[0:07] Good evening everyone.
[0:08] I will now call this meeting
[0:09] of the Dairy School Board to order.
[0:10] Please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance,
[0:15] Pledge Allegiance, pledge allegiance to the to the flag
[0:17] of the United States of America.
[0:20] And to to the republic, which which stands by nation,
[0:24] God Invisible Liberty.
[0:25] Liberty and justice for all.
[0:31] We will start with the roll call,
[0:32] if everyone could introduce
[0:33] themselves, starting from my right,
[0:38] Dr.
[0:39] Carrie Sandon, assistant superintendent,
[0:41] James Ard, business administrator,
[0:43] Michael Flynn, superintendent Brenda Willis,
[0:46] School Board.
[0:47] Michael Thiel, school Board Chair,
[0:48] John Thoro, school Board, vice Chair.
[0:50] Jenna Paradise, school Board Secretary,
[0:52] Jamie Caru, school board.
[0:53] Karen Ran school board. David K Clap, school board.
[0:57] Serena Anderson, student representative. Woo.
[1:01] All. Welcome Serena.
[1:04] Our first order of business tonight will be the consent
[1:07] agenda for tonight.
[1:08] We have the public meeting minutes of September 9th, 2026,
[1:11] the non-public meeting minutes of September 9th, 2026,
[1:15] and the manifests in the amount of $3,916,296 and 42 cents.
[1:20] Of which $3,540,769 and 36 cents is general payroll
[1:25] and $375,527 and 6 cents is general expense.
[1:30] Do I have a motion to accept the consent agenda?
[1:33] So moved first by Jen. Second. Second by Jenna.
[1:37] All in favor? Aye. Aye. All opposed. Motion carries.
[1:40] Seven zero. We have one presentation tonight.
[1:44] We have the directors of the district's five administrative
[1:46] departments here tonight for their fall update.
[1:48] So I will turn it over to Mike to make introductions.
[1:51] Yeah, thanks again.
[1:52] As this is now going into year two of this,
[1:54] the directors are here to present their
[1:55] opening of year reports.
[1:57] Jeremy does feel like he's here every week.
[2:00] He'll also be here at the next meeting as well.
[2:02] So he's becoming a regular, he wants a plaque
[2:05] as he said, as we're getting there.
[2:07] So we look forward to the department.
[2:08] Please ask any questions as you guys have.
[2:10] But go ahead Jeremy.
[2:24] It will be nice and short because I was
[2:25] just here like Mike said.
[2:28] Oh, before you start, yeah, the, the facility tour.
[2:31] I'd like to just take a moment.
[2:32] Jeremy took time last Thursday. I called it Mr.
[2:36] Trip's personal facility store
[2:39] as he was the only public person to show up.
[2:41] But Jeremy spent two
[2:42] and a half hours walking the board around a MR trip,
[2:46] showing us all the summer work and things of that nature.
[2:49] So thanks again, Jeremy, for taking your time to do that. I
[2:51] Think he enjoyed it.
[2:56] No. Okay.
[2:58] So the first thing I have in my agenda is just a couple
[3:01] screenshots of our workflow from our work request system.
[3:06] Just to point out that August is full of them.
[3:12] Usually when the teachers come back.
[3:14] And between moving all the summer programs from school
[3:16] to school, our, our work ticket requests go way up.
[3:23] The next one down is just a pie chart to show you
[3:28] basically where they're focused.
[3:30] There's a bunch on the, there's a 62% on there that
[3:35] it doesn't break down for some reason.
[3:36] But you know, landscaping, pest control, playgrounds,
[3:39] heating and cooling furniture moves.
[3:42] That was a big one for us this year.
[3:43] We were busy quite a bit, moving stuff, moving boxes,
[3:47] still moving a couple boxes outta the SAU.
[3:51] They're starting to slow down a bit,
[3:53] but they will stay consistent.
[3:56] Next I have south range.
[3:58] Just an update on where we are with that this week.
[4:01] They're filling all the piping.
[4:04] There's been some updates since I made this agenda.
[4:08] But they're working on filling the piping,
[4:11] doing control wiring.
[4:13] They're gonna be doing a startup at the end of next week.
[4:19] Everything, if everything goes as planned October 1st,
[4:24] everything will be up and running.
[4:25] We do have a contingency plan if they do have some hiccups,
[4:28] 'cause they're gonna be doing balancing,
[4:29] they're gonna be doing testing,
[4:30] they're gonna be doing all kinds of stuff
[4:32] with the equipment that they've installed.
[4:35] We will be able to run stuff in manual mode if we have to
[4:38] to get heat in the school.
[4:40] It's supposed to be, you know, in the forties at night.
[4:44] We should be good. And we have noticed too that
[4:47] with the section that we have put the new roof on
[4:50] is already definitely warmer than the section
[4:52] that we're gonna be doing in the second phase.
[4:54] So the insulation that we've put on the roof
[4:57] has helped tremendously.
[5:02] Next for the, we had a discussion at facilities
[5:07] for releasing the CIP that Mike and I are working on.
[5:11] We're currently working on doing a breakdown
[5:13] of the priorities from the bond related stuff
[5:16] that we had on the, the first proposal that we did
[5:19] for the bond and lists of things that I'm putting together.
[5:23] That should be on the CIP.
[5:24] So we just have to go through and kind of separate it out
[5:28] before we propose it
[5:29] and we should have it for the October meeting.
[5:34] Lastly, heading into the fall,
[5:36] we're currently working on equipment prep,
[5:39] tuning up the snowblowers and spreaders.
[5:41] Not that anybody wants to hear that.
[5:44] And shortly we'll be winterizing all the summer stuff.
[5:48] PMs on heating equipment, air handlers.
[5:52] We're gonna be moving the salt shed from the old SAU
[5:55] to a location at the new SAU.
[5:59] And we still have two projects that are lingering.
[6:01] We have a date for the loading dock at South Range.
[6:04] It'll be the first week in November.
[6:06] And we will work around, you know,
[6:09] school hours, things like that.
[6:11] And the guard rail at West Running Brook, I've walked
[6:14] with the contractor and I don't have a final date yet,
[6:17] but that will be this fall.
[6:19] And then of course, planning for next summer's work.
[6:26] Questions for Jeremy before you leave?
[6:29] It's in my superintendent's update,
[6:30] but while you're here, it'll make it easier.
[6:34] We, I mentioned earlier we had a septic tank failure over at
[6:37] East Rain East area.
[6:38] Excuse me. We are, we are pretty certain that
[6:43] that needs to be replaced.
[6:44] The pumps or the mechanical of the pumps.
[6:46] Can you just explain it a little bit?
[6:49] So it's a lift system. So we pump up to our septic fields
[6:53] and the original, we had one that was installed in 2004.
[6:58] The one that we're having issues with was installed.
[7:01] I think when the building was built.
[7:06] The, the LaValley binger report gave everything a level
[7:11] of three, which it was in good condition
[7:14] and technically it is.
[7:15] But sometimes these mechanical parts need to be replaced.
[7:18] We had an inspection done this year before school started.
[7:21] And then ironically two weeks
[7:23] after we had the inspection done, we had a pump fail.
[7:26] Once we went into the tank to check the pump failure,
[7:29] we realized that there were other issues
[7:31] that needed to be addressed.
[7:33] So right now it's working, it's limping along,
[7:36] but we need to get it.
[7:38] So that might be an approach.
[7:40] I, I asked the board to have a public hearing
[7:42] to access the contingency fund.
[7:44] Remember that's the retained funds that you, you keep
[7:46] for un unanticipated, unplanned, unforeseen circumstances.
[7:50] So we're working on numbers.
[7:53] We're, this is gonna sound crazy,
[7:55] but you have to have the tank pump in order
[7:57] to check out what's going on.
[7:59] So meaning the people
[8:01] that are working on it already have a pretty good idea.
[8:04] So they might be a single source type of
[8:07] fix rather than trying to get multiple people in there.
[8:09] 'cause then you have to pump it each time someone's coming.
[8:11] So we're trying to work through those details
[8:13] to get a number on, on what it would take to fix that.
[8:15] Because without that, trucks come and empty it out.
[8:19] Yeah, we had trucks coming every morning
[8:21] while it was being repaired.
[8:22] Yeah. To empty it out. So
[8:24] Was there any, how was this discovered?
[8:26] Was the when it failed did was there damage,
[8:28] did something back up and they, then they figured out that,
[8:31] so do we have other things have now
[8:33] been damaged because of that? No,
[8:34] No.
[8:35] We have an alarm system. Okay. So it went into alarm. Okay.
[8:39] And we checked it and that's good. Yep.
[8:41] That's working. Yeah,
[8:45] So more to come on that.
[8:46] It was in my superintendent's update,
[8:47] but I'd rather him speak to it while he's here.
[8:49] So, thanks Jeremy.
[8:51] We good? Thank you very much.
[8:53] Thanks guys. Thank you Jeremy.
[9:05] Good evening. Okay, so for hr, so at the beginning
[9:09] of this year, I met with the team today
[9:12] or met with the team to establish roles and responsibilities
[9:17] and expectations for the year.
[9:18] Just defining some lanes within our team to make sure
[9:21] that things move along seamlessly.
[9:25] And then just continuing
[9:26] to focus on consistency in the department efficiency
[9:29] and also the employee experience.
[9:33] In regard to HR systems
[9:34] and process improvement, the primary operational focus
[9:38] for us this year is to strengthen
[9:40] how we use our existing HR systems
[9:43] and also just make sure that the data
[9:44] that's stored on them is accurate.
[9:46] So just going through that
[9:48] and essentially auditing which employees are active
[9:51] and which aren't and which shouldn't be in which,
[9:53] you know, locations.
[9:55] And this will just help us reduce manual processes
[9:59] and also so the team doesn't have to do duplicate work.
[10:04] Continuing to streamline and standardize HR workflows.
[10:07] So we did digitize
[10:12] or you know, send the teacher contracts digitally via panoc
[10:15] to our teachers this year, which allowed us
[10:18] to not stuff envelopes a lot.
[10:20] So I'm looking forward to doing that with
[10:22] the assistant contracts as well as some of our other groups.
[10:25] And that'll free up some time for the team to focus more on
[10:29] strategic, you know, work
[10:31] that we have to do for the department.
[10:33] And then just continuing to develop
[10:35] and document HR procedures and resources.
[10:37] So last year was my first year, so I really took that just
[10:40] as, as a learning year
[10:42] and just writing down everything that was due at which date.
[10:44] So I'm hoping that this year, now
[10:46] that I have everything written down, it'll be a lot easier.
[10:49] Know where to find the information,
[10:50] know who to reach out to.
[10:52] So I'm really looking forward to that.
[10:55] Just to talk a little bit about staffing and retirements.
[10:58] We've received four retirements so far.
[11:00] So those are due for the teachers as of October 1st,
[11:06] the three out of the four of them are
[11:09] for elementary education
[11:10] and the other one is for middle school.
[11:14] And then we've received five employees
[11:17] who are requesting an extension.
[11:21] 'cause sometimes some people just have some loose sense
[11:23] of tied up, whether that's meeting
[11:24] with New Hampshire retirement
[11:25] or meeting with 4 0 3 B provider
[11:28] to just see if they're ready for that.
[11:30] So four out of the five extensions for
[11:32] that are elementary education
[11:34] and the other one is for middle school.
[11:37] I don't really anticipate receiving a few more.
[11:41] It's the 22nd of September.
[11:44] So you know, I just don't expect a significant number to,
[11:47] to, to come up from today and for the next week.
[11:50] So just continuing to monitor that.
[11:52] And also also anticipated staffing needs.
[11:54] As you guys know, and I've heard me say
[11:56] before, we're only a few months away from job fairs.
[11:59] So trying to find candidates on, on that front
[12:02] and making sure that we have everything planned
[12:04] out for benefits.
[12:06] I know we kind of alluded to that earlier,
[12:09] but there is a meeting in two days up in
[12:12] Concord for health Trust.
[12:15] It's open to the public. People can go
[12:17] and share their comments and they'll take those
[12:20] comments into consideration.
[12:22] I was looking through my email,
[12:23] I didn't really see any specific dates
[12:24] for when they're gonna release the health insurance
[12:27] for rates for this coming year.
[12:30] So as soon as I get
[12:32] that information I'm gonna share
[12:33] it right with Jane and Mike.
[12:36] I don't really, there hasn't really been a preliminary
[12:39] indication yet of it being a substantial
[12:41] or, you know, magnitude of potential increase.
[12:43] So I'm just trying to remain positive
[12:46] and hoping it's between that five
[12:47] and 7% that we saw last year.
[12:48] But again, I don't know, we'll just
[12:50] wait to see when that comes out.
[12:53] And then looking ahead, just continuing
[12:57] to improve the systems that we have.
[13:00] Reducing administrative and manual processes really is
[13:03] my ultimate goal with the team preparing,
[13:07] like I mentioned earlier, for any upcoming staff and needs.
[13:09] So I'm super excited about that.
[13:11] A lot of the feedback that we got last year at some
[13:15] of our job fairs was our new educator program,
[13:18] which last time I looked, we are the only district
[13:21] that offers a three year educated program comparing
[13:24] that to other school districts.
[13:25] So that really sets us apart
[13:26] and a lot of people do really come up
[13:28] to the table to ask about that.
[13:30] Continuing to review procedures
[13:32] and yeah, just improving the overall employee experience.
[13:38] And that's all I have.
[13:42] Just really quickly, I I want to commend Paula,
[13:44] it's been a year under her belt managing, managing one
[13:48] of the biggest districts in New Hampshire.
[13:49] And the, the hiring is, is a result of her. Right?
[13:53] So the, the proactive approach at job fairs,
[13:57] the way she forces us to use LinkedIn excessively
[14:03] and trying different avenues to,
[14:05] to post jobs rather than just the, the normal channels.
[14:08] So we're the,
[14:10] we're the most staff we've been since, again, pre COVID.
[14:12] So I think that's a commend for, for Paula. Nice job.
[14:16] And I think I saw, wait, we're not there yet
[14:18] with the special ed update, but that was gonna comment that.
[14:20] Yeah, I, I noticed in there it said that all
[14:23] of our positions have been filled ed and that is remarkable.
[14:27] And I just want to say thank you.
[14:28] Yeah. It's all the work the you're doing.
[14:30] Oh no, I appreciate that. But the student services team,
[14:33] Christina, I mean she's,
[14:34] I'm like if you ever don't wanna do student services
[14:36] anymore, you wanna come be like a part-time recruiter, let
[14:38] Know.
[14:40] 'cause she works really hard as well as Kristen and Laura.
[14:42] So I've just had a blast working
[14:44] with them throughout everything.
[14:45] Awesome. Thank you.
[14:46] Yeah, your department's doing a fantastic job bringing
[14:49] people in and I appreciate you introducing Panda doc
[14:53] 'cause it meant I didn't have to sign a few hundred teacher
[14:55] contracts this year by hand, so that was nice. Exactly.
[14:57] More to come. Thanks Paula. Cool
[15:08] Dr.
[15:08] Nancy, good to see you.
[15:10] Good to see you. I have not been home yet.
[15:14] I just got back from Orlando from a conference
[15:17] that I was at over the weekend and it was really good.
[15:21] A lot of stuff about screen time, AI
[15:23] and all kinds of other cybersecurity issues.
[15:26] You've probably read my report.
[15:28] It was a really, really big summer.
[15:30] In fact, I don't think we've had
[15:32] to work this hard since COVID with the South range project.
[15:35] That was really huge for us
[15:37] and we had to hire a company to come in
[15:41] and rewire the, the side where the roof was, was taken out.
[15:45] And I don't know if on your tour you got
[15:47] to see the new switch panel in the custodian closet,
[15:50] but it's probably darn
[15:51] It, we miss That.
[15:53] It is probably the most beautiful switch panel
[15:56] that we have in the district that is a work
[15:58] of art if you, if you will.
[16:00] It. They did a really good job putting that together
[16:03] and they got it all done the day before the meet and greet.
[16:07] And I was very relieved as was Mr.
[16:09] Cmo but also the SAU move required us to move the phones
[16:14] and the copiers and the, and the access points.
[16:17] And that all required a coordination of third party
[16:22] companies to be able to work with us on that kind of stuff.
[16:24] So on top of our normal 500 Chromebook
[16:30] stuff and, and the administrator laptops that we do,
[16:33] it was a very, very busy summer.
[16:36] Unfortunately we were not a hundred percent ready
[16:39] to go on day one.
[16:40] And this job, there's a lot
[16:44] of times when we are building the plane while we're flying
[16:46] it, you, you do all the testing you can over the summer
[16:49] and then everybody comes back
[16:50] and things don't work
[16:51] the way you thought they were gonna work.
[16:53] The PA system was working just great whenever he left it
[16:56] and then everybody came back and now they
[16:58] can't hear in the rooms and stuff.
[16:59] So they keep coming back and keep working on it
[17:01] and it's, it's getting done.
[17:04] The same thing is true with our new
[17:05] visitor management system.
[17:07] It was working until it wasn't,
[17:09] but we keep working on it and it will get done.
[17:11] And sometimes in those first few weeks of the school year,
[17:15] when you have those glitches, it seems like the end
[17:17] of the world and then you get to February, march
[17:20] and you forget that it, it even happened.
[17:22] So we will make it through.
[17:23] The things are, I am meeting
[17:27] with people almost every day to get these things fixed
[17:30] and get, get them in tip top shape.
[17:33] We instituted the new three tier busing system this year
[17:37] and we had to make some modifications yesterday,
[17:41] Pinkerton, we increased the number of buses that we're using
[17:45] to service Pinkerton so that their routes will go faster
[17:48] so they can get to the middle school
[17:50] and to the intermediate school.
[17:52] The intermediate school I think has gotten everybody
[17:54] there right on time.
[17:55] The middle school, we're still working out those times,
[17:58] but it is getting better for that.
[18:01] Other than that, like I said, things are,
[18:05] things are moving in place not quite as quickly
[18:09] as I would've hoped.
[18:10] They, they are, but our people have, my team has
[18:15] addressed about 400 tickets since June,
[18:18] which is a lot for four guys.
[18:20] And, but they do an ex they do an extremely good job.
[18:25] A lot of times they're ahead of me on some of these things
[18:27] and bringing my attention to the things
[18:31] that we need to get replaced and all.
[18:32] And so I, I big shout out
[18:34] to my team there and to our bus drivers.
[18:36] Our bus drivers are doing a fantastic job
[18:38] of learning these new routes, getting them going
[18:41] and getting them in time.
[18:42] So that's all I have.
[18:45] Oh, well, a little bit of update on the electric buses.
[18:47] I heard back that end of November,
[18:50] early December is when they're to be delivered.
[18:52] Right now they're in a permit process
[18:55] of getting the construction for the, for the
[18:58] actual infrastructure there at the, at the bus depot.
[19:02] And they're looking for groundbreaking in January on that.
[19:05] So, but the buses are supposed
[19:06] to arrive somewhere at the end of November, early December.
[19:12] So we'll have possession of the buses
[19:14] but not be driving them until January
[19:16] because they don't have the one of the charging capacity.
[19:19] I'm telling you in theory,
[19:21] I'm telling you what I've been told.
[19:22] Okay.
[19:24] Cliff, how many buses do we
[19:25] run at this time? Point in time.
[19:27] We have 29 buses. 29 large buses.
[19:31] What do, what did we run last year? Just
[19:32] Curious.
[19:33] 29. Oh, we did, we have been running 29 buses for the last
[19:37] three to four years since we
[19:39] Brought down from 34. Since
[19:41] I brought everything down.
[19:42] Yes. Okay. Thank you.
[19:47] Any more questions for Lifton? All right, thank
[19:50] You.
[19:51] Thank you.
[20:02] Hi, Laura Powers, director of student services.
[20:06] And as far as kind of going through, like
[20:09] with the summer program, we,
[20:11] every year we run an extended school year program
[20:13] for students that require maintenance
[20:16] of skills throughout the summer months so
[20:18] that they're not falling behind.
[20:21] And this year, and again it was held at Barca,
[20:24] it was a phenomenal year, no issues to really speak of
[20:30] the admin from across the district assisted
[20:33] with it this year and covered all the days
[20:36] and that was very successful.
[20:38] Christina and Kristen spent a lot of time over there.
[20:41] It was very nice to have a full staff
[20:45] and the other admins from across the district to allow me
[20:50] to get some other things done at the office
[20:52] for preparing for the year.
[20:53] So a very successful year with the kids.
[20:56] One of the changes that we did this year was we went from
[21:00] going from a four year, four hour program
[21:03] to a two hour program.
[21:05] And I think that really worked well for the students.
[21:08] It allowed them to be more focused.
[21:11] Not there as long during the day with the heat,
[21:14] but it really focused the time
[21:16] and it wasn't a lot of time spent on the playground trying
[21:18] to get outta hot classrooms,
[21:20] having snacks, you know, those types of things.
[21:23] It really focused on the skills that they were working on.
[21:26] So I thank everybody who worked the program
[21:28] and the admin who helped out throughout the summer
[21:34] program updates.
[21:35] This year we're starting a program called Effective School
[21:39] Solutions at West Running Brook.
[21:42] It's a program that is really focusing on mental health
[21:47] for a group of identified students.
[21:50] We're starting with that through our grants to
[21:55] really get that program up and running
[21:57] and hoping to expand that over time to
[22:00] be a little bit larger
[22:01] and be more of a tier two as well
[22:04] as special ed programming with that program.
[22:07] There is a clinical clinical worker as well as
[22:12] a mental health technician that also works with teachers,
[22:15] professional development, very trauma based.
[22:19] So that is kind of off and running this year.
[22:21] And so far so good.
[22:25] Paula already talked about it.
[22:27] We are actually full staffed number wise.
[22:31] So all the positions are filled.
[22:33] As always, special ed is kind of the ebb
[22:35] and flow of who's in the district,
[22:38] who's out of the district.
[22:40] So we, charter schools certainly affect us as well.
[22:43] So we're, we're constantly filling positions
[22:46] and working within our grant money
[22:49] to supplement those services.
[22:51] I try to use every penny of that
[22:53] and we, we are submitting for our 24 25 grant,
[22:57] which is just coming to a close
[22:59] and we have spent right down to the cent
[23:01] so there's no money being left on the table.
[23:05] And I thank the finance department, they've worked hard
[23:07] with me to make sure that happens as well as
[23:11] my admin assistants and assistant directors.
[23:16] One big theme this year was
[23:18] for the summer we put out a parent survey really
[23:22] to get a pulse on how people are feeling about special ed,
[23:25] the process communication.
[23:27] So I gave you a little bit of feedback as far as
[23:30] where we rated on our five point scale with those questions
[23:35] there, it's always in the comments,
[23:37] the contradictory information of,
[23:39] and it depends on people's experience.
[23:41] People that say communication was great, love the team,
[23:44] the team tells me everything I need to know.
[23:46] And then you get into where can we can improve
[23:48] communication, tell us what we need to know.
[23:50] So I think that it really, you know, goes
[23:52] to people's personal experiences, how the, the tone
[23:57] of the team, the performance of their student,
[23:59] how much progress is made.
[24:01] But I, it's one of those things
[24:03] where I think the more information we have
[24:05] and the more feedback we have, the better we can serve.
[24:08] And not only the students
[24:09] but the families that those students belong to.
[24:14] Coming up, we have, we're going through,
[24:17] it's called a PEGS process.
[24:18] It's program,
[24:22] program approval and general supervision.
[24:25] And that is, yeah, I,
[24:27] I was cheating over there looking at my computer beforehand
[24:29] and I'm like, I call it the PAGs program.
[24:32] And that program is really going to go through everything.
[24:36] So we go through our, all of our procedures.
[24:41] There's an audit for IEPs, there's an audit for timelines.
[24:44] It kind of goes through everything
[24:46] that could possibly happen in a special ed process.
[24:50] So right now we're in our, I believe what they call it,
[24:52] the discovery stage where we're gathering
[24:55] and submitting everything to the state.
[24:57] We have until November 4th to put all
[25:01] that stuff together and submit.
[25:03] And then we go into verification
[25:04] and there's multiple stages.
[25:06] It's a year long pro process that happens every six years
[25:10] and we've been, we're lucky enough we have other people in
[25:12] the south central area that have already been through it.
[25:14] So they're also helpful in coaching, coaching through
[25:20] as well as the people at the state are very supportive
[25:23] and they want this to, they really want their relationship
[25:27] with the districts to be a working relationship
[25:30] and not a gotcha relationship.
[25:32] So it's all about improvement, communication with, not just
[25:36] with parents but also with the state.
[25:40] And through that process,
[25:41] there'll be another parent night that'll be happening.
[25:44] I just met with the state this morning.
[25:46] They will be, will be picking a date.
[25:49] I have to get the, the pick program, a handful
[25:53] of dates to choose from.
[25:54] I have to go through the master calendar
[25:56] so we're not conflicting with any open houses
[25:58] or other nights,
[26:00] but it's really a time, it's virtual
[26:03] so parents can join from their homes.
[26:06] We'll be getting information out through schools
[26:08] and probably Parents Square all, all the places
[26:11] to sign up for that.
[26:13] And it's really a, an opportunity for parents
[26:16] to give the state feedback around a lot of the same topics
[26:19] that we talked about in our survey.
[26:22] And that'll give people another opportunity
[26:25] to voice those either concerns about things that are,
[26:28] they would like to see improved
[26:29] or things that we're doing well and to continue.
[26:32] So I encourage families to give feedback.
[26:36] I have never put a closing date on our survey.
[26:39] So if there's anybody who has the link
[26:41] or would like the link, we certainly want the feedback.
[26:44] So that's something I will keep open to.
[26:46] Continue to get that. And I think that's about it. Alright,
[26:50] I just had a couple questions.
[26:52] So you got 94 responses on the special ed surveys.
[26:56] Out of how many, do you know
[26:57] Oof?
[26:58] We, I send out one to everybody.
[26:59] So it is our elementary, our middle, and our high schoolers.
[27:03] We run a little over a thousand, probably 1,030 ish,
[27:08] depending on the, the time. So
[27:11] That included high school.
[27:12] Yeah. Includes everybody.
[27:14] So, so we don't get a lot of feedback.
[27:17] That's why I'm coverage. I'm leaving it open
[27:19] and encourage people to, you know, to reach out
[27:22] because we really do wanna want that feedback.
[27:25] And if there's anything specific, it's all anonymous
[27:29] unless you don't want it to be.
[27:31] There's very few people that, there's myself
[27:32] and my assistant directors that have access to the feedback.
[27:35] So it's not something that's open to the general public.
[27:39] If there is a specific issue that people would like
[27:41] to address in the comments, they can certainly do that.
[27:45] Cool. Are, are we gonna be sending those out like annually
[27:49] or is there like a plan for that or?
[27:52] Yes, we, we do send out one through the state annually
[27:55] that goes out from the state that we get feedback on.
[28:00] Again, there's never a lot of surveys filled out.
[28:04] So I would like for us to be doing one as well annually.
[28:07] And then through the PAGs process we get a
[28:09] little bonus one this year too.
[28:10] So, and that's just, you know, feedback within
[28:12] that, within that meeting.
[28:14] Okay. Awesome. Well thank you for,
[28:16] I just wanna say thank you for doing the surveys
[28:18] and sending us the results.
[28:20] It's really nice to see everything. I appreciate it.
[28:23] All Right, thank you. I have anybody else? Any
[28:26] Other questions for Laura?
[28:29] All right, thank you.
[28:32] And then last this evening, Dr.
[28:34] S gonna be given the curriculum update.
[28:37] So the curriculum update for this evening.
[28:39] The theme's been summer,
[28:41] so summer's a great time for collaboration.
[28:43] And the summer 50 teachers collaborated
[28:45] with the curriculum team to analyze the curriculum,
[28:48] the pacing in which we teach it, the assessments
[28:50] that we give students to monitor and assess their progress.
[28:54] The teams also identified key priorities,
[28:57] evaluated curriculum maps,
[28:58] and created resources to meet the goals
[29:00] of strengthening our tier one instruction.
[29:04] If you have been in the buildings lately,
[29:06] you may have seen the CARES behavior matrices intended
[29:09] to reinforce age appropriate behavior in common language,
[29:13] thank you to the CARES task force
[29:15] for their work on this initiative.
[29:18] HB 5 71 mandates
[29:20] that all public schools participate in patriotic activities
[29:23] on September 17th
[29:25] and celebration of Constitution day,
[29:27] which we did on the 17th activities,
[29:30] ranged from dressing in red, white,
[29:32] and blue to engaging in read alouds
[29:34] and civic activities for the older students.
[29:38] Collaboration also occurs through the school year
[29:40] with ongoing curriculum touchpoint meetings.
[29:42] These meetings serve to align goals, share updates
[29:45] and insight and gather feedback from staff.
[29:49] Teachers in grades six through eight have begun using open
[29:53] sed, which aligns
[29:55] with the next generation science standards.
[29:58] The premise of open ed is that it's student driven
[30:02] and it's high engagement.
[30:03] The students take the place of the scientists.
[30:05] It's phenomenon based
[30:07] where students investigate real world problems and events.
[30:10] That's something we just started.
[30:13] We have an assessment calendar throughout the year
[30:15] where we plan out the assessments that we give.
[30:17] NIWA started this week.
[30:19] The assessment assesses academic growth
[30:22] to inform instruction intervention groupings,
[30:24] and monitor student progress.
[30:26] And as many of you know,
[30:28] the New Hampshire State assessment scores were re were
[30:31] recently released by the Department of Ed,
[30:33] are curriculum team's currently interpreting the scores
[30:35] and trends to create action plans
[30:38] to address areas of growth. Any questions?
[30:43] Dr. S, can you address one of the things that came up,
[30:46] and I don't mean to put the cart before the horse,
[30:48] 'cause this became brought up at the last curriculum
[30:51] meeting, and I know Jenny, you're gonna speak to some of
[30:52] that, but can you talk a little bit about the 5%
[30:56] or more of people who opt out
[30:58] and how this, this was a little surprising to me.
[31:01] Yeah. So, and it wasn't great news in my view. So
[31:04] The New Hampshire State Assessment has a lot of procedures
[31:06] and mandates and rules.
[31:07] And one of the rules is they
[31:09] encourage participation of all students.
[31:11] However, parents have rights in New Hampshire,
[31:14] there's the parental Bill of Rights
[31:16] and one of those bills of rights is
[31:18] to opt your child out of assessments.
[31:21] However, in the case of New Hampshire State assessment,
[31:24] if you reach over 5% of students that have opted out
[31:28] of the assessment, the district takes a zero
[31:32] for a student.
[31:34] It also complicates matters is if
[31:36] that student is in a subgroup.
[31:38] So if that child is a special education student
[31:42] or a student that speaks another language.
[31:45] Not only do you take a zero for that,
[31:46] but you take a zero for the subgroups as well.
[31:49] So those are some of the things
[31:50] that factor into our percentages of proficiency.
[31:55] It's, it's pretty complicated.
[31:58] Yeah, no, I appreciate you bringing that up just
[32:00] because we talked a little bit about at that meeting,
[32:03] how this is like viewed as our report card, if you will.
[32:06] The New Hampshire staff serves a different purpose than
[32:10] the niwa, which is more of a growth,
[32:14] I think my daughter told me this morning that SaaS tests
[32:16] what, you know, and NIWA tests how you grow.
[32:21] And so that was the
[32:22] That is a fantastic analogy
[32:23] that actually describes it perfectly.
[32:26] And so, but I,
[32:27] but I was surprised even as somebody on curriculum committee
[32:31] to hear that information.
[32:33] So I, I think it's important to highlight.
[32:37] Thank you. Oh, sorry, a quick question.
[32:41] So when you say take a zero, are you talking,
[32:43] so if the whole, the total population, 5%,
[32:46] That zero gets factored into the percentage
[32:48] rate of our students, correct.
[32:50] All like, I don't know. So 2000 kids you're talking,
[32:53] But it, it's, it's, it's complicated.
[32:56] The, the, the way they c the way they factor it in, it's
[33:00] by grade level, it's by group, it's by subgroup.
[33:05] What's the rationale behind that?
[33:07] I don't understand why you would do that.
[33:11] Because they, they want all students
[33:13] to take this assessment.
[33:14] Why They don't incentivize it.
[33:16] It's, the way I rationalize it in my mind is the state has
[33:21] certain guidelines for parents that a lot of liberties.
[33:24] Yeah. But the federal government doesn't
[33:26] necessarily align with that.
[33:28] So the New Hampshire State assessment is a federal mandate.
[33:31] So those two methodologies don't exactly align. Gotcha.
[33:36] It's been an argument that we've been having for years,
[33:42] specifically now that it's drafted on Warren articles,
[33:46] fully articulating the math behind the numbers.
[33:49] It's not just as presented.
[33:52] So we, I I feel as though with the,
[33:56] the new commissioner and her team that were heard a lot more
[34:02] and we're hoping that some of those adjustments can be made
[34:06] to show, show a little bit more of an accurate picture.
[34:09] Do you think you would think that would be the goal?
[34:11] Right? I mean, you're showing percentages that don't align
[34:15] to what's actually taking place.
[34:17] Sure. Which, and people in the community or on,
[34:20] or in New Hampshire, they, they rely on those,
[34:23] that information to beat us over the head with.
[34:25] So it'd be nice if the numbers were accurate.
[34:28] Yeah. And that's why we emphasize our internal
[34:30] scores more often than not.
[34:32] 'cause those are the ones that we do three times a year
[34:34] at the right timeframe with our students.
[34:37] So, you know, like I said, we're, we,
[34:39] we're never gonna run away from it.
[34:40] We had a great curriculum meeting on,
[34:42] on it today we're gonna, we're gonna still attack the areas
[34:44] of growth as needed, but those areas of growth
[34:47] are different than what's presented on the state level.
[34:51] Sure.
[34:52] Yeah. It's hard to figure how dinging the district is
[34:55] going to encourage people to not opt out of the
[34:58] Test.
[35:00] Yeah.
[35:02] It becomes a little bit of a catch 22. Yeah.
[35:06] Any questions on curriculum? Alright,
[35:12] If you guys are good, I'm gonna dismiss the directors to
[35:15] Yeah.
[35:16] Yeah. Thanks to all of you coming for Yeah.
[35:17] Coming out on a Tuesday night to talk to us.
[35:19] I think it's important for both us
[35:21] and the community to hear from you guys what's going on,
[35:23] all the hard work that you're doing.
[35:25] So thank you again.
[35:27] Thank You. See you
[35:29] Jeremy.
[35:30] We'll see you at the next one.
[35:34] All right. Our next order of business will be delegations
[35:37] and individuals at this time.
[35:39] Residents of dairy, parents of currently enrolled dairy
[35:41] students and employees of the district may address the
[35:43] school board on matters that pertain only to school
[35:44] and district business for a period of time, not
[35:46] to exceed three minutes per person.
[35:48] As a reminder, the board welcomes comment from the public,
[35:50] however, questions are not
[35:51] entertained during the comment period.
[35:53] If you would like to speak, please come up
[35:55] to the microphone at this time and state your name
[35:57] and address for the record.
[36:29] Good evening. Can you hear me?
[36:32] Yeah. See I've learned something.
[36:36] No, the,
[36:41] I really appreciate the tour last week.
[36:44] The, it, it was a, it was a good
[36:50] time to find out all the problems used, fixed.
[36:56] You know, it's, it was interesting that, you know,
[37:00] the schools had so much carpeting
[37:02] before it was replaced by real tile.
[37:05] You know, I, I think that that
[37:09] makes it much easier to clean the schools.
[37:13] The, I thought the gym floors,
[37:18] they looked marvelous.
[37:20] I think I was telling Jen that in, in my youth,
[37:24] I was a school custodian
[37:27] and one of my task was sanding the gym floors.
[37:32] Yeah, that,
[37:35] but, you know, it was one of those things that I learned how
[37:37] to run a, a buffer.
[37:40] And I think when I was in bootcamp,
[37:41] I was the only person in my company
[37:44] that knew how to run a buffer.
[37:45] So I didn't have to mop.
[37:47] All I have to do do is run the buffer.
[37:53] I was really impressed with the new SAU, you know,
[37:56] the I'd like that.
[38:00] You've got the room that you can have meetings with
[38:03] and have everyone have a microphone, you know,
[38:07] and so that's good.
[38:10] The last thing I wanna say is, have you ever noticed
[38:14] that we've got this big screen up here?
[38:19] I would've really appreciated if when the people were giving
[38:22] presentations, they might have a presentation
[38:25] that you could put up on a screen so you could, you know,
[38:27] follow, you know, what they're talking about.
[38:30] Because sometimes they use some terminology they don't
[38:34] understand and I try to write down
[38:39] what they're saying so that I can research it later on.
[38:42] But, you know, if we had a clue up on the,
[38:46] the screen, that would be good.
[38:48] You know? So, anyhow, I, I,
[38:53] one last thing, I was really disappointed
[38:56] that nobody else showed up for the facility tour.
[39:00] You know, this is one of those things where people,
[39:03] they complain about all the school,
[39:06] all the money the schools is paying,
[39:08] but they never actually do any, take any time to see what
[39:13] benefits the school's spending is, you know?
[39:18] So thank you very much.
[39:22] Oh, we did walk too much. So
[39:25] Thank you Mr. Trump.
[39:26] Thank you Richard. I
[39:53] Right on queue right with the SAS.
[39:56] Good evening. My name is Brian Ello.
[39:58] I'm a resident in taxpayer in dairy.
[40:01] I'm standing here tonight while sitting here tonight
[40:03] because the recent released 25 26 New Hampshire SAS
[40:06] assessment results are deeply alarming.
[40:09] And they raise a fundamental question.
[40:12] Are we as taxpayers truly getting our money's worth?
[40:15] Our community consistently steps up
[40:17] to fund our public school system.
[40:19] We do so because we believe in supporting our children,
[40:22] but funding is an investment.
[40:24] And right now the returns on that investment are in shop.
[40:27] Downward slide,
[40:29] widespread academic decline across our district is not
[40:32] an isolated fluke.
[40:34] It is a clear sign of systematic shortfall.
[40:37] Look at the data. South Range Elementary was once our high
[40:41] performing benchmark in a single school year.
[40:45] Its math proficiency plummeted by 13 percentage points,
[40:48] and it's reading proficiency collapsed
[40:50] by a staggering 16 percentage points.
[40:53] That is not a minor variance, that's a crisis at Grinnell.
[40:58] Fewer them. One third of our students are proficient in
[41:00] either subject with math scores dropping down
[41:02] to a devastating 27% at Gilbert h Hood
[41:06] and West Running Brook math proficiencies
[41:08] and languishing into the low to mid thirties
[41:12] outta the six schools.
[41:13] EVAC evaluated four SAR a drop in reading
[41:16] and three SAR drop in math.
[41:18] When proficiency levels slide into the twenties, thirties
[41:21] and forties, the system is failing its core mission.
[41:25] As taxpayers, we are routinely asked
[41:28] to support budget increases in bonds.
[41:31] We fulfill our end of the contract.
[41:33] We provide the financial resources in return.
[41:36] We expect a school system
[41:38] that at least maintains academic
[41:40] baselines, if not improve them.
[41:42] Right now, the hard truth is
[41:44] that we are paying more in getting less widespread drops.
[41:47] Like this means that our current instructional strategies
[41:50] and fiscal allocations are simply not working.
[41:54] Tonight, I'm asking this board for two things.
[41:57] First, total transparency.
[41:59] We need a detailed public explanation
[42:01] for these dramatic drops.
[42:02] And I heard some conversations of maybe the 0%
[42:07] for a kid that's not taking that.
[42:08] Maybe that's why those scores are low.
[42:11] But it'd be nice to have that explanation in public.
[42:15] Second, an immediate rigorous audit of
[42:18] how our current funds are being utilized alongside a
[42:20] concrete measurable turnaround plan to fix these scores.
[42:24] Our students deserve a high quality education,
[42:27] and the taxpayers who fund this district deserves strict
[42:29] fiscal accountability.
[42:31] Thank you.
[42:45] Anyone else? All right, we will move on with the meeting.
[42:49] However, the public comment period will remain open
[42:52] until 7:35 PM If you wish to speak prior to that time,
[42:55] approach the microphone and I'll recognize you
[42:57] with the next break in the agenda.
[42:59] Our next order of business will
[43:01] be our student representative.
[43:02] So we're happy to welcome our new representative
[43:04] from Pinkerton Academy.
[43:06] Serena Anderson. So welcome. And the floor is yours.
[43:10] Hello. As you said, my name is Serena Anderson.
[43:13] I am a junior at Pinkerton.
[43:15] I am grateful for the opportunity
[43:17] to be the student representative this year.
[43:20] And I'm just gonna talk about some things
[43:22] that have been happening at Pinkerton lately.
[43:25] So on Saturday, the past Saturday,
[43:29] the seniors got to experience the annual senior corn roast.
[43:33] It had a bonfire, barbecue food, corn,
[43:38] and like other activities for them to do.
[43:41] And this week is the start of our Mac Plaque Week,
[43:46] which is a competition between Pinkerton
[43:48] and London Dairy that's been going on for many years,
[43:52] where our fall sports teams all go against each other.
[43:56] The school that has the most wins in total gets
[43:59] to take home the plaque.
[44:01] It started in 1983
[44:04] and Pinkerton has taken home 37 out of the 43 years.
[44:10] We have a spirit week this week
[44:12] to get students showing Pinkerton spirit,
[44:15] and today was red, white, and blue day.
[44:17] Tomorrow's theme is pink out.
[44:21] Also happening tomorrow is the meet the teachers night.
[44:25] There's a session from one to three
[44:27] and a session from five to seven
[44:29] where you can meet your students'
[44:31] teachers starting tomorrow.
[44:35] The 23rd is when our first team goes against London Dairy.
[44:39] It's our golf team.
[44:41] The results of Mac plaque will be finalized
[44:47] all the way in November, technically
[44:49] because our cheer team doesn't compete till then.
[44:53] On Friday during the school day, we have our pep rally
[44:56] where students gather in the gym.
[44:58] It's always fun to watch the varsity teams perform their
[45:01] dances and skits that they create.
[45:04] Later on Friday, our cross country team has their meet
[45:08] and our football team has their game at 7:00 PM at London
[45:11] Dairy, and our band will be playing at the halftime show.
[45:17] Then on Saturday, field hockey, volleyball
[45:19] and soccer go against London.
[45:21] Dairy Saturday will be wrapped up with our homecoming dance
[45:24] that all grades can attend
[45:27] another event coming up next week on Thursday,
[45:30] October 1st is our freshman reception dance.
[45:33] We welcome all the freshmen
[45:35] and new teachers to Pinkerton on that night,
[45:38] and that's what's going on at Pinkerton currently.
[45:42] All right, thank you, Serena. Thank you.
[45:44] We really appreciate you signing up to do this,
[45:46] and we're looking forward to your
[45:47] updates throughout the year.
[45:48] So you did a great job. Thank
[45:49] You.
[45:50] I am looking forward to having a band kid
[45:52] as the representative, so you can keep us update on
[45:55] what all the concerts are,
[45:56] because I look forward to seeing those. Thank
[45:58] You.
[45:59] Yes, I would definitely include those.
[46:00] No, did anyone have any questions?
[46:03] What do you do in the band?
[46:05] I'm in percussion. So during marching season,
[46:08] I'm in drum line and I play the bass drum.
[46:10] That is awesome. When I was in high
[46:12] school, I was a drum major.
[46:14] Ooh, that's really cool.
[46:18] All right, well thank you again
[46:19] and we're looking forward to your
[46:20] updates throughout the year.
[46:21] Thank you. Our next order
[46:24] of business will be deliberations.
[46:26] We have one item tonight, which is preparation
[46:28] for the New Hampshire School Board Association's
[46:30] annual Delegate Assembly.
[46:32] We are a member board of the association,
[46:33] and we can appoint one voting delegate
[46:35] and one alternate delegate to send to the assembly.
[46:38] So the first piece here will be to nominate our delegates
[46:41] and grant them with authority.
[46:42] The delegate assembly is scheduled to be held on Saturday,
[46:44] October 17th at 10:30 AM I've heard from one member, Karen,
[46:48] who's planning on being in attendance
[46:50] and she would like to be considered as the voting delegate.
[46:53] Did we have anyone else who's gonna be in attendance
[46:55] and would like to be considered for the
[46:58] voting or alternate delegate?
[47:04] All right. I am planning on attending this year,
[47:06] so I would happily serve
[47:07] as the alternate delegate if nobody
[47:09] else is going to be attending.
[47:10] And I know Brenda, you'll be there in your role as a member
[47:13] of the board of the association.
[47:18] So, so the second step here would be
[47:23] to determine the level of authority we granted the delegate.
[47:26] So the resolutions presented
[47:27] to the assembly are subject to amendment.
[47:29] So we would need to provide the delegate with direction on
[47:31] how to vote on amended resolutions.
[47:34] I believe last year we granted authority
[47:38] to cast the board's vote, so long
[47:39] as there wasn't a substantive change
[47:41] to the meaning of the resolution.
[47:42] So relative to the position the board had taken on it.
[47:45] So as long as you know, there could be language changes,
[47:49] but the core belief of the resolution still remains intact.
[47:55] So does that still work for everybody? Yeah. All right.
[48:00] So I would accept a motion to nominate Karen Rand
[48:02] as the board's voting delegate
[48:04] and Michael Thiel as alternate
[48:05] and to direct the delegate the authority
[48:08] to vote on amendments so long
[48:09] as there is no substantive change to the meaning
[48:11] of the overall resolution. So
[48:13] Moved First by Jenna.
[48:15] Second. Second by Jen. All in favor? Aye. All opposed.
[48:19] Motion carries seven zero.
[48:22] The second piece here would be to direct the delegate on how
[48:25] to vote on the proposed bylaw changes
[48:26] and proposed resolutions.
[48:28] And I assume everyone has had a chance
[48:30] to review these documents.
[48:32] They've been sent out a few times by the association
[48:34] and they were in your packet tonight
[48:36] and are ready to cast the vote on these.
[48:39] So, you know, first off, we have the bylaw changes.
[48:41] I don't know if you want to comment on this at all, Brenda,
[48:43] as a member of the board and what the bylaw changes entail.
[48:47] No, I don't need to comment. Alright,
[48:50] so I'm gonna assume that everyone has read these
[48:53] and is prepared to cast a vote.
[48:54] So I would accept a motion to direct the delegate
[48:57] to vote in support of the proposed changes to the bylaws
[48:59] of the New Hampshire School Board Association.
[49:02] So moved first by Jen. Second. Second by Jamie.
[49:06] Did we wanna discuss this at all before we vote? All right.
[49:10] All in favor? Aye. All opposed. Motion carries seven zero.
[49:15] The final step would be we have a list
[49:17] of 15 proposed resolutions
[49:19] that will be considered at the assembly.
[49:21] So each of those 15 proposed resolutions comes
[49:24] with a recommendation from the N-H-S-B-A board of directors.
[49:28] So I'm gonna ask for a motion to direct a delegate
[49:31] to vote on the 15 proposed resolutions according
[49:33] to the recommendation of the N-H-S-B-A Board of directors.
[49:37] Once we have a motion on the table,
[49:38] I'll open the floor for discussion.
[49:40] And if there are any resolutions
[49:42] that anyone would wanna separate out
[49:43] and vote on a position that differs from the recommendation
[49:46] of the N-H-S-B-A board, we can do that.
[49:49] So do I have a motion to direct the delegate
[49:52] to vote on the 15 proposed resolutions according
[49:54] to the recommendation of the N-H-S-B-A Board of directors?
[49:58] So moved first by Jen second. Second by Jenna.
[50:02] So I'd open it up for discussion if there's questions about
[50:04] any of the 15 resolutions
[50:06] or if there are any proposals
[50:07] for taking a different position on any
[50:09] of the resolutions that are gonna be considered.
[50:14] All right. Hearing none, I would call
[50:17] for a vote on the original motion.
[50:19] All in favor? Aye. Aye. All opposed motion abstain
[50:23] Because I've already have already weigh in on those in
[50:26] A different board.
[50:27] All right, so we have the motion carries six zero
[50:31] with one abstention then.
[50:32] All right. Thank you everyone.
[50:34] And Karen, you will, you can take care of signing up
[50:38] for the, the assembly as the voting delegate.
[50:43] Mike, ask a question before we move on. Sure.
[50:45] So I don't know, was it three
[50:46] or four years ago we actually got a proposal
[50:50] through, right? Yeah. Yeah.
[50:51] I think this Is, does that die in
[50:52] the vine after a while?
[50:53] Or they, to continue to push
[50:55] Continue resolution?
[50:56] Yeah. Great. Yeah, it becomes a continuing resolution then.
[50:58] What is it after three years? It becomes part
[51:00] of the statement of beliefs. Yes.
[51:02] I mean, people continue to talk about food insecurity.
[51:06] So it, it, I don't think it'll ever go away. Yeah.
[51:09] Unless we fix it, which
[51:11] We can hope.
[51:14] All right. Our next order
[51:16] of business will be administration report.
[51:17] So first up will be Jane with
[51:18] business administrators update.
[51:23] Okay. Included in your packet is my,
[51:28] my update each each month.
[51:31] When I do it, I'm gonna highlight, you know, Laura
[51:33] and I work directly on,
[51:36] because they are some of the larger costs,
[51:38] the OUTTA district tuition, the contracted services.
[51:43] And you know, at this time of the year,
[51:45] we're also having grants approved
[51:47] and waiting for final approval.
[51:49] So sometimes there'll be transfers that'll happen.
[51:52] So the number seems a little inflated right now
[51:54] until the project's approved and,
[51:56] and then we'll do those transfers at a later time.
[51:58] But you can see on there where we are having some
[52:02] over budget areas and where we may be under budget
[52:07] and you know, Christina
[52:10] and I continue to work on free
[52:13] and reduced, just as a reminder, parents
[52:15] or families that were approved for free
[52:17] or reduced last year have until October 9th to reapply
[52:22] or their status will go back to paid on October 10th.
[52:28] So we encourage those families to make sure
[52:30] that they get their applications in.
[52:34] We actually, because I do these updates a week prior,
[52:38] there's gonna be things that are gonna be a little off.
[52:41] So when I say that we're gonna be receiving the first pink
[52:44] invoice, we actually received it today.
[52:46] However, I have not gone through it,
[52:48] so I can't give any numbers.
[52:49] So I'll do that at the next, at the next board meeting.
[52:54] And Glenn
[52:56] and I both on Friday, attended our association meeting
[53:01] the New Hampshire School of the New Hampshire Association
[53:04] of School Business Officials.
[53:05] We were there on Friday. They had, you know,
[53:08] representatives from the New Hampshire Department of Ed,
[53:10] department of Revenue Attorneys talking about some
[53:14] of the newly adopted legislation.
[53:17] And it's a, it's a great meeting to go
[53:21] and talk with our colleagues
[53:23] and hear any changes.
[53:26] What we need to do to address this new legislation.
[53:31] Again, the auditors, they were there the week prior
[53:35] to last week and we continue to send them information.
[53:38] They continue to send us more samples
[53:43] that they would like drawn.
[53:44] So everything is in an up portal
[53:46] that we submit all our information for.
[53:48] So that continues and it's starting to wind down.
[53:52] But we do, we're still doing that on a daily basis.
[53:57] I just put in there the, you know, the estimated cost
[53:59] for the SAU renovation wasn't, we don't expect it to exceed,
[54:04] exceed 3 79 and to date we've paid 187,000
[54:10] and we actually made payments today.
[54:13] So that's actually a little higher.
[54:14] But again, this is, this was done last week.
[54:17] Wanted to give you an update on the funds, the capital
[54:21] reserve funds that are held
[54:23] by the trustees of the trust fund.
[54:25] And we currently have two of those.
[54:29] We have the general maintenance, which
[54:32] we transferred the 500,000 that was voted on from
[54:37] unspent funds from 25 26.
[54:39] So we sent a check over to the trustees.
[54:42] So the general maintenance account currently has a balance
[54:45] of 761,895.
[54:47] And that's, we would use that,
[54:50] actually Mike talked about it when we were in
[54:52] our, the meeting with the town.
[54:54] We would only use that for maintenance projects
[54:58] and it would come before the board,
[54:59] before we would ask for
[55:04] the trustees to send us a reimbursement for that.
[55:06] And then we also have the roof replacement fund, which is,
[55:10] we had already spent all the principle on that.
[55:12] So this is just interest that had been earned
[55:15] while the project was being completed.
[55:18] And that project was Westenburg roof
[55:22] and Barca's roof.
[55:26] I also included in your packet
[55:30] an update on revenues.
[55:32] Keep in mind some of these haven't been updated.
[55:37] For example, the adequacy.
[55:42] The adequacy, actually we did update that.
[55:44] So the adequacy number came in
[55:46] and while we were only a couple thousand off from
[55:48] what we estimated, we're still, the actual number is
[55:52] from the difference from last year's adequacy
[55:55] to 26 20 seven's.
[55:58] Adequacy is a difference
[56:00] of $429,167 and 22 cents.
[56:05] And that is, so that's essentially what
[56:07] that means is an additional 429,000 that is,
[56:13] that gets raised locally through local taxation.
[56:16] The on the flip side with the Swept,
[56:19] which is a state education property tax,
[56:23] the amount we're receiving over last year is an additional
[56:27] $13,505.
[56:31] But of course the SWT is just
[56:33] Local property tax.
[56:34] It's, it's the same, yeah. Raised locally. Yep.
[56:38] So those numbers will get updated on
[56:42] in the revenues as well.
[56:44] I included an expenditure report,
[56:48] but what I wanna point out is
[56:50] that you're gonna see huge balances if you were looking at
[56:52] health and dental, a balance of 9.7 million.
[56:56] That's just because right now payroll just started up
[56:59] and we have to go into the system
[57:02] and encumber all the health insurance
[57:04] that's tied to each employee.
[57:07] We just haven't had a chance to do that yet.
[57:10] We've only, I think we've had two payrolls
[57:12] since teaching staff have come back.
[57:15] So when you have the next update, those will all be included
[57:18] and you'll get an actual number that that's also included
[57:21] with the retirement and social security.
[57:23] We have to go in and encumber that with our payroll system.
[57:25] So otherwise it's been normal expenditures
[57:31] as anticipated through the summer.
[57:33] I also included one
[57:38] more report, which is an update on the bond project.
[57:44] I've included each of the
[57:48] budgeted projects, what the contract amount was,
[57:51] how much we've paid to date,
[57:53] and how much has been encumbered,
[57:55] and then what the balance, the budget balance would be.
[57:59] Now again, there are a lot of projects
[58:01] that haven't been started because these are projects
[58:03] that would likely be done next year.
[58:07] And that would include things such as the replacement
[58:10] of interior and exterior doors,
[58:13] window replacement at Gilbert H Hood, exterior repairs on,
[58:16] again, doors and frames.
[58:19] So those projects will take place probably next summer.
[58:23] So you're gonna see those have no encumbrances, no payments.
[58:26] And I believe Mike mentioned it earlier
[58:28] regarding the Windows at South Range kind of
[58:33] got combined with the facade.
[58:36] And so that's why you're seeing
[58:41] a surplus on the facade, surplus on the windows,
[58:45] also surplus actually on the facade at South Range.
[58:50] And you're actually seeing over overspent on the roof
[58:54] because they had a lot of things
[58:56] that they didn't realize when they were
[58:58] came, came into the project.
[59:00] As well as I also moved some of the funding on,
[59:03] after talking to Mark job under HVAC equipment
[59:06] and replacement, we moved the
[59:10] structural upgrade from the facade
[59:12] to HVAC equipment and structural.
[59:14] So it's the same amount of money in the budget,
[59:17] it's just moved where I've allocated that.
[59:20] So you can see that right now there's $10 million
[59:25] unspent again,
[59:26] because a lot of the projects haven't started yet.
[59:28] So if you have any questions on the bond
[59:32] or anything on the report,
[59:34] we actually did make payments on some
[59:36] of the bond projects today.
[59:39] So this'll be again updated
[59:43] at our next report or next month, whenever.
[59:45] I'm gonna do the bo the bond report. I have two questions.
[59:49] One, there's a placeholder for out
[59:51] of district regular education with a $1 placeholder
[59:55] and an encumbrance of 20,000.
[59:57] Could you just explain that? Sure.
[1:00:00] Well, initially I think there was some legislation about
[1:00:05] out of districts, out of district placements
[1:00:08] for general education
[1:00:09] and the districts would need to budget that.
[1:00:13] And so we'd put in a dollar placeholder.
[1:00:16] The 20,000 is for a student who is going
[1:00:21] to another district, but it's a general ed student.
[1:00:23] And in the contract with PanIN, we do have the right to
[1:00:29] let a student go to another school district.
[1:00:31] There's a certain percentage of students who can allow that.
[1:00:34] And they are for certain circumstances,
[1:00:36] sometimes it's in their senior year
[1:00:38] or you know, they've moved.
[1:00:41] And so we work it out with another district
[1:00:44] and we only pay the portion
[1:00:46] that we would have paid to Pinkerton.
[1:00:49] And there's a contract that Mike
[1:00:51] and Kathleen will draw up as well as the receiving district.
[1:00:56] And the parents are responsible for the remaining portion.
[1:01:00] And we are, we're net neutral with
[1:01:03] what we would've paid pancreatin if that student went there.
[1:01:05] So we encumber, we encumber the 20 K,
[1:01:08] but right now we don't have a student in that position.
[1:01:11] We encumbered because I think that we have two students.
[1:01:15] One of them is not, but you gotta be careful.
[1:01:18] I'm not gonna say where they're going. Okay.
[1:01:19] They're general. General education. Okay.
[1:01:21] We're not gonna name what school district, but Okay.
[1:01:25] They're less. Alright, thank you.
[1:01:27] And my other question was just in regards to the SAU
[1:01:31] of we have spent, and I guess it's kind of a combo question
[1:01:33] for you and I, maybe I should have asked Jeremy,
[1:01:36] what is left to do over at the new SAU
[1:01:40] and is it possible that we might not spend that full amount?
[1:01:43] And if so, where will that extra money go?
[1:01:47] We'll just go back into contingency
[1:01:49] or do you think we're gonna spend all of it?
[1:01:50] No, I believe we're gonna spend all of it and Okay.
[1:01:53] Well no, the 3 79. 3 79, yeah. So
[1:01:55] The, the remaining 21.
[1:01:59] Thank you. Yeah. Sorry guys.
[1:02:01] That goes back into the end of year contingency. Yes.
[1:02:05] So that goes, goes back into the surplus. You
[1:02:07] Believe that we still, I mean,
[1:02:08] 'cause I don't know what left,
[1:02:09] Left.
[1:02:10] I think we're done there. That there's no
[1:02:11] more work to be done.
[1:02:12] The only thing left is billing.
[1:02:15] Oh, okay. So does that make Sense?
[1:02:16] Yeah. So it's co It is.
[1:02:18] So we would not have spent the full amount. Correct.
[1:02:20] Oh, excellent. Thank you. Yeah,
[1:02:21] the contractor is outta the building and there's nothing.
[1:02:24] Okay, great. Yep.
[1:02:27] We're just waiting to pay invoices at this point.
[1:02:31] Are there any other questions on any
[1:02:32] of the reports that I provided? Yeah,
[1:02:34] James, quick thing.
[1:02:35] On the contract of services overage, I assume we net
[1:02:38] that against the salaries savings, it's wash
[1:02:41] and we still have plus a million bucks.
[1:02:43] Wash No
[1:02:44] Plus.
[1:02:45] Yeah. Wash is tough.
[1:02:46] So I don't mean wash, I mean push it together. Yeah,
[1:02:49] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[1:02:50] It's not, obviously if we're going out for contract service,
[1:02:52] it's gonna cost more than if we hire an internal employee.
[1:02:55] Sure, of course. Yeah.
[1:02:56] And I think that was in Laura's report
[1:02:59] and her special education costs, specifically
[1:03:01] around services, school, psychs, OTPT, things like that.
[1:03:04] And we've had this discussion, actually
[1:03:06] to your credit several times, about how
[1:03:08] there's gonna be less people that are signing up
[1:03:10] to be full-time employees in districts when they can make
[1:03:12] 30% more through contracted service.
[1:03:15] So we're gonna have to really evaluate that.
[1:03:19] I'm not saying just as dairy, I'm saying
[1:03:20] as a profession in our education, about how you attract
[1:03:24] and retain those professionals with those skill sets
[1:03:28] when there's collective bargaining agreements that are
[1:03:31] specifically sometimes drawn out for teachers.
[1:03:33] So, yep.
[1:03:37] Does that answer your question? Yeah. Oh
[1:03:39] Yeah.
[1:03:40] Thank you.
[1:03:41] All right. So if there are no more questions for Jane,
[1:03:44] we'll turn it over to Mike for his superintendent's
[1:03:45] Update.
[1:03:46] Thanks. Best part about directors night
[1:03:48] is, I don't how get to talk a lot.
[1:03:49] So quickly, a couple things.
[1:03:52] We already mentioned the facility store.
[1:03:54] Serena, before you leave, you were in my
[1:03:56] superintendent's update.
[1:03:57] So met with Serena last week.
[1:03:59] I'm gonna skip Serena last week.
[1:04:03] Talk about a go-getter as a junior.
[1:04:05] I, what's funny is Anthony's here tonight,
[1:04:06] I don't know if anyone noticed him, but
[1:04:07] Torch is really being passed.
[1:04:09] But Serena asked so many great questions.
[1:04:11] But more specifically, I said I wanted
[1:04:13] Serena to be Serena, right?
[1:04:14] So that's the purpose of your voice here.
[1:04:15] That's the purpose of what you bring.
[1:04:17] So be yourself over the next year.
[1:04:19] And if you do it again, continue.
[1:04:22] But you did awesome tonight. It's like
[1:04:23] you, it's like you've done it before.
[1:04:25] It feels like you practiced. Did you practice?
[1:04:27] I didn't practice, actually, but thank
[1:04:29] You.
[1:04:30] And you crushed it. So great job. Thank you, thank you.
[1:04:33] Thank you to the facilities tour, you know, and,
[1:04:36] and I said thank you to Jeremy, but to the board, thank you.
[1:04:38] It's another night away from your
[1:04:40] family and your obligations.
[1:04:42] It was nice to show everyone as a whole
[1:04:45] and talk about maybe upcoming things
[1:04:46] that I might be bringing to whether the budget process,
[1:04:49] whether it's a CIP, it was nice
[1:04:51] to see everyone in this, not in this setting.
[1:04:55] So it was great to have those conversations.
[1:04:58] The septic tank already brought it up.
[1:05:00] It's gonna be something that we're gonna have
[1:05:01] to be discussing probably by the next meeting.
[1:05:03] So if we send updates, it'll be through email
[1:05:07] about a possible public hearing.
[1:05:08] If that's the way we decide.
[1:05:10] We're really waiting on a number that's gonna really tell us
[1:05:12] the tale of, of what we need to do there.
[1:05:13] But it needs to be fixed. That's not a, it's not a want.
[1:05:16] That's a need. Just to be very clear on five,
[1:05:21] six busing, the reason I'm bringing it up again is
[1:05:23] 'cause that went into place last week
[1:05:24] since our last board meeting.
[1:05:26] So we are now, the bus company has, Chandra is just,
[1:05:30] she's a workhorse and it's been phenomenal work with her.
[1:05:32] She found a route to pick up our five six athletes
[1:05:36] and bring them over so parents don't need to bust them
[1:05:39] after school for athletics.
[1:05:41] Oh, cool. So we have nearly 60 students a day going from
[1:05:44] west to hood to participate in our athletics.
[1:05:48] And now we're already in the winter planning phase on
[1:05:51] how do we handle those numbers.
[1:05:53] So more to come on that.
[1:05:56] And then, you know, I, I really try
[1:06:01] in this role to just be kind
[1:06:04] of advisor for the board, right?
[1:06:05] That's my job. You guys are the elected officials
[1:06:08] and you know,
[1:06:11] this seat is very challenging sometimes.
[1:06:15] And I think tonight I just, I just want to emphasize that,
[1:06:21] you know, when, when people criticize our teachers
[1:06:26] or our paraprofessionals that help our students
[1:06:29] with the greatest needs or our custodians who work
[1:06:33] after hours to help the community with athletics, you know,
[1:06:37] when you try and bang the system for a couple scores,
[1:06:42] it's a little bit personal for me.
[1:06:44] You know, you can get up here and criticize me all you want.
[1:06:46] That's what this role is for. That's what my job is.
[1:06:51] I've been criticized a lot.
[1:06:52] I'm sure you could Google good if you wanted to.
[1:06:55] I have no problem with that.
[1:06:57] And I also said, I'm not afraid of, you know, our,
[1:07:00] our inefficiencies or our challenges that we face in
[1:07:03] that we're gonna continue to strive to get better.
[1:07:05] But it, it is not a systematic failure in any form
[1:07:09] or fashion that we're providing in dairy.
[1:07:11] And I think our teachers and our paraprofessionals
[1:07:14] and everyone that shows up every day starting at 4 45 in the
[1:07:19] morning, and some individuals that don't go home
[1:07:21] until nine o'clock at night
[1:07:22] to make sure our buildings are clean
[1:07:24] the next day for our students.
[1:07:26] I don't think that's reflective of
[1:07:27] what the da dairy taxpayer is getting.
[1:07:29] I really don't. And if anyone ever has questions about
[1:07:34] what we do or how we do it or,
[1:07:36] or what we think we're struggling
[1:07:37] or what you think we, my door is open every day.
[1:07:41] I meet with parents all the time.
[1:07:43] And as long as you feel comfortable
[1:07:45] or you feel informed, that's our job.
[1:07:48] You know, the word transparent can be taken different ways.
[1:07:53] I think we're doing a different job since I've been here.
[1:07:55] That's just my take.
[1:07:58] We're trying to provide all the accurate information and,
[1:08:00] and definitely stand on it.
[1:08:01] So, you know, I, I know it's like a soapbox spiel,
[1:08:04] but I would say that, I think that was that one,
[1:08:06] that one kind of hit home
[1:08:07] because it's, it's,
[1:08:09] I think it's actually the opposite, right?
[1:08:11] So we are providing high level services
[1:08:14] and we're not afraid of results.
[1:08:17] But I look forward to the discussion
[1:08:20] as Carrie is already working.
[1:08:22] 'cause I texted her to work on some things,
[1:08:25] and I look forward to that discussion over the next,
[1:08:27] you know, couple months so that the community feels
[1:08:29] comfortable with where their tax dollars going
[1:08:31] and knowing that we're putting
[1:08:33] a hundred percent effort in every day.
[1:08:35] So that's about it on that. Sorry. Thank you.
[1:08:38] Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, for my chair,
[1:08:40] I feel confident in the work
[1:08:42] that you guys have been doing over the last year plus here.
[1:08:45] And I like the direction that we're moving in
[1:08:48] and yeah, I mean, the school district is more than
[1:08:50] just one metric.
[1:08:51] You know, there's a lot of good things going on here,
[1:08:53] and I think that things are moving in a good direction.
[1:08:57] So thank you for that.
[1:09:03] I would just, Mike, I would,
[1:09:04] I would, I would ask the question.
[1:09:05] I don't expect you to have an answer tonight,
[1:09:07] and I think it's an age old question.
[1:09:08] How do we, you know, you can cherry pick any numbers
[1:09:11] and show 'em how you want to show them.
[1:09:14] How do we get to the actual number that we want to, that
[1:09:17] that makes sense, that show the real picture?
[1:09:20] What does that look like?
[1:09:21] I don't, I don't know the answer to that.
[1:09:22] I mean, we always talk about this, do you,
[1:09:24] does you don't just measure
[1:09:24] what we're doing on these numbers.
[1:09:26] I just don't somehow we need articulate
[1:09:29] that in a way that people understand.
[1:09:31] You know, data is what you, you know,
[1:09:33] the age old saying is data is what you make it to be, right?
[1:09:36] So, you know, I could pull all the data
[1:09:38] of last year's graduates
[1:09:39] who are attending Ivy League schools.
[1:09:41] I could attend all the ones that have entered the armed
[1:09:43] forces and, and serving our country.
[1:09:45] I could pull all the ones that, you know,
[1:09:47] went into a trade immediately
[1:09:49] and already making 50, $60,000.
[1:09:51] Right? So I, I like the question and,
[1:09:54] and you know, my mind starts spinning right away
[1:09:56] because what will end up happening with pieces
[1:09:59] of information, whether they're accurate
[1:10:01] or not, is it can start to run on things.
[1:10:04] And I think it's our job.
[1:10:05] And that's what I was texting Carrie about.
[1:10:07] It's like our job to show that we are doing things and, and,
[1:10:11] and whether it's doing a better job at these meetings,
[1:10:14] presenting our internal data through niwa
[1:10:17] or our internal assessments through, you know,
[1:10:21] what's happening at Pinkerton
[1:10:23] because those are our students.
[1:10:24] And that that dollar that we provide
[1:10:26] as a taxpayer goes to that education.
[1:10:29] So I, I think it's a work
[1:10:31] through some of our committee levels.
[1:10:33] I think it's gonna be my challenge at the discussion at
[1:10:35] that level is what can we show the community again,
[1:10:38] that we're doing more than what's said sometimes,
[1:10:44] you know, it's, you know, you know, this is my world.
[1:10:48] And to say that we're doing a disservice is,
[1:10:53] is very challenging for me
[1:10:55] because I see every day the hard work
[1:10:58] that's going into kids.
[1:10:59] And it doesn't come out in a report.
[1:11:02] It doesn't come out in a report.
[1:11:05] So we have to do, we have to figure out how to present
[1:11:10] our successes because I think they far outweigh
[1:11:15] what the state's providing as data.
[1:11:18] So When I began my teaching
[1:11:23] career, I, I taught in one
[1:11:25] of the poorest schools in the state,
[1:11:26] and we struggled significantly.
[1:11:27] There was one year where we were the lowest
[1:11:29] and we were, we had every plan imaginable.
[1:11:32] The department of Ed would come in weekly.
[1:11:34] And one person said to me, said,
[1:11:36] you have to tell your story.
[1:11:37] That's what we need to do.
[1:11:38] We need to humanize these numbers
[1:11:40] and we need to tell the story of our district
[1:11:43] 'cause number, like Mike said, numbers are
[1:11:44] numbers and how we do that.
[1:11:46] I mean, that's all of our jobs
[1:11:50] Work on it.
[1:11:51] Appreciate it. Yep. All right. Thank you Mike.
[1:11:56] Anyone have any other questions for Mike?
[1:12:01] Our next order of business will be committee reports.
[1:12:03] We've had three committees meet over the last two weeks.
[1:12:05] So first up will be Jamie
[1:12:06] with an update from the communications committee.
[1:12:09] Alright, so at our last communications meeting we
[1:12:13] discussed the, the first newsletter
[1:12:16] that we're gonna be putting out for this year.
[1:12:19] It should hopefully be at the end of October.
[1:12:25] It carries new to the committee.
[1:12:27] So we basically briefed her on like the norms we've
[1:12:30] established over the last year as a new committee.
[1:12:35] Let's see. We discussed like a general plan as
[1:12:38] to when the future newsletters should be issued
[1:12:42] based on like upcoming important events throughout the year.
[1:12:46] We discussed other ways we can try to reach the community.
[1:12:49] Oh, sorry. That's okay.
[1:12:50] Sorry to communicate important dates like fiscal
[1:12:54] advisory and the deliberative.
[1:12:56] And Carrie had a really good idea
[1:12:58] to host like a senior lunch to engage with community members
[1:13:02] who may not have kids in the district,
[1:13:05] which I think that's a really great idea.
[1:13:06] Hopefully we can get that going. Carrie, also intro.
[1:13:11] You're bringing all kinds of new exciting things.
[1:13:14] She also had the great idea of the three things
[1:13:17] after every school board meeting.
[1:13:18] So Carrie decides the three most
[1:13:23] important things that we discuss
[1:13:25] or votes that have hap
[1:13:26] that occurred or whatever during the meeting.
[1:13:28] And they are put out on social media so that people can
[1:13:32] like, get a gist of what we're talking about without having
[1:13:35] to actually watch the whole meeting.
[1:13:39] And let's see. I think that's about it.
[1:13:43] Yeah, that's all I have.
[1:13:46] All right. Did anyone have any questions? Yeah,
[1:13:48] I just, well, maybe not a question.
[1:13:49] Maybe just a thought to think about is the community needs
[1:13:53] to be, and maybe you, I wasn't your last meeting,
[1:13:55] maybe you guys went into this, so I apologize if I'm,
[1:13:57] I didn't watch the meeting, so I apologize.
[1:13:58] Is we need to educate the community on HB 1300
[1:14:02] and how do we do that as a board and as an administration?
[1:14:07] Because when you read that bill, it's like,
[1:14:11] it's screaming to check Yes.
[1:14:13] If you're not paying attention.
[1:14:16] And I think we just need to figure out a way to,
[1:14:19] I dunno whether it's to bring Jim in
[1:14:21] and do a, a one nighter thing, invite the comm,
[1:14:24] invite the community to come in
[1:14:26] and I, I don't know the answer.
[1:14:28] I, I never have. And then we've tried a lot
[1:14:30] of things over the years, but I think between that
[1:14:34] and I, I think you gotta figure out some way to,
[1:14:37] to get the board out on that because it's, I know it's 60%,
[1:14:41] but it's November, so it's gonna be a challenge. Sure.
[1:14:44] I think this did come up a lot,
[1:14:46] David, in the last meeting.
[1:14:47] There was quite a bit of discussion around this as well
[1:14:49] as HB 1331.
[1:14:50] That doesn't mean that we have any answers
[1:14:52] because part of the problem is that HB 1300,
[1:14:55] in my view is opaque at best.
[1:14:57] And being able to come up
[1:14:58] with a message has been really hard
[1:15:00] because my understanding Mike stepped away here.
[1:15:06] My understanding has been that our own district's
[1:15:10] attorney has had a lot of lack of clarity around, you know,
[1:15:13] all the things we've already discussed.
[1:15:15] So, but your point is very well taken.
[1:15:17] I mean, it's very important for us to be able to communicate
[1:15:21] the potential impacts of what this might mean.
[1:15:24] Particularly on the November ballot.
[1:15:26] It didn't come up so much the, during the joint,
[1:15:30] the joint meeting just now about 1331 March will
[1:15:33] also be here very soon.
[1:15:35] So,
[1:15:36] Yeah, no, I agree.
[1:15:37] I, but I hopefully by two weeks out
[1:15:39] or something where we we're at a point
[1:15:40] where things have been ironed out, you know, mid-October,
[1:15:44] third week of October, let's
[1:15:45] hope that things are ironed out.
[1:15:46] Yeah, that was the biggest concern when we discussed this
[1:15:49] at the last meeting, is that nobody can clearly explain
[1:15:53] what the impact of this question would be if it passed.
[1:15:56] So that's the most difficult thing is how do you communicate
[1:15:59] the impact of something when you know what it's gonna be.
[1:16:03] I think one the things too, I mean certainly
[1:16:05] to your point, Michael and David, like there's a perception
[1:16:09] that when we have a tax cap
[1:16:10] that equals fiscal responsibility, I wanna be very clear
[1:16:14] that there are different drivers
[1:16:16] that are happening on the town side versus the school side.
[1:16:19] And when you talk about a tax cap, we need to be able
[1:16:21] to predict year over year what our revenue's gonna be.
[1:16:24] Jane mentioned it during the, during the joint meeting.
[1:16:27] That doesn't happen for us as easily
[1:16:29] as it does for town council.
[1:16:31] And so when we talk about having a tax cap on the school
[1:16:33] side, it becomes a much more,
[1:16:36] much more different conversation, I suppose.
[1:16:40] You know, we have different responsibilities,
[1:16:41] different statutory requirements, different obligations.
[1:16:46] Mr. Flynn, you spoke to it well, we have, and,
[1:16:48] and Laura did tonight as well,
[1:16:50] during her special education update.
[1:16:52] We serve special education population, all of it.
[1:16:55] And so tax cap is like a, a,
[1:16:59] a loaded term in my view.
[1:17:02] And again, i, I don't want that to be seen as
[1:17:06] what would be a fiscally responsible move.
[1:17:09] I mean that much I'll communicate right now.
[1:17:11] I think that that's a, that's something
[1:17:13] that we really need to think well about. So,
[1:17:15] And of course, you know, a tax cap isn't gonna
[1:17:18] make taxes go down.
[1:17:20] No. You know, the only way
[1:17:21] that we can make taxes go down is if our
[1:17:23] revenue situation changes.
[1:17:26] That's a good point guys. And, and Jen in particular.
[1:17:29] There's ways, even though if you don't know the calculation,
[1:17:31] there's ways to articulate certain things
[1:17:33] that drive our budget and, and hone in on those.
[1:17:36] And we do that obviously.
[1:17:37] But I mean, you look at insurance, the number was
[1:17:42] $11 million, a 10% increase on that is 1 million,
[1:17:46] 1,000,001, whatever it is.
[1:17:48] So that right there kind
[1:17:49] of blows things outta the proportion.
[1:17:50] But when you, there are other ways,
[1:17:52] even though if you don't know the calculations,
[1:17:53] there are other ways to educate the public.
[1:17:55] Sure, for sure. On, on certain, like key drivers.
[1:17:59] 'cause right in the bill it says this won't affect
[1:18:00] classroom, this won't affect classroom funding,
[1:18:04] which is patently false.
[1:18:07] So I don't even know how you get around that, but, so, but
[1:18:10] It, it won't impact classroom instruction, I think is,
[1:18:13] I don't have the language in front of
[1:18:14] Me.
[1:18:15] It is, you're right. That's all right. I'll shut up now.
[1:18:17] No, no, no. I think I
[1:18:19] Hear you and I hear the concern as well.
[1:18:21] I mean, I'm in agreement.
[1:18:24] I wish we had a little bit more of an on-ramp to prepare
[1:18:26] for this and had more clarity from legal around it.
[1:18:31] But we are here.
[1:18:34] I think that's where a lot of the emphasis will probably
[1:18:36] be right now during the fiscal advisory meetings is,
[1:18:38] is is the drivers.
[1:18:39] Right? We started introducing new,
[1:18:41] new vocabulary last year on the needle movers and,
[1:18:44] and what can we really shift, you know, and,
[1:18:46] and I think as we,
[1:18:49] I believe at my meeting on Friday, all three of us went
[1:18:53] to a different meeting to hit everyone up.
[1:18:56] I believe DRA has been granted permission to start
[1:19:00] communicating with us now.
[1:19:02] So I, I'm hoping between now and our first meeting
[1:19:04] and October, we can have some clear vision to communicate.
[1:19:09] And then by our next board meeting, which is October,
[1:19:12] oddly we have an extra week here.
[1:19:14] I just hope everyone's paying attention to their calendars
[1:19:17] by that next board meeting will have some significant
[1:19:20] ability to have a deeper discussion on
[1:19:23] what we want to do as a board. Yeah.
[1:19:24] Yeah. It would be nice to be able to know, you know,
[1:19:27] how this tax gap is gonna impact the budget
[1:19:29] and if it were to pass, what would that mean?
[1:19:32] Yep. You know, that's, I think
[1:19:34] that public communication piece where we really don't have,
[1:19:38] you know, we need more information.
[1:19:39] Yeah.
[1:19:44] I think it's me Policy. Yep. Yeah.
[1:19:47] If we're all set with communications,
[1:19:49] we have a first read from policy.
[1:19:51] Alright, in your packet for your Sunday reading,
[1:19:54] please take some time
[1:19:55] and review the first read on our AI artificial
[1:19:58] intelligence policy.
[1:20:00] Dr. S spent significant time on some cross analysis of
[1:20:05] what other districts have already done, incidents
[1:20:08] that have occurred around the state.
[1:20:10] So if you take a look at the deep fake part of that
[1:20:12] AI policy that kind of came out of Goss Town uniquely,
[1:20:17] we're putting a policy in place for a K eight.
[1:20:20] So it's a little bit different, right?
[1:20:21] If we had that high school, Pinkerton has their own policy
[1:20:23] that they manage and the, and they entertain.
[1:20:26] So take some time to read that.
[1:20:27] Please shoot me any questions, gimme a call if you have.
[1:20:30] But we'd like to have that in
[1:20:31] place at the next board meeting.
[1:20:35] All right, thanks Mike. Like he said, I go over
[1:20:38] that policy that we have
[1:20:39] and that will come up for a second read
[1:20:41] and a vote at our next meeting on October 13th.
[1:20:45] Finally, we have an update from the
[1:20:47] curriculum and assessment committee. And Jenna.
[1:20:49] Hi. So the curriculum committee last met
[1:20:51] on Thursday the 17th.
[1:20:54] Our main focus was to discuss the results
[1:20:57] of the New Hampshire State Assessment system,
[1:20:59] which we've now spoken to a couple
[1:21:02] of times that were just released.
[1:21:05] Just so you know, the, the NH SAS measures the percentage
[1:21:08] of students meeting New Hampshire grade level expectations.
[1:21:11] In the spring, our recent scores were 37% proficient
[1:21:15] proficiency in math and 45% in reading.
[1:21:19] While there are several factors that go into testing scores,
[1:21:22] such as when the tests are administered,
[1:21:24] the recent school transitions
[1:21:26] and the percentage of children that are able
[1:21:28] to opt out without affecting the scores,
[1:21:30] the district is aware that there is work to be done.
[1:21:33] These scores are not reflective
[1:21:35] of our children's individual growth throughout the year,
[1:21:37] which is reflected in the NIWA scores.
[1:21:40] The two main areas that the curriculum department plans
[1:21:43] to focus on are preserving the growth
[1:21:45] that has been shown in the K through four grades,
[1:21:49] while aligning all of K through eight
[1:21:51] with a strong tier one curriculum,
[1:21:54] which will benefit every student.
[1:21:56] This will also hopefully address the slide
[1:21:58] that we're seeing in grades five through eight.
[1:22:01] Strengthening the tier one curriculum will consist
[1:22:03] of a strengthening grade level core instruction using NIWA
[1:22:06] scores to assist in small group
[1:22:08] instruction to fix skill gaps.
[1:22:10] Establishing four to six week check-in cycles to monitor
[1:22:14] progress while surveying teachers and interpreting the data.
[1:22:18] We also did a quick review of
[1:22:19] what our three year curriculum reviews will look like,
[1:22:23] which is year one study
[1:22:25] and define what do we need to do year two, evaluate
[1:22:29] and decide what best meets those needs.
[1:22:31] And year three implement
[1:22:33] and refine, how do we make it work well across the district.
[1:22:39] That is my review.
[1:22:42] I'd just like to add there, I wanna thank Patty Thomas
[1:22:44] for coming to that meeting as well as Aaron Rinard.
[1:22:47] I really valued what you brought to that meeting.
[1:22:49] Thank you Dr. Sansoni, for leading it.
[1:22:52] I mean, I don't wanna hop on the curriculum train,
[1:22:54] but since it's here, I'm going to,
[1:22:57] I have been very impressed with the leadership that Mr.
[1:22:59] Flynn's brought to the central office over the last 15
[1:23:01] or so months, bringing Dr.
[1:23:03] Sandon on board three months ago.
[1:23:05] There's definitely renewed energy in the curriculum area,
[1:23:07] which I'm very excited to see.
[1:23:10] Mr. Flynn, you've already spoken to a lot of these things
[1:23:12] that I might have said, but I'll just echo them here.
[1:23:16] You know, we're having careful examinations on an ongoing
[1:23:18] basis of what we're teaching, how we're teaching it,
[1:23:20] the tools and the resources
[1:23:21] that we're providing teachers to teach it.
[1:23:24] And most excitedly for me, I was really pleased to hear Dr.
[1:23:28] Sandi say that we're looking for ways to engage teachers on
[1:23:31] what they're seeing in the classrooms
[1:23:33] and how we're gonna use their feedback
[1:23:35] to inform what it is that we're doing.
[1:23:37] So I think it's a good place that we're at right now,
[1:23:39] and I'm energized by the conversations that we're having.
[1:23:41] Thank you.
[1:23:45] All right, thank you both. Did anyone have any additional
[1:23:47] questions on curriculum?
[1:23:51] All right, we'll move on. Our next order
[1:23:52] of business is member updates and any other business.
[1:23:55] I don't really have anything tonight,
[1:23:56] so if anybody else has any updates, I
[1:23:59] I do, I just wanna talk, is this on?
[1:24:02] Yeah, yeah. On the, the present successes.
[1:24:06] I'm sorry, I have a list, but,
[1:24:08] but there, there are a lot
[1:24:09] of successes going on in the classroom
[1:24:11] and I just wanted to give a couple of shout outs.
[1:24:13] One is to eighth grade social studies teacher, Laura Owens.
[1:24:18] She let the kids watch the Man in the Red Bandana on nine
[1:24:23] 11, and it was just wonderful.
[1:24:25] My granddaughter's in her class and she came home
[1:24:28] and she understood the impact on our country.
[1:24:32] So I just really wanna thank Ms. Owens for that.
[1:24:34] And also Jeremy who had a chance to talk today,
[1:24:37] I just really want to give him a shout out also.
[1:24:40] 'cause this guy has so much common sense. I really like him.
[1:24:46] He's actually keeping the paint color all the same so
[1:24:50] that we're not buying 8,000 different gallons of paint
[1:24:53] and wasting all our money.
[1:24:55] And he's just doing a, he's doing a bang up job.
[1:24:58] He's a good guy. That's it.
[1:25:00] Thanks Karen. Thank you, Karen. Anybody else?
[1:25:04] Yeah, I wanted to say something.
[1:25:07] It's in, in reference to the, the, again, I don't want
[1:25:12] to to beat the drum too much about those test scores,
[1:25:15] but one of the things that I, I wanted to mention was that
[1:25:19] kids change over the years.
[1:25:21] And I know that seems very cliche
[1:25:24] because the, the thing that we're supposed
[1:25:26] to say when we get old is kids these days, like, you know,
[1:25:29] they're, they're so different than, than what we had.
[1:25:31] But I had the pleasure of being in the classroom
[1:25:35] for nine years and, and being a substitute.
[1:25:38] And I can tell you that from one year to another,
[1:25:41] let's say a fourth grade class, one year,
[1:25:44] the fourth grade was just like on the ball
[1:25:47] and they had everything going,
[1:25:48] and they were just like ducks in a row.
[1:25:52] And then the next year I'd come in fourth grade
[1:25:54] and it was like feral kittens.
[1:25:56] Like it, the, the kids do change every year.
[1:25:59] And so when we get these test scores,
[1:26:02] you can have a completely different group of kids come in
[1:26:06] and the teachers can be teaching the same thing
[1:26:08] and it's just not gonna land the same way.
[1:26:10] And every year these kids cycle through
[1:26:12] and we see them come up
[1:26:13] and, you know, they, they have
[1:26:16] screen time a little bit more than they did before.
[1:26:18] They have cell phones more than they did.
[1:26:20] Like their personalities change
[1:26:22] how they're receiving things as they're coming up.
[1:26:24] We have the COVID kids, obviously, which are now,
[1:26:26] I cannot believe COVID is like almost seven years ago.
[1:26:28] But those kids come in
[1:26:30] and every year when these kids come in,
[1:26:33] they're changing the data
[1:26:34] because they're different kids to teach.
[1:26:36] And I love that. You know,
[1:26:38] what we're doing now in curriculum is the three year rolling
[1:26:41] review of the curriculum.
[1:26:42] Like, okay, we've got this
[1:26:43] and every three years we're gonna check
[1:26:45] and see is this still working for the kids that we have?
[1:26:50] How are things changing? Like what's the feedback?
[1:26:52] Taking the feedback from the teachers is really important.
[1:26:55] But this is one pinpoint,
[1:26:57] and again, I know that it's been said by other people.
[1:27:00] This is one pinpoint of data of one moment of time, of
[1:27:03] a group of hungry kids who maybe came in from recess
[1:27:06] and took a test on a 90 degree day.
[1:27:09] It's, it's a small bit of it.
[1:27:12] And I want to say that I,
[1:27:13] I've watched these teachers teach over the years
[1:27:16] and they've really put everything that they had to it.
[1:27:19] And to Mike Superintendent's point the,
[1:27:24] it's almost a slam against our teacher and it shouldn't be
[1:27:27] because they're doing what they can with what they have.
[1:27:31] And we need to just factor everything in.
[1:27:34] So, sorry, I'll get off my soapbox now. Thank you.
[1:27:38] I think there are a lot of different drivers in all this
[1:27:41] testing talk.
[1:27:43] I wanna make sure that,
[1:27:44] and I'll, I'll hold myself accountable.
[1:27:46] I'm holding this board accountable
[1:27:47] and we'll hold the administration accountable
[1:27:49] to making sure we're doing the very best that dairy can do.
[1:27:51] Dairy has unique challenges.
[1:27:53] We also have a lot of talent here.
[1:27:55] And I'm excited too about,
[1:27:56] like I said, the direction that we're heading.
[1:28:01] All right. Thank you everyone. Anything else from anyone?
[1:28:06] All right. Our future meeting schedule two regular meetings
[1:28:08] in October on the 13th
[1:28:09] and the 27th, both at 6:30 PM location, DVD, location,
[1:28:14] DVD.
[1:28:15] This is not on, of course,
[1:28:18] fiscal advisory will take place at the new SAU.
[1:28:22] And then we believe we'll be shifting our board meetings to
[1:28:26] our new location that we have set up that I was so excited
[1:28:29] to show everyone in our tour that no one came.
[1:28:33] It's fine. We'll see everyone there.
[1:28:35] All right. Well, we have no non-public business tonight,
[1:28:38] so I would accept a motion to adjourn.
[1:28:40] So moved first by Jamie. My
[1:28:41] Favorite Motion. Second.
[1:28:42] Second by Jen. All in favor? Aye. Aye. All opposed.
[1:28:45] Motion carries. Seven zero. Goodnight everybody.