School Board - 09152026

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[2:07] Here today. I gotta get outta here. 30 seconds. Is
[2:12] it 15? Okay.
[2:15] All right. Like to call the September 15th.
[2:19] 2026, a school board to order. Can I get a
[2:22] roll call?
[2:25] Maggie Larson.
[2:27] Excused, Carrie Clark, your
[2:30] Marsha brown excused.
[2:32] Excused, Kirsten Gowdy here.
[2:35] Sarah O'Brien Hart excused, crystal D Croix here.
[2:39] And Patrick KVIE here.
[2:42] And let's rise for the pledge of allegiance.
[2:46] Reliance allegiance, do the flag.
[2:52] States of America.
[3:07] I like to open the floor.
[3:09] To public comments.
[3:12] Comments? No. Okay. Seeing none.
[3:16] They're oh, yes. Thank you. Oh, are they coming up?
[3:20] I'm so excited. I was OK. Come on up.
[3:23] Okay.
[3:24] Almost got us. .
[3:27] Almost gosh.
[3:30] My gosh, I just want to.
[3:33] Note that we are a small board today, but we
[3:35] are in quorum, so that's good. And then.
[3:39] What's the wish of the board for the consent calendar.
[3:42] Move to accept the consent calendar as presented.
[3:46] Second and all in favor. Aye. Aye.
[3:50] And then
[3:53] reports committee seeing there's no student representative.
[3:57] You wanna say what
[4:00] the enrollment report. Yes. Thank you. Patrick enrollment report. Thank
[4:04] you.
[4:05] Is that superintendent, was it in the consent calendar? Oh.
[4:09] Oh, okay. So we already proved that. Perfect. Perfect.
[4:12] Thank you. I can tell you.
[4:14] I can tell you the numbers start of the year,
[4:16] about where we expect 'em to be. And what's noteworthy
[4:19] is that the early grades are solid.
[4:21] So in terms of the ongoing, you know, we don't
[4:24] always know where those numbers will lead us, but we
[4:26] do have a fair number of incoming students.
[4:29] Students. Okay. And moving on to 4.1 student representative report,
[4:35] none is here.
[4:37] But we do have some student representatives.
[4:40] Representatives. I, we have the senior representative junior class representative.
[4:44] The sophomore representative is being a may have already, that
[4:47] election may be completed, but it's happening.
[4:50] Same freshman rep would like to serve again, but there
[4:52] was a challenger and the ninth grade is picking their
[4:55] rep as well. So we'll have four representatives.
[4:57] Representatives given the pattern in the past of having moved
[5:00] from two meetings a month to once every three weeks
[5:03] is kind of the norm here.
[5:05] I had suggested to the high school principal that it'd
[5:08] be nice to have a rep here. Every meeting.
[5:10] It's only four or five times a year. So that's
[5:13] probably what we're gonna aim for. It may not be
[5:14] perfect, but that'll probably begin with the next meeting.
[5:18] Perfect. And then city council updates.
[5:22] Updates city council has not met since our last board
[5:24] meeting, so I don't have a report tonight. Okay, great.
[5:26] Thank you. And then business administrative reports.
[5:30] Yes. I did hand out an, a handout to you
[5:32] before the meeting.
[5:35] I'm giving an update on the final year end report
[5:37] for last year's financials.
[5:40] Financials. We had a total expenditure balance of just over
[5:42] $500,000.
[5:44] We also had total unanticipated revenue of $93,000.
[5:48] And then we had a small return of fund balance
[5:50] that we retained from the prior year that the city
[5:53] council allowed us to keep from the, the prior year.
[5:56] So that brings the.
[5:57] Total amount returning to the city general.
[5:59] Fund of $621,503 and 28 cents.
[6:03] Cents. So in terms of expenditures, as you know, due
[6:05] to the school care assessment, we were in basically a
[6:08] soft freeze most of the year in order to save
[6:10] money, to return to.
[6:12] The, the general fund of the city for giving us
[6:14] the 4 48 at the end of the year to pay
[6:17] off that assessment.
[6:19] The majority of the savings was in the area of
[6:21] special education. We had a lot of paraprofessional openings all
[6:23] year long. We were averaged about seven all year. We
[6:26] also.
[6:27] Had some savings and special ed transportation.
[6:31] Also contributing to the balance, the administrators in all the
[6:33] buildings at a really good job of trying to hold
[6:36] tight and being mindful of their spending.
[6:38] In particular, the CTC Caitlin really did a great job
[6:41] of.
[6:42] Really not spending the funds in her budget to have
[6:44] the, that balance at the end of the year.
[6:46] I just wanna note, typically at the end of the
[6:48] year, we would be coming to the board, trying to
[6:50] spend that balance down. We typically do our facilities upgrade.
[6:54] Upgrades, our technology purchases, things like that to get ahead,
[6:57] but because of the assessment, we weren't able to do
[6:59] that, that this year. So that's why.
[7:01] There's a bigger than normal balance there. Otherwise we would've
[7:03] tried to spend that down.
[7:05] In terms of revenue, the additional revenue we got was
[7:08] in the areas of special ed aid.
[7:10] Preschool tuition indirect cost, which we get from our federal
[7:13] grants and CTC tuition, both coming from other districts, as
[7:17] well as the state.
[7:19] We did not get what we budgeted for Medicaid. However,
[7:22] the overages in the other areas compensated for that.
[7:26] Shortfall in Medicaid reimbursement.
[7:29] Just to note unanticipated revenue that we are not allowed
[7:31] to spend that, so that automatically gets returned to the
[7:33] city. So I just wanna point that out. That is
[7:35] not money that we can spend.
[7:38] I've submitted all the DOE 25 reports. I have them
[7:41] in front of you tonight to sign.
[7:43] Obviously we haven't been audited yet. So these balances could
[7:46] change. They don't typically change.
[7:49] But if they do I'll report back once the.
[7:51] Audit's complete. It's not up to us to determine how
[7:55] these funds are, are spent once they're returned to the
[7:57] city, the city council and the.
[8:00] Finance director determine how the, the funds are spent. Typically
[8:02] they're either put back into the general fund or sometimes
[8:05] used to offset taxes. So once the tax rate's set,
[8:07] is it.
[8:08] In October, I can report back on how those were
[8:11] utilized.
[8:12] And then in terms of this year's budget right now,
[8:15] I'm working on updating the budget with all the new
[8:17] staff and leaving staff.
[8:20] And I should have an update for you at your
[8:21] October meeting of where we stand this year with savings
[8:24] or.
[8:25] Anything else that happened.
[8:27] And that's all I have.
[8:32] For Katie? No.
[8:35] Okay. And then superintendent.
[8:39] I'll just begin by.
[8:41] Repeating a couple of things. Katie said, cuz they're important.
[8:45] And also just how utterly dismaying it is, where that
[8:49] we landed, where we did.
[8:51] The city council generally generously gave us about half of
[8:54] our budget shortfall for this past school year back in
[8:56] the couple of Springs ago.
[9:00] And
[9:01] that was close to $500,000. They got us about halfway
[9:05] where we needed to be for the budget year. That
[9:07] just ended.
[9:09] We put $240,000.
[9:11] Towards school, school care, the city council generously.
[9:14] Match the other two-thirds of the school care.
[9:17] And it was a fair agreement that we would go
[9:19] into a soft freeze and do our best nor do
[9:22] end of year expenditures.
[9:24] So basically the
[9:26] increase that we got the generous support from the city
[9:29] council on.
[9:32] We did not get to spend any of it and
[9:34] we're returning a fair bit of it. So the year
[9:36] that wrapped up financially was hard.
[9:40] And now we're going into another year where given the
[9:43] city council's generous support of the school care, we didn't
[9:45] get anything on a 2 million shortfall.
[9:48] So I just want to be really, really clear. I've
[9:49] said this two or three times, and this will be
[9:51] the last time I say it, but that.
[9:53] At a time when stabilizing the budget was kind of
[9:56] really a high priority.
[9:58] In terms of just getting us through this bumpy stretch
[10:01] and, and, and writing the ship and figuring out a
[10:03] plan forward.
[10:05] We are now going to the second year of really
[10:07] not having what we need.
[10:09] And I think we're feeling it. I really do.
[10:13] I'm looking at two of the senior district leaders over
[10:15] there.
[10:17] Three times a day since the school year started just
[10:20] bad, hard financial difficult news staffing has been difficult folks.
[10:25] Are a little bit strained.
[10:27] We going into an important meeting tomorrow night and hopefully
[10:31] get this Nelly may grant.
[10:34] But we're, we're on skin of our teeth right now.
[10:36] I just really, really want to be clear about that
[10:39] to the folks that are watching it to the.
[10:41] School board. I just think I have an obligation.
[10:43] To share that we're continuing to do our best, but
[10:46] things have been hard.
[10:49] I, I appreciate the good work Katie did on that.
[10:52] But to not be able to use this, the combination
[10:54] of the soft phrase, we're gonna do better on special
[10:56] education budgeting, because we now have a director of student
[10:59] services and.
[11:00] First time full-time field deposition. We've been kind of stretched
[11:03] a little bit.
[11:04] But it hurt not being able to do anything at
[11:06] the end of the year on facilities.
[11:08] On potentially a second van to get us where we
[11:10] needed to be with those dollars. But we'll.
[11:14] And it's nobody's fault. It's just the way that it
[11:16] worked out, but it's been pretty difficult.
[11:19] Superintendent's report I think is pretty.
[11:21] Short, I wanted to share with everybody.
[11:25] That we will be audited. It's called a pegs audit.
[11:30] This school year.
[11:32] Special education program approval and general supervision.
[11:36] The program approval and general supervision. Part of that is
[11:39] where it gets its pegs acronym. P a G S.
[11:43] S this is through the department of education, the New Hampshire
[11:45] department of education.
[11:47] It's routine.
[11:49] Regular cyclical audit that happens about every six years. Sometimes
[11:53] it gets off schedule.
[11:55] This is our year. Our new director of student services
[11:58] is embracing it really because it's kind of at a
[12:00] time when we're coming in and, and looking hard at
[12:02] what we're doing.
[12:03] Well, and what we need to do better.
[12:05] Not because of any individuals, but just cause of stretch
[12:08] budgets.
[12:09] No district is ever 100% in compliance. So just be
[12:12] clear when I say that I'm not being flipped where
[12:14] you know, we're not a hundred percent in compliance.
[12:17] We hope we can do better and move forward with
[12:19] the resources that we have.
[12:21] But that'll be going on beginning next month and, and
[12:24] running through the spring.
[12:25] A lot of it will be done remotely and digitally,
[12:27] but we'll also have a presence from folks here from
[12:29] the department of education.
[12:32] Working, particularly with our special education staff and with Rachel.
[12:37] And, and Rachel will be eager to come to a
[12:39] school board meeting she's already slated for a special education
[12:41] presentation.
[12:44] On November 17th, which you have on your.
[12:48] Master board schedule that went out earlier.
[12:51] Not on the, the one on your agenda, but that's
[12:53] coming up. Any, any questions on that one?
[12:56] Just wanna make sure folks were aware of it.
[12:59] It is time consuming. It is some work. There will
[13:02] be some frustrations I'm sure. But.
[13:05] We are, we're looking forward to it, cuz it'll really
[13:08] kind of help us get to a good place. And
[13:09] this is the first time in several years, we've began
[13:13] the year.
[13:14] With special education and student services staffed appropriately.
[13:18] And so we're looking forward to hopefully having some good
[13:21] things come out of that.
[13:26] A quick heads up.
[13:28] That counselor Austin and the city council will be considering.
[13:32] A motion from the mayor at the next city council
[13:34] meeting on the 21st for the city of Summersworth to
[13:38] join in the Rand case.
[13:40] By joining an Amicus brief. This is the case being
[13:44] fought by Bert. I think there's seven or eight cities
[13:47] involved now.
[13:49] The
[13:50] attempts to basically rule that the state of New Hampshire does
[13:54] not have a constant state constitutional obligation to support public
[13:58] education or.
[13:59] Fund public education, which is just an outrageous idea that
[14:03] we are now here, but almost doesn't seem to get
[14:05] the attention that it should.
[14:08] And that'll, this is another, just yet another side of
[14:11] the school board and city council working.
[14:13] Hand in hand together on important education matters.
[14:20] And the last thing I had, I was gonna mention
[14:22] some of the grant work that Stephanie Lareen has done
[14:26] to.
[14:27] Provide us some additional positions, a handful that are outside
[14:30] of our regular school budget, which are critical help from
[14:32] our title 1, 2, 3, and $4.
[14:35] And other grants that come available. I didn't get the
[14:38] update from Stephanie yet, but I'll share that in the
[14:40] future date. Just so folks are aware of it.
[14:43] And the last thing I have short of, maybe having
[14:45] a little bit of discussion about committees. If we choose
[14:47] to do it here or add it to the agenda,
[14:49] I just wanted to share a note.
[14:51] From the summer's worst city rec department.
[14:54] To the school board. We at the Summersworth recreation department
[14:58] would like to send our heartfelt thanks for allowing our
[15:00] department to use the Maplewood school facilities for.
[15:02] Our summer camp during the 2026 season.
[15:05] Being able to use this facility allowed us to offer
[15:07] our campers more enrichment opportunities as well as more time.
[15:10] At camp in years past when camp was based at
[15:13] noble Pines park, we would have to send campers home
[15:15] due to inclement weather. We did not have to do
[15:18] this during our 20.
[15:19] 26 camp. We would also like to thank Jay Lilly
[15:21] and the staff at Maplewood school for helping make this
[15:24] a great summer camp. This partnership is something we hope
[15:26] we can continue.
[15:27] Into the future. And again, on behalf of our 20, 26
[15:29] summer campers and their families, we say, thank you.
[15:33] Andrew Gray and Jenny Holmes signed it on behalf of the
[15:36] rec department.
[15:38] And just remind everybody that the spirit that the school
[15:40] is board has brought to these things from the beginning,
[15:43] as these are public buildings, we will sometimes.
[15:46] Charge just for cost of staffing, something, but otherwise,
[15:50] their rec department was curious whether they'd have to.
[15:54] Pay for paper towel use during the summer. And we
[15:56] said, no, you know, we're in this together. And basically
[15:59] there are kids anyways, just in different setting. So that's
[16:01] been going.
[16:02] Well, I, I lost track. Did we want to talk
[16:04] about.
[16:05] Committees briefly here rather than add it as an agenda
[16:08] item.
[16:10] So I know we sent out.
[16:13] We can talk about it quickly if you want to,
[16:15] but we did send out.
[16:18] Already about board information and committee assignments.
[16:22] I haven't heard back from everyone. So I think that
[16:24] we're still waiting.
[16:26] To hear it back from all the board members.
[16:29] But we did want to highlight.
[16:37] Personnel in and in negotiations committee with John Shay being
[16:41] the admin team, leading the, the negotiation.
[16:44] Process and updates will just come.
[16:47] To the board as it happens, cuz we're so short
[16:50] staffed now.
[16:51] And then I believe the rest are staying.
[16:53] As they are with one change being the budget and
[16:56] finance committee.
[16:57] Was gonna be chaired by Kirsten Gowdy.
[17:00] And crystal be St. Croix.
[17:02] And then just kind of combine those two.
[17:05] If I think that's all it.
[17:08] It's currently.
[17:10] And so I hear back from all the school members,
[17:11] what we're doing.
[17:13] Is that what we all agree currently. Okay.
[17:16] I'll I'll I'll stress. Whether we have seven school board
[17:19] members, eight school board members, or nine school board members.
[17:22] Far and away right now, the policy committee, which is
[17:24] always a lot of work mm-hmm is, is on
[17:27] steroids right now because of what's happening at the state.
[17:30] And.
[17:31] We have our assistant superintendent on that, but that is
[17:33] big mm-hmm and requires significant and thoughtful participation from
[17:37] the school board.
[17:38] Personnel and negotiations, which
[17:41] is oftentimes an easy committee.
[17:43] Is probably at the very top of the list from
[17:46] now through the spring, because all three collective bargaining agreements
[17:49] are under negotiation. So.
[17:51] Strategizing thoughtfully about how we best support our teachers empower
[17:54] educators.
[17:56] Educators and set ourselves up for the strategic plan is
[17:57] huge.
[17:58] And budget and finance.
[18:00] Which is also typically a normal process is no longer
[18:03] a normal process because of the tax cap.
[18:07] Legislation that's before us requirements to figure out SA U
[18:10] piece of this beforehand things we had done in the
[18:12] past with Rollinsford.
[18:13] So those three committees, which are really the bread and
[18:16] butter of the board to begin with for various reasons
[18:20] are all.
[18:21] Escalated. And I it's doable with seven school board members.
[18:25] It's doable with eight, it's doable with nine, but I
[18:27] just really, really want to stress that.
[18:29] That it's gonna be a big, thank you. Mm-hmm .
[18:32] And just to be clear, those committee chairs like budgets.
[18:35] With budget being the one off.
[18:37] Will save the same. Marsha will still be.
[18:40] Committee chair a policy and then.
[18:43] I think that budget
[18:45] what a business, what is it called? Hold on.
[18:48] Budget and finance budget revenue.
[18:51] Budget and financial. Right. But then.
[18:53] We'll merge together with
[18:56] facilities you mean facilities?
[18:58] Correct. Okay. Got it. We all kind of, I think
[19:01] that'd be helpful.
[19:02] Right. Okay. And then
[19:04] so moving on from there. I just wanna say a
[19:07] quick, like,
[19:09] recap of what you had mentioned. Thank you for all
[19:11] of your work of the admin team and.
[19:14] You yourself this summer.
[19:16] I mean, it's you guys have done an amazing amount
[19:18] of work going forward.
[19:20] In the past ending committee updates currently, I don't think
[19:24] we have anything other than.
[19:27] We have policy.
[19:29] Correct. And then I think that's one that's met, but.
[19:34] We did have a meeting and we'll be presenting our
[19:37] policy.
[19:38] Readings later in the agenda. So I don't know that
[19:41] there's anything else to report at this time, other than
[19:45] what will go.
[19:46] When we do our policy readings.
[19:48] Ratings. Okay. And moving on to the presentation for tonight.
[20:06] Your slide. So let me know when .
[20:13] This is the brief presentation that we tabled from last
[20:17] meeting, feeling that we already had a lot in a
[20:19] shorter meeting and we.
[20:20] Got a small audience here tonight, but just basically some
[20:22] important reminders of how things fit together at the beginning
[20:25] of the school year.
[20:27] Without going super in depth. If there's pieces of this,
[20:29] you wanna.
[20:30] Talk about in greater depth. That'd be fine.
[20:34] So after this wonderful introductory slide called direction forward, there's
[20:38] just four slides about where we are and what we're
[20:41] doing.
[20:43] Thank you ready? Yes, .
[20:51] The
[20:52] you can tell Melanie helped me with these. Otherwise it'd
[20:54] be even, it'd be much more boring than that.
[20:57] the hill topper promise.
[21:00] Reminder. There's a lot of things in motion right now
[21:03] with the strategic plan and the, and the mayor's commission,
[21:05] the hill topper promise doesn't change.
[21:08] This is our north star. This is our guiding document.
[21:10] This is we're committed to forever.
[21:13] Until such times that the board may choose to revisit
[21:15] any aspects of this.
[21:16] But this is the, non-negotiable the introductory statement about who
[21:20] we are and that we value the diversity of our
[21:23] community, including everybody. And that.
[21:25] Equitable opportunity is essential to who we are.
[21:27] It states that in Summersworth we report to the Summersworth
[21:31] community and Summersworth values and Summersworth decisions are what guide
[21:35] us.
[21:36] Yes, we have to abide by federal and state regulations
[21:39] and laws, but first and foremost, it's about Summersworth and
[21:42] we will push back as we have in the past.
[21:44] And fight things, whether they come from the federal level
[21:46] or the state level that are not in line with
[21:48] who we are and what we care about.
[21:50] It establishes the three purposes of education that as we
[21:53] look at the strategic plan and the work we're doing
[21:56] to have a vertically aligned pre-K.
[21:59] pre-K through high school graduation, coherent curricular framework. So that.
[22:03] If all of our teachers move to another state tomorrow
[22:06] and we hired a whole nother group of teachers, there
[22:08] would be a curriculum here and in front of them.
[22:11] And it's here. It's, it's an important piece to have.
[22:13] We've had bits and pieces of it in the past.
[22:16] It's no fault of our.
[22:18] Principles or building leaders. It just hasn't been prioritized in
[22:21] the past at the district level.
[22:24] This is underway. This is a two or three year
[22:27] type project. It has begun in earnest, similar language, similar
[22:30] little framework, all the way from pre-K.
[22:32] pre-K through high school graduation, but the focus.
[22:35] Will hone in on the three purposes of why we're
[22:38] educating our kids.
[22:39] Number one, and this is kind of that second tier
[22:41] there.
[22:42] To prepare for meaningful and fulfilling work in our economy
[22:46] and to participate, to both define personal fulfillment and to
[22:49] contribute to.
[22:51] Our economic good second and parallel. This is not an
[22:53] order of priority. And this one is generally missed by
[22:57] most school districts.
[22:59] Districts equal to that. Finding a meaningful and fulfilling career
[23:02] is meaningful and fulfilling participation in civic life.
[23:06] Which arguably is fundamental as everybody here knows serving on
[23:10] this school board.
[23:12] To what it means to be a part of a
[23:13] community and a healthy contributing member of society.
[23:17] And it's also critical to the vibrancy and future of
[23:20] our democracy.
[23:22] And the third one is the one you always hear
[23:24] from parents about those basic life essential skills.
[23:28] And they're really about everything connected to home ownership or
[23:30] renting finance.
[23:32] Tech all the basics, automotive transportation, just kind of make
[23:37] sure those skill sets. And if.
[23:39] If who doesn't have anything to do with those three
[23:41] things, it shouldn't be in our curriculum and we shouldn't
[23:43] be doing it because we got, we need to hone
[23:45] in on those things.
[23:47] Five key skill sets are pretty obvious.
[23:49] Those are the things beyond the purpose of what we're
[23:52] really gonna focus on.
[23:54] Literacy math, higher order thinking skills, including executive function.
[23:58] Interpersonal skills and habits like collaboration and leadership and technology
[24:02] skills. Last on the list.
[24:05] For a reason because that's not the end all and
[24:07] the be all in this world, you need to understand
[24:09] them, but we need to start embracing healthier views of
[24:12] what that entail.
[24:13] Entails the five core values to the right will replace
[24:16] or be integrated with a lot of the language we
[24:18] used across our schools. It wasn't always consistent and including.
[24:21] With P B I S.
[24:24] And I, and I hope we get to a place
[24:25] where everybody on the school board knows these.
[24:28] You begin with integrity, you know, that's a good starting
[24:30] place. It's it's.
[24:33] It's something you don't compromise ever in my opinion. And
[24:35] a lot of folks would agree with that.
[24:37] Then number two, you look around you. Kindness, compassion.
[24:41] Number three, not just kindness and compassion for some people.
[24:44] But for everybody, inclusion, doesn't matter where folks are from
[24:47] that, that step. You get all those things in place
[24:49] and you work hard and you're responsible. And you do
[24:51] the things you say, you.
[24:52] You're gonna do and you show up and you don't
[24:54] give up. That's the fourth. And number five in order
[24:58] to do all this stuff, you gotta take care of
[25:00] yourself.
[25:01] You gotta take care of yourself and to kind of
[25:03] build that as a critical value.
[25:05] And we want to engrain that. And we, this all
[25:07] played out last year, but now all of our building
[25:09] principles and leadership teams across the school are looking to
[25:12] integrate.
[25:13] This language and this dynamic into everything that we do.
[25:16] So we just have a tight, tight focus. That's more
[25:18] likely to get these things done.
[25:20] And then all of this as we've discussed is on
[25:22] a foundation of purposefulness.
[25:24] Kids need to show up every day for a reason.
[25:27] They get it. They're here for a reason and they
[25:29] understand that. And, and a foundational element of joy underneath
[25:33] that. Yes, they work hard.
[25:36] You think about that might sound soft to a lot
[25:38] of folks, but some of our best experience, whether it's
[25:40] as a, a musician and all the practice that went
[25:43] into that.
[25:44] Or doing a project in a particular class or in
[25:47] athletics, it's really hard work.
[25:50] But at the end of the day, there's a certain
[25:51] satisfaction of it that kind of stretches into that, that
[25:54] element of joy and winning and working with others.
[25:57] That is our guide and less than until we choose
[26:00] to revisit everything that follows is aimed at that.
[26:04] Next slide.
[26:07] On October 27th, two school board meetings away, we will do
[26:11] a mockup of our four key performance measures.
[26:14] Measures just as our first take on what these look
[26:16] like.
[26:18] We do not have a data system to support doing
[26:20] this easily. We're not using that as an excuse. It
[26:23] just makes this tricky, but we'll do in October.
[26:26] 27th school board.
[26:28] Mock-up we also have summers with middle school presenting that
[26:31] board meeting. So it'll be the middle school and this.
[26:34] But this is number one. Sorry. I know that's hard
[26:36] to read, but we know it. It's presence showing up
[26:38] attendance at the top of the list. You can't do
[26:41] anything if you're not here.
[26:42] Number two is climate and culture. We have, we don't
[26:44] have a thousand indicators for climate and culture, nor do
[26:47] we have one we have about seven or eight.
[26:50] And we'll run through those and we've kind of want
[26:52] to really get to a green, yellow, red kind of
[26:53] mindset.
[26:54] These indicators are good. These indicators in between these are
[26:57] on red, high alert ones that we're looking for.
[27:00] Third is learning.
[27:03] We'll do a little bit on this on October 27th, but
[27:06] Kat will do a lot on it at the next
[27:07] school board meeting. Cause that's kind of a presentation and
[27:09] of itself.
[27:11] And fourth is okay, you get all this stuff, right?
[27:13] Where do our kids go after they graduate?
[27:15] Do they have a plan? Are they satisfied with the
[27:17] plan and statistically tell us where they're going.
[27:20] There is no magic formula to X percent should be
[27:23] going to four year colleges, X percent should be going
[27:25] to technical schools, but we'll track where they're going. But
[27:28] most importantly, we.
[27:29] Want 100% in a school district, our size 100% of
[27:32] students saying I have a plan and I'm satisfied with
[27:34] it.
[27:35] And by checking in with 'em six months and a
[27:37] year before I graduation, if they're not there, we, we
[27:40] should get 'em there.
[27:42] This is also
[27:43] Rox solid non-negotiable we're moving everything else around to deliver.
[27:47] On these four key performance measures.
[27:49] Measures, which are the best thing we've got as a
[27:51] proxy to the hill topper.
[27:53] Promise. It's not a perfect overlap, but generally the things
[27:56] we care about in terms of who our graduates are.
[27:58] Are difficult to measure. You mostly wanna know that 25
[28:00] years from now.
[28:02] They're a happy, contributing human being. And that's a little
[28:05] bit difficult, but I think this is the best. We've
[28:07] got a lot of participation on this. This went through
[28:09] the school board and.
[28:10] Was approved last October, shortly after the hill topper promise.
[28:15] And we'll measure lots of other stuff.
[28:17] But I would argue that most school districts.
[28:20] Districts don't prioritize what the most important measures are.
[28:24] And it's easy to bury lots of things or highlight
[28:26] lots of things or.
[28:28] Flood the public with a bazillion different statistics. We want
[28:32] to be responsible for these.
[28:34] When we succeed and when we come up short and,
[28:37] and we'd like the community to hold us responsible for
[28:39] these. So those are the, the things that.
[28:42] Are in place. The next thing is our strategic plan.
[28:45] Which we would continued now, now as an E with
[28:48] the thing over it on front of it, that's a
[28:49] new addition. those were a little, those were little.
[28:53] Bullets earlier. That's okay. Don't be confused by those .
[28:59] This is an eight and a half page document. That
[29:01] is almost a tighten up two page document.
[29:03] That as part of the Nelly may grant that we're
[29:06] applying for.
[29:07] On Friday, we'll kind of be incorporated in there in
[29:10] a way that fits pretty well. I just really want
[29:12] to stress.
[29:13] That the health topper strategic plan five year plan.
[29:17] Is about improving significantly improving the school system, as we
[29:21] know it, which is different than rethinking and redesigning the
[29:23] school system. So this is the.
[29:25] Hard work, curriculum instruction. Assessment is the top of the
[29:28] list.
[29:29] We've already piloted.
[29:31] And chose iReady as our.
[29:35] Main assessment across the district from the early elementary, all
[29:38] the way through 10th grade to know how we're doing
[29:40] in math and literacy.
[29:42] And you'll hear a little bit about that from me
[29:43] at the late October meeting and a lot more from
[29:46] Kat.
[29:48] That that was huge in picking that one and settling
[29:50] on it. We now are rolling out a math curriculum.
[29:54] We're piloting three different math curriculum curricula, and we'll be
[29:57] choosing this year and determining how we wanna move forward
[30:00] on that one. We're making.
[30:02] Progress on literacy and we have been making progress on
[30:04] literacy and we have a plan on literacy.
[30:07] But at the moment math has been done.
[30:10] SP, you know, good things happening, but without any coherence
[30:13] across the district,
[30:15] so that piece of it is huge.
[30:18] Assessment consistency of language and grading and reporting that is
[30:22] valid and reliable. That is all on the table. So
[30:24] there's a lot happening.
[30:26] There's enough right there to keep everybody busy.
[30:29] Without the rest of the strategic plan and without the
[30:32] mayor's commission.
[30:34] Health wellbeing and enrichment. We are in crisis in terms
[30:38] of the number of students that report suicidal ideation each
[30:40] day.
[30:42] D C Y F involvement and all kinds of things
[30:44] happening. We have kids that arrive at school well fed
[30:47] and ready to learn, but we have large numbers of
[30:49] kids.
[30:50] That are struggling and are struggling with their mental wellbeing.
[30:53] And all of this is typical.
[30:56] Of other schools as well.
[30:58] That doesn't mean we sit back, we need to address
[31:01] it. So we're doing what we can there. And we're
[31:03] trying to, this is all about.
[31:05] Broader mental health and programming and counseling. And.
[31:08] The plan is also to involve more partnerships.
[31:12] Throughout the city, but that's gonna take some more, an
[31:14] additional grant work. Climate and culture has been a huge
[31:18] priority since day one.
[31:20] The district had been through some tumultuous years.
[31:23] And we're doing our best in that regard to both
[31:26] measure and hone in on climate and culture.
[31:29] I would suggest that the.
[31:32] Key to good climate and culture is to have 50,
[31:34] 50 equal balance of.
[31:37] Clear high rigorous expectations that are well communicated.
[31:40] And a supportive, caring community.
[31:43] Not too much of either one, but exactly down the
[31:45] middle. We continue to work at that.
[31:47] Strategic budgeting, both how we spend our money measuring three
[31:50] years out and kind of building some cycles, not just
[31:52] for the capital improvement plans, but.
[31:55] Looking hard at that.
[31:57] Staffing and consistency and, and clarity of human resource policies
[32:01] and practices. We are.
[32:03] We're not where we ought to be. Just in terms
[32:04] of having.
[32:06] Clear consistent well-communicated policies, documents, and practices, and we're working
[32:10] on that.
[32:11] Technology two years ago, you know, getting us to where
[32:15] we need to be in terms of infrastructure and devices
[32:17] for kids. Not that they live on them.
[32:19] But they need them. We've made huge progress on that
[32:22] one already.
[32:24] Data systems are still weak and that remains a huge
[32:27] priority.
[32:28] Facility security and safety is ongoing. And what.
[32:32] Just happened, unfortunately, with
[32:34] returning the money that we're returning to the city this
[32:37] year, those are all it would've been good to have
[32:39] two or 300,000 of those dollars.
[32:42] For facilities projects as we have in the past.
[32:45] Part of the strategic plan from the beginning was the
[32:48] collective bargaining agreements, which are now all aligned.
[32:51] And doing our very, very best to provide good salary
[32:53] and good benefits for our teachers, but also doing our
[32:56] very, very best to put more flexibility in the collective
[32:59] bargaining.
[33:00] Agreements so that as we move forward with strategic direction,
[33:02] we have that flexibility.
[33:05] The last one on the list, we've done close to
[33:07] nothing on and.
[33:09] That's not anybody's fault, but this is a pretty full
[33:11] list.
[33:14] A lot of school districts throughout the country have professional
[33:18] communications directors at the district level.
[33:21] Even districts are size. It is so far from even
[33:24] in the next 10 things we would ask for.
[33:27] With funding, but because of things like education, freedom accounts,
[33:30] and because.
[33:32] Deliberate efforts to demean and.
[33:35] Attack public education over the last 10, 15, 20 years are working.
[33:40] To better communicate and strategically communicate.
[33:44] Who we are, what we do a powerful website.
[33:47] A powerful social media campaign would be helpful.
[33:51] But it's just not, it's one of those things, as
[33:54] I say, circling the airport and there's no room on
[33:56] the, it hasn't many room on the runway for quite
[33:58] some time. Our ability to.
[33:59] Bring it down, but that was last.
[34:02] And that's the strategic plan that we've been looking at
[34:04] and has been in place for about a year and
[34:06] a half.
[34:07] As we move forward, hopefully with a Nelly may grant
[34:11] and a few more grants, we will begin to figure
[34:14] out which of these things.
[34:15] Rise to the top and we can make happening.
[34:18] So they're not all circling the airport.
[34:20] What we've done so far is pretty impressive.
[34:23] Trying to land them all at once.
[34:25] Would not be good. And I think we push we're
[34:27] pushing ourselves in that regard. And we've had a few
[34:30] crashes, but we're doing our best to kind of make
[34:32] this make.
[34:33] This work. So that's the strategic plan. There's nothing crazy.
[34:37] There. There's nothing radical. There there's nothing that would have
[34:39] the community going. Whoa.
[34:41] You have a social media strategy, you have a better
[34:44] website. You know, you have a math curriculum. This is
[34:48] all.
[34:49] Ketchup good solid stuff. And there's a lot of gain
[34:52] that will come from getting all this done.
[34:56] Last slide, which doesn't have much on it.
[35:01] This was the last piece of the strategic plan from
[35:03] the beginning was the plan B outside the box thing.
[35:05] What if the strategic plan's not enough? And when we've
[35:07] originally drafted it.
[35:08] We weren't really sure this would ever matter. And now
[35:10] we are crystal clear that it does.
[35:12] Because there is significant, and this is what we're talking
[35:14] about tomorrow night at the.
[35:17] The mayor's commission on re-imagining and redesigning the summers war
[35:19] school district.
[35:21] Community forum on the suture of the summers war schools,
[35:23] permission to think outside the box. Everybody repeat that with
[35:26] me as it .
[35:28] Six o'clock tomorrow night at idle Hurst, six o'clock tomorrow
[35:31] night at idle Hurst. It'll only be an hour.
[35:34] And we are hopeful. We have good turnout because we're
[35:38] gonna find out tomorrow night.
[35:40] A week from tomorrow night, there'll be a follow up
[35:41] session. Not required. You can come tomorrow night and then
[35:44] decide what you wanna do next.
[35:46] And then two weeks after that one, there'll be a
[35:47] second follow-up session just to kind of get us going.
[35:50] We are not presenting a plan to the community. We
[35:53] are asking the community to.
[35:55] Support this. We're not asking them to figure it out.
[35:57] That's our job, but we want their involvement and we
[36:00] really need them.
[36:02] Whether in the background or if they have the capacity
[36:05] to join in saying, yes, I get it. Let's do
[36:08] this. Let's let's make all these things happen.
[36:10] But this is where we begin to think. Not about
[36:12] ways to improve the system, the things that are in
[36:15] the strategic plan.
[36:17] But really rethinking. And re-imagining the very system, how the
[36:20] curriculum is organized, how time is organized, what a school
[36:22] looks like, what our facilities are.
[36:25] What the role of the community is how we earn
[36:27] credits.
[36:28] Credits everything is how we organize students across grade levels.
[36:32] Is where we're headed. The beautiful thing about the Nelly
[36:35] Mae education foundation grant that we are applying for on
[36:38] Friday.
[36:39] Which will be $500,000 over three years, if we get
[36:42] it, which is probably about a quarter of what we
[36:44] need over the next two or three years to really
[36:46] do.
[36:47] The strategic plan and the mayor's commission work well.
[36:53] Is it's really a bridge between the strategic plan.
[36:56] And the mayor's commission kind of work. A lot of
[36:59] what we're doing with Anelli Mae grant sits firmly in
[37:01] the strategic plan.
[37:03] Math literacy and executive function skills for all of our
[37:07] students, particularly those that are economically disadvantaged.
[37:10] Disadvantaged from pre-K through eighth grade and really beginning that
[37:14] work.
[37:15] At birth slash pregnancy and figuring out all the things
[37:17] that happened beforehand.
[37:19] Which sounds very strategic plan. Like.
[37:22] But then when you talk about how do we rethink
[37:24] what birth through the year before high school looks like.
[37:28] And how do we get everybody to within a grade
[37:30] level on math, everybody within a grade level on literacy
[37:33] and everybody at an age appropriate level on executive function.
[37:36] You begin to tear at the fabric of the assumptions
[37:38] of what elementary looks like, and simultaneously we're gonna be
[37:42] doing some of that work around high school as.
[37:45] Well, this gets really
[37:47] really hard because everybody says they want.
[37:51] Better and everybody says different. And then as soon as
[37:54] you talk about what better and different might look like,
[37:56] there's generally like, whoa, but not, you know, that's not
[37:59] what.
[38:00] That's not what I thought or my school looked like.
[38:02] So it, I don't, I wanna make sure we all
[38:05] go into this with our eyes wide open. We begin
[38:07] this.
[38:08] Process. It's my opinion that really over the next couple
[38:11] of months, and maybe.
[38:13] By January. We're probably either gonna know that the community
[38:16] is behind this and energized around this. And we've got
[38:20] the Nelly may grant and we've got.
[38:21] Another grant on the way. And two others that were
[38:23] on the are in the works grants tend to breed
[38:25] more grants. I was very clear with the LA Mae
[38:28] education foundation. I.
[38:29] Met with the New Hampshire director about a week and a
[38:31] half ago.
[38:32] The three year, $500,000 grant.
[38:35] Would be appreciated and would be nice.
[38:38] What we need is a 10 to 15 year partnership
[38:40] from the Nelly Mae education foundation and a couple of
[38:43] others, maybe U NH included to have.
[38:46] A school district, our size of our significance, but small
[38:50] enough to really kind of do some things differently.
[38:52] Show the whole entire state.
[38:55] While under attack, what public education can be.
[38:58] And so all of this is hopefully gonna be a
[39:00] step in, in that direction.
[39:06] Any questions for
[39:08] I just wanna say thank you for your efforts. This
[39:11] is a lot of work, honestly, for everyone involves here.
[39:16] I'm excited. I do know.
[39:18] Change is hard, right? Change is hard for most people,
[39:20] but this is.
[39:22] Exciting and hopefully
[39:24] it goes well, any questions for John? I did have
[39:27] one more thing.
[39:29] That triggered a thought
[39:31] odd enough with my brain mental health.
[39:35] You talked about that.
[39:37] Numerous times and how our children are struggling currently. And
[39:41] it made me think about our health clinic, how where's
[39:44] our health clinic.
[39:45] Doing SL you'll off topic.
[39:48] I'd have to get stats on where we are in
[39:50] terms of, yeah. I mean, we could that next meeting,
[39:53] just so we know like how airs a Hoff clinic
[39:55] doing are, is.
[39:56] It thriving. Is it struggling? Like what are we doing
[39:59] with that? Oh yeah, go ahead.
[40:03] To jump off of the mental health and.
[40:06] The clinic and stuff. Are we gonna get some input
[40:08] too from.
[40:10] Students in how they feel as well. I think with
[40:13] them.
[40:14] That would be a big.
[40:16] Yeah. To help out with these.
[40:19] Ideas and to get them involved. I think they would
[40:21] be able to help us. It's largely been anecdotal to
[40:23] this point, but I've reached out.
[40:26] To the high school and have asked for seven or
[40:29] eight people to recommend students, they think would be good
[40:31] to be sort of a sounding board council.
[40:34] And I will volunteer to be the one that meets
[40:36] with 'em regularly, but invite others. So as it'll be
[40:38] both an opportunity to ask them what they think should
[40:40] be different.
[40:42] But also an opportunity for us to like take ideas.
[40:45] Ideas take ideas and bounce them off of the
[40:49] students as well.
[40:51] We're doing that. And we wanna do the same thing
[40:52] with teachers.
[40:53] Teachers. I really wanna remind everybody that the work of
[40:56] the commission, as we've said multiple times, the commission is
[40:58] not to come up with a plan. We are facilitating.
[41:02] The process we are facilitating, convening the process. It will
[41:04] be the school board.
[41:06] It's one. It is not a committee work, but one,
[41:07] a big work of this, the school board as a
[41:09] whole will be evaluating these plans and proposals. They come
[41:13] forth.
[41:14] City council where it involves city council aspects, school board.
[41:19] The teachers union, the para-educators union.
[41:22] And teachers and voices throughout. So we're just getting this
[41:25] process going.
[41:27] But my hope would be that it's gonna basically run
[41:28] now through spring. If we can get some momentum.
[41:32] And there'll be plenty of time for folks to, to
[41:34] chime in. It may not.
[41:36] Fit well enough with next year's budget planning, but this
[41:39] is gonna be five and 10 year stuff.
[41:41] So it'll be another year out before it can really
[41:43] fit into the budget. Cuz budget works beginning really now.
[41:47] For the coming school year.
[41:49] But we'll see where we land.
[41:52] But yes, that's in the works.
[41:54] I do want to stress that.
[41:56] For teachers it's, it's always a matter of paraeducators. If
[42:01] you have the capacity.
[42:03] And you want to participate wholeheartedly in all this, please
[42:05] do.
[42:06] If you're at a place where you're new.
[42:08] Or you have three kids at home or whatever else
[42:10] might be going on where you're like, Hey, I'm my
[42:13] job is to take, do my job here.
[42:15] And, and I support the work that's happened around me.
[42:17] That's fine too.
[42:19] But in terms of the central office leadership team.
[42:23] And in terms of our building principles, there's gonna be
[42:25] a lot of strain.
[42:27] This is a lot of work and it'll be really
[42:30] nice if we can get support to this point. For
[42:32] example, the Ellie Mae education foundation.
[42:35] And support we've had has not.
[42:38] It has not alleviated anybody's workload. It has added significantly
[42:42] to a handful of us. So we need to get
[42:44] over the hump.
[42:46] It was very clear with an Ellie Mae education foundation
[42:48] director. What we need is help.
[42:50] We need like half of a person or another person.
[42:54] The day after we met, I was pleased to see
[42:57] that Angela Duckworth had a op-ed in the New York times.
[43:00] That said good leaders ask for help. .
[43:03] When they know when they reach their capacity, which I
[43:05] shared with her quickly. but needless to say,
[43:08] I think we're gonna be in a pretty tight place,
[43:11] the team effort, and it's gonna get a little hard
[43:14] as we go forward.
[43:15] Yep. Good.
[43:18] Thank you.
[43:21] All right.
[43:23] And so we're moving on to our policy adoptions. We
[43:25] just have.
[43:26] The second reading, do I have a motion to read
[43:29] by title only?
[43:32] Motion to read by title only.
[43:35] Second motion. Second. All in favor. Aye. Aye.
[43:40] You want me to read them? Yeah.
[43:43] For our second reading.
[43:45] This evening, we have 7.1.
[43:48] Or I'm sorry, JH attendance, absenteeism and truancy.
[43:54] And what is the wish of the board for this?
[43:57] Policy.
[43:59] So, so this is the second reading. So we are
[44:02] to vote we're voting on this policy, correct? Correct. Okay.
[44:05] And who
[44:11] correct. You'll okay. I'm waiting for a motion to vote.
[44:13] I move to vote on JH 10 at absent.
[44:16] Absenteeism and truancy.
[44:18] Second. All right. And now open for discussion.
[44:22] Has anyone heard anything from the public?
[44:25] I know, I tried to reach out to some people
[44:27] and I I've heard.
[44:30] Positive things as far as making sure the kids come
[44:33] to school and holding them accountable.
[44:36] And I feel like that's all that I heard. I
[44:37] didn't hear anything other.
[44:39] Than that per se. Anyone else hear anything about? Okay.
[44:43] So I have
[44:45] of informally reached out to some teachers that are in
[44:47] my circle. It's no, it's no.
[44:51] It, it's no mystery that I'm married to a teacher.
[44:53] So I, I speak to a lot of teachers informally
[44:55] all the time.
[44:59] We brought this up as it related to the administrative
[45:02] D with the high school, because we thought.
[45:04] Well, the administrative D, which is a procedure at the
[45:07] high school. It's not a policy. We kept getting hung
[45:09] up with wording last week about procedures that the high
[45:11] school has in place.
[45:12] Versus a actual policy.
[45:16] That
[45:17] is there alignment with this?
[45:20] The school policy and their procedure in place. And then
[45:22] we started talking about.
[45:25] The fact that this
[45:27] policy that we have in place has no.
[45:29] Teeth for lack of better term. There's no.
[45:33] There's no consequence for an overabundance of, of.
[45:38] Absences, whether they be unexcused or excused.
[45:42] Excused. I've had teachers tell me at the middle school
[45:44] at the elementary school level.
[45:46] That in the past years, they've had kids that had
[45:48] upwards of 60.
[45:51] Absences from school that's one in three days.
[45:54] And that they were still.
[45:56] Being pushed forward to the next level.
[45:59] At the end of the school year, because we don't
[46:00] have any sort of.
[46:02] Consequence in place.
[46:04] That holds parents and students accountable for.
[46:08] Not attending school. And we put an undue stress on
[46:12] our teachers.
[46:13] Teachers, because then at the end of the year,
[46:17] the treaters are, are asked to hold account for the
[46:20] fact that.
[46:21] They've lost a third of their instructional time with these
[46:24] children.
[46:25] And it's at no fault of their own, but yet
[46:27] they're asked to make up for it.
[46:31] So we, this is what's in front of us. We
[46:33] can't.
[46:34] Can't reinvent the wheel right in front of us right
[46:35] now.
[46:38] But I do.
[46:40] Think that
[46:42] the, the school policy for absenteeism really needs a good
[46:45] look at it.
[46:46] To see if there's any sort of.
[46:49] Way that we can start holding these parents account.
[46:52] Because the teachers are doing their parts, but the sometimes
[46:56] feels like the parents aren't doing theirs.
[46:58] Theirs. It's a tricky place to be for sure. Thank
[47:00] you for your comment.
[47:02] What is else? Anything else you wanna discuss about this?
[47:07] All in favor to vote.
[47:10] I I perfect. Okay.
[47:13] And then first readings motion.
[47:16] Should we by title only I move to read to
[47:19] have all the first readings by title only.
[47:22] Second. All in favor. Aye. Aye.
[47:27] J J I B
[47:30] school-sponsored athletic programs.
[47:32] Programs we voting on each one or.
[47:36] So this is just reading. Sorry. This is reading. Just
[47:38] reading. Yeah. JJ J access to public school programs by
[47:42] non enrolled residents.
[47:44] Residents JJ, J R
[47:46] one appendix
[47:48] access to public school programs by non enrolled residents.
[47:52] Residents J I C K bullying.
[47:54] Prevention pupil safety and violence prevention.
[48:00] And
[48:02] student activities and organizations, JJ, a.
[48:05] Thank you, JJ. A
[48:12] thank you. And then
[48:14] just for clarity for the public. How many of these
[48:17] are.
[48:18] For yes, the state is being pushed through.
[48:22] Or how many do we choose to.
[48:25] So most of what we are working on is, is
[48:28] because of legislation that's gone through that. We have to
[48:31] either edit or.
[48:33] Add to our policies that we currently have. So.
[48:37] We're looking at about potentially.
[48:39] 25 to 30 this year right now.
[48:42] That we're working on.
[48:45] For that, so. Okay. Thank you.
[48:48] So nothing to go on for there. So we're gonna
[48:50] move on to unfinished business and there is none.
[48:53] And then we just have one to add for a
[48:55] new business. We just need to suspend rules to add.
[48:59] Move to suspend rules to add to the new business
[49:02] lottery truck. Yep. And then can I get a second,
[49:05] second?
[49:06] All in favor. Aye. All right. I'm superintendent. We would
[49:09] need a board member motion to accept a $5,000 check.
[49:15] Payable to Summersworth high school from the New Hampshire state lottery
[49:18] as it's above the minimum.
[49:20] And then a second and then any discussion and a
[49:22] vote to accept mm-hmm .
[49:24] I'll move to accept the $5,000 check from the New Hampshire
[49:28] state law lottery commission. Mm-hmm .
[49:31] Second. All in favor. Aye. Aye. Aye. Any, well, I
[49:35] guess discussion discussion first. That's fine. Pass. I think we're
[49:38] all very excited about.
[49:39] This. Okay. So
[49:42] anybody wanna say anything about this? I just wanna say,
[49:45] I just wanna say thank you to.
[49:48] I think it was
[49:51] so the CTC
[49:53] CTC person. My brain just leaves me guys. I don't
[49:56] even know. No that's okay. This one, it was very
[49:59] good of high school principal, Mike blue into attend.
[50:02] In to attend this one kind of landed on our
[50:04] lap. There was, there was the New Hampshire lottery that wanted
[50:07] to do this.
[50:08] And we were told that they drew two high school
[50:10] names out of a hat, and that's how they ended
[50:13] up with Groveton and Summersworth high school.
[50:16] How the NASCAR driver got Groveton and the governor got
[50:18] Summersworth high school. I do not know.
[50:20] But the, the competition went.
[50:23] And both schools got $5,000 for being selected is what
[50:26] we were told. That's awesome. It's not that often you
[50:29] get $5,000.
[50:31] Without doing much, but it was good of the high
[50:33] school principal to be there with his son.
[50:36] Sun. That's very nice. And then upcoming.
[50:39] Meetings is below.
[50:42] Anything you want to, to stand out?
[50:45] I would like to say for the ninth time, this
[50:46] evening that I know the mayor's commission for reimagined redesigning
[50:51] the Summersworth school district forum.
[50:53] Tomorrow night for anybody that's watching and obviously for our
[50:56] school board members, but this will be the kind of
[50:58] thing that if you care about where the summers, where
[51:00] schools are headed.
[51:01] You will not only show up if you can, but
[51:03] bring.
[51:04] Five people mm-hmm and it doesn't matter whether you're
[51:07] a community member.
[51:09] Or a parent
[51:11] or just care about our schools. It'll be a good
[51:14] indicator of where we are. I know there's good people
[51:16] that care about all this that simply won't be able
[51:18] to be there, but we're.
[51:19] Hopeful we'll have a good turnout and get some good
[51:22] energy moving forward.
[51:24] You're not signing on to anything. We just want you
[51:26] to hear about things. You'll have the opportunity to participate
[51:28] in a few more meetings. And if you have the
[51:30] time and capacity, you can stay with us all the
[51:32] way into.
[51:32] The spring, but that one's critically important.
[51:36] Tomorrow night, 6:00 PM. Idle Hurst elementary school. There will be
[51:39] refreshments and there will be childcare provided for the hour.
[51:43] So anybody.
[51:44] That can't make it because they've got a young one
[51:46] with a little one.
[51:48] Our national honor society students, and at least one educator
[51:52] will be watching the kids.
[51:54] For that hour. Thanks.
[51:56] And then do we have, I know I'm public.
[52:00] No non-public is not necessary for. Okay. We had an
[52:03] agenda item, but it resolved itself.
[52:06] Okay.
[52:08] And then public comments.
[52:11] Comments by visitors. And what about school board members? Go
[52:14] ahead.
[52:16] So I am just going to reiterate what I said
[52:18] last week. We are now in school, athletic seasons for
[52:22] all schools.
[52:23] In the district.
[52:26] All of our programs are what we call pay to
[52:27] play. So the students are responsible for payments. We do
[52:29] have boosters clubs that are working to help alleviate that
[52:32] to all kids. And then to the best of my
[52:33] knowledge,
[52:34] all fundraisers for all sports are still going on.
[52:38] And most of the sports in the district have their
[52:39] own social media page.
[52:41] So, if you would like to learn more.
[52:44] About how you can support our athletes in the district.
[52:46] In the fall, we have players.
[52:48] Playing boys soccer.
[52:50] Football girls volleyball, a whole host of sports. Please look
[52:53] into.
[52:55] Either announcements from the high school or the middle school.
[52:57] The announcements from the schools, the school's teams in particular.
[53:00] So.
[53:02] We can support these kids.
[53:05] That's great. Thank you so much.
[53:08] Yes. I also just want to reiterate the importance of
[53:12] being able to join us for the mayor's commission.
[53:16] Meeting that starts tomorrow night and continues.
[53:21] Continues into the fall. We've done a lot of work.
[53:24] Trying to set up really worthwhile evenings.
[53:29] Evenings and have really tried to think about.
[53:31] Every aspect of
[53:33] what that night can look like. And tomorrow night is
[53:36] only an hour. The following week will be a little
[53:38] bit longer.
[53:39] But it's great information and we're really looking for the
[53:42] community to show up and, and provide information.
[53:46] To us so that we can help.
[53:48] Us all do the job of educating our kids.
[53:53] Very nice.
[53:55] And I just wanna take a minute to say we
[53:56] have two Mt. Seats on the school board. If anybody
[53:59] would like to join, have questions.
[54:02] Questions feel free to reach out to myself.
[54:04] Any of the board member, superintendent, Shay, anyone really.
[54:09] This is great work. Our administrators are doing great work
[54:12] I'm to help.
[54:14] Support them. We need our full.
[54:17] Board here would that
[54:19] motion to adjourn.
[54:23] Motion to adjourn.
[54:25] Adjourn second. All in favor.
[54:27] Aye. Aye. Perfect. Thank you. Stand adjourn.