 So call to order at 639 in Roxbury for the board of the school directors meeting First item is public comment. We have over to the public You guys observing or do you want to do anything to say, you know Yeah, perfect. Thanks for coming Consent agenda and I know that Tina Already raised an issue that we can Yes, and I also think we should probably put them in executive session and just to make a note we are We are gonna have the board and superintendent for well at least the superintendent performs review and executive session And then we can discuss the contracts And The bathroom door doesn't close by the way The one there it's off kilter and it won't Yeah And And then another order of business just before the consent agenda the we have a meeting schedule for April 17th, which is During the spring break So Just the every first and third Did we Okay, that's what I was gonna bring up Libby neither Libby nor I had it on our calendars as the 10th and it's not on the 10th So that's what it will be and that's the date that worked better for you, right? Yeah Okay, perfect So we went a little meander there So motion to move the consent agenda with Second What good check So learning focus school safety update And what we've done so far So when we stepped in we being We targeted safety is an immediate need an immediate concern area It had not been looked at across the district across the district So we started putting eyes on it because we're emerged and we needed to know safety from Roxbury and safety from up here And we recognize not only were Montpelier schools in Roxbury vastly different But also our Montpelier schools were vastly different in what they're doing. So we immediately targeted this When we came in July 2018 there was no district-wide safety committee, that's an aoe requirement There wasn't one in place So we began one We had no district-wide plans. We had no common language We had no count accountability or monitoring for anything that was happening. It was it was school specific completely and totally some schools were Changing to match standards the current standards some were holding tight and true to standards that were well beyond their Their age. So we had none of that in place We had many outside doors in all four of our buildings and fire doors that weren't working properly in buildings Particularly at the high school for the fire doors also in the elementary schools We had no secondary communication system between the building So if our phone went out, we couldn't talk to each other unless we just happened to have cell phones on and those were available But of course cell phone usage doesn't work here in Roxbury at the school So that was a major concern for us We had lack of internet safety procedures. There was basically nothing to protect kids on the internet Nothing system-wide So we had teachers just buying apps and whatever and not thinking about whether or not it's sold student data Or whether or not it was safe for kids or you know anything like that. So we had none of that in place We were lacking an emergency notification system. So this was in This was starting before our time, but we didn't have one when we stepped in and so now we have the Swift What you all get when you get snow as today and now since we all have that now that's brand new this year There was no articulated closing procedures. So it was It was basically in the past my understanding was the superintendent Nobody knew until he actually made that call. So now we have between Mike Berry and myself We have a protocol to follow every single time. So it's the same every single time that we have a delay snow closure Any kind of emergency where we have to access that system? We've also we also made it so that that system is for pretty pretty tight on emergencies only emergencies or information that I need to give to To schools. We're not, you know, allowing parent groups to notify people through it We're not we're not noticing about basketball games where it's basically emergency closures or emergency information We made a conscious decision to do that some schools don't do that We decided to do that because sometimes people start to ignore it if it gets to be used too much And we don't want that to happen. So that's why We had emergency equipment Some emergency equipment in place and some not in place and Emergency equipment that we did have in place it hadn't been trained on or people nobody in the building knew how to use it Because the last training was like 15 years ago so There's like lift chairs in all of our buildings that have second floors They hadn't been taken actually out of the wall and We had emergency some emergency equipment we didn't have defibrillators in our schools We had no bleed kids that kind of thing We didn't have a background check system for volunteers and chaperones It's Vermont law that anybody who's unsupervised with students needs to have a background check in place and that wasn't happening I that was happening here at Roxbury. It was not happening in the Montpelier system We actually stole the system Roxbury was using for a Montpelier And our doorways were blocked with furniture Yeah, yeah, so if there was ever emergency if you let it get out fast There would have been a complete pile up at the door because there wasn't enough room to move So that was from fire. Sorry to interrupt. Sorry sounded like some people just arrived. I'm not sure if they know where to find us Oh, come on! Don't go down the dark hall! Hello So that's what we found When we started in July, that was the position that Andrew and I and Mike, they already knew the technology And just for Bridget and Michelle's benefit Just take a quick scan of the slide. Those are all the things that when Libby came in July We did not have in place that needed to be in place Big job to do I can remember one of my first meetings with my mentor and he said, okay, do you have your safety committee? I said my what? Your safety committee. I said, no, we don't have a safety committee He's like there must be one in play and I said don't think so And he said we'll go check on that So I went back said, Heather, what's our safety committee? Yeah, we don't have a safety committee So we put that in place Actually Andrew is the one who is the facilitator of that Sorry I'm a support person in that I wanted Andrew to take the main role in that So it would give him a different way to get to know our buildings So that was a very cognizant decision So Andrew has, this was not his forte He's learned a lot and done a good job with that So since July 2018, I broke this presentation up into different pieces So within our infrastructure, all of our outside doors and fire doors are fixed and now up to code That was Tom Allen and Andrew really on that right away So that happened very quickly We purchased high quality radios for each school And I have one in my office, Mike Berry has one in his office That can actually communicate between all four schools So they even work from Union to Roxbury or Central Office to Roxbury So should our communication ever go down All of the administrators know that we can turn on the radios Also the buildings use them So you might see principals and assistant principals have those radios on their belt Because we put multiple radios in schools So that the administration could talk to each other Which would come in handy if the kids hiding in the bathroom Or you know, we're on the search, that becomes handy So we do have that in place We now have defibrillators in each of our buildings And we almost have used one scarily in Central Office this year So I'm glad those are there Bleed kits are on the way, what bleed kits are are the tourniquet kits And after a lot of these horrible school shootings have happened When emergency response goes in They say many lives could have been saved If they had just had bleed kits and people were trained to use them Because you could have put a quick tourniquet on and then gone to some place Somebody else So those are on the way, this has been a big push by the fire department And a lot of failure for us to get And Bob has made sure that purchase order is in And they should be here soon, so we'll all be trained to bleed kits Not something you'd like to think about But it's just a reality that we now have And by all, do you mean all staff or? Not all staff will be trained in the bleed kits But we'll have enough for plenty of people should that ever need But you know, staff would most likely be in the building in that time and available So all nurses, all principals, all kind of behavior interventionists And you know, guidance and social work and that kind of thing We'll all be trained in the bleed kits I don't think it's very difficult training at all Let's see here, the chair lifts that I was speaking to Training has already taken place in some instances And it's scheduled to take place in other instances So we'll know how to use those chairs We do have a few kiddos that we need to know how to use those chairs Because of the emergency they wouldn't be able to get downstairs faster Or they wouldn't be able to use an elevator All doors are now out to fire code Furniture has been removed from the doorway So we went room by room by room with Bob and Matt nicely Andrew and myself and talked to teachers about what needed to be removed And what needed to be cleared up so that we don't have that situation anymore In regards to technology, we now have that swift emergency closure Up and running it's called spent You all don't need to know that, it's just what it's called And we also have a procedure in place for emergency and weather cancellations So once that decision is made, I'm on it with Mike Berry Mike Berry's contacting the principals He's putting it up on social media I'm using the Swift and I'm putting it up on WCAX But we have that like a well-oiled machine at this point there That's a practice So we have that procedure in place We recently, this is very recently, signed on with Social Sentinel This is not in place yet, but we just worked out a deal with them Social Sentinel monitors all social media for threats made to the school community So Matt, this was a big one for Matt Nisley, our resource officer to have in place It was a big push for him Because it's been found across the U.S. that many potential shooting events have been averted because of School Sentinel So that was a big push for the police department for us to get And we recently signed on with them We also partnered with Vermont Student Privacy Alliance And I've never spoken about this before They're a vetting group for internet sites and apps with a lens of selling student data We had a large percent of the apps on our student devices that were selling our students data So we now have this group that basically does the vetting for us Whether an app does that or not And can tell us not to use it Tell us exactly what they do with student data and whether or not we make the choice In addition to this piece right here, now all app purchases go through the director of technology Before it was pretty loose with that piece Now Mike has to approve everything so that he can ensure that it's student data and privacy is not being used in a way we don't want to And then we also have, we've talked about this before But procedure for background checks and volunteers And Heather's got a data, Heather and Tracy have a database in their computers So that we know who's gotten it, who hasn't gotten it, how long it lasts and all of that kind of piece And we've gotten an influx of people coming in to get bigger printed, right? Even I know a computer at this point So in regards to technology, we're looking much better than we were when we came in Our Disrequined Safety Committee meets once a month Again it's led by Andrew and it's a requirement of the AOE All four principals are on it, I am on it, the director of procurement and technology is on it Grant is on it, it's a business manager Andrew is director of facilities, Matt Nisley is our safety officer And Bob comes as much as he can to this meeting Our goals for this school year are to build common language and approach to emergency situations So like I said before, all four buildings use different commands for emergency situations Like it's difficult with staff that shares buildings Because they don't know which command is which They were using the same term to mean different things between buildings And that's just not okay, we need to standardize that And at this time and place and where we are with violence at schools There's a national response, national calls that police know and fire know That we weren't there, we weren't at that spot So Matt was having to memorize everything for each building And in a chaotic situation I do not want Matt thinking about where he is and which code means what I don't want him thinking about that nor do I want our principals to be thinking about that So we have common language and a common approach to emergency situations So that all four of our principals know if a building needs to be evacuated They know where the building goes, they know where the kids are going to be They know who's going to call who on the phone tree So if we need street has to evacuate People over there are going to talk to the people at the high school This just happens, so we know how to get that high school involved in that conversation as well We're building that plan for emergency evacuations We have multiple sites around Montpelier and Roxbury One in Roxbury, those where kids go For emergency evacuations should the need arise We will practice that, not now, but eventually we will practice that With the kids, that piece of evacuating to those spaces So that we can test out timing and we can test out what do we need to think about that we're not thinking about right now So we will test that possibly in the spring or fall next year And we're just creating clarity in the procedures between the buildings That's a big piece Andrew with Casey's help in our office is working on an enormous binder That has emergency contact for anybody you could possibly think of Mental health agencies, community liaisons Like I know Jim's number is on there So it's just a wide range of people Should there ever be an emergency that it's at the tip of our fingers All of us will just have that to be able to pull from And if one of us can't get to it, another one can And it's got the same information on it In addition it will have maps of every campus And it will have the route kids take for emergencies and that kind of thing Of course that binder is a private binder, it's a confidential binder Because we wouldn't want anybody with ill means to get their hands on it So we're forming that right now to make sure that everything is in place A major goal of this team is one that nobody likes to talk about So the latest guidance from not only the AOE But also national safety officers Is to go with an options based approach So there was a guidance document that I'm more than happy to share with you From 2015 and when Rebecca Holcomb was at the head That all Vermont schools should be using an options based approach For emergency situations We are not in this camp, we did not go this route We didn't make that switch Every other school district in the state I believe has So we're just now making the shift And so what options, what teachers were trained in before Was that should there ever be an emergency situation you hide You hide, you get your kids you hide in your classroom You shut the doors, shut the blinds, hide your silent And that was it, there was no other option than that I was never trained in any other option than that as a teacher But what they found with the horror that's happening in our schools Is that since teachers are trained in doing that They do that and they're sitting ducks So what the options based is to train teachers That you have options And you need to use your professional judgment in the moment And so some of them are barricade that door If you can't get out safely and you can't get your kids out safely Then put stuff in front of that door Run to safety would be another option Roxbury has doors in all their classrooms Get out and get going if you can That would have never been an option before And have a spot where you all meet Where there's a safe to meet Another option would be to hide Like I don't list them all here But just the idea that there are multiple options That a teacher's going to use in that situation And to train them on that There's many programs out there that have this training The one that Vermont primarily is using That I haven't actually heard of anybody not using this Is the Alice program, it's called Alice So that's what our principals are most comfortable with We have Alice trainers We have three or four Alice trainers Ryan Herry is, Pam is, Matt Roy is There's a YouTube video I don't know if you've seen it Which is Run, Hide, Fight And it's from Alice and anybody can watch it It's a good premise of what you do And I have to be quite I'll be blatantly honest with you This is an area that I am not comfortable in And I'm not comfortable talking about And I think of my kids And I don't want them I don't want them practicing this I have young kids I had a hard time in my former district Because I fight like to the nails with my superintendent Who wanted to go full bore Like there's lots of different options you can do Wanted to go full bore And I said as a mother If you had my kids doing that I'd be so angry with you So this is hard for me So that we're at this stage But we have to, we have to do this It's just, it's what people say Is best practice now to keep as many teachers Kids safe as we possibly can So the team, the administrative team Has decided on using the Alice program So we still have some questions That we're working on right now When to do the training When to officially switch all the language We haven't officially done that So it's not on the back of our cards yet The old language is still on the back of some of our cards And to what extent do we involve the students That's possibly the biggest question for me To handle I think about my mother Who did bomb dip drills And was underneath the desk with her head And that she can tell me that Like almost verbatim As to what the teacher used to say to her And what she felt and all that kind of things And I don't want my kids feeling that So that's a big question for us I think that might be a question for the community Yeah To have a conversation with parents about What that training might look like And how comfortable would they be With their kids doing it And is it different for different age levels? Yes How we scale it to different ages Yeah I know like Mrs. Mello and the kindergarten teacher At Union used to tell the kids For the clear of the halls There's a skunk We need to go in the closet Because there's a skunk in the hall And no one gets sprayed by the skunk This year I think somebody One of the kindergarten teachers Maybe Mrs. Mello has talked about That there was a dog that was out of control And we needed to keep you safe From that dog that was out of control So there are different ways to talk To different levels of kids Like I was Again I was in plenty of debates Over this in my former district And I can remember the high school principal Saying well the high school kids would want to fight And I was like I don't care I don't care if they want to fight or not I don't want them to That's not what I want to teach them I want the teachers to know what to do In this situation And kids will listen to the adults Around them Because teachers will know what to do Kids will be texting their parents Which is what happened last year Kids will be texting their siblings At the middle school And the whole middle school will fall apart Because And that's why we need to have that communication system Between the schools So that the middle school can get on the loudspeaker And say it's okay, things will be fine While we're in the situation To calm anxiety a little bit So this is a huge question And so I don't want anybody to come away Thinking that we're not taking that question Incredibly seriously because we are And quite honestly I think as a superintendent In terms of we need to get this in place And we need to do it well And I'm a mom of The point where I want my kids to know In that situation And those two things sometimes are at odds So it's a real struggle for me there too But this is a piece that will be part of our work For that June professional day on Monday One of the ideas that's being put We have to do a full day training with Alice In all of our buildings And one of the ideas is to use that day To do Alice training with the staff Which I think would be probably a good use of that day It may not happen for that day But that's one of the things we're thinking about So anyway, questions Can you tell me, Libby? I've lost track of the timeline But Governor Scott got some money to do A statewide assessment of all of the school safety issues And he's going to make problems Resolve any problems that might have existed Have we had any assessment by AOE? Has anything come of? Not that I know that we've had assessment We've gotten the safety grant money And a lot of that construction will be happening this spring and fall So we have, I forgot what it's called But I think here at the middle school And at the elementary school at the front Of the doors where people come in the most So here, this is a good example It's just a one entryway And a person is in there in You could close that door going down to the classrooms But this is wide open and everything It's to make another door So somebody has to be led into that door And then be led into another door I can't remember what that's called It's totally blanking out here right now A breezeway, I don't know Yeah, a breezeway or an airlock So there's two doors, for example, at the high school But the buzzer's outside of the first door Right, and you get in both The high school, they didn't approve our funding To fix that up, which was really interesting We didn't understand why But they did at the other three buildings So the other three buildings should have that in place And there's a few other pieces of the safety grant But what happens between the first door and the second door? It's like four feet It slows somebody down And you'll have a video of the person Oh, I see It won't keep them out It just slows you down Here's my take on a lot of this And I could probably be upset It's not like if Kim Led somebody through the first door As they take the two steps to the second door She's not going to change her mind About writing them in the second door I think a lot of some Some of the things that are being suggested for safety Are false senses of safety So I think about it In the school I was assistant principal And co-principal in NSX Had a school shooting the year before I came Two years before I came That person, the staff knew him The staff would have buzzed him in automatically But they knew him It was a former boyfriend of a teacher Yeah, so like They wouldn't even thought twice to buzz him in And I know that because I'm friends with the ladies You know, they were my assistants Actually that superintendent has said To me, he wished that the buzzer wasn't there Because Someone actually let them in And so it's a purposeful Yeah And then you think about like Look at this room that we're in right now Are we making all of those bulletproof glass? I mean, if a person wants to get in They're gonna get in, you know So I think that's the point with the options-based approach Is that let's train our teachers To be as smart and savvy And understanding of situations As we possibly can That they do have options That it's okay And so, you know, when you train I equate it a little bit To learning how to shoot a foul shot in basketball You do the same movement over and over Again, you know, so if we've got the same training Involved with putting teachers In different scenarios Then they're gonna get better at it You know, they're gonna be able to think a little bit better On their feet I just wanted to echo Michelle's point That I think this would be a good topic To have some community engagement around To fill the FAO It is a real concern for parents Absolutely is And it should be right We all can feel the same way That before it gets rolled out Is an exchange Having those conversations And there's some extremes You know, that people will not be doing Like one person told me One person in education told me We should have every kid have a pet rock On their desk And I was like, don't you dare put a pet rock on my kids Because I have no way Do I ever want an adult To tell my child That it's okay to throw a rock And a stranger in a room Some people are going to that extent Because they're scared You understand that perspective And at the same time We don't need it We don't need that So in terms of involving Can I just stay on this for a second In terms of involving the community Our options are A parent night You two seem to think What would that look like An invitation to come And talk about safety in the school So each school Has a Like a PTA They all have monthly meetings And they usually have a topic And so it could be a topic At one of those meetings Those meetings are really poorly attended So you would have to do Some outreach in advance To say we're thinking About training everybody And that might be scary To people come talk about it Together But just to get people to process it Even if they are going mainly If their main way of processing Is to go crazy on Facebook Which we'll probably have At least it has everybody Working through all the different arguments This is a very Fragile and sensitive issue I think How we go about approaching this With the community should be Thoughtful in terms of the process I don't know if the PTA Group is the best way to go Maybe it is the best way to go Maybe going through Having administration And the PTA come together and say How do we do outreach on this Outreach alone can even Cause a lot of concern As it should to a certain extent But how do we engage With the community in this In a productive manner Another good thing we have on our side For being so late In this work is that Other districts have done this They've made their mistakes And we can learn from them My kids are in CESU And I know that I get Very thoughtful parent letters Multiple times a year Concerning this I also get phone calls And Jericho Alimentary was Evacuated twice in the fall Because of a gas leak So they had to use that procedure They got a lot of practice I don't think my kids ever gone to church so much Because of their evacuation place So every time we got a phone call From the district saying This happened, this is what I think their process is really thoughtful And it makes me feel okay as a parent And my child has never done anything Other than the typical Clear the halls and what Our kids have already done In Montpelier We know about it as parents So I've been keeping all of those Throughout the year I think we can learn a lot from Other school districts and how they're communicating With the parent community Most definitely One thing that I've noticed From the Facebook situation With regard to the lead in the water Is that all of the Parents on friends of Montpelier schools Saying Why am I only hearing about this on Facebook But they had All received Letters from their principal Letter from you via the principal Regular communication And obviously You know Facebook is a little more compelling Than the principal's weekly letter Sorry principal I like this one so much But I wonder whether I think that parents Particularly of younger students Pay more attention to communication From their classroom teacher You just referred to that a minute ago So it might be that the most Effective way of reaching parents Is communication directly From their classroom teacher And then maybe doing a District event rather than a Four different PTAs event But to have the initial communication With the classroom teachers Then having a district event That's specifically on that That makes it a little bit of a big deal Yeah especially the elementary school If you put something like in their folders That's where I get it Her weekly folder Yeah and that's where I think The issue really is because I think At the high school level I think kids can process it And they're very aware Of the threat To a first or second grader The concept is Can be very scary and With a desk drill And the other question I'd love to have answered is How Effective is it to Involve the kids? How effective and necessary And to what extent So one parent I don't remember who it was But one parent did email Ryan Who Ryan by the way thankfully Is very knowledgeable in this And an excellent communicator I find With parents in particular So I think we have a good person at the helm To be doing this at the elementary school So And Ryan actually was one of the first people to say This isn't in place What's happening But one parent did Send an article from the Atlantic Or something saying we can do this without the kids And Ryan's like yeah we can You know we can do this without the kids We just have to make it We just have to make decisions about that We haven't had a chance as a leadership team To discuss it Tina you've been very patient That's okay The police chief in Montpelier Tony Would also tell you That given the last few years We've had some incidents I think we tend to think in Vermont It's not going to happen here It's not going to happen to us And so we have to be ready for it So Right Well the issue of not involving the kids I always say in other organizations Is where I've dealt with Tony And that our kids are better Than anybody at a fire drill If you ask a parent Parent group if we had a fire drill In this school it's the parents You'll have to watch out for The kids know exactly what to do So there is something to Sort of as you said Have that memory ready For us in charge or the kids in charge Of what do you do So you're just not all crazy when it happens And I think the police chief Would say that And they're very much A part of these conversations So Matt is very close with them Well I'm thinking that also About the community discussion It's the parents of the elementary kids That we want to inform that it actually Could happen here And we have to have a procedure in place The issue of what you tell the kids So now we're being thoughtful about that And we're taking our time and deciding Of the student piece most definitely We'll learn a lot from other places But we do need to get on it For our staff most definitely So those plans are in place Yeah and I think this is probably Also difficult to talk about but The importance of having these procedures in place Because one of the things that's coming out with The Madouglas tragedy was that there are A lot of procedures that were simply not followed That could have made a difference in that situation And it's hard to know them When it's an emergency If you've never practiced them before Reading them on a card Isn't going to do it And I think they That a place like that Probably had very similar mentality of It's not going to happen here But if you haven't listened to the Podcast about Fairhaven It's a five episode podcast from VPR Just do it one day when you're cleaning your house That's when I did it I mean I literally listened all five and one day It was not a huge deal But it's definitely eye opening It was very well done It was eye opening and it was It showed what the school Needed to do for that situation So I highly recommend people listen To that podcast That's it Thank you So We are shockingly running on schedule Come on, Jim, give yourself more credit You sound surprised I'm actually surprised at how frequently We're on schedule There are other boards that I've been around It's a very efficient board It is very efficient board So discussion Budget Plan budget information night Which is the fifth And Roxbury town meeting Just Decision about what our plan should be For disseminating information about the budget To the community Including Right now we have Lined up and I don't know if he's putting together The details She and I are going to Mostly she Who are we talking about Are going to present As we always do It's changed a little because we're not Technically part of the city anymore Are we doing it with the city? No, we're doing it separately I think we're going to do it either in the cafeteria Or the library at high school On the fourth and the evening On the evening January 4th March 4th We're going to send it ahead It wasn't So we're going to do that I have an op-ed with a bridge That I'm waiting to hear back Whether or not Mike Duffy is going to publish it It's informative It says wonderful things about the budget But it's fairly informative And I think that's most of What we have planned For Montpellier We're not doing a postcard thing this year Because one, we didn't get out In the past years And then we looked into We still had good results So we looked at the cost And the cost was not Do you remember what it was? Yeah It's a lot So we're going to do the information night Yeah I think it's also a pretty straightforward budget I think next year when we're probably having A budget that's going to be around Some more initiatives We might want to do But I think we'll be doing things throughout the year To Montpellier At the high school, 6 to 7 On March 4th And Heather's putting together a flyer Flash warning for that Over the next day or two It's a great budget But I don't think it's a budget that requires A ton of explaining And Roxbury's town meeting So Ryan's talked about it a little bit You want to talk about that a little bit more? Yeah, I guess maybe some of the Montpellier folks understand This will be a big change for Roxbury this year Last year, the transition was a little bit different Because the old districts still existed So historically, Roxbury's town meeting Is split between the town and the school district So literally it's half the day For the school and half the day for the town We have always done a budget presentation Like we're doing on the 4th Which, like we saw for our district last year Was usually not terribly well attended And In years past The school board is either given a presentation Or it's fairly involved What the school board had done at town meeting And I just wanted to kind of discuss A little bit with the board Maybe what the precedent would be going forward I personally Don't think it makes sense With the new district for the Roxbury representatives To really spend time at town meeting Doing anything because it's not part of Town meeting anymore When I did know this year, I've been getting a lot of questions In town, like, do you say, here, town meetings look Going to be an hour this year? What's going on at town meeting? And I would think, well there even be a lunch This year And so it will be a big change This year and I just kind of wanted to have A quick discussion maybe about what the precedent should be And to be a little on the same page So Do you have an Australian ballot or you vote by Off the floor? So our budget will be on Australian ballot But then the rest of the town stuff is on the floor And are there legal limits On whether you can talk about the stuff That's on Australian ballot? I don't think, so we would have In the past, the Roxbury school board's budget Would have been Australian ballot As it was required to be But you would still have questions It doesn't mean anything because you're still voting But we wouldn't change the budget on the floor But you would More often than not Could you change the budget on the floor? Not when it's on the Australian ballot Because it's been warned My experience in the past As a board member for Roxbury has been You kind of recreate the budget presentation again On the floor Which is kind of silly We can do it We can't Grant and I could do the same Presentation that we do In the informational hearing in Montpelier Here in Roxbury during town meeting It's not going to be a half day presentation But then So this is where I guess a little bit tricky Because technically there's nothing on The town meeting agenda for the school district Because we have our own meeting So when I talked with the Roxbury town clerk who's also the District town clerk About what are you guys thinking about Town meeting this year She and the moderator had said That they had discussed Maybe at the end of Roxbury town meeting There's time for other stuff That maybe at least I would want to do Something then But that's really kind of just Piggybacking on in an informal way So it's not like Even if you and Grant did want to come down To present that We'll be here to support you if you want We can say it will happen at this time Or it's on the agenda it would just be Is there any other business The one that needs to be addressed At town meeting Lisa and I as Roxbury representatives We'll have questions for you Could in It's probably too late for this year's town meeting But could in future years it be An official item On town meeting We're totally separate now We have our own district Because it's not like a town business Yeah Definitely couldn't be changed on the floor Because Roxbury couldn't pass A budget that was different than the districts It's just an opportunity when the community Is already together To talk about it I'll represent it as an elected member We could stand there and talk Or get asked questions Especially at this point Where the tax rates are frozen Do you think people are more interested In like how it's going How the words are going An update on sort of how it works And who goes where and when the buses run That tends to be a lot of What the questions come down to You'll have some budget hawks Or this change this or that change that And we want some specific answers But more often than not it's Hey what are they doing in our class So it's kind of the more of a promotion Of the district and the schools Your budget hawks I don't think Roxbury's tax rate is going down as Or That's what it is It can't go any lower based on the law People still like to think that So I know it's maybe precedent setting But I think it's nice For the superintendent to be here Oh I'm already planning on being there Because that when I was the principal Of the school I liked it When the superintendent was there Oh great and I will both be here For that we just need to know what time It's on our schedule Great and kind of back to Bridget's question Because I know that There's a kind of a Zone where you can't Talk about items Yeah That was a thing there was like a meeting Where they talked about some things in an Australian ballot And at the meeting you couldn't talk about stuff That was where that question was It wasn't school issues it was the town It was like campaigning Because you're not allowed To talk about any items on the ballot Past a certain point At the voting place Within 200 feet or something Yeah So if you're actually This is not where they vote For that It is So everything happens in the town hall Even the polling places In the corner I was told not The ballots in the machine While the meeting is still happening Because no one's noticed I think it might Potentially an issue too Because I think the idea Is that people aren't supposed to be hovering over you And pressuring you In the actual moment of voting You could call the secretary of state's office Yeah So I could run up past the town clerk And the district clerk of the same person I could chat with her about that concern She's pretty on the ball She would know this Or it's somehow okay in this situation Because she does seem to be She would know So in the past you had an Australian ballot And you still had Half the day as a school issue In the same building Where people voted Where people had already voted Or were in the process In the process of voting That doesn't seem like a lot of work Something wrong Don't like her Ew That is strange So I'll be there most of the day Sounds like you'll be there Later in the day too Yeah, do you know what time it is? It starts at 10 And then it really depends on You should just come at lunchtime Like 11.30 or noon Hang for lunch You guys serve I'm good I'm good at serving those She's the fundraiser meal for the school I'm pretty good at serving those By this point Alright I will plan on coming at 11.30 And I will bring my cohort with me That was my suggestion, you might check in with Missy is that when lunch is happening Do you know? Or at a One person's time is going to be about an hour About an hour Others say probably 12 A couple 12 hours and 12 o'clock The moderator Is it Cinda again? It would also be another good person To talk to if you're here They just don't know I talked to Steve 12 like about how long Conversations go on And generally longer than anticipated So anything more on the The The Roxbury meeting Or the information night Our books are aggregated Yes, so it's all All lumped together Exactly We get them separately We see them separately We get them separately Because they're reported out In terms of what counts The total The total total I recall last year they were Relatively proportional In terms of yes and no Yeah Okay, so board superintendent Performance reviews We knew the board portion An open session I really put this report together I have to admit I wrote it quickly But I think the overall I think I'd like to say I'm not going to read it all But I actually think We've done a great job Kind of coming together Putting this new district together I know that it's required A lot of work On all your parts And everybody's pitched in really well I want to give a special shout out to Bridget Who has navigated through the policies Wonderfully not that everybody doesn't deserve A shout out but And the whole policy Committee Ryan And Steve for really guiding That process we kind of almost started from scratch But everybody has stepped up Putting together the superintendent evaluation Process we didn't have in place before Stuffing up for negotiations I think a really Great job On getting this District off the ground and pitching in And taking the responsibility seriously And taking the work seriously So I'm really super pleased With the effort we've all Put together I also think we've kind of Tightened up some procedures Particularly kind of communication With the administration I think it had fallen apart a little Just because of the situation That we were in But I think we've tightened up some procedures I think the Roles and lanes are a little Clear but both clear and I also think People feel a little maybe more empowered In their lanes So and there's just In terms of places to work I think We can always work on Communication and kind of When to communicate out and How to communicate out Obviously we had I think we had a learning experience For the after school program And we've also I think had Some good communication issues too Moving the transportation issue forward And I think we did a very good job Of involving the community And Libby brought parents in And I think that was an issue that Had kind of hit a suddenly block for a year That we did a very good job of Moving through So that's just kind of My overview, again thank you everyone I'd love to just open it up for feedback And also feedback on what I could do better Because this is A relatively new role for me also And We'll decide next meeting whether I Continue again but I would like to But I'd love to Hear feedback on what I can do better And what kind of The information you've gotten from Libby and me What's worked, what hasn't What could be more helpful Etc. I think particularly on The board getting the information it needs And then The board And the community and the administration Communicating what needs to be communicated I'll start Go ahead Libby I was the newest member I'll start I think you're doing an incredible job I just want to give you major kudos And I hope you I'm very glad to hear that you're planning You're doing a really tremendous job So thank you very much In terms of improvement I think one thing One area where we can continue to improve Is on the communication side And I think that goes for the board And the administration And when you were talking before Michelle About how well we send things home But it comes up on Facebook I think we can do a better job of leveraging Numerous platforms at the same time When information goes out I think we can use A coordinated strategy that will To all those platforms at once So that we don't have these lags going on I think And that's like a simple thing These aren't like This is like a really small thing But I think it can have a big impact For the community in terms of feeling more involved In just getting Better access to information more promptly That's my only thought Yeah, I think that's a great suggestion And I noticed actually a parent Did that with some stuff on Swoop Scoop That was really good That I actually saw on Facebook before I saw it in Swoop Scoop But Ryan shared Some stuff on Race in Vermont and Race in our schools That actually Libby and I had seen at the BSBA conference A lot of the movie Yeah It was very well done We're just proud of our people Me too I live here too Yeah I'm from here too I had Emmanuel And his daughters Famous people Speaking of those types of movies Has anybody here seen that The new NEA film about diversity And racial issues in Vermont schools There's a number of Montalier students Who were interviewed and it's You're talking about the same Oh, is it the same? Oh, sorry It's great But there's a Where Ryan set it out And then someone put it on Facebook And my guess is The Facebook hit More people than Ryan's post The person who put it on Facebook was just a parent Instead of the school This is an important point Lisa Because there's a Facebook group Called Friends of Montalier Schools And many, many more subscribers Than school And so all of the parent conversation Happens in Friends of Montalier Schools Instead of happening in the school So We need to get those people Moved over so that they Get that That's a really good point Michelle For people to subscribe to the school feed Yeah Because everything that goes out Is on school Facebook, school Twitter Like it's on all three platforms And I'm appreciating With being someone with no Children in the school system Getting all of the Newsletters from the principal Being on the board that helps I think if you don't have a child In the elementary school for example So I appreciate getting all of that And I will say also I think you're a great chair And that I Have appreciated communication From you about things That happened so that When somebody asks me They say I don't say Well I don't know anything about that And their answer is but you're on the board I wouldn't know anything about that So you know whether it's Even if it's that I can't say anything But I've got a line that I'm supposed to say I appreciate that I think that the learning Focus, parts of the meeting have been great I really appreciate that Both for keeping that content Coming And if there's content you want to see Then just make sure we know I didn't actually mention Jim recently I think it's now on the queue Because I saw it in something But I was thinking when you were talking about Communication and parent outreach That we now have things happening At almost every meeting Sort of substantive content That I think a lot of parents would Access So I would just put out in the hopper Trying to think about ways To make that more accessible You know that they wouldn't have to Start the work of video and watch the whole Oh just take pieces Out of it You just did this great presentation Of what's going on You could turn it into a 10 minute video That we could put out Parents wanted to see that piece Could watch it On our website And what we could do Is do it on the website and just copy Over the time That's actually my job And I just want to jump from the ball on that Party a good healthy state That's a good idea I do have to say The people in my age group Who's talked to me Sit and watch the entire School board meeting from the beginning To end They asked good questions They're watching They're watching I'd like to see more of them I was just going to mention At the last board meeting when the students Participated Members participated I thought they had great ideas You could tell that they had worked That they had worked on that I don't know how to encourage that to happen More often but except to just thank them For the time they do it I thought that was a really important voice That we need to have at the board level Thank you for that Clearly she's been working with them About the process, the format I love them Thank you I love the presentation Of their time in Mississippi Oh they just got back That's actually why they're not here Tonight because they went And they had some makeup stuff to do Like that Yes, yes They had some work going on They're a major addition to the board I know they've been doing fantastic I don't know if I can add this But both Emma and I Think also in the audio Were really instrumental to talk about Got informed as well So I don't know if that worked But they'd be really helpful for that Conversation as well Not to volunteer though Let's make sure we blame you That's fine I think it would be good if we had To talk about professional development For the board I mean actually I feel like The superintendent's presentations And the students presentations Those are professional development So I think we've been getting quite a bit But what we would like to get As a board to focus on Functioning as a board As opposed to learning about I don't know if people have thoughts about that But we had talked at our retreat About having some training on diversity Equity and inclusion That's still on my radar or something I'd like to do as a board And I believe that's one of my duties And that's why I'd love for you all to talk about What you'd like me to do To make sure that you have in place Or else I'm guessing VSBA at their annual Meetings For Has done some great presentations On And workshops on those topics And I got a lot out of them But mostly Nobody goes But if we could bring them To us That would be good And things like equity and diversity They've had Other trainers They bring in outside trainers Well Jim and I went to a session on how to hire Staff Yeah They've had some really good Workshops And speakers On equity and diversity And inclusion Which is a really fascinating one That was about food allergies Which I don't think that much about But there's a whole Curriculum about Being an allergy ally And having the whole school conform With food allergy stuff In order to like lift up their Classmates who have allergies Rather than making fun of them So Something I hadn't thought about But it was a cool workshop Anyway, they have lots of fun And since we're in the same town If they had somebody coming For a day workshop Or something maybe they could hook on And they do something for our board I wonder if having Is on actual communication Especially with Social media, managing social media Getting stuff out, platforms None of us with the possibility of Andrew Is a professional communicator It's been a while though Yeah, it's been a while And It's an art form And we have A communicator, I think All of us learning How do you give people Off of friends But how do you Take some of those discussions And give people the places where they're getting Information How do you handle some of the swirls That happened on social media That post that had 85 comments Do you comment Or do you not comment Worst or better by trying to I think What some people would say With the Friends of Montpelier situation Is you already have this big Collaboration Of folks that you want to communicate with Just use it Yeah, just use it Why try to shift them elsewhere Just start incorporating that into your repertoire If you know that there's such a Maybe we send it there when we send something Yeah, but there's The issue I have with that Is when you start communicating to A self-selected private audience You're not communicating with other audience That's the problem We could talk with one of the organizers And administer it Can I have instructed my principals Not to go there It's not healthy for them We can talk As a board We know some of the main Organizers Of that group We can talk with them about Keying off of Our site to bring more information there But I think there's a communication role For the administrators And slightly different Because I think Libby should not be playing in the Friends of Montpelier school space at all But I think we have Some role And figuring that role out And other platforms too Is tricky And I'm not sure any of us really know how to do it I don't It would be nice to get a training Yeah, some sort of training Yeah, so I would definitely Agree that the communications team makes sense What would be envisioned for these trainings Would we think about piggybacking them On to a normal meeting Or maybe have smaller retreats More frequently throughout the year Like how would we legitimately Commit ourselves to making this happen Don't know about you guys, but our board meetings Tend to run fairly late Thinking about adding on another hour of training For a meeting that isn't productive in my mind It's like how are we going to do this I would think it's like a half day here Yeah Yeah Let me and I give it some thought Because it would be kind of Time too Because But I think Those couple of issues If we had a half day on each Would be very helpful It actually might work even better To put in We have a terrible time finding a half day In the summer that everybody's going to be here Maybe it would be more logical To put it in the calendar Sometime during the school year And maybe we'd have better luck Yeah No, I agree Especially maybe in spring When we're Coming off the budget Yeah, we're off the budget He's got a little looser here Yeah Okay, well we'll Come back with some more concrete How to do that Just one second When you started on that Topic It sounded like you were Interested in training for the board And how to function as a board Early on topics Yeah, that too But I think these two topics That's going to drive me I just don't want to lose that Because I think that would be helpful also And that's something you can do At a board meeting I think I don't think it has to be Well BSBA has to have a lot of Tree plan, webinars And that would definitely be something That we could take advantage of from BSBA Our membership has historically been But maybe at this current board Yeah, we'd embrace it And We talked in the past about New board members Now we have all the Board members that are coming That are up for election of the Board members that are here So that'll be okay for the next round But I think it's important to talk about When you have somebody new that comes on What is it, what's the And what do we do You know It's not a pilot Not a committee assignment For example, going to those New board member things, I went to them too But people have not gone And what is, maybe it's a discussion With somebody who's running to say This is our expectation What do we do Doesn't the expectations policy Outline that the new board members Are given some of the All the policies and given The expectation It doesn't say that But I think we can formalize it The SBA, you know, sent it to me On behalf of all of you Actually I have found the BSBA training Helpful I've gone to it Three times Oh, the in-person training Yeah, I haven't Unfortunately I have time for that I have looked at some of the materials To get people going So who is up for reelection You were for a short term You're coming on board Steve and I are both up for reelection We're running And opposed, as is Lisa Yeah, okay, good And are you running for a full term Or are you running for a partial term Or don't you know How do you run for a partial term Well, because you came Peter was up for a regular Okay, so you're running for a full term Because if Peter was not up for reelection I think you would have had to have been like I was like, was there a way that I could have been like You could do what Bridget did You could run for the board like five times Yeah, Bridget did that She came in when someone left And they had a year left And so she ran for the year And then ran again If Peter was up for Peter would have been up for reelection Right Yeah Great Anything else on that Or should we Break into executive session Could we Could I be part of the Evaluation Committee Oh yes, yes So we want to Tina wants to be on the Evaluations Committee And everybody on the way I'm just going to do things with a good idea Of doing negotiations So thank you for reminding me of that She did it for like half of the session I can't It said no, thank you I think it was before the ground But it was worth it So you need a motion on that Yeah, a motion to Add a member to the Super Evaluation Committee And then I'm going to do that Second All in favor Great, thank you Tina for reminding me of that So can you please refresh the public Who Who all is on this committee Uh I'm the chair I'm Bridget, Natina, and Lisa And Becky is doing an awesome job as chair That's actually the whole board It is a big committee That's a quorum of the board Should it not be a quorum of the board Is that right? I don't think it matters I don't think it matters Because it would still be a warning At like a normal meeting Which we do You wouldn't be taking board business We have an agenda We actually are pretty rigid I am her chair Good chair She keeps us right at it It might be worth writing by Pietro Just to make sure That I was trusting our parliamentarian over here I'm pretty sure we're okay But Robert's rules is not with me this evening Does Robert's rules control Or is it I would be more concerned about Whether it's secretary of state Yeah Should we hold off Should we hold off on approving this until We're ready to present We're ready to present We can remove someone I mean The legal problem I could see Is if the board wanted to Yeah We don't like these two people So we're going to form A five person committee And do all their business there And not invite them That would not be cool So let's clear that out You're going to have to play rock, paper, scissors Yeah That's true I can just observe You could be ex-officio I could be ex-officio Or emeritus or something Actually, now that I think about it I was thinking in the beginning That's what you said I think that's what you said at the beginning That these people would be on And you just sit in But I think I did get appointed So We may have to have a meeting We'll take a look at the minutes Okay So We need a motion We need first a motion that The Ground We're doing contract negotiations too Yeah, thanks for coming Yeah, it's great to see you It's great to see you So yes, we are So we need a motion to move And then discussing contract negotiations In public session We've put the district at a disadvantage Second? Second All those in favor? Aye Any opposed? And then we're going in for two reasons Yes So we move that we enter executive session For the purpose of discussing contract negotiations And employee evaluations Second Aye All those in favor? Aye Second