 Good evening everybody. It was a beautiful day. I hope everybody had a chance to step out at least for five minutes. We're going to get started with our meeting today, September 22. We're going to call the meeting to order at 6.03 tonight. Welcome. Reception of guests. Welcome to our guest. I know there are a few people have already mentioned that they want to speak. Please raise your hands and everybody please try to have your muted. So that everybody can hear and we don't have any background noise if possible, please. Let's get started. Let me see here. Public comments. Natasha, go ahead. Good evening. Thank you. First, I wanted to thank Jen for taking time to speak with me the other day about extra funds and how they were going to be used. And also thank you for the email and your response. In terms of my, my question about the school participating in the day of action on October 14. But the reason why I want to speak this evening is because I received the. Life touch photos for my kids. And this is something that I've brought to the attention of their previous school district as well. They are constantly being photographed in incorrect lighting. And so their pictures never turn out correctly. And they always have to get re redone. So I do request that when working with life touch or anybody else that there's a photographer that understands how to photograph kids brown and black kids, so that they're not appearing in the shadow. And we can actually see our children's faces when they have their pictures taken. Thank you. Thank you. Hi. Who is this. Can you please identify yourself. Sorry. Okay, sir. Yeah. Yeah. Can you mute yourself or were you trying to say something. Thank you. Just wait a minute. Thank you Natasha. Just trying to let you know I was here. Okay, thank you for being here. Yeah, now we have we have quorum. Yeah. Thank you. Natasha, thank you for your input will will will look into that. Thank you very much for making it making us aware. Okay. Let's move on any agenda revisions from board members. I don't see. I don't see you. I don't see everybody but I am assuming there's none. Please speak up if there is any floor. It's not a revision. I'm wondering if I know the chat is completely disabled. If it could be where we can chat to the host. Sometimes when my internet's getting a little wonky I like to let the host know that I, and I just do a private one or if somebody is unmuted I might say can you let so and so know, but right now you can't chat to anybody. Okay, Mark, can you get on that please. So it should be able to chat to you and to Jen and myself co hosting. Thank you. Thank you, Lindy. I would like to add if it's okay with the board at the very end if we get through it. We just forgot the board had asked for a report in the career center and the VSBA and I have just very, very short reports in both. If we get through the agenda, I'll include that if that's okay with the board. Okay, so moving right on. Board retreat, do the briefing. I'm going to open it up for it for for Jen. To walk us through. Yeah. All right, so good evening everybody. When we last had the retreat we had been going through the ping pong protocol to talk through your analysis of where you were relative to your goals and where we might be relative to the implementation report and you all have the chance to report out on the next step. We ran out of time so I've been thinking about the work that you did what you expressed and and the logical next steps and I essentially have a proposal, which is that when I read what you all were writing about. I think most of what you were thinking about was needing to stick with the three goals you've identified so around long term planning. Community engagement and student achievement, but to really write smart goals in each of those three areas that seem to be a theme. The other pieces that came out of that in terms of for example, strengthening internal trust connecting with your students, I think those are going to emerge as you get more specific around the writing of smart goals. So that would be my, that would be my thought right now. I didn't want to assume that you or any person in the community understand what a smart goal is because, although we throw that word around a lot sometimes in the world of education or business we use language that can be planating just because we throw acronyms around, and we assume that people know what we're talking about so to break it down just quickly. A goal should be specific. And there's some tightening up to do and in your current goals and my humble opinion so really the who and the what you want those goals to be measurable. If they're long term goals, then to be able to create some benchmarks along the way to check in and make sure you're on target would be helpful to them to be attainable so realistic and reasonable. I do want them to be relevant. So when you think about overall what we're trying to accomplish in Washington Central and your roles and responsibilities as board members, you want the goals to be relevant. And then again, really time oriented with a deadline. So, there are templates that we could use a common template with some guiding questions, some of which are somewhat similar to the growth coaching model that I've talked to you about in the past. And, and my recommendation would be that we break down into some smaller working groups, each of each small working group tackle a goal that is sort of speaking to you and then we bring those back for for feedback and final drafting together at the next board meeting. So I am open to your thoughts and feedback about that process or anything that you want to add. You know, Jen, you explained it all perfectly. So, we just want to feedback from you we don't want to assume that that's what you wanted to do that was our intent but so if we have, you know, thumbs up that this is what you all feel or if you have some feedback or clarification questions please raise your hand. Yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense and I'm, I think we should volunteer the student quality committee to draft the student achievement goal. Do we have agreement with that. Could you guys just lift your hand thumbs up. Okay, it's Steven, I don't see. I think I want to make sure that Steven look looking at it would be appropriate to that committee draft a recommendation. Okay, not draft the goal. Okay, okay so quite at quite committee at quality committee will draft the student achievement. Any other comments or try find questions from board members. Questions. Would it be, would it be appropriate for maybe the finance committee to do a long term, try to come up with a recommendation for a long term. Go. Okay. Yes. Okay, so finance. We don't have a recommendation for a long term. And then if we break another small group we don't really have a community engagement group yet. But if we could break a little group for that. Or join us. Maybe the agenda group could work on that. Okay. Jen, do you want to. So that all sounds great. And I, when I, you know, when I've done the growth coaching there's a question in there that it's the T for tech tactics and it's exactly how and when for this happen right so now we've identified how, but it, I, I would. I would invite you to decide when you're going to do this at the end and have a deadline so that we can come it back, come back to it with a whole group otherwise my concern would be that it would go on and on so what I would invite you all to consider is that your next meeting you put this on the agenda as one of the things you're going to do and then we commit to bringing back the drafts in preparation for the next regular board meeting the third week of October. So that's something that feels realistic to everybody. Not. Yeah, I see a lot of nodding. I have a proposal, just because I had different plans for the agenda planning committee and carry knows this. So I was hoping the agenda committee could take on a, the superintendent evaluation with with carry a chair in that. So, I'm wondering if you guys would be open to maybe having our newest four members lead the community engagement a goal with that be okay. Jonas, or if you wanted to join them with, I don't know that does that sound good for you guys to come to us with a recommendation. Yes. Yeah, I mean as a new member who's, I don't think on a committee it unless I miss something I would be happy to take that on. It might be useful to have one experienced member kind of working with us be helpful. Could I have a volunteer before I volunteer Steven. I'll volunteer. Okay. Yeah, so I'll pop in to say that's the only group of which I'm not, you know, we're obviously it's not a regular meeting group. So if you wanted to coordinate and I'm happy to provide some guiding questions and templates and support to you all. If somebody will just reach out in terms of scheduling that. Okay. So that I see you nodding. Yes, sir. Yeah, I'm happy to. Okay, great. So Lisa, do you have that to be versa, my client and Steven. Sorry, I, I, I kind of lost you so the agenda steering committee is going to work on a drafting a what goal. So agenda, forget about that. Okay, so you had the recommendation it for for achievement will come from at quality. Yes, I have that. And then finance finance committee. I got that they will recommend a long term goal but I don't know more specifically. Okay. And then the, the community engagement goal is going to come from this new form committee. Okay. All right, and I'll be Steven look. Ursula and my claim. And I keep saying your name wrong, I believe my family. So I'm sorry, can you repeat it for me again. Yeah, of course, you're not the only one it's mckaylin mckaylin. Okay. Yeah, my mom's made a name was mckay and then she put a link on the end so mckaylin mckaylin. Okay, so do you got it this is sorry mckaylin. Yes, so Steven Ursula and mckaylin will work together on a community engagement goal. Correct. Okay. Jen back to you so we have now a date. Yeah, so we can, we'll embed that in those agendas for the various committees and mckaylin will reach out to me to initiate the process of scheduling the meeting of that smaller group. I can provide support and templates and guiding questions and we can take it from there. I think we're good. And you can send up to each of those groups that what what a smart goal means, just so that yeah to. All right. Any other questions in this or we can move on to the community forum debriefing seeing none let's move to 3.2 community forum debriefing. So do you want to talk a little bit about the input that we got back Jen and then we'll move. So we had put that feedback form in the, you know, we had linked that we put it in the chat and we put it on the website we ended up only getting five responses. Although anecdotally and informally I've heard some other feedback, I would say by and large the feedback was really positive from the folks who provided it. We appreciated the opportunity to dive a little more deeply into those two topics. They appreciated hearing many voices they had a few. Oh, they loved the small group conversations as well and the, and I think board members, some of you commented likewise that you appreciated the small group. They appreciated floor setting that context in the beginning around sort of civil civic engagement and a suggested there were two major suggestions that I would say can plan. We can take into account when we're planning future community forum. That it was a little too ambitious to tackle two topics in one forum. So let's limit one topic for forum. And the second piece of feedback was just a reminder to folks at the very beginning to limit their comments so that we can hear from lots of voices during that time. Those were the two recommendations otherwise everything was really quite positive and well received. Thank you, Jen. Any questions on that otherwise we'll move into, we put a little memo. Karen I did for you guys and some suggestions for the future community engagement, the one that I want to talk mostly about right now is a just get yes or no if you guys agree that it would be good to look into the implementation plan when we gave feedback to Jen as a board, we were all over the place right from some graded to up to seven right so we all have a different knowledge of where we are in each of the implementation goals and the strategies that we're using so we would like to use that as a way to engage the community to have everybody be at the same at the same level of understanding of what is happening in schools for it to make sure that all our kids a that we're improving the education of all our kids right and what's going on in each school does that and and that could help us to set the parameters for one of the parameters for our budgeting a season so it would be, you know, information for all board members information for community members, a good topic of that we could go back and forth with questions, and it would help us with the budget to is that is it confusing if there's there any questions on that. Okay, sounds like we have agreement. Now, as far as topics for future a community engagement forums. All right, do you want to talk a little bit about that, or just the board in general. Well, the idea is that we're looking down the road and seeing what other topics do we want to start planning for. We know how we have the budget coming up so we think that to two of the months in the not too distant future we're going to be talking about the budget specifically, but what other ideas might people have at this point and we can certainly bring this up again for discussion but to see if there's any ideas at this stage about future community engagement forum topics. Oh, the floor. Yes, Chris. I just just because I don't have access to hand. I would think the curriculum review would be one that we'd want to have community engagement with once we have that on board as to what we're going to do, or how we want to approach that. Okay, thanks Chris. Diane. Excuse me. So I think there's a, there's a couple of natural things that are out there for us to explore as well which one is as part of that superintendent search I would assume there's going to be portions of it that our community engagement. I wonder about checking in around our use of ester funds and how that's going and checking in with the community around that as well as how our communities are doing in this COVID context as well. That would definitely, and then I would also remind us that we had said we would put it on our agenda to educate ourselves around the black lives movement as well as the equitable rights of, of all people and so I think that I think we should be also including that in our work. Yes, thank you Diane. Yeah, and we're working we're hoping to in the next we've been trying to work on this with Jen. Maybe not, it may be the following board meeting Jen we want to explore again our statement and exactly the work that you're talking about so thanks for the reminder. So that's what we had for community debriefing and future engagement topics if something comes up after the meeting please feel free to email and and let us know what's on your mind, you can email carry myself, Jen. Okay. Moving down to superintendent search the floor just a quick question do we have any dates for these. So we are, we were assuming that we were using the first Wednesday of the month for community engagement and if we had a little bit of board work or board. That was necessary and that first we would do it at the end after the community engagement but so that we would get in a routine, especially as we're getting into budgeting in in the packet there are more dates for for budget forums right that don't fall in that timeline but that's a, that's what I thought we had agreed on is that still. Yes, because those are marked in our calendars already and then we don't have to try to figure out a doodle ball for for new date. Okay, I see heads nodding so I'm assuming everybody's okay with that. So in the superintendent search, I wanted to start with sort of a break it in half I wanted to start with superintendent evaluation to just to let you guys know that we haven't let that fall through cracks where we are thinking right now is that a carry would leave the superintendent evaluation with the agenda committee. He would, he will chair that but that is important work and it goes hand in hand with hiring a new superintendent. So that's where we are right now. When he has more information, it will bring this to our next board meeting right. Now, moving into superintendent search. So in your in your, and I'm sorry for that memo that went out that was not going to supposed to be part of it but there's two proposal proposals one is from the VSBA. And the other one is from Brian or Regan. For those of you who are not familiar with Brian or Regan he said he was a long time superintendent educator in Vermont, he's helped our district through several searches in in the past. The last two pages were were from him, and I just wanted to open it up to you guys if you had questions in in what you saw there. What what we were thinking is that we would ask the board we would hire. You know, not a facilitator but somebody that is that is going to help us like last time it goes through the process, and then we'll delegate this to a smaller group of the board to come back to work side by side with them and come back to do to give us a closer of how we're going to go about the search but it is important to bring this person in it first to help us with that with that process and the communication we have some obviously some of what we use the last couple of times. I think it would be important to hear from you guys, what are your. If you agree with hiring somebody from outside to start with, and what are your hopes for for this process this is the first conversation so don't hopefully you had a chance to read those to Diane I see your hand up first. I don't know about other people's but the last two pages on minor blank. So I have the VSBA part but I don't have the stuff from Brian O'Regan. Oh, it went in a separate email. Dan, I was looking at the separate email the one where you had the. So you have the first memo had different information, and then maybe I'm the only one who had that problem I'll double check and go deeper but that's what I'm. And I can send I can send that back again does anybody else was able to to open it. Where the second page is Pearson read. Yes. Yeah, that's Brian. Okay. Yes, I have those two pages are in line from Melissa. But I guess the first the first question is they I think we all want to hire somebody to help us through this process right. Yes. So it. We have a proposal from from the BSBA has the description is is right there in what the services are in and Brian gave us, you know, like a brief timeline of what what he was thinking. Before with these with these proposals solicited or they come out of the just in response to what people read in the newspaper. So this this were solicited we had said before that we wanted to start looking so if you look at our board calendar even though it's not quite perfect we had said that around now we wanted to start looking. So I solicit it from what we have available in the in the state. And to be clear, right. What was the source I mean, how do you know what was available. And it's surprising we only had to. I just wanted to start the conversation with you guys I just had to we we haven't put it's a this is not above $15,000 we haven't put a request for proposal. This is just starting the conversation. I went with the two that are our local. So if if you wanted to see somebody else if you know I'm happy if that's the feedback that I get from the board we we go and put a formal request for proposal out. Are we eventually going to put a request for proposal from one of these two entities is that the goal, or we just trying to figure out whether or not we want to hire someone to prepare a process for us to follow. We want to hire somebody to help us come up with the process not prepared for us but collaborate with us to prepare the process. So is to our, you know, sort of highly rated Brian, you know, if I, you know, Brian helped us before knows our district. Brian. So I'm definitely in favor of us hiring a consultant to help with this process I what I think we should do is select a small group but committee of say three to just come up with our process for selecting the consultant bring that back to the board, rather than trying to brainstorm it now just get a small group of dedicated folks working on this. Okay. Should we put that in the agenda committee, the side by side, you know I'm seeing, because we would be the ones to meet sooner. Let's do that. That's fine. Yeah, it works. Okay. Everybody okay with that. Yeah. Okay. Diane. This one is for you stuff appreciation. I'll let you get. Yeah, and I, and I just. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. Jonas. Jonas, you're unmuted just so you know, it was great to hear that, but, you know, I just know this year has been really 10 times 100 times more stressful than previously, which I would have never thought was possible. It's, it's just nerve wracking and just feels like there's a lot more balls in the air. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, I, you know, I Scott Scott had mentioned concern about doing appreciation with something cutie. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is we as a board need to figure out how do we show appreciation for the staff. For the incredible hard work that's been going on right now and the, the way they've been feeling through and keeping kids safe and working to keep them safe. I think that's what I'm saying. I think we should put it on there because I think it's. Just something we need to do now and ongoing, but especially now as pivoting is just a constant this year. I see a lot of heads nodding and I think you have agreement on that. And it's really important. So I would suggest that maybe we could have the same appreciation. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm going to go to Diane and I forget who else. Christina. Oh, okay. So we can. Yeah. So, yeah, Lindy if, if I'll email you, Lindy and we'll, we'll have a quick meeting about some ideas. And anyone else who would like to join, just let me know. But if not, I'll reach out to Lindy over the next week and we'll, we'll put together some ideas. Okay. I just wanted to share one thought, which is. I'm not sure exactly where the community engagement. Group is going to go with their work. But one thing to think about is do we have some core messages that we want to communicate consistently throughout the year. And appreciation of our staff might be one of those. If that becomes part of the goal of community engagement. Yes, wonderful. Yes. Yeah. Community engagement you take, you took notes. Okay. Chris, you may speak. I can say if they need someone with a partial Chris, I'd be glad to join the committee. We'll take any part of a Chris we can get. So that works. I'll go with. Okay. Okay. Okay, we got it. Let's move on to reports. We have the best part of the meeting student reports and we're going to point our new student representative. So we're our students and I welcome. Hi, do you want to start by introducing Maya, or do you want us to just start with a report? Well, let's, let's start. Let's reverse it a little bit. And let's start with the pointing Maya so she can be part of it. And I'm going to open this up for Steven to introduce Maya for, for us. And then have Maya speak for herself, but just to talk a little bit about the process because not everybody was aware in the call and new board members, that'd be great. Wonderful. Thank you everybody. So each year we, I put a call out to all juniors to fill an open seat on the board of education because we try to have one senior and one junior. So that this, they rotate every two years off of the board. And so I put a call out to all students at the beginning of the school year and several students inquired about being a part of the school board. And so at that point we invite them to submit a resume and pretty much the answer of why do you want to be on the school board? And we went down from about five interested kids to one who was super interested in actually completed all the application materials. And so Maya did not win by default, but she certainly rose to the top of the list of people who submitted a full application. And then I met with her just to go over some of the responsibilities and requirements that we asked the students on the board and provided her with that information. And then she and Anna met with me so that she could get started on this whole process. Now who is Maya? Maya is a junior at U32. I am going to let her tell you about her wonderful accomplishments, but one of the things that I think should really stand out as we think about students on our school board. She really wants to participate in the process. And one of the things that she keeps expressing is the ability to really understand what's going on and help bring student voice to a lot of our work. And so I'm going to let Maya fully introduce herself. And Maya, you ready? Yes. Hi everyone, I'm Maya. I'm a junior as Steven said. I applied to be on the school board just because I wanted to see what was happening kind of behind the scenes of the school and just help you guys out with student input and give you like the opinions of the students. Not really sure what to say other than that. But that's the base of it. Welcome Maya. We are super excited to have you join us and you join Anna too. You know student voice is super important and you know students is why we are all here. So I'm going to let our member make a motion to nominate Maya for our new student representative. And then we'll move into the reports. Could I have a motion please? I will move to nominate Maya as the second student representative. But Maya, I'd love to know your last name. Oh, sorry. It's Elliott. My Elliott. Elliott Maya Elliott. Thank you, Jonas. Chris will second. Any discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. I think I hear all eyes. Any opposed? Welcome Maya. We're really glad to have you here. And I'm thinking listening to what you were saying that maybe what we should do to do something a little different this year, which we want to do with our own board members too is maybe pair you with a board member. So I think we should be able to do that. So that, you know, first, both you and Anna should always feel free to email any of the board members, right? With with questions or with the, we're with input. But if you already have a connection with any of our board members. Here and you would want to pick your own mentor. You know, I'm all for a student having. The power to make their own decisions. That would be great too. Do you want to think about it? I'll think about it and get back to you. Okay. That sounds great. And let's, let's move on into the reports. And when I mean pair is so that they can mentor you. And then you guys can ask more questions and Anna, you should do the same, right? Okay. Think about it and we'll talk about it later. Let's move into the student reports. Okay. We can hear you, Anna. Sorry. It's really. Yeah. So like under water and mute it. Okay. Can you hear me now? Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to leave my headphones off just so you guys can hear me. I can hear myself. Okay. So this year has had a lot better of a start than last year. As we all know, we've had no masks or we've had masks, but we've been outside and not had to worm in. This past weekend we had homecoming, which was a really big deal for us because we were able to play a lot of games. We had a lot of games, but we also had our team who was a chance to lose. We had a humongous student section and we're really hoping to increase our school spirit and just have a lot more people going to the games and playing sports and all of that. Maya, if you want to take the next one. I think you had the next one is about. Okay. I'll talk about that also. So. Okay. So I'm going to start with my college essay. And it is currently almost October. So for that for me, that means I've started thinking about my college essay. I'm looking into the common app process. I'm starting at recommendation letters and looking into applying to schools. So it's a big time and a very. A very busy time for us seniors to start getting ready for life after high school. Sorry, there's a delay. So. All right. So surveillance COVID-19 testing has begun. And many students and teachers are taking advantage of the opportunity. It's in the atrium and anyone can sign up and get tested. I've noticed it's made the, the student body and the teachers feel more safe and comfortable. And it's just kept everyone more safe. So. I'll go into another one. That's a really nice improvement to have the rest school. So. The, I believe it was spring of last year going into the fall of this year, he 32 began working mosaic and. A little blurb that see them put in our newsletter. And letter to just all of the school community is that mosaics mission is to heal communities and sexual violence. And they envision a world with resilient communities via sexual and gender based violence where all people are supported in healing from harm. And the goal here. Is that with working with mosaic, the school will build a culture center on consent, liberation of healthy relationships. And throughout the year mosaic along with a group called the conversation, which is now a student like group, they will have updates and seminars and workshops that will be going over the course of the year. And this has this past year and last year, title nine became a really big, big word in our school because of sexual assault, harassment. So having mosaic is a really big addition and good improvement to our school. Clubs are also back up and running this year in person, including seeking social justice, diversity and equality. And this year we have a new school called BLAM, which is gay, lasbina, and many more BLAM, which is black, Latina, Asian, and many more, the conversation which Anna was talking about. Green team, the Chronicle, our newspaper, High School Book Group yearbook, cyber security club, which is new and also pep squad. Adding that to chronicle just because it's kind of in my field of things. this year and have a bigger group. And if any of you school board members are interested in telling your story of how you got to the school board, I would be more than happy to interview you or if you have any stories to share about the community or if you're alumni from the school that be really cool to write about. And our website is hopefully up and running again at Crash, but it should be good now. Along with school being back to normal, we are eating in the cafeteria now. Our lunch, our school lunch and school breakfast is up and running as most of you might know it is free for the basic meals, which is really, really nice for us as students. And they're in the middle school recently, and you can see this in the newsletter in the middle school there was expert day. And that is where a lot of people when different careers came in and they sort of showed the middle schoolers, you know, what it's like to be in the adult world. And it's been a good start because of the year so far. And finally, the theater and music program is back up and running with in-person meetings. Auditions for the play were held last week. It's called six very busy days, which is a modern Romeo and Juliet. The cast and crew are enjoying a ton as I've seen. It's the first time that they've been in person for nearly two years, which is a lot. Theater on Zoom is definitely difficult. And the performance will be taking place on November 13th, just in case anyone is interested in that. Thank you for listening. Thank you both. Any questions from four members? Okay. Thank you for your nice reports. Let's move on into Superintendent COVID update. Sure. So I'm going to share some of the numbers and key points with you. And then I'm going to invite Maria to fill in the gaps a little bit and we'll answer questions towards the best of our ability. So Maya had just spoken about surveillance testing. We started last Monday, the 13th. We had 437 people test, participate. That yielded one positive result. On September 20th, we had 100 more people participate, about 537, also yielding a positive result. We are thrilled that we had 437 people start and 100 more and we want more and more folks to participate. It's a really important mitigation and information strategy for us. Last Thursday, we asked the families of our students who are 12 and up to complete an attestation form regarding their vaccination status. We can use this information. As you know, the Department of Health differentiates its response regarding close context for students and staff who are vaccinated versus unvaccinated. And as of a few hours ago, we had 240 people who had returned that surveyed us out of about 754. So we have a ways to go. We will continue. When I write in my community letter, I will ask folks again tomorrow to fill that attestation out. And I am sure that Stephen will plug it away as well. We have a few 12-year-olds in our elementary school, so by and large, this is the year 32 thing. But we really want to be able to have that information at the ready so that when we need to do contact tracing, we can differentiate that response. Along those lines, as you may well be aware, the agency of education has been revising its guidance. And actually right before about three o'clock this afternoon, I received a new revised guidance statement from the agency of education, which will ultimately inform and impact our practices when we achieve an 80% vaccination rate at U32. In the 2021 school year, we had seven cases of COVID, the entire school year. As of today, we've had 19 cases in our schools already. The schools that have been impacted are East Montpelier, U32, and Berlin overall. As you know, in the community letter I sent last week, I asked folks to give me feedback about the idea of reporting on a weekly basis in that community letter versus letting the entire community know each time in each case. I heard from a few folks, not many, but what I heard was people preferred the weekly. I am exploring the idea actually that Kari gave to me about a maybe a dashboard on the website that's a little more updated. So I have not started that practice, but I'm thinking about it if we can manage it. When we have cases at the elementary school, it is all hands on deck. It's a huge effort. And I have to say, by and large, Diane, I was heartened to hear you talk about staff appreciation. We always appreciate our staff. Our staff is working so hard. We remain short staffed before subbing in for each other when they can. And then even then, we're short staffed again. And when it comes time to contact tracing and needing to dismiss students, again, it's all hands on deck in a time that is stressful. So I want to emphasize just how greatly we appreciate the staff and their flexibility and creativity because those moments are hard. Last this past Monday, just two days ago, it feels like a week or two ago, we had a Maria and I had a conference call with the Department of Health. We expressed some of our questions and concerns primarily about the role of the Department of Health with helping us out and contact tracing, knowing that they too are short staffed and overwhelmed. We anticipate some changes in the Department of Health that will help create a designated person at the DOH for us to talk with. We also expressed concern that when we have to send kids for testing, we need to wait until we can achieve the 51% attendance rate to have kids come back, as was the case at Berlin. And if the DOH is telling us it's taking three to five days for testing, that hugely impacts our schools, especially our elementary schools. So that was a positive move in terms of that conversation. We have determined that because we experienced more than three cases at Berlin, that we are completing an outbreak code request for the Department of Health, they'll do some further research and contact tracing. They determine whether or not there's been in school transmission. So in the days and weeks to come, we'll have more information from them that's not for us to determine. You know that Berlin engaged in a period of learning from home. And I don't know if David Delcourt is here or not, but David and I had a long conversation about why it's learning from home and not remote learning. And actually a bit of a chuckle because he was telling me that that phrase was rolling off my tongue. Again, remember right now that when we get to a place where we can't meet the student attendance requirements of 51%, those days do not count. We made that decision again at Berlin for the health and safety of our students. Given the information we've received, it was absolutely the right decision. And we did what we did for East Montpelier a few weeks ago. So a consistent response, taking student attendance, ensuring that students were engaged in learning from home for the state minimum required time and making sure that there were meals available for students who needed it. And the other thing I'd say is that the staff at Berlin also pivoted and even though the students were learning from home on Monday, they made sure that there was a surveillance testing opportunity outdoors at Berlin for families that wanted to participate. I think that's the highlights for me. I'd invite Maria to add anything that she'd like to add to enhance this report. Hi there. I don't have a whole lot more than you said, right? You've got all the facts. I'd love to answer any questions if anybody has any. And we definitely are appreciating our surveillance testing at this time. It is really, I think, reassuring to know exactly where we are at any given time. I know that parents are feeling a little bit frustrated. I'm getting a lot of messages that say, why are we going to test our children every week if you're just going to send them home? And I appreciate so much the frustrations of families who can't afford to keep their children home for seven to 14 days at a pop every time we get a positive case. Unfortunately, in terms of keeping people safe, we don't really have another option at this time. So, you know, we just keep asking for people's patients and trying to make sure that we can help in any way we can in terms of food and assignments that can keep kids up to date. But that is pretty much where we are at the moment. Thanks, Maria. So, Flo, are there any questions or comments from the board? Any board questions? Please raise your hand or raise your hand if you can speak. Bonus? So, first of all, thank you guys for what you're doing. And thanks to all of the families who are impacted by these things that are happening. Both of my kids have been home from school and from preschool for the last calendar week. They are negative, but they have colds and we can have asymptomatic kids in the school. So, even though they are fine, you know, one of the little guys sounds like a tuberculosis patient just doesn't sound great. Their noses are running, but they're 100% that we can't send them to the school. You know, it's frustrating. I'm exhausted. I get it. So, I just wanted to add my solidarity with all the other families that are struggling with having kids in the house when you're trying to be a grown-up. It's really, really hard. I see, right, that next to the agenda, you know, we're going to be requested to delegate authority to Jen. So, you know, just before we get there, Jen, I wanted to, you know, ask, you know, what could we be doing? What more could we be doing in terms of in-school protocols that we're not doing? Right. The distancing seems to be one thing. You know, the potting of classrooms seems to be another thing. You know, exposure during meal time, you know, we've, you know, I think we've all seen communications from parents, you know, and then speaking to people in the district, you know, when I pick up and drop off my kid. You know, I just wonder, and not that I think that there is anything that we should be doing that we're not, but I just wanted to ask the question and give you an opportunity to talk about some of the options that we might have that we're not doing right now and why we're not doing them now and why we might do them in the future. Yeah. I mean, I think one of the things that, that it's important to know is that we are routinely, so after East Montpelier and Berlin in particular, we conducted after-action reviews to really make sure we were clear about what, what did we expect to happen and what actually happened, what went well and why, and how can we replicate that and what didn't go well and how can we improve and we're constantly making improvements to our practices and or sharing practices across the school. So the leadership team, although I think sometimes we think, oh gosh, we have to talk about COVID again. We do have to talk about COVID again sometimes at our meetings and we share practices and even there have been staff, a staff member or two who have gone from one school to another to help troubleshoot with a fresh set of eyes at another school around the district because we are all in this together. I think that there have been, you know, just, we need to stay on top of the guidance and the conditions and then we need the flexibility and the patients to respond accordingly. So I know that there have been some community groups that have wanted to gather, for example, and we're pretty strict right now when we're in a place of higher substantial transmission about only limiting visits to, in our buildings to essential visitors, for example, and I know that that is frustrating but I would seek patients and for you all as board members to continue to promote that. Everything that we're doing, I think we are doing with as much thoughtfulness and perspective as we possibly can have. And I think that another thing is just to again help us promote the empathy of how hard it is to stay home and keep ourselves home. We have staff members who have sniffles and they need to stay home too and that is hard. It is hard to, I mean to write subplans when you have a sniffle when in different times you'd normally just come on in and plow through. That's hard and a lot of work and that there's a reciprocity there. As hard as we're working at school as we hope the community will continue to work hard as well so that we can keep our kids in school. I will welcome that action in the next couple of minutes regarding delegating that authority. I think it gives me and our team here the flexibility that we're going to need to make decisions with the health and safety of our kids at the forefront. Thank you, Jen. I appreciate everything you just said. I want to just make a comment that hopefully, hopefully, fingers crossed we are coming up on the EUA for vaccinations for 5-11. So I just want the community to know that. I want parents and everybody to be prepared for that. I would personally, once that happens, I hope that we are encouraging everyone who is eligible to get that vaccination. It is the single most important thing that we can do. Our elementary school kids are the ones who are on the front line now. They are gathering in person, in classrooms and in buildings and in closed spaces all over the country. They are not eligible to be vaccinated. When they do, I'm looking forward to, I will be out there. I'll be out there with a sign on the street, encouraging parents to get their kids vaccinated. Yeah, and Jonas, you actually reminded me, Maria, would you be willing to talk about those conversations you've had around organizing as soon as possible? So we are with you, Jonas. We would like to get a water gun and fill it up with a Pfizer vaccine and line up with the kindergartners and just we're all the way across if we could make that happen. I am talking with our pediatric medical liaison from CVMC. Historically, schools have only been involved in vaccine rollouts in collaboration with the state. So we're trying to get an idea of if the state and CVMC, UVM network have already been talking about what the process is going to be for them. I know that the vaccines were available for the 12 plus age group months before any type of vaccine clinic was available at U32. And I'd like to see us if we could move a little faster. The younger age group creates some complexity in terms of laws about who can administer a vaccine to children that young and whether or not they would accept a vaccine without a parent present or whether parents would allow their children to accept a vaccine without them being present, which opens up things like, are we letting that many parents in on a school day to the gym to be with their children while they get vaccinated? There's a lot more to talk about than with the older kids at the moment. But we are starting that conversation now, hopefully so that we can be very proactive. I have two concerns that I would just really like the board to be aware of as we start to move forward. One of them is we are very swiftly both in the country, but also on a macro level more in our own district, becoming a system of have and have nots in terms of the vaccine. I'm hearing concerns about it from parents on both sides of the fence. I had a mom today say, well, I don't understand if you're going to send my unvaccinated Kim home for seven to 10 days every time he's exposed, why can't you put a place in the classroom where the unvaccinated kids sit really, really far from the vaccinated kids? And that way, and I said, oh my dear, like there is no way we are going to create a line like the Berlin Wall in the middle of our school in terms of vaccinated versus unvaccinated, but people are starting to really feel some pressure. And if they have chosen not to vaccinate their children, and while I have personal feelings about that as a professional, I feel like it's really important to support all members of our community, despite the choices that, you know, whatever choice they're making for their family. But I encourage us to start thinking about how we are going to keep our communities together as the rules are starting to pull us all apart. And that's something I think everybody should be talking about at a lot of different levels. My other concern is that as we are having discussions about how to tighten things up, the agency of education is having discussions about how to loosen things up, which is going to become very scary and frightening when they tell us that we're not doing contact tracing anymore for positive cases. So again, we need to start having conversations about not necessarily any sort of a mutiny or anything crazy like that, but I'm starting to encourage people to reach out to the agency of education about how difficult things are with families when we don't have a remote learning option about how much income they're learning. I'm encouraging people to reach out to the governor just because we need to have a, we're starting to have a disconnect between the state wanting to keep kids in school and not have a conversation about in person or remote learning and what we're trying to accomplish within the district in terms of keeping children safe. That is a conversation we need to be continuing to have I think at all of these levels. And hopefully we can find a way to sort of bring it all back to a baseline of where we're all kind of at the same place. We seem to be going in different directions at the moment, which is concerning again. And I just want to make sure that we're all having these discussions on a regular basis. So we all know what's happening and why we're making decisions the way that we're making decisions. Thank you, Maria. I see that Diane has a question. Maggie, you can go after. Yeah, so it's about when you were talking about having kids get vaccinated without their parents. You might, if we, when we get to that point, do a little checking back in our history. And so when H1N1 was really nervous, you know, we, I was on the bus with my preschoolers trekking them to U32 without parents. And so I'm sure some regulations have changed, but that might be a good system to look back on and and just pull from because, yeah, it was, there weren't parents, some parents went, but it was mainly non parents that were there. Thank you, Diane. Maggie, you have a question. I wanted to second that recommendation. And I was a parent of an elementary school student and put him on the bus from Calis to U32 and he received his vaccine. I was not present, filled out a permission slip. That was it. Thank you, Maggie. Yes, I'm sorry. Go ahead. So a couple of comments. One is that Jen and Maria, should we, could we hire a contact tracer on our own rather than be reliant upon either the agency of education or the Department of Health? Since it sounds like they're not, they may not be interested in doing that long term. And is there any training that would need to be done? Do they have to have certain qualifications in order to be a contact tracer? The second is, should we be getting permission slips out to parents now for the for the younger students, even though vaccine is not yet approved? I think the chances are that it is going to be approved within the next several months. But having those permission slips or whatever process we think would be best for us to have those already in place and be very candid, not just a vaccine, vaccine for the COVID once it's approved and find out how parents want to proceed with that whether they want to be present or not present. And the third is, and this is more directed to you. You talked about the seeming, if not real disconnect between, and it seems like there's a tension between the state level officials wanting to keep the schools open and kids in school and how that really works in the local level and keeping kids safe and the staff members safe in school. It wouldn't be a mutiny, I think, to use the word mutiny. I don't think we're talking about a mutiny, but should we be taking other steps that may not be the agency of education's recommendation? Because I really have, I think, deferred or referred the responsibility to local districts to deal with the masking and taking care of kids. Because I think they're transferred that responsibility to us. So are there things that we should be doing now to ensure greater safety for our kids, especially in light of this apparent divergence of view or mission? Well, first I can answer that you've already hired a contact tracer. Her name is Maria Malecos, and she needs no further training because she was just thrown right in and she figured it right out in the last four weeks. So the Department of Health has said that they are not going to be doing any contact tracing for schools, that schools are doing their own contact tracing. We're well aware of that. We're utilizing school nurses and administration as well as myself to do all of the contact tracing. So we're on top of that. That is not something that's new. We pretty much knew we were going to be doing that. It's a lot more common now than it was last year. So we're just sort of creating new systems to be a little more efficient than we were last year. For example, last year your average, I'm sorry, my daughter got her second vaccine last night and she's feeling very clingy and tired and yucky. So I apologize for the yawning dramatic seventh grader in my video. No longer visible. Right. Now I embarrassed her, so she'll just sit under the blanket, of course. So last year we used to create these line lists for the state and it would take three or four hours because they want race and ethnicity and address and phone numbers. And last day, they wanted all this information that was scattered across different software systems. It was okay to spend five hours on a Saturday doing that when we had one case in that school for the entire year, right? Now that we're having multiple cases a week in various schools, we don't have the same time to make that happen. So we talked to the Department of Health. We're working with our IT folks to create a faster way to download the pertinent information for the line lists into a template that is adaptable. That's not the word I want. What's the word I'm looking for? We're going to turn it into the spreadsheet for the Department of Health. So compatible, I don't know what it is. We're looking at making something that's compatible so that we can simply download, upload and send it to the Department of Health as opposed to manually typing in every single name and address as we were doing last year. So we're constantly, as Jen said, reviewing our actions from the prior case. How do we get more efficient? How is our messaging getting better and clearer considering the feedback we're getting from families? And how do we make sure that we can do this in a reasonable amount of time so that we can move on to the next task at hand? The third question is more concerning. Let me just rephrase it. You're asking, so we did bypass the Department of Health when they told us we could and we followed the CDC and the AAP guidelines because they were stricter than the Department of Health earlier in the school year. The contact tracing, not the contact tracing, sorry, the attestation of COVID vaccine and how to determine our percentage of vaccinated students in a school, we were required to follow the state guidance on that. We cannot use the immunization registry. We have to have a voluntary parental disclosure. So we're working on that system because they've told us we don't have a choice in that matter. They've also told us with how we contact trace, we may not use any other systems. So there's a bit of picking and choosing in terms of what guidance they're letting us follow and what guidance they don't want us to follow. And so there's a, again, the disconnect sort of gets a little bit bigger. Again, I'm not trying to sound super negative, but I think we were all a little frustrated that there was no mask mandate that came down from on high. And then Governor Scott put out a press conference that said, look, we didn't put down any guidance and there was no state of emergency, but the schools all told everybody to wear masks. So basically we're universally masking anyway. We got it done, right? Which was, I thought was a bit of a stretch because we got it done, right? They didn't get it done. So that's sort of, I think where that desk, the disconnect is still kind of there with we're making things work and we're keeping our kids safe. But the state is starting to move on, they're changing the definition of close contacts, they're changing the definition of when and where we should contact trace. And that's going to get interesting before I'm interested that as the numbers go higher, they're asking us to do less. I'm getting pressure as I think all of you are from parents and families in the community and staff to do more. So there is definitely a bit of dissonance there. And I just want to make sure that we're all super clear about it so that we can talk about it and figure out as a board and as a school, all the schools, how we're going to handle that as we move forward. Thank you, Maria. I see we have it. Chris, can you hold for a minute? For one minute. I'm going to let McLey speak first. McKaylin. I just wanted, I guess I just wanted to speak to something Chris said about like being proactive and sending permission slips and coming up with our own process. And I just, you know, I know there's a lot, I guess I know from our health center in the state that there's a lot of talk about getting kids vaccinated really fast as soon as it's approved. So I just, I would worry about us devoting a lot of time and resources in reinventing the wheel if it's already there. So I have a little hesitancy about that. But I thank you for everything you're doing. And it sounds to me like so far, our district is taking the more, you know, safe route when we can, even when the state's not mandating anything. And and I appreciate that. So thank you. Thank you, Jonathan. And then I just want to do a time check with everybody. I want to make sure that we can delegate the authority to, to, to Jen and, and also we've been clear that our, you know, in our duty of care, you know, staff and students are our priorities. So I think we've been clear about that. Jonathan, please go ahead. Yeah, just a quick question for Maria. I was wondering if you knew whether or not, or if anybody knows whether or not the, the most recent cases that are, that are showing up in the schools are the Delta variant. Do we know that or not? And just, just an observation. And that is that the virus, whatever variant or mutation it may take, certainly has no consideration or doesn't care whether or not the governor has declared a state of emergency or not. I mean, the virus is going to circulate if has the opportunity to circulate. So that's, I guess, my way of interpreting this disconnect that you're talking about, Maria. Well, I agree with you. I do know that the Delta variant is the prominent variant in the state. My assumption is that with this high transmission that this is definitely Delta. It's a very different animal than we saw last year in the schools. I agree 100% that like I said, our cases are going up and their guidance is going down and that's very frustrating. It doesn't feel like it's timely and the right kind of timely. Unfortunately, as a public school, we do have some limits on how far we can just decide to blaze our own paths. And that's where I just wanted to sound some semblance of a minor peep of alarm that this is sort of the, the direction we're going in. I don't want anybody to be just, you know, confused by it or surprised by it as it starts. It continues. I want to make everybody aware of the fact that we're starting to feel a little bit left behind and that's important to recognize because I agree with you. It doesn't seem, it doesn't make any sense right now. The virus doesn't care. It has one job, which is to infect more people and it's doing a wonderful job. Thank you, Maria. So could I have a motion? Everybody to delegate the authority? Is that possible? Well, let's have a definition of what we're delegating. The specific motion that's specified is what authority we are actually delegating. So it was right on your, on your packet. Chris, right in the front is to delegate the authority to superintendent establish reasonable evidence-based safety rules for COVID-19. Okay. So it's right on the agenda page? Yeah. It's right on the agenda page. Yeah. We are, we already operate that way. We just don't have a policy for that and there's been a recommendation across the state that we delegate this. If something changes, Jen wouldn't have to come back to the board and she can act quickly. So I think this makes sense. They are the ones trained in emergency and we'll have the latest up-to-date and information. So is that a clear, Chris? It is clear, but it doesn't address the, what I'm hearing from Maria, which is the state may be issuing guidance that is separate and different and apart from the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatric Physicians. If I'm understanding that correctly, if I'm not, please correct me. By doing this, Chris, we're not taking that away, right? They, they would still, we still made that decision in combination. But we're not doing it, but I think we may not, this may not take into account the potential political pressure that superintendents may feel to follow state guidance, even if it's less rigorous than national guidance. And, you know, you can always hope that we will follow the more rigorous guidance. I don't know that this necessarily does that. I mean, it gives discretion, which is fine. I, you know, fully trust Jen and fully trust Maria to do what is in the best interest of our kids. But I'm also not cognizant of the, what I think would be political pressure. So that's my concern. Okay. Thank you. I get it. I understand it. Jonas? Chris, each of the last three superintendents who have served here during the pandemic have been asked straight up during meetings, would they be willing to go beyond state guidance if they thought those actions would be necessary to protect the safety of students? And all three of them have said yes. I think that this gives our superintendent the ability to do that, to be flexible and responsive when things happen. And I will make the motion that we delegate authority to the superintendent to establish reasonable evidence-based safety rules for COVID-19. Thank you, Jonas. Could I have a second? Second. Thank you. Okay. I think we have had enough discussion in this, and I'm doing a little bit of a time check. Stephen, do you just unmute it? Who's seconded it? Sorry. Who's seconded it? Just so I can vote. Okay. Good. Mackayla? Thank you. And, okay. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, the motion carries. Let's move into our Berlin Town Center. I want to introduce, well, I'm going to have Nick introduce himself. He's joining us. Sorry to make it a little later that we promised, Nick. No problem. Hi, everyone. I'm Nick Lowe. I'm an attorney based in Montpelier, and I've been helping the board out with this Berlin School land question. And I can just launch right into it, or if anyone else wants to introduce it first. So, Nick, what we thought we'll do is just sort of frame the conversation and then let you move into the memo and answer questions. So the board got a chance to look at the entire package, and I think they will probably have some direct questions. So as a board, what we've been discussing is what are the interests of the board in this land? So the real big question for us tonight, and we don't need to make this decision tonight. This is just to set the foundation for the ultimate decision that hopefully can happen in our next board meeting, is what is the responsible thing for the board to do? And I'm going to invite you. I know that Vera is joining us by phone to be part of this conversation too. So please, Nick, if you want to move on to just some of the key points of your memo that you think are important, especially that article for agreement, that would be great. Sure. And do you want me to kind of go over the background of the property? Can I share my screen? Mark, are you able to allow Nick Lowe to share his screen? Yes, Nick, you should be able to do that now. Thank you, Mark. Okay. Can everyone see this exhibit two that's up here? Okay. So this is the Berlin Elementary School property at the corner of Paintern Pike and Route 62 up by the fire department there. And just a quick overview of what the property looks like. So the overall parcel, it's about 25 acres, was conveyed to the Berlin School District in the 1960s. And then when the existing Washington Central Unified District was formed, it was the property was supposed to have been conveyed into the new district. I as kind of an asterisk, I don't know if that conveyance ever happened, which is something that could be sorted out later if it hasn't. So the property right now, it's improved on the west side with buildings, with the school building, the entryway, getting into the center of the property. There's the parking. And then as you move to the east, the eastern half of the property or so is wooded. And running north south through that, there's a stream. And for those of you who can see this image, there's a light yellow blob around the screen and the stream, which is a designated class two wetlands. And the significance of that is that that's basically undevelopable property. You can't build in a class two wetlands or within a 50 foot buffer of the wetlands, unless you get a permit from Agency of Natural Resources. And those permits are not easily given or gotten. So, you know, for all intents and purposes, this section around the stream is undevelopable. And then further to the on the eastern side of the property is a wooded lot that is outside of the wetlands area, so theoretically would be developable. And then beyond the property to the east, you can see the entryway from Route 62, the access road that goes into where Walmart is now. So that's a general overview of the property. What the town of Berlin is looking at developing this land around the mall in Walmart, into a multi-use new town center, which would be a mixed use commercial residential, I think they have a medical center planned in there. And up here, they're planning to put in municipal offices, which is and these images are all in the packet. I'm looking at exhibit one now. The detail, you can see that the entryway that's in the plans is that same entryway going into the Walmart, but it would be straightened out and connect into a grid of new roads that would be part of this new town center. And on the on the left side of here where where the school property is would be municipal buildings and recreational area. So this is what you know what exists now and what the plan is for the town. And so the town is basically asking the district to convey a portion of the school property to the town to do this development. And from what I understand, and there may be someone at this meeting from the town who could speak on behalf of the town, but from what I understand, there's two reasons why the town wants this property. First, they've outgrown their existing municipal offices. And so they do need a new new space. And second, with this development that they're planning, they're they're getting a formal new town designation, which is a formal designation under Vermont statutes, which creates a little bit of a fast track for development and also gives allows them to create a tax, a new tax district and create tax incentives to also assist with that development. So you know the the bottom line question for the school district and for the board is whether to convey this eastern portion of the property to the town so that they can, you know, to facilitate this development. And there's there's two possible scenarios in this memo. One of them shows a 7.4 acre piece of the property to the east, you know, from the stream east, which would include a portion of the wetlands that could be conveyed to the town. And then in exhibit two in the memo alternatively is a 3.8 acre piece, which excludes the wetlands so that the school district would keep the wetlands and the portion to the east of that would be conveyed to the town and that would be the developable portion. So and part of the backdrop for this as well is the articles of agreement, which I think folks are generally familiar with. And I'm trying to I was going to pull those up. So under article 6b, the school board has the prerogative and the discretion to decide not to to to cease using school property buildings or land for school purposes. And if it does that, then under the articles, this the district is required to convey that property back to the town that it came from in exchange for $1. And so what that does is it means that one, you can't sell it to anyone else unless the town doesn't want it. But two, it takes the question of what's the price tag off the table because the price tag is already in the articles of agreement. So the real question for the for the board again is should we convey this property? If so, how much do we convey the smaller portion or a bigger portion? And another thing to think about are is if if we do convey it, should there be conditions on that conveyance? Do we convey it and say that they have to plant a vegetative buffer? Do they have to agree that this property will only be used for municipal purposes for a certain period of years? Do they have to maintain or have some agreement regarding the network of trails that goes through there? And you as a board and the community members know this property better than I do. And so you can be creative with this and come up with what kind of conditions might be reasonable and beneficial to the district. And the one other question that I have is whether there's any bond restrictions on conveying this property? It does say in the articles of agreement that if the district conveys a property out back to the town, the property is conveyed together with any bonded debt that's associated with that property. And I understand there is bonded debt on the Berlin Elementary School, but I don't know if conveying just the portion of that undeveloped property would affect the bonded debt. I don't know if the bond documents would put any restriction on conveying this portion of property. And so that's something for the board to go back and look at those bond documents, see if there's any restrictions, and see if I don't know if some of that bonded debt would be conveyed to the town with the piece of land. So that's the general overview and the things for the board to think about. And I'm happy to answer questions beyond. Thank you, Nick. I think if we open it up to board members, I'm just going to ask a quick question to Suzanne, because I don't know if you had a chance, Suzanne, to check in into the to the bank about the bond yet? I did a little preliminary work. I talked to Virginia and Laurie about it, and there's no specific bond associated with this, the actual purchase of the property. And Laurie felt like, based on her experience, that if there was no development associated with that property, that even if there was a bond associated, it would be allowed to go, that the restrictions are usually based on development on property. She also indicated that when the merger was completed, really thorough deed review was done of all the properties in the district. And so we might have those files. And so we have to locate those to take some closer look at that. Great. Thank you, Suzanne. So we're looking to that. So board members, if you have questions or have a specific request, I don't see any hands up yet, but I wanted to open up first to Vera, because I know she has to step away. And I know you're on the phone, Vera. So if you're listening to me, could you please speak up? Hi, Floor. Go ahead. So back in the spring, I went over first site visit with the town administrator and the developer from the mall, and there are a couple of other people there. I was the only one that ended up showing up from the board, because it was when it was opened up to the board members to go over first site visit. So after that visit, and I decided I took it all in, came back, and pondered on my own thoughts. But I decided to put a message out to Berlin community members asking for their input on what were their thoughts about land and that this was the potential plan. And I received a lot of feedback and the majority of it, because it can be only conveyed back to the town for $1, with no benefit to the school, it was a large amount of no. They do not want to see that land conveyed over to the town. So being that I feel I have my own mixed feelings about it and more sentimental feelings of that school and that was donated to the school from a family that had been in the town. I would love to hear thoughts from the Clarks or from Marsha or anybody in that family. Or so the pipes. But with what I've heard from the town, I just I feel like I'm working on behalf of our community and a large amount of our community was not in favor of doing that development or even conveying the land over to the town. So that's kind of my thought. I'd be happy to share the comments that I got from people. I'd be happy to print them out and share them with everybody on the board so everybody can read all the comments for themselves. Like I said, that was back in April. So thank you, Vera. I did invite the Clarks to come today. I personally invited Marsha to send her an email or ask her to give us a feedback via email. I'll double check again that I don't have something new from her. I'm going to open it up. I see we have three board members, McKaylin. Okay. Oh, thank you. Vera, thank you for that. Actually my so when I read through the proposal, you know, I'm not from Berlin. I'm not super familiar with the land. My first thought was I didn't realize this had come up earlier in the spring as a new board member. I didn't know that. My first thought was definitely community engagement is important here because you know, I don't feel comfortable making that decision for the people of Berlin without having a sense that they're really on board. And the proposal we got referenced, you know, a couple surveys and votes that showed support for the development project, but not specifically for this land proposal. So Vera, thank you for that information. And I'm wondering if it warrants, you know, another some some more community input. And then, secondarily, if we do consider this, my inclination is to do the smaller amount of land because it doesn't make sense to me if the other part is kind of unusable, why we would hand it over to town if I don't know if they're not going to use it? Why not? Why wouldn't we hang on to it and kind of keep it safe? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Before we go on with the next board member, Chris McVeigh, you're not muted. Sorry, we have a lot of background noise. It's okay. Jonas and then Kari. So yeah, I also want to thank Vera for doing that outreach. It puts us in a little bit of a bind, right? Because the town of Berlin itself has supported this project right through the decades of work that have gone into it, all the money that they've put into development so far and into the proposal. It was a huge win for them to get this approved by the state board, right? As a new downtown, you get all the benefits that come with it. So, you know, there's sort of an implicit support for the project from the town of Berlin, but what Vera is saying is really concerning. I mean, first of all, I agree with McAllen that if we're going to do this, we should do the smaller acreage. We should make sure that anything that affects the wetland there that requires mitigation would be there. You know, if we kept that land, that any mitigation for the wetlands that would have to be done as a result of the work that's being done would have to be paid for by them, right? And that we would, you know, we would not, you know, have any liability for that. I would like a barrier between the development and the school land. I would like to keep the trails up. You know, I would like to get, you know, I would like if the town at some point decides to sell the land, right? If the project fails, right? Or if the building's burned down in 30 years or something happens, they decide to sell the land. I would like it to be, you know, I would like there to be a clause in there that says that three-point whatever acres goes back to the school district at the cost of one dollar. I don't want the district to have to pay for that again. And I'd like to regain the land if something happens and it doesn't become useful for the development project. But Vera, I want to ask a question. It seems from what you're saying that the reasons that people gave for not supporting the land transfer is kind of a sentimental one, right? This land was given to the school, right? And it should be for the school. Can you just describe, you know, and lay out the reasons that people gave for not wanting the school to transfer this land and about how many people did you hear from? Sure. So I would have to go back. It's because I actually put it out like to my Berlin community members on Facebook. So the last time that I checked and I haven't gotten any notifications that there's been any more people that have commented recently, but there were probably like 35 to 40 that commented on just that post. But then I did my own outreach like with neighbors and just amongst other people when I would run into them at sporting events and stuff. So I would say in total, there was probably 75-ish community members that I specifically heard from either in writing or verbally. And I do agree with you that there is definitely a sentimental piece to this. But I think the majority of what people, when as soon as they heard it, can only be conveyed back to the town for $1 with nothing in return. And a lot of people where they have great ideas like let's get some athletic fields, let's do something for an after school, like a park at the school separate from the playground. There were a lot of other ideas that people threw out there to make it part of a deal, but it didn't sound like at that time that you could incorporate some of those items as part of the deal because it's clearly in there that it can be conveyed for $1 back to the town. So that was a lot of people's concerns was there's no money attached to the transaction that would gain the school or the district anything. So that was a huge target along with the sentimental piece. Thank you, Vera. Diane, I see you, Tom, but I'm going to go through the board members and then I'll let you speak. So one of the things that the question that came up, so the presentation from Nick and then so I'm a little confused there was a disconnect between what I'm hearing is that they have to own a part of this land in order for it to count, but yet when the question was posed how would the project be impacted if they don't get it, they said that it would just mean that they would more than likely have to go to the mall to have a space at the mall and it would move away from being visible. So, you know, I think we're in a different world than when we started this conversation 25 years ago. I believe in the town center, but I don't believe that we should build and build and build when we have a three quarter empty mall. And so my concern as a Berlin resident is I just, I'm not seeing the need to donate this land. And so if to me it's not a pressing need to donate it that I just don't feel I need to even consider regardless of whether or not it's a good deal or not a good deal or what happens. To me it's I just don't understand the need for it when there's ample space without that seven acres. Thank you, Diane. Vera, is that a new hand? Okay, go ahead. So nobody at this point has heard from Marcia Clark. Is that correct? Not the town either from that you know of? I invited her, I sent her an email about the meeting and asked her to send some input. And I also think I'm going to let first Tom answer the question. But the simple response to that is no, Vera. I haven't heard. Okay, thank you. Laura, I'd like to offer some comments as well before Tom speaks, if there are no other board members have their hand up. I have Jonathan and then you can go. And I know Maggie, I'm sorry, Maggie, I see your hand. I was not seeing that little hand there. So Jonathan and Maggie. So I guess my main concern with this whole idea is first of all, it's not walkable at all. And to me that's almost a deal breaker right off the bat, because in many small towns in Vermont, you can walk in and around the town center, you can, it's accessible for people in wheelchairs, et cetera. And I don't see any of that happening, frankly, in that location. And beyond that, if we were to donate any of the land, I certainly would not be in favor of donating the entire seven acre parcel when wetlands are under assault in many places in Vermont. That land needs to be protected. And when the town suggests that it has no value, because it can't be developed, it has value just because it's land. It has value on its own. It doesn't have to have a monetary value to be valuable. That's just a construct of capitalism. And that it's a throwback to land is not valuable unless it has monetary value. That's absurd. Thank you, Jonathan. Maggie? I'll just second what Jonathan said about the value of the land. And I don't see in the Berlin town center questions, really anything that speaks specifically to the environmental pact. But largely my concern is the second point on that town center question about the absence of a plan for any rent control or section eight housing when we have a significant housing crisis in our county that affects our kids. That would be something that I'd like to see some kind of statement on rather than just we haven't made a plan for it. Thank you, Maggie. Tom, after all, oh no, sorry, Chris first and then Tom. Okay. So these are going to be a question to Nick in part. And I think I agree with Diane that if this land conveyance is not necessary for the project to go forward, it's just necessary that the town offices be located within the project itself. It doesn't require that this land be conveyed in order for that to happen. I agree with Tom and said if we're going to do this at all, the smaller parcel would be the one that should be done. And Jonas hit on the point that I was going to make, which is if this happens, we should have a condition that the land and any development on it would revert back to the school district if the municipality of Berlin decided to discontinue its use. Nick's memo seems to indicate that it would be a simple conveyance and that the town could then do whatever they wanted with it and sell it to someone else if they wanted. I would not be in favor of that and I would want the land to revert back to us, including any developments if it was required. I also want to comment on Article 6. At least the language that Nick read seems to indicate that if the school district decided it was no longer going to use the land for a school purpose, that it would be re-conveyed to the town for a dollar. I don't know if that's what we're doing here. We're not deciding that when we don't need this land anymore, we're going to stop educational purposes on it. We're acquiescing possibly to request from the town of Berlin, which is a little different scenario than what I think Article 6 was envisioned to address. I think that was envisioned to address that if a school closes and the town school was no longer going to be used for educational purposes, then the reversion to the town would happen for a dollar. So, thank you. Sorry, I was having trouble unmuting myself. Ursula, and then I promise next. I wanted to speak to something Jonathan said in that it looks like they have a plan or proposed multi-use path. I don't know if you met more of a walkable town center, like if you're thinking like a downtown area walking all around, but it looks like they're they proposed walking path. I don't know if that met your needs or desires for a walkable area. I also wanted to hear maybe from Erin or somebody from the school about any impacts that the conveyance of the land would have like negative or positive to the school or any of you points that he has. Thank you, Ursula. I'm going to let Erin, that's okay. I'm going to let just Tom respond to that and then because I think we were all and then I'm going to let you tell it from the kids perspective too, which would be important. Tom? I'm unmuted. I think I'm unmuted now. Thank you everyone for having us. I don't know if I could share a screen, but if I could, there is really two phases to this project. The first immediate phase is when Nick pulled up his map, you saw the curved road that comes off the 62 that goes into the Berlin Mall area. That road, if you travel it, speeds can be excessive and we feel a need to really calm the traffic there. And so what we would do is would be realign that road into almost a T intersection and that piece of the road would go over school property. So that's the first piece of it. The second piece of it is that it would allow the development of at least two buildings, both have a residential aspect to it. We envision the municipal offices as a first floor and we see multi-floor residential units on top of it. And so what I think what the school gets and ultimately the town gets and the town of Berlin gets out of this is in the original, if you remember the original map that Nick showed, it's a 118 acre development that we have and we put an estimate that that will bring to the grand list to the town of Berlin about $125 million. And so that's an increase of 25% to the town of Berlin's grand list. The school and the supervisory union are received revenues from a grand list development. And so there's no doubt in my mind that the school, the town of Berlin's elementary school would prosper through this tax revenue as would the rest of your communities in this district. I don't know if anybody could point to in the next 10 years of project that's going to bring $125 million of grand list value to any community. And in addition to that, if the buildings that were on display, 80% of them are residential buildings. So we're anticipating 60 to 80 students coming to Berlin Elementary School. Central Vermont is an area that's desperate for housing and it's just a critical need for it. And if you look closer at the road development and the block development, it all includes paved sidewalks. So it's completely pedestrian friendly. That's one of the main items of a downtown designation that it has to be pedestrian oriented. And someone mentioned that we also included a multi-use path around it. And so that is included. But believe you me, there will be paved sidewalks on every road that's being developed here. And that's throughout the course of this development. So Berlin lacks a traditional downtown. It just does. And the 25 years ago our community recognized that to the need for a space for the constituency to gather, to meet, to recreate, because it's been missing in our town. That's 25 years ago. And there was a plan developed, the plan called for development of this, of a new town center in the ball and centering around the Berlin Mall campus. And in 2015, the planning mission really took up that torch and have had series, numerous public meetings, bond votes. Our town plan, it was adopted in 2018, clearly said, was centered around having a new town center. And the vote was overwhelmingly in support of that. We've had numerous bond votes that brought infrastructure in around the new town center. They were overwhelmingly approved by our constituency. So I can appreciate the sentimentality of maybe a concern. But there's always two sides of the story. And I believe at the end of the day, the Berlin Elementary School, the Washington Center Supervisor Union, and the town of Berlin will be better off for this project. I just do. There's green spaces baked into this project. But again, what I would really like to do is it's very difficult to show these items to folks, especially over a Zoom platform. We invited the board out this spring with some success. I truly believe if we could meet and talk about the merits, I think at the end of the day, you all would agree that this is beneficial for all parties involved. So thank you for your time. Thank you, Tom. Just one question that was asked by Diana's, the real core members, that maybe you could answer for us. Is your development, is it a deal breaker for us to not provide the land? Without your land, we cannot calm the traffic coming into that facility. Is that it? Is that it needed for funding or for? So we have received a $500,000 grant to realign that road. But it's conditioned on realigning it. And so again, it's dollars coming into our community that do not have to come from municipal tax dollars. So, Floor, I don't mean to be rude, but I do want to state that just because I'm saying I'm not for us conveying that land does not mean I'm not for this development. I have trouble believing that this whole development weighs on a potentially three and a half acre. I realize that you're saying that's going to help straighten the road. I think we need to figure out another one. But I don't want this painted that I'm saying I'm not for this conveyance because I'm not for the town center because that's not accurate at all. Nobody would say we don't want more kids in our building. We don't want more funding in our towns. I just don't understand the complexities of conveying that land over how it's going to make a big difference. That's why I think having a face-to-face discussion is the best way to achieve that Yeah, and I apologize, but the other problem that happened with that face-to-face visit is I'm a school employee and it was right at the end of school in May and I couldn't do it. Thank you, Diane. I think we had a new question from a... Hold on a minute. Vera had a comment and then I want to really have Erin give you know that feedback from the school. Vera, go ahead and then I'm going to have Erin and then you can go, Chris, after that. Yeah, mine is real quick. I just want to... I 100% agree with Diane. I am not against the development. I feel like we as a board need to include our town and do some type of a town meeting to hear from other people in our town. I mean what I've heard from is a small group and I really feel like this is one of those outreach times. We as a board need to set up a special meeting to have the community input for the whole board to hear. Thank you, Vera. I'm going to let Erin go, Jonathan, and then I'm going to take you and Chris. Erin, please. Thank you. I do really appreciate the opportunity to to have a voice here for a moment. So I will give a principal perspective obviously and just a little bit overall. I too feel that what's been said about the value of having an improved community, this center, like Tom said, all the positives. Of course, I agree with that. I think we'll bring more to the town, more value, and hopefully an increased student population. I think that would obviously be fantastic. In terms of the property itself and knowing what goes on along that nature trail, looking at the map, the trail starts at the southern end of that parking lot. Here's where one of the entrances is and it weaves back and forth along that stream. And a good portion of it on the right side or the west or east side of that stream and comes all the way. The other entrance is at the northern part of the property where that field kind of slips into the right there. It's utilized a lot by many classes throughout the whole year. So when this came to my attention a couple of years ago, of course, I immediately thought, what does this mean for people in the community like feeling they could just come in and out pretty freely to the Berlin property? What would it mean for people coming on to the playground in the middle of the day? And then as I saw plans develop, it seemed like that would be limited. I think looking at the picture, there's a piece that says, future, what does it say, future path to school. Part of me was thinking, does that mean that folks would kind of feel welcome to come to the trail area? What would that mean for kids during the day? It would be a little bit odd. At the same time, if students were to then be living in this housing, would this be a nice place for students to be able to walk home and be a walker versus having to ride a bus or a car? So I see that part as a potential piece as well. So those are my thoughts about this. I do agree too that if it were anything, the 3.8 versus the whole seven is better. And I think just finally through this process, I wasn't sure. I'm recalling back if this issue was a bit of an oversight. I thought at one point it was discussion like, is there a realization that these plans are going on to school property? And I think maybe that was missed. I'm not sure. And now that's why we're talking about it now, but I'm recalling that somewhere as well. So those are my thoughts. Thanks, Aaron. Jonas and then Chris first and then Jonas. You've been waiting, Chris. You know, I'm just not sure it's worth me taking the time. Okay. Yeah, two follow-ups for Tom. Tom, I don't think you, I'd like to get some clear answer on whether if the district did not convey this land, whether it would be a deal breaker for the town center project? I think that's a tough question to answer. I think it could be a deal breaker for that end of it. There is a, we're under a permit review for a 30-unit housing unit that's being constructed across from, if you go out there, if anybody's been out there, there's a 98-unit senior housing project being developed now. I believe if the road alignment does not come to fruition, we would lose that housing, that 30-unit housing complex. We would lose the capability of any additional housing on that end of the property. And Aaron, you are correct that the note on that map was for the children living in those neighborhoods created by the Newtown Center to get to and from the Berlin Elementary School. It wasn't meant to be a thoroughfare for just the mass public. It was a way for kids to get back and forth from school and without having to take a bus. It just lends to that notion again, the walkability of this project. Did the planning commission have any contingency plans on straightening the road in a different manner if the conveyance was not made? You can't get a 90-degree road. There is no other way to do it. If the map could be brought up again, or I could share my screen with you. There is no other way to do it without serious impacts to wetlands, which would never be approvable. Thank you. Thanks, Floor. Obviously, this is a pretty complex issue. And I just want to share the way I'm thinking about this is to kind of back up and think about interests in terms of, you know, what are the different groups that are involved here and what are their interests in this project? And I can think of at least three groups. There's the interests of the district of which we are. The board has to determine what those interests are and what we want to do. There's obviously the town of Berlin, and then there's all the other citizens of our district. Might be a distinct group as well. I was hoping that at this meeting that we would at least get some clarity on what we believe as a board, our interests are as a district. And I can see four. A couple really straightforward ones are we want the use of the trails. We've been using those, and we want to continue using those. That seems like something that we can, we would be able to build into an agreement. We also have an interest in maintaining some sort of buffer, whether that's for safety or for visual noise barrier, we want to maintain that. And I think that that's probably doable, whether it's three and a half or seven. We can, we can talk about that. The other two are, I guess, maybe less straightforward. One is that I came into this thinking that we want to support this development of a downtown Berlin downtown center for all the reasons that Tom stated. It ultimately for us as a district, it's going to mean more students. It's going to be more students in quality housing. And there also is a bonus going to be close to, these students are going to be close to our school. They could even actually even walk there. So those things and greater, greater tax revenue. So all of those things make me think that this development in general is in our interests and we want to support it. We're talking about this incremental piece of property and how that supports the overall development. Those are good questions, but I think in general, to my way, we have an interest in supporting this development. And the fourth thing is less clear to me now than I was surprised. Well, the fourth thing is that we want to foster a good relationship with the town of Berlin. We are Berlin and part of us is Berlin. We have overlapping interests there. And I would have thought coming into this, and this was substantiated in some of that survey data or some of the polling data, voting data that was in the packet, that the citizens of Berlin generally support this project and they've been voting for it and expressing interest in it. So I was surprised to hear some of the comments, Vera's, what she's been gathering from people. And then all three of the Berlin board members are expressing concern about this. So I think we have to unpack that. We have to understand that a little bit better. We certainly don't want to do something that goes counter to the interests of Berlin, but that part is not clear to me. Anyway, I'm going to stop there. I just wanted to share the way that I'm thinking about this. And hopefully that's helpful. Thank you, Carrie. That is very helpful. I think that we can put it in categories. I had some similar categories. So I had urban development, so division, and that includes the trails and the buffer. Legal clause, I heard a lot from you guys about this property being able to come back to us if it stopped being used by the time for the same amount. And then the last one is the community engagement that I agree with you, Carrie, that I thought that had been done already, but it looks like we should go out at least once to our community and put this out to them and make sure that, like Carrie said, we're all Berlin too. If I take my chair and hat off, I came into this meeting the same way, thinking that as urban development and the construct of our cities are really important. And having a downtown, which I know all of the board members support, is something that brings a better sense of community to our kids in Berlin, that ability to walk and to connect and create community by the built environment. It's important that school is very isolated the way it is. We have a lot of schools downtown Montpellier, right? You can walk right next to the school and there's no problem. The sense of community that this will create would be huge. So without having the important input from the community, I was feeling that, you know, let's do everything we can to support this project and maybe do the smaller part of it. So I think we have agreement. Let's go into a community, let's try to figure out a way to have a community engagement with the look a little, do a little bit more research into the bond, the three questions that were asked to, to make sure that we have the deed, the bond, and any other legal questions that we can ask Nick. And then my suggestion would be that we do community engagement, but we invite the town to, unless there's a position to that, so that we can have the drawing, so that it could be a way to all get the same feedback. Would that be okay? So we're not creating our own separate, and now Stephen is going to put everything in clarity for us. Thank you, Stephen. I'm in agreement with it, with everything, particularly as it was clarified by Kari. And I think the missing piece is how does the, how do, how do residents of Berlin feel about this school property being deeded back to the town? And my hope would be that Thomas and others from the town hear that. And so Flora, I'll express an interest in having a survey done, and not a community meeting, because at a community meeting, we're going to hear from 50 or 75 people. And I want to know from hundreds of people in Berlin what they think, which I think a survey would be able to do that. But what I hear from everyone tonight is a willingness, but there's some reservation, because as board members, we're not sure how the residents of Berlin feel about the school board deeding this land back to the town, not the project, not the town center project, but the specific question of how do they feel about this land being deeded back to the town? That is a great idea. We can send a survey out. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions for Nick? Otherwise, I'm going to move us along, and I don't see any other hands up. So, Vera, is that a new hand, or can we move? Okay. That must be an old hand. I'll put it down. Okay. Thank you, Nick, for joining us today. I think you have a good sense of our questions, and I'll make sure to connect back with you and Jen. Thanks for having me, and I'll be on standby. Okay. Thank you. So, let's move into the five finance. We're a little behind of where I wanted us to be. So, let's look at the budget process, that draft timeline that we sent you, and we're looking for some input on that. It's on page 16. Laura, can I frame this conversation quickly? Yeah. So, I think that one thing that is important to think about as we consider the overall process and the timeline is that way back when I was in leadership training 101, I learned that the budget should tell a story. If it was words, instead of numbers, it should tell a story of what's important to us, what our values are, and so that we're hoping that this process and timeline will allow all of us to engage in a process that helps us ensure that the budget is a reflection of our values and the needs of our students. So, earlier we talked about the idea of that community forum in October, really grounded in our implementation plan, our theory of action, and so I hope that as you engage in this conversation, you will consider that lens. And I don't know, Flora, if you want Suzanne to do a quick overview of the process or timeline or if you prefer that we just engage in questions since it was in the packet. Either way, Suzanne is prepared to say that. I was hoping that for this one, Suzanne, we could just engage in questions. People had time to look at it and see if it's enough, if it's too little. We made some small changes on it, but it's pretty, we're looking for ideas in Diane. So I know, especially like under special ed funding and that there are changes coming down the road, if those things could be highlighted as to potential impact, but then also that the balancing of how we've used ESSER funds and how those will be kind of weaned off. So that's informational part of those stories. So if we could have that information, that would be great. Thank you, Diane. Any other questions? I don't see any, but in N on number two, part of telling the story like Jan was saying, the board established in the parameters, that's sort of what we were brainstorming. So that is a good part and for other community members to hear. So we're thinking of implementation plan that we already have from 2016 to 2021. Just check and see where we are on that, our board goals, other initiatives so we can still be creative. This is not set on stone. Moving forward plan, moving forward plan has three pillars. It's on the website. Please visit it in the ESSER fund grants. We would keep that in mind and also try to be flexible with that. So that summarizes that part. Unless there's other questions, I would like to move on. So is that okay, Jen? Do you guys feel okay with that? Okay. I'm just trying to gain a little time here. So for your information, we started at the finance committee. We had this conversation and so accomplishments and issues, transportation committee and copier bid were put in there for your information. I'm wondering if you have some questions related to them. Otherwise, we can do a quick overview, but they were pretty clear in there, but we had a chance to discuss as a finance committee. I'm also happy to have Suzanne or Mike talk about the copier bid, but otherwise we could move into the action items. Any questions? The board feels comfortable with the three above. I'm seeing nodding heads and people on the phone. I can't see you. So I'm assuming you're okay. So let's move to the U32 van lease on page 26. Suzanne, go ahead. You're here with us. I don't want to cut you off. Go ahead and let's talk a little bit about this one and then we'll move into the next one. Sure. The Chrysler Pacifica van lease from Midstate Chrysler for the special ed van at U32 ends on September 30th. As many of us probably know, new and used car inventory right now is very limited. The van is a 2019. It's in very good shape with only 10,995 miles. The buyout cost for the van is $18,917.50. There is $8,781.99 remaining in the FY22 budget for a lease. Using this money for the purchase, this leaves $10,135.51 unbudgeted. The expense would be eligible for a 56% sped reimbursement this year. Any purchases like that after this year would not be eligible for a 56% reimbursement as Diane was discussing about the Act 173 special ed financing change, which leaves a balance of $4,459.62 unbudgeted. Staff recommends the board move to approve the purchase of the 2019 Chrysler Pacifica van currently on lease from Midstate Chrysler. Total purchase amount $18,917.50. I think this is in. The finance committee also was in agreement and recommended that this could we have a motion? Somebody make a motion? I will move. Go ahead. Yeah, I move that we approve the purchase of the 2019 Chrysler Pacifica van currently on lease for the total purchase of $18,917.50. Second. Okay, second. Any questions or discussion? Seeing none, it was in favor of approving the motion as read by Diane. Please say aye. Aye. Thank you, Maggie. Any opposed? Seeing none, the motion carries. Okay. So let's move right into the appointment of the new third party. Susanne? Sure. Viha, the trust company that the school district purchases our employee health insurance through offers, excuse me, four different vendors for their third party administration of HSAs, HRAs and FSAs. The Viha third party administrator vendor comparison chart was provided to all of you. Since January, our payroll staff has had correspondence with 45 employees regarding issues with their HRA accounts which are currently administered by Datapath. The resolution of employee issues requires significant staff time. Each one requires correspondence with the employee, correspondence with Datapath, correspondence with Blue Cross, possible information that's very private being shared with our staff that normally we wouldn't need to have that type of information shared with us. Blue Cross does not provide Datapath with a direct eligibility feed for our employees. This has been identified by staff as the primary struggle with Datapath's claim system. The only third party administrator that receives direct eligibility feed from Blue Cross is a company called MyMoney slash Further. Additional comparisons of vendor services reveals that the employee login to MyMoney Further is directly through the Blue Cross website. So employees would go to the Blue Cross website, find the link to MyMoney, and sign directly into their account. So it's that really nice one-stop shop portal. And MyMoney Further offers free open enrollment support. Additionally, and I'm almost hesitant to even talk about it because really this proposal is significantly surrounding employee service, so customer service for employees. But additionally, the vendor fees per employee per month are less with MyMoney Further. And so this switch would save staff time in the fiscal services department, but it would also improve satisfaction with our employees and the third party administrator. Jen brought this proposal to labor management and the union was in support of this transition. And staff recommends that the board move to appoint MyMoney Further as the WCUUSD third party administrator for HSAs, HRAs, and FSAs, effective January 1, 2022. Thanks, Suzanne. The finance committee also had the same recommendation. Can I have a motion, please? I will move that the board appoint MyMoney Further as the WCUUSD third party administrator for HSAs. HRAs and FSAs effective January 1, 2022. If there's a second, I just want to make a quick comment. I'll second it. It's Lindy. Yeah, so I just want to say that the cost reduction here is a nice to have. I want to make sure health insurance and everything around paying for health care costs is an absolute nightmare everywhere in this country. So I want to make sure that we are doing this with the stated intent of making things better and easier for people who are trying to get benefits and the people who are administering those benefits. The cost saving is just sort of a nice thing. Thank you, Jonas. Stephen. And I would also like it's stated in the minutes that we appreciate the feedback from the union and understand their endorsement of moving to this new vendor. Thank you, Stephen. Very important. Okay. If there's not any other questions, all those in favor of approving the motion as made by Jonas, please say aye. You're all ayes. Any opposed? Any abstained? Seeing none, the motion carries. Thank you, everybody. Let's move to six. Consent agenda. We have some minutes to approve. Any motions? I will move to approve. Go ahead, Jonas. I'll second Jonas. I'll move to approve the minutes of August 11th, August 25th, and September 1st contingent on any corrections of Lindy's name. Okay. Jonas and Chris with a slight amendment. All those in favor of approving the minutes with that slight change, please say aye. Let's get my name right. Aye. Okay. I hear all ayes. Any opposed? Hearing none, let's move on. Approved by orders. Lindy? I've got to get them where I can see them when I just clicked. They disappeared. I've got the ones for 819. I'd like to make a motion to approve the board order of 819 in the amount of $863,404.74. Thank you, Lindy. Have a second? Second. Thank you, Ursula. Lindy and Ursula. Any discussion? Any questions? All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Thank you. Any opposed? Okay. Hearing none, the motion carries. Lindy, is that it? No. There's the other one. This one is the July 22nd through August 18th. I think that, is that the same one I just did? No. This make a motion to approve this board order in the amount of $898,160.19. Thank you. A second to that? Can I ask for clarification? I'm looking at two boards. Hold on one second. I just need a second first. Second. Okay, sorry. Thank you, Jonas. Okay, go ahead with your question, Chris. Yeah, what was the one that we just authorized? That one was 819. I said 819, but it was 819 through 915. Okay, never mind. That's why. Thank you. Any other questions? All those in favor, please say aye before I put you all to sleep. You guys are yawning already. Hi. Okay. Lindy, should I change the date? You said 819 through what? I should probably change the date. 915. Thank you. Thank you. The ayes appear to have it, so the motion carries. Lindy, I don't want to put you in the spot again, but let's move on to personnel or if somebody else has. I know I have that one open. Yeah, go ahead. I'm navigating my screens here. Make a motion to accept the appointment of Karen Chesser for Berlin Guidance Counselor at 1.0 FTE. Thank you, Lindy. Could I have a second for Karen? Second. Thank you, Jonas. Any questions? Discussions? Hearing none. All those in favor? Please say aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, the motion carries. And then we didn't have any retirement. Anything new, Jen, that we should know? Nothing. No, nothing new right now. We have a position that we posted, which is a part-time professional development and assessment coordinator that posting date ended today. And we are still working on some key vacancies that I made you all aware of in the community letter as well. So hoping to fill some key positions now. Thank you. Okay, we're two minutes behind schedule, but if you would allow it, I have a really quick report from the Career Center. Is that okay? So Jody wrote a small piece on the paper and I'll try to send that to all of you, but the committee itself is going to have the last review at our next board meeting on Tuesday on the report itself. So we're going to try to schedule a time for Jody to come visit us and we'll make sure to have that report for you in October and November. The hope is to have this voted in March, which is a little bit accelerated timeline from what we had first said. So I just wanted to put it on your radar that the change of governance for the Career Center is coming. If you have any questions, feel free to send an email. We'll be sending you with plenty of time, but we are one of the sending districts. So I want to put that in your radar because we're going to be doing budgeting at the same time that this is happening. And then the last report I had is just, I know that sometimes you get a lot of emails from the, so moving on to VSBA and I'll be really quick. Sometimes you get a lot of emails from us in the weekly newsletter and sometimes we do not open them all, but I just wanted to make you aware that the last email, it was a combined statement by the VSBA, Vermont Superintense Association and the Vermont Principles Association statement on critical race theory. A lot of our school boards are dealing with this conversation. It's a really important piece of information for all of you to be aware. I don't want to take the time to read the whole statement here, but I did want you to make sure to take the time to read it. And that concludes our business for today. Could have a motion to adjourn. Well, actually, we should do the board reflection before we adjourn. Any comments from the board? But isn't there also public comments again? Oh, you're right. Yes. Yeah, but we have board reflection first. Yeah. So I'll volunteer to write another summary of this meeting for Front Porch Forum unless someone else wants to do it, but anybody have specific topics that they'd like covered in the update? Kari? Yeah. Yeah. If you could just make sure to put an update about the Berlin land, please. Of course. Yeah, and I think you might mention that the board would be interested in hearing any comments or feedback from the people of Berlin. Sure. And that we intend on sending out a survey. And Kari, the efforts that the administration is making in terms of COVID-19 and the efforts that our staff is making and the appreciation for them in their efforts to keep our kids safe as well. Got it. Thank you. So I'll make a comment on reflection. I think that regarding Berlin, we are in a strange place where we are, there seem to be two competing set of opinions about this, right? And it's a strange place for the board to be in the middle of what is town business. You know, I think we want to do what's best for the school district first, then I think we want to do what's right for the community. And it's just, it feels uncomfortable to be in the middle of this. Thank you, Jonas. Any other board reflections? Lindy? Yeah, I thought the tone and pace of the meeting, people had enough time. But then as we needed to move along, you did a really nice job of doing that. So I just, I think that's a plus. Thank you. Yeah, but I was, if I self-reflect, I was feeling that I did not do such a great you know, really framing the Berlin conversation. I could have done a little bit more. But thank you for all of that reflection. I want to open a text. I knew there were a couple of community members. And one reflection that I had also in the Berlin is that I wanted to give Chris O'Brien a chance to speak because he had two really good questions when we met. And I did not give you a chance to speak, Chris. So I apologize for that. That's okay. But we'll bring you up into that for our next, for our next meeting. Okay. Can we hear the questions now? Sure. Chris, do you want to go ahead or do you want me to share them? Yeah, I mean, my only, really only one concern I had was, you know, looking down the road 10 or 15 years, would we look back if we were to convey this to the town and had reservations about it down the road? Like maybe we could have used that property for something for the school. And I don't, you know, I don't live in the district. So I don't really have kids going to school in the district anywhere. It's just an outsider's viewpoint. And just looking out for, you know, not wanting to do something and then and regret it without really vetting it like we are now. So thank you, Chris. Okay. So community members don't open it up to community input. Please raise your hand. And if you're on the phone, please let me know. I know Dexter has his hand up and thank you for being patient Dexter. Go ahead. Thanks. I really just started out with just wanted to make some comments on the COVID policy. Two basic things. Jen was promoting testing and participation in testing. And just an anecdotal experience that we've had is that we had a family friend test positive. We believe it's a false positive. She was tested seven times and had one positive, but did have close contact with many people, caused a lot of other people to go out and get tested. Nobody got sick. She had a cold and got over it fairly quickly. She was retested four times after her positive, all negative. And, you know, I just think that the test, you know, the testing is invasive, can be invasive, and it is dangerous too. And just promoting that isn't necessarily the best thing. So I just thought that you might want to consider that. And the other thing with the testing is I wonder if people come to school sick to get free testing and convenient testing. Again, making the testing available might be creating a problem more than something else. And then the other thing I just wanted to offer or I guess request is that I'd like to be involved more in the developing of the new safety rules around COVID. And so I don't know if there will be public opportunities for the public to engage in that process. And if there aren't going to be public policies, I just would like to volunteer to engage with Jen or Jen's designee to assist in developing any changes to the policy. And the third comment I had to make was relative to the Berlin proposal, which wasn't anything I showed up for tonight, but it was certainly interesting. And I felt the most compelling testimony was that from the principal at the school, who I believe said that that land is used for nature trail now. And I just think that that's a really hugely valuable educational resource that should be preserved for the school. Those are my comments. And I guess my other comment is I really need to work on your public comment policy. There's just not enough time in your once monthly meetings to have meaningful discussion. I think my key example would be if this was the Berlin School Board meeting, and they were talking about that land, there'd be a lot more public discussion in this meeting that would be valuable for you to hear from the public in Berlin. Thanks. Thanks, Dexter. Any other public comments? I don't see any other. I do see a message from Maggie that you had a board reflection, but your internet was not working, right? But I'm going to wait on Jonas and Maggie and let Meg speak, which is the other hand up. Welcome, Meg. Hi, everybody. I would just like to add that I think it would be helpful to have more than just a survey regarding the Berlin property. I think it would be great to have an opportunity for an informational night with both the town community and the proposers of the meeting and the survey. That's all. Thank you. Just to get more people engaged, because I think a lot of people will have no idea about what it looks like and sounds like even though you might have advertised some of that information already. Thank you. Thank you, Meg. Maggie, you had a board reflection? I just was considering that these estimates on how many students would potentially be attending Berlin. I'm just curious where the estimates are coming from, because I'm hearing that as one of the reasons to support giving the town the land. That's why I would just like more concrete data on how they came to these estimates, both for housing development and the number of students, especially considering that there's no information beyond that they're not planning rent control to section 8 housing. Who is this demographic that's going to be moving into these apartments or housing? Is it condos? Is it apartments? Those are questions that I have as a board member. Thank you, Maggie. Feel free to send those to me and we'll make sure to start a document. I'm looking for board reflections. I just want to make a clarification about public comments that we do not respond to public comments in our board meetings. We can always get back to them. So, Jonas? Yes, Flora. I understand our policy. I understand our policy, but I feel compelled to make sure that the community knows that COVID testing is safe, that there is no danger to the students in getting tested. And my son was out of school on Monday at Dodie when surveillance testing is done. He stayed home that day and our awesome school nurse was in touch with me to ask if he would like to get tested anyway and we conducted that test outside, out of the school in a safe way. Everyone should stay home when they are symptomatic, but I have firsthand experience that the district is doing what it can do to provide surveillance testing even to kids who are not in school that day. Thank you, Jonas. It's important. I don't see any other community members hence up. If we've done with board reflection, I will look for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Move to adjourn. Thank you, Jonas. Everybody is Diane. Got it. Okay. All of those in favor, please say aye and we'll see you next time. Thank you for being here. Thank you. Thank you.