proficiency
[51:18] and you know, proficiency is something
[51:20] that's kind of hard to understand.
[51:22] So, you know, maybe you can say something in the future.
[51:27] The, but what I really want to talk about,
[51:32] Did you wanna request additional time? Richard,
[51:34] Could I have another 30 seconds?
[51:37] I'd take a motion to grant Richard another 31st by Jen.
[51:41] Second. Second by Jenna. All in favor? Aye. Aye.
[51:43] All opposed. Motion carried.
[51:44] Seven zero. Thank you. I know that last year the state
[51:53] passed a law that said that, you know,
[51:56] kids shouldn't be having cell phones in the schools,
[52:00] you know, and I was just wondering if
[52:02] that's had any positive effect, you know,
[52:05] because I know that, well, I don't know,
[52:09] but I suspect that cell phones are,
[52:13] are a distraction and prevents the children
[52:18] from, you know, being attentive in class.
[52:20] So that's all I've got to say.
[52:22] That should have been my 30
[52:23] seconds. Thank you. Hold on, rich,
[52:25] I have a question for you, sir.
[52:26] If you indulge me, what?
[52:28] I have a question for you, if you've got a
[52:29] second. Can I ask you a
[52:31] Question?
[52:32] I'm afraid that I'm not allowed to answer it this time.
[52:34] All right. No, sorry. No, serious.
[52:36] This is a very easy one.
[52:37] So with the bill that you, I think you co-sponsored
[52:40] regarding the town of Derry, the school
[52:43] district coming under the town of Derry, right? Yeah.
[52:45] We talked about the C before.
[52:46] Yeah. So I, I, I, the one question I have though is
[52:49] when you guys debated
[52:50] and decided to go forward with this bill,
[52:52] what was the reasoning that you wouldn't,
[52:54] because we already have a process in the town to do that.
[52:56] What was the reason to bypass that process
[52:58] and go to a more expedient process with this bill?
[53:03] What, what was the thought process
[53:05] More expedient?
[53:08] I, I think the process that you guys have,
[53:10] so the charter commission in town is a little bit more
[53:12] involved process, takes a little more time
[53:14] and a little more energy and effort.
[53:16] I think the process that's being passed, the house
[53:18] and the Senate is a little more expedient.
[53:21] And I'm just asking what was the thought process on that?
[53:24] Can I have another 30 seconds?
[53:26] I don't know that this is the appropriate time
[53:28] to be having, he's stay rough this discussion.
[53:29] Nevertheless, this is not a question and answer period.
[53:33] Okay,
[53:34] Thank you.
[53:36] You'll never get answers then.
[53:41] Bye. That's, I'm sorry that you're disappointed.
[53:48] Good evening, Brian Church, six Rollin Street.
[53:51] First off, I just wanna wish Joe,
[53:55] great success in Hamstead.
[53:56] I've known you for a long time,
[53:58] so I don't think I'll be hit the next meeting.
[53:59] So I know you got one more meeting, right?
[54:02] So thank you for one more.
[54:04] So thank you for everything you've done.
[54:06] I think I met you when you were at next, I believe. Yeah.
[54:10] So good luck on that. I'm really happy at
[54:14] what I'm hearing with the, I guess it's the directors
[54:17] and some of the questions that you're asking.
[54:20] I think we're, we're really good.
[54:21] I'm seeing positive results there, so I'm happy about that.
[54:24] But what I'm here for tonight is on the agenda, I saw
[54:28] that you have a discussion on the,
[54:32] I call it unreserved fund balance.
[54:35] And I thought, I lo saw the last meeting
[54:39] where you've got about $1.9 million of
[54:43] unreserved fund balance.
[54:45] Am I correct on that number?
[54:48] I could have misunderstood,
[54:49] but I thought you said there was like $3 million at the end
[54:52] of the year that that wasn't spent.
[54:54] Something like that. But you've got
[54:55] that dedicated somewhere,
[54:56] so you're gonna actually have
[54:58] 1.9 million at the end of the year.
[55:03] I, I, I think that's what I heard.
[55:05] So my question is, what I'm coming up here for is this,
[55:11] we all know that come December,
[55:13] the tax bill's gonna be high,
[55:14] and I want you all to know
[55:15] that I'm not picking on the school board
[55:17] because I've, I've went down to the county
[55:20] and the county's taxes, they're raising taxes
[55:22] by three times the amount.
[55:23] And I gave them holy hell over there, okay?
[55:26] It, it fell on deaf ears. But I'm not picking on you.
[55:29] I'm just telling you that that's where my concerns are
[55:31] with the taxpayer and I didn't like
[55:34] what's going on at the county.
[55:36] So I'll just be upfront with that.
[55:38] But you're gonna have a discussion tonight,
[55:41] and I'm hoping that you think about maybe offsetting some of
[55:45] that tax coming down the road
[55:47] because the way I looked at it was gonna be like
[55:49] $2 and 29 cents.
[55:50] This is everything. School, town,
[55:54] county, okay.
[55:55] $2 and 29 cents per a thousand.
[55:58] So you're talking a, a big tax shock.
[56:04] I'm just guessing that the discussion may end up being,
[56:07] you're gonna use some of that unreserved fund balance to
[56:10] put into maintenance costs again, or an account for that.
[56:14] Now we've just $27 million in the last couple years on
[56:18] maintenance, I think is good.
[56:21] But I want you to think about that
[56:23] because that will help a little bit.
[56:26] And that's, that's all I wanna say. So thank you.
[56:36] All right. I'm not seeing anyone else coming
[56:37] to the microphone, so we will move on with the meeting.
[56:39] However, the public comment period will remain open
[56:41] until 7:48 PM If you wish to speak prior to that time,
[56:45] approach the microphone and I'll recognize you
[56:47] with the next break in the agenda.
[56:51] All right, no student members with us tonight,
[56:52] so we'll move on to deliberations.
[56:54] We have three items to consider tonight.
[56:56] First step is the data governance manual. This is a plan.
[56:58] The district is required by law to have in place RSA 180 9,
[57:03] section 66, paragraph five calls for the plan
[57:05] to be updated annually and presented to the school board.
[57:08] So the board received the most edition, most recent edition
[57:11] of the manual for review prior to the meeting.
[57:12] And we have Dr. Dancy here to present.
[57:15] And this evening I'm presenting the 20 20 20 26.
[57:20] Never studied Like that. The 2026.
[57:23] 2020 sevens data governance plan for adoption.
[57:27] Next to our staff and students, data is one
[57:29] of the district's most valuable assets.
[57:32] This plan outlines the processes
[57:33] and procedures we have in place to protect the security,
[57:36] privacy, and integrity of our digital information.
[57:39] This year's plan is substantially the same
[57:41] as previous versions.
[57:42] With one notable change,
[57:44] a new cyber incident response plan has been added
[57:46] and replaces Appendix M.
[57:48] Because that document contains sensitive information
[57:51] regarding district response procedures,
[57:53] it is maintained separately
[57:54] and will be shared on a need to know basis.
[57:57] This year alone, I attended three conferences in
[57:59] cybersecurity clinics that reinforced the importance
[58:02] of remaining vigilant.
[58:04] The threats facing schools and municipalities are real
[58:07] and they continue to increase educational institutions
[58:10] to become attractive targets for cyber criminals.
[58:13] Because of the volume of sensitive information we maintain
[58:16] and our responsibility to keep critical systems operational.
[58:19] The cybersecurity community often says
[58:22] that the question is no longer
[58:24] if an organization will experience a cybersecurity incident,
[58:28] but when, while no plan can eliminate all risk,
[58:31] this plan is designed to reduce that risk as much
[58:34] as possible, and to ensure that the district is prepared
[58:36] to respond effectively should an incident occur.
[58:39] I respectfully recommend the board to read,
[58:41] adopt the 26 27 data governance plan,
[58:46] Just to point out the incident command.
[58:48] That would have to be a non-public discussion.
[58:51] 'cause again, that's how we respond to a cyber attack.
[58:53] What's the process? What's the plan? Who do we contact?
[58:57] All of those fun things. So, and,
[58:58] and the big thing that's happening obviously,
[59:00] is ransomware, right?
[59:01] So they hijack your system, shut you down, demand money.
[59:04] I wanna commend Dr. Dancy on the hours of work
[59:08] that he's put into this because it's,
[59:11] I think you said something in superintendent's leadership
[59:13] team the other day, that with what's going on in the world,
[59:15] schools are becoming actually one of the top targets.
[59:19] So Dr. Dancy has done a good job
[59:21] And just the spring it, it,
[59:22] it increased exponentially since
[59:24] the conflict in the Middle East.
[59:26] Wow.
[59:28] What, any questions on this from the board? All right.
[59:33] Hearing none, I would accept a motion
[59:35] to accept the 20 26 27 data governance manual as presented.
[59:40] So, moved first by Jenna. Second. Second by Jen.
[59:45] All in favor? Aye. All opposed. Motion carries. Seven zero.
[59:49] Thank you. Right, thank you Dr. Dancy.
[59:52] The second item we have tonight is the consideration
[59:55] of facilities, projects we can choose to complete
[59:57] with funds from the year-end fund balance.
[59:59] So I will let Mike get into it. Sure.
[1:00:02] So I'm just gonna give a three slide discussion on
[1:00:05] unassigned fund balance and how we get here
[1:00:08] and what we can do or have an opportunity to do.
[1:00:12] So every year it's kind
[1:00:14] of a discussion amongst the community.
[1:00:16] Where does it come from? How does it get there?
[1:00:18] So I'm just gonna give a brief overview so
[1:00:20] that it's on record on how we got here.
[1:00:23] And then more specifically,
[1:00:24] this can be available on our website.
[1:00:27] So, how fund balance is created,
[1:00:31] technically it's revenues, exceeded budget amounts,
[1:00:34] expenditures that are lower than budgeted,
[1:00:36] and then the encumbrances for closeout and projections.
[1:00:38] So what does that mean? It means that we may have received
[1:00:42] unanticipated revenue.
[1:00:43] What was the one we recently got?
[1:00:46] E rate. E rate. E-Rate. E-Rate. And unintended budget.
[1:00:48] Unintended revenue. So
[1:00:50] that will go into a fund balance line,
[1:00:52] additional rebates or refunds.
[1:00:54] So let's say we were planning on budgeting for the locks
[1:00:57] that we received $250,000 for that would go in there.
[1:01:00] That's not necessarily happening this
[1:01:02] year, but that's an avenue.
[1:01:03] Increased tuition.
[1:01:05] So that could just be someone who is tuitioning in
[1:01:08] and our increased tuition,
[1:01:09] or maybe we received more applicants than we have.
[1:01:12] Not something that occurs greatly here right now,
[1:01:15] but that's definitely another one.
[1:01:17] And then miscellaneous revenue, whether it's donations,
[1:01:19] donated services, things like that,
[1:01:21] that we may have donated,
[1:01:22] that may have been donated in our behalf.
[1:01:24] Expenditures are lower.
[1:01:25] This is typically one that we always talk about.
[1:01:28] I, I always use electricity power.
[1:01:32] Maybe we over budget, under budgeted
[1:01:34] winter is not a good example.
[1:01:36] That'll be an over budget this year for salting,
[1:01:38] plowing things along those,
[1:01:40] or perhaps an example tonight when I present paving,
[1:01:44] whether we put a project out there
[1:01:45] and it comes in under, that goes into unintended
[1:01:48] unreserved fund balance.
[1:01:50] And then last year is, is prior year commitments.
[1:01:52] And that's the challenge that we face specifically
[1:01:54] with public comment this evening,
[1:01:56] is these are all projections right now.
[1:01:58] We still have outstanding bills
[1:02:00] or outstanding plans,
[1:02:02] specifically special ed transportation.
[1:02:04] Let's use transportation example.
[1:02:05] We may have a bill out there for $250,000.
[1:02:10] We have to encumber that money to,
[1:02:11] to make sure we're able to pay.
[1:02:13] And then between now
[1:02:14] and June 29th, maybe we only use $187,000 of that service
[1:02:19] so that other 700,000
[1:02:20] or $70,000 comes back into fund balance.
[1:02:23] So those are different ways in which fund balance un
[1:02:26] unreserved fund balance occurs.
[1:02:28] So here are the strategies
[1:02:30] that we've talked about throughout the year,
[1:02:32] but maximizing your contingency,
[1:02:34] remember we access contingency this year.
[1:02:37] It's an opportunity for, for un unforeseen, un
[1:02:41] unplanned things that may occur.
[1:02:45] And you can keep up to 5% that was voted on approved
[1:02:49] encumbered projects.
[1:02:50] So you can assign projects already planned.
[1:02:52] So perhaps we're not doing this in dairy,
[1:02:55] but it's another way that maybe we were going to
[1:03:00] build, I'm just saying build something new
[1:03:04] and we had budgeted for it,
[1:03:06] but at the end of the year, we have unreserved.
[1:03:07] You can use that unreserved.
[1:03:08] And then that also carries over for, for other money.
[1:03:11] So that's one way of doing it.
[1:03:13] You can address current district needs so that,
[1:03:16] remember those are, those are needs not wants.
[1:03:17] I wanna be very clear. There's some of those things that,
[1:03:19] that we want to differentiate
[1:03:21] because even though we may have spent a certain amount
[1:03:23] of money on maintenance, there's gonna be more
[1:03:25] because that's, that's how we got to where we are, right?
[1:03:27] So we want to try and get ahead of things,
[1:03:28] that's the real goal with maintenance.
[1:03:31] And then certainly return the funds.
[1:03:32] So example this year is we promised the taxpayers
[1:03:35] $1.5 million during our budgeting process.
[1:03:39] So that means that the, the first 1.5 million
[1:03:41] of the funds is gonna be going back to lower those taxes.
[1:03:44] So those are ways to, to do those strategies.
[1:03:47] And then finally, it, it's a new one that we're trying to,
[1:03:50] to teach the district or program the district is, is
[1:03:52] how we use the trust funds appropriately.
[1:03:54] More specifically, we have the,
[1:03:56] the capital improvement maintenance trust that we are,
[1:03:58] we're adding $500,000 from fund balance to,
[1:04:02] the best thing about these trust funds is they have
[1:04:04] to be voted on and approved by the voter at, at on ballot.
[1:04:07] So it's not just moving a money to the, it's managed
[1:04:10] by the trustees of the trust fund.
[1:04:12] So it's not by us. And three is we have
[1:04:13] to have a public hearing to dedicate
[1:04:14] and communicate to the community
[1:04:15] what we're using those funds for.
[1:04:17] So it's a pretty clearly articulated process.
[1:04:20] So the reason why I give that re overview is last week,
[1:04:24] sorry, I'm gonna close this out so I don't have
[1:04:26] to look back at myself on the screen.
[1:04:27] Like that is really, we approached you last week
[1:04:32] with, or two weeks ago, excuse me.
[1:04:34] I think the estimate was about 1.6 and now we're up to 1.75.
[1:04:40] Now the, I want to commend Jane, it's a new stressor
[1:04:44] for her, is me and me saying,
[1:04:46] how are we doing on closing out our
[1:04:49] pos and closing the things?
[1:04:50] So there was a time there, Jane's like today we're up,
[1:04:53] today we're down to 3 0 2,
[1:04:54] and then I go back the next thing, she's like,
[1:04:56] we're back up to three 15.
[1:04:57] So we're, we're trying to reprogram the district to,
[1:05:00] to really be able to paint a clear picture
[1:05:02] for the community, what we're doing at the year end.
[1:05:05] Appropriate municipal budgeting shows
[1:05:07] that you should come back
[1:05:09] with about a 5% fund balance, honestly.
[1:05:12] So you wanna fall within a range technically between,
[1:05:14] you know, one and a half, two and a half million dollars.
[1:05:17] That means that you budgeted appropriately that weren't,
[1:05:19] you know, remember we can never go back
[1:05:21] and ask for more money, but also you protected a cushion in
[1:05:24] regards to whether it's staffing, bad winners, high heat,
[1:05:27] things along those lines.
[1:05:28] So fresh off the press, honestly,
[1:05:31] that's why you got it in a handout.
[1:05:33] Thank you, Jen, for a handout this evening.
[1:05:37] In there you're gonna see that roughly 1.75.
[1:05:41] Now, two weeks ago, I also produced to you an early list of
[1:05:47] items from Jeremy.
[1:05:49] That list is actually, we're gonna, we're gonna tailor
[1:05:51] that down this evening, and we're only gonna make a
[1:05:53] recommendation for four out of the seven projects.
[1:05:56] The reason why we're doing that is the, the,
[1:05:59] if you remember paving was on there at, at west.
[1:06:02] That initial we budgeted
[1:06:03] or what we, this is a perfect example.
[1:06:05] We anticipated it being about $125,000.
[1:06:08] The bid came back for about 55,000. Oh, that's nice.
[1:06:11] So what we're doing is we're now gonna request
[1:06:14] that music room wall for about $50,000.
[1:06:18] The loading dock replacement, which is a huge hazard.
[1:06:20] And then the bleacher seat replacement, which is, you know,
[1:06:22] as, as we've mentioned, the community uses
[1:06:24] really repetitively.
[1:06:26] So the, the bottom line
[1:06:27] or the request that we're asking for the board
[1:06:29] for discussion this evening is loading dock, bleacher,
[1:06:32] music room wall, and paving.
[1:06:34] And that equates to about $225,000.
[1:06:37] So the $225,000 would bring essentially that
[1:06:42] the unreserved down to 1.5.
[1:06:43] And that's as of today.
[1:06:45] So as Jane's again learning deal with me,
[1:06:48] that's today in two weeks, that could go up.
[1:06:51] Things might start to close in our favor.
[1:06:54] Quick math of the, you know, we've,
[1:06:57] we've also talked about tax rates and,
[1:06:59] and, and things like that.
[1:07:01] If, if you were to approve, I'm gonna use all,
[1:07:03] 'cause that's the easiest math for me.
[1:07:06] So $225,000, it's about 2 cents
[1:07:09] for per hundred thousand dollars.
[1:07:12] So that means on a $350,000 house,
[1:07:16] it's $16.
[1:07:17] So if you were to return, if you were to say no
[1:07:20] to all the projects and you were to return the two,
[1:07:22] you don't, let's also clarify, we don't return it,
[1:07:24] it becomes go ahead too much.
[1:07:26] Am I going too far? No,
[1:07:28] Just real quick on the, the total numbers, the,
[1:07:31] the four projects are the loading dock
[1:07:32] for a hundred thousand, the bleachers for 20,
[1:07:34] the music room wall for 50 and paving for a 1 25.
[1:07:37] Nope, 55. It came down to 55. Oh, okay. Sorry. What
[1:07:41] Happened to the pads and the guardrail?
[1:07:43] So the guardrail we felt like wasn't a need right now.
[1:07:48] Okay. And then the pads, we felt as though that the $6,000,
[1:07:52] we were able to find that in the what's left
[1:07:55] of our actual budget.
[1:07:56] Okay. So that one was, that was more of a me thing. So the
[1:07:59] Guardrail does not pose.
[1:08:00] It's not a, because I was the safety issue
[1:08:02] Issue, I'll say it's not an imminent threat.
[1:08:04] Okay. That's the word I'll use.
[1:08:05] Okay. All right. Thank you.
[1:08:07] It'll be, it'll be a replacement in the future.
[1:08:09] There's no question about it,
[1:08:10] but that these were the things that we wanted to put before.
[1:08:13] So it's $16
[1:08:15] and 10 cents for on a $350,000 house.
[1:08:21] That was a lot. I threw at you.
[1:08:22] I threw the presentation, I threw the request.
[1:08:24] So I would love to open it up for discussion, comments,
[1:08:27] concerns, questions.
[1:08:33] Now remember the bleachers that's gonna, it's a need.
[1:08:36] It's not, that's, we're running outta parts.
[1:08:38] If not, we've ran outta the parts.
[1:08:40] The loading dock has been on the,
[1:08:42] it's been in the plan for years.
[1:08:44] I don't want to go back, but it's, it's a serious hazard.
[1:08:48] Serious hazard. What, what was
[1:08:49] The loading dock? Yeah. Is
[1:08:51] It?
[1:08:52] Yeah, the paving is our highest slips, trips
[1:08:55] and falls every year.
[1:08:56] That area at west.
[1:08:58] So that's the, I'll call it the concrete
[1:09:00] area during the winter.
[1:09:03] And then the music room wall, that has to do
[1:09:07] with the upgrades that have been happening.
[1:09:09] And now that final wall will really separate the
[1:09:14] gymnasium from the music room.
[1:09:15] Right now the, the gym can hear the music during class
[1:09:19] and the music can hear the gym during class.
[1:09:23] So it would be that final completion of that project.
[1:09:25] Yeah. All right.
[1:09:27] So just to recap, sorry, Mike, we have,
[1:09:29] we have six projects you put in front of us.
[1:09:31] You're recommending that we complete four
[1:09:32] of them this summer for a total of $225,000?
[1:09:35] Yes. Looking at the latest update we have here,
[1:09:38] the projected fund balance is about 4.5 million.
[1:09:41] We know that's still in flux.
[1:09:43] So you have to deduct the two voter approved warrant
[1:09:46] articles come from the fund, balance the 500,000
[1:09:49] to the maintenance trust and the 700,000 in
[1:09:51] reallocated bond interest.
[1:09:53] And then you deduct the 1.5 million budgeted to carry over
[1:09:57] to next year as a revenue source.
[1:09:58] Correct. And that leaves about 1.75 million in unreserved
[1:10:03] that we're gonna have to make a decision on. And
[1:10:05] For these projects only,
[1:10:07] I'm not asking the board this evening
[1:10:08] to talk about retainment. No.
[1:10:10] Yeah, yeah. I mean there, there'll be, you know,
[1:10:11] there, there are three options.
[1:10:12] You know, one is what we have before us tonight, which is
[1:10:14] to spend down some of those funds on needs
[1:10:16] during this fiscal year.
[1:10:18] And then, you know, down the road,
[1:10:19] option two is allocating funds to the contingency fund
[1:10:22] and then obviously, as we've said, letting those funds go
[1:10:25] through to become a revenue source for next year.
[1:10:27] Yeah. To bring down the tax rate.
[1:10:28] So that's what we have in front of us.
[1:10:30] So really, Oh, I'm sorry.
[1:10:32] Do you wanna No, I just wanna expand
[1:10:33] and highlight, it sounds like at least two
[1:10:35] of those projects are what you call safety concerns.
[1:10:37] Yes. So one of them is a loading dock,
[1:10:39] and the other one is a paved area at West Rain.
[1:10:42] I think I've tripped on that myself in the
[1:10:44] past. Likely. Yeah.
[1:10:46] It's one of our biggest insurance claims. Right.
[1:10:49] So thank you. And,
[1:10:50] and so that I I, I'm, I'm living this end of your site.
[1:10:54] I keep reminding myself, I
[1:10:55] haven't done this with you guys yet.
[1:10:57] So the reason we're requesting projects in the first meeting
[1:10:59] of June is so that we can encumber
[1:11:02] and get moving on the projects.
[1:11:05] The reason why I'm not asking
[1:11:06] for the board discussion tonight on what we retain is,
[1:11:09] 'cause that number still isn't solid yet.
[1:11:11] We want to have a clearer picture on what you are going
[1:11:13] to retain
[1:11:14] or carry over contingency
[1:11:16] that's gonna happen at the next meeting.
[1:11:18] We're gonna have more firm numbers.
[1:11:20] And actually, technically you
[1:11:21] don't need to vote at that one.
[1:11:22] You can still wait until our meeting in August,
[1:11:25] but we'll have a clearer picture at that point,
[1:11:27] So we don't have to decide.
[1:11:28] I, I was, for some reason in my head,
[1:11:31] as was under the impression that we had to decide what to do
[1:11:33] with this money by July 1st
[1:11:34] because it's, it was a fiscal kind of so year, but no.
[1:11:38] Okay. No. Remember my first meeting in August, I was like,
[1:11:40] Hey, we're gonna talk about this.
[1:11:42] So you, there there are, there are guard buffer,
[1:11:47] what's, gimme a better word.
[1:11:49] Timelines. Yes. Extended timelines. Thank you. Yes.
[1:11:52] Extended timelines because the books don't officially close
[1:11:54] until June 30th.
[1:11:56] So the state is aware that you have to close the books,
[1:11:59] you have to do your processing
[1:12:00] so then you can make those decisions.
[1:12:04] So the God rail over at West, why are you deciding not
[1:12:07] to do it if it's only 35,000
[1:12:10] and if you threw it in with this, if it's only $16
[1:12:14] and change to the taxpayer, that's, that's change.
[1:12:17] Yeah. This is me just trying to not ask
[1:12:20] for the world on my first year around with you guys.
[1:12:22] Honestly. I'm gonna be asking for it.
[1:12:24] If that's a discussion amongst the board,
[1:12:27] we would be more than happy to do it.
[1:12:29] But we wanted to be, we wanted to thread that needle
[1:12:31] and be considerate and as a, as an SAU towards the board.
[1:12:36] So Karen, there's,
[1:12:37] there's no real answer other than us trying to be respectful
[1:12:39] to, to the end of the year. That's all
[1:12:41] I I agree with Karen, and especially I'm looking at,
[1:12:44] if the paving of the courtyard went from,
[1:12:47] we were anticipating 1 25
[1:12:49] and it's actually down to 55, then even if we added in
[1:12:54] that guardrail, we're still coming well under the 1 25
[1:12:57] that was originally requested.
[1:12:59] Sure. And if it's something that needs to be done
[1:13:00] and we have the funds now,
[1:13:02] and then we still have a little left, I say leftover,
[1:13:06] but obviously we have to wait
[1:13:07] for those final number to come in.
[1:13:09] I feel like rolling that in now
[1:13:12] seems beneficial and and to get it done.
[1:13:16] Yeah, That exactly needs to be done. To, to that.
[1:13:19] Is it a complete replacement just
[1:13:22] To repair?
[1:13:23] This is where I wish I could turn to say,
[1:13:25] Hey Jeremy, how are you?
[1:13:27] You're with Jeremy. Someone here can tell me
[1:13:29] that we have just recently replaced a guardrail.
[1:13:31] Correct. Anyone? Grinnell. Grinnell, thank you.
[1:13:34] So it's, it's the, it's the same thing of if, of the failure
[1:13:38] of, I know on the other side it is a, it is a drop off.
[1:13:41] So it's, it's reaching end of life.
[1:13:43] So it's one of those things
[1:13:44] that we're gonna have to replace.
[1:13:47] But you said it's not a safety concern right now.
[1:13:49] It can technically wait,
[1:13:50] It'll, it'll hold a car if it hits it right now.
[1:13:53] Yeah. Okay. But it's one of those that it's, it, again,
[1:13:56] these are the things that it, they're gonna have to be,
[1:13:58] they're gonna have to be replaced.
[1:14:01] So I guess just with inflation, materials going up,
[1:14:03] labor going up, tariffs, everything.
[1:14:06] Why wouldn't we for that short of money?
[1:14:09] Throw that in with this. I
[1:14:11] Would tell, I support that.
[1:14:13] I, I'm just trying to navigate my first,
[1:14:15] I'm trying to, that's it.
[1:14:16] I didn't want to come and say, Hey, can I have $350,000?
[1:14:20] I, I tried to, to narrow the scope and, and, and lower it.
[1:14:23] But if again, Jeremy would be ecstatic if
[1:14:26] you guys said yes on that.
[1:14:27] I appreciate you trying to be fiscally responsible
[1:14:30] and trying to save the taxpayers money.
[1:14:32] I really do appreciate that. And I trust your judgment
[1:14:34] that if it's something urgent,
[1:14:36] then you wouldn't be brushing it off
[1:14:37] and pushing it off till later.
[1:14:39] Yeah. So I'm okay with not doing it. I'm okay with doing it.
[1:14:44] This is why, this is why you guys get to vote.
[1:14:45] You get to tell me what to do here.
[1:14:46] This is, these are all, it's really hard
[1:14:48] To say.
[1:14:49] Only I did turn it on.
[1:14:51] It is on, it's just Not working.
[1:14:53] I think it's really hard to say only $16
[1:14:56] with the increase that we have in our budget.
[1:14:58] And I'm going to say I also think the barca bleachers
[1:15:03] are safety concern.
[1:15:04] Children sit on them, they're split
[1:15:06] and they get their legs caught in them.
[1:15:09] I've seen it several times.
[1:15:17] I would just like to highlight, I mean, I, I hear Mr.
[1:15:19] Ellos concern certainly I think that,
[1:15:22] as Brenda just stated too, you know, $16
[1:15:24] and $16, I think we are in a position where the budget,
[1:15:29] our tax bill will be going up
[1:15:30] because we had to bond a significant amount of money
[1:15:32] and we actually cut down a significant
[1:15:34] amount of money from that bond.
[1:15:36] We could have done a lot more.
[1:15:38] Certainly, I think Jeremy would be happy
[1:15:39] to have an extra $20 million.
[1:15:42] He'd be ecstatic, I'm sure.
[1:15:43] So there's no end to the work that could be done.
[1:15:46] And certainly I, I'm supportive of doing this.
[1:15:48] I think that, you know,
[1:15:50] I'm concerned about the rise in the taxes in December,
[1:15:53] but I to think longer term,
[1:15:55] and I think Mr. Flynn coming on board has really encouraged
[1:15:58] that in our budgeting process.
[1:16:02] So I would be, I would be supportive of doing the projects.
[1:16:05] Yeah, I mean, to elaborate on Jen's point, you know, we,
[1:16:08] you know, we got a $24 million bond
[1:16:11] and that's allowing us to complete a lot of projects.
[1:16:13] But when we went into that process, we had a list of close
[1:16:16] to $50 million in, in projects.
[1:16:19] So, you know, the bond is going
[1:16:21] to help us really tackle quite a bit of that list.
[1:16:24] But there's still a lot more work to be done
[1:16:26] and we're gonna have to continue chipping away at that even
[1:16:29] as we do the projects that are being covered by the bond,
[1:16:32] if we don't wanna end up back in the same position
[1:16:35] that we were in before.
[1:16:37] So, you know, when you look at these opportunities
[1:16:40] that we have, you know, to complete four
[1:16:42] or five projects here
[1:16:43] and there with money that we have available, you know,
[1:16:46] this is what we have to do to keep up with these projects so
[1:16:50] that we can, you know, pay them down now before costs go up,
[1:16:53] before things accumulate again,
[1:16:55] Here's, here's an, here's another thought.
[1:17:01] So as presented the four, right?
[1:17:02] And we've talked about the guardrail,
[1:17:03] a couple people have brought that up.
[1:17:06] You can also vote on the guardrail next meeting too. Right?
[1:17:08] Okay. So if this number climbs another $150,000 right,
[1:17:12] you guys can outweigh your options, then
[1:17:15] I would say the ones that are on your list tonight are time
[1:17:19] sensitive or the guardrail would not be
[1:17:21] as time sensitive in entering in and things like that.
[1:17:23] Like we could secure something
[1:17:25] for the guard rail replacement and that last week of June.
[1:17:29] Yes. Okay. Thank you. So that's just a thought.
[1:17:32] You don't have to make all the decisions,
[1:17:34] but this would certainly help us on our,
[1:17:37] our planning side for those larger
[1:17:39] Project.
[1:17:40] Are we solid on the cost of the guardrail?
[1:17:43] Has it gone out for and it
[1:17:45] Has not gone out? No.
[1:17:47] So is it possible that, because I don't know,
[1:17:48] you said the one at Grinnell Yeah.
[1:17:50] Was just done. What was
[1:17:52] The It was right around that one.
[1:17:53] That's why that number is there.
[1:17:54] Okay. So we were, we're guesstimating based on
[1:17:57] the amount of area.
[1:17:59] Okay. I just, I, I agree when with Karen saying
[1:18:02] with the prices of everything going up, that
[1:18:05] that could then shoot up higher even, you know,
[1:18:08] the next time that we, we do it.
[1:18:10] I feel like if it's something that,
[1:18:11] especially if there's a drop off, I'm just thinking
[1:18:15] of Nemo don't go near the drop off
[1:18:18] and then we want to take care of,
[1:18:20] of these things while we have the funds
[1:18:22] and it still leaves plenty of
[1:18:25] money in our assigned fund balance.
[1:18:27] It's not like we're stretching it,
[1:18:30] But also there's no rush.
[1:18:31] Like we can, we can wait till next meeting too and see
[1:18:35] For The guardrail.
[1:18:36] Yeah. Like you said, I would, I would Yeah. Yeah.
[1:18:37] For the guardrail, sure, yeah.
[1:18:38] Everything else needs to happen.
[1:18:40] But for the guardrail, we could just wait
[1:18:42] and see who knows what,
[1:18:44] how much we're gonna have left in the next meeting.
[1:18:46] I, it might change, right? Yeah.
[1:18:47] These are some of the hardest decisions for boards.
[1:18:49] I mean, I lived it every year, right?
[1:18:51] So it's, it's, it's being cognizant of, of returning money.
[1:18:55] At the same time. We also have to be cognizant of that.
[1:18:57] We're gonna have to spend these costs anyways, right?
[1:19:00] That's, that's what we have to be aware of.
[1:19:04] So This is, this is,
[1:19:08] this is the, this is you guys
[1:19:12] David.
[1:19:13] Yeah. Yeah. Jane, question for you, in your estimates
[1:19:17] for the bond interest, did you just have 700,000
[1:19:19] because we're gonna earn more than 700,000.
[1:19:21] I don't know what you put in there.
[1:19:26] Think we're gonna have like seven 40 or seven 50,
[1:19:28] But we can't spend that on this stuff.
[1:19:29] That's what's getting deducted
[1:19:31] based on the warrant article.
[1:19:33] Right. But it's still, I think, factored into your number.
[1:19:36] Oh, I'm not saying you need to spend it,
[1:19:37] I'm just saying it's still factored in, right?
[1:19:39] Yes, yes. I used that in on anticipated revenues.
[1:19:44] The higher number or the, just the
[1:19:45] 700 I think around 38,000.
[1:19:47] No, the 7 38,
[1:19:49] The difference 40.
[1:19:50] Okay. Well the seven so far we've received almost 700,000.
[1:19:54] Yeah, six 80. Yeah. So that's in received revenue.
[1:19:59] And then the balance
[1:20:01] of your anticipated Gotcha. Is already included. Yes.
[1:20:03] Gotcha. Thank you. Yep.
[1:20:08] So I'm hearing kind of mixed sentiments here.
[1:20:10] I feel like, you know, there is support
[1:20:13] for adding in the guardrail,
[1:20:14] but there is the option to do it tonight
[1:20:16] or wait until the next meeting.
[1:20:18] So let me just weigh in my, so
[1:20:22] I, I, and I hear what everyone's saying, I understand
[1:20:25] where you're coming from, but it's $35,000 guys on a
[1:20:28] $1.8 million surplus.
[1:20:32] I, I think we're picking up penny tripping over quarter.
[1:20:34] Whatever the old saying is, tripping over quarter
[1:20:36] is picking up pennies here.
[1:20:38] If we need to get the projects
[1:20:39] done, we need to get 'em done.
[1:20:40] And we're not asking $35,000.
[1:20:42] I mean, we're, that's, and I don't wanna downplay it,
[1:20:44] but guys, we're looking at 1.8 million
[1:20:47] and you're talking about 35,000.
[1:20:49] So I think we just get the projects done.
[1:20:52] They're on a much larger list.
[1:20:54] We just need to, we need to keep chipping away
[1:20:56] and keep moving forward in this district.
[1:20:57] And I, I hassle over 30,
[1:21:02] over $35,000 just doesn't really mean anything
[1:21:05] to me when you're talking about $1.8 million.
[1:21:07] So that's just my feedback.
[1:21:09] I also don't wanna end up back where we were
[1:21:12] with the deferred maintenance.
[1:21:13] Sure. You know, so if we have the means, get it done.
[1:21:17] I mean, yeah. Okay. $16 a year on taxes.
[1:21:20] Say you have a $700,000 house, now you're up to $32 a year.
[1:21:24] Sure. Maybe 33.
[1:21:26] That's like three bucks a month, you know, so, so I get it,
[1:21:30] but I don't want it to turn around and we wait a few years
[1:21:33] and all of a sudden now steel's gone up,
[1:21:36] tariffs have gone up and,
[1:21:38] and we're falling back into where we were before. Sure.
[1:21:41] You know, the challenge, what you'll notice with, as you,
[1:21:44] as we do year after year, hopefully, is the lists
[1:21:48] that I'm gonna provide.
[1:21:49] They're, they're gonna be here. Right.
[1:21:50] It's not, it's not, I'm not gonna change a target.
[1:21:52] I'm not gonna change the bullseye.
[1:21:54] If you support it, we will,
[1:21:56] we will maintain it and we'll upgrade it.
[1:21:58] If you don't support it this time, it, it's gonna come back.
[1:22:00] Right. So that's it.
[1:22:02] It's a, it's a new exercise for us at the end of the year.
[1:22:05] And I know the challenges as, as,
[1:22:06] as you weigh a board
[1:22:07] spec specifically with your constituents.
[1:22:10] That's why I was trying to be respectful and navigate.
[1:22:13] But you know, like I said, we'll do the work.
[1:22:15] It's up to you guys.
[1:22:19] I'm gonna make a motion that we support the four items
[1:22:22] that you suggested at the beginning.
[1:22:24] Second.
[1:22:26] All right. So we have a motion on the table
[1:22:28] to approve the four initially recommended projects.
[1:22:32] That's the loading dock replacement at Grinnell,
[1:22:34] the bleacher seat replacement at Barca, the music room,
[1:22:37] wall replacement and courtyard paving at West Running Brook.
[1:22:40] And that would be from fund balance for a total not
[1:22:42] to exceed $225,000.
[1:22:45] So is there any further discussion on that before we vote?
[1:22:52] Don't come back with a bond for the,
[1:22:55] for the say that word,
[1:22:57] I promise.
[1:22:58] Say No,
[1:22:59] No, I I mean, I, I understand
[1:23:01] where Brenda's coming from too.
[1:23:02] I understand. We have
[1:23:04] so many residents here on a fixed income.
[1:23:06] I get it. And $3 a month is a lot for some people.
[1:23:08] I understand that totally can be a lot for me sometimes.
[1:23:12] And so Yes. To get these done. Yeah. If, I mean this is
[1:23:16] In, in addition to the budget.
[1:23:18] Correct? Correct.
[1:23:23] You know, it's, it's, it's a shuffle.
[1:23:25] It's kind of a little bit Michelle gave, but
[1:23:29] Her mic's on.
[1:23:30] Richard. It's on,
[1:23:33] It's on. I
[1:23:34] Dunno, it's not your fault.
[1:23:36] Yeah. I just think it's important to be mindful of
[1:23:39] what we're doing and I don't not want do repairs,
[1:23:44] but I think the guardrail can wait.
[1:23:48] All right. Any further comments? All right.
[1:23:52] So we will vote all in favor?
[1:23:55] Aye. Aye. Say three.
[1:24:00] All opposed? No, no.
[1:24:05] Should we do roll call?
[1:24:06] Let's do a, a roll call Vote Yeah. All yes.
[1:24:10] Brenda? Jen?
[1:24:12] Yes. No, No. Yes.
[1:24:17] I'm gonna say yes, no,
[1:24:20] Or two.
[1:24:21] All right. Chair votes? Yes. Motion passes. Five two. Okay.
[1:24:26] And a reminder that we can always, you know,
[1:24:29] you can get a revised report on the fund balance
[1:24:31] at the next meeting in two weeks.
[1:24:32] If we wanna reconsider doing the
[1:24:34] guardrail at that meeting, we can do that. I
[1:24:36] Think that's a good idea.
[1:24:40] Thank you everyone. Sorry,
[1:24:41] I'm taking a note at the same time.
[1:24:44] Okay. All right. So we will move on to our third item
[1:24:47] that's gonna be second reads
[1:24:48] of two policies first presented at our last meeting.
[1:24:51] Those are policies, A, D, C, G, B, E, D, J, ICG, relating
[1:24:55] to the ban and of use
[1:24:57] and possession of tobacco products, vaping, et cetera.
[1:25:01] And policy JCA relating to the change of school assignment.
[1:25:04] So Mike, did you have anything you wanted to add? I,
[1:25:07] No, I haven't spoken to any about policy,
[1:25:09] so I assume that we're good.
[1:25:10] Alright. Any questions from the board? No questions.
[1:25:13] Alright. If not, I would take a motion
[1:25:15] to accept policies.
[1:25:16] A, D, C, G, BE, D, JIC, G and JCA as presented.
[1:25:21] So Moved first by Jamie.
[1:25:23] Second. Second by Jen. All in favor? Aye. All opposed.
[1:25:28] Motion carries. Seven zero. All right.
[1:25:32] We'll move on to administration reports.
[1:25:34] I'll turn it over to Jane
[1:25:35] for business administrator's report.
[1:25:38] Okay. I will actually start with one of the questions
[1:25:42] that David had regarding Medicaid.
[1:25:44] We, this year had 250,000 budgeted
[1:25:48] and to date we've received 361,000 417, 13.
[1:25:53] So we are above our initial projections.
[1:25:57] So I think they're, they're doing good work out in
[1:26:00] special education.
[1:26:01] So obviously we'll keep an eye on
[1:26:03] that when we're budgeting for next year.
[1:26:07] Also, we have been in the last week we have negotiated
[1:26:11] and finalized the three main contracts for the summer work,
[1:26:15] which is the east area roof, the south range roof,
[1:26:19] and the Eckman contract for structural modifications
[1:26:23] and upgrades for South range.
[1:26:27] Those have all been completed and purchase orders issued.
[1:26:32] I'm also working on the US census
[1:26:36] for the annual survey of employment and payroll.
[1:26:39] So that will be going out this week.
[1:26:43] Our staff is going to be transitioning,
[1:26:45] I think I may have mentioned in the board meeting,
[1:26:47] we're transitioning to a cloud-based software,
[1:26:49] which is the same software,
[1:26:52] but instead of using a desktop, it is
[1:26:54] very different than our desktop version.
[1:26:56] So our training starts next week
[1:26:59] and then we will have
[1:27:01] another four hours the following week on
[1:27:05] the cloud-based version training on that.
[1:27:07] And then over the summer it will be department specific on
[1:27:10] the training and we'll also be implementing new processes
[1:27:14] and a couple new portals mostly related
[1:27:18] to accounts payable to be more streamlined and less paper.
[1:27:22] So that's the goal to get through the end of the summer
[1:27:25] and to make sure that that's been implemented.
[1:27:27] And we have our tentatively our audit is
[1:27:32] scheduled for August 24th
[1:27:35] and they're usually on site for a couple of days,
[1:27:37] but there's a lot of pre-work
[1:27:38] that goes into it over the summer.
[1:27:40] We are having to prepare everything for our year end.
[1:27:44] Right now we are doing all of our reconciliation
[1:27:47] of every account, every fund, all of our bank accounts.
[1:27:52] So that's what we're focused on right now.
[1:27:53] And as Mike said, we're looking through purchase orders,
[1:27:56] trying to close those out, get invoices so
[1:27:59] that we can clean out our end of year.
[1:28:00] So that's pretty much what our focus is, is cl getting
[1:28:04] to year end and finalizing all of our numbers.
[1:28:08] And lastly, I just want to, you know,
[1:28:11] thank you Kathy Kennedy for stepping up
[1:28:12] to be the deputy treasurer who is now our acting treasurer.
[1:28:16] And thank you David for continuing to step up to train her.
[1:28:21] And so we still do have an opening
[1:28:23] for school district treasurer if anybody is interested
[1:28:26] because you, you have to live in dairy, have to be happy
[1:28:28] to go back to being deputy treasurer. You have to
[1:28:30] Live in Derry, you have to live,
[1:28:31] we've a couple applicants that don't live in
[1:28:33] Dairy.
[1:28:34] Yes, we did have people interested.
[1:28:39] And that is it unless anybody has any questions.
[1:28:42] Questions for Jane. All right. No hearing none.
[1:28:46] Thank you, Jane. Thank you. We on to Mike
[1:28:48] with his superintendent's. It's
[1:28:49] Pretty quick.
[1:28:51] We're what I,
[1:28:52] we are in the final stretch, so parents be ready.
[1:28:55] We, we play a game of tag your it next Wednesday.
[1:28:59] Next Wednesday is early release.
[1:29:01] As normal, the buses will run.
[1:29:04] It's that time of year, field days,
[1:29:06] field trips, exciting times.
[1:29:09] We've had a lot of transitional events.
[1:29:11] We really redeveloped our transitional events
[1:29:13] for our students, whether they were going from four to five
[1:29:16] or six to seven.
[1:29:18] And then we partnered with Pinkerton
[1:29:19] with eight to, to high school.
[1:29:21] So those have been exciting to see some of those events.
[1:29:25] Big thing, tomorrow night we're having our i'll,
[1:29:27] I'll call it inaugural retirement dinner.
[1:29:31] I'm ecstatic to see the retirees.
[1:29:34] We've had nearly 80 RSVPs already.
[1:29:38] I expect last minute people probably coming in too.
[1:29:40] So I'm looking forward
[1:29:42] to meeting a lot of new people tomorrow night.
[1:29:43] But more importantly, celebrating the, the decades of work
[1:29:47] that these people have helped our students of dairy.
[1:29:49] So looking forward to that.
[1:29:51] And then a little bit of a PSA, I've started
[1:29:53] to communicate it to some appropriate channels.
[1:29:56] But south range, due to the volume
[1:29:57] of work we talked about at facilities South range will be
[1:30:00] closed, the campus will be closed all summer.
[1:30:03] So no playground, no parking, no anything
[1:30:06] because of just the massive amount of work.
[1:30:09] I mean, we're looking at 10 to 11 dumpsters probably on
[1:30:11] site plus the heavy equipment.
[1:30:13] So a little bit of a PSA there.
[1:30:15] We'll get that out to the communities
[1:30:16] through our parents square and things like that.
[1:30:20] And that's it. Short and sweet this evening.
[1:30:25] All right. Yeah, I would second your comments on
[1:30:27] the transition activities.
[1:30:29] I know there's lots of things going on.
[1:30:30] I'm sure many of us have heard
[1:30:31] or have firsthand experience, you know, students
[1:30:34] that are moving up, they've had opportunities
[1:30:36] to visit their new schools, you know, both with their peers
[1:30:39] during school day and with their families in the evening.
[1:30:42] They've had opportunities to meet with, you know, students
[1:30:44] who are already at those schools, learn about the different
[1:30:46] activities they'll have available to them.
[1:30:47] And, you know, there are more opportunities
[1:30:49] that they'll have before they
[1:30:51] get to the first day of school.
[1:30:53] So I was really impressed, you know, with the work
[1:30:54] of our building, SAU administrators, teachers, staff,
[1:30:57] you know, really make sure that those students
[1:31:00] that are moving up are gonna feel comfortable next fall.
[1:31:03] So thank you to, you know, all the staff
[1:31:05] and the work everyone sent across the district for,
[1:31:07] you know, how well this, you know, it's a very hectic time
[1:31:09] of year how well everything has been managed.
[1:31:11] Controlled chaos.
[1:31:17] All right. We will move on to committee
[1:31:18] and liaison reports.
[1:31:19] First up will be Karen
[1:31:20] with an update from the finance committee.
[1:31:23] So everything, so everything Jane
[1:31:28] said, sound like me.
[1:31:31] And, and then I look forward to the final number
[1:31:35] of the unassigned fund balance
[1:31:37] so we can put that guardrail in.
[1:31:40] Yeah, the unassigned fund balance was a big topic at the
[1:31:43] last finance meeting and we've covered
[1:31:44] that extensively tonight.
[1:31:45] So thank you very much, Karen.
[1:31:48] Any other questions on finance from anyone?
[1:31:52] All right, we'll go to David with an
[1:31:53] update from the facilities committee. Yeah, we met
[1:31:56] Last Thursday.
[1:31:59] Basically Jeremy kind of gave us the project,
[1:32:01] detailed project plan of this South
[1:32:04] range project this summer.
[1:32:06] Very little days off, very little.
[1:32:08] There'll be Saturdays if it rains.
[1:32:10] They gotta be there on Saturdays.
[1:32:11] So it's very, gonna be a very tight schedule.
[1:32:12] But he seemed, he seemed pretty confident
[1:32:15] that it'll get done without any hitches.
[1:32:19] And then, you know, we got a brief overview
[1:32:22] of the CIP plan kind of format and direction.
[1:32:26] It looks like in August we'll see something in the committee
[1:32:28] level or late July or August to this group.
[1:32:33] A finalized or more formalized,
[1:32:36] was it 10 years, Mike? I forget,
[1:32:38] I'm looking at it now.
[1:32:39] 2033
[1:32:40] Was the first draft.
[1:32:41] Draft draft, yeah, that's okay. Yep.
[1:32:42] So yeah, we got a sneak peek at that.
[1:32:44] The UMass Lowell guys put, put that together.
[1:32:47] So excited to see that.
[1:32:48] Something we hadn't had in a long time,
[1:32:50] but it was a quick meeting.
[1:32:51] It was really just those two big things
[1:32:55] and just excited to start seeing the progress of, of the,
[1:33:00] the bond funds that we have, you know, we asked for.
[1:33:02] So looking forward to that. Any questions?
[1:33:08] All right, thanks David. All right.
[1:33:12] Next item will be member updates in any other business.
[1:33:14] I had a couple of things to mention tonight.
[1:33:16] First, the application period
[1:33:17] for the fiscal advisory committee remains open.
[1:33:20] Again, that's an advisory group
[1:33:21] that participates in the annual budget process.
[1:33:24] Board policy dictates that we appoint new members
[1:33:26] to fill openings by June 30th.
[1:33:27] So we'll bring those appointments forward at
[1:33:29] the June 23rd meeting.
[1:33:31] If you're interested in applying,
[1:33:32] the application is available on the district website
[1:33:34] and can be turned in at the SAU office back on May 28th.
[1:33:39] We had our spring sending town meeting
[1:33:40] with the Pinkerton administration board of trustees.
[1:33:43] If you're unfamiliar the boards from the sending towns meet
[1:33:46] with Pinkerton three times a year.
[1:33:48] We received updates from their administration,
[1:33:50] including their budget timeline for next year, the status
[1:33:52] of their start times committee,
[1:33:53] which is still focused on the idea of a busing consortium
[1:33:57] between the sending towns and Dairy PD was there.
[1:34:00] They gave us an update on the incident
[1:34:02] that they had on campus back on May 20th.
[1:34:04] So on a related note,
[1:34:05] Pinkerton's graduation is coming up this Friday,
[1:34:07] so congratulations to our graduating seniors at Pinkerton
[1:34:10] and also at Next who have their graduation on Thursday.
[1:34:15] Anybody else have any updates, comments? Yeah,
[1:34:17] So only thing I would say, it's really just a comment
[1:34:20] when, when we discuss the fund balance
[1:34:23] and projects and whatnot.
[1:34:24] You know, one of the things when I, back in December, Jane
[1:34:26] and I worked together.
[1:34:28] So we had operating funds just sitting in Citizens Bank in a
[1:34:31] investment account making 1.99% together.
[1:34:35] We moved it over to pip.
[1:34:36] So we, we've, we increased revenues 20,000,
[1:34:39] roughly 20,000 a month.
[1:34:41] So when you think of projects that are $35,000
[1:34:43] or $10,000, you gotta think of stuff like this
[1:34:45] where we've increased revenues that we've never had before.
[1:34:48] And to the 20,000 a month is $240,000 a year.
[1:34:51] Just to kind of keep that in the back of your mind.
[1:34:53] So I don't mean to make light earlier discussion of $35,000,
[1:34:57] but in the back of my mind I, I'm, I'm like, well we just
[1:35:00] gave the district $240,000 that we've never had
[1:35:02] before through this mechanism
[1:35:05] that we, Jane and I went through.
[1:35:08] So those are some of the things I would
[1:35:11] caution board members.
[1:35:12] Not caution, just kind of think about
[1:35:14] when you hear those kind of things.
[1:35:15] When we do increase revenues that we've never had
[1:35:17] before, that money's well spent doing
[1:35:20] projects for maintenance.
[1:35:22] Any opportunity we can get, whether it's $35,000, $10,000,
[1:35:27] whatever the number is, it's worth
[1:35:28] just checking off the list.
[1:35:29] 'cause we know the list it's 38 million,
[1:35:31] well probably more now,
[1:35:32] but it was $38 million, two years,
[1:35:34] two years, whatever it was, three years ago.
[1:35:36] So that's, that's all I'd say is when you're considering
[1:35:38] spending money, consider the things that we have generated
[1:35:41] that we've never had before in that case.
[1:35:45] Thank you.
[1:35:47] I had a couple of things. So first of all,
[1:35:49] happy pride month everybody.
[1:35:51] The second I just, you already said that.
[1:35:55] Next is having their graduation Thursday,
[1:35:56] but it's open to the public, right?
[1:35:59] Like for everybody can come, I'm pretty sure. Yeah. Okay.
[1:36:03] So it's at four o'clock on Thursday
[1:36:05] at the Dairy Opera House.
[1:36:06] And congrats to the next graduates. Sorry,
[1:36:11] I also wanted to mention Hood's graduation, which will be
[1:36:14] before the next meeting as well.
[1:36:15] So congrats to all the eighth graders
[1:36:18] moving onward and upward.
[1:36:19] That's gonna be on the 16th.
[1:36:21] And I also just wanted to quickly address
[1:36:23] a question that Mr.
[1:36:24] Tripp had when he came up here when he was asking about the
[1:36:28] cell phones and how it has affected the classroom.
[1:36:31] I would say I haven't been in the classroom,
[1:36:33] but I have heard from some friends,
[1:36:36] and I've heard from some kids
[1:36:38] that it has been overall a beneficial move.
[1:36:41] There have been some snags in obviously in the beginning
[1:36:45] and implementing it, it was a change,
[1:36:48] but overall I've heard it being a positive thing.
[1:36:51] It has lowered instances of bullying
[1:36:54] because the kids don't have their phones out there
[1:36:57] to record things, which was also often an instigator
[1:37:01] of wanting to egg people on.
[1:37:04] It has brought in more engagement.
[1:37:07] The one complaint that I'm hearing from most kids is
[1:37:09] that it, they don't get to listen to their music,
[1:37:12] but it's making kids go out
[1:37:14] and buy iPods, which I think is hilarious
[1:37:16] that I've actually seen kids with iPods and Walkmans.
[1:37:20] There are scouring thrift shops for Walkmans
[1:37:22] and Discmans now so that they can have their music.
[1:37:25] So when they're doing so they don't have their phones.
[1:37:27] So there has been a transition period.
[1:37:30] But I think that overall they see the benefits
[1:37:34] and that it has been a good thing.
[1:37:36] That's at least what I have heard.
[1:37:39] I will say too, at our Kade schools, I know
[1:37:41] even last year at West,
[1:37:43] the students weren't allowed to have their cell phones.
[1:37:45] They were required to leave them at home
[1:37:47] or keep them locked in their lockers all day.
[1:37:50] And I'm assuming that that was district wide.
[1:37:53] Yeah, and you know, when Mr. Trip
[1:37:54] Came up and spoke, I always take notes
[1:37:56] during public comment like, and I put down cell phone data
[1:37:58] feedback, like I'd, I'd really like to really get to some
[1:38:02] more intel on, you know, how many instances will we had,
[1:38:05] how many challenges that we've occurred.
[1:38:07] But the general overall feedback has been,
[1:38:09] obviously it's been positive.
[1:38:11] I know speaking of my own children, I have a high schooler,
[1:38:14] an eighth grader and a fifth grader.
[1:38:16] My high schooler has noticed a significant difference.
[1:38:18] And then my eighth grader,
[1:38:20] same thing kind of rules were already there.
[1:38:21] So not a whole little lot of change, but
[1:38:23] Yeah.
[1:38:24] Yeah, I would imagine it probably had a bigger
[1:38:26] impact at Pinkerton. Yeah,
[1:38:27] I'm looking, I mean, I'm looking forward to digging in.
[1:38:30] Yeah.
[1:38:33] All right.
[1:38:38] It's done.
[1:38:40] I just wanted to say congratulations to the deep graduates
[1:38:43] because they, it was great,
[1:38:44] Great graduation.
[1:38:46] They did such a nice job and thank you to the staff there
[1:38:49] because it was, it was very
[1:38:51] enjoyable and they were adorable.
[1:38:52] If you can catch it on YouTube, Jonathan did
[1:38:58] record it also had the lovely ability
[1:39:02] to volunteer at two field days.
[1:39:06] And I will congratulate Mr. Johnson
[1:39:08] where I was at ARCA today.
[1:39:11] Did a great job. The kids had a great time. And same as Mrs.
[1:39:14] Weiner at Grinnell. Awesome job.
[1:39:17] I'm sure the other schools were great too,
[1:39:18] but those are the ones I was at.
[1:39:19] Yeah.
[1:39:23] Alright, last call. One last thing I'll add.
[1:39:28] I know, Joe, this is your second to last meeting.
[1:39:30] You're, you're gonna be gonna be with us on the 23rd.
[1:39:34] All right. So yeah, we'll save everything for then.
[1:39:36] But we did have a nice gathering last week, you know, with
[1:39:41] friends, family, colleagues,
[1:39:44] and that was a, you know, great event.
[1:39:46] And
[1:39:47] Joe does not like this.
[1:39:49] Which again, I always say all the time, I love it.
[1:39:52] I can see it. I asked Joe today, Hey, are you take,
[1:39:55] like when I transitioned here, I took off the last two weeks
[1:39:58] of June, knowing that I said, Hey,
[1:40:00] are you taking off the last two weeks?
[1:40:01] He's like, Nope, I'll be here every day.
[1:40:02] I'm like, you are so committed. Good job. That's great.
[1:40:06] Nothing less from Joe.
[1:40:09] All right, well, moving on.
[1:40:11] Our upcoming meeting schedule will be holding our annual
[1:40:14] goal setting workshop Tuesday,
[1:40:15] June 23rd at 5:00 PM That'll be followed
[1:40:18] by the regular board meeting at 6:30 PM Following that,
[1:40:22] we'll be off for a bit of the summer
[1:40:24] before we reconvene on Tuesday,
[1:40:25] August 11th at 6:30 PM back here at the municipal center.
[1:40:30] So the board will be meeting in non-public session tonight.
[1:40:33] So I would accept a motion
[1:40:34] to enter a non-public session under RSA 91 a section three,
[1:40:37] paragraph two, subparagraph A. So
[1:40:40] Moved Second.
[1:40:41] First by Jen, second by Jamie.
[1:40:44] The statute requires we take a roll call. Vote. Brenda. Yes.
[1:40:48] Jen? Yes. Jenna? Yes. Jamie? Yes. Karen? Yes. David? Yes.
[1:40:53] Chair votes? Yes. Motion carries. Seven zero.
[1:40:56] The board will now move into non-public session.
[1:40:57] Goodnight everybody.