 I'm sorry, that took longer than the schedule. Reconvening the open session, we'll be taking public comment first. And then I do want to, probably a lot of you are here for the superintendent transition portion. So please feel welcome to make comments on that now. Depending on how that goes, we may allow additional comments during the discussion. But please make the preparator any planned comments we have on that now. So is there a place to sign up to make comments? I don't think we have a formal sign-in sheet. If you could just kind of line up organically. We don't have huge, huge crowds. So I think we can do this manageably. If several of you want to speak, could people raise their hand? If you want to speak, so we've got about four or five. If you could try to learn your comments to a minute or two, that would be fantastic. Just a couple of quick words before we launch into public comment. I do want to thank everyone for coming out. I know that there's a lot of transition. And I think some questions. The last meeting, if you are here, Michelle read a statement that I think really did a fantastic job of explaining the situation as much as we could explain the situation. I think now and at this board, we're really focused on what we think is a tremendous opportunity. We're very excited about the new district. We're excited to move forward with searches for both the superintendent position and some other positions. We have fantastic people. We are partying ways with someone who served the previous well for seven years. And as someone we have a lot of respect for and wish the best of. And as Michelle explained, we came to a mutual agreement. And it got some unfortunate press. And we really hope that people respect that everyone did what was in their best interests. And it's time to, I think, turn the page and really look forward. And we are, again, very excited about the new district and very excited about the opportunity to build on the great things that both these communities have and to bring leadership to this district that I think really reflects both the strengths that these school districts have and the tremendous values that we've been building on and want to build on further. So we very much afford to hearing what you have to say and a discussion about a process that I think will really kick off the district in a great way. So since you're wearing a suit. Yes. I'm not supposed to speak. Do you see that one up? My name is Nathan Souter. I'm a Montpelier resident. Good job. Good job. Good job. As always, thank you guys for coming. That's right. It is a read. It is a new wee. I want to thank you all for serving and doing what you do. I'm here tonight because I'm watching carefully the process of finding new leadership for a number of really important positions in the administrative team for the Montpelier-Roxbury public schools. And I want to express concern that we make those processes inclusive in terms of whose own committees and how the criteria are determined for how those positions will be chosen and how people will be vetted. I want to make sure that they are deliberate processes in a way that makes it possible to attract really exciting, visionary, highly capable candidates. I understand that there are vagaries in terms of their constraints in Vermont, especially about how administrative contracts are and what the window is for availability of people. And so I want to make sure the search committee for the curriculum and technology position, I believe, has a parent rep who's been found for that committee, which is fine. It strikes me that when the school board seeks to put together a committee, people are submitting letters to say, this is why I think I should be on this committee and there's a deliberative process about who's included and why. And I would love to see that applied to these processes as well. How many parents should be on that committee? What's the makeup of those parents? Same thing with faculty. So I think that there are ways within the process, even within a fairly short timeframe, that these processes can be more robust, more inclusive and to reflect the community that we have in terms of population and their interests and also to be sensitive to some of the topics that this district has been really courageous about confronting in the last year. And so let's not lose ground in that. Let's take those opportunities and move them forward. That particular search closes this Friday. I would love if we were able to leave that open until filled, such that if we're doing affirmative recruiting, trying to attract candidates from further field or different backgrounds that those folks have a chance to react to the search, that window is open only for two weeks. And then that's a precursor to other searches. We've got a principal open, we've got a superintendent position open. As much as we can, let's get really good at doing this kind of process well, being inclusive in terms of who from our communities involved and intentional about how we are asking questions and what we're expecting of those candidates and then being aggressive about attracting great people to this district. I think we've got potentially one of the best districts in Vermont and one of the best districts in the Northeast period. And let's make it so and these hires are really important. So please do as much as we can to make them well. Thank you. Next person please. This is Son. It doesn't project. It just goes to TV. Oh, it just goes to TV. Cool. My name is Sylvia Fagan. I'm a Montpelier resident. I'm a homeowner, a taxpayer and a teacher here in the Montpelier schools. I'd like to thank you all for your service to the Montpelier Roxbury School Board and Dr. Ricca for your seven years of service here. As a teacher, I'm both proud and encouraged by our young people of color who have stood in this position over the past months to demand that their lives are acknowledged and respected. I'm here in solidarity with them because as an adult in this community, I am humbled by their courage and I am abashed by the fact that they needed to make this demand of us. I'm here tonight to suggest that as the school district faces several open administrative positions, a purposeful effort is made to recruit a cohort of candidates from communities traditionally underrepresented in public school leadership. For example, women, people of color and the LGBT community. I've heard from colleagues of color around Vermont that it is exhausting and demoralizing to be the only teacher of color in their district. I suspect administrators of color feel the same way. A cohort opportunity would provide support for folks as they would take on leadership roles in a primarily white district and state. I'd also like to encourage the board to adopt a policy that will ensure that a diverse candidate pool is intentionally solicited for all open positions in the district. And to that end, I'd like to encourage you all to learn about best practices in this regard in regard of hiring, recruiting and retaining candidates of color and from underserved and underrepresented communities. We have several local organizations who could provide best practices like CQ Strategies, the Anti-Defamation League, the Center for Whole Communities, and Regionally and Nationally, the Learning Policy Institute and the Great Schools Partnership in Maine. Both have resources on this and I can provide these links if you'd like them. By the year 2045, people of color will make up a demographic majority in the United States. We've heard that data, but by around 2020, more than half of the nation's children are expected to be part of a minority race or ethnic group and that means that the students who are leaving our district very soon are going to go into a world that's not as white as Montpelier. And the question I would ask us all is will we allow our learners to leave our community having never encountered a school leader who is not white? Thank you for your time and your consideration of these ideas. Thank you. I think you'll hear a theme. My name is Morgan Lloyd and I'm, let's see if I can get all of this. I'm a parent of two children in the Montpelier schools. I'm a Montpelier resident and taxpayer. I'm a teacher at the elementary school in fourth grade and I'm a person of color who, I would like to start by thanking the board for your listening over the last several months to Montpelier's students of color for listening to their experiences and for honoring their voices by making the decision to fly the Black Lives Matter flag. And I actually, those four open positions that we have been weighing really heavily on me in the last week. And so I have been thinking a lot and losing a lot of sleep too about this transition and hoping like Nathan and Sylvia and other community members who are here that our district can really take advantage of this opportunity and so I'd like to make a connection between that symbolic gesture of flying flag in front of our high school to some really concrete actions that our school board and our district can take. These are critical positions. The superintendent, the director of curriculum building principle and the facilities director that are gonna have a really a long-term impact for years to come on hundreds of students. And so I encourage our district to recognize this as an opportunity to not just make a token higher of a person of color or a woman or a person who is a member of the LGBTQ community but I'm talking about proactively adopting a hiring process that will continue in years to come for all of our open positions to help us find highly qualified candidates who understand the importance of the work that we set out on when we made that decision, when you helped us make that decision to flag who will really prioritize it and help us make this world better. So thank you for the work you're doing. Thank you for being conscientious supporters of our students and of our community. Thank you. Thank you. Hi, my name is Amanda Garces. I am an Amplior resident and mother of two, one that who's going to enter kindergarten this year. So I'm very excited that it's entering. And I am here as a mother of a multiracial children who will be entering the school system that might not reflect herself. And I would like to encourage you to think about the students who are a minority 10 to 15%, if I understand correctly, of the body of those students are non-white. And so finding a place as also coming as an immigrant that came into the school system, not in Vermont, I could relate of what that feels like to a lot of the students that are here. So from an experience, having somebody that is a role model that reflects yourself is a huge advantage to coming out of the school system into a person that looks at the world in a very different way. I would love to encourage you to think about how to recruit and retain people of color that is not somebody that is the token. I have been the token Latina in many places and that also doesn't feel good. So how do we think about retaining people that will stay within our communities that live here and are with our kids in the long term? How do we think about curriculum? We're gonna hire a curriculum person that's gonna think about what kind of bias are we bringing into the curriculum system. So thinking about all of those things and really making an effort that is educated, there's so much out there to be able to learn about how to do the right way. I wanna thank for the support that the school district has done with the Richard Justice Alliance to all the students that have come out and are very strong and I, as a community, would like to really thank you and hope that you continue to support them and to continue to support the ones that are coming that are growing and my kid that's gonna come and hope that she will find a place where she can reflect her Latina mom and her wife, father, and see herself in some of those role models. So thank you for your time. Thank you. Others? Well thank you all, those were very helpful and well said comments. Moving on to action items. We have approval of the minutes. Can I add one, please? Yes, we do. Approval of teacher contracts. Not new, but teacher contracts for the MRPS for FY 19. We don't have a consent agenda for this board yet so I would do them to be conscious, I do them individually. I move that we approve the minutes. Second that. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Mr. Chair, so superintendent's suggestion that we add something to the agenda is that to be actioned? Do we have to add it by action? Don't believe so. I believe a member can add an agenda item at the top as long as it's one of the first items for consideration. Okay. One of the first. Okay. Oh, the new teacher contracts. Those are different. Those are new teachers. Okay. New high. New high. New high. Approval of the new teacher contracts. I will move the approval of the new teacher contracts. I'll second the approval of the new teacher contracts. Any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Approval of the 2018-2018 school calendar. I move that we approve the 2018-2018 school calendar. I'll second. Discussion? All in favor? Can it be better than last year's calendar? Well, you know what happens? Short spring break. I'm just gonna say that every year we approve the calendar and I know that the calendar is put together by this consortium of many districts and it's really hard to get everybody's schedules lined up and there are a lot of considerations. But then every year there's some obvious problem with the calendar and I wind up saying, who approved this? I can speak to one of the ones that we discussed because the MEA had a very thoughtful calendar committee with me. One of the problems that we run into when town meeting day is later as in the five, six, or seven, it pushes hours a week. One of the calendar committee members has recalled us during the time of Montefrentana's in the past seven years ending in the second week of June. And as we looked back at the dates for town meeting day that was typically when town meeting day was closer to the first or the second. If you'll note the last couple of years town meeting day has been as late as it can be which is the six or the seventh which pushes our February break out a little bit because it lines up with town meeting day and that's collectively bargained with one of our units that has both town meeting day and the day before off. So in order to make that change which was a possible recommendation from the MEA we would have to do that through collective bargaining at this point. And we also had some data in which the leadership team discussed thoughtfully the idea of starting a little bit earlier instead of having a three, four, five start three days the first week, four days the second week and five days the third week. That idea was met with substantial resistance from the MEA. They did not want to start any earlier. We looked at a number of different options and were really unable to settle on any massive changes to this year's calendar. What I will say though is and it's worth noting that in September, December, February and March there is an L listed on the second Wednesday of each of those months. That will be a late start for students for more professional development for teachers. We've heard consistently over a number of years how teachers are interested in more professional development and we at the leadership team agree that there is a need for more of that. And with a bare majority of 275 responses, 50.4 of the 274 thought a late start would be better than the 49.6% who thought an early release would be better. So the rationale for this decision was that we have an existing late start schedule that we are already using that we occasionally have to utilize in order. It's well known to all. And it also is indicative of the fact that one of the few things, I can't think of something that I'm more reluctant to do than to do an early release where I cannot guarantee students are going home to something that is safe and supervised. So given all that, we chose to do those four late start dates which will give us 10 additional hours of professional development without compromising any of our student days for next year. Still honoring the collective bargaining agreement. Great, thank you for that. And the December break is a million longer than this year's December break, which was too short. Well, and you know that what ends up happening is we try to go along with the federal holidays that we know that we have to evolve. And again, depending on where that holiday fall, those holidays fall, we have to make adjustments that are reasonable to those dates. Does anyone else remember what any problems with last year's calendar work? Summer's too short. It's all gone. Okay. Okay. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? Thank you. Okay, so that's all the items? Nope, no. Yeah, that's all the items for the actual motion. Yep. I move that we approve the MRPS teacher contract. Second. Second that. Discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Are we opposed? Great. Thank you very much. Oh, you're welcome. Thank you. Now we have two parent requests that we are going to discuss. One is a request to protect privacy, right? It's a public document. Okay. One is a request for a student to be exempted from the grandfather policy as part of the 406 merger agreement that will be governing our district. And the second is a request to allow an early start in preschool, again, the violation of the policy that we have in our district. I don't want to put you on the spot, Ryan, but I know Ryan has given a lot of thought to how to deal with these situations. We do want to stick as closely as possible to the agreements we made out of fairness and not to open floodgates to, you know, requests that may occur. And also, frankly, to really be true to the structure that we put together. And we feel like we put together a good structure. We feel it will work if people work with it. And so those are important. Ryan, if you don't... Are we going to discuss them separately? Huh? Are we going to discuss them separately or do you? I thought, Ryan, I'd just give a quick overview of the 406 policy and then we can discuss them separately. I think the only statement I would really make now is that I would reaffirm the work that the 706 committee did last spring in coming up with a proposal that was acceptable to both communities. We knew that there would be some folks who wouldn't be happy paying a few tuition costs for some of the Roxbury families who were still moving out. We knew there might be some Roxbury families who would have their hopes set on whatever plan was for their school education for some of their children. But at some point in time, we had to find something that was acceptable to both communities. And what we had found was that all children who were in seventh grade as of this year will not be grandfathered. So that was a cutoff that was chosen for the grandfathering of those kids who were Roxbury residents or Roxbury district residents moving into the new district. And it is kind of tough. We're gonna have, I've had a lot of phone calls. We'll have other requests coming forward to us in regards of, well, I wanted this or my brother had this. So I suspect this is not a solo request. I suspect we will see some more stuff, especially this first year since everything is so new. So I do, it is tricky because use was small town and having exemptions here and there. But I really do think we would need to do our best to stick to the seven or six committee agreement. Ryan, can you just repeat that? So the seven or six agreement was that all students who are in seventh grade this year will come to Montpelier next year. Exactly, yeah. Where ever they are now. Sixth grade last year. Yeah, yeah. And the thinking was that they had basically notice, right? It was an incentive to those students to really come to Main Street Middle School this year. Steve. I mean, having served on that committee also, I wanna emphasize that this was a compromise between two communities to establish a proposal that we thought would be balanced and acceptable to both communities. And so we understood going in that there would be, as Ryan said, voters, community members on both sides that would struggle with this decision and that we needed to come up with something that we thought struck a balance. And those compromises are difficult and that was the nature of this particular provision. And it was not unanimous, but we established it in good faith through a negotiation effectively between communities. And so it seems that now is the time to, in his first year especially, to stick with the agreement that the voters voted on. Great. So let's do discusses individually. I think we can let them vote about. Do, yes, are either one of the people who wrote the letters here. You can come on. Yes, please do. I'm right. Well, he was the president of Rockstar, wasn't he? Those were my granddaughters and I really didn't know quite what I was requesting. When I put that forward, I was just kind of trying to be proactive and get some information. And after considering from my self and my West perspective, the costs going down the road of them starting earlier are not worth the short-term benefit of them getting into a more sort of enriched environment. So I need to withdraw the request or what, but. Which one are you? I'm sorry. I understand that. The preschool, right? Yeah, preschool. Which has nothing to do with the rat or anything. I just was trying to get information and I didn't realize that this would be the result of that. That's encouraging actually. I'm happy about it. And we'll have to be part of this system. Do you need more information about preschool, is it? No, I just, no. So you would be happy if we followed the rules that were already set. Thank you very much. Okay, thank you. Okay, it's one there. Yes, thank you, Rhett. Yeah, thank you Rhett. Thanks for coming and all those rock tours. Okay, well then, that's... Is there someone here from the other family? I'm glad you have someone. Is there anyone else from the other family? I'm going to... Solenia Holter? Colleen. Colleen? They are not here. They are not here. Discussion on this one, just to summarize, this is a student who, I believe, wants a sibling to be able to join another sibling at Sharon Academy. A younger sibling. The older sibling is his grandfather. He has two older siblings. Yes. And the younger sibling, they want to be able to join at Sharon Academy. Obviously, kind of my thoughts, I sympathize with this family quite a bit. I understand the desire to have continuity with your children. I also feel this is probably a situation that there are more than one of. I think we have to be very careful about the precedent we set and be mindful of some of the things that Ryan outlined. I'll say, having been on the 706 Committee, also that we knew it was a hard decision and we knew it would affect some families. Justice, this is affecting this family. But we had to make a decision. We've made the decision and I think we need to stick to it because I'm sure there will be lots of other families that would have some children in one place and they wish to have more. And I'd like us to stick with that decision. Comments or a formal motion? I think you can just state the response to the requests. There's no, it's not, because there would be no, you know, a formal motion would be fine. Okay. So is it a motion to deny it? It would be a motion to deny the request. Do I have a motion to deny the request? The motion's always made in the affirmative. That's why I was puzzling over that. I would make a motion to stick to the original agreement that the 706 Committee made as to who could be grandfathered and who could not. How's that for a motion? Is that too convoluted or maybe too broadlier to the folks who would direct the petition? Well, I think Brian will be writing them a letter that will be clear. How about a motion? Can we write an affirmative motion for Brian to write a letter and deny the request? No. Can we express that we feel terrible that none of us can? I think expressing our rationale might be appropriate. To be consistent with the agreement that was recently voted on by both communities. And we do understand the difficulty of this. We had a lot of discussion about it when we were making it. This is not being made in a flip or in a sensitive way at all. Again, we discussed these at length as the 706 Committee and we're cognizant that there were going to be some families that were put in less than ideal situations. Second. Any further discussion? I would just say I would understand from this vote simply because these are the girls that babysit my boys and I support everything we have discussed and I'm not backing away from those statements. I just feel bad making the vote on my babysitters. Understood. She saw a quick count in the audience. I wanted someone on the board to ask how many families are in this position to hear the rationale that there's certainly going to be more of a fuss down the road and more important to stick to the policy but I wonder if that's five families or 20 families that, if somebody knows how many of them are in this position, are working on it. So that would be younger siblings and they're going to have... While you're thinking, Ryan, this student is currently in sixth grade also. So it's that if we were making exceptions for a sixth grader this year, then that would be sixth graders and seventh graders potentially. And it might be a city. It might be a snowball too. Well, in that case, it doubles the numbers. So we were discussing this as if this was the specific provision in the agreement around the seventh graders but now we're hearing it's actually not that group. It's a group that is younger than that. So we'd have to look at all children who are currently throughout the system who may have a sibling that's older. So now the numbers are more like 40 or something like that. 40 potential kids, fewer families, fewer that would be in that bind. Yeah, and it does mean... In the cost estimates we put together for the merger, we only plan on tuitioning a certain number of kids and every time we... This is not just making an exception that's cost-neutral. This is an exception that's $100,000 for the east to the district. I think the other thing to say that we recognized, sort of agonized over is Roxbury has had a choice until now and now they no longer have a choice and we appreciate the fact that that was something that Roxbury gave us. Yeah, I think we're voting. Can I just take a suggestion? Yeah, and then try to just remind me that we don't want to get into it. I just don't want to... I might leave a tiny window for extreme economic or other duress. I wouldn't necessarily make a statement now that cannot be... There may be... I would just be careful of the... Say never, never. Yeah, and that's why I discouraged Tina's because there may be health or other reasons why we may want to make an exception. But I think this, honestly, is the type of circumstance that we contemplated and decided could lead to... This is the tough choice that we decided, unfortunately, was going to fall on. The way it was out now is coming up. I lost track of the process. Have we had a vote? We don't. Second. All those in favor? Aye. Ryan abstaining. Same, please. Any opposed? Thank you. This was drawn. Okay, so Ryan put the minutes. Show that the... I don't know if her name is Ryan, but the request was drawn after learning for their information. So now, superintendent transition. I just want to... I gave, I think, a lot of my opening remarks at the beginning. We obviously are looking for... Actually, this will be the first superintendent for this district. We are looking for an open, inclusive, and transparent search. We really want to find the right leader for this district. A district who can... Superintendent who can build on the incredible success that these two districts have and really make the union of these two towns and these two districts into... I want to make it the best school district in the state and one of the best in the Northeast and one of the best in the country. And I think we can do that. I think we've got the community. We've got the resources. I think we have fantastic people who work in this district and I think we have the community support to do that. So I am very, very excited about this search. People are already working hard thinking about it. That said, it's got to be a fast-paced and challenging few weeks. We want to do this right. I really appreciate the concerns and the comments to making this an inclusive search and a search for a leader who is going to really, I can carry forward some of the great steps that we've taken on diversity, equity, and inclusion. When we raised the Black Lives Matter flag, it was really a historic and very proud event for this district. I think certainly in this and other hires, we need leadership that's going to build on that. We have... We've made some symbolic gestures and I think that we need to follow those up. We have made some real gestures as well, but we need to continue moving forward on that path. I think that's also a longer-term discussion, too. We certainly want to get the right leader in who reflects those values, reflects other community values who's absolutely committed to educational excellence. I do want to speak that we've got a short time frame. We are going to do as much as we can on diversity, equity, and inclusion. We are probably not going to be able to put all the systems in place that we'd ideally like to, and that's going to be, I think, part of a longer-term discussion. Realistic about that. We want input from all of you as the process moves forward on how best to do that. But we do have a time limitation. We are probably talking about a four- to five-week search just given where we're at. Great question from the floor. Yes. Is an interim position a possibility? We're going to talk about that. I don't know if anybody else wants to give some quick, some quick, high-level views about the search, and please try to make them quick, because we have a lot of time. For folks listening, this is the very beginning of the process question, of the process thing. No one's missed anything up to this point. We're really defining the process now, and that is the balance, is speed versus ideal, and that's where we're going to have to focus on with this process is those compromises as we go along. And Jim, might I ask, since it was brought up from the public viewers, saying the item is to discuss the superintendent transition, are you also discussing the curriculum coordinator in the principal position, and the process would be the same for all of them or not? I think we can discuss this as part of the overall transition, and I think the process is probably going to be so likely different. Jim, can you describe that? Because some of those processes are already moving. We have a lot of new board members, and so you could describe how we do hiring different levels that would be great. Or maybe Brian could do that. Brian can help. I'll take a stab. What we usually do, I think it depends on the level of position. This is my first superintendent search. I think it's the different board members. First superintendent search? Yes. And this is what we're asking for help with VSBA and others, and Virginia and I can brief on a meeting we have. I think one of the first steps is to kind of do the mechanical things that are not easy, but need to get done, job description, putting it out on school spring, putting it out on other venues, setting forth the process. Is school spring a national? Yes, it is. Well, let me step back. I think the first step is getting here tonight and setting up the process we want to put forward and just getting some parameters about time frame, kind of how we want the position to look, how we want the search process to look. And then once we decide on that, very quickly moving to candidate recruitment, advertising the position, getting word out there, doing so in a way that brings in as broad the use of a candidate pool as possible, which I think is very, very important. Then it's setting up a committee to do the hiring, and again that would be a representative committee that we would want to be as broad and representative as possible. That would include members of the staff and faculty, members of the board, members of the community, and parents, yes, which I consider the broader community and students as well. And how would that, parents will want to know how that selection will be made, have we decided that yet? We have not decided that yet. We have not said anything. Yeah, I think certainly that to me, the selection of the committee, I think given the short time frame we're on is one of the things we can do. I think with the time that we have to bring in a lot of the diversity, equity, and inclusion issues, I think making sure that we get a very representative, that is something we can do. I'm not sure we can do a lot of detailed trainings in five weeks, but I think we can get the right mix of people in. I think we can sit down and put together a rubric that accounts for the values we want to see, the values and the skill set we want to see in this position and do that in a very deliberate way. So putting that that I think we have to decide a process to put that committee together. And I think one of the things we should really focus on is making sure that it's a very representative committee. Yeah, and includes, we wanted to get too huge, but we certainly want all the various sectors of our community represented. And kind of within those sectors, students, faculty, board, etc. We want to be as representative as we can begin and really get all the voices from our community involved. Would it be helpful if we kind of went through what we learned from the discussion? He gave us a lot of detail and I'm happy to give us what he gave us. So Jim and I had a call with the consultant that works with the Vermont School Boards Association. We could hire them to help us as a search consultant to conduct the search. So this was a preliminary meeting to find out what that would look like and to get some preliminary information. His name is Mike DeWeese. He's a retired superintendent in Vermont. The expedited process for a full superintendent search that would start essentially immediately. He gave us a sample schedule. So this was his sense of the timing and his sample schedule would start with the first meeting with the board would be next week. So that would be the board's chance to meet the consultant and get the lay of the land and the screening committee would immediately start meeting after that and the advertisements would go out right after that meeting too so the job would start to be posted on school spring choices about advertising would be made and it would be advertised and the screening committee would start looking at applications then reviewing applications having their interviews and so his process would basically to have someone in the position by July first would have the board doing final interviews the week of June 11. So it's basically one, two, three, a six week process that starts next week. So I'm not saying that he he didn't say there was no flexibility in that but he basically said that's where that's where the district would be at this point. Their services to the board knows that the services of the consultant would cost $8,000. No it would cost $13,000. His services would cost $8,000 and then he estimated another $5,400 and other costs related to the search like doing the advertising and that sort of thing. Which is a cost we would bear whether we have a consultant or not. Most of it I think that's right. Some of it. The advertising is most of that number which we would have regardless and some travel costs for interviews. If the superintendent worked for us the scope of service, I'll describe this includes managing a board appointed screening committee guidance with board advertising and support for the board interviewing finalists and board selection of its superintendent. He did not really get into the screening committee. Exactly what it would look like. That would obviously be a very early step in the process. He also talked to us about internal appointments and permanent appointments and was indicating that advertising for interim appointments was not likely to garner very many candidates and that it might even be too early to find an interim appointment. He also pointed out that it's unusual to find someone who wants to do an interim appointment for a full year because retired superintendents who might want to come out of retirement to do short term gigs come out and do a full year's work and still stay in the retirement system so that's a consideration that he raised. He said, you know, you can do both you can do a full scale permanent search, search for a permanent person now with the interim as a fallback if you don't find someone that you want and he also brought up the possibility of doing a full scale search with the understanding that it would be a one year contract and did I have to put that in front of you? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, and the exact time we laid out was before the 16th the screening committee would have its first meeting the week of April 30 then there would be a second meeting the week of May 7 third meeting the week of May 21 this would all be screening candidates doing interviews final meeting of the screening committee the week of May 28 and then board interviews and some likely hire the week of June 11 I had a further conversation today with Nicole Mays she had a slightly different take to be honest with you we've heard every different argument every different argument we are definitely later in the process and we really would like to be you know a lot of people have signed contracts it would be difficult for a lot of candidates to either get out of their contracts they might need permission or they might feel it's unfair to their district at this time to pull out that said we have heard that there may be this is an attractive district we may still be able to get a lot of attractive candidates I think given that this is something we're going to have to discuss and decide on now some sort of short-term additional situation is probably has a lot of whether the two options that have basically been given to that as Bridget said is either actually go for a true interim someone with the understanding that they'd just be here for a year you would get a search as soon as we could within that year the drawbacks of that as Bridget said it might be difficult to find someone willing to do that the second drawback is often times anyone in that position is really going to be and kind of keep the wheels on the bus mode the other kind of short-term option would be to do a one-year contract that would that candidate would have the knowledge that it was both one year and that we may we would have an early evaluation process so by say October or November we made a decision whether this person is wowing us and the person we want or whether we conduct a search because now we're at a point where we're going to have a richer applicant pool and where maybe we don't feel it's working out with this candidate that would probably attract a slightly different pool we may get people who obviously are want the job on a more permanent basis we may get for instance a principal who's ready to take the next step or another school-wide administrator who's ready to take the next step and wants to come in and impress us for a year so those are kind of I think with the time frame options we have we could obviously discuss doing a search for someone at a longer term but from one-on-one discussions I've had with board members I feel that there's a lot of appetite for that and certainly this is a tight time frame and we want to make this process as inclusive as possible there's a lot of work to be done both to meet this time frame and to cast a wide net both in terms of candidate pool and in terms of a process that's very inclusive and very involved Steve? I'm not sure a lot of times when we do processes we find that our decision is based on who we come up with it's a fishing expedition effectively and I'm wondering if maybe we fish in two pools at once with looking at advertising for an interim and advertising for a permanent one-year contract or something and we see the applicants we get there may be some very practical reasons to do that but it is if those truly are two different types of applicants we might find that we're finding stronger applicants in one area rather than the other it certainly adds to our workload a little bit at least at the beginning but I don't think it really changed anything as you get into it so at least throw it out there as something to put in the pot to mix up I've often found when I'm doing hiring I'm hiring for multiple positions at the same time and there's a lot of variation in that process and you end up finding people in one pool that you want in the other or whatever and just one more question for Tina another thing that Mike said and some others that we've talked to have said is that the urgency for like a one-year contract then the time frame here is for someone on a one-year contract or a logger I don't think we want a logger like a true interim like getting a a retired superintendent to come out for a year and you know understanding that they truly would be only there for a year and then they could go back to retirement or so by retirement the time frame for that is not as urgent that's something we could start you know sending out feelers for say in May or you know just to follow up on that too I think the sense from I got from like Dewey's was that it's also a really different process it's not this process of getting that back I don't think it's much more of a headhunter kind of process got it, yeah yeah, don't feel like going to South Carolina again this winter would rather run this district type of thing got it I guess I would reiterate the same thing if you were to use the world and that if you were to go out and say I would like a superintendent see who applies if you don't get someone that you think is acceptable for the job then you're later in the process and go find someone who might be an interim well that's a convenient sequence so that works yeah have you been involved with a lot of hiring around the school calendar and in higher education I can tell you that trying to fast track this over the next six weeks will probably fail on two levels one is there will not be a sense of community involvement and two that you will be dipping into what would be a very shallow pool of people who are looking to make a change this late in the school year and so I think that they're maybe we can hedge a little bit and think about putting it out there and see who applies and maybe we get lucky but on this kind of time frame in terms of engaging the community and seeing having an applicant pool that is meeting the requirements of what we've been talking about all night I think it's a long and not the best so I just think that there needs to be sort of a short term like how do we manage into the next school year as well as thinking about the broader vision of what how do we make it work for multiple years to come I'm worried about six weeks I just don't see how that could happen yeah I echo those sentiments and I'll let other board members speak before we have a practical concert we have to have a super and we've got not a lot of time to make that happen you know my sense is that regardless of who comes on whether we have a true in them where we absolutely know that we're going to do a search starting in the fall where we're going to have time to have the process that that's going to be inclusive as we want to be inclusive by then we'd have time to really I think think about some of the suggestions about really digging deep on making sure that we've got practices in place that ensure that diversity equity inclusion are part of that rather than doing what we can in the next six weeks which I think will be meaningful but more time is always better on something like that even if we don't go to interim I think any higher we make before June 30 would be with the understanding either that we'd evaluate in say October November and if we had a superstar great otherwise we enter that type of process or frankly do a one year contract regardless of the person's performance tell that person that we're going to do a search and you're welcome to apply and if we love the person they'll certainly be at top of the queue but make a commitment basically to the community that there will be some sort of a revisitation of the higher in the fall whether it's just an evaluation of do you have the right person or whether we just commit to a process and if we have the right person they apply again and they stick with it so others? Well I was going to say that I've agonized over this for the last little while because an interim usually means sort of status quo or keeping things as they are I happen to think we're doing quite well in Montpelier that doesn't hurt me as much as it would perhaps somewhere else but I like to go forward so it's an agony of you know if I could find the perfect person that would walk in the door now I'd love it but as you said it's late in the game and it worries us so I have to tell you I've been back and forth about it The members of the leadership team are here and I know they have thoughts on the process I would love to get their thoughts particularly on interim versus one year versus one year with telling the person that we're going to do a search and they're welcome to apply and so if any of the leadership team members want to speak and don't just let me answer that question you can weigh in on the process as extensively as you want to I just want to cover some of the hip hop that's come up this year Thanks for the addition and thanks to the community that spoke so out with me earlier today I appreciate your thoughtful participation it's just awesome so thank you all we just agree that we see the challenge that we want to cast a wide net and find a great person to lead the district for many years and we recognize that we have some work to do in our practices and how we go about hiring we want to improve those we want to be as equitable as possible we want to do better than what we already do and we're in this really difficult time pinch I think that those things are in tension with one another I think our perspective and my colleagues will correct me if I'm wrong is that we should put it out and do the good work like you were saying of putting together a really good committee either way and asking really thoughtful questions being as inclusive as possible being quick studies and trying to cast a wide net as possible and then see where we are and at that point when you see what kind of applicants we have we can make decisions from there about one-year contract I think is what we think that you're going to attract more people if you go along the lines of what you're saying Jim of having a one-year contract and just are upfront with that person we're going to put this back out in a year you're welcome to apply or that gives those people a chance that we might attract a few more people rather than what is probably a fairly small pool of existing Vermont superintendents that would be interested in an interim position so is that fair okay thanks Mike anybody else want to go or do a great job of something to that the only thing I would add is that would you add it at the microphone so they can see you here you're going to have a big mouth we all got to get a fan out I was just going to say I appreciate the fact that you reached out to Mike Dewey I have a lot of respect for him he knows the educational world in Vermont and whatever advice he's giving you I would trust that he's giving you accurate information so I just wanted to say thank you for reaching out to some folks who understand the world of looking for superintendents that's all I wanted to add to Mike's eloquent speech we don't wing things as much as people think we do I said we don't wing things as much as people think we do we get a lot of help but I'm not here all the time so I just wanted to thank you for that I also had to Tina's point this won't be a status quo there's an operational merger even if an interim was being entertained I would certainly echo everything that my colleagues are saying that there's real operational work to be done it's not a let's just keep the trains on the track type situation so I would fully support what's been said so far because I think there will be a lot of opportunities going forward that I would suggest you as a board are going to want someone who has a deeper level of commitment than just an interim I'll just keep everything as it is going forward because that's not defined for next year yet we don't know what as it is yet that's a very good point I wonder if there are some people want to speak to this why don't I give another four or five minutes for public comment for anybody who does want to talk and then then I get to show you guys down but then I think we have to make some decisions about process but I see some hands so if anybody wants to add to this please feel free to come up to the mic and do so because I know this is a big decision and I think it's worth hearing additional concerns Nathan again, thanks again I love the discussion you're having but as we've all said there's a lot at stake and Brian just made a great point about it's not just status quo I think that the more bait you put on the hook the better fish you're going to get to continue with that metaphor and so one year or longer it's going to attract probably higher quality candidates and I wonder if we can borrow some from the professional sports world and all its glory you know what does it take to lure candidates out of existing positions do you have to buy out do you have to pay that district a fee as in professional soccer I'm just spitballing here but furthermore one year and you're definitely going to have to compete for your position again okay maybe that's high stakes if I'm moving my family or something like that if it were one year and then you know if you throw this many touchdown passes and this few interceptions you get another two years on that contract and a bonus it's capitalism we're swimming in capitalism let's play that game maybe this is high stakes and I think we could be creative about it and I think that I don't want to encourage good professionals to leave commitments they've made to their districts on the other hand we're on the back end of that because we've got a bunch of professionals who are leaving for other places and so let's be aggressive about it and the other thing to say which is on what somebody like I think was just saying as a board, as a leadership team, as a community the more we practice doing good selection process doing good process the better we'll be at it and so an interim is like a known pool of people they think might be decent and we don't get to practice that like let's do this let's get a good community together and let's try and make some mistakes but at least we're pushing forward and we're hearing from the community as you are tonight and the more repetitions we get at that we've got four chances right now we've got four processes about to happen so I would say you know at the very least do the check down and then maybe put more on the table even though it's a short process because we are trying to attract the best person we can possibly attract Thanks Anyone else? Thank you So in terms of decision though the decision we have tonight is whether we move forward with like the wheeze which means that it would be a commitment to hire at least a one year contract I think we can work out later whether it would be one year with an evaluation one year telling the person there's definitely going to be a search I think we'll work that out later but I think we have to make a decision tonight about whether we're going to go down that road or whether we're going to say no we'll kind of do a true interim which I think is a process of working with the BSBA the best of potential candidates who would be interested in that and reaching out kind of a headhunter situation so I think that's the immediate question So let's talk about that and then make a motion to take action and Steve So with the motion B that we would hire Mike Dewey's and pursue a candidate for a one year or more position that the motion might read so it's two things it's a compound kind of question there, that's fine I don't know much about him and I hear a lot of good things but I also know that our unique community may not fit the cookie cutter approach and I want to be careful because I don't know what his particular expertise or experiences in tapping into underrepresented communities and I don't know if he has a demonstrated success record in any way in doing that or even trying to do that so I look to some advice for that the other is is there anything, would that contract include any headhunting? No, so Okay, so would we want to be doing that simultaneously is getting out there and using a human resources person to be making some contacts at high levels to try to identify people who may be not actively looking but who might be the perfect candidate and I wonder if we should be combining that approach and not relying on the let them come to us approach because we're late we might need to double down on our efforts so those two things would be my only hesitation otherwise I'm full on with the approach Yeah, Ryan? Okay, so a little more info on Mike and what he has provide for us so if we were to go forward with a one year contract with the intention of doing a further search in the future at what point in time does Mike leave us so if we hire someone on June 11 is that the last that we work with Mike for the 8,000 or 13,000 dollars that will cost us or would he stick with us through the rest of the year as we continue maybe the second phase of the search if that is the route we ended up going if you pay him more he'll stay with you so it will be so June 11 would be the conclusion of all our work with Mike we would have to pay him more for going instead of doing a larger search which a second search would be a second search Yeah, exactly we have a contract from the BSBA with the blind contract that sent us what it would be if we signed it the consultant would meet with members of the leadership team and educators to establish goals to the search process would assist the board to develop written charge for the screening committee these are all a little bit longer I'm just summarizing them work with the board to identify priorities intended to assist the screening committee guide the development of selection criteria salary benefit etc assist with planning for the inclusion of internal candidates that comes to be actually this list goes on for quite a while it's scheduling interviews helping to process legal helping formulate questions including legal questions guiding the screening committee and conducting reference checks scheduling the appointments organizing school and community forums arranging for people to visit where that finalist candidates work as well as having them visit here that was not even the entire list what do you do with that and my sense from talking with Mike was that he was welcoming of community involvement causes I would kind of go into your point Steve that it wasn't a type of thing where like I've got it, you go away where if we say look we want to do some active recruitment and bring some people to this process that's going to be welcome and not shut down he's going to perform some very basic and important functions but I didn't get the impression that he would shut down an active community that was looking to expand the African pool that was looking to do reach out that was looking to do things beyond that but when you were reading that list I didn't hear well obviously allowing an additional contract for someone else to do something else that would be a great plug in but is there a is there a values plumbing for values in the community first before you go to the advertising stage there was a lot about criteria in the development of criteria in the community but I I think you're going to find Steve that there's very few in Vermont seeing as we're one of two schools that have a Black Lives Matter flag I think there's we are at the leading edge of a commitment to equity both symbolically and in practice and so I think guiding Mike or whoever the consultant is in that as you often say value for this community because I would be hard pressed to name another consultant given the demographics of Vermont has had substantial experience simply because we're out there as one of the first to demonstrate a value and a physical value as well as a continuous improvement plan value to the notion of equity so your sense is that he has the skills to do what we need him to do in terms of reflecting in terms of building a process around our values I would say he certainly has the skills to say that short of a headhunter the only thing you're going to be able to do is advertise in different places will cost you more money but you could advertise out of state and see what you get the reason for the quick timeline is because of where we are in the process it's April and so one of my concerns is to have the community feel like they've taken part if it's quick I'm not sure no matter what we say Nathan's going to feel like he's had enough input or that enough time to think about it so if you say you're meeting next week and you put that out somewhere I don't know on the paper will the community feel like they've had sufficient input and I can tell you because the whole board's been discussing it that that's part of the issue how will we assure community involvement do a quick because we're in April search and consider equity and diversity and I think that's one of the reasons I feel strongly that we need to have a revisiting process next year to make sure that we have the right to manage whether that's through a full on hiring process or through getting community consensus that yeah this is the right because I can see that's already dead wow you're meeting over a spring well nobody's around on a spring break like what are you guys doing and it's not because we're trying to hire anything it's just because we're the demands of the schedule in that office by July 1st I have to say I'm disappointed that there's no compromise with Mike in that basically there's nobody to help us but we'd have to hire for two searches that's a lot of money well or we could learn from the first search it brings up the second ourselves yeah I like that idea there are also I mean there are professional search firms out there and I've tried to find out information about them and it was very hard I found some lists but they didn't have websites it's kind of a word of mouth business and a couple of them you found actually I mean it was it was very hard to that's right so I would move then that we hire Mike and for the agreed upon some to assist us in conducting a search for a superintendent under a one year or more contract and that we this does not preclude a decision to enhance that search with an additional with other methods but this sets the this puts the core administrative piece in place and that yeah I think that's the big thing I'd like to that's the motion I would and then I think that I don't want to make this part of the motion so I'll just leave it at that but I do think we need to make a decision in some recorded form about whether we have committed to revisiting this position shortly after it begins but my motion does not include that so hire Mike for the agreed upon amount to perform the contract that was proposed to to assist us in searching for a superintendent for under a contract of at least one year do you have a second? a second any discussion? any further discussion? I think someone has already suggested all of them any opposed? I'm certain that that second piece that I didn't propose may get lost in minutes or non minutes for the future so I hope that we can revisit at some point and make a decision a concrete decision as a board whether we definitely intend to revisit it in October or whatever this could easily get moved around otherwise if it's a one year contract we have to have a process in place in October to make a decision so we're forced to do it I think you also have to be honest with the applicants if you have to decide and say we will do a search after a year no matter if you walk on water or we won't we just have to make that decision I don't think we have to make that decision tonight but I think we probably do have to make that decision when we meet with Mike next week we didn't just decide whether it's going to be a one year or a three year contract and so what my concern is that as we go through this process I just want to be clear that we've got a six week process we already know that we're not making this as inclusive as we'd like or we doubt we can so if we move into a three year contract with somebody I think there's going to be a bit of a pushback from some of us and from the community so we just have to be aware of that I think we're all aware of that tonight or in other discussions anyone pushing for longer than a one year contract this is a question of whether how we do the revisit whether we just tell the person up front that look we're we're doing a hiring process in October and if you wow us you're willing to apply and you're certainly going to have a leg up or whether it's we're going to take a hard look between now and October and if we have any doubts we're going to do another search alright so who will meet with Mike next week we will meet as a board and I've got some days from Mike and I'll send out I just have to go through emails and look at the times it's Monday, Wednesday and Thursday I believe Monday was on Thursday I worked for him let me just do a quick full of which days were the best for folks and we need a quorum not everyone needs to be here I know people are traveling people could call in to create that quorum this would be an evening meeting evenings are preferable I think we could do it at another time if that worked he seemed pretty flexible particularly on Monday and Wednesday but it was certainly open on evenings are there are there any of those days well how many visits do you have who can do one day evening one, two, three, four five, six we've got six that's a quorum who can do Wednesday like when we say evening what time are you thinking six? I think it's six or seven I could do seven we're getting in for seven again six Thursday again it's seven Thursday what did you say? Thursday all our quorum all our quorum okay great so I'll ask him which of those days works best and we'll get something warned properly and on the on the calendar Jim that's not funny we've prevented one more I'm going to just thank you about the consultants that have worked with VISTAs this year from seeking strategies and I bet any of them they'd be willing to consult with which would in turn build to have a nice way that non-filial can be unequally so have a couple of folks together yeah and to all the people here please feel free to weigh in with suggestions like those actively because we are in a quick process things are going to be moving fast so if you have great suggestions send me an email I think when the the steering committee, the screen committee gets more fully put in place we might be able to be able to send things directly to Mike or to certain people in the committee so definitely a way and also please start thinking about good members to have on the screening committee members to the community parents for the people who are teachers here I think about other teachers and staff members who would be good recommendations and that meeting would be open and televised next week yes one next week will be open and we'll have to make sure it gets more yeah it will certainly be open on the subject of outreach for the screening committee to the community I'm just thinking that it is on the spring break the board's going to be in during spring to have that discussion and I assume the board is not going to actually form that committee until next week is that the plan I think we just do the I think we hire Mike but is it possible that we could do some outreach now to community members especially parents before they leave if this is an interest that you have we're not exactly sure what it's going to look like we're not exactly sure but this is the time to tell us we don't have to come to the meeting that we are unfortunately holding during the school yeah yeah just an available email address I don't know someone who's willing to collect all kinds of feedback about the process so Mike did not discuss the how you would choose that so I was liking what you said about just contacting us so we had somebody's name and then if you wanted them to write something or to appear or something before getting on the committee that's when they came back from school think about I think alternate reach out because I think a common reach out is to some of the parents groups which I think is great but there's also there are certain parents that have time for the parents groups or involved in that and that doesn't necessarily go to everyone community members without children in the school as part of the transition can we talk quickly about the other two searches yes please okay so we have the curriculum director open and we just learned yesterday the days are blending into each other that Chris Hennessey is also leaving at Uni Elementary Mary Lundeen is from the staff heading the curriculum search and what I'm saying is that that has there have been some steps that have been taken to move that along there is already I believe posting out there and candidates are applying is there a closed date Mary? yes so we posted the theory I don't need thank you Pam I hear from the community that they can't hear you well I can project my voice so I think they'll hear me we posted two weeks ago so we are collecting applications until Friday the 13th but it is posted until filled next week's break so I have an email to all of the parent groups just asking them to get the word out as far as people that might be interested from parents and community we have leadership representation we will have a student we're going to need two board members do you have a process for if you should have an onslaught of people that wish to be on your committee do you have a process for deciding just asking no I don't I'm asking the parent groups to coordinate who the representatives would be as far as the teachers I've asked the union to work with teachers that are interested because again with the short time frame that we have I just need other people to kind of help out with that so the good news is we're getting a lot of resumes for this position and there are people who are doing this job in other schools that are applying so that is the good news and people know about Montpelier they know all the good work that's happening in our district people are interested in that they want to be part of it so I think that we will end up with a really good addition to the district the timeline is the piece that's tricky because some people have gotten extensions on signing their contracts and so they emailed me and said I can't go into late May or June you know I only have so much time so my goal is to tomorrow I'm going to put together just a memo to everybody to the different stakeholder groups and just say that the plan is for the leadership team to go through and screen all of the applicants now this is what Brian has used for past leadership positions so what we would be looking for is who has a license who is currently an administrator who has a background or knowledge in technology the multi-levels of teaching experience so do they have pre-K to 4 do they have 5 to 8 do they have 9 to 12 just really looking at where are some areas of experience one of the things that we'll look at is the literacy background because again the DMG report and I don't know if people have heard about that but it's really going to inform the way we build MTSS frameworks in our schools so the DMG right now is something that our legislators are really interested in and it's also being looked at as far as special ed finance that bill and school finance so there's a lot of best practices in there so we were kind of just looking at what are some of those recommendations and it's around universal design for learning literacy math and so those are some things that I'm thinking that would be important when we're screening the applicants so anyway the goal is to have the first round of interviews on April 30th and hopefully we will have four candidates that will go through that process and I would ask that the screening committee then narrow it down to two that would move on to the second interview the second interview is going to be a little more involved where we are going to give the candidates a prompt and really look at our school improvement plan and all of those pieces that are in there so the universal design for learning, the math, literacy work all of that work because we want to keep it going and then the cultural confidence pieces around equity so we are going to ask them to develop a presentation as if they are coming to district convocation the first day back and your audience is the administrators and the teachers and talk about how are we going to move this work forward how are you going to do that as the new curriculum director and I haven't worked out all the details on that question but that's kind of the direction that we're going to go in so that they really have to we have to see them in that role as their audience and talking about the work that's been done and how that work will continue because it's important and we don't want somebody coming in who's just going to throw it all out and say here's my new agenda and this is what we're going to do so I have a question for the board while you're still there and that is the question of that job description I've had a lot of concern about curriculum and technology being part of that job description and if we're advertising for it are we sure that's what we want I had the same question yeah I mean that's what we budgeted for and we did not make a different decision during the budget process but that was because we had a situation that was as far as we knew stable working maybe Brian looks like he has something again given the timeline given that it's out there I would not recommend making substantive changes and then potentially have to hire somebody else if you say we think it's time to separate these positions back out again the rationale for doing it five years ago five years ago that's right was not just fortuitous because we had an interim curriculum director and a director of technology who retired but it was thoughtful in that curriculum and technology are inextricably linked for us it's like another utility it's just as important as hot water or electricity or heat if you're interested in revisiting this I would do it with the candidate that the search committee comes with I would add though too that it echoes some of what Brian is saying and is to recognize that we also will have four technology experts as well as our tech integrationists so the responsibilities for that particular position may only be at the really administrative level because that's all of the other folks that are working in that department today at this point I see that position really being responsible for e-rate and managing and overseeing the technology plan which has already been written so it's really pulling that group together looking at the plan making the tweaks that are necessary more of that high level stuff whereas the interventionists who are at each building they're the boots on the ground the people that are able to and provide that level of support I just think and the board knows I've had some displeasure with how the technology has progressed lately and so I'm wondering if we're handling that in the best way possible I don't want to wayla you but I want to be honest to the applicant so is it possible for the applicants to say something about where we're thinking about this part of the job I don't know I'm bringing it up now to say where are we to the rest of the board that's why I'm bringing it up and I think Tina to respond to that I think depending on the district there are some districts that do lend curriculum and technology there are others that separate those positions so it might be that we have both right now in our applicant pool we have people that are doing both or have experience in both and others that are more traditional curriculum it's harder to find both I just want to say I'm so far away from considering that concept that I think we have to be very careful that we don't send the administration off with a mixed message I think the board's position right now and we may have that conversation but we could not possibly have that conversation in a timely manner that would influence this hiring so this is where the board speaks as many voices or the board speaks as one and I think that we would need to have deliberation before we can speak as one on this well I mean it's just that this is the position that we could also hire on a one year contract with the conversation that we might I understand what you're saying but the reason as Michelle said we didn't consider in the budget was we didn't consider that we were making a change but now that we are I would agree with what Steve said at this point I would feel disingenuous if Mary or other members of this committee had to send a different message to the people that have already applied oh by the way this is a one year position contingent upon the board continuing the position as it's currently listed and I think in the same way that it could potentially dilute the superintendent search until you made your decision here it was not I will be the one that suggested to Jim I delegated this to Mary at no point did I consider separating those simply because again of the timeline and I think if you were going to go in this direction Mary would have to have some very difficult conversations right now and could potentially reduce the current applicant pool which she has already indicated is relatively strong people would take back their applications they saw it that big of a change in the process I think Steve's point is very well taken at this point in the process it's clear that there's no change for now and unless the board wants to deliberate further but I think that comes with some great risk I want you to know Mary I didn't assume that you knew any of this I appreciate what you've been doing it's just that it's a discussion we didn't have and I'm really sorry we didn't have it having nothing to do with you I think it's a product that thinks would mean very good I think to just that conversation and I know that you talked about just a strategic plan later down the road that would be something that would be great as part of the strategic plan conversation and maybe this conversation I'm thinking is okay given your explanation about the high level but then I think as a board I'm going to suggest that we rediscuss technology in the system as a whole so that it can work better so maybe it's redoing the people we have and what they do and how they do it I don't know but it's worth the discussion I would say so I'll finish quickly because I know you've got to move on so the first round of interviews we're planning for April 30th the second would be Thursday May 3rd I think it's May 3rd whatever that Thursday is then Friday we'll send the person who we want to recommend to Brian so he would interview and then you would see that person I think you have a board meeting the following week on the 16th so what I would ask you is if you would consider having a special board meeting if some of these people are moving along again so they can tell their districts who are going to be out looking in May to fill those slots so it's like a long fact and everybody's kind of panicking so just put that out there to you to consider one more suggestion I think it's very important that you said two board members I wonder if you could consider who those board members should be tonight I think it's just given pretty much the curriculum element and really having board members that we have a Greenland director that really reflects some of the community values and some of the forward-looking things that we're doing in this community and maybe helping to build the rest of this during community help with outreach to building parents and other community members on I think that's something we can do without interrupting the current search and I think probably directing it in a good way I don't know if we're ready to think about who on the board would want to step up and do that Mary, do you have it's sometimes easier with folks do you have the times already scheduled for those for the 30th we're lacking out 8 to 330 just to give people some breaks in between candidates give people time to go have some lunch the second round that Thursday at the afternoon so it would probably be from 12 to 4 so it sounds like pretty much all day Monday the 30th afternoon on Thursday the 3rd there are people that would be willing and able I would also note that Mrs. Arnold is lurking in the wings and is going to make a similar request as well and I just wanted to throw in one more thing one of the things that I've been trying to do is just really think about representation from Roxbury and Montville so we do have a teacher from Roxbury that will be on the committee Ben's going to be reaching out to families there as one of our current reps so again to make this inclusive Roxbury needs to be fully included in this so we're trying to do that reach out can we just have people respond to you if they're available we'll do it we'll do it pretty quickly and thank you Mary we know this is thank you extra work on your plate and we much appreciate it Mrs. Arnold please return to your favorite place in the room right behind the microphone I'm flying just at the beginning of the process because I have the official word yesterday that I'm going to facilitate the new principal at UES and I'm happy to do so Brian and I touch base a little bit because the advertisement needs to go out so that's step one that hasn't happened I'm hoping that we'll go out this week I think we can refine sometime I think I'm going to skip the conference I'm supposed to be at tomorrow and do this instead and so just thinking about those logistics next week's vacation and then the following week is vacation for other members in the state of Vermont too so there's almost like two weeks of vacation that we might be dealing with depending on who applies but that gives us at least two weeks for people to generate applications I mean we probably will have to leave it open I think it's like three weeks usually or something like that but we'll at least be able hopefully to get some applications in and thinking about what the time frame might be for us and a lot of things Mary was talking about the process pieces the round one interview the round two interview with a prompt as well but very different one I need to work with Linda Volpry and Chris Hennessey at the elementary school too to talk about what are some of those initiatives they want people to be able to continue to work or to lead in the future too to provide those prompts that fit that school and I'm thinking like if we can begin interviewing people the second week of May which is May 7th that would be ambitious but I really think we need to strive for that I am remaining really optimistic because I do believe people want to come to Montpelier want to work in Montpelier because we do have a great school system and I do think it's going to be similar that people may have to be asking for permission to be able to interview so that will be a glitch that happens at this time of the year similar to Mary reaching out to some of the other groups it's a little bit different make up of the committee I don't really put only request from a board member if that would be awesome somebody would volunteer for that Ben is going to work with me and we split up the leadership level so there's a couple leadership members but working with Mary and a couple working with me we're not all doing all of the committees but again looking for a couple of parents, community members a couple of teachers board member and instructional assistant and at a school level it's important to have an admin assistant be a part of it the assistant principal as well as maybe one of the support folks from guidance, social worker or nurse behavior specialist one of those folks so ultimately the committee could end up finding about 11 people on it counting myself as the facilitator where I'm at got a lot of work to do this week I wish Chris had to see well and I thank him every day for having me on but it would be great we will find the right person I think I think that's it because again, I'm just starting great, yeah and likewise Ben thank you for doing this and we will similarly I think one board member is fine for this search I would love to be on this search committee I want to be on this one no fighting I'll let you all work it out time to step away from the microphone I was going to say for the curriculum I don't want to put pressure on Ryan at least it doesn't work but having two would be great to have one Roxbury voice if it doesn't work for either of you understood but I want to offer one of those slots to one of the two of you if you can do that we'll talk about some scheduling I don't want to put Becky on the spot but she has been a part of our facility search would you care to speak to it a little bit I can the committee includes myself and includes Grant Geisler from admin and includes Brian includes two parents and a teacher and we candidates were screened to meet certain criteria and we called in four candidates interviewed them spent almost an hour with each one of them and with a unanimous consideration there the four candidates took two and pulled the two final candidates back together again we used scenario testing with them as well which is a really good exercise to use for second interviews it actually gives you a chance not to just see what their qualifications are but how their heads work so which is a really important consideration because we've got the playground coming on board we've got the bond vote that's just happened so we have a lot of moving parts and was it just yesterday I'm losing track of my days it was Tuesday it was recommended a final candidate to Brian and now we're checking references and going through due diligence and that part of it as well and hopefully our chief candidate will accept there will be there will be a candidate in consent agenda in the next MRPS meeting not the next one next week but the next regularly scheduled one for May 2nd that will be in Roxburgh thank you very much you saved me that's right that's an exciting update so may I ask a question and that is not for Mary because she's long in the process but for Pam who's just begun and I don't know if it's written somewhere or tradition but I might suggest that the committee bring for the principal bring two candidates forward to the board and the board decides which is done in lots of places that was the tradition that we later found was illegal oh so the board to clarify the board is responsible for hiring the superintendent and the superintendent is responsible for all of the other hires is that a is that I'm curious to ask if that's a law or is it policy governance procedure it is a law the committee brings us one candidate okay good well thank everyone for not a lot of work so Jim two things one is how is the decision to be made which board member and I do mean mono on any of these who makes the decision about which board member goes on to these and then the other is we've talked about hiring consultants to help us with diversity and inclusion we haven't taken an action to require that I just want to understand in each of these positions these district-wide positions what are we doing taking an action to build the best practice around that even on these short timelines at least to consult as so he said you know do something if we want if we want to insist on that or require that or what do we do first question um like to have the opportunity to thank chris how to see more but maybe we can squeeze maybe we can squeeze both of you onto that committee and stop it there I can promise that I will be well behaved I'm not sure about Steve I can promise I'll keep each other in check yeah um I think that might be a solution that's huge of the objective of the second I'll help you I go ahead my suggestion is that you're going to have a meeting I'm not going to come next week we're going to have a meeting for a couple of times more than over but um that folks could come with more specific proposal to the next week's meeting about the peaceful option so the board would have something before that it could one suggestion is we've been working with CQ strategies we have an existing relationship with Kathy Johnson so if she does consulting on that topic maybe we could ask what that is about Kathy Johnson might like to be on the committee she is a member of the community so that so what I would suggest Steve is that the meeting with a consultant will be will be an open meeting why don't we put on the agenda why don't we come in and have some sort of well thought out and realistic motion about ensuring that we have diversity, equity and inclusion issues as part of but I'm thinking the other searches one of the promises that we don't do those well if we've got most of the candidate pool for the curriculum position the relatively closed out by next week there might be things we can do in the superintendent search that we will let the game in rubric design and cultural competency understanding we can make sure the questions we can do the rubric to make sure that certain biases are accounted for and hopefully eliminated that person could work directly that person could just be a resource to the administrator who's leading that also I'm not trying to have a giant group process what I'm saying is that if we're serious about building a model for the future let's do the little bit we can do now which is let's get the consultant in there to consult a little bit let's do that let's have a concrete motion about the practical things that we expect for these processes that account for that anything else we are running running late I think we should just okay can we do these first readings quickly no I think it's I think I would could I just say in terms of policy readings we'll just repeat items 8 and 9 as written and then a reminder that we'll have a number to be adopted that are all available on our website under MRSD policies and they're listed under the in process tab on the page because there were we were so quick there might be a change in 9 which Bridget talked about and so we could get that in and it still could be okay so we're going to it wouldn't change the agenda no so we're going to do 8 and 9 on the second I think we can easily kick the governance and forward plan to the second perfect well thank you very much sort of ran over but discussion and thanks everyone for coming motion to adjourn second all those in favor bye