[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[0:01] All right, I'm going to, all right, hello everyone, I'm going to call the meeting to order at seven o'clock please rise for the police.
[0:14] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation.
[0:30] Okay, I get a motion to approve the agenda.
[0:36] I have a couple of changes.
[0:39] One I wanted to add the minutes from the special meeting.
[0:42] It wasn't included as part of your packet.
[0:46] But we didn't get that on the agenda, so we're going to add that.
[0:49] And I'm also going to move the MRU presentation right after the approval of the minutes, so
[0:57] that Eric can go ahead and then maybe go home and keep wants and let's see, enthralled
[1:04] with what's the conversations I were having.
[1:08] So, would someone like to make a motion to approve the agenda with the changes?
[1:17] Okay, is there a second?
[1:19] Okay.
[1:20] Okay.
[1:21] Great.
[1:23] Any discussion?
[1:25] Hey.
[1:26] All in favor?
[1:28] All right.
[1:30] Any opposed?
[1:32] One of the extension.
[1:33] Dave Cornwell of stained motion passes.
[1:39] All right.
[1:40] Is there any public comment?
[1:41] Anyone on?
[1:45] No?
[1:45] No?
[1:46] No, okay, so let's start with the approval of the minutes from nine to twenty six with someone like to make a motion
[1:56] Okay, Rich is there a second? I second Sarah
[2:01] Okay, any discussion any corrections go ahead rich just one under committee reports
[2:09] policy
[2:11] at one point
[2:12] The chair is called Rick Clark. Just so. Okay. Just type up. No biggie. Okay.
[2:21] Any other changes?
[2:26] Call the motion. All in favor?
[2:32] Any opposed? Any extensions?
[2:35] This is for the minutes. Yes. Okay. Staying for that. Okay. So just stay. David? There wasn't
[2:42] Yeah, okay. All right, and then approval of the minutes from the special meeting 9, 11, 26.
[2:53] So moved. Okay. There are second.
[2:58] Okay. Josh. All right. Any changes?
[3:02] I don't know if it needs to be a change, but I just want there's a lot of sort of ideas in opinions that we're discussed in here,
[3:10] But one that Linda set Rose raised about, how important it was that we made the decision
[3:19] to move surplus over there and how that plundered into the decision and made this
[3:26] an easier thing.
[3:27] I just think it's a good lesson for our constituents to understand that that had a real
[3:34] positive effect even while it might have sounded.
[3:36] It did so controversial when Josh described it, but it always did when I did, so I think
[3:43] that I just hate to see it like Fala.
[3:46] Well, I think it says Josh explains that this is the reason they asked voters during
[3:50] budget season to place surplus funds in the building and ground fund, which Lennon
[3:55] is good to look back on when moving forward when projects become more expensive.
[4:02] So do you want to add to that?
[4:03] No, no.
[4:04] I'm sorry.
[4:06] I was looking later in the discussion, I thought I brought it up at the end, so I looked at the end for it and apologies.
[4:14] Okay, perfect.
[4:15] It's perfect.
[4:16] Any other discussion of the special meeting minutes?
[4:22] Okay.
[4:23] All in favor.
[4:28] The posed abstain.
[4:31] David's abstaining.
[4:32] Other, although board members here, I didn't.
[4:35] Cam is not there.
[4:36] We're just meeting him and seeing him as in here.
[4:40] So there's nobody's Steven.
[4:41] And Steven, my jump on, usually jumps on after a while.
[4:45] If it's somebody notices, we'll have him present himself.
[4:50] OK, so we're going to go to the MRU presentation.
[4:55] You ready?
[4:56] Right.
[4:57] All right.
[4:58] All right.
[4:59] Cool.
[5:01] Cool.
[5:01] I have a t-shirt today because of the spirit weed.
[5:09] I think you should put that fancy.
[5:12] I am not holding that jacket.
[5:15] Or not that long.
[5:16] I've had enough.
[5:18] I have no idea what we're doing tomorrow.
[5:20] So it might be interesting.
[5:23] Thank you for giving me some time tonight to talk.
[5:27] I want to talk about how things are going in November.
[5:30] And I want to process a little bit differently.
[5:32] Simply giving you a list of things we've accomplished since July 1st, I'm going to do a little bit different.
[5:40] So there's not a lot of things going on.
[5:42] We've opened school.
[5:43] We've changed schedules.
[5:44] We've hired people.
[5:45] We manage athletic transportation issues.
[5:48] We work through student issues.
[5:49] We've established new systems.
[5:51] We've divided the building leadership team into operations and systems.
[5:55] We respond to parents, community members.
[5:58] We've handled everything.
[5:58] It comes along with opening a school.
[6:01] like a champ but those things I didn't sound so don't really tell you what the
[6:07] school's been doing. Sometimes I want to talk about something a little bit
[6:10] bigger. I want to talk about where I believe November is right now. What we
[6:15] learned thus far and what I believe we need to do next. I want to frame that
[6:19] around something I've shared with staff as students when school started. I believe
[6:23] there are six fundamental needs that we all share as human beings. Certainty for
[6:29] significant connection and growth and contribution.
[6:33] The more I thought about Mill River over the last couple months,
[6:36] the more I've realized that those 60s actually provide a pretty
[6:38] good framework of thinking about school.
[6:41] Because students need them and adults need them too.
[6:44] Our first thing, certainty, we all need to feel that we are safe.
[6:49] We need predictability, we need stability, we need clear expectations.
[6:54] We need to trust that when something happens, there's a system for
[6:57] to it. That doesn't mean school is predictable and will never be. Anyone who spent even a
[7:04] minute in school will know that high school is not predictable. So I won't forget something,
[7:10] a boss won't show up, as soon as it makes the decision they probably should not have made.
[7:13] A crowbook ends up where it should not have ever gone. A parent calls and planes,
[7:18] schedules change, that's public education. Certainty doesn't mean nothing unexpected happens.
[7:24] Sorry, he means that when you unexpected happens people know that we have a system for
[7:31] That's been one of my primary focuses since I've arrived here. It connects directly to what I've heard during my entry work.
[7:39] One of the strongest things I've heard was the desire for stability and accountability.
[7:43] I heard about relationships that have become strained over time. I heard about loss of hope. I heard about concerns about inconsistent expectations and inconsistent fall through.
[7:53] From out of the department, sometimes operating independently rather than as a whole school.
[7:59] My entry plan is leading me to describe the building this way.
[8:03] Our school is a float, but the crew is sometimes growing in a different direction.
[8:08] That doesn't mean the boat is sinking.
[8:10] It means we need to get everyone growing in the same direction.
[8:14] And I believe that work has already begun.
[8:16] We have been clarifying roles.
[8:18] We have been establishing expectations.
[8:19] We have been looking at procedures, we have been rebuilding the building leadership structures and we have been addressing problems
[8:27] instead of allowing them to sit in the Fester.
[8:30] And most importantly, we're doing it together.
[8:36] Being present matters.
[8:38] I think people need to see that the principal would show up.
[8:41] Not just at school, but at like events like tonight, at community events, at meetings like this one.
[8:47] In the hallways, in the classrooms, in conversations, I believe that presence had been one of the most important things I've done since I've been here.
[8:57] The second need we all have is a need for variety and challenge.
[9:01] This may sound like an opposition to certainty, and it certainly is. That's part of being human.
[9:07] We all need roots, but we also need to ruin our wings.
[9:11] Our students see opportunities to try something new, they need to take risks, they need to
[9:15] fail, they need to learn, and they need to try again.
[9:19] Adults need to need that too.
[9:21] And one of the dangers in a school is this phrase.
[9:23] That's the way we've always done it.
[9:26] We have to be willing to ask, is there a better way?
[9:30] It doesn't mean we change because we can or things that we've done before are just the way we've done things.
[9:37] Our legacy matters.
[9:38] In fact, one of the things I believe strongly in is that we should respect our legacy by focusing on the present and looking towards the future.
[9:47] But respecting our legacy doesn't mean we're trapped by it.
[9:50] It means understanding was made in Mil River special and then asking what our students need from us right now.
[9:57] The third thing we need is significance. I matter.
[10:00] Every student needs to know that. Every adult needs to know that too.
[10:04] It's been a lot of time listening since I've arrived, and the one thing that has become very clear to me is that people know and want to know that they're work matters.
[10:13] They want to know that someone sees it, they want to know that they're contribution to the school's important.
[10:20] And that's true whether you teach AP English, sound three math, art, PE, special ed, maintain the building, answer the phones, work on the office, or just be somewhere, everywhere you need to be when you're asked.
[10:30] We all matter, no river.
[10:34] And I think it's important.
[10:36] I think it's a leadership responsibility to make it important.
[10:40] If we expect our staff to make students feel seen
[10:43] value it respected and important, then we need to do
[10:46] the same thing for our staff.
[10:48] The fourth is connection.
[10:50] And I think this may be the most important one for our school.
[10:54] It's always learned better when they have a relationship with adults who
[11:00] And that doesn't mean we always agree, we won't.
[11:04] In fact, that disagreement is healthy.
[11:06] We needed to have enough trust in each other to know
[11:09] that we can have difficult conversations,
[11:12] that we can ask for help, that we can give
[11:14] and receive critical feedback.
[11:16] And we need to assume good intentions.
[11:19] And this is why my thing about the culture
[11:22] the building has evolved.
[11:25] I can't walk in a mill river and simply change the culture.
[11:28] I can't.
[11:31] Culture is bigger than one person.
[11:33] But it can't help change a climb in the building.
[11:35] I think we've been doing that since day one.
[11:40] We have to stop thinking that's their problem.
[11:44] And we have to start thinking that's a middle river problem.
[11:47] And we have to work together to solve it.
[11:50] The first thing we have is growth.
[11:53] And this is where I think our work becomes particularly important.
[11:56] We want students to grow.
[11:59] We have to have the willingness for our cells to grow too.
[12:03] That means accepting feedback, reflecting on our mistakes, trying something different,
[12:08] looking honestly at our practices, and asking whether we are producing the results we want.
[12:13] That's particularly important when we start talking about data.
[12:16] One of the things I learned during my entry process is that Mo River has a lot of data everywhere.
[12:22] But having a data using it are two very different things.
[12:25] I found data house and individual spreadsheets that there wasn't necessarily accessible to anyone who needed it or wanted it.
[12:33] And there were limited structures for actually analyzing and using it.
[12:38] And in some cases, I hate to say that it was being used to explain why we should continue to do what we're doing instead of looking at whether it's helping kids or not.
[12:46] That's a change.
[12:48] Not because data is the answer, but because evidence shouldn't form our decisions, and
[12:53] we should be asking every day who are our students, what are they learning, who is succeeding,
[12:59] who is struggling, where are the gaps, where interventions are not working,
[13:05] and what
[13:05] we can do differently because or is students are not learning.
[13:09] That's one of the reasons why I want our PLC, professional learning committees, to change
[13:14] the way we work, and become more purposeful.
[13:17] I don't want PLC to be just another meeting on the calendar.
[13:21] I want them to produce something.
[13:23] I want them to understand our students,
[13:25] I want them to understand that their actions
[13:28] or their investigations that we can lead to action.
[13:33] The 16 that we all have is contribution
[13:34] and that is simply what I'm giving to something bigger than myself.
[13:39] This one is particularly important to our school
[13:41] because schools are communities.
[13:43] And communities work when people contribute something bigger to them from themselves to others.
[13:51] Our students should leave November knowing that they have something to contribute to their families,
[13:55] to their communities, to their teams, to the workplace, to the world.
[14:00] But they learned that from watching us.
[14:04] They see teachers who contribute by helping the students who refuse to work and to stop trying.
[14:11] They see coaches who teach lessons and have nothing to do with the scoreboard.
[14:13] They see adults cheering at games.
[14:17] They see people solving problems before anyone knows this is a problem.
[14:20] They see people stop in a hallway and pick up a piece of trash.
[14:24] Those small things matter and they matter a lot.
[14:28] That's contribution.
[14:30] And that's what makes this school community.
[14:33] So, we have some real challenges.
[14:39] We have building-based leadership structures that need to be modified and changed.
[14:46] Our PLC's new work, our intervention systems new work, our data systems need work, our
[14:53] supervision and evaluation practices need to become more meaningful, behavior reporting
[14:57] and consistency need to be.
[15:00] Attend it to. Some roles and responsibilities need some clarification. And some relationships, well, they need to be rebuilt. Those are real issues. Now, I'm not going to say here until you can all be done this year.
[15:16] I'm going to tell you right now, we started.
[15:21] I don't think these problems should frighten us.
[15:23] What's encouraging to me is that I don't see a school that lasts caring people.
[15:29] I see people who care deeply for students.
[15:32] I see people who want no river to be successful.
[15:34] I see people who are willing to suffer forward.
[15:37] I am seeing people begin to think beyond their individual responsibilities towards a larger organization.
[15:42] A school.
[15:43] That is because you can't build a strong school for the efforts of a handful of people.
[15:50] It takes the collective responsibility.
[15:52] And I think we're beginning to move in that direction.
[15:56] One of the things I've noticed, particularly over the last couple of weeks,
[15:58] that admitted all the craziness of the school is that we are still laughing.
[16:04] I was talking to my office team the other day, and we just stopped.
[16:07] And we just busted out laughing.
[16:09] It's still there.
[16:11] The school year is chaotic.
[16:13] There's problems all day long.
[16:15] It's the first few days of school.
[16:17] It's going to happen.
[16:17] People are tired.
[16:19] We haven't figured things out yet.
[16:21] If people are still laughing, they're still talking.
[16:26] We're still having one another, we're still showing up, and to me, that's the Lip Distance
[16:30] for a strong building.
[16:33] It tells me that underneath all the challenges, they're still energy in the building.
[16:38] They're still hope, and it's still a sense that this could be an amazing place.
[16:44] There's something else I'll be very clear about, and I don't want to, I don't want to
[16:52] We have another committee, we need to have coherence.
[16:59] We need to have a few important things done well.
[17:02] We need to follow through, we need to sit systems that people understand.
[17:07] We need to adults who trust each other and agree with all problems together.
[17:12] We need to continually ask, is this making our school better for kids?
[17:17] As we move into the fall, and I see the work becoming increasingly focused.
[17:22] we still need to strengthen our PLC's, we still need to build better bad data practices.
[17:27] We still need to strengthen our intervention systems.
[17:29] We still need to clarify some wood leadership roles.
[17:31] We still need to continue to develop our learning center.
[17:33] We still need to strengthen our supervision evaluation.
[17:36] We still need to work.
[17:41] But we're building trust.
[17:43] And we're moving forward.
[17:49] A school has to be a place where people will feel safe.
[17:54] We're students in adults feel like they matter,
[17:58] where people feel connected, challenged, and where they can grow.
[18:04] And where people understand that what they do contribute is something bigger than just to themselves.
[18:10] I want to board to know that I'll be watching a few things.
[18:15] And I'm not going to measure my first year by having things I change.
[18:20] I don't think it would be a very good measure of anyone's leadership to just change things for
[18:23] changing them, whether it can or not.
[18:27] Instead, I want to know, are we becoming more stable?
[18:31] Is communication clear?
[18:33] Are our expectations clear?
[18:35] Are we following through?
[18:38] Are our teams actually producing something?
[18:41] Are we using evidence to make decisions?
[18:43] Are we getting better identifying students who need support?
[18:46] Are we working collaboratively?
[18:48] Are students feeling more connected?
[18:50] Are we creating more opportunities for students to challenge themselves?
[18:54] are we growing? And are we contributing to something bigger than ourselves? Are those things
[19:03] that are those things that make us better? I think they will. I think they will be.
[19:10] When I think about a school that I wanted to be part of it in November, I don't envision
[19:14] a completely different school. I envision a stronger version of the school that's already
[19:18] here, and that has been here.
[19:22] The school that respects his legacy, loving trap by it,
[19:25] we're students feel safe, school where people belong,
[19:29] the school where students are challenged,
[19:32] where the adults are valued,
[19:34] where people know that they're work matters.
[19:38] The school where both students and staff are growing,
[19:41] the school where people understand
[19:41] they are part of something bigger than themselves.
[19:44] That's the middle of every eye I'm going to be part of.
[19:46] And I believe that no river has no river we can do this together.
[19:52] I came to no river because I believe in the school.
[19:58] I believe in students, I believe in the people, I believe in this potential.
[20:02] After his first few weeks, I still believe all of these things.
[20:07] In fact, I believe him more strongly.
[20:10] Because I'm a much clearer understanding of the work that needs to be done.
[20:14] Our job is not to pretend everything is fine.
[20:17] Our job is not to preserve everything simply because it's always been done that way.
[20:21] Our job is not to change things simply because we can't change them.
[20:24] Our job is to create the conditions in which students and adults can thrive.
[20:29] That means certainty, that means challenge, that means significance, that means connection.
[20:33] That means growth, that means contribution.
[20:35] And notably, it means remembering why we're here.
[20:38] Why are we here?
[20:41] We at the center of days, helping young people figure out who they are, what they're capable of,
[20:46] what they can contribute to the world. That's why we're here.
[20:51] Thanks for your good stuff.
[20:53] Thank you.
[20:54] Thank you.
[20:56] Would anybody like to comment?
[20:59] I have a question.
[21:01] So I think the list of things that you've brought up is issues in the school.
[21:06] They're not new.
[21:08] We've had several principles have a very similar set of issues.
[21:13] And I think one of the hardest, especially because we've had a bunch of principles, is how do you get buy-in from the adults in the building?
[21:24] How do you get buy-in to say, this, these PLCs are different than these other PLCs?
[21:32] What is your strategy for that?
[21:35] because having, I, I, from the tropes of not ever been in a school is just like, oh,
[21:41] new principle comes in and here's some changes. And I know you spoke to that, but do you have
[21:46] a specific, like, game plan or just like a one point of it that you could talk about? Sure.
[21:53] I don't think you've had a principal show up to a board meeting with a fliming little coach. So I mean,
[21:58] that's pretty good. Oh, no, I mean, that's a legitimate question. So I would say, you know, slow
[22:03] fast, slow smooth, right? So for me moving at a slower pace, think of it as, you know,
[22:11] water, right? Water never stops. It keeps on going. Even when it's damped up, it still
[22:14] wants to go. So I have no momentum to keep on going and going and showing up. And that's
[22:20] way approach. Adults are approach to building. College is here. She can speak to the way we've
[22:28] up the leadership team.
[22:30] And it's not, we're going to do this, we're going to do that. No, let's stop and talk. So even in the leadership team, there are too many people in the room to make decisions. So I'm like, okay, what do we want to do? Let's see. We have operations, like day-to-day stuff, and we have four taking systems that really need to be done. So I'm like, who wants to do what? And they naturally divide themselves up. Great. So now you're in a group you want to be in and want to work with. And you're in a group that you want to work with. Now we can actually work together because they're not fighting each other. So taking decisions like that. And we're
[22:59] really pausing and moving slowly together, you know, things I'm seeing, there's some past
[23:05] practices that have been going on the billing night, don't I say agree with? Letting people
[23:09] know, hey listen, I see something, I don't necessarily like it, let's work on what we need
[23:16] to do to move forward. Is there a system in place that has been confusing to you? I can't
[23:20] hold you accountable, but I can't say we don't do this anymore and we work towards how to
[23:25] fix it and not by myself but with a team.
[23:31] So I don't know if I can answer your question anymore
[23:33] than if it goes slow and be personal.
[23:35] Can I jump in because there's two things I think you
[23:38] talk about always that you're not saying here.
[23:41] One is you're highly visible and that is a big change.
[23:47] I would say there's probably a group of young men in the park
[23:50] in the morning that are not really thrilled to say.
[23:53] But not only visible students, but visible with teachers and your relationship building with the people.
[24:00] And that's part of what you mean when you're questioning it.
[24:05] So I just want to add that because I just see that as your strengths and moving it forward.
[24:14] David, did you?
[24:15] Yeah, well, you mentioned, well, two things, one, easy one, have you put any structures in place to see how kids are appreciating our new food service company?
[24:27] And because we, you know, would like to know how that's going, how is it being perceived, and how is that working or taking improvement or is the food quality and better than it was last year?
[24:36] So I'd like to sort of get some data from kids and from, you know, on that.
[24:40] But my other question was around PLC's, what is your vision for PLC's and how are they structured at the river and what's your vision for what do you want them to accomplish?
[24:51] What's your goal?
[24:52] Two good questions. So actually I met with pseudo representatives today and I got the thumbs up.
[24:56] So I pass an information on to the food service and say listen kids are saying it's amazing.
[25:01] So keep on keeping on.
[25:03] I know they are structured in a way. I can't speak for them, but I had the conversation with them.
[25:07] The first month, they have to roll out the food as a company has said they roll it out.
[25:12] So all the schools across the nation who have this food service are getting the same menu.
[25:17] And then afterwards, the food service here could start changing things and making it through.
[25:22] But today, the meeting today went great to the kids are like awesome.
[25:26] So it's as best it's been in two years.
[25:29] I don't know, I don't have the school lunch.
[25:31] I don't really get lunch often.
[25:33] But from what the kids are saying today, it's going well.
[25:36] So for PLC's, very good question.
[25:39] So what I'm trying to do, instead of, I've told staff,
[25:42] I can't just bring something to you, say, let's work on this.
[25:45] I've been here for like two minutes.
[25:47] What I can do is ask questions, like,
[25:48] what is working, what's not working.
[25:50] So a PLC's, what I want to do is I create the leadership teams,
[25:53] both operations, and systems taking four things.
[25:56] From those two teams, my idea is that we build our PLC's,
[25:59] using the data that we're working on, using the steps that we're working on.
[26:03] So right now, we're working on just looking over prices,
[26:05] drills, just how is that working? We need to start looking at the
[26:08] accuracy base learning. There's a lot of things we need to work on. What I need to know is
[26:12] that what the staff needs to work on. Because no matter what I bring on the new
[26:16] guy, I'm going to try to bring in something else, right? Well, let's work on what we already
[26:20] know is or is not working either fix it or improve it. That's how I'm going to
[26:27] run PLCs. So right now, unfortunately, I only get three days after school with
[26:31] three Wednesdays in a row. The first one would be a staff meeting. The second one I'm
[26:36] going to devote to department time. I heard time and time again that departments don't have enough
[26:40] time to work together. It's not like elementary where they have their own planning time. So they
[26:44] need that time. I've heard that over and over and over again. So we're going to be working on that
[26:48] what that's going to look like. I want that to produce something. It's not down time as we work time.
[26:53] And then from the leadership groups we're going to be working in driving our PLCs. And the PLCs might
[26:58] actually be driven by departments. So if departments say hey we have this major issue we need
[27:01] work on, maybe some of PLC's will be department PLC's also.
[27:10] Yeah, I just, I was curious to know how PLC's are structured and how that's interpreted
[27:13] in the river.
[27:14] Oh, I know.
[27:15] Oh, I know.
[27:16] In my office, what they're supposed to be, I don't know they were that last year or
[27:20] not.
[27:20] I am looking at this year as what do we need this year?
[27:24] What can we work on this year?
[27:25] It's that has been very vocal about what they need, what they don't need, during on what
[27:28] on one meetings.
[27:30] And they've been very upfront.
[27:32] And they have not held back.
[27:33] I mean, there's one thing I know about our staff members.
[27:34] is that they believe in the school, they believe in the kids.
[27:39] So what they're giving me, especially when
[27:40] back up over and over again, is legit.
[27:43] Like they want to see improvements.
[27:44] They want to see things run better.
[27:46] They have done their very best to keep the building
[27:49] of float and moving forward.
[27:51] And now they want to start growing in the same direction.
[27:54] Eric, will you define PLC's
[27:56] because not everybody on this board is in it?
[28:00] He did, though, because I always listen when I get an acronym
[28:04] And his first use of the acronym, he defined it then, and I was going to say thank you.
[28:11] Hey, you say it again.
[28:13] Think about like many people sitting in a room working on a problem.
[28:17] That's it.
[28:18] Personal learning.
[28:19] Professional learning meetings.
[28:23] People who want to work on a problem, get together, and they do it.
[28:26] That's what we're looking for.
[28:29] Any other questions or
[28:33] And a time of move fast and break the things I appreciate the approach you just laid out.
[28:40] All right, well, thank you, Eric.
[28:43] I was going to say that you're Friday newsletter that you wrote about going to the football game.
[28:49] I found that very moving.
[28:50] I don't know if anybody else read it or I was like, oh my God, that's so good.
[28:54] It really is a game.
[28:56] I mean, I've been here as a spectator before, but not as a principal, obviously.
[28:59] And just the connections.
[29:00] I mean, I was with kids, I don't get to see kids enough, but um, so I got to see some of the kids that were not playing and then the adults
[29:07] I mean, they're in it, they were right there and what was really impressive is that even when the others I mean, we all want our team to win, right?
[29:13] But even when we got hit a couple times, uh, maybe weren't they weren't they weren't cheering they were like, yeah, great boy
[29:24] but you know, and not so happy, but they were respectful, and that is not something you
[29:30] always see high school sports, and our fans were very, very respectful to the Elisine.
[29:37] Thank you. All right, anybody else? All right, well thank you so much for coming.
[29:43] Thank you.
[29:44] And, um, yeah, we'll see if it's really great.
[29:46] Thank you.
[29:47] Thank you.
[29:48] We'll do it.
[29:49] Go home.
[29:50] I think I'll.
[29:51] Thank you.
[29:52] All right.
[29:54] That should be the school uniform.
[29:55] Yeah, I know.
[29:57] All right.
[29:58] You have ideas for tomorrow?
[29:59] Let me know.
[30:00] What does it mean?
[30:02] Yeah, but it's like Italian great name day, I don't even understand that.
[30:06] I don't know what that means.
[30:07] I ask you to tell me what you don't want to do.
[30:09] We're brown and curried baseball bat.
[30:11] No baseball bat.
[30:13] Yeah.
[30:15] I kind of like pajama day the other day.
[30:19] Yeah.
[30:19] The pajama day is good.
[30:22] That's good.
[30:23] Every day for my students.
[30:26] Oh yeah.
[30:29] I'm leaving.
[30:30] I'm leaving.
[30:31] Less so no school now than five years ago.
[30:34] Okay, Stephen, will you announce yourself?
[30:38] So, I'm leaving.
[30:38] No, you're here.
[30:41] Your unmute.
[30:43] You didn't.
[30:45] Yeah.
[30:46] No.
[30:46] He's muted, but maybe we don't.
[30:48] We don't.
[30:49] We have a mute.
[30:50] Hold on one second.
[30:51] Can you see what's going on there?
[30:53] He's got a mute.
[30:54] He's got a mute.
[30:54] He's a mute.
[30:55] It doesn't say he's muted.
[30:57] Yeah, yes.
[30:58] There's two.
[30:59] There's two sounds.
[31:00] That's a different thing.
[31:01] There's one on the...
[31:02] That's what he does.
[31:04] Because I think that sound thing that's above his head is just the universal sound.
[31:10] Hold on.
[31:11] Jody's to the rescue.
[31:13] Maybe he could be on it.
[31:15] He's working.
[31:17] He's working.
[31:17] Steven says something now.
[31:19] He's not.
[31:20] Yeah.
[31:21] Like it's registering.
[31:22] speaker symbol the line for what's on good time
[31:27] yeah
[31:32] his face
[31:36] this is
[31:40] there you go Steven say something
[31:43] but he still has the mic rate
[31:45] the speaker was the line
[31:48] we're going to move on
[31:51] and i think that's what we use
[31:53] welcome Steven
[31:55] be hard to do his finance committee or meeting without the meeting. What about the meeting but not his face.
[32:02] Try to get his time. I'm just going to sign in to the meeting on my computer and put it really loud.
[32:06] Oh, no, don't do that. Just have Stephen just sign out and sign back in.
[32:11] I think we just did not.
[32:13] Yeah, well, I'm just thinking for later when he wants to do his finance committee report and stuff.
[32:20] All right. Now he's on mute.
[32:21] that other thing has nothing to do with it.
[32:24] Oh no, that's not that's summer.
[32:26] Okay, I'm gonna move on.
[32:28] You didn't have a microphone.
[32:30] It's true.
[32:30] The board meet in three.
[32:32] It's a little like a school.
[32:34] We got a, I think we forwarded to all of you,
[32:37] but Libby McPhee, who's the mentor coordinator
[32:43] for the district has scheduled, a board meet and greet,
[32:49] for 10.
[32:54] What is that the 19th I think? October 19 from 3 to 4. That's what it is.
[33:01] And this is a time when new teachers and new parent educators and other new employees meet
[33:09] are available to meet with board members in the library last year. I think Lenny and I were there.
[33:17] not sure who else was there but if you can make it it's really great it's nice to meet the new
[33:23] teachers they like meeting members of the board and talking about their jobs and their roles and
[33:30] so we're all invited and they usually have pretty good cookies so perfect. And that's at the
[33:35] moment. Yeah it's at the library from 3 to 4. That was 10. 10 19.
[33:45] So the next thing on the agenda is
[33:47] I will review and so I we had quite a lively meeting and community engagement about the merger
[33:59] committee and the CSIC committee and all of that. Yeah it looks like Stephen go ahead
[34:06] and just talk to let's see if we can hear you.
[34:16] So I went through, I went through the bylaws and did, I'm going to do a quick summary of them.
[34:27] I'm going to hear me talk in for a while, which is why I let Eric first.
[34:32] So, the bylaws have, I think, 11, only six, many sections,
[34:43] nine sections.
[34:46] And I think going through them really kind of focuses us on what our job is.
[34:52] I don't know if any of you have read all the way through them, I've read through them once
[34:56] before, but it helped me to go through and kind of outline everything.
[35:00] So, I'll try and make it short.
[35:01] So the first section is the purpose and it just is our governance approach and the focus is on operating as one system of schools was shared vision rather than a patchwork of separate schools.
[35:16] So I think initially when the consolidation happened, that was the first kind of job number one was to go what's to get all the schools to operate as one district.
[35:31] as opposed to separate school districts.
[35:33] I mean, each one used to have their own board.
[35:36] So that's, so the bylaws are established to help that happen.
[35:42] The second section just talks about board membership.
[35:48] And it's, you know, if we have 11 members,
[35:51] Clarendon and Wallingford have equal representation,
[35:54] and no district test fewer than one board member.
[35:58] And the vacancies are filled according to statute.
[36:04] If the clerk or the moderator leave,
[36:10] there's a vacancy in either of those positions,
[36:12] then it's our job to fill that.
[36:16] But the vacancy as a board member follows the state rules,
[36:20] which we've been through that.
[36:21] I think a couple of you were appointed to the board to that.
[36:25] So we've experienced that because it's just,
[36:27] but for the representation two years or three years ago,
[36:32] I did, because the new census came out,
[36:34] and I did just check to make sure that the represent numbers
[36:37] are still fine.
[36:39] And it's still like, I'll just like read my next question.
[36:41] Yeah, I mean, it wasn't official.
[36:43] It was just me doing a spreadsheet of Kathy Pacy numbers.
[36:46] But I was like, oh, is it still right?
[36:47] And it was basically, okay, not enough change to tweak anything.
[36:53] Well, yeah, I said that was before my time on the board so we would have to wait for the
[36:58] decennial census anyway, because we're such small communities.
[37:01] Twenty-thirty would be the next one, right?
[37:06] The next section is the organization and election of officers and includes the duties of the officers.
[37:16] And this is where our committees come in.
[37:19] And we actually can have members of our committees that are not board members, but they might be public who have expertise in the subject.
[37:30] No matter of the committee work, I know when buildings and grounds was looking at the field. We had several people who came in and participated with our meetings. They weren't necessarily members of the committee, but they were giving, given pretty broad access to participate.
[37:48] And as we know, we have five members. If a member wants to leave a committee, you have to do so at a full board meeting, or to join another committee.
[37:58] you have to, that, that has to be approved by the full board. So, and ad hoc committees are created by the board.
[38:05] They're given a charge, the civic timeline and provide regular and final reports, and the members are appointed by the chair.
[38:13] And that's our supervision and evaluation committee is our only ad hoc committee that we have going on right now.
[38:23] Carol, I just wanted to note that a member of a committee that is not a member of the school board can't vote.
[38:31] Right, non-voting.
[38:32] So it's interesting that the committee is being noted.
[38:34] Yep.
[38:35] It's non-voting members of the public.
[38:38] Thank you.
[38:39] I don't think I said that, but I meant to.
[38:42] So, you know, our committees are building the grounds, community engagement, finance, negotiations, personnel and policy.
[38:48] Now, another thing that came up that I was looking at are the Educator Education Quality
[38:56] Standards, and because it was in this week's report from the SBA, and so I clicked
[39:06] on it and there's a rubric and there's several categories that are essentially the
[39:14] administration's Bellwick. But there's a couple of that kind of align with our
[39:19] committees, like building in grounds, there's facilities, standards, finance,
[39:27] there's finance standards, personnel, there's personnel standards and
[39:32] policy standards. So one thing maybe we can think about is how we integrate
[39:37] those standards into our committees and just make sure that the committees know which of those
[39:45] standards they might be looking at.
[39:49] Yeah, I think, because when we do reorganization, we have that worksheet that goes through, that
[39:54] might be something that we wanted to add to that.
[39:57] Yeah, that's what I was thinking, that's the idea.
[40:01] The next section is around the treasurer and the district treasurer and it's really about what the duties are of the treasurer.
[40:13] Are you the treasurer, please?
[40:16] Yeah, Denise is our treasurer and it has her duties.
[40:19] It talks about the audit and budget proposals.
[40:24] The next section is the transaction of business and this is about quorum's, quorum's, and voting.
[40:36] Then the next section is local input and public comment and it refers we have a policy on public comment.
[40:44] So it refers to that. Transportation is another error is the next section and that's our policy F9, which we kind of looked at.
[40:52] I think at our last meeting, or was it least shared at our last meeting?
[40:59] So Section 9 is important in terms of what's happening or being talked about with mergers
[41:11] because it refers to policies regarding school use and buildings, which we have, but it includes
[41:17] from the articles of agreement, the process for school closures, and any school closure
[41:27] requires a unanimous vote of the board and affirmative vote of the town in which it
[41:32] is located. So if, you know, if there was a recommendation to close the school, that would
[41:38] be the process that would have to follow the whole board, but after unanimously vote to
[41:44] prove closing and then it would go to that town to make the determination as to whether they want their school clothes.
[41:51] So I just want to highlight that and then any by-law changes the by-laws outline the procedure,
[41:59] which I think we have used in the past since I've been on the board and it's laid out there.
[42:06] So I just want to do a broad overview of that and I see people are kind of following along and that's good.
[42:13] And then if you continue on the bottom of that page,
[42:18] if you go all the way down, the articles of agreement follow.
[42:22] And those are the articles under which
[42:24] the consolidation occurred under Act 46.
[42:28] So just all good information for us to have.
[42:31] Anybody have any questions or comments about that?
[42:35] For a few years ago, we changed in the bylaws,
[42:40] how many members we had on committees. We used to have six or seven and it was very we had
[42:48] a problem making for them. And I just want to thank everyone here and the admit of that it
[42:56] very, very rarely happens and it was the worst to come down here and be ready for a meeting and
[43:01] then not be able to have a meeting. It was very frustrating. So I just appreciate everybody's
[43:09] Yeah, definitely.
[43:11] Sure, definitely.
[43:12] Our committees are quite active.
[43:15] I watch school board meetings, you know,
[43:19] I know why.
[43:20] I was about to say well.
[43:22] No, no.
[43:23] Well, I like to see how other boards operate.
[43:25] You know, I was interested in consent agenda.
[43:27] So I watch some boards with consent agenda.
[43:30] I don't think it saves them a whole lot of time.
[43:32] So, but they have either very few committees or the committees rarely need to.
[43:42] So,
[43:46] what happens if under the current reform efforts that this state has put forward,
[43:53] they decide that they want to close the school.
[43:56] But the school board doesn't vote unanimously and or the town rejects the proposal.
[44:02] The law says that it goes back to the town of Cervantes.
[44:06] It's the town votes on it.
[44:07] So at the end of the day, the town, so even if there's like,
[44:10] the recommendation is that that school be closed,
[44:14] it's up to the town and make that final decision.
[44:16] Doesn't even, that was my question, too.
[44:20] Even if that school serves multiple towns,
[44:22] there's a venue.
[44:24] They'll be all the towns.
[44:25] Yeah, like, if they said they weren't a close middle river,
[44:28] then I think I would think of the towns.
[44:30] Isn't there, like, leverage the state has to drive that change?
[44:37] I mean, I had to add something to that.
[44:40] Yeah.
[44:41] They're right.
[44:42] But if the student population is under 750, then a state can look in and say,
[44:50] we think you should.
[44:51] I think it ultimately goes back to the voters,
[44:54] but they can recommend it on the basis of that.
[44:58] Yeah, I think.
[44:59] Oh, wow.
[45:00] We said it seven, seven, eight. There's required, when I get into the
[45:05] challenges, though, I want to say that there were districts that the state had said you have to close your school.
[45:13] And then the school, the town said no. And there was like legal issues around that.
[45:17] Implying that the state had taken more serious actions than just saying, you really should close your school.
[45:24] Can they work if it was just you need to close your school in this town?
[45:28] I was like, no, I think there was more to it than that.
[45:31] Well, I know, you know, up north at Cabot, I think, is they've been trying to close, they've
[45:37] been trying to get about to close that school, and they just have not succeeded at that.
[45:43] So, I believe that's coming from the board and the superintendent.
[45:45] Yes, it's coming from the board, you're right, it's not coming from the state, but it's different
[45:50] to, like, what originally was being proposed with like a seven district state, like none of
[45:58] districts would exist anymore. And then it would be the purview of the new district. And then
[46:03] are all of our articles of a corporation are gone because we're not. But that's not what
[46:08] they did. So then the question is, is if we are walking down the road to merger and it looks like
[46:14] we have to merger, that is one of those, that was one of the sticking points of our consolidation
[46:20] is you know, it was that. So it's like that's going to be a huge sticking point because every
[46:26] thing nobody want, you know, nobody in, I think in our area really wants to, there's not
[46:31] the discussion of them closing their schools. So that is going to be a huge sticking point
[46:37] in the future. If we all agree, say oh yeah, we can all keep our schools then.
[46:41] What's the advantage?
[46:46] I think I spoke with, I don't remember her name, the lady from the Vermont School Board Association that came in.
[46:55] Dev, sing hi, sir.
[46:57] Yeah, and she said that unless the state changes something, our consolidation stands.
[47:11] So it's, you know, the state would have to mandate by law that this district no longer exists kind of thing.
[47:25] And as long as we have the articles of the corporation and all of this material, it's going to be much harder for them to change it.
[47:38] Well, one of the things that we're talking about is that we consolidated under Act 46.
[47:44] Act 46 still exists.
[47:46] Act 46 still stands.
[47:49] And school districts actually legally can consolidate without the merger committee, without any of that, without Act 17.
[47:59] Yeah.
[47:59] So we've already done that work.
[48:04] And that's what she said.
[48:06] as well. She reinforced that. But at heart, I mean, we're not a federal system. We are
[48:13] towns, every government entity is the
[48:17] creation of the state and the state can change laws in the, in the way. So they can change the laws,
[48:23] this isn't like federal government where they can't. Right. There's no cause. It's all within.
[48:29] Oh, we have a state. What the heck is that? It's probably not right.
[48:32] What I'm getting from conversation though is that because Act 46 is still in power
[48:36] Yeah, it would require
[48:37] Actual legislation in the legislature to either amend that or repeal it or something to force a closer
[48:45] Just course the closure because we're operating under legal rules. Yeah
[48:50] So good
[48:52] Stay tuned. I think it's uh, yeah
[48:55] More to cut
[48:57] I just have a question
[48:59] Yeah, there's cuz I'm confused and I'll bring it up later. I'm sorry. They're mine.
[49:07] Well, is it by the way? There's two groups.
[49:11] Oh, the seaset and the merger. Yeah,
[49:17] You're not alone. Yeah, really, you have good company. You explained it really well, though. That one was really gigantic. Yeah, so the seaset is the
[49:26] operative, educational, something, something. What's the essay? I don't know.
[49:31] I don't remember. Anyway, that area starts. I mean, I'm just looking at the
[49:38] math, but it starts like, oh, not a valley. Right, super. That's all the way down to
[49:43] Bennington. That's huge. Right. Then the merger committees. That same region has
[49:50] one facilitator, that facilitator has, I believe, seven merger committees within that
[49:58] Sisa. So that's, so they would too.
[50:01] Who is that facilitator?
[50:03] A little bow, bow, bow.
[50:05] A little bow, bow, bow, bow.
[50:06] A little bow.
[50:06] Is that your spell?
[50:08] Okay.
[50:09] Now what's David Jones?
[50:11] He's the facilitator of the facilitators.
[50:16] You wanted to be really wrong.
[50:17] We're not really wrong.
[50:18] interact with him. No. He's like the head like, you know, he's the umbrella
[50:23] organized or other. Right. No, he's the leader boss. He hired all the facilitators
[50:28] and he's training all the facilitators. Okay.
[50:35] I'm following. Yeah. Okay.
[50:37] bizarrely. Um, but you're on one committee. Right.
[50:43] I'm on the sea side, which is part of educational service area.
[50:49] Thank you.
[50:50] Okay.
[50:51] And that's made up of super tendons.
[50:55] Yes.
[50:55] But it could be board members, but as it turned out,
[50:59] everybody nominated their super tendons.
[51:01] Okay.
[51:03] And I'm on the merger.
[51:04] Okay.
[51:08] What does that do?
[51:10] So there we go.
[51:14] No no no no no no let's talk about when I read David's email
[51:23] email and then I read the minutes from C-Supp
[51:28] C-Supp it was like what we're not gonna do anything because we don't know what we're supposed to do
[51:36] that's exactly right okay that was the first meeting
[51:39] And I have a feeling when we have our first meeting of the merger committee, which hasn't been scheduled yet.
[51:47] Okay.
[51:47] Supposedly by October 15th.
[51:50] Maybe on Oct.
[51:51] I don't know.
[51:51] I haven't heard anything that will be saying the same thing that we don't know.
[51:59] Yeah.
[52:00] It's supposed to do.
[52:00] But that's the facility.
[52:02] You guys did not have a facility.
[52:04] We did not have a facility.
[52:05] So we will at least have a facilitator.
[52:08] So we really were looking. Now, at our next meeting Friday, we do have some information for some of our questions.
[52:18] Well, and then I read in today's paper that there's a supervisory union that doesn't want to belong to the one that they were chosen to belong to.
[52:30] You have the right, because like Barry, Barry town just failed their vote again for them.
[52:37] And so one of the just one of their, I can't remember which one, but one of them wants to leave and try to be over on the other side.
[52:44] because this school, something spring,
[52:48] it wasn't mid-time spring, which is Wales and Mid-altown Springs.
[52:53] There was a school district under the umbrella of the Greater Rutland Supervisor,
[53:00] yeah, I don't know what it's called.
[53:01] And they wanted to be part of it.
[53:03] My apologies to that number two.
[53:06] Well, they had one board member who came to the sea,
[53:09] so who wanted Mid-altown Springs to come and join us.
[53:13] And when we first consulted, you were part of that, middle town springs was part of that conversation.
[53:18] And they decided not to join us mainly because they didn't want to give up school, high school choice or school choice.
[53:27] So, you know, and they still want to go on to that.
[53:31] So that's, so they're not joining us.
[53:36] And then, what's interesting is Ludlow and Mount Holly, who also are in a similar district.
[53:46] They have high school choice, or middle school high school choice, and they're sending quite a few kids to middle river.
[53:55] But they were in a different merger area.
[53:58] Is that because of the tech centers?
[54:01] Yeah, I didn't know about that.
[54:03] That's a whole different thing.
[54:05] Yeah.
[54:05] Yeah, that's a whole different thing.
[54:06] I didn't know where I was.
[54:07] I'm just worried about any of this.
[54:09] No, these are all these are great questions, Lenny,
[54:14] because we're all trying to figure it out.
[54:18] And so the text center thing.
[54:20] And that was one, one, like, so last year,
[54:23] there was, it was, let's base the districts around the text centers.
[54:26] There's also, like, a whole other conversation
[54:28] that's been happening.
[54:29] That's not involved with any of this about how to do text centers better. Right, so it's like, oh, let's do this
[54:37] But yeah, it they also is if you look at the map, which I don't know where it is anymore, but it's based you know
[54:42] Like we are in a group that makes up enough students and so they run around and did that everywhere
[54:48] Yeah, and so like the Ludlow Mount Holly district just makes sense for trying to get over to that east side of the state
[54:56] and everything together.
[54:58] Well, because they send their kids to three mountain tax centers.
[55:03] Yeah.
[55:05] Springfield, I think, is the tech center.
[55:06] Each spring is.
[55:08] Springfield is a tech center.
[55:09] Which is a lot farther than here up when I think.
[55:13] I'm not sure I haven't done them.
[55:14] I don't know what I'm going to say.
[55:15] One of my concerns is, and again, I'm not a proponent.
[55:18] I said, if any of these changes are proposing.
[55:21] But it seems like right now the state is suggesting
[55:25] of voters that Vermont is spending too much money in education. I've seen apps from some
[55:31] various groups that are trying to convince me of this and the governor was pretty clear
[55:37] that he wants he thinks property section the way up and it's going to be expensive and his numbers
[55:41] are exaggerated but the messaging is that Vermont education cost too much as it is and we saw quite
[55:48] budget's fail. Barry's just failed again. Well, Barry's city voted for a very
[55:55] town didn't, as I understand it, which again, my only concern is that there is a
[56:01] perception amongst the general public that schools cost too much. That is being
[56:06] promoted by the current administration in my pillar. I would argue, you can
[56:12] actually in a way.
[56:16] But we are sort of like looking at what they're looking to do and be like
[56:19] ours, not happening. But I don't need it, it's kind of a joke, it's disorganized, it's chaotic.
[56:24] But I think that it is a real concern amongst a lot of our constituents that we do something to
[56:31] lower costs and make what we're doing more cost effective. So I think we need to pursue these things
[56:38] as legally we have to but I think it's also we as a district need to consider like how are we
[56:44] responding concretely to pressure to be first responsible and you know that could
[56:51] could necessitate some difficult decisions down the road. I think our budget passed by some 250 odd boats
[56:56] not even 40 or 40.
[57:01] So again I think it would be naive of us to continue to move forward
[57:07] as if nothing has changed, as this usual, I think we need to obviously present the good things
[57:12] we're doing and get people out to vote for our budget, but I think we also need to consider
[57:18] what steps do we as a board need to take to make sure budget does pass before we have to make
[57:24] hard choices when we're forced to make the start choices?
[57:27] Just to follow up on David's point though, I mean we all understand the things that are outside
[57:33] of our control, the rising cost of health care, small economies and what that means for the
[57:41] purpupil spending. But I think maybe it would be in our best interest as we meet and talk
[57:47] with people of who are concerned about the cost of schools and what we're spending is the
[57:53] cost of not having good education. And the cost of failing schools is far greater than the
[58:03] the costs of the schools that we're spending now, and just, I mean, that just, it's never
[58:10] the alternative. It's cut or, you know, pay high taxes. It's not cut or, and cut, and then
[58:19] reap the, the, the, the, the, the hills that follow from that. Education doesn't cost, it pays.
[58:28] So, in terms of the merger, committee anesthesia, we will be reporting back to the full board and one of the responsibilities of the member is to come back to the board after each meeting.
[58:43] So, I'm guessing it's going to be an agenda item in the future once we get our first meeting under our belt.
[58:52] And any decisions in terms of whether or not decisions but recommendations for mergers will be brought back to the board for your consideration.
[59:05] The other idea for why the merger districts are the way they are, rightfully or wrongly.
[59:13] So, the thing that we assume is going to come to the point of how we're going to keep
[59:19] funding their schools, a foundation formula is coming.
[59:22] We assume they're going to have enough backbone to pass a foundation formula, part of what
[59:26] these merger committees is because they couldn't, they couldn't do it as a legislative body
[59:31] of merging because they didn't want to lose their jobs or the political will to do it.
[59:37] There are school districts that if the form foundation formula comes into play, those
[59:42] districts are in really really big trouble. So like we're about a 50% district like half of the schools in the state spend less than us half of them
[59:50] spend more like and we're always somewhere in that bubble. The top 25% when the foundation formula comes they are in a huge trouble. And so those
[1:00:00] Districts are being asked to consolidate without the foundation for me, the vote coming to pat, like so, they're being asked to consolidate so that they can save from money so that we can all, so we don't have to punish them when there's a foundation for me, because the other thing that they've added is they're going to keep cranking up the overspending penalty. So if you are one of those top districts, you're going to have to end up paying more than to try to punish you to try to put and to get. So by the time you get to
[1:00:29] the foundation formula will be okay. But so that's the other part of it. I'm sorry that I
[1:00:36] opened that. I just don't know if that was another important part of it. I think it's just
[1:00:41] their daily. The state has repeatedly said that they were going to punish. I mean, I'm
[1:00:52] talking years ago now, but the reality was the state came out and said, you can't spend
[1:00:58] And if you spend more than that or two dollars, you're going to be in trouble.
[1:01:03] I was in a school district that we've busted our tail to make sure we were under that number.
[1:01:12] Districts up north, in paying attention to it.
[1:01:16] They just spent their money.
[1:01:17] And nothing.
[1:01:19] Nothing happened.
[1:01:22] So we were cutting jobs.
[1:01:24] We were doing all kinds of stuff.
[1:01:26] not we, the board did, and to follow the rules,
[1:01:35] and mostly it was district's up north because
[1:01:37] I really, I say this, and I continue to say it, there's a big difference between North and
[1:01:42] Middlebury and South of Middlebury. There's, that's the line. And district's up north didn't
[1:01:49] do anything. And nothing, right? And that's one of the things that we try to communicate during
[1:01:54] budget season is that our percentages that the towns end up paying are different than what
[1:02:00] our budget is and it's yeah it is because we have to go into the general pool and they have
[1:02:04] to find all the districts no matter what the vote is. So there is no incentive for individual
[1:02:10] districts to be more cost efficient cost efficient. And so that's the theory of why the
[1:02:17] foundation for whether the foundation formula is a good idea or a bad idea it changes
[1:02:22] the incentive model. You lose local voting rights, but in theory it forces a narrowing of what
[1:02:32] people do. And if you're in Slate Valley, you really don't like it because your taxes are going
[1:02:36] to go up. Yeah. Yeah. So that's the other part of that bottom-to-date version.
[1:02:41] Yeah, Steve Jones. Before I forget it, I started to David's point earlier about the importance of
[1:02:48] And we'll have this as on folks' minds and sort of a finance budgetary sense.
[1:02:55] At our finance committee meetings, I would like to maybe get if over the next few months,
[1:03:02] there is anything to report from Cheryl and Carol from the CISA and the merger committees.
[1:03:11] If there's anything to report at the committee meeting, finance committee meetings that are
[1:03:16] about like potential cost-related things just throw that out there that I would like those to
[1:03:25] start getting any relevant reports that we can maybe add into our conversation throughout
[1:03:31] budget season about this is what things are looking like as we kind of move forward.
[1:03:36] There might not be much between now and December but yeah yeah we will do that okay I'm going
[1:03:44] move on to superintendent's report, share providers of report in your minutes. I mean in your
[1:03:53] packet. Do you want to highlight anything?
[1:03:56] Yeah, I want to start with the positive thing and then I'll go to transportation.
[1:04:02] But both
[1:04:03] Eric and I received an email from the director of Stafford Technical Center just to let us know
[1:04:08] that two of our students who attend there, Lidian and I'm going to not do a good job with
[1:04:13] This last name, but Skiyathas says that this is, is the second year student in the Cosmetology
[1:04:19] Program, and she was elected by her peers to be a student rep at the Regional Advisory
[1:04:24] Board.
[1:04:25] Thank you.
[1:04:25] That we can tell you.
[1:04:27] And then Kaylin the mayor, who's also a second year student, who of ours, who attends
[1:04:33] there.
[1:04:34] And she is in the public safety and criminal justice program, was selected to serve as a member
[1:04:39] of the Vermont Skills USA Officer Team as a reporter.
[1:04:42] So, I wanted to acknowledge them and say congratulations to them.
[1:04:53] Okay, and then transportation.
[1:04:56] So, we did have a driver who went through the process, has been in the pipeline,
[1:05:02] and as of Monday told us, he's not no longer interested in pursuing it.
[1:05:07] So, that means I have one driver who I will find out next Thursday
[1:05:13] If they are able to move forward, I just want the Board to know that since this summer we have lost four different candidates that have been in the process for a variety of reasons, right, but they still didn't move forward.
[1:05:32] I am hopeful that this person will be able to start with us the following Monday.
[1:05:39] If not, probably, not probably, I am going to look for outsourcing, because at this point we have no one else that's there.
[1:05:51] Up until this point, I felt comfortable, right? Somebody would drop out, but then somebody else would jump in and I said, okay, we're good, we've got this, you know?
[1:05:59] And then at this point, if this does not work out for us next Thursday, we are out of options at that point.
[1:06:08] I don't know that that's going to happen.
[1:06:11] I'm feeling just a little bit negative at this point, so pessimistic.
[1:06:16] But, you know, hopefully I will tell you that we have that driver.
[1:06:20] If not, I will be looking for RFP's to outsource, because I'm out of options.
[1:06:27] Yeah, I just would like to chime in on that topic for just a minute.
[1:06:31] I did a little bit of digging on the topic of bus drivers in requirements and because we
[1:06:36] had discussed briefly at the last meeting of the possibility of writing a letter from the
[1:06:40] board to our legislators or trying to mount some kind of political pressure.
[1:06:45] But the state really doesn't control it.
[1:06:48] They control one small piece of it, which is the requirement that a bus driver have the bus
[1:06:53] driver endorsement.
[1:06:54] That's a state requirement.
[1:06:56] But the CDL class B and the passenger endorsement are federal requirements.
[1:07:03] There's nothing we can do about it.
[1:07:06] So, you know, I mean, it would be nice if we could.
[1:07:08] I don't even know what that state bus driver endorsement involves.
[1:07:13] But it's a small piece of behold.
[1:07:15] Well, I know it involves at least three tests for them.
[1:07:19] it in test, but that would be ours I know, but there's definitely three written tests
[1:07:26] that have to pass.
[1:07:26] But in terms of like the overall time, the expenses, that's good.
[1:07:30] It's a relatively small part of that. Yeah, here. Right. So, and the only encouraging thing I saw was that there's a number of different possible grants available for people to get the CDL training, which costs $3 to $5,000.
[1:07:46] But it takes time. Oh, yeah, it takes time. I mean, that's the main problem. Yeah, even more than money.
[1:07:51] But I guess my main point was, there's not much they can do in Montpellier to help us with.
[1:07:55] That's okay. Thanks for checking that out. Thank you.
[1:08:00] There have been any trends on why we're keep losing these candidates or is it just
[1:08:06] a problem for a variety of different reasons.
[1:08:10] We did have one person ghost us and then we've had different reasons that I don't know
[1:08:17] that I'm at liberty to say in a public meeting, but that's been disheartening, right?
[1:08:23] Because I think we've got candidates, that's great, we're going to do this.
[1:08:28] at one point I was thinking, we might even have extra.
[1:08:32] Now I'm going to go and ask them to give me an extra person too, right?
[1:08:38] And then it just keeps changes, it keeps fluctuating all the time.
[1:08:43] And so right now we are, like I said, if we can get this person, we do have one person left
[1:08:50] and if this happens, I will know next Thursday, we will be set for a while, right?
[1:08:55] We're still not at full capacity, but I will be able to set up the 10th rule, which is really
[1:09:02] what's bothering me at this point, right?
[1:09:04] Because if that person doesn't pan out for us, now I have no options for 10th method,
[1:09:11] and I don't think I can't continue to run it that way.
[1:09:15] Up until this point I felt like, okay, we've got, we're going to make this happen.
[1:09:20] We've got a month, we can do anything for a month.
[1:09:24] But I don't know now, so and I hope next week I send you guys a nice email since I was wrong
[1:09:30] I know you probably told us this before but let's just say somebody showed up tomorrow
[1:09:35] And wanted to take get their CDL and the school district would cover the cost
[1:09:40] And let's say they weren't they didn't have another job, so they had you know, they could just dive into it really all the way
[1:09:46] I mean, what's the minimum time
[1:09:48] it can be done in. Well, that depends on factors outside of my control.
[1:09:54] Thank you. So, to get a CDL, I believe it's three months, three months. You have to find a location that will do it.
[1:10:01] Then once you get the CDL, just I know more about the passenger part, or the school endorsement part, then you need to take three tests.
[1:10:11] Uh, written tests, um, you need to do, I know one of them is on air breaks, um, but anyway,
[1:10:18] then you do that, then you have to go, you have to drive, um, for X amount of hours with
[1:10:24] one of our drivers, that's not a problem. Um, and then it's then finally when that's ready,
[1:10:30] then you take your, um, you take your actual driving test. Um, when we first talked to the state,
[1:10:36] they couldn't commit to how fast they would do that. They did say it could be up to six
[1:10:40] months, but the driver who we just lost, they actually took them right away. So that was
[1:10:47] an issue, right? But like, I can't count on that if they're not willing to commit to it.
[1:10:53] So three months though, minimum for the city.
[1:10:55] But actually, hang on, I want to address that.
[1:10:57] How do you say six months to be done? Yeah.
[1:10:59] The actual classwork is, at least according to what I've reading is between 80 and 120 hours.
[1:11:05] That's just not addressed, however, how long it takes the state to scheduling exams.
[1:11:12] It's a driver's clinic I forgot to innate our course.
[1:11:17] That's outside of that.
[1:11:18] It's a little bit by other things to achieve a 120 hours of class time too.
[1:11:22] It's not just your time that you can think and do in three weeks.
[1:11:26] But I don't think you have the option to do that.
[1:11:30] You can do that.
[1:11:33] No, you have to follow along with your instructors.
[1:11:36] Yeah, you're taking your class.
[1:11:38] you're taking across somebody.
[1:11:40] I do have a question now regarding 10
[1:11:42] myth.
[1:11:42] How many students are we
[1:11:44] trans would we be transporting?
[1:11:46] About 52 that are not at this point.
[1:11:51] So from what I can ascertain, the 10
[1:11:55] month students haven't been the problem because there's
[1:11:58] a lot of parents that are bringing them.
[1:12:01] It's been the students who are high school.
[1:12:04] So the students who would go to 10
[1:12:07] whether they were picked up or just dropped off there by their parents and then brought to
[1:12:12] Mill River. That's been really the hard part.
[1:12:15] The reason I asked is, again, just from the little bit of digging I did, there is another
[1:12:19] type of license that's easier to get that allows you to transport up to 15. So, including the driver's
[1:12:27] to go back four than that, though.
[1:12:30] Well, if it's 52, that doesn't really do you much.
[1:12:32] But even, well, but I had thought about the 15 for Shrewsbury, right?
[1:12:38] And then, like, moving people around.
[1:12:40] But we keep getting conflicting evidence.
[1:12:42] I mean, evidence, conflicting information.
[1:12:46] Some say we can do it.
[1:12:47] And then, other federal stuff says that we cannot
[1:12:50] if it's to transport K through 12.
[1:12:53] So we've looked at that.
[1:12:56] we keep getting conflicting information on that. So I think we can.
[1:13:01] There's two different kinds of permit. One is for like student activities not
[1:13:08] including transportation to and from school. But then there was another category
[1:13:12] that was specifically for student transportation as long as it was for
[1:13:18] for transporting people back before I don't have the language of front of me.
[1:13:23] But what I was looking into this, is listing the types of licenses
[1:13:26] and one of them was for taking students back and forth this school.
[1:13:31] And the other one was for moving students around for student activities,
[1:13:36] but it did not, it specifically barred using that type of license
[1:13:41] for transportation to and from, like in the morning,
[1:13:43] so we could only use them the 15 year same like for sports.
[1:13:48] No, I'm saying there's two different, you know, I'll look into it
[1:13:50] to get back to you. There's two different kinds of licenses. One of which it's specifically
[1:13:55] simply cannot use this for your basic fact of transportation. It's for other things. But one
[1:14:01] of them, at least the way I read it, did permit that. And that is a CDL, or is it easy? No,
[1:14:05] it's easier to get. It's a state level thing. Okay, so I know that I'd be on. Yeah, if you guys want
[1:14:13] to follow up, I think that'll be great. You can get back to us if you find out anything. All right,
[1:14:20] So we're going to move in to committee reports.
[1:14:22] We're going to start with personnel.
[1:14:25] Next meeting is October 7th.
[1:14:28] And I'm going to set it for 630, which is a change from six.
[1:14:34] But I don't think this time of year in terms of hiring bodies.
[1:14:41] It's we're going to need a whole hour.
[1:14:43] So I'd like to change that to 630, and I think Rebecca has already sent out in the agenda for six, I think.
[1:15:00] But we can change it to 630.
[1:15:07] Yeah, October 7, 630. Okay, policy.
[1:15:12] We met the other week, and we had some public input that urge does to look into creating, and I know this sounds like an oxymoron,
[1:15:27] but mandatory volunteer is for our students.
[1:15:33] You know, school districts across the country
[1:15:35] have had these civics requirements that have required students
[1:15:39] to be engaged in the public and community life.
[1:15:43] And so that was the thrust of the public input
[1:15:50] that we had there and it led to some discussion
[1:15:53] during that meeting.
[1:15:56] Apart from that, we are still looking at the whole slate of reorganizing our policies using the categories that the Vermont School Board Association uses and organizing them in such a way that
[1:16:14] Like policies will give we had a number equivalent to those that the number that the VSDA gives that on our next meeting we'll have look at one sort of proposal for that and if the committee meetings approve of that then we'll be bringing it to the board to vote on in one slate changing not that those substantive changes, but rather the numbers and
[1:16:43] organization of principles of the policies that we have.
[1:16:48] Our next meeting will be October 13 at 7 p.m.
[1:16:54] Could I add some to more communication?
[1:16:58] In discussing this idea of mandatory community service, we sort of decided to
[1:17:05] discover that it was more of the operations piece that school administrators
[1:17:09] would probably need to handle, and it wasn't really a policy issue per se.
[1:17:13] And there may be ways that the administrative team could look to boost it within existing
[1:17:20] structures or ways to add it in courses, but we didn't really feel that it was a policy
[1:17:27] issue, that the policy committee would need to be taking on.
[1:17:31] Because our graduation requirements, or this is where, is it a policy, do we have graduation
[1:17:39] requirements?
[1:17:40] So, there are graduation requirements.
[1:17:46] Jody, let us know that the state is looking at these.
[1:17:49] And so we might be getting a new set of graduation requirements.
[1:17:54] And so, anything we do now could be negated by this.
[1:17:59] Did I, I'm, I'm corrected that.
[1:18:01] Yes, so all of our graduation requirements are in procedure at the high school,
[1:18:04] and all of our students at the college table.
[1:18:07] Just, you know, based on, which is what you say.
[1:18:09] And but a state level policy, which we have on this late for the next policy meeting, is
[1:18:16] like draft form is coming down, just to talk about proficiency based graduation requirements in general.
[1:18:23] But it is our belief that it is likely that really set graduation requirements could be coming down from the state in the near future.
[1:18:33] All right, building new grounds.
[1:18:35] We haven't had abilities and grounds, I just want to thank everybody for coming to that special meeting on Friday.
[1:18:42] a very short notice to get the funds for 10 myths that painting project, just to recap
[1:18:51] that, because we can count at kind of as a building background.
[1:18:56] There was lead paint found on the old school building. Luckily it's not that much, it's
[1:19:01] all it, it's the window casing has been the long-term problem, and even before the merger,
[1:19:07] the consolidation there was work around of how to do it, deal with it and so it's
[1:19:13] finally being dealt with actually and so now there won't be led there anymore and
[1:19:20] there is significantly more rot that was on the building than was expected and it
[1:19:26] was you know we brought it up at that special meeting of how important it is to
[1:19:31] not neglect things because they will only get more expensive and my father and
[1:19:36] just went to get some clabbards from the Valley of something and it was an absurd price for
[1:19:42] what it would is going to be very, it's more expensive now than it has been previously. So that's
[1:19:47] a problem. So it's like all the end-laborating more expensive. So it's like keeping things in good
[1:19:51] condition so they don't get to the point that they need to be as hardly reaffirmed is going to be one
[1:19:59] of those things that we're going to make sure we're talking about it, buildings and grounds and we're
[1:20:03] talking about how much money we need to pull from
[1:20:07] it to put into the building and thinking fun is going to be important.
[1:20:10] I just want to say that we drove past the
[1:20:13] the tennis school community center of a day or two ago and it's
[1:20:17] it's looking good. Yeah, definitely looking good. Yeah,
[1:20:20] then yeah, I think it was nice because it wasn't finished so you could
[1:20:23] see a part that had been done yet. Yeah. So it was like a
[1:20:27] before and after. So that's all. That was gratified. Yeah.
[1:20:32] And I'm sorry I don't have it up do you have the when the next meeting is going to happen
[1:20:37] I don't remember I can look at my calendar really quick. I just didn't have it up
[1:20:41] Sorry, I will it's on the fifth at five o'clock October fifth yeah
[1:20:52] Negotiations. I think we have news so we have a letter of intent to start negotiating. I just got that today
[1:20:57] Thank you very much
[1:20:58] And so, we'll figure out a time and then we'll set up a negotiation meeting for the people
[1:21:07] in that board so that we can come up with the bigger plan to make sure everything's available
[1:21:12] to be able to work out with trying to do, and I'm just going to tell you something about that.
[1:21:20] Our community engagement.
[1:21:22] We bet tonight for the first time in a while had a stimulating conversation about trying to understand
[1:21:32] Because we wanted to reach out to the community and find there what they thought about the
[1:21:37] merger committees and CSF.
[1:21:39] But then we realized that we couldn't really tell them that much because it was so confusing
[1:21:44] at our hand.
[1:21:46] So we did decide that we were going to send out a questionnaire.
[1:21:50] We're going to model it up over after questionnaires and other districts to get with a few
[1:21:57] just to get the community's feelings about how they feel about mostly school closings and
[1:22:02] things. We are going to meet again in October before the school board meeting on the 21st
[1:22:09] from 6 to 7 and reviewed the survey.
[1:22:18] Finance. Steven?
[1:22:22] Yeah, I'll just start with the table.
[1:22:27] Let's see, let's start with the count speed.
[1:22:30] Payable warrants. We have a general fund in the amount of $423,352 in 32 cents, general fund in the amount of 20,847 dollars and 25 cents.
[1:22:48] and from the lunch in the amount of $2,974 and $0.48 for a total of $447,174 and 5 cents, with student
[1:23:04] activities from November in the amount of $2,289 in 60 cents, and from Walling for
[1:23:15] in the amount of $1,097 and $6,077, for total there of $3,387 and $27.07.
[1:23:27] I'll make a motion to accept these accounts payable warrants.
[1:23:44] Thank you and for our payroll awards from September 11th, a amount of $692,000, $351,066, I'll make a motion to accept this payroll warrant.
[1:24:08] All set.
[1:24:11] Any discussion?
[1:24:14] All the favor?
[1:24:17] Any unanimous?
[1:24:19] Thank you.
[1:24:23] We haven't had another finance meeting in the little while since our last meeting.
[1:24:29] Since our last board meeting.
[1:24:31] Our next finance meeting will be October 5th at 6 o'clock.
[1:24:35] We'll be talking about kind of the initial budget ideas,
[1:24:39] and it's surplus management, as well as survey questions
[1:24:45] for sort of online option for the community input.
[1:24:52] We have two community focus groups on the calendar right now.
[1:24:57] Both in the middle of our library, one October 13th at 330,
[1:25:03] and one October 22nd at 6 p.m.
[1:25:06] to gain public input on the kind of early stages of budget creation here.
[1:25:16] Yeah, I think that's all I've got.
[1:25:18] I've got a newsletter basically together.
[1:25:23] First newsletter of the season that I'll be getting out soon.
[1:25:28] All of you.
[1:25:29] And we'll get it up in the show.
[1:25:31] It's very time for porch forum if you can pass along to your own town's papers
[1:25:36] and from court for it. I'm so be much appreciated.
[1:25:42] Thank you.
[1:25:42] Thank you, Stephen.
[1:25:44] Okay.
[1:25:45] Transact other legal business. Does anybody have?
[1:25:49] Just to make the note of it tomorrow is Constitution and Citizens Day.
[1:25:55] We talked about civic engagement here.
[1:25:58] It's worth, you know, I know that we pledge allegiance to the flag.
[1:26:02] It started our meetings, but every federal officer pledges a oath for the Constitution, wouldn't
[1:26:09] hurt to remind the students that every now and again.
[1:26:13] Not all of our students say the pledge right in the middle of a district.
[1:26:17] I have no idea.
[1:26:19] Yeah, I don't know.
[1:26:19] They can not be required by the law.
[1:26:21] I've heard that before, it's by classroom by teacher, by school.
[1:26:27] Yep, so they're not all saying it, but I'm not.
[1:26:31] Yeah, and my point is that there is an oath to the Constitution that is the is an actual law not a symbol and it's worth this book.
[1:26:43] And it's required for certain jobs as opposed to being a student, you don't have to take pledge of religion, but if you were for the federal government, you have to swear to uphold the Constitution, right?
[1:26:53] That's a job requirement,
[1:26:56] let's check anybody else.
[1:27:03] Okay, agenda building, what do we have here?
[1:27:06] Sports update and progress on board goals.
[1:27:13] Did you want to include both of those?
[1:27:17] Well, we just really wrote our board goals.
[1:27:22] So I think I would send that off.
[1:27:26] Mom, so we're at the beginning.
[1:27:27] Well, I think any updates from CSO or merger will now present.
[1:27:34] And ad hoc committee?
[1:27:37] We were going to do that for November, starting in November, we could do the charge next time.
[1:27:45] Yeah, well let's do it, just so we have it done at Hock.
[1:27:49] Because I just, I get concerned.
[1:27:52] I'm on it right.
[1:27:53] For Cheryl.
[1:27:55] Yeah.
[1:27:55] You know, we need to get it buttoned up right now.
[1:27:58] Yeah.
[1:27:58] Yeah.
[1:27:59] Yeah.
[1:27:59] Yeah.
[1:27:59] Yeah.
[1:28:02] But we did line outdoors.
[1:28:04] time line. So if we stick to that we should be okay.
[1:28:11] I just want to remind her.
[1:28:12] Yeah, no. Appreciate it.
[1:28:16] Okay, so I think we'll look at
[1:28:21] there are some things that we should be reviewing.
[1:28:24] I'm going to go through that maybe we can update
[1:28:28] the calendar.
[1:28:33] All right, we'll think of something.
[1:28:36] And if anything added to the agenda, be aware that any board member can put an item on the agenda.
[1:28:43] Well, I think that I'm very intrigued by this idea that there may be another, especially for the smaller schools for transportation.
[1:28:52] So I think it'd just be nice to chew on that a little bit more.
[1:28:55] All right, if you want to, we'll just put a transportation update.
[1:29:00] Just share all pretty much does that as part of the subordinates. Yeah, exactly. So it's already here. Yeah
[1:29:07] You drink about school buses
[1:29:11] Which we would not
[1:29:14] All right, well unless there's any other business
[1:29:19] I'll entertain a motion to adjourn entertain a link