[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.