[0:00] Okay, we're recording.

[0:03] Welcome everyone to Tuesday, May 12th,

[0:06] Twinfield Union School Board meeting.

[0:08] Let's go around and introduce ourselves first.

[0:10] Erin Barry, representing Marshfield.

[0:14] Matt Foster, superintendent Rita Beza. Marshfield.

[0:17] Kendra Padilla. Plainfield. Jana. Oman Plainfield.

[0:22] Stephanie Ainsley, middle High School principal.

[0:23] Rachel Hartman, elementary principal.

[0:27] Great. Is there anyone there from the public?

[0:30] Got a couple staff members. Okay.

[0:32] Let's open up public comment.

[0:33] Anyone have anything to say that's not on the agenda today?

[0:39] Gentlemen? Anything Eller? Anyone?

[0:42] We're good? We're good?

[0:45] All right. Let's move on to consent.

[0:46] Consent agenda and approval minutes.

[0:48] April 14th. Do we have a motion?

[0:51] Yeah, I move that we accept the consent

[0:53] agenda for April four.

[0:55] I mean, and the minutes for April 14th.

[0:58] I'll second. All in favor say aye.

[1:03] Aye. Aye. Great. Anyone opposed?

[1:07] You're doing great, Aaron. Keep up.

[1:09] Here we go. All right,

[1:10] superintendent, your turn for report.

[1:13] Yep. Hopefully everybody was able to get the board packet.

[1:18] I'm, I'm looking for nods. Aaron, did you get it? Good.

[1:20] Alright. If there are any questions,

[1:22] I know it was kind of lengthy.

[1:24] The updates with regard to the legislature is

[1:26] that last week thought we would have kind

[1:29] of more firm ground to stand on.

[1:31] We still don't have that firm ground to stand on.

[1:33] It looks like they're trying to find votes to be able

[1:35] to get the Senate bill out right now

[1:39] and they don't have enough votes if they weren't

[1:41] with straight party voting or straight line voting.

[1:44] And once again, yeah, even if they get it out,

[1:48] they're not sure if the the governor would sign it.

[1:50] So it's just as foggy as it was last week.

[1:53] Any Aaron, do you have anything else

[1:55] that you're aware of on that front?

[1:57] I am kind of watched a couple of news clips today,

[1:59] the governor saying, you know,

[2:01] it's still unknown if I'm gonna approve it or not.

[2:04] And tenants working on, you know, reworking the house

[2:09] bill and again, yeah, they did an internal senate vote

[2:14] and it was three to three right along the party lines.

[2:16] So it's just day to day at the moment.

[2:20] Day-to-day messiness. Yep. Alright.

[2:25] Okay. Principles guys have, go ahead.

[2:32] Everyone did our board report.

[2:33] We just highlighted some staff appreciation fund

[2:38] that we did and just that we have a lot of end

[2:42] of the year celebrations coming

[2:44] and that is not even a complete list.

[2:46] There will be more added throughout the next week

[2:52] and it's hiring season.

[2:54] So hear

[2:58] about all but there's way, but yeah. Does

[3:01] Anyone have any questions of the principals?

[3:05] Welcome Sarah. Representing playing field.

[3:08] Sorry I'm late. Everyone.

[3:09] All good. It's a pretty evening out.

[3:11] It's good enough reason to be late.

[3:14] I have a question. Does everyone given this staff of pre

[3:18] know that they're going, did they, did their list go out for

[3:22] what they could order to the plants?

[3:23] Yeah, it did. It did. Okay, great. Thank you.

[3:29] Any questions on the student services report?

[3:38] Any movement on a student representative for next year?

[3:43] Stephanie?

[3:45] Right now our focus is wrapping up this year.

[3:47] Yeah, we'll see what happens in August and September.

[3:50] Okay. Alright, luck. Yeah.

[3:54] Move on to board business.

[3:55] I field trip presentations and model UN presentations.

[3:59] I can't see who's in the audience,

[4:00] but I'm guessing it's both of those.

[4:02] So whoever would like to go further. Yes.

[4:04] Snickering? Yep. Do we have presentation put

[4:08] up there or you gentlemen just talking?

[4:10] What do we have? Thank you.

[4:13] The slides show. Let me please look,

[4:17] Just You're welcome to come on up here.

[4:22] And Trevor, I invited

[4:24] because there's full off campus learning with P

[4:28] and we wanted to share and hit that up.

[4:33] Gimme a moment to

[4:41] Aaron.

[4:42] While Matt's pulling up the presentation, I need

[4:44] to postpone the grade term,

[4:46] grade three long-term substitute discussion till or

[4:49] and action till next month.

[4:52] Okay. Well maybe you can just say a little bit about it

[4:57] because then we're gonna vote on the superintendent

[5:00] summer hiring authority.

[5:01] And so go to Matt.

[5:03] Is that good? Okay. Okay.

[5:05] Please. Top left. I'm looking for it there.

[5:10] That right there? Yeah. On my screen.

[5:12] It's hidden by that little box

[5:14] That, yeah.

[5:17] Stephanie asked me to, to tell you

[5:19] what I've got planned for spring.

[5:22] That's beautiful. High school.

[5:23] That's, and if you wanna hit the next slide.

[5:27] So this is a presentation I gave to the students

[5:29] to generate some

[5:31] Hitting all kinds of buttons. Interest.

[5:33] Oh, There we go. There we go.

[5:36] That's you jumped to, but that's okay.

[5:38] Wow. Oh boy. I don't think so.

[5:42] Okay. No, you're right. I forgot the order. Can

[5:45] Move the three boxes with us faces.

[5:48] You're asking a lot there. I tell you.

[5:50] So this is, It would be a joke here.

[5:52] Here, right, right there. Is that where you wanted? Right.

[5:56] Medium. I know. I'm feeling hory right now.

[6:01] So I like taking kids out in wilderness settings.

[6:04] It's very transformative.

[6:07] The eighth grade cane trip was

[6:09] a spectacular success in the 12 years when we did it.

[6:12] It met its sort of end a good time

[6:17] for co-leaders

[6:20] and I, it was, it was, we, we were done with it.

[6:23] This is sort of the next one of the next generation

[6:27] of what I wanna do.

[6:29] And it's based around what

[6:32] I experienced in the Adirondack being inspiration

[6:36] for thought and art and creativity.

[6:39] And I believe it is transformative for other people.

[6:42] There's a history

[6:43] of it in the Adirondacks as you can see there.

[6:46] And I think it's right for students.

[6:49] So that's what I pitched to them.

[6:52] And if you go to the next slide, it was,

[6:57] as you see a trip to be immersive in the natural world

[6:59] to think big thought, share ideas

[7:00] and be creatively inspired by wilderness.

[7:04] So my goal was to take students that are interested in that.

[7:10] So I wanted them to have a desire to go out

[7:15] and change the pace of the world, get rid of distractions,

[7:20] look around them, think

[7:23] and talk about ideas with their, their classmates

[7:26] and some of us teachers that do that, which is why I asked

[7:31] Chris and Tracy to join me in doing this.

[7:35] You wanna hit the next slide?

[7:37] And that being about art

[7:41] and a lot of its senses, whether it's drawing, painting,

[7:44] photography, poetry, it could be filmmaking.

[7:47] I hope to bring cameras and film some of the things.

[7:51] Hit the next slide, mark.

[7:52] I think you can make thoughts about our place

[7:57] in the small world as well as the big one.

[7:59] And you can't get too big. What's the nature of reality?

[8:02] Time, existence, ethics, do what we do. Does it matter?

[8:05] Who does it matter to? Why do we do it?

[8:09] Do it around a campfire to do it as we paddle down the lake.

[8:13] That kind of stuff. So that was the generation I,

[8:16] I got some great feedback

[8:19] and fantastic students being interested.

[8:22] So we've got nine students

[8:24] and we're going to the same location,

[8:27] although not quite the same campsites

[8:28] as the eighth grade Cade trip.

[8:30] But it's a really fantastic area

[8:35] for close enough to a city center

[8:40] to have all we need.

[8:42] But also to be out on the water

[8:44] and not see anything in anybody

[8:47] to feel like we are in the middle of nowhere.

[8:51] And yeah, there's nine students, three staff,

[8:54] and we're making a menu and we're gathering list

[8:58] and we're coming up with a challenge that up with quotes

[9:02] that makes them pause and think

[9:06] and as a, a prompt

[9:10] or things that gonna maybe talk

[9:12] about to share in each other.

[9:15] Nothing Else. I'm excited for it.

[9:17] I think it's just wonderful. Can we go? That's what I know.

[9:20] Yeah, no, sorry.

[9:23] Can we surreptitiously just follow

[9:25] and kind of moot off the, or

[9:27] To film some of it.

[9:28] Make a little video so you can be a part of it. I

[9:31] Carry.

[9:34] And so that is one goal.

[9:36] The other goal was to make there be something that twinfield

[9:40] that keeps upperclassmen here

[9:42] and wanna be here, wanna participate, wanna be part of

[9:46] what the teachers here are, are providing them

[9:48] and offering them the wealth of experience

[9:50] and knowledge that we have that we can share.

[9:53] So next year I want to make it sort of a a a,

[9:58] an environment sort of environment.

[10:02] Sort of how do I, it's not gonna sound so great as a art

[10:05] of philosophy field trip,

[10:07] but it's gonna be about discovering what's out there.

[10:11] Whether it's the native plants and animals

[10:14] and fish to surveying, mapping the areas, which is,

[10:19] this is sort of how one, how this gets

[10:25] understood as far as our role in it.

[10:28] So it's sort of a natural world kind of focus

[10:31] and maybe I alternate art

[10:32] and philosophy with the natural environment kind of thing.

[10:36] Where next year I hope to get students

[10:39] that might be more interested in science and math and

[10:44] and mapping computer applications that help us

[10:49] understand the amount of information

[10:51] that's geolocated in the world is just astronomical.

[10:54] Nothing that anybody does that's recorded is not recorded

[10:57] to a, a coordinate on the planet

[11:00] with the whole bunch information with it.

[11:02] And that helps us understand so much more than we could

[11:05] otherwise have a trip every year

[11:08] that makes people wanna say, Hey, I I I'm not a junior

[11:12] or senior here, I don't get to go on this.

[11:14] You gonna be doing orienteering as well.

[11:17] Yeah, well that's what next year would be part of how to

[11:22] navigate, how to map an area

[11:24] with Mount Compass transit and stuff.

[11:27] Very happy to hear that. That's where I was going.

[11:30] You know, you see canoes, you don't, cameras are one thing,

[11:33] you know, and GPS one thing,

[11:35] but you got a compass and a map. It's great.

[11:39] It's really fantastic. Trevor, thank you so much

[11:41] for telling us about it.

[11:44] Yeah, gorgeous. I'm curious what your ideas are

[11:47] of like, how to get the younger kids excited

[11:50] about getting to do that.

[11:51] And as a junior in senior,

[11:53] I I think it's gonna sell itself.

[11:56] They, you know, whether they come into the

[11:58] shop as ninth graders.

[11:59] I mean, I'm doing a little geology thing with Jeff,

[12:03] Eddie graders and they're Eric Gungho.

[12:05] So I could, I could see doing that with other things.

[12:10] I happen to love geology.

[12:12] I mean I love, I mean this is why I'm doing this

[12:15] 'cause I love this stuff and I still get joy from

[12:18] bringing students there and having them experience that too.

[12:22] So c going into other grades with parts of it.

[12:28] But I think, or even just

[12:29] That I here, it's just how they'd even know

[12:31] that it was happening at all. Like

[12:33] Getting, I think he was excited about,

[12:35] I think you were sharing like camp pictures

[12:37] and have to do something here I think you were saying.

[12:39] Yeah. Follow up. Just to let them know. I

[12:40] Mean, could you trip?

[12:41] I didn't spend a lot of time, Tracy didn't

[12:44] spend a lot of time selling that.

[12:45] It's, everybody knows it's going on and Yeah.

[12:48] The kids talk about once they've been on it.

[12:49] So, but I'm all for doing some things

[12:54] to help it along.

[12:55] That's Great. So do you see if

[12:57] The way the trip is set up, it's a combination of a lot

[13:00] of touch points that kids have throughout

[13:01] their experience here.

[13:03] Not just in high school. Like

[13:05] we're out in the woods all the time.

[13:07] We're having big conversations in different contexts.

[13:11] We're un we're getting unlost in the woods.

[13:14] Like we're doing a lot of this work.

[13:16] So these trips are a way to kind of do a caststone

[13:20] to that learning experience.

[13:21] That's A good way to look at it.

[13:23] And then the students can become the ambassadors

[13:26] by sharing with other students what happened.

[13:29] Definitely the juniors Yes.

[13:31] Presentation or their art, their inspiration.

[13:36] Yeah. Well find out what we, what we produce.

[13:40] Trevor, were you doing the Sedimentation River work

[13:42] with Jeff down in his classroom?

[13:45] I didn't know if I saw a bunch of science related things

[13:47] where they were taking water samples

[13:49] and sifting out, getting silt layers.

[13:51] That's one of the reasons I did my little geology thing

[13:53] with them is Jeff came to me

[13:54] and said, we're doing some stuff.

[13:56] You do gas. And so down to the, the flood

[14:00] Well done Soccer field that we talked about.

[14:03] Sediments and things like that. That's great.

[14:09] Thank you so much Trevor.

[14:10] Really look forward to maybe we can hear

[14:13] how it went in September or October.

[14:16] That'd be Great. I I think giving a presentation back

[14:18] to the school so kids can see it in the fall.

[14:21] Know that another trip is coming in,

[14:23] whatever focus it, it it is. And or,

[14:27] Or on back to school night when parents are there as well.

[14:30] Hmm. I plan on having it be something that you can

[14:35] Mark it, so to speak.

[14:36] It could be, it'll be, there'll be something on the,

[14:38] on a webpage and the school website.

[14:40] You can see it and play it. That'd be great.

[14:42] But yeah, all of the above.

[14:43] Great. Thank you. Alright.

[14:46] Chris, are you taking some kids tomorrow to Maine?

[14:49] I'm taking kids

[14:51] Tomorrow to Maine.

[14:53] Yeah. So I'm excited to be going on Trevor's trip

[14:56] because I,

[14:57] this year I offered a philosophy course for the first time.

[15:00] I was a philosophy major. I haven't used it a lot since

[15:04] then, but it's been, allowed

[15:05] me to reconnect with the material.

[15:06] It's been awesome.

[15:08] It's been just like fantastic conversations and That's good.

[15:12] Yeah. It surpassed my, my expectations of

[15:15] what kids would be ready for as far as some

[15:18] of these philosophical conversations.

[15:21] Couple of other field trips to tell you about too

[15:23] that are exciting this year we revived our mock trial team.

[15:29] We had done mock trial a couple times in the past,

[15:32] but interest sort of waned.

[15:34] And then I had a group of seniors come to me this year

[15:38] and say, you know, we really want one

[15:39] more chance to go to mock trial.

[15:41] So we, there's a statewide mock trial competition

[15:44] at Vermont Law School

[15:46] and it's, sorry, it's Vermont Law School

[15:48] and Graduate School or something.

[15:52] So we went down there for the day.

[15:53] We had two trials, one against MMU one against Rutland.

[15:58] They were, the kids were awesome.

[16:00] Just like really it's, it is just amazing what

[16:04] high school students are capable

[16:06] of when you give 'em the chance to do it.

[16:09] There was, there was a moment, Jola Augh

[16:11] and there was a, there was a hearsay objection

[16:13] that came at him and he cranked out this answer.

[16:16] It was like, oh it's a, you know, it is an admission

[16:18] of an unavailable witness and something.

[16:20] And the judge was like, yeah, yeah.

[16:24] It's just actually, it's overruled. Go ahead.

[16:26] And I think that's awesome. Yeah. So that was really fun.

[16:30] Today we went to the Northeast Correctional Facility

[16:34] with my criminal justice class.

[16:37] We've been learning about various reasons for the,

[16:43] you know, for incarceration and for the corrections system.

[16:46] And to go see it in action was really special.

[16:50] And it turned into more of a,

[16:52] this could be a potential career

[16:54] for you than I thought it would working.

[16:57] It's a pretty working

[16:58] with Yeah, always an infant.

[17:04] Yeah. I mean a fairly low barrier to entry

[17:07] and a good paying state job with good benefits.

[17:10] And the people we talked to, we talked to a lot of, of

[17:14] the employees there and they seemed happy.

[17:16] That's great. So that was fun.

[17:21] Going to Maine tomorrow it's our, what's happening in Maine,

[17:25] it's our second MO model UN conference of the semester.

[17:29] So we went to Bossman,

[17:31] which is the Boston Model UN Conference in

[17:33] the beginning of February.

[17:35] That's a big one. That's 2,500 students

[17:39] from all over the world.

[17:41] It's fun for me to take the ragtag group of Twinfield

[17:47] into like, you know, it's like,

[17:49] it's like they're sitting next to somebody who goes

[17:52] to the School of Greatness and Excellence in New Jersey

[17:55] and they're, you know, they're like wearing their like

[17:59] tailored suits and they're, you know,

[18:01] they're talking about which eye views are you gonna try

[18:03] to get into, you know,

[18:04] and our kids are like wearing their twinfield, whatever our,

[18:07] our definition of western business attire is,

[18:10] which varies from kid to

[18:11] Kids.

[18:12] What? Pants and ties. Yeah. Say

[18:14] Ties.

[18:15] We did have a kid a couple years ago who I, I found a suit,

[18:18] somebody donated a suit that fit him like a glove.

[18:21] Nice. And he wore his suit and his muck boots

[18:24] and his Yeah, dad is the bass car.

[18:28] Yeah. Yeah, that's great. But main's is a lot of fun.

[18:32] This is being held at the University of Southern Maines.

[18:35] The campus, which is its residential campus. Did

[18:38] You say Oro Campus?

[18:39] What's that? Did you say Oro campus? Gorham

[18:42] Campus.

[18:43] Oh, boham. Yep. It's just outside of Portland. Yep.

[18:45] Okay. We have 11 students going,

[18:52] which is a good number for this.

[18:53] Late in the year. I think we had 11 or 12 go to Boston.

[18:59] This one's a little bit more laid back.

[19:01] It's, you know, it's a lot of the first time conference

[19:03] for, for some kids.

[19:05] We have a couple of freshmen that are joining us for this,

[19:08] this conference that I'm really excited about.

[19:11] Yeah, we've got representatives

[19:12] of each of the classes going.

[19:14] And I just did a debate in my US history class

[19:17] and you can tell the kids who did model un you know, I had,

[19:19] I had I think three in that class who have done Model UN

[19:22] and they were just sharp.

[19:24] They can just think quicker.

[19:26] You know, you can respond to other people's points.

[19:29] It just, it takes practice. So

[19:31] Can I ask you another question?

[19:32] Yeah. I'm thinking you must be having a fabulous

[19:36] time so far.

[19:37] You're teaching philosophy, US history.

[19:40] Could you like just go through the rundown

[19:42] of the amazing things you do?

[19:44] I'm trying. I'm not say just

[19:47] No, I've been really lucky this year.

[19:49] US history, philosophy.

[19:51] Yeah. Honors US History,

[19:52] regular US history, whatever that, whatever that is.

[19:56] Philosophy, ancient history. Oh my god. Criminal justice.

[20:02] Criminal justice. So those are my five classes

[20:04] that I'm teaching right now.

[20:06] I did a world Religions class last semester. Yeah.

[20:09] Model un mock

[20:10] trial and Denmark.

[20:16] It was that little thing. A little trick transition. Woo.

[20:20] Yeah. Save that one for last.

[20:23] Our Denmark trip this year was another,

[20:25] it was really successful.

[20:26] We had, we had eight students go to Denmark for two weeks.

[20:31] We went in September this year.

[20:34] It was so much nicer than November.

[20:38] Like the differences really stuck.

[20:42] We relied heavily on our sophomore class this year.

[20:45] Seven of the eight were sophomores,

[20:48] which is younger than I was hoping for.

[20:50] But we have a junior class right now.

[20:52] The classes have these personalities

[20:54] and our junior class is a lot of people who just,

[20:57] they're just not interested in that kind

[20:59] of experience and that's fine.

[21:02] So in total, we've taken 28 students

[21:04] to Denmark over two years.

[21:06] Right. This, for this coming fall, I noticed,

[21:10] I mean our pool's getting a little small

[21:12] with all the sophomores who have already gone.

[21:14] The sophomore class is pretty small

[21:16] and the sophomores who went this year were fantastic.

[21:20] They were, they really rose to the occasion,

[21:22] showed a lot of maturity.

[21:24] I was a little bit afraid because the Danish students tend

[21:27] to be 17 or 18 and we were sending 15 year olds.

[21:31] But it took on more of like a big brother, kind

[21:33] of big brother, big sister sort of situation.

[21:37] So they got along really well.

[21:38] We actually didn't have, you know,

[21:39] didn't have any problems at all.

[21:42] So for next year I started thinking of expanding this,

[21:46] this program to, to try to get more kids involved.

[21:49] So I contacted Montpelier High School, worked

[21:53] with their sort of coordinator for international travel

[21:58] and their social studies department.

[22:00] And fortunately they found,

[22:03] I think they had 27 applications or something like that.

[22:08] And we had six and five of them have already been.

[22:13] So, so we're gonna sit this one out.

[22:17] Let Montpelier well we're gonna sit out the, the travel.

[22:20] We're not gonna send any Twinfield students to

[22:24] Denmark in the fall, but we'll still be involved.

[22:26] It allows us to still be involved, still maintain

[22:29] that relationship with rum gymnasium.

[22:31] That's been really successful. What's that? Yeah.

[22:34] Build your inventory. Exactly. Yeah.

[22:35] We gotta get these, these current sophomores up

[22:38] and then the current freshmen will come up

[22:40] and then we'll have some new kids ready to go.

[22:43] We were concerned. Our country doesn't have the best

[22:47] reputation in Denmark right now.

[22:49] Hmm. It turns out threatening to invade Greenland.

[22:53] Their sovereign territory tends to ruffle feathers.

[22:57] Brooklyn, Broadway. But I, I view this as a chance to bridge

[23:02] that gap to show that there is a big disconnect between

[23:07] what they see in the papers about American politics

[23:09] and life on the ground here in Vermont.

[23:11] You know, it's the Vermonters

[23:14] who have welcomed these Danish students into their homes

[23:17] have been fantastic.

[23:19] I mean really like, really friendly.

[23:23] It's, it's, to me, one of the, one of the surprises

[23:27] was it highlighted just how friendly Americans are.

[23:30] And especially Vermonters. I mean, it's like family.

[23:32] It's like, you know, watching 'em leave is, you know,

[23:36] you know, Aaron knows Aaron's, I guess Aaron,

[23:39] I don't know if it was Aaron, your mom

[23:41] or your, your husband's mom who host it, but

[23:43] Mother-in-law. Yep.

[23:45] Yeah. Great, great experience.

[23:46] Have you noticed that there are kids in Denmark

[23:49] that don't wanna come, like don't wanna do the exchange

[23:52] part of it and come here?

[23:53] Well that's what I was afraid of. Yeah.

[23:54] But then at last minute they got a bunch of applications.

[23:56] Cool. So we're good. Yeah. So, so we are having, we

[23:59] We're not sending, but we are hosting,

[24:01] We're, we're Montpelier is just gonna do all

[24:03] the hosting and all the sending.

[24:05] Got it. But we'll be involved in, you know, we'll,

[24:07] we'll have chances to interact with 'em

[24:09] and bring 'em by our school

[24:10] and you know, sort of do the things.

[24:11] It's kind of nice for me 'cause you know,

[24:15] my wife's having a surgery in September, so

[24:16] that's gonna be a very, I'm gonna have

[24:19] my my mind in other places.

[24:21] So it's nice to be able to sell it out.

[24:24] But the experience in Denmark has been really good.

[24:28] I've been slowly putting together a, a sort of a collection

[24:32] of interviews with students who have gone so

[24:35] that we can put it into a video that we can show.

[24:37] And also next Friday the 22nd,

[24:42] we're hosting a fundraiser here, which is also a celebration

[24:45] of the, the cultures of Denmark and Vermont coming together.

[24:50] So we're doing Vermont

[24:52] and Danish foods that we'll be serving.

[24:55] So we'll have maple glazed ham

[24:57] and there's a dish called smore board.

[25:00] No Smore board. Yeah.

[25:01] I can't say it but it's, it's, that's, it's that the o

[25:05] with the line through it is like a,

[25:07] it's a sound I can't make

[25:09] but it's Danish rye bread with various fancy toppings

[25:13] and it's really good.

[25:14] And so the kids will be making that and

[25:18] Are they making Danish?

[25:19] It's Danish. Danish.

[25:20] I never encountered a Danish over there.

[25:24] I don't think it's Danish. Yeah, I don't think so.

[25:25] They have a fantastic pastries. Yeah. Yeah.

[25:28] But nothing called a Dana that I saw of it.

[25:32] I guess with an America. Have you had the America? Yeah.

[25:35] Right. Yeah, exactly. Lot of Cardi bomb.

[25:37] I heard Caesar salad isn't named

[25:39] after Julius Caesar has nothing to do with it.

[25:42] It's Mexican. There's a chef,

[25:44] Mexican chef named Caesar Caesar. It

[25:45] Makes sense.

[25:47] Well thank you so much Chris.

[25:48] I'm seeing on our agenda, it says board action. Hold

[25:51] The second half.

[25:52] What are we looking for? An action from the board.

[25:56] What am I, what Any

[25:57] Actions do you need to have from the board?

[25:59] Yeah. We're not hosting kids and we're not sending kids.

[26:02] So I'm not sure. It doesn't seem

[26:03] Like No, I'm not asking for anything today.

[26:05] Just report this discussion. Celebrating. Sounds

[26:07] Good.

[26:09] Celebrating. Nice way. Thank you. Woo.

[26:12] We're celebrating all your work.

[26:13] Thank you so much for investing in our

[26:16] students as you do both of you.

[26:17] You too Trevor,

[26:19] You are welcome.

[26:21] Moving down on the agenda.

[26:23] Grade three, long-term substitute is Thank.

[26:27] Yes. The, well it's the role that we approved

[26:30] for the year off for one

[26:32] of our teachers in the elementary wing

[26:34] and the third grade is what they would have.

[26:36] So I know Rachel's just looking for a substitute

[26:38] and we can go right on

[26:40] to superintendent summer hiring authority.

[26:42] And

[26:44] So I can just give a background in

[26:45] what we do there if you like.

[26:47] That'd be in two minutes. Yep,

[26:49] Yep.

[26:50] Okay. You want me two minutes to say it or in two minutes?

[26:53] You want me to start?

[26:55] Say it. Alright, got it.

[26:58] So just, we know that we don't usually meet in July

[27:02] and that we may have positions that open up

[27:04] and trying to be able to get the board together over summer

[27:06] hours when people are doing vacations, things of

[27:08] that nature can be kind of a challenge.

[27:10] So summer hiring authority would be the opportunity for

[27:15] me to just work with the board chair directly once we have

[27:19] any recommendations made by our administrative team.

[27:23] And so I would just work with Aaron until the end

[27:28] of August to on any of those hires.

[27:30] And if there are no concerns

[27:32] or questions, hopefully she'd say, yep, let's go.

[27:34] And that's how that would work for the summer.

[27:38] Can we make a motion then to approve?

[27:40] You have the summer hiring authority

[27:43] Through August. That'd be great. Through August.

[27:45] Thank you. Jana. Do we have a second?

[27:47] Yes. Sarah. Who was that? Sorry.

[27:52] Sarah. Thank you. Everyone in favor say aye. Aye.

[27:57] Aye. Anyone opposed? All right, great.

[28:00] Thank you so much for taking that on, Matt.

[28:03] Yep. Yep. Thank you everybody.

[28:05] All right, let's do our honorable mention. Woo hoo.

[28:10] Excellent. Okay,

[28:13] If I can make this 30.

[28:14] So

[28:15] I know this year we made a goal to interview people

[28:19] that we did not know super well.

[28:21] But I requested to make an exception for Cindy Scott

[28:25] because she is retiring this year

[28:28] and my daughter has been in her class.

[28:31] I'll start this by saying I definitely had,

[28:35] I have my own love for third grade.

[28:36] My third grade teacher was my favorite.

[28:39] I taught for third, taught

[28:40] for five years when I was in the classroom in third grade.

[28:43] Have had amazing colleagues in third grade.

[28:45] So I definitely have a lot of love

[28:46] and high bar for third grade.

[28:50] And I already knew how wonderful Cindy has been this year.

[28:54] But got to chat with her last week.

[28:59] And I love this picture on the first slide

[29:02] because I just, I feel like it

[29:05] just highlights the energy in her classroom.

[29:08] So this is from the world geography trivia night

[29:12] that third grade hosted, which I don't know

[29:14] how many students they had show up,

[29:16] but it was a, it was a lot.

[29:17] It, it was a good chunk of the grade.

[29:22] I think Mrs.

[29:23] Scott's joy just comes through in this picture

[29:25] and the kids are just elated to be there.

[29:28] They were so excited to share

[29:30] with their families what they've been learning.

[29:34] So yeah, talking to her was just magical.

[29:37] Hearing her talk about her experience

[29:40] as a, a third grade teacher.

[29:41] She has been at Twinfield for 15 years.

[29:44] She taught for 18 years before that.

[29:46] And she said she has been in third grade

[29:48] almost the entire time.

[29:49] Wow. Which again, just spoke to my own heart of,

[29:54] of love for third grade.

[29:55] I think that was pretty special.

[29:57] I mean it's, it's amazing to see teachers when they have

[30:00] flexibility to move from grade to grade

[30:03] and also something really special to have a teacher

[30:06] that knows a grade and age group so incredibly well

[30:10] and does that for so long.

[30:13] So you can scroll down a little bit.

[30:18] Can get there or we go.

[30:20] So on my daughter's first day of school, she came back

[30:25] and informed me that she had the best first day ever.

[30:30] And I, I would be willing to say that most

[30:32] of her reports since then have been best day ever.

[30:36] Nice. So just the excitement around their class pet,

[30:41] which was a hammerhead shark, I think that's hilarious.

[30:44] They were cracking. That's really, that'd real cool.

[30:47] Her name was Blanche. And every day they

[30:51] would look and see where she was.

[30:53] My daughter brought in a little stuffed

[30:54] animal, the hammerhead shark.

[30:55] And they would place it on the world map rug to show

[30:59] where Blanche was.

[31:00] Yep. That's the next nice slide.

[31:04] And unfortunately Blanche at one point lost her tracker.

[31:07] So they have a new class pet and I believe a new blanche.

[31:11] It's named Eddie now. Which is slightly funny with Mr.

[31:14] Eddie as the party teacher

[31:17] to spending time in the woods building shelters,

[31:21] teamwork darcey.

[31:23] And some of her friends wanted to get together

[31:25] after school to continue working on their

[31:27] shelter that they've been building together.

[31:29] So I took them one day, half day,

[31:32] just a phenomenal year.

[31:34] I wish you had told me about the hammerhead sharks.

[31:37] I've been swimming, I've been diving

[31:39] with hundreds of hammerhead sharks.

[31:40] Well you have to go to third grade. It's not over yet.

[31:42] I can do that. Eddie, the shark. All right.

[31:46] All right, you scroll down. So I asked her for some advice

[31:50] for teachers, whether it's new teachers

[31:52] or teachers who have been doing this

[31:53] for a while, love what you do.

[31:57] What just came through in everything she shared,

[32:02] like almost brought me to tears.

[32:03] She was just so happy. She talked about sharing her own

[32:08] passions with students

[32:10] and it's very clear that she does that

[32:13] from hammerhead sharks to now they're doing geology.

[32:17] As was mentioned earlier, the world geography has

[32:22] been, you know, a favorite of hers.

[32:24] And she just was able to share her creativity

[32:29] and how she brings students into the learning.

[32:34] You know, yes she has programs and standards

[32:37] and things that she needs to meet,

[32:39] but she weaves

[32:41] that creativity in throughout the day.

[32:44] And that is, has been clear in

[32:47] every unit they've done this year.

[32:49] And then finally, of course they don't get sick.

[32:50] She shared some memories of, you know, having pneumonia

[32:55] and trying to get plans ready

[32:56] and yeah, so wash those hands and turn out to get sick.

[33:02] So her, I asked her what her passion was.

[33:04] I was not surprised when she shared world geography.

[33:07] 'cause that came through loud and clear at the trivia night.

[33:11] So every time they started studying a new continent,

[33:14] they would arrange the classroom like an airplane,

[33:18] and the students would sit in the chairs

[33:19] and they would fly to the continent.

[33:22] With Mrs. Scott as the flight captain, she talked about

[33:27] just learning alongside the students.

[33:31] And they came in with so much knowledge.

[33:36] They made globes out of plaster Paris.

[33:38] They had the, the trivia night, try to see if they could,

[33:42] if their parents could beat them.

[33:45] And then they all made slideshows along with their writing

[33:48] that they had done about each continent.

[33:51] So really, really a special unit that just generated

[33:55] so much energy and enthusiasm.

[33:56] Again, you saw that in that trivia night where

[34:01] so many students and their parents showed up

[34:02] and they were so excited

[34:03] to do their dance and sing their song.

[34:07] I think every parent knows the world geography song

[34:10] that's been sung in their cars all year.

[34:14] All right, you can keep going. So you

[34:19] know, she shared the kind of age old quote of love

[34:23] what you do and you'll never work a day in your life.

[34:25] And she just said, I feel like

[34:26] I have never worked a day in my life.

[34:29] And you could tell that she is, while she's looking forward

[34:33] to retirement, she is, you know,

[34:36] not looking forward to being gone.

[34:38] So, and again, that just this energy came through

[34:42] in every question I asked in every anecdote she shared.

[34:46] Next slide. We have some of her favorite parts of teaching.

[34:50] She talked about students at times being her colleagues,

[34:55] not her students, learning

[34:57] alongside them, shuck with the world.

[34:59] Geography. Talked about just the way their faces light up

[35:03] as they're flying to the continents and learning new things

[35:07] and how they are so incredibly engaged in the

[35:10] activities and the learning they're doing.

[35:14] And then she also talked about, you know, for her students

[35:17] who were a little later to crack the code of reading,

[35:20] just getting to see them do that

[35:22] and getting to see sort of the magic of

[35:25] students fall in love with reading.

[35:27] Once they've cracked that code, her hopes

[35:32] for retirement, number one is not

[35:34] surprising traveling with her husband.

[35:36] But number two was also not surprising.

[35:39] Number two goal

[35:41] for retirement was keep connection with the school.

[35:44] I know that students have been

[35:49] feeling better that knowing that she'll be subbing

[35:51] and potentially can be her, can be their sub next year.

[35:55] She said she's been a mentor as well.

[35:57] So I'm gonna hold her to that now

[35:59] that it's up in the presentation.

[36:01] And she is just really excited to spend time

[36:03] with her 4-year-old granddaughter, get to be a part

[36:05] of her school activities in a way that she hasn't been able

[36:08] to for her brother grandkids.

[36:11] So I asked her what she wanted her legacy to be

[36:15] that she was leaving behind.

[36:19] She said to her current

[36:20] and former students that she hopes that they know

[36:23] and feel that they were always accepted, included and loved.

[36:28] And I certainly have seen that with my own daughter.

[36:33] And then on the last slide I actually went around

[36:36] and interviewed a very random sampling

[36:40] of current and former students and colleagues.

[36:44] And these were all of the words that they used

[36:47] to describe Mrs. Scott listed in her favorite colors

[36:52] of red and purple.

[36:58] My word cloud didn't quite cooperate with some

[36:59] of them being the biggest kind was like far

[37:03] and away the largest boat.

[37:07] Charming. That's interesting. Oh yeah.

[37:08] We had some great, some great words.

[37:12] She is known for the fact that in her classroom,

[37:14] if you say a hundred, you owe her a piece of candy.

[37:18] You must say 100.

[37:21] Her geography well known having math games.

[37:25] Her former students, the current fourth

[37:27] and fifth graders were very clear.

[37:29] They came up with the word firm

[37:30] and they were very clear with me,

[37:31] but they mean in a good way.

[37:33] And they kind of pointed out to each other, you know? Yeah.

[37:36] She had to be firm. She for you and you and you.

[37:41] So, and they put it in a good way.

[37:42] They all agreed in a very good way

[37:44] and just, I mean every student

[37:47] and every adult that I asked

[37:50] for words just like lit up when

[37:52] they were talking about Mrs. Scott.

[37:53] So it's pretty amazing to get under those.

[37:55] And we are so incredibly lucky

[37:58] to have her part of our community.

[38:00] And she's retiring, she's not going anywhere.

[38:04] Where does she live? I don't know

[38:07] What.

[38:09] Well, he lives in the community.

[38:11] In the community. A long,

[38:14] long, can't get there anywhere.

[38:18] You just throw out a number, throw 'em off the track.

[38:20] Five can't get there. The road's not a road. Just,

[38:25] It was lovely to talk to Mrs. Scott

[38:27] On down.

[38:28] Even better. Let's narrowing it down.

[38:30] Thank You so much Kendra for interviewing her.

[38:34] We definitely celebrate Mrs. Scott,

[38:38] does someone wanna raise their hand?

[38:40] Who thinks they have June for Honorable mention?

[38:43] Sure. Think it was

[38:45] Man, have you done one yet this year?

[38:48] A said he is doing June. Yeah,

[38:50] it's, I'm pretty sure that was me.

[38:52] Fabulous. Alright, last topic

[38:57] for the evening is a follow-up discussion on the

[39:00] Cabot's board meeting.

[39:02] Anyone wanna just say a thing or two?

[39:09] Honestly, not too much to say.

[39:10] They are in a pickle

[39:13] where they need to make decisions.

[39:15] Yeah. And we are here to listen

[39:18] and have a conversation if they are ready

[39:20] and wanting. And

[39:24] Erin, we haven't had any follow up from

[39:27] you three, you three, two have we?

[39:29] Three. Okay.

[39:31] How many high school students does have it? Have

[39:34] Students?

[39:35] 40 on the books,

[39:38] but they will have probably rent between 23

[39:41] and 26 on campus this year

[39:43] because they had a large number going

[39:44] to CTE had a large number that Norwood

[39:47] Too, didn't they?

[39:49] Early college is part of it. Lottery choice?

[39:56] I'm thinking I might be, so there's something else in there,

[39:58] but quite a few huge chunks. Just all of a sudden

[40:01] 23 freshmen through senior year.

[40:04] 23. Yeah. On, on campus.

[40:06] Which obviously we can understand quickly creates challenges

[40:09] for staffing, for classrooms, things of that nature with,

[40:12] you know, having a vigorous conversation

[40:14] with three kids. Yeah.

[40:16] They've also had the situation of having

[40:18] to put the contracts out in April, not knowing.

[40:21] Yeah. So there are higher,

[40:23] You were off for like five days.

[40:27] Yeah, I was real pleased. Perfect.

[40:33] Is there any interest from the board about having a

[40:37] conversation with Montpelier or Spalding?

[40:42] Should we just wait until after the session is done?

[40:45] I think we should wait. I think we should lead to,

[40:48] you know, I know that Montpelier is having Con has had

[40:51] conversations with Spalding. I mean with

[40:55] U 32 2, there's a lot going on with U 32

[40:59] with our casting their net.

[41:01] And they're talking about like what type

[41:03] of districts can merge.

[41:04] They've changed that one way or the other.

[41:06] So for us to start to explore things

[41:09] and not know how the playing field rules are

[41:10] gonna be laid out for us yet. Right,

[41:12] Right.

[41:13] It's a little premature in that sense,

[41:15] but it also looks like we're hoping

[41:18] that there'll be a bond in November for U 32

[41:22] to be a second campus for the career center.

[41:26] Do you know what that will do to their numbers in terms

[41:29] of ability to take on other students?

[41:32] Probably shrink it for Yeah, We know

[41:34] How to Yeah, no idea.

[41:35] No, well they would be building.

[41:36] There would be, they would be building. Okay. Okay.

[41:39] I wasn't Heard about that. I thought they were gonna

[41:40] just utilize some of the space

[41:41] that was already existing there.

[41:43] There would be some stuff. Okay.

[41:45] All right. Well, we'll we'll stay tuned

[41:47] and we'll have a lot more to talk about in June.

[41:51] Can I can just ask a question, Erin?

[41:52] Just thinking about, I mean maybe this is a conversation

[41:54] for June when we maybe have more information

[41:57] after the session, but around, you know,

[42:01] thinking about moving forward with gathering

[42:04] information from the community.

[42:09] Yeah. So maybe that's, maybe that just needs to go on

[42:11] About what they want for school.

[42:13] Yeah. Once we have information about what we're being told

[42:16] or not told or forced or not forced to do.

[42:19] Thinking about how, and maybe that's just needs

[42:21] to go on the agenda for June is

[42:23] Segue.

[42:25] Erin, I have another agenda item. Yep.

[42:29] Can we talk about what our retreat will be comprised of?

[42:33] What's our plan for our retreat? Sure.

[42:35] In August, generally we do August retreat.

[42:39] Yeah, I'd like to, one of my goals for this year is

[42:41] to have, and I think Twin fruit's, the only one

[42:43] that really did it at all, and I'm wanna do it for the rest

[42:46] of the districts, is to have a yearly work plan

[42:49] and have that help align

[42:51] with the meetings throughout the year.

[42:54] Good. That's Good. Aaron, I hope that's all right

[42:56] with you since I know that's something we've done here

[42:58] before, is come up with a work plan in August

[43:00] and go from there. Sounds

[43:02] Great.

[43:04] Anything else that you all would like to hear about

[43:06] or talk about in June?

[43:11] Okay, well we just need a motion

[43:12] to end our quickest meeting ever.

[43:14] One. One more thing, Erin, Almost Erin

[43:18] Who's gonna pick up the plans.

[43:21] Why don't you, why don't you

[43:23] and I talk about that outside of this meeting?

[43:29] Okay, well done. Well done. I, we adjourn.

[43:32] Alright. Motion from Jana. Second by

[43:36] Kendra.

[43:37] Kendra. All right everyone, thank you so much.

[43:40] One at 6 46. Yes.

[43:43] Alright, thanks everybody. Have

[43:45] A good night.

[43:46] Bye. Bye.

Twinfield School Board Regular Meeting May 12 2025

Transcript