[0:00] Good evening everyone.

[0:01] I will now call this meeting

[0:02] of the Dairy School Board to order.

[0:03] Please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance,

[0:09] All the United States of America

[0:13] to Republic, which stands, one Nation.

[0:18] This will liberty Justice.

[0:23] Thank you everyone. We will start with the roll call.

[0:25] If everyone could introduce

[0:26] themselves, starting from my right.

[0:31] Christina Zi, child Nutrition Director,

[0:34] Joe Crawford, assistant Superintendent

[0:37] Jane Ard, business administrator,

[0:39] Michael Flynn, superintendent Brenda Willis,

[0:41] School Board.

[0:42] Michael Thiel, school Board Chair.

[0:44] Jen Thoreau, school Board, vice Chair.

[0:46] Jenna Paradise, school Board Secretary,

[0:48] Jamie Caru, school Board.

[0:49] Karen Rand, school Board. David K Clap School Board.

[0:52] Thank you everybody. Our first order

[0:55] of business tonight will be the consent agenda.

[0:57] We have the public meeting minutes of June 9th, 2026,

[1:01] the non-public meeting minutes of June 9th, 2026.

[1:04] The manifests in the amount of $6,716,461

[1:09] and 52 cents, of which

[1:10] $4,923,659 and 4 cents is general payroll

[1:16] and $1,792,802

[1:19] and 48 cents is general expense approval of the following,

[1:23] professional staff nominations.

[1:24] Melissa Carley, special education teacher,

[1:27] Grinnell Elementary School, Ellen McGonal,

[1:30] special education teacher, Grinnell Elementary School.

[1:33] Melissa Stevens, special education teacher,

[1:35] Gilbert H should middle school

[1:37] and Hillary Woods Elementary teacher,

[1:39] Ernest p Barka Elementary School.

[1:42] We're also putting forward permission for the superintendent

[1:45] to hire professional staff through the end of August

[1:47] with the board adjourning until August 11th.

[1:49] After tonight, this would grant the superintendent

[1:51] permission to continue hiring to ensure the district is able

[1:53] to lock up qualified staff over the summer.

[1:56] Hires made under this authorization would be brought

[1:58] to the board for election at

[1:59] the next scheduled board meeting.

[2:01] Do you wanna add anything there, Mike?

[2:03] Nope. Alright.

[2:06] Do I have a motion to accept the consent agenda?

[2:09] I moved First by Jenna second. Second by Jamie.

[2:13] Any further discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? Aye.

[2:17] Aye. All opposed. Motion carries seven zero. I changed

[2:21] My mind.

[2:22] I just wanna reiterate that this is standard practice,

[2:24] that you are not granting me some magical thing

[2:27] that none others districts do, which just allows us

[2:30] to move candidates forward

[2:31] and then you confirm them in August.

[2:33] So thank you.

[2:37] No presentations tonight.

[2:38] So we'll move on to delegations in individuals at this time.

[2:41] Residents of Derry, parents of currently enrolled dairy

[2:43] students and employees of the district may address the

[2:45] school board and matters that pertain only to school

[2:47] and district business for a period of time.

[2:49] Not to exceed three minutes per person.

[2:51] As a reminder, the board welcomes input,

[2:53] however questions are not entertained during the comment.

[2:55] If you would like to speak, please come up

[2:57] to the microphone at this time and state your

[2:58] name and address for the record.

[3:10] Not seeing anyone come to the microphone, we'll move on

[3:13] to the meeting, but the public comment period will remain

[3:15] open until 7:03 PM if you wish to speak prior to

[3:17] that time, approach the microphone.

[3:18] And I will recognize you with the next break in the agenda.

[3:22] No student members with us tonight,

[3:23] so we'll move on to deliberations.

[3:25] We have four items to consider tonight.

[3:28] The first item is a proposed increase

[3:30] to the cost of student meals.

[3:31] So I'll turn it over to Mike

[3:33] as see we also have Christina LaBelle to

[3:34] Here.

[3:35] Yeah, Christina and Jane did an

[3:37] evaluation of our current meal prices.

[3:38] So they're here to kind of walk through with you

[3:41] and ask you for recommendations.

[3:43] So Christina, are you taking the lead? Jane?

[3:46] I believe Jane ARD is going to. Okay,

[3:48] Thank you.

[3:50] Okay, so we are bringing forward a proposed meal increase

[3:55] for 26 27,

[3:57] and we wanted to bring it at this last meeting so

[4:00] that Christina can get all the paperwork

[4:02] and notifications out to families.

[4:04] So as we go through the presentation,

[4:06] it is a 10 cent increase on meals.

[4:09] And as we go through the slides,

[4:11] Christina's gonna talk about why we're bringing it forward.

[4:15] This is not just something that's a dairy initiative, it's

[4:18] through the USDA.

[4:19] There's a whole price calculation

[4:21] of why we would be bringing forward the price increase.

[4:25] So we're going to move along

[4:27] and I'm gonna have Christina talk about the purpose

[4:31] of why we're doing this.

[4:33] Thank you, Jane. So for the purpose of the proposal,

[4:37] we're looking to maintain a financially

[4:39] sustainable food service program.

[4:42] We continue to offer nutritious, high quality meals

[4:45] to our students based on the bids we receive

[4:47] from our distributors.

[4:49] But over the course of the past two years,

[4:52] there has been a huge increase in cost, you know,

[4:56] through these bids.

[4:58] And even though we get locked in rates, we end up with

[5:02] surcharges such as gas charges and things like that.

[5:04] Everything that just, you know, helps increase the cost,

[5:07] you know, more so than what we had anticipated.

[5:10] So we're looking to, you know, move up the,

[5:14] the cost an additional 10 cents, which is not a huge amount,

[5:18] but it's just enough to kind of, you know, move us along

[5:20] to hopefully, you know, work through some of these costs

[5:23] that we're currently getting.

[5:25] So we're looking to preserve the district's ability

[5:27] to meet the federal nutritional requirements.

[5:30] And we're also looking to meet the USDA recommended

[5:32] requirements for pricing increased

[5:35] in the price calculator chart,

[5:37] which we have on the next slide, I believe.

[5:41] Oh, nope. We asked some facts about the program First,

[5:43] let's talk about the child nutrition program first.

[5:47] So overall, we have nine employees of the, including myself,

[5:50] that are considered full-time employees in our department.

[5:54] You know, one of the main focuses

[5:56] of our program is obviously labor costs

[5:59] and it looks to be about 60% of our program budget.

[6:02] The last price increase that we did have was after COVID,

[6:06] after everyone had been free

[6:08] for a year and a half, two years.

[6:09] And we did raise that price 10 cents.

[6:13] And as I stated before, a lot of these operational costs,

[6:16] you know, have increased dramatically

[6:18] over the past few years.

[6:20] So for a, a snapshot, look at it, you know,

[6:23] right now we're looking at an additional $18 a year

[6:28] for a student for 180 days, you know, to have a lunch.

[6:31] So really over the, the course

[6:33] of the 10 month period, it's not a lot.

[6:36] It would not include any increases in the reduced students

[6:40] which pay currently 40 cents for lunch

[6:42] or obviously free students, which would be free.

[6:45] And this does not affect our snack milk,

[6:49] which remain at 50 cents for the students.

[6:57] So what the USDA has us work with

[7:02] as far as figuring out costs,

[7:04] it's called the paid lunch Equity tool.

[7:07] And what this is, it's a way

[7:09] of making sure the schools gradually charge

[7:10] enough for paid lunches.

[7:12] So the federal funds intended for free

[7:14] and reduced price meals are not subsidizing the paid meals.

[7:18] The USDA compares what we charge students for paid lunches

[7:20] to what it actually costs to provide those meals.

[7:23] The paid lunch equity tool calculates whether our paid lunch

[7:26] price is high enough

[7:27] and if it isn't, the USDA requires us

[7:29] to either increase prices

[7:31] or contribute non-federal funds to make up the difference.

[7:34] The calculator below was used in May of 2026,

[7:38] about two months ago at a Department

[7:42] of Education Child Nutrition meeting, where a lot

[7:45] of the directors in the state of New Hampshire,

[7:47] we come together quarterly and and speak with the DOE and,

[7:51] and we work together as a group to see

[7:53] where we fall as a district.

[7:55] So these are the numbers that we came up with,

[7:58] provided that we're using the numbers from October of 2025.

[8:03] As you can see, we input the number of lunches

[8:06] and what the costs were

[8:07] for the lunches to look at our revenue.

[8:10] And then towards the bottom in step two, you'll see

[8:13] that we did have a shortfall of 48 cents,

[8:15] which ultimately means we could definitely raise

[8:18] prices more than 10 cents.

[8:20] So if you look at the number of paid lunches broken down,

[8:23] you might see seven, seven schools listed.

[8:26] Just for the record, the 1 1 78, the bottom is

[8:29] for next charter school.

[8:31] So technically they count as a school for us.

[8:39] This is just a quick comparison that I had done reaching out

[8:42] with a few of the local districts where we fall as far as

[8:48] breakfast and lunch and what we're looking to propose.

[8:52] And towards the bottom we do have the averages,

[8:55] which you can see we'd fall between, for breakfast one 90,

[9:00] we would be moving up 10 cents to a dollar 80, still

[9:03] below the average of a lot

[9:05] of the local districts in our area.

[9:07] Lunch, again, we're at $3 for elementary

[9:12] proposing to move up to three 10.

[9:13] Three 10 is the average.

[9:15] So we'd be right in aligned with the average.

[9:17] And as far as the middle school, intermediate schools,

[9:20] we're looking to bump up 10 additional cents.

[9:23] Average comes to 3 29, we'd be at three 30.

[9:26] So proposing

[9:27] to do the Tencent increase would put us right in alignment

[9:30] with all the other districts.

[9:35] So we also just wanna talk about some of the food costs.

[9:39] Just a few things to show you what the cost increase was.

[9:43] So in 2023,

[9:45] a hot dog bun was $22 72 cents per case.

[9:48] And in 2026 it's 36 59.

[9:53] A four ounce yogurt cup in 2023 was 25 cents,

[9:57] and now they're 30 cents.

[9:59] Individually wrapped. Bagels were 27 and now they're 45.

[10:05] The chicken patties used to be 36 cents,

[10:07] now they're 54 cents.

[10:10] And they also serve a pork barbecue.

[10:13] Pork RT was 52 cents and now it's 98 cents.

[10:18] Also cheese pizza quesadillas were 48 cents

[10:21] and now they're 74 cents.

[10:23] So pretty much everything

[10:25] that we're serving across the board has

[10:28] increased their cost, if not doubled their cost.

[10:31] And so we are trying to

[10:34] not only do the additional 10 cents,

[10:36] but we're doing it following the USDA's

[10:39] calculator and guideline.

[10:41] And what Christina's saying is when you look at

[10:43] that shortfall or credit, the 48 cents, they would like us

[10:48] to go to the 48 cents.

[10:49] But we're trying to grow, just go incrementally

[10:52] and just ask for a 10 cent increase for 26 27

[10:57] to make up for some of those increased costs.

[11:03] All right, well thank you Jane and Christina.

[11:06] I mean, this is an unfortunate

[11:07] thing that we have to consider.

[11:08] You know, in a perfect world we'd be feeding students

[11:10] as part of their education,

[11:13] but you know, this is the reality.

[11:14] It's one of the more difficult decisions we have to make.

[11:16] But I think when you consider the rising costs impacting

[11:18] everything, the requirements from the USDA,

[11:20] you look at the average meal prices in other districts,

[11:23] and I think this is a fair increase that you're asking for.

[11:27] I'll turn it over to the board if anyone

[11:29] has any other questions or comments.

[11:32] I know you said that it doesn't affect anyone on free

[11:34] lunch right now, but will it

[11:37] increase on numbers for free lunch?

[11:39] Will more people be eligible

[11:41] because it's gone up 10 cents? Not at all.

[11:43] No. The increase, the change in whether someone qualifies

[11:47] or not are federal guidelines,

[11:49] which doesn't have anything to do with.

[11:51] Okay. Yep. And just a side note, we also noted that

[11:56] eighth grade students who just graduated

[11:58] still owe $1,992 in

[12:02] unpaid lunch debt.

[12:04] And total outstanding

[12:06] unpaid bills are $24,369 and 65 cents.

[12:12] No, it was high.

[12:18] So I know this seems like an obvious thing,

[12:23] but so if the price increases

[12:25] and we have X amount

[12:27] of people still basically defaulting not paying,

[12:31] then the amount owed is going to then increase.

[12:34] When does it level out or does it ever level out?

[12:38] How does that deficit ever get paid?

[12:41] And if it doesn't, where who, who takes the hit?

[12:45] The district deficit, the district is

[12:47] obligated to take that debt.

[12:50] I, every district I've worked in all the way back

[12:52] to Milford, it, there's always a, a negative lunch balance.

[12:57] And I told you, I think a couple weeks ago,

[12:59] this actually is not a bad number.

[13:02] And the challenge is

[13:05] we're working on it in policy right now.

[13:08] It's, it's how do you, how do you collect, when is it

[13:12] with a struggling family

[13:13] that is never gonna be able to pay it?

[13:14] Right? What's the relief program that look like?

[13:16] Or is it people that are just

[13:17] being ignorant and not paying it?

[13:20] So we're trying to navigate that.

[13:22] But this, you're right, this number,

[13:23] the unpaid is always a hit to us.

[13:28] And in most districts, the reason why a lot of

[13:30] that is unpaid is

[13:32] because we don't have enough staff

[13:34] to put somebody in the beginning

[13:35] of the line to check your account.

[13:37] So when a child goes through the line, we're not shutting.

[13:39] We'll never not feed a child.

[13:42] So the children are continuing to go through the line

[13:44] and incurring debt,

[13:47] but we don't have the staff

[13:49] to have someone sitting at the front of the line to say,

[13:52] Hey, you have no money in your account. So,

[13:55] So I know this seems like a silly question,

[13:58] but if you ever go to a restaurant

[14:00] or any other type of canteen, you can go through

[14:05] and ask for what you're gonna get first and pay

[14:08] and then go in line.

[14:09] Is that not something that we could ever do?

[14:11] Is it because the direction comes in from two different

[14:14] directions and there's only one register at the end?

[14:16] Right. So as part of the National School Lunch program,

[14:18] the technically the cashier, the register really has

[14:22] to be the final eyes on the tray

[14:24] to make sure the child has a full

[14:26] complete reimbursable meal.

[14:28] So if we were to staff

[14:30] and have, as Jane had said, someone at the front

[14:33] of the line servers, two people at, at the registers,

[14:36] I mean, our elementary schools now run pretty smooth

[14:40] with three staff members.

[14:42] You'd be looking at five staff members

[14:43] and increase even more in labor costs, things like that.

[14:47] So it's, it's, it's definitely a tough, you know, a a tough

[14:53] problem to face, I guess, in the sense

[14:56] that we wanna do everything we possibly can to

[15:00] get these families on free and reduced meals.

[15:02] We want to communicate with them, we reach out,

[15:04] we are constantly sending home emails, letters.

[15:08] I think sometimes it's almost overkill to the point

[15:11] where we're trying to do everything we possibly can.

[15:13] It, it's, it's communication. It really boils down.

[15:16] If a family is struggling,

[15:17] we do everything we absolutely can to work with them,

[15:21] payment plans, you know, help them figure out, hey,

[15:24] you know, this is what, what the cost is.

[15:26] You know, what are you looking at as far as

[15:29] when you fill out your application?

[15:30] Did you fill it out correctly?

[15:31] Did you maybe, you know, put a wrong number down there?

[15:34] Or how many family, you know,

[15:36] how many members are in your household.

[15:37] There's so many, you know, working pieces to an application.

[15:41] Unfortunately, I think that it really, it really boils down

[15:44] to communicating with these families.

[15:45] And when they are negative, they don't respond back to us.

[15:49] So it just, it snowballs

[15:50] and it gets worse and worse and worse.

[15:52] And it's, it's hard.

[15:53] That's, that's the business part of it, right?

[15:55] We see the kids every day, we look at a child,

[15:58] it's clearly not, you know, their fault.

[16:00] It's not their responsibility to pay their meal accounts.

[16:02] So it's hard, you know, it, it's a double-edged sword.

[16:05] So we do everything we possibly can to get these families,

[16:09] you know, the information,

[16:10] the knowledge, how to do applications.

[16:12] I have families in my office, I'll sit with them,

[16:14] they'll come to the front office.

[16:15] We have online services, multiple languages.

[16:19] We do everything we can.

[16:20] I don't know if maybe moving forward it's,

[16:22] it's just a requirement.

[16:24] I mean, we're not catching some of these families

[16:26] because they don't feel like they want the

[16:28] assistance. I don't know. It's tough.

[16:30] Yeah. Well, let's

[16:30] compartmentalize the two different issues, right?

[16:32] One is we're trying to raise the price 10 cents.

[16:34] And then the other is the outstanding balance

[16:36] in which we're working on that.

[16:37] You know, even if we had someone at the front of line,

[16:39] I mean, I hate to break it, like,

[16:41] we're not gonna tell the kid no anyways, right?

[16:42] We're still sending him through the line anyways.

[16:44] So it's, it's, it's, it's this challenge.

[16:47] 'cause I like your line the most.

[16:48] The kid's not the one paying the bill,

[16:50] but they're the ones that are coming through the line.

[16:52] So I think it really is driven at the policy level

[16:55] on what we can institute.

[16:56] Right. You know, several things that we,

[16:59] I instituted in other districts where a la carte, you know,

[17:02] no, a la carte charges if you're

[17:03] Over Yeah.

[17:04] They don't, they don't get a la carte no. Right?

[17:05] So those are things that are already in place.

[17:07] So this really is the meal itself.

[17:08] And, and that's, it's a, it's, it's a challenging topic

[17:12] because kids need to eat most times it's not their fault,

[17:16] if not always, not their fault.

[17:17] So we really,

[17:18] So is that 10 cents really though, logistically enough?

[17:22] Because you were just listing off the amount of

[17:26] what the price increase has been?

[17:28] I mean, I know going food shopping,

[17:29] I've seen the price increase.

[17:31] I don't wanna see a higher price go to parents,

[17:34] because like Mike said, in a perfect world,

[17:36] we would feed our kids for free.

[17:38] We required 'em to be there, they should be fed,

[17:41] but we don't go that route.

[17:43] So if you're saying, you know,

[17:45] a yogurt cup went from 25 cents to 45 cents, I mean

[17:49] that right there we're asking for 10 cents more.

[17:51] That doesn't even cover the d the price difference

[17:54] between the yogurt cup.

[17:55] And you're saying the state, the government is asking

[17:59] is requesting 40 something cents saying that,

[18:01] Well, that's just their recommendation.

[18:02] They're not mandating

[18:03] Anything.

[18:04] So, right. So it's 10 cents enough for us to

[18:05] Increase, you know, maybe it's not, and maybe we revisit

[18:07] it again next year and, you know, I just don't know.

[18:09] Approaching, coming up with a 20,

[18:11] 25 cent increase is gonna go over well. Yeah,

[18:14] We try.

[18:15] How much is that gonna put us more in a deficit though,

[18:17] if we don't meet that difference in price? Well,

[18:19] Obviously we have a lot

[18:20] of government commodities we utilize.

[18:22] So these are just broken down items

[18:24] that we order off of our bid.

[18:26] Not all of our meals come off of the bid.

[18:28] We, we get numerous items from the government

[18:31] that we're able to use, say such as,

[18:33] say like a shepherd's pie.

[18:34] You know, we, we get the, the commodities beef.

[18:37] So that right there helps to alleviate some of the cost.

[18:39] Okay. Because we get that at such a reduced rate.

[18:41] And I've, you know, since I've been on board

[18:43] for a few years, I've really tried to focus

[18:45] and have a good balance of like, items we order

[18:49] through our bid and our suppliers versus

[18:52] commodity items too.

[18:53] So I try to balance it out at least a 50 50

[18:55] mix moving forward.

[18:56] If we have to go, you know,

[18:58] 45, 55, 40, 60, we can do what we want.

[19:01] But I mean, we, we like to get the things

[19:03] that we know the kids really enjoy.

[19:04] So we like to have that good balance too.

[19:06] That keeps our numbers up.

[19:08] Yeah. I think the Tencent is, is, is the,

[19:11] is the appropriate first step

[19:13] and then next year, like we say, if, you know, let's do some

[19:16] of the policy work and see what we can do in reclaiming some

[19:18] of the money and then we can take that evaluation.

[19:22] I think that, honestly, I think it should be a yearly

[19:25] board topic that we should evaluate all of that.

[19:29] The revenue, the what you're purchasing, the meal counts

[19:33] or people, are they eating the cheese quesadillas or not?

[19:36] So I think that would help us too.

[19:38] But this, this at least creates that first step of we need,

[19:41] we need to start getting in that balance

[19:43] of the 48 cent recommendation.

[19:45] I'm just concerned because if we're continuously seeing

[19:48] the price of things go up, I mean,

[19:50] it has been a marked increase.

[19:51] We had a huge jump. I just don't wanna end up

[19:54] falling even further behind.

[19:56] And then one year, like next year coming back

[19:58] and asking for 15 more cents.

[20:00] Like is there, I'm just wondering if there was a

[20:03] 10 cents is a lot, but I don't know. Sorry. Yeah,

[20:07] Yeah.

[20:08] It's tough because we can't control what we can't control.

[20:10] Right. Yeah. So I think, you know, coming out of this,

[20:12] you know, was a, a big part of it came outta COD you know,

[20:15] when we had a couple years where, you know,

[20:17] everyone was free and our numbers were huge,

[20:19] we were getting huge reimbursements

[20:20] and then suddenly people had to start paying and,

[20:22] and people were just, what do you mean we have to pay?

[20:25] I thought it was free. So you, you just, it's hard.

[20:27] So then to try to increase right

[20:29] after that on top of trying to collect

[20:31] that was definitely a tough, we're in a tough,

[20:33] tough dynamic right now, the past few years.

[20:37] I think we wanna be reasonable and gradual with increases.

[20:39] You know, 10 cents is a reasonable increase, you know,

[20:41] to hit families with a 40,

[20:43] 50 cent increase in one year on lunches.

[20:46] Well, you also, the opposite effect.

[20:48] You, you people won't buy it as much. Right.

[20:50] You, you'll actually drive your customer away

[20:52] 'cause they're customers and then they'll end

[20:54] up packing lunches.

[20:55] And then honestly we've seen the, the other result too.

[20:58] So you'll, you'll have less lunches, which is a revenue

[21:02] that helps support the, the labor. Yep.

[21:05] The department. So if,

[21:10] if someone's behind on their payments

[21:13] and they get all of a sudden are eligible for free

[21:16] and reduced lunch, does it go back for the whole year?

[21:19] That's, that's a great question.

[21:20] No, unfortunately it's not retroactive.

[21:22] So that's why we really try

[21:24] to get a jump at the beginning of the year.

[21:26] So they will have a 30 day grace period coming from

[21:29] the prior school year.

[21:30] So anyone who, you know, was free

[21:32] or reduced this year will have 30 days.

[21:35] And usually it's right around October 9th, 10th, 11th,

[21:38] depending on when we start,

[21:39] before they have to submit an updated application with us

[21:43] for the 26th, 27 year.

[21:45] And even if that status changes, so say they were free

[21:50] and then they filled out a new application,

[21:52] now they were reduced, it won't affect

[21:54] their prior purchases.

[21:56] Right. They'll stay free for those 30 days

[21:57] or until we filled out the new application,

[21:59] then it'll go to reduced.

[22:02] But yeah, that's why we run a lot

[22:04] of reports usually the second week in September showing the

[22:08] households who qualified the prior year

[22:11] and if they'd submitted a new application yet.

[22:14] And from there, my admin assistant

[22:16] and I, it's just blast of communications, phone calls,

[22:20] sending, you know, free and reduced applications home.

[22:22] Like I said, sometimes I feel it's almost overkill

[22:24] and people are sick of hearing from me,

[22:26] but we just try to get the word out there

[22:28] to get these families to know, Hey, you got two weeks.

[22:30] Hey, you got a week. Hey you got three days

[22:32] and then you're gonna lapse and go paid.

[22:34] And then what families need to understand too is when

[22:36] that happens, say they just say, oh,

[22:39] it's only been a week or two, I'll fill it out.

[22:40] I know it, it expired.

[22:42] Well now you're being charged the paid rate despite the fact

[22:45] that you might've been free and that is not retroactive.

[22:49] So you, you are now responsible for those

[22:52] expenses you just incurred.

[22:53] So that's, that's a tough, a tough debt to try

[22:57] to collect also because they're like, well we're free.

[22:59] Well we just, you know, we didn't get an application

[23:01] or we didn't, whatever.

[23:02] So it's, it's like I said, it's communication. It really is.

[23:06] We just ask the families to communicate

[23:07] as best as they can with us.

[23:08] We're always there to answer any questions,

[23:10] always there to help out.

[23:11] No, no questions. A dumb question. You know.

[23:14] And what's the best way for the families

[23:16] to get in touch with you?

[23:18] Email. I have a direct line right

[23:20] to my office at West Running Brook.

[23:22] But you know, we send blast notices out

[23:25] for the applications beginning of the year.

[23:28] We send home the parent letters,

[23:29] like kinda like the welcome letter with the,

[23:31] the paper application that has all my information on it

[23:34] and my administrative assistance

[23:36] name and number on it. Also,

[23:37] We did the video this year

[23:39] and we did, we did a lot of digital pushing this year

[23:41] Too.

[23:42] Yeah, that was a great video. We're gonna continue to keep,

[23:44] that's still on the website, I believe, right?

[23:46] So

[23:48] You can apply online?

[23:49] Yep, absolutely.

[23:51] Absolutely. Yep. Yep. The my school apps.com. Yep.

[23:54] Absolutely. And even if you literally,

[23:55] it takes minutes for me to process it.

[23:58] And even if someone isn't sure if they're eligible,

[24:00] you know, maybe they're right on the cusp,

[24:02] buy all the application,

[24:04] You might be reduced, you know,

[24:06] and then you get free breakfast

[24:07] and 40 cent lunch, which is, that's huge.

[24:11] Jane, at what point do we write the debt

[24:14] off or sell the debt?

[24:15] When does, how do, when should that decision be made?

[24:17] Because we, you, I think we started like 35,000 if

[24:20] I remember several years ago.

[24:22] I could be wrong with the number. Yeah.

[24:23] That was coming outta COVID. Yeah.

[24:25] What's the process? 'cause we

[24:27] can't keep carrying it on the books.

[24:28] We can have you guys being debt collectors.

[24:29] That's just not realistic or a good use of your time.

[24:33] I guess my question is when, how should we make

[24:35] that decision and maybe just sell the debt

[24:37] and have somebody else collect it?

[24:39] Yeah, and I don't think that we don't have a formal policy

[24:41] on when we sell the debt.

[24:43] I know there is, there are collection

[24:46] rules that you have to follow.

[24:47] And I think it was, it was three years, you can't go back.

[24:51] So we try to stay up on it as much as we can,

[24:54] but we've never had a collection agency to turn it over to.

[24:59] No one's ever wanted to take on school lunch.

[25:02] And, but we do, we have one now.

[25:04] So we found a company that's local

[25:07] and they actually do the debt collection for Timber Lane

[25:10] and a couple of other places.

[25:12] Yeah. And we approach it, we're trying to approach it,

[25:15] targeted approach with families that we, that we know.

[25:19] Right. But it's, we're gonna try

[25:22] and incorporate it into policy so

[25:23] that we have some clear levers of of what stuff.

[25:29] There's no further questions.

[25:30] I would take a motion on the issue at hand

[25:33] to prove a Tencent increase to the cost of student meals.

[25:38] So moved Verse by Jenna

[25:41] Second.

[25:42] Second by Jen. Any further discussion?

[25:46] Hearing none. All in favor? Aye. Aye. All opposed.

[25:50] Motion carries. Seven zero.

[25:54] Thanks for coming, Christina. Thank

[25:55] You very much.

[25:56] Thanks Christina.

[25:59] All right. The next item is gonna be year

[26:01] end fund balance project.

[26:03] We had this discussion and approved

[26:04] for projects at our last meeting.

[26:06] We discussed coming back

[26:07] to the guardrail replacement of West Running Brook at this meeting.

[26:09] And I think we also had the replacement

[26:11] of the tactile pads at Barca still on the table.

[26:15] So there's another factor at play here coming from the

[26:17] legislature concerning the contingency fund.

[26:20] We would normally be looking ahead to retaining some

[26:23] of the year-end fund balance in a contingency fund.

[26:24] But there's the possibility

[26:26] that won't be an option this year.

[26:27] There's a bill HB 1610 that's cleared the legislature.

[26:31] It's awaiting the governor's signature.

[26:33] If it becomes law,

[26:34] it would rescind any prior authorization from the voters

[26:36] for a contingency fund

[26:38] and would require districts

[26:39] to vote annually at the district meeting on whether

[26:41] or not retainage of year end

[26:42] as unassigned funds would be allowed for the upcoming year.

[26:46] The rescinding of prior authorization would be effective

[26:48] immediately upon the bill becoming law.

[26:51] So as the FY 27 meeting is already passed,

[26:54] districts would not have the opportunity

[26:55] to retain funds in a contingency fund for FY 27.

[26:59] So that might change some of the calculus

[27:01] for our decision on completing one

[27:04] or more of these projects. So Mike, did you have

[27:08] Yeah, just briefly in front of you

[27:11] is the updated unassigned fund balance

[27:13] two weeks ago when you guys were making a decision?

[27:15] It was at 1.756

[27:21] this week because of those approved jobs

[27:23] and the purchase orders that Jane has been trying her dandy

[27:27] to close that number is now down to 1.45.

[27:33] We have a lot of special ed, which is,

[27:35] which is pretty typical open at the end

[27:36] of the year in regards to purchase orders, trying

[27:40] to finalize those bills.

[27:41] So what Jane's done here is given you a number

[27:43] that she's protecting the house.

[27:45] So if those purchase orders sway one way

[27:47] or the other, there's kind of a delta,

[27:48] which you'll get again in August on your final decisions.

[27:51] But this gives you an idea of what's re

[27:53] remaining as of today.

[27:58] Any questions or comments from the board?

[28:03] So if we approve the year end fund balance projects

[28:08] and then the bill passes,

[28:13] we don't have, we won't have any of this.

[28:17] 1.4 left. Is that my,

[28:20] The bill is signed into law.

[28:21] The entirety of the unassigned fund balance is gonna roll

[28:25] into your next year's budget as a revenue source.

[28:28] Yep. To offset taxes, there would be no option

[28:31] to retain in a contingency fund.

[28:34] So if we vote that we want all this and then

[28:37] Well, it's just the two projects that we didn't

[28:39] Approve last week.

[28:40] Yeah. We're not voting on contingency tonight.

[28:42] Sorry, We're not voting on Yeah. Contingency tonight.

[28:45] Okay. So we, we, we determined two weeks ago

[28:47] that I would come back with an updated number

[28:49] and you guys could say yay, nay

[28:51] or nothing on those remaining projects.

[28:53] And then what's come a little bit hotter is

[28:55] what Mike was describing,

[28:57] is the new bill. Yeah, that is, yeah.

[28:58] That is a possibility.

[28:59] That might impact how you think about approving either one

[29:04] or both of these remaining projects

[29:08] Or neither.

[29:09] So if that, if, if the governor signs that bill

[29:14] that 1.45 automatically next year without a

[29:18] vote goes right back.

[29:19] Right. So I'm saying if we say yes, that we want

[29:21] to do the, the two projects Yep.

[29:23] And this gets removed, then can,

[29:27] You've already approved the project so that okay.

[29:29] Yes. That's what I'm asking is do we have

[29:31] to find another source of income for these projects?

[29:35] They would get put it back into the CIP

[29:37] for further discussion, further down the road

[29:38] Discussion.

[29:39] Yeah. We're talking about if you approve these

[29:41] projects tonight, they get encumbered under this

[29:43] current year's budget.

[29:45] Yes. So next year contingency fund

[29:48] is not a thought about that.

[29:51] So Mr. Chad, I'd like make, so I'd like to

[29:53] if Well, no, Mr.

[29:54] Clap, you can go ahead. No,

[29:57] We can talk.

[29:59] Go ahead. I wasn't aware that we took out,

[30:01] or we were not considering the tactile

[30:04] pads at Barca. I made the motion.

[30:05] Brenda, what? You made the motion last

[30:07] Week to take out the tactile pads?

[30:08] You made the motion. They weren't included.

[30:10] We only approved the four projects at the top of the list.

[30:13] Okay, then I didn't understand that.

[30:14] But I'm, can you not roll your eyes?

[30:19] I'm just telling you who passed out.

[30:20] Okay. I'm just going to, just gonna say this clear.

[30:26] Okay. If you, how were

[30:28] You gonna say if you've been to Barca

[30:30] and see where those pads are?

[30:33] They're at the end of the ramp.

[30:34] I have pictures on my phone if you'd like to see them.

[30:36] 'cause I was there today with

[30:37] my grandkids on the playground.

[30:38] They're at the end of the ramp.

[30:40] The ramp people that come down there with a wheelchair.

[30:44] It's not, it's absolutely not safe. So they should be fixed.

[30:49] And I did not realize that they were not part

[30:51] of the original request.

[30:53] So I made that mistake.

[30:57] $6,000 is short money to make sure people are safe.

[31:01] I thought Mike, I thought last meeting.

[31:04] Didn't you say that you found like the money in house

[31:07] or something to take care of that?

[31:09] No, I was talking about how we were trying to reduce stuff

[31:11] to be cognizant of putting all the requests forward.

[31:16] This the 6,000 we did not internally.

[31:18] We said we'd move that to the next year

[31:20] and then that's when that would,

[31:21] that 6,000 if we were talking about would be

[31:24] incorporated. Okay.

[31:25] I can't remember. Mr. Chair. I'd like

[31:26] to put forth a motion to include the guardrail

[31:28] and tactile pads as per

[31:30] of the projects under the unassigned fund balance.

[31:34] All right. So we have a motion on the table to

[31:40] recommend the administration complete the remaining two

[31:42] projects that's $35,000

[31:43] for the guardrail replacement at West Running Brook.

[31:45] And $6,000 for the replacement of the tactile pads at Barca

[31:49] from the fund balance for an amount not to exceed $41,000.

[31:54] So we have a first by Jen on that second. Second by Jenna.

[31:57] Is there any further discussion of this?

[31:59] Yes, I'd, I'd, I'd like to say something. Sure.

[32:02] So I went to West to see the guard rail.

[32:06] 'cause it's not an emergency.

[32:09] It's not a ha a safety hazard, anything like that.

[32:12] It's actually a wooden guardrail that's there.

[32:15] So aside from aesthetics,

[32:17] I can't imagine why we would replace that right now.

[32:20] It's very easy to repair the wood.

[32:24] That, and it's short money to repair wood.

[32:27] And I know 35,000 show up money.

[32:29] I know we talked about that last meeting,

[32:31] but I don't know, I'm not crazy about

[32:35] just throwing everything on right now.

[32:37] Just quickly. It

[32:39] It is, it, it will be a safety hazard.

[32:42] I said last it was an imminent danger.

[32:44] But if we have in the winter, that is a close area to

[32:47] where cars pass and buses stop and cars pass.

[32:50] So it is, Jeremy is recommending it as a safety replacement.

[32:53] So I just want to say like, so it

[32:55] Is a safety issue Issue.

[32:56] It is. It's not an aesthetic thing.

[32:57] It's, it's, it, it will become a fail safe

[33:00] on some of those poles.

[33:01] Yes. They've had to re I dunno how to explain.

[33:03] They had to re pull them up because of bumps.

[33:08] So it's just like the, again, what was it?

[33:10] I forgive, gimme where did we just replace one?

[33:12] What was that? We just Replaced Grinnell.

[33:13] Thank you Grinnell. Yeah.

[33:15] And Mr. Flynn, my understanding of all these projects is

[33:18] that they're going to be on the needs list.

[33:19] They will, and they'll continue to be on the needs list.

[33:21] And we'll have the same discussion continually about

[33:24] all the projects that are here, whether

[33:25] or not we decide to do them now or later.

[33:28] Yeah. And this is the habit I'm just trying

[33:29] to get the board into talking about.

[33:30] Right. So it's, it's, you guys are the seven that get

[33:33] to decide on, on the, on the remaining funds.

[33:36] If, if it's accepted or not.

[33:39] Tactile pads would become a priority

[33:41] and we would, we would, we would try

[33:43] and service those immediately in the, in the fall

[33:45] and if the guardrail would come back through the CIP plan.

[33:47] So,

[33:50] All right.

[33:51] So we have a motion on the table.

[33:52] If there's no further discussion, I'll call for a vote.

[33:56] All right. All in favor? Aye. All opposed.

[34:01] Motion passes. Seven zero.

[34:06] The next item will be appointments

[34:07] to the fiscal advisory committee.

[34:09] As I've stated the last two meetings, the application period

[34:12] for this advisory committee has been open

[34:14] and policy calls for the board

[34:15] to make appointments prior to June 30th.

[34:17] The advisory group is made up

[34:19] of nine members from the community and up to two alternates.

[34:22] We had a full contingent of members

[34:24] and alternates last year.

[34:25] However, we've had two members voluntarily

[34:27] step down from the committee.

[34:29] So thank you to Elizabeth Corcoran

[34:30] and Jody Nelson for their service

[34:32] over the last couple of years.

[34:33] Returning for the FY 28 budget process on their existing

[34:36] terms will be Michael Allen, Derek Anderson, Steve Barry,

[34:39] Tom Cardin, Anthony Henry, and Richard Trip.

[34:42] For our consideration tonight,

[34:43] we've received an application from Marissa

[34:46] Russo Stitt for another term.

[34:47] She's an incumbent whose term is expiring.

[34:50] And applications for full membership from two people

[34:52] who have been serving as alternates.

[34:53] Ben Con and Jim Dietzel.

[34:55] That would give us a full contingent of nine members,

[34:58] but it would still leave the two alternate seats open.

[35:00] So if you are out there

[35:01] and you're inst interested in serving as an alternate,

[35:03] we'd continue to accept applications at the district office.

[35:08] So I would accept a motion to appoint Ben Cohn, Jim Dietzel

[35:12] and Marissa Russo Stitt

[35:14] to three year terms on the fiscal advisory committee.

[35:16] So moved First by Jen.

[35:19] Second. Second by Jenna. Any further discussion?

[35:24] Hearing none. All in favor? Aye. All opposed.

[35:28] Motion carries. Seven zero. So welcome back to Ms.

[35:32] Rousso Stitt and welcome Ms. Full members Mr. Cohen and Mr.

[35:35] Dietzel. The last item we have

[35:39] to consider is appointment of the school district clerk

[35:42] in a cooperative school district.

[35:44] As we are the clerk is appointed by the board

[35:47] RSA 1 95 section five paragraph one.

[35:49] Calls for cooperative boards to appoint annually

[35:51] and fixed salary of the district clerk

[35:54] to eliminate any confusion moving forward.

[35:56] We're gonna level set the clerk's term

[35:58] as running from July 1st to June 30th.

[36:01] The clerk would be appointed annually at our last meeting

[36:03] prior to June 30th.

[36:04] And in the case of a mid-year resignation,

[36:06] we would appoint a replacement to fill the remainder

[36:08] of the term through June 30th.

[36:11] The current annual stipend for the clerk is $300 per year.

[36:15] And the current clerk, Tina Guilford, wishes

[36:16] to continue serving in the position.

[36:18] So I would accept a motion to appoint Tina Guilford

[36:21] as the school district clerk

[36:22] for a one year term ending on June 30th, 2027

[36:25] and to set the salary for the clerk at $300 for the year.

[36:28] So moved First by Karen

[36:31] Second.

[36:32] Second by Jen. Any further discussion? Yeah, I just

[36:35] Have a quick thing.

[36:36] I am not saying tonight or anything like that,

[36:37] but when we get to the budget process, we should, these,

[36:40] these stipends have probably been on

[36:42] the books for like 20 years.

[36:43] We should probably talk about, I dunno,

[36:47] something more appropriate to the position

[36:49] that's being asked of people in the community.

[36:51] I absolutely agree. I mean, you know,

[36:53] right now the treasurer position is open.

[36:55] You know, we're gonna have to try to find somebody to serve

[36:57] as treasurer and it is hard to find people

[37:00] to do these positions for what the stipends currently are.

[37:03] Agreed. So, alright,

[37:07] so we have a motion on the table

[37:09] so if there's no further discussion we will vote.

[37:13] All in favor? Aye. Aye. All opposed. Motion carries.

[37:17] Seven zero. Alright, thank you everyone.

[37:21] We'll move on to administration reports.

[37:22] First step is Jane with her business administrators update.

[37:28] Okay. Kind of quick.

[37:30] For the end of the year, we're really just trying

[37:32] to close out our financials

[37:33] for 25, 26 closing out purchase orders

[37:37] and we're actually rolling over our system

[37:40] and starting work in 26, 27.

[37:42] So that's what we're working on right now.

[37:44] I think I mentioned the last time we have our audit

[37:46] scheduled for August.

[37:49] We've also been doing training on the software

[37:54] that we're transitioning to.

[37:55] It's the same company, same platform,

[37:59] but we've been using a desktop version which

[38:01] is significantly different than the cloud version.

[38:04] So we're actively in training for that to be prepared so

[38:08] that we are a hundred percent on the cloud version

[38:10] by the end of September.

[38:12] And that's finance and human resources.

[38:15] We'll all be on that. And that's,

[38:17] it sounds like it's not a lot, but we have a lot going on.

[38:21] Short and sweet. Any

[38:23] Jane?

[38:24] I have a quick thing for you. And this kind of relates

[38:25] to our food service discussion.

[38:27] So my school bucks can,

[38:31] sorry, my school bucks.

[38:36] Can you check when they can raise their,

[38:38] what their fee schedule looks like

[38:40] and what intervals they can raise their fees?

[38:42] 'cause if people are uncomfortable

[38:46] charging 10 cents on a meal, you should see

[38:48] what they charge you to load the card to pay for the meal.

[38:52] And if you don't do a hundred dollars at a time

[38:54] or something, I, I'm, I'm lazy, I do like 30 for each kid.

[38:57] I get charged $3 a whack for each kid, for each transaction.

[39:01] So I'm paying 10% per transaction.

[39:04] So I would, I would argue that those fees are

[39:08] much more pressing than, you know,

[39:11] if you're worried about a 10 cent fee on

[39:12] your, on your increased meal.

[39:14] So just kinda curious what the in, if they, what they're,

[39:16] what they can do to us

[39:18] and what they can't do to us as regard

[39:20] to an increase in fees.

[39:21] Sure. Moving forward,

[39:22] We actually just received an email from them last

[39:25] Wednesday and effective

[39:28] July 31st, 2026,

[39:32] the card, if you're gonna use a credit

[39:35] or debit card payment, it's going to increase to $3

[39:38] and 75 cents for each.

[39:43] If you do an eCheck payment that has a discounted rate

[39:47] and obviously people can pay cash

[39:50] or they can write a check to have no fees in the district.

[39:54] But I understand your point

[39:55] and you know,

[39:56] there's several other companies that do the same thing.

[39:59] You have to find one that works with our software.

[40:02] But I think that they're all similar in price.

[40:05] But we can definitely go out

[40:06] to see if there's any other companies.

[40:08] No, I get it. That may have a lower rate.

[40:09] I get, it just bugs me a lot.

[40:11] It's a lot like it, it's a lot.

[40:13] 10% on $30 would, I mean,

[40:15] I guess 37 point half percent on $30, whatever,

[40:18] not whatever the number is, but it just, it,

[40:20] it bugs the hell outta me.

[40:22] It just does. Always has.

[40:24] So, so it seems on that the best way to do it is

[40:26] to write a check and send it to the school.

[40:29] Now that's an accounting nightmare

[40:30] for them, you know what I mean?

[40:32] So I don't, and so many

[40:33] People just don't Do checks anymore.

[40:35] Checks anymore. Anymore. That's true too.

[40:37] The, is there any other way,

[40:39] is there anything else you guys have looked into?

[40:42] Well they can, again, they can pay cash,

[40:44] they can write a check, they can do it through my school box

[40:48] that connects directly to our

[40:51] food service accounting software.

[40:53] They can call our office.

[40:55] We charge, we don't want this to be a habit for people,

[40:58] but we do check credit card payments in our office.

[41:02] We charge two 50, but that's normal.

[41:04] Not for people to pay every month.

[41:06] That's if people are,

[41:07] we're negotiating a payment plan with them.

[41:10] We'll run, we'll do credit cards through us,

[41:13] but my school box is the preferred way.

[41:16] We would prefer to eliminate as much cash in our schools.

[41:21] So do we have Venmo and PayPal? Is that an option?

[41:25] We don't. Is that an

[41:27] Option?

[41:28] It's auditing. It's a huge auditing. No, no. Yeah, yeah.

[41:31] We can look in, I, I mean I'm taking notes.

[41:33] We can look at other vendors.

[41:35] There's always gonna be a fee though.

[41:38] You know, you're paying that company

[41:39] for the service they have

[41:40] to cover the credit card fees that they're incurring.

[41:42] Yeah, and you know, I mean there is a, a fee free option.

[41:44] It's not ideal, you know, to pay in cash

[41:46] or check at your school's office.

[41:50] Michael, the goal is to be convenient and $3

[41:54] and 75 cents on any amount you deposit is usy.

[41:58] And it's quite frankly, it's, I don't even know the word.

[42:02] I can't think off the top of my head, but it's

[42:04] excessive in my opinion.

[42:06] But, you know, it is what it is. I get it.

[42:08] And I'm not asking for you guys to do additional work.

[42:10] It's, this is my yearly complaint when we,

[42:12] when we discuss this and I just want be known that,

[42:17] you know, when we talk about 2 cents on the tax rate, I mean

[42:22] stuff like this adds up too.

[42:23] Like, and nobody says anything about it.

[42:26] So, you know, it's just one of those things that I find

[42:29] to be utterly ridiculous.

[42:30] And it's not anyone's fault sitting in this room,

[42:32] but I just find it to be excessive. That's all

[42:37] For, for curiosity.

[42:38] I looked up what my, my kids and it's mine's a $2

[42:42] and 60 cents fee.

[42:43] So there's other vendors out there that are lower.

[42:45] So we can certainly look into that. That's fine.

[42:48] Yeah, I mean there's a reason why there's competition in the

[42:51] world, so, you know what I mean,

[42:53] if even if we do reach outs, that's fine.

[42:56] Thanks Jane. Any, I'm sorry. Anything else for Jane? Yeah,

[42:59] There's no more questions for

[42:59] Jane. I'll turn it over to Mike.

[43:01] Alright, I'm, I'm sorry, I have a quick thing I want,

[43:04] can I go backwards just a minute

[43:06] to the unassigned fund balance

[43:08] because I just looked over at the notes at the minutes from

[43:12] the last meeting and I'm a little confused on something

[43:14] and need some clarification

[43:16] because it said that the recommended projects

[43:21] that, you know, Brenda made the motion,

[43:23] the recommended projects were going to be dock replacement,

[43:26] bleacher seat music, music room, wall courtyard paving.

[43:30] And it said in there that tactile pads were going

[43:33] to be moved to the regular budget.

[43:36] So that was supposed to be approved into the regular budget.

[43:41] Hold on. And that what's running Brook was going

[43:44] to come to a later vote.

[43:46] This is what's in the minute meeting. Sure.

[43:48] So what should have come back to us was the four

[43:51] that when Brenda made the motion, the four there

[43:55] that we approved and the next to come

[43:57] to the next meeting would only have been the guardrail,

[43:59] the tactile pads were supposed to go to the regular budget.

[44:02] So I, as I said a little bit earlier, I said at that time

[44:05] we would move it to next year's fall budget.

[44:08] So that, that was the discussion.

[44:10] It wasn't like I had it now.

[44:12] I didn't have the money available now.

[44:14] So when the, when the projects were just brought forward

[44:17] again, they were in the list, that's all.

[44:18] Yeah. There was no approval of the tactile pads.

[44:20] They just got punted.

[44:22] Yeah, so you know, the reason

[44:24] for reconsidering them tonight is, you know,

[44:26] you do have this additional factor of possibly

[44:31] not having contingency fund as an option

[44:34] to utilize sheer unassigned fund

[44:35] balance at the end of the year.

[44:37] So

[44:38] Yeah, I was gonna move it towards the general budget in

[44:41] the fall so that when we start that process,

[44:43] tactile pads would've been on there.

[44:49] Okay. Sorry. Thank you.

[44:53] Back to me. Back to you.

[44:54] Okay, so speaking of facilities, I just want

[44:58] to credit Jeremy again.

[45:02] I don't know if anyone was at the last day

[45:04] of school over at South Range.

[45:06] Literally when the buses pulled out, the trucks

[45:09] and the dumpsters closing.

[45:10] I'm not, I'm not kidding.

[45:13] And the first wall was torn down within the first hour.

[45:17] So that campus is closed.

[45:19] There are signs everywhere, but if you are driving by

[45:22] or anything, you'll see that the whole backside

[45:24] of the building has no brick right now.

[45:27] They are moving nothing like having no rain for six weeks

[45:30] and then rain on the first two days

[45:32] you're trying to replace a roof.

[45:34] But they've done a good job of working internally

[45:36] to keep the progress moving along so

[45:38] that we're not missing any steps.

[45:39] So I know Jeremy and Michelle

[45:41] and all those have done a lot of coordinating,

[45:43] but the, the comp, the companies

[45:44] that you guys have selected are just outstanding

[45:47] and they're ready and they're moving along.

[45:49] So thank you for that. House bill 1610 is something I wanted

[45:52] to bring up, but Mike brought up earlier.

[45:54] It's, it's gonna be intriguing.

[45:55] I mean, Jane, it came up in

[45:57] her business administrator meeting.

[46:01] You know, I would say that we're actually in a very good

[46:03] spot comparative to other districts who,

[46:05] who do carry over 5% a year

[46:08] and that 5% could be wiped out by, you know,

[46:11] the governor signing that.

[46:12] So if, if we have to return now 1.4, that's

[46:16] where we are gonna probably be anyways, right?

[46:17] So when we are gonna carry over,

[46:18] so we're in a good spot in dairy.

[46:20] It's not like we need to have an emergency meeting

[46:22] and all of a sudden we need to spend down,

[46:24] we've done a very good job of falling in that 2% range of

[46:27] what you try and do municipality wise.

[46:28] So thank you for that.

[46:31] And then I, sorry, I have to say it one more time.

[46:34] Joe's last meeting. So I, I know we've kind of had this,

[46:36] I've, I've made a joke today.

[46:37] We've kind of had this fair parade for Joe,

[46:40] but there's no one that's really deserved it more 26 years

[46:42] you said today at lunch, right?

[46:44] He's, what he said is he's keeping all his emotions at bay.

[46:47] So you used a different word if you wanna say that,

[46:51] what your wife said you are.

[46:52] Well my wife says I'm dead inside, but that's just

[46:55] 'cause I don't cry at sad movies.

[46:56] But I said that, you know, the first day that I'd come

[47:01] to the end of Faith Drive

[47:02] and I turned right instead of left,

[47:03] that's probably when it'll get me.

[47:05] But that hasn't happened yet.

[47:06] So that's a, that's a problem for July.

[47:08] Yeah, there's not enough things that any

[47:10] of us can say about Joe.

[47:12] And like I said, I've said it before, me taking this job

[47:15] and Joe being nothing than better than a right hand man

[47:19] several times with, just to give you an example, you know,

[47:23] Joe's job this year was supervision of the principals and,

[47:26] and I supervised the directors and Joe's like, I got it.

[47:29] Don't need any help. So you don't, as you're transitioning

[47:31] as a new superintendent, you don't have to think about it

[47:32] or you know, me trying to figure out what this next thing is

[47:36] and Joe's like, it's mine.

[47:37] I got it. I'll go to the events, I'll meet with Emily.

[47:39] You don't have to think about it. Joe did a lot of work

[47:42] that I never had to think about as a first year

[47:44] and I can never thank you enough.

[47:45] I know it sounds cheesy, but first class is,

[47:50] is is the word that always comes to mind.

[47:51] And I you're gonna be so good in Hamstead,

[47:53] it's not even gonna be funny.

[47:55] So good luck.

[47:56] It's gonna be amazing to watch

[47:58] and I still see you every three weeks, so it won't matter.

[48:00] Sounds good. So thank you for that.

[48:03] And then, you know, you know,

[48:05] this superintendent's report's been new

[48:07] for me in this community as well.

[48:09] I've really tried to emphasize in

[48:10] the focus being on the board.

[48:11] This is your meeting, right?

[48:12] Let's, let's remember that it's the board's meeting.

[48:14] It's not Mike's meeting, it's not our meeting,

[48:16] it's a meeting of the board in public.

[48:18] And so at the superintendent's updates, I've kind

[48:20] of just tried to keep a business

[48:22] and so as we've seen the principals come through

[48:25] and the directors come through

[48:26] and kind of give their year end

[48:28] report, I just said, why not me?

[48:30] So I'm gonna stand on my soapbox a little bit here

[48:32] and kind of just review a little bit of what I've done.

[48:35] And Jenna, I didn't use ai, so it's all over the place.

[48:37] So be be prepared as I scatterbrain

[48:40] as you can see my computer, it's literally one liner.

[48:43] So I just wanna take some time

[48:45] and reflect on my first year here.

[48:46] I've said it repeatedly when people are like, how's dairy?

[48:49] And, and I and I stand by it.

[48:50] It's the best move I've ever had in my life.

[48:52] Professionally, it's come with a lot of challenges,

[48:56] like a lot of excitement, but I haven't been mourn happy,

[48:59] going to work in some time

[49:01] and that's not a negative of where I've been, right?

[49:03] It's just like there's some things that I'm like, oh,

[49:06] this is my wheelhouse or this is my wheelhouse.

[49:08] So it's kind of, it's kind of reignited some of my fire.

[49:11] But going back to July,

[49:12] I talked about in my interview process

[49:14] and in the community is structure accountability.

[49:17] And it's important to me that I think that's

[49:20] how I drove a lot of my first year here.

[49:23] I'm not gonna sit here and say I'm not a

[49:25] rainbows and unicorns guy.

[49:26] I am not gonna say everything's perfect,

[49:27] but I think we've made some strides.

[49:29] And I had Kathleen do some nerdy data diving for me.

[49:33] So she said that I had over 400 meetings, which is,

[49:36] which is awesome to hear.

[49:38] And then some of the things

[49:40] that she put into a list is obviously easy stuff.

[49:42] Parents, individual students, employee groups,

[49:45] the DEA support staff.

[49:47] But there's been the school board building administration,

[49:50] principals, assistant principals, town manager,

[49:53] police department, fire department, planning board,

[49:55] Pinkerton Academy, YMCA, rotary community organizations,

[49:59] parent groups, PTOs, retiring teachers, athletic groups,

[50:03] special education families, individual students.

[50:06] You know, it's kind of crazy to think,

[50:07] 'cause in our lives you're like,

[50:09] oh, what's my calendar today?

[50:10] What's my calendar today? And then you just

[50:12] kind of go through some of those things.

[50:13] You know, some of those conversations were easy

[50:15] and enjoyable, but some of them were hard

[50:17] and difficult as we try and establish some new practices.

[50:21] But it's reinforced what I already knew is that I've come

[50:23] to a strong district, and particularly I'm proud

[50:26] of the work we've done to strengthen the relationships

[50:28] of both the bargaining units, which has shown, you know,

[50:32] anecdotal evidence where previously if you're talking,

[50:36] let's say grievances like the past couple years,

[50:38] there's been an average of 10.

[50:39] And this year we've had a whole one.

[50:42] So that shows that we've developed,

[50:44] we've had tough discussions.

[50:46] So staffing concerns, curriculum implementation,

[50:49] evaluations, professional development, scheduling,

[50:52] planning time, special education supports,

[50:55] this is the nerdy stuff, right?

[50:56] So you guys are getting a little bit of, of, of a glimpse of

[50:58] what we talk about every day in our world.

[51:00] But it's resulted in, in improvement

[51:02] of labor management relationships, the dynamics between

[51:06] both partners and both groups on what we're trying to do.

[51:11] I'm also proud of the governments of the board

[51:13] and what you guys have done to strengthen it.

[51:15] I, you know, I, I kind of went nerdy this morning,

[51:17] but if you see the newsletter that you guys sent out,

[51:19] it's pretty cool what you guys have done, right?

[51:21] That's your work

[51:22] that you've helped drive the administration to complete.

[51:25] I mean, Joe putting it together

[51:26] and starting to see those list of things, that's a,

[51:28] that's a real body of evidence of what we've done.

[51:31] Communications committee, improved transparency facilities.

[51:34] We created a long-term plan that you'll see in the fall

[51:36] for seven years policy.

[51:38] We didn't reach our goal of 70,

[51:40] but we got halfway, like around 30, 35.

[51:43] That's pretty good in the first year.

[51:46] We've also talked about creating

[51:47] consistency in this district.

[51:48] So for the first time,

[51:50] we've established a district-wide pre-K

[51:52] through eight behavior framework.

[51:54] That what I did with the assistant principals, so that now

[51:57] students have common experiences no matter

[51:59] what school you're in or where your grade,

[52:01] the progression is there for parents

[52:02] and families to understand.

[52:04] We expanded our transitional activities between schools

[52:06] to really have a deeper transitional process

[52:08] that students aren't just showing up

[52:10] to a new school saying, where's a lunchroom?

[52:12] What do I doing? We had multiple activities to strengthen

[52:14] that transitioning so that behavior should be improved.

[52:18] We've made significant progress in cr in creating our

[52:20] systems of support, which has been important.

[52:25] Starting at the administrative level,

[52:27] we implemented a new evaluation process.

[52:29] So every administrator in this district,

[52:30] from me all the way down was evaluated,

[52:33] was the first time in several years, which include

[52:37] structured evaluations, goal setting, mid-year review, end

[52:39] of year reviews, ongoing coaching discussions.

[52:43] We've also launching a new redesign teacher

[52:45] evaluation system in the fall.

[52:47] So the teachers will have valuable feedback,

[52:50] valuable evaluation, clear operations, clear expectations,

[52:54] goal setting, professional growth.

[52:56] We worked with the DEA, the ame, we worked

[52:59] with administration to come to, to this, this plan

[53:02] that we're, we're kicking off

[53:03] and we're gonna see how it goes.

[53:04] But everyone on both sides were, were excited about it.

[53:08] In the HR department, we really tried to focus on

[53:12] timely feedback, individualized feedback,

[53:14] and supportive feedback.

[53:16] And that's a really lot of work of Paula

[53:18] and her team, as she mentioned with Mary Ellen and Kim.

[53:22] We did a, an evaluation system, I'll call it an audit,

[53:25] but more of an valuation system of our curriculum department

[53:28] and our special ed department.

[53:29] Our special ed department took almost two and a half months.

[53:31] Our curriculum department took

[53:33] about a month and a half, two months.

[53:34] So now we have clearly articulated flowcharts for

[53:37] who contacts who in charge of what, how do I get an answer

[53:40] so that it just doesn't go off into the abyss.

[53:42] So I'm proud of it for that department.

[53:46] We've transitioned the majority of our processes

[53:48] to Panda Doc, reducing paperwork, streamlining workflows,

[53:51] improving accountability.

[53:54] We've continued to reduce ways

[53:55] of unnecessary administrative burdens.

[53:57] I know I, I used the simple word as paper.

[53:59] We're trying to get rid of some paper.

[54:02] So another thing, like we've mentioned several times,

[54:05] I'm very proud of our, our hiring this year.

[54:08] So like many districts in New Hampshire, we're continuing

[54:11] to face challenges in recruiting

[54:12] and retaining high quality employees.

[54:14] However, this year we made a conscious decision to be,

[54:18] to go from reactive hiring, wait

[54:20] and see, to really being proactive

[54:21] in our recruiting strategy.

[54:23] So with Paula and the human resource team,

[54:25] we've updated job descriptions.

[54:27] We've improved our employee website,

[54:28] we strengthened our vacancy postings,

[54:30] we expanded to LinkedIn.

[54:32] I know she'll be happy about that.

[54:34] LinkedIn for our custodial, we, we branched out to indeed.

[54:39] So what we've done is, rather than waiting, we've recruited

[54:42] and we successfully hired 19 positions.

[54:44] And I, and I know we have three more

[54:46] on the docket that are coming.

[54:48] So we will have the most,

[54:49] we will be the most fully staffed since 2000 and dairy.

[54:52] And that helps us in regards to contracted services, having

[54:55] to go out, having people that are not a part of us.

[54:57] So it's gonna be pretty cool to watch.

[55:00] Alright, this is where I get really

[55:02] scattered, so hang in there.

[55:03] So for throughout all of that, you know, we've talked about

[55:08] transitions, we've invested in our facilities.

[55:11] We're continuing to build systems.

[55:13] So that, what I continue

[55:15] to say is we're not just managing the district anymore.

[55:17] We're building an organization.

[55:18] And that organization, I made a joke earlier when we were

[55:21] doing the roles, whether it's me

[55:22] or whether it's the next person, that organization should be

[55:24] able to row in the right direction.

[55:26] And that's what I really believe that we've,

[55:28] we've really worked on towards going.

[55:29] So we've moved from individual practices

[55:33] to district-wide systems.

[55:34] We've moved from reacting. Instead, we're now planning.

[55:39] We've moved from isolated efforts.

[55:40] So as I said, we had like, felt like we had six buildings,

[55:43] but now I feel like we have one district

[55:45] and that we're operating a little bit more together.

[55:47] Our principals talk more often,

[55:48] they're making joint decisions.

[55:51] Our assistant principals work together stronger

[55:53] and we continue to build relationships.

[55:57] And last but not least, none

[55:58] of this is really about me in this moment.

[56:00] It's really about us as a group.

[56:02] But more importantly, it's about the work of our teachers,

[56:05] the work of our support staff, the work

[56:06] of our custodians, our administrators.

[56:08] They're really buying into my, my some

[56:11] of my things that I'm doing.

[56:12] And it's fun to watch it come to fruition.

[56:15] I'll still sit here and say we have a lot of work ahead.

[56:18] I'm in incred, incredibly proud of

[56:19] what we've accomplished in, in a short time.

[56:21] But I really think that we're more organized,

[56:23] we're more aligned, we're more accountable to each other.

[56:25] We've had a lot of difficult conversations and,

[56:27] and we know that some of those difficult conversations

[56:29] make us better in the long run.

[56:30] So I just wanna thank the board

[56:32] for allowing me this opportunity.

[56:34] I mean, you know, some

[56:35] of you weren't even here through the interview process.

[56:38] I wanna thank the staff for hanging in there.

[56:40] Some of the decisions weren't always popular,

[56:41] but I think as we work through these things,

[56:43] we're gonna see some of the fruition of, of

[56:45] what we've instilled and what we've positioned ourselves in.

[56:48] So, thank you to the town of Derry.

[56:49] Thank you to the community.

[56:51] If I haven't met with Ette yet, please reach out.

[56:54] You know, i, I, those are some of my favorite

[56:56] meetings that we work with.

[56:58] So thank you to everyone.

[56:59] And that's it for the 2020 5 26 school year.

[57:06] Thank you, Mike. Yeah. Congratulations on

[57:08] your first year in Derry.

[57:09] You know, we, you know, we'll be presenting you

[57:11] with your end of year evaluation pretty soon.

[57:13] And I mean, being for myself, I'm very happy

[57:16] with the work you've done over the last year.

[57:18] Thanks. And I won't harp on this too much

[57:21] 'cause I know Joe hates it and would

[57:22] rather we all just keep quiet.

[57:25] But I can't express enough how much you've meant

[57:27] to this district, you know, into next charter school

[57:29] and as a lifelong resident, just Derry as a whole.

[57:32] You know, on a personal note, I've worked with you for,

[57:34] you know, three plus years now.

[57:35] It's been an absolute pleasure working

[57:37] with you on this board.

[57:39] And yeah, we're gonna miss you.

[57:41] But I wish you the best in Hamstead

[57:43] and I know this isn't goodbye.

[57:44] We'll be seeing you around. He,

[57:46] He can now actually run for school board if you wanted to

[57:49] Pass, if he wanted to, is the

[57:52] Key.

[57:54] You guys are doing a great job.

[57:55] You don't need me on this board,

[57:57] but I'll, I'll watch the,

[57:59] I don't know if I'll watch the meetings,

[58:00] not gonna watch our meetings at the same time

[58:02] and day as yours, so I probably won't watch your meetings,

[58:04] but I'll check 'em out on the website.

[58:07] All right, move on to committee and liaison reports.

[58:10] We've had one committee that has met since our last meeting,

[58:13] so I'll turn it over to Jamie

[58:14] with an update from the communications committee.

[58:16] Alright, so we met Communications met on the 11th.

[58:20] It was Joe's last meeting with us, unfortunately,

[58:24] but Carrie is gonna be taking over as co-chair.

[58:27] She was able to attend remotely. It was a good meeting.

[58:30] It was very productive. We basically discussed the contents

[58:35] of the final newsletter for the school year,

[58:37] which was released on the last day of school, the 17th.

[58:40] And it's available in Parents Square,

[58:43] the district website and Facebook.

[58:45] It just provides a brief summary

[58:46] of all the work the board committees have been doing over

[58:49] the last quarter and also has

[58:51] a brief message from the chair.

[58:53] So check it out.

[58:56] All right, thank you, Jamie. Any questions?

[59:00] All right, our next item is member

[59:02] updates and any other business.

[59:04] So I have a few things I'll mention.

[59:06] The school year is officially over.

[59:08] Everyone's on summer break and we've obviously had a busy

[59:10] couple of weeks of activities close out the year.

[59:14] One thing I'll highlight, we had a,

[59:15] you'll notice we did not have a retiree celebration at one

[59:18] of our board meetings this year.

[59:19] We actually had a wonderful retiree

[59:21] celebration a couple of years ago.

[59:22] A couple of weeks ago, a new tradition

[59:25] for the district separated out from a board meeting.

[59:27] And we invite people who are special

[59:30] to each retiree to speak on their behalf.

[59:32] So I thought it was a really touching night.

[59:34] It's a great new tradition. I'm sure we'll

[59:35] be building on that in the coming years.

[59:39] We've also had a slew of graduations.

[59:40] Next charter school held their graduation on June 11th.

[59:44] If you've never attended a next graduation, that's a,

[59:46] you know, really cool intimate graduation.

[59:48] Each student is celebrated

[59:50] and the positive relationships they've

[59:52] developed in next are really evident.

[59:53] So congratulations to all of our Dairy Next graduates.

[59:57] We also had Pinkerton hold their graduation the next night.

[1:00:00] So other than a brief weather delay,

[1:00:01] it was a beautiful night.

[1:00:02] And congratulations to all

[1:00:04] of our Dairy Pinkerton graduates last Tuesday.

[1:00:07] We also had the promotion ceremony

[1:00:09] for our Gilbert H Chu students moving

[1:00:10] up to high school next year.

[1:00:12] Another wonderful ceremony.

[1:00:13] So congratulations to those graduates

[1:00:15] and good luck with wherever life takes you next year,

[1:00:17] whether that's Pinkerton next or somewhere else.

[1:00:22] Also, as we break for the summer, I just want to thank all

[1:00:24] of our staff and all of the schools in the district,

[1:00:27] teachers assistants, staff administrators, food service,

[1:00:30] custodians, you know, everyone that plays a role in

[1:00:32] providing an education for our children.

[1:00:35] I know the school year's an absolute grind

[1:00:37] and you all deserve every moment of rest

[1:00:38] and relaxation you get over the next couple of months.

[1:00:41] So please enjoy it

[1:00:42] and we'll see you all back rested and refreshed in the fall.

[1:00:46] Did anyone else have any updates

[1:00:47] or other business hearing none

[1:00:52] or upcoming meeting schedule?

[1:00:53] As we've noted, we are off for July

[1:00:55] and we will reconvene for our next meeting on Tuesday,

[1:00:57] August 11th, followed by Tuesday, August 25th,

[1:01:01] both meetings at 6:30 PM here at the Municipal Center.

[1:01:05] The board will be meeting in non-public session tonight.

[1:01:07] So I would accept a motion to enter non-public session under

[1:01:09] RSA 91 a Section three, paragraph two, subparagraph A.

[1:01:14] So moved first by Jen, second by Jamie.

[1:01:19] The statute requires we take a roll call. Vote. Brenda. Jen.

[1:01:23] Yes. Jenna? Yes. Jamie? Yes. Karen? Yes. David? Yes.

[1:01:28] Chair votes? Yes. Motion carries. Seven zero.

[1:01:31] The board will now move into non-public session.

[1:01:33] Goodnight everyone and have a good summer.

School Board Meeting - Meeting of 06/23/26

Agenda

Transcript