 of the Rochester Stockbridge Unified District Board of School Directors meeting, regular meeting, Monday, September 12th, 2022 at 5.30 p.m. at the Rochester campus, and via Google Meet, we have called to order. And I'll just put into the recording that we have quorum. Our quorum is Bill Edgerton, myself, Amy Welth, and Patrick Hudson by media. Adjustments to the agenda, I don't believe there are any. We're missing, or who's usually here. DeTera often is here, and Jamie are often here. And either of them is here, which is good for them. Very glad that they get some time off. Assigned timekeeper, I think we're fine tonight for that. I think we know we've been keeping on our schedule pretty well. I don't know, the notes are in this packet. How have you been providing them in a printed packet lately? I just printed this off because I wasn't sure anybody was sending them stuff. And I'm not sure what the rules are about it. I don't know either. Did you read them? What could it be? Not supposed to be quite that obvious about it. After extensive study, I would accept a motion to approve the agendas. I should read them out. Prove the minutes of Thursday, July 28, 2022, special. 4.2, approve the minutes of Monday, August 1, 2022, regular. And 4.3, approve the minutes of Thursday, September 6, 2022, special. I'll move a second. I honestly did not read them. So if nobody's read them, I think we should table them. I'll put a point. If somebody has read them. Patrick, did you read them? Wait, you're muted. You're muted. Patrick, you're muted. I still can't hear you. Can't hear you. Yeah. Here I am. Yeah, no, I read them. You're fine. Oh, yay. I read them, but not this. It is my job to read them. OK, good. And I will second them with such comments, then, yes. Thank you. OK, we're exposing. People could have really attacked us a little bit. And it's pretty lame. It's a simple job, really. OK, some of all in favor signify by saying aye. I just have it. Our consent agenda is approved. Is there any public comment? I see no public here. So I think we're going to go ahead. And there's an area later of Sophie. Yeah. And I had a forward comment. No, I can't. Yeah, sorry. Today was a distant body weight. Today. Monday. So, well, that was while they had some stuff at school. And it sort of changed the whole day. So I think we're fine. We don't have a celebration of learning yet. Who are they in the works? They are in the works. They're just only a couple. I'd love to meet some of the new teachers. Some of the teachers we haven't. I feel like I haven't, you know, like Megan or something like. Oh, OK. I'm sorry, because I really don't have that much teachers. OK, from last year to. We haven't actually met some of these people. And I think it's important for us to meet them and hear how they present. And if that's OK, if that feels acceptable to you, that would be just a suggestion, obviously. It's your area. All right. What's the board number eight reports of water starting with superintendent. The principal is not here tonight. I think one of the things he would definitely have brought up and he brought it up to me. And he sent a letter to us is this possible assignment of the Lincoln School into our SU. And I think you all have read about that. I have not. And I was searching my emails to find where that letter may have come just to the board chairs. And I but I can certainly talk to you about it. That would be great. It's at a point where the last thing Jamie said to me was he got a call from the board of ed saying, you better be talking to your lawyers because this could happen, in other words, of what it would mean. In other words, after we very respectfully said no, the SU said no to Ripton would do respect, but we just felt we were big enough and anything bigger was going to impinge upon our ability to deliver what we've worked very hard to do well. The board of ed is now looking at us as, hey, they've already got a whole bunch of other schools. Why not one more? Because Lincoln is looking for a home. And what it's like on the school structure. Very similar to Ripton, very similar in size. Three days through six. Three days through six. It would cooperate and put you up. Sorry, but it doesn't make sense. No, no, no, you know more than I think. So how, you know, we came through a consolidation of that 46, and now we have these groupings within our SU of K6, K8, K212. How would this new K6 fit into that? Would they have to join the 8K6 school district? I can't speak specifically, but I'm guessing they would say they would be geographically isolated within the supervisor union. So it would be their own school district, like Brandel Hancock or Sharon or the Newton School. OK. Yeah, there's a lot of questions. One thing Jamie did ask me is that I would provide a letter basically stating some of the things that we came up with. We had a whole series of reasons. And I think the more people it comes from, the better, you know, to the Board of Ed. And he don't think he did send me the address. He was going to send me the address where I just sent it and who to address it to. Yeah. And is Lincoln School District actively seeking us or is it the Board of Education that's actively? They're looking for a place. I've heard they've ripped in it might actually be sent back to Middlebury. I think they already have that. I guess what I'm saying is it in the voters' hands? And Lincoln aren't really in this. So Lincoln has voted to get out of their murder of the Mount Abe Unified School District. And the other towns voted to let them out. So now they're moving forward in the next steps. What I don't understand about this is I would think we would have to vote to accept them. But I mean, how can they just hand us? But that maybe has to merge. And we don't have a vote about whether we're part of a supervisor union or not. So updates to all these kind of questions. Is this stuff that Jamie does know? I think he's investigating it. I mean, he's been very clear with him. His point, which is ESU, was very clear with Ripton. We loved them. We thought they were great. But it just was too much. I mean, Lincoln's even farther. We have a very large ESU as did one of the biggest ones. It would be almost two hours from Chelsea to Lincoln, in terms of the drive. And I know it's convenient. But at what point does convenience really come in? Why doesn't it just join if it's much closer to Mount Abe? Well, that's what they voted out of. Yeah, well. So we'll see. This may be taken out of our hands. And obviously, more is coming. But I think we need to make one of the things he would have emphasized. Yeah. About when the communication is. Question. Well. Is that very true? Question. Yes. One is, so are you, Mr. Chair, going to draft and send a letter on behalf of our subboard? That's a good question, whether it's going to be over. Or how is that going to take place? Jamie's asked for it. It makes sense that we put something in writing and speaks to what we're trying to do and where this would not move us ahead and be difficult. So that's the first question. I think somehow we need to be able to do that. I'm sorry. In a way, I'm sorry, Jamie's not here because he could. I didn't get a timeline. OK, I've got a report to us. He says that the State Board of Education is meeting on September 28th. And that's going to be the meeting on this topic. And he's saying that, hopefully, many board chairs and I plan to attend. So I suggest that we get the letter to the board. Say a week before that, they should be able to distribute it. So that's the first thing. And then the second thing, do you plan to attend to represent us? Because that's wonderful. It's in my calendar already to be there on the 20th. He doesn't say in his report when that meeting's going to be other than the date, which is September 28th. Yeah, I don't know whether it's a regularly scheduled meeting or what. But obviously, the more of us that show up. So that's a way to put it out to the public, because I think there's definitely members of the public, I think, who would speak clearly on this. Well, do you want participation beyond yourself for that meeting, Mr. Chair? That was not what Jamie talked to me about, but I would love it. I would love it. Well, just let us know. I think I will right now. If people can make clear that date and we will get a time. And I feel bad. It's just like with Ripton, I feel bad. I mean, they're nice people. They're doing a hard work. But we've just, the SU really examine themselves. And I think we're doing well where we are. And that's about it. Good. Anything else from the report that we can make notes of or that we can send to Jamie as far as? A lot of good stuff about the work that's been going on. And so that's always encouraging to read about. Good. If they're not being able, move on to the principal's report. We welcome Justine Gavakis here virtually, joined in, and Vic Robato, I see. So you have my report. I think the biggest thing is we've opened school. Yeah. That was exciting. We, down at the bottom, I did add kind of just updates around number five. Mostly, the numbers are about the same. There's a little bit of a shuffle. There are 86 students preschool through sixth grade enrolled at the Rochester campus, and 45 students enrolled pre-k through sixth at Stockbridge. We do have some new families to the area, which is great. We've met a few at Stockbridge. Yeah. Absolutely. They've jumped right in, which has been great. We are still currently without a music teacher and a world language teacher. But we've started instrumental lessons building off of some of the music program that's happened. And we have several, and I mentioned it, at least one in my report. We have several artists and residents who've lined up, and more on the horizon for kids to experience different aspects of music, and as well as hopefully, if we have to, we're going to take that same approach with world languages. So still trying to build on what was said. Is there any possibility of, I don't know, a music teacher from that whole herself or something coming here? I think they are full-time, because they do like middle and elementary school. But I can research it. I don't know for sure if it's coming ahead. And world language, of course, too. I don't believe others replace the world language position. I think we're all looking together. And I understand that SD-wide, and statewide, is what I remember you were saying, too. So thankfully, we're in this great community where people have a lot of talents that we can tap into, which has been great. So that, and then I would say the only other, like, facilities update. This is actually kind of work in progress right now. But we've had all the wood chips replaced. I see that. It's happening. Yes, on the playground. And dug out, because it needed to be dug out first, not just piled on top of. Yeah, I remember years ago, that's basically a mandatory thing that you have to do or a couple years to take. Exactly. They do inspect it, so. Yes, you have to have like six to nine inches. Yeah, with chips. Wow, that's a good safety thing. So that's the other thing. And then we're just still waiting on perks for the fire alarm system here. But it is still, like, it can still call out and do the things. You just probably hear the beeping as you walk. I did hear the sound. Oh, good. No, I didn't. But so those are kind of the main functional enough. It's functional to do the bare minimum, which is to keep the doors open, which is it can call out. We've tested it all. The fire alarms will go off. It's more of a trouble notification while we're not in school. Just there's something going on with the ground block with a wire. And just to confirm, I remember we have one teacher in Rochester who's still out for another week. Yes, we have one teacher who is providing. She is a Norwich grad and she's providing her service training that she had to do. She left the day after school ended. And she will be back. We have one more week after this week. She'll be back in two weeks and she will graduate it. So she will be back in the classroom. OK, and is this something that's going to happen every year? No, just this summer. Let's just get her. And how did it only start at the end? In the years I understand. How does that fit in the union, Cal, like in terms of the number of days teaching and things like that? She had to go through a process with HR. OK. That's a broken stay in the public session, yeah. Very good. Just didn't take a deal. Sorry, I probably shouldn't do that. No, it's OK. It's OK. I don't think. But I thought that would happen. I just want to be back up as strong as we can be. Absolutely. And how is the rotation to your mind going? It seems to be going well. We do have still some systems things to figure out around some social emotional support for some kiddos, some of our younger kiddos. But we're building that right now. And we've already been working on that. Good. Great. All right. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. Moving on to Jen Astor comments. No, I didn't hear anything. Amy asked a comment. Bill, would you have a comment, please? Well, it's more questions. One is I would be really interested in your spelling initiative with Janie Feinberg. Yes, that's great. As a lifelong spelling, what's the term, challenged individual? I could go beyond that, but I don't want to bore you. But I'm excited about this, getting it early. Is this a new initiative? How does it fit in with literacy? And are you going to continue this, if it works? Yep, so we had a handful of kids last year who were receiving some literacy intervention services. Also pilot the spelling piece at the end of the year, because we were finding it's part of the barrier around writing that kiddos are really, they want to do well. They want to succeed, and if they can't spell well and they know they can't, they spend more time saying, how do I spell this again? So really trying to build on that as an area of need. So we piloted it, and we've seen some, and only for the last six weeks of the year. We've seen some great growth already, and just some confidence. So we are going to go full speed ahead, and everybody's going to get ready. Everybody's going to be trained in it. It's coming Friday. And we will go from there. So I'm excited to see. It's only about 20 instructional minutes of death. So it's like over 10 seconds. Is it a long time, or does Danny come back or people? So there's four different levels that kids will test into. She'll come in and help teachers run a baseline assessment. And then from there, they get broken out into groups, just like they do for reading. And then it'll be part of the rotation. Part of the literacy program? Well, I just think that's fantastic. I was deeply like spelling challenged. Had a lot of special ed work on it. And the best teacher ever had made spelling fun, and made it sort of about almost art. It was about playing with the letter. It was just, it was a really exciting thing. It was not cognitive. It was almost more, for me, it worked better to be almost artistic with it. And words that went together, letters that went together, and groupings, and all that. And I think that interesting piece, this is really first through sixth grade, but we're going to train everybody kid through sixth, is that it's about being able to break down that barrier of how it sounds, phonetically, and what sounds, and how you actually spell. So, it's pretty, like what sounds do you hear? Okay, how do you spell those sounds? And every kid will test somewhere different, but. A lot of before-gee, except after C, when sounding like A is a neighbor in one way. Right. Exceptions, needle, leesor, fordner, seizure, and the weird heights. See, and I can't even remember a lot of exceptions. I remember that from 50 or 60 years ago. There's a lot of research right now supporting that some of the things that are blocking students' progress in writing is around spelling and actually handwriting, and we've just kind of jumped to always using technology. And that's, even with a blank screen and the cursor blinking, that's not good for kids. They're not progressing. So we're going to start here and monitor from there, and I think we'll see some others go over and some literacy things as well. It's not just writing. I think that's fantastic. Yeah. Another one that sounded new was the artist in residency. Yes. I thought that sounded phenomenal. Could you tell us a little about it? And it's just going to be something, hopefully, that you can continue to do with different artists. And do we have the funding for it? Well, right now the funding is music. Oh, okay, gotcha. Right, and some other areas. But it's, we're starting off, Amy Braun has helped coordinating a lot of it, and we're starting off with a fairly local artist, Claire Walker Leslie. Oh, it's wonderful. I know her help. Yes, and she's coming to do nature journaling. Nature journaling. And she comes next week, which is exciting. And then we also have John Gelmore lined up for February. So we have some great, just different opportunities for all kiddos that are not, you know, that don't want to take instrumental lessons, because that doesn't speak to every kid. Great. That's fantastic. The third thing is just a question. We got schools open. We've got classrooms filled with enthusiastic, energetic kids and teachers and everybody in between. You reported on the enrollment for the two schools this year, and I believe before Rochester Elementary, it was 86, and for Stockbridge it was 45. And so I go, wow, it seems like more than last year. So I looked at last year and in the annual report we had for Stockbridge K through six, it was like 40. So it looked like we gained five, but it looked like Rochester might have had a fall off from last year. So it looked like it came out about even. What can you talk about enrollment? And is that a picture that constantly changes over the year or is it pretty well set with this? I think this is probably a good baseline where we're at. We do have a little bit of a transient population. So the folks that, the numbers that dropped off in Rochester, those are families that truly have picked up and moved, or we had a couple of families who were just here for one school year and using their second home within the area while they were here and now they've gone back because work is not remote anymore, which is unfortunate. So a couple of families have moved and we kind of knew that that was coming early on last year. They take jobs that shift it or other things. I guess the good news is that we're not losing population and so we could call it stabilizing. And we need that. And then we need to keep pushing it so it grows to fill those classrooms. But that is something we'll talk about. And that's one of the things I think the SU and all the districts are gonna be looking at is how we can tell our story and the success of our schools and our teachers and our administrators to educate families that might be new to the area or looking for an area to buy, to rent or school choice to make sure their kiddos are in the right place for them. So yeah, I think this is a shared burden, but I read from this, at least it's stable. Right, it's not a huge drop or increase. And it's like, understand, we got one family came and they were killing them, which is kind of nice too. I mean, I don't know if they, without reason, but killing them certainly was a program we've lost students to, especially at Stockbridge. Yep, and the number of school choice students tuitioning and in Stockbridge is gonna... Is it going up? Yep, that's good. So, baby steps. Yeah, they're only a couple kiddos at a time, but it's great that we're starting to attract some more families. Well, I talked to two parents, a father just moved in from South Carolina and they left us at South Carolina because the schools couldn't provide the type of education their child needed and moved to Stockbridge as found, he just said that everybody's so welcoming and friendly and it's clear this is the right place for our student. I'm going, yes. Yes, that family has offered to be a reference check. That's what you call it, a reference check. Yeah, forever. Maybe we have to start advertising down in South Carolina. That's what you're saying. But I thought that was very hard. It shows it makes people aware. There's a difference, what's going on. The other one was a similar story and they were just very pleased. It was great to hear. And the first family, it looked like they were involved, the child was involved this summer, so it must have been also with your program in one planet that talks about my gosh here in Vermont, you can get a kid involved in learning and socialize and everything else in the summer. Yeah, yeah. A lot of pain for a sleepover. So I want to share that. Thank you. Thank you. Well, and if you do read about educational systems in some southern states, it's really, really sad that many people have forced private institutions because the funding is so poor. So we may complain about how much we pay in taxes, but we have good schools. Yeah. People care. We're providing for the future. Any further questions for our principal? Let's go on to our business manager, Tara. Good evening, everyone. Good evening, Tara. Hi there. So you have my report. It's going over everything that we're working on, just extremely busy right now. Getting everything ready for the audit that's happening the week of the 19th. Wow. And then you have requested at your last meeting for me to provide you with the FY23 projected oil expenses. And I actually locked in on our contract on the 7th of September at $3.7629 per gallon. So last year you used 17,606 gallons at the high school. So that projection for you is $66,250. That's just the high school. Yeah. Just the high school. 17,000 gallons. How much do we use in the elementary school, I wonder? Do you have a ballpark, Tara, for what the elementary uses? No. No, I have to work it out. It's a little less. Oh, it's like $17,000. I'm sorry, I shouldn't put that. It's just, that is, it makes a big dent. That's more than I expected. But we weren't going to talk about that now. We're going to talk about that. I think in our discussion time. But my reaction is here. Do you have a question for our business manager? I do. In the food authority responsibilities, it says Rochester campus qualifies for FVP, round two grant. Could you tell me what that is? Fresh fruit and vegetables. Fresh fruit and vegetables. The first round of funding, you have to have a free and reduced number. And then if that's not all applied for and awarded, then they start reducing the free and reduced percentage in order to qualify. Great. Thank you. How are we feeling going into the audit? How are you feeling going into the audit? We'll be fine. Well, I mean, I just, I always reflect back that it used to be a much more stressful process two and three years ago. It is extremely stressful. I won't downplay that. I have myself and an accountant. That's all our team is at this point in the business office other than human resources and accounts payable. Payroll, we are now covering Ellen and I at the same time that the audit will be here. So it's a bit stressful. But as far as our actual audit itself, I feel confident. I have no issues and concerns that I'm worried about at this point. We have a new auditor this year. Our auditor that's been with us the last three years has moved on from R.H.R. Smith. So we have a new team. Okay. Are you looking to fill a slot in the business office? I have a posting out right now and have for a month now for an accountant and we are actually going to be posting for a payroll clerk as well. And hopefully we'll have a bite on one of or both positions. Okay, good. Thank you for letting us know. Our thoughts are with you. Thank you. For the questions for our business manager. If not, thank you very much, Tara. May it go well. Thank you. Okay, we are at the policy committee. Patrick, do you want to lead us through what stage we're at and what we should be looking for? If there are any changes here. So I had missed that last one because I wasn't aware of it. It wasn't showing up in my notification. So I needed to make that change. So I actually don't know what happened the last one but before that we were discussing the flag policy. Okay. And Amy, you said you did notice there were some changes. Yeah. I believe there's just some verbiage changes in the affidavit concerning pupil residency. I just had a couple of more editing questions or points to point out. One, if you go to page two, this is the affidavit concerning pupil residency. On page two under number 12, motor vehicles. If you compare that, which is what you're asking from Guardian one, compared to page three, what you're asking for Guardian two, they're not the same. You're asking Guardian two to please list, make a model color and plate of the vehicle you drive the most frequently, but you're not asking Guardian number one that. So I didn't know that was specific or quick for you. And the other one was on page five. Number two, B, the second sentence, there's a period and no capital. Yeah, very good. That no tuition payments. That needs to be capitalized. That was really my only comment on it. I think it is quite cumbersome. I think that it might be a little daunting for some parents, honestly. I felt that. Yeah. But we do need to make sure that we are indeed paying for kids who this is their primary residence. So, and I'm sure on a case by case basis, there will be discussions as to whether a current packing school slip showing name in physical location, you know, if they're not, I'm sure there'll be exceptions or whether or not like a canceled check needs to be provided if somebody doesn't have a bank account. So I am confident that this is going in the right direction. And we should continue with that. I just wanted to point out those few grammatical things I saw. I had a question for Lindy on this, probably been answered before, but has the administration looked at the application in this process as something that you can administer well or do you need to have extra staff or extra time that you talked about being kind of complicated? But how does it reach you as something that, once it's submitted, you can get the information you need to? So we already have one situation right now where we're working through this. Where there's a situation of split custody, 50-50 custody and we got the first students that we've never heard of before. So we've been working with Tara on it and asking the one parent to provide all of these things. And I think it makes those parents kind of push back like, wait a second, my kid's always been this town's residency. So it's been an interesting process. I think Janet and Erica, I know Janet and Erica are very well versed in it already, plus I hope so they both live in each community. So it is time consuming, but we're always willing for folks to come in and set and ask questions as they do it, which is the best way to view out any of this paperwork. And I just think it holds folks accountable. All right. Thank you. So no new staff needed, yeah. Good. And this is being filled out by new people who are new to the district or by all existing. Not all existing, because we already have proof of residence. Okay. So it's for the ones that, okay. Yep. So it's more an application. It's a family, we don't know. Right. And also like they're new. They moved in. They moved right. They moved in or possibly like our tuition students and not currently actually enrolled in separate geriatrics. Exactly. Yeah. Yep. Okay. I think there's other school districts, not within RSU that ask for way more. Yeah. That I've had to provide before, like attendance and other things as well. Yeah. Because I really want to. Yeah. So I don't. I don't want to go to town. I was going to the town kids. Exactly. All right. So I know, I know she's with the social media policy that. Did anybody else have any questions or comments on the social media policy? I remember we had a couple of things that we talked about last time. I don't remember what they were, but I do remember no further. Okay. There being none, I think we can pass this back to the committee. And I think it'll come up to the, to the full board. Full board update. As far as I know, I know we have a, we have a retreat scheduled coming up later in September, Thursday night, which of course you are all welcome to it is the 22nd, I believe at five. It was in his. Yeah. It's in his report. Yep. 530. 530. Yep. 530, 22nd, Thursday 22nd. That being an emphasis on full board. So, I mean, obviously, even if you're not a voting member, this is a time to come and hear each other out. It's a time to come and hear each other out. And Jenda for that, our biggest thing for well, obviously this, what happens with Lincoln is going to be a big issue when we talk later this month. Any questions on that? We could move on to our discussion items and take a look at this number. And decide how we feel this should get paid. Was there any suggestions, recommendations? With the administration. I am not sure I can tell you where to find that full amount in our budget. They're terror feel free to chime in. I'm sure we could find some of that, but it would be closer to like 10 to 15 that I could find. And I am protecting some money for artists in residency and things because they do feel strongly like, even though not every position was replaced, that money was budgeted to educator students. So I don't want to, I kind of want to protect that money as well. I don't want to make sense and use it for activities for students and opportunities for students. So I think that's probably a reasonable amount that I would be able to come up with. I didn't look into how much is left in just the Rochester Reserve Fund. That was one of my questions. I heard back from him in regards to some of our funds that we have, the reserve funds and also some of our endowments, if there was a way that we could tap into some of those, those funds. Just because, you know, as we are all, it's a big amount or all, you know, very, this is a heavy burden that we're laden with on the other hand. There is a pathway fours that we are seeing. There is a vote that's going to happen on this building in March. And we really can't let the building get destroyed at this point because it's going to cost us way more than $66,000. If that building gets destroyed. So. Yeah. For me, it's not a question of not paying it, but it is a question of partnering. And I think this is where, you know, I certainly hope. I think it's reasonable to ask. Of that amount. We asked at least. And I, I think. I don't know. I would like to see 30. Personally this year. I mean, I think we're, we're stepping up. This is, this is also another year. You know, I think it's reasonable to ask that amount. We asked at least. And I think. I don't know. I would like to see 30. Personally this year. I mean, I think we're, I think it's reasonable to ask that amount. You know, I think it's reasonable to ask that amount. Another year. You know, we thought we were, and I, and I just, I think it would, it would send a great message to our community or. The R said community. If that, if there was some real support. In the broader community and not just putting it on the school to carry this building further. Yeah. I think you're muted or something. I can't hear you. She doesn't say you're muted. It doesn't say he's muted. Yeah. My phone doesn't seem to be working. Sometimes if you leave the meat and. If you leave the meat and come back. Do you want to leave it and try and come back? Cause I know I've had that problem too. And, and, and, you know, this is, I'm not being very good board chairman because this is my personal opinion, but I would certainly want to hear what others feel about this. I, I, I do totally support Amy in her vision that, that we need to, this needs to be paid. We need to keep the school in functional condition for the possibilities that are there. I also feel, um, um, you know, it's a lot of money and I, and I think it's, it's reasonable to ask this Patrick. Go ahead. Yeah. No, I, I, I agree. Um, I think what would be fair is if the town would split at 50 50 with the school, then I think it'd be a lot easier to deliver that to the, especially the stock rich. Um, you know, that I think shows that the town is serious in that it's moving in that direction. Um, it's kind of my, my two cents on it. You know, and I do understand that we had all hopes and intentions of keeping this out of our budget and not paying for it. We really, really did. Um, but unfortunately this is the cards that were handled, handed right now, but I think we can come up with some, some ways that we can lessen the impact on the school budget. Like I said, maybe through some of our ratchets or fund and through endowments that we can help soften the blow. Justine first. Yeah, I feel like I'd like to hear more, maybe understand better some of the fundraising that Catherine was talking about. Um, in the last meeting, because I, I do feel, I think it is a lot of money and I think Stockbridge is not interested in paying for it. And I think that, um, what if we can do, if we can find other ways, I think we would be serving our district better. And, um, but I don't think I understood fully what Catherine was talking about when she was saying, she having a booth at the Harvest Fair and talking about finding funding to offset the heat. I feel like I caught that in the meeting, but I didn't understand if that was really a prospect or not. Does anybody else understand it better? Well, I think. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Um, so the Harvest Fair booth was a kickoff for fundraising and actually we picked up a thousand dollars that day just from the Harvest Fair. Um, and so it's just begun, you know, clearly this is intended to be a partnership with the school board and the community and to be more than just Rochester. We want to get contributions from all five towns. Um, and $20,000 was our working number going in. That was, you know, the minimum we want to collect. And now seeing the bad news that Tara shared with us, uh, we should go higher. And, you know, so there'll be a process of broad community campaign plus individual approaches to individuals who we think may have some means to contribute more than average. So the campaign is just getting off the ground. And, uh, uh, we, we've provisionally set a deadline of by December 31 to, to hit that number. Um, I would also, if I could, Tara, um, about the quantities, because the number is based on last year's quantity of gallons, which recall from our last week meeting was somewhat unusual because that's when the pipes broke and there was a lot of work going on in the building. I know that the insulation was disturbed. And I wonder if we went back and looked at the prior years, consumption of fuel, if that might be more of a normal. If there's that normally anymore. So even though, so looking for this winter, it's, you're saying that we're gonna have to maintain 55 plus. Or 55 plus, especially on some of those colder, you know, when the pipes froze, we are definitely in a cold snap. I think the whole winter, what to be. Uh, but that was some feedback that we received that it would be best to keep the heat, which is why we start to open doors and use fans and things to push stuff around. So I don't know how much that'll impact the difference. You know, there's got to be an in between somewhere there. Justine. Oh, sorry. You had. Yeah. Go ahead. Go ahead. Justine and Bill. I was just wondering if it would be appropriate for the school board to have a bigger role in looking into the fundraising or TVing up with. Vic or kind of working on having like a committee to kind of hold true to this. You know, looking for other ways to pay for it. Um, it sort of seems to me that we're kind of like, Hey, maybe somebody will pay for it. And not maybe doing extra. I don't know how appropriate it is for us to do that, but. I would certainly support that. I mean, it'll look much better to the community of large and for working in partnership to, you know, preserve this asset. Yeah. I was going to spin off with justine just said, uh, last meeting we held, um, and we talked about this. We had a presentation by the positioning, um, committee. And I think we came out very strongly is that this asset, this aging asset that needs help, um, to, to, to remain and tell them the posse comes and saves the day. And it's going to be expensive, but we're hoping that we're going to get the right funds. It's just too important to the future of this. Region as well as this community. And I think we were all saying we'd want to try to do the best we can to make it happen in this case to try to come up with a plan to, to get us through this coming winter. That said, uh, just on this matter of minutes, uh, since Ethan turned us on this topic, we were brainstorming. We've come up with a bunch of ideas or angles or thoughts. And I guess I'm a proponent of that this is important enough that our chair considered, um, appointing or asking for volunteers for a committee that we work on this together. And that committee can generally would be with, with the repositioning committee and whatever else. And because there are other sources, there are other possible strategies that we can piece together. And one thing we're talking about is kind of responsibility. How much should go with Rochester? What if any from Stockbridge? So I, I guess I think this is be appropriate to, to task us, Ethan, to, or task the committee to, to, to work on this and come back in a reasonable period of time. And I was going to ask how, how much time would this committee have to, to work on this? And then would it be a month and come back with us? And let me ask Tara, Tara, how does the, how does the payment schedule go as far as when do we need, because obviously fundraising is, is great. But one, you don't know what your destination is. You can have a goal, but you don't know it's going to be there if we have to make a $30,000 payment in December 20th. But we've only raised $5,000 at that time. We can't count on that. So part of this is what can we, what month, what funds can we count on when? And Tara, do you have any sense of. So it depends on when the deliveries happen. And 21, to answer the first question, you use 12,804 gallons. So that, that payment for that will be coming up shortly. Yes. Well, no, that's what you would, you asked what you used for gallons the prior year. Yeah, that's 12,804. As opposed to 17. Yeah. And you moved to 17 last year. And FY 21, your deliveries were September, December and March. And last year, they were October, January and February. Just to push that on the delivery. Obviously, when is the payment? When do you actually take the money out of our budget to pay? We will put it in place and it's usually soon after delivery. Soon after delivery. Okay. So in that ballpark. So to be realistic, we're going to need, we need some money right now. Also depends on how many gallons are left in the tank. Yeah. No, I understand. Just saying, just being very realistic about, I've got, I've got three things here. One is that Lindy just said, without sacrificing a special thing, she's looking at about 10,000 she can pull in our budget to go into this. Cause obviously it wasn't in our budget. We asked the town last year, no less than 15,000. That was from the town. We asked from them. I think it's reasonable to ask them for that again. So that leaves us with a balance of 20, 30, 40,000, something like, what is that 25 of four? Yeah, 41, 41,000. 41,000 that we need to meet either through fundraising or some other means. So I would say the amount we can count on for this $25,000, which might get us pay for September's delivery unless we've already paid it. Have we paid September's? We haven't gotten it yet. Okay. Okay. It's coming later. Okay. So we know that if we request that from the town, actually the only one we can count on right now is the $10,000 you say we can pay for the budget. So that's going to cover about a payment, I would guess. One payment as we're looking at this now. Is that reasonable, Tara? Yeah. Cause I mean, if you're kidding, you get between 4,000 and 5,000 gallons, sometimes a little higher each delivery. So say you get 5,000 gallons. I covered my report. Sorry. I got to open it back up. No worries. I think we need to be dealing with solid money that we know we have at least through December. And then by the time of March, when the fundraiser could come, maybe possibly about December, we'll have some significant fundraising amounts. If they come with $5,000, yeah, if they come with 5,000 gallons at the rate that we locked in that, it's $18,814.50 just for the fuel. Doesn't include all the surcharges that we paid. Okay. So we're talking 20 problems. So it looks like... It's how to fill only 3,000. Well, as I say, I mean, there's a reality gap here that we're facing. Well, I think we do need to go back to what we talked about before and more immediately, if we want to volunteer to work together to try to come up with possible avenues for being able to find this money, total or part of, in more of an immediate, not weight, you know, months. I hear Bill and I've heard Justine. I think it's great that we partner with Vic as the school building is our responsibility. I see what you're saying. We need to know that we can cover at least two payments because I really can't count on fundraising. We can't count on fundraising. You just don't know what's going to happen. And we're going to be responsible one way or another for 66, possibly $66,000 this year. So we need to know in our, you know, what we have in reserve fund. I don't even know, but it's something. Do we, do you know, tear off the top of your head our reserve fund? No, because we're in the middle of using some of it for the $53,000 for the fire line. We'll be able to tell you in your October board meeting. Okay, thank you. But do you see my point is we have a reality gap between raising money and what we're responsible for? Amy. Vic, in the money that you were thinking of raising that $20,000 that you initially came to us with, in your mind were you considering that talking to the town and possibly using asking the town if they could fund some of that? That was just from individuals. That was separate. Okay. Just want to make sure we're not trying to double dip. I think it's very reasonable we did this last year. I think it's very reasonable to say, and we made it very clear, no less than to the town, if we need from you, no less than, we said last year, $15,000, I think we should say no less than $20,000 this year. That way we will have a real amount hopefully soon because we might have given the deadline that we needed by. So that before the December payment we have at least $30,000 sitting around ready to pay for fuel bills, which still might not, if we're talking $20,000 for one fuel bill, it might still be shy on us. I can't speak to the town obviously. I understand. But it certainly would be appropriate to ask I think, and I think last year it was pretty clear we weren't asking. I really do. Well we are trying to be partners. No we are. But I think it's also, we have a set budget, they have a set budget. But I think it's reasonable if we're going to pick up, and maybe we do have to find, we need to find another $10,000. We need to be able to put in a third of this I feel like. Or at least no we haven't ready. Does that sound reasonable? We can find it either through this building reserve fund or, but I don't want to. I mean personally, I'm speaking a lot here, which is not really my role as moderator. But just that, what do you want to do with this reality gap? I'll stop talking so much and ask you all. How do we want to do this? Griggins. Yeah. I guess I'll just go back that we don't have to make this decision tomorrow. We don't need to commit tonight. What we do need to do is to come up with the best ideas and the logic behind them as soon as possible to inform this board. So this board can push as aggressively and responsibly as possible to get this thing to work. So I'm always one saying, since I don't have all the answers to give us some time to see whether what we can come up with. And I still suggest that's a way to do. We don't have to draw all the line in the sand tonight. I think what we're trying to do is both. We're trying to make sure that this thing works and happens at the same time. We want to make sure that the burden, the financial burden is fairly shared. Yeah. And that's powerful. And that's consistent with what Ethan you said on the sixth. So that's what I recommend. I agree with that. And I think we have a lot of good ideas that are rolling around right now. And I think that we have need to get some more information about what some of the funding that we have available to us and have a discussion with the town and with Vic and have like, we need to come back in two weeks with our ideas and kind of like presentation on what avenues we can tap. A special meeting of, you know, I don't know what time frame, but in the near future, and maybe it is just two weeks. So we need a list of what we need to know is without, as you say, Lindy, I hear you without... Two weeks actually. What? Two weeks is tight? Well, I mean, we're three weeks away from our next meeting. Right? Am I doing that right? That's right, that's right, probably three weeks, so we can... I'm just throwing that out there. I mean, it was about this time last year, as I said, this board made a very clear statement to the town of what we needed from them. I feel that it's perfectly reasonable for us to do that. I'm worried about us covering without it sneaking into other budgets this September payment. I mean, we got a September payment coming up that we've only got $10,000 for. We've just heard it's most likely going to be almost a $20,000 bill. We don't have the money to cover that without it cutting into something else. So I think we do need to make a decision tonight. Let's be careful here. We've got a budget, and the budget isn't... You have flexibility. At the end of the year, you've got to meet your budget, your bottom line. But the administration has the flexibility of spending more here and less there as long as at the end of the year, the budget hasn't exceeded and you haven't gone beyond but we reserve. So we have some time here, what I hear from you, and you're really effectively communicating it. This is important. It's timely. We've got to get our act together. And we've got to be strong and pulling together this $66,000. And there's no fooling around. I think we all agree with that. I think that's the lead we need to take. The question is, how do we package that together? Okay. All right. So if we want to wait to the next meeting, is that what everybody wants to do? There's a way. I feel like taking some action tonight on town and stuff like that because there's a precedent for it. We did it last year. It'd be, boom, we'd have that much more money if we set it to the town right now. And we make it a clear statement and I'll be wishing Washi about it. This is what we need from you. I feel like I think we can take that action tonight because it's not a... Right. It's just an action on who's going to go and ask, right? We didn't ask last time. Justine, go ahead. I think maybe I don't understand fully. You're saying you want to ask the town for the additional money or you want to ask the town about taking from different parts of the budget that they've already approved? No. Last year we said in no uncertain terms the town needs to supply at least $15,000 to underwrite the payment of heat for the high school building. The select board has to do this. We said that and they agreed to it. And they came up with it from the trustees of public funds. All right. And then they were doing what we're doing now, scrambling to figure out where to get the money from. Yeah, yeah. I think that's what I'm saying. It's a precedent for it. I would be surprised if they weren't expecting it because it's what we did last year. They can also say no to us. And that would be unfortunate, but I think it's one of our very clear resources. And, you know, Wendy's worried about having the money. And I understand that it's a floating pool and that it's out there, but I don't think we're being responsible if we don't take this way that warrants right away. Vic, go ahead. Yeah, I just want to suggest that the kind of task force that bill is recommending be a three way representation of the town, the repurposing committee in the school board to sit down, work together and come up with a solution to bring back to all three organizations actually. Is that how we want to go? I agree with that. Patrick. Obviously you, Amy. Okay. I think that would be appropriate. All right. Tara, go for it. I need to go to Grandville Hancock Board Meeting. Do you need anything else from me? Not tonight. Thank you so much for your help. Thank you. Thank you, Tara. Good night, everyone. Good night. I just saw one of the new, they signed a contract for the cleaning here. And I just saw one of the cleaner, new cleaners going by, I think, which is lovely. So I'll entertain a motion to create a subcommittee for discovering means to pay for the high school fuel bill to be running in conjunction with Envision, no, repurposing. The Rochester High School. Repurpose. I'm just going to say repurpose and the select board. Yeah. Who's going to step up? We're also missing a member tonight. I realize what I know. Second. Second. I'll entertain. I'll entertain. So moved. So moved. Seconded. Seconded by Bill. Is there any discussion on this? Just me? I just wanted to say that I probably can't be on the committee, even though I suggested the idea, because my husband's on the select board. I don't know what you think about that. Well, he's on that select board. He's not on the Rochester select board. We're only using Rochester select board. We're talking about the Rochester select board. Why not both? That would be something the committee would take up. The committee would take that up as an option. We'll write that down. I haven't even put that in my head. So it's good for you to do that. I just feel like it's a big part of Stockbridge, like the focus of everything right now in Stockbridge is paying for this school. I don't know. I mean, that was kind of my purpose in suggesting the committee is to try to kind of bridge this gap as the school board between this issue that's a big deal. So I feel like the Stockbridge select board should be involved. So with only five members of our board here, it's so moved. We're in discussion. All approves. Signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. And now who's going to be on this committee? Well, I would volunteer, but I don't want to do it just myself. No. So from the board. What? From the board. So if I could have another partner from the board, I'd be happy to volunteer. No. It's just speaking for you, Patrick. I don't think it's realistic for me right now for the next few months here was also volunteering to coach soccer. All in favor. Did we say aye? I don't think we did. We were in discussion. No, we said aye already. And then we were creating the... We can say it aye. We can do it again if we want just to make sure we get it. We can say aye. Aye. Good. Thank you. Good. I think this is a good idea. I'm glad I conveyed my sense of urgency. I think it's only responsible for us to have a plan going forward. In retrospect, it's too bad we didn't think of this, you know, the reality of this a while back, but I guess we just couldn't know. That's why it's 2020. I'll just try to move forward. Yeah, and I think let's give them a clear charge that... I think it's reasonable that the school should pay no more than a third. How do we feel about that? Our sub district should pay, sorry, should pay no more than a third. That would be our goal. So we're talking about 20... 15 to 20. So we've got to come up with another 10. And that would leave... I mean, I think... We're talking 66, so it's about 20... It would be 22 divided by 3, if we... It's not 60, it's really closer to 70. 66. Yeah. 66 is... So I think if I remember anything up with 23 to be on the safe side... Yes, exactly, 23. And I have more? Yeah, I think... And I think our bias... At least I'm strongly biased that if possible, we should be paying less than anybody else in this. But that's just me. And I shouldn't say that strongly because I'm the chairman here. But I will leave that to the committee. But I think that's a reasonable... That we go with thirds of covering about... That we shoot for 70 total, right? 23, 23, 23 would be 69. So go to 23. That's a nice even number, though. Yeah, 23,000 per share. And if you come up with more sources than three, great. You know, if there's a fuel assistance out there somewhere, probably not for empty buildings, but... Good, I appreciate. Also, I would instruct you to... Within the week, if you can, communicate with Vic and select board members to set up a meeting. Does that sound reasonable within a week? Definitely. Great. And to come back at the next meeting by our October meeting with a plan. Yeah. I think that sounds reasonable and right. Good. Thank you. Sorry if I was dogmatic, but I felt strongly about it. And now we get to go home, right? No. Is there anything else on this issue? Vic, do you have anything else? No, thanks. I appreciate the dialogue tonight. And so I'll wait to hear from Amy or Bill, I guess, in terms of... We'll contact you immediately. Okay. Thank you. And Patty, Harvey is the liaison to the select board. Perfect. Two people on it. Excellent. Great. And as Justine suggested, you know, reach out to Leanne and Stockbridge. Does Stockbridge select board member who is at the presentation at our meeting? Oh, yeah. Oh, she's a Stockbridge slide? Yeah, she's a slide. She's a chair. That's why she was on the meeting. Oh, great. Okay. So I would say why not reach out? Yeah, have them involved. And say, do you want to be at this meeting? You know, do you feel you should be at this meeting for this discussion? I agree with that. And Vic, I don't know if... You guys did a kickoff at the Harvest Fair. I know that there is other community fairs around. I don't know if you were considering doing any work down. Yeah, there's the Bethel Ford Fest and then there's a Pittsfield Peak Fest. There's a couple other town-wide fairs going on. I don't know if you guys have considered any of that. We have now, but thanks for those recommendations. What are the... Are there any PTO, Stockbridge PTO events coming up or anything like that? No, both PTOs will meet one week tomorrow night and one week at the end of the month. Okay. That we should totally reach out to the PTOs as well. Yes. This is what we're doing. This is what we're trying to do. Do you have any ideas? Do you happen to have $20,000 in your back pocket? Yeah. Maybe under a rock. You know, I just handed Lindy a thick wad of cash this morning from the truck decorations. Now it's a donation for the school fund fund fund. It doesn't exist, but sorry. Activities fund. Activities fund. Sorry. I should be careful where I'm going. Patrick. Yeah. No, I was going to say, you know, kind of how Justin was mentioning, you know, inviting Stockbridge Select Board into the conversation too. I mean, I mean, would that make sense as far as all of the Quintown members like Hancock, Granville as well? I mean, if they're going to be utilizing this space in the future, we should be, you know, trying to access as much, you know, funds from, from wherever. Thank you. Thank you. I almost think we should start with who we have and our, as we meet that first time, express the possibilities and see what, you know, what, what I think that's a great idea though. Thank you for bringing that up. Or coin drops right in front of the school. Yeah. I mean, it's easy and people feel suckered into giving us their money. Perfect. The thing is, okay. Yeah. Amy, would you include Catherine Shankman and your contact to participate in this? Yeah. Thank you. Good. Any further on this discussion item? I think we've done good work on it tonight. I think this is a better. I think it's a better solution than me. I think we should be ramming down something in a dictatorial way, which is my way usually. I don't believe that for a minute. Good. There's nothing else. Action and possible action items. Nope. Do we have any new hires of resignations? Yay. Oh, it makes me happy when that happens. Thank you, Vic, for being on with us. Much appreciated. He's gone already. Any public comment? I think the only public left already. I think there might be some comment about this. People listen. Let's, uh, and I think let's be ready to talk about this that we, you know, I think we're unified in the sense that we will cover some of it, but we want to share the burden and that that is our vision for this. And I think are we all sort of agreed on that? Oh, yeah. We're sharing the load, sharing the vision of this load. Uh, that being no public comment, our next meeting date will be Monday, October 3rd, 2022 at 5.30 PM at Stockbridge Campus and Google Meet. Uh, future agenda items will certainly be, um, oil for high school. I think possibly, I don't know if we're going to have a survey done yet. Oh, Vic's not here anymore. Well, that, okay. So you might have some action items coming out of the, the, um, retreat. Oh, possible. Yeah. We also have the most two policy statements for, for both, or possibly, you know, the third read you said that it's going to come back to us. Yeah. I guess it goes to us too first. Yeah. I don't remember the exact procedure. I'm going to spoke on that. Are we hearing from EI? Yeah. In October? October and November we have to make a decision. Yeah. Final decision. They're going to come back with more numbers. Yeah. For October is my understanding. Yeah. I'm sorry. Why are you spending money on this? Sorry. That's just me. I was dumb. Okay. Uh, good. Um, I will entertain a motion to adjourn and look at this. Second. All in favor signify by saying aye. Hi. Hi. Good night. Good night. Thank you. I know. We'll restart.