 That's what we have to do, apparently, under this new normal of open meeting. So additions and adjustments to the agenda? I would like us to add the continuity of learning plan. I sent out the AOE guidelines, a PDF, earlier this afternoon, and while we are not making our own continuity of learning plan, it's the SU's plan. I thought it was important that we kind of talk about the four pillars of that and what things that we want to make sure are emphasized. If we should put that under 9-1-1, under online learning, kind of. That works perfectly fine for me. I was wondering if we needed to discuss the 2020-21 school calendar. We do. We also, the other thing I was going to add, we also want to have a discussion about what's being done to help our sixth graders find middle schools, how we can facilitate that for our families. One other item. There was some technical snafus with our getting the announcement of the budget issue. That article that I posted, that thing that I wrote, the Herald had a bunch of issues with how it was written, so it didn't go in last week and I didn't have a chance to get back to her this week to redo it. So we have a chance to write an article for next week and just what we would like in that article. If we still want to talk about budget or if we want to talk about the education, how it's going to change after the vacation anyway, just what if we can put it in there somewhere just to chat about that. One other thing is that I'm going to have to get off at 8 to put my son to bed because my wife is on a class, online class tonight. And I need to add executive session for a personnel matter. And we're seeing that Jenny is not able to join the meeting. She's sending an email saying that she can't get in. I'm going to tell her to try her WRSV, her WRVSU account. Right. Does anyone else have any other changes? Carl, did you get my executive session? Yes, I heard executive session. Okay. Just making sure. Now, who owns this meeting? Do you know? Is this owned by Ray maybe? Carl, not by me personally, but by the conference system here at the SU office. Okay. Because Jenny Austin says that she's trying to get, she's trying to join the meeting and it's not letting, and she's sitting in the waiting room not getting in. So there's no waiting room. And I've seen no requests for admission. Hmm. That's true. Who Jenny is? She's a board member. She's a, she's a, Jenny Austin. Austin? Yeah. I just sent her an, I tried to add her using her like mom email in case she's on that one. I know I can't accept people, but it looks like I can add people. I don't know if that'll work or not. Okay. Um, and so we also have, I'm assuming that the star star eight two is Ethan's audio connection. No, it's Megan. That's Megan's audio connection. So Ethan is the private caller. No, Ethan's perfectly on without private caller. Um, For the meeting attendance. The eight two might be Orca media. Okay. And the private callers to separate things. Yep. Okay. Well, let's, uh, well, well, hopefully, uh, Jenny figure, Jenny and, uh, Um, Raking sort things out. Let's go ahead and move forward. Um, Do we have any, uh, Assigned times? I think, uh, We need, uh, I have no idea how much time, uh, The administration people need the board reports need. Um, If we just try to be conscious of time and keeping the meeting, Meeting moving rather than actually assigning anything. Okay. I think that, I think that'll work. Um, keep like, let's, let's, let's be very mindful. I would love to take Ethan's eight o'clock as a, As a stopping for all of us, not just for, uh, Uh, people with parental duties because we've all got what's going on. Um, all right. So that motion. And for the most part, that means me keeping my mouth shut a little bit More than I usually do. Um, I'm looking for the agenda. That's a good one too. I will be with you. Um, all right. So the consent agenda, We have minutes of the February fourth meeting to approve. I'm going to entertain a motion to, uh, just that. I make a motion that we approve the minutes. Uh, a motion as we made. Do I hear a second? I'll second Megan. Uh, beautiful. Um, We, uh, They came on looking for their hair. Uh, the, uh, minutes. Look reasonable to me. Does anyone have any comments or changing? Hearing none. All those in favor of approving the, uh, The minutes as presented signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Opposed. Okay. Uh, the, uh, March third minutes are approved. The, uh, special minutes I have not seen. Um, Carl. Yeah, I'm not sure if I remember this correctly, but I thought that in one of the informations about how we did this, that we needed to call role. Um, or not. I don't recall that, but let's, let's do that. That's fine. If you don't remember that, that's fine. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Um, So we, uh, uh, I do, I have not seen minutes for that special Friday meeting. Um, has anyone else seen them? I think Christie sent them out, but I can resend. Let me see. Give me a second air. Yeah, I didn't read through them an entire day. I don't know. I don't know. Uh, maybe if I. Been why I missed them. No, sorry. There's a lot of board minutes. Give me a second to get through. Well, we can. Do that next meeting. This is for two. Uh, this is for the, the, the, the, the, the, the. For two. No. The Friday there's that meeting you guys had. All right. Found it. Hey, Jenny. Hey, Jenny. I just forwarded it to the whole board. I don't know who had it and who didn't. Okay. They are. All right. Take a few minutes to look. It's really great. Okay. Um, I would entertain a motion to approve, uh, uh, these minutes presented. So moved. Do I hear a second? Seconded. Motion to date and seconded to, uh, uh, the, uh, The special meeting on Friday, March 20th. Uh, is there any, uh, additions, changes, comments. Uh, discussion of minutes. Hearing none. Uh, all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Um, actually, you know, Ethan speaking to your point, this is where. And I think we're, I think we're okay with the consent agenda, but is listening to everyone saying aye. Maybe you made me realize that I believe this is where votes need to be taken by people acknowledging. Um, you know, uh, who said what, I think we can, we can, I'm happy that the minutes reflect. That the board approved the consent agenda unanimously, but for votes for votes that aren't just housekeeping votes. I believe the, the, the open meeting guide, uh, revision guidelines are that, that, uh, votes are taken by role. So I think that's what you're thinking of. That's what just popped into my head. We stay, we stay our name and, and whether it's an iron egg. Yes. Yes. Like I said, um, I think we. I'm sorry. Go ahead. I think the tip, the way I've done it, seen, I've done before is he actually reads down the list of just, you know, we've done it with just the menu. And you just read down the board list. Right. That's how John's done it in the past. Yeah. Um, because it also saves us all trying to talk of the same time when we're all unmuting. So that way we unmute right at that moment, then we mute back again. Noted. I think, uh, again, uh, when it's, it's a vote of, uh, of, uh, uh, You see, you know, it's not a unanimous, uh, housekeeping vote. I agree with that for it. Um, okay. So, um, That's the agenda over here. Um, let's start with a principles report. You want me to start Monday? You can't see me. I'm nodding my head and trying to unmute at the same time. But yes. Okay. So in no particular order, let's just say these things that, um, our virtual faculty meetings have begun. We've held our second one today. We'll hold our third one on Friday. We'll hold our second one on Friday. Um, Features are working very hard to, uh, sort of build the ship while we're flying it. Um, we have made contact through one person or another, uh, with all the families in our schools. What we're finding out three, two to three weeks into this is that the same kiddos who we had, um, who are having the same difficulties now. Um, I think we're pleasantly surprised, uh, how you youngsters, um, have difficulty connecting with, um, online assignments. There are some, there are some families who don't want technology. We've offered, uh, more than once in their responses that they, they would rather not have it. So as we roll forward, we know we're going to be dealing with both online assignments as well as a paper pencil packets for some of our kiddos. Um, our lunch program is going well. We just received word today from the, um, folks in Montpelier that meals during the April break will be subsidized or paid for. So we will be delivering meals during the April break. That's a change. Initially we thought we were not going to be doing that. Um, but we found out today that indeed that is going to be a possibility. We're looking at the possibility of doing some bulk food distribution that we, because one of the things about which we have concerns is the, um, the food staff, the, the folks in the kitchen who are running the programs, um, they need some time away. They need a break here or there. And we have to sort out what that's going to look like. But right now everything in meals is, is going, I think, far better than anyone anticipated it might. Um, we have some parents whose financial status is changing as a result of, of this closure and the closures of a number of businesses. Uh, we're staying abreast of that. Um, Wendy, what would you add at this point? Oh, our continuity of learning plan. One of the things the state's asked each district to do. And I see that's on our agenda for tonight. So we'll be talking more about that. Um, but we are, uh, we have contributed to a draft. Of that plan for the district. I see Mary Ellen's in the meeting and she's the one that was gathering that information. So she probably can speak to that and with more detail. Um, that is due to the state tomorrow. And, uh, our plan is, is in a shape and a form. So that'll be delivered on time. I would say any student or family that needs a device to make this happen has contacted the school and has those devices at this point in time. Or has made arrangements to get a device with their meals in the next day or so. Families are starting to figure out device needs based on technology needs for this extended, um, period of time. I would also say we're working with teachers. Um, we're working with, um, we're working with, um, we're working with teachers. One of the big things that came out is streamlining communication with a weekly update that just comes from one place because parents are getting a lot of communication and need some clarity around what is due and how long they should be spending on assignments. For each subject area. Um, I have a quick question about the devices. Uh, families that have devices in their, in their household, but are having trouble with them. Is there any type of support that we're able to offer technical support, um, for these families or, or is that not really in our realm? I would say it's twofold. Um, there's some things that can be done. Like if a kid gets locked out of their account because they type the password in wrong, which happens. Um, that's something that Ray and his team take care of remotely. We communicate with that with him. Um, and also I know just for myself alone and I know other teachers have been working with families on the right tech support to walk them through. That's been part of this past couple of weeks, I would say is setting up. To make sure they understand how to use those. I mean, we all know how to get on Facebook, but using all these different components is right. I could see a learning curve for a lot of families who don't have a lot of technology and so needed that extra support. Um, in my household, we have technology, but Katie never really used it uses her computer. Um, I have a technical issue with the, her camera doesn't work for who will hang out. But it works for zoom. So, you know, it's like that type of technical. Do I need to go? Do I, is there a way for me to get technical, um, assistance or do I need to seek that out separately? You know, is that something we do or. Right? That's something that we, that we try and do. So if you let me know, that's an issue. What I do is I send off a help ticket and either Ray or Larry or someone will see what they're able to do remotely. What they could do. So I didn't raise in this Ray, are you in this call? I don't think Ray stayed in this call. Pretty inundated with all, all the rest of the technology that he's dealing with. So, so families can contact the principals directly to, if they had any needs and support with their devices. Yes, because sometimes we have a teacher on staff who can help you with that problem. And as you said, Ray and his guys are dealing with a tremendous amount right now. So if a teacher can help, that's usually our first line. And then if they can't, we send off a help an email to Ray and his group. Right. Like I said, I can just imagine a lot of people are overwhelmed with this technology. So I want to make sure we have that out there for them. Yep. Okay. Sorry to interrupt. No good questions. I think that's it. Unless people have other questions about the technology. Just one other thing to let the board know as part of the governor's order yesterday, we have closed down the playgrounds in the fields. Just wanted folks to know that that's something that, that everyone has been asked to do. We've taken in the picnic table, taken down the basketball hoops. They want us to do everything we can to discourage folks from gathering. And so those are the steps we've taken. Bonnie, did the heat get turned off in the high school building? Yes. The heat's off and the heat's down in the elementary school building with the exception of the kitchen area to the extent that we can control that. And claim in Stockbridge, the heat's been turned down significantly as well. Can you guys speak to what the plan is around recording attendance and that whole 51% of the kids have to somehow be attending for it to count as a day of, of schooling towards the 175. Do we have protocols in place and are they working? Yes, we do. We have protocols in place. They start the 13th of April in terms of actually marking youngsters present or absent. But our teachers began today. Basically, we have a, I'm sorry. Sorry, thought somebody had a question. What the state has asked us to do is to identify whether youngsters are present or absent. Present is defined as the youngster making any sort of contact with the teacher or with an assignment. So in our case, if a youngster goes online and does two IXL lessons, which the teacher can monitor remotely, or if they sit in on a Google classroom or if they do an assignment, take a picture of it and send it to her. If they email him or her, any sort of contact with the teacher or any sort of assignment is considered the youngster being present. And we at our faculty meeting on last Friday worked out that system. And I think it's pretty, I think it's a pretty streamlined one. I also think it's very accurate. Bonnie is just a quick question. Is that what exists now? Or is that what will exist as of the 13th? It actually exists now, but it will be tweaked a little bit by the 13th and ready to go. I would echo that we just, we know from our staff and who we've talked to, who are the kiddos that we're not making daily contact with. So our staff keeps us up to date on that in both buildings. So we're able to try and make contact with those families. And I would say just like Bonnie said earlier, it's some of the same families we struggle to connect with when we're in the building. So our numbers are pretty decent already well above the 51%. And neither of us have a family that with whom someone has not made contact with the nurse, the counselor. I shouldn't clarify that too. The state indicates that if a child connects with a counselor on a given day, a PE teacher, an art teacher, a classroom teacher, a school principal, any of those it's considered an attendance contact. And as Carl said, in order to count for a full day of school, we have to make sure 51% of our kids are present on any given day and neither one of us anticipate that that's going to be even remotely a problem for us. Okay. Yeah, I was wondering if there was a need to send, to do a blackboard across the district to just so all parents were aware that this was the new expectations for the kids. I figured the people who we can't reach right off and they know when it's snow day though. We were actually, Linda and I are actually working on a letter that we're going to send out does do that that identifies the new expectations after the 13 talks about, you know, minutes per day, depending on the grade level, et cetera. So just sending a few more details as they've settled in. Excellent. And in general, how are the kids responding? You know, are we getting kids that are, you know, enjoying this new engagement and working with this? And I know that it's new and it's, you know, they don't have to go to school. So I'm sure there's a certain amount of a honeymoon kind of thing, but in general, is the state of our kids psyche good? Is it, you know, is there things that we need to provide you guys tools to the administration of the teachers to make sure that our kids are, because the social emotional piece is the part that, you know, I'm okay if they catch up on Vermont history next year. I worry most that, you know, are they, you know, are they staying in touch and connected and staying with their community? I think that's, be honest, that's what a majority of the first week or two teachers spent figuring out what technology is available to make sure kids can connect with kids as well as with teachers and do those social emotional check-ins. For example, our 456 does a morning meeting every Monday to kick off the week, but she's backed up the start time to like 9.15, I think, off the top of my head so they can just have social time with each other and see each other because the first couple of times was like, we haven't seen each other, you know, nobody's seen anybody. So really figuring out how to make those social connections in a different way. Actually the first week, Carl, and I'm glad you brought that up because I think it's a really important point. The first week, week and a half, we really focused on teachers, our school, counselors, anybody connecting with youngsters to let them know that we were still here, the school was still there, we were going to be fine, we were going to figure this out. We weren't going out of their lives because that was just so important in those first few days. To be frank, it was far more important than worrying about reading, writing, and arithmetic. And I think we're, Wendy and I talk about this almost every day. We're feeling really good about the connections that youngsters are making with a variety of our teachers. The unified arts folks are getting on board. For example, Mallory's doing some distance music lessons for kids who want to engage in that. And Wendy and I send a very clear message when we talk to parents about, children have to get out, they have to get out and play. We are not going to replicate five or six hours of a school day in front of a screen. That just isn't how online learning is designed. So if you have to choose between a teary child or a child who wants to go out and play, go out and play. Excellent. One of the things that the stuff I've been seeing on ed tech discussion boards is the more that we can get the kids to engage socially through school and through some of the online platforms, the less likely they are to try to meet up at a playground or to try to go into this other place. So I think the more that we can provide that social component, the better we're going to be able to do with social distancing and getting this over the path. Right. And I think the work, Linda and I are very proud of the work that our teachers have done. Youngsters are talking, the first week it was great fun. You know, like you say, everybody's out of school. I made a number of calls to talk with kiddos last night and two youngsters, they said they wished they were back in school. You know, they missed their friends, they missed their teachers, they missed, one of them told me he missed visiting me in my office. So it was, it's, it's, it's not easy for these kiddos. What's happened so quickly to them. Does anyone have any other questions for our administration? Nope. Great job. Thank you. Thank you. You're welcome. Yeah, great work. Thank you. Tara. Hello. I have a couple of things for you tonight. I sent you an email about Woodstock tuition and receiving a response from any of you. I assume there's no questions. And. And Bonnie are working on. Next draft of budget. Okay. Well, let's. Agenda tonight, that motion you need to make for Dina. Sorry, I was just looking at my notes. The motion that we need to make for Dina is not on the agenda. We can add it. Yes, that needs to be done tonight about your meeting. Okay. That letter needs to be sent. She sent you. Yeah. Okay. I think also before, before we make that, we need to have a discussion about whether we're, whether we're following the one piece of guideline that says postpone it so you can have it. And then we can put it in the, put it in the summer versus just have it and make it Australian. And as I watched what's happening in Wisconsin, I'm not sure that you're saying, okay, well, we're going to go to a polling place in May. It's necessarily a good idea. I'm still not clear exactly what this letter is asking us. Dina was asking us to request a waiver. I think it's a good idea. I think it's a good idea. From the secretary, from the secretary of state, hold an annual. Meeting vote by Australian ballot. And I want to say it's the Vermont league of cities and towns, or it might be the BSBA. That was giving advice that if you haven't had an annual meeting, maybe to put it off until you can have an annual. In other words. You know, don't. I mean, I think that. We would have had to, if, if we were going to. We would have to be authorizing a warning today, right? For 30 days. Before the first Tuesday in May. No, you don't need to do your warnings or anything to do this. This is just to get the acceptance and the approval. If you want to waive your floor vote for Australian ballot. So this is not, this is not us. That I misread her note. This is not us saying that we were intending to change it to Australian ballot by, by, by doing this. It just gives us the opportunity to do it. But it says both boards have to deal with your upcoming annual meetings. So I thought I'd reach out to you about the process, least initially for how to address holding them. Since both of your districts, articles of agreement specify a floor vote for annual meetings were required under the new emergency changes to the election law to request a waiver of holding a floor meeting slash vote from Jim condos. The board should authorize you to request a rate, a waiver from the secretary of state so that you can do votes by Australian ballot. And she gives us what the exact wording of the motion needs to be. And she said, I'm assuming that your board will agree and that we can get that part done tonight. I have attached a letter which should be sent by email and hard copy. That you should send it to Will and to Jim. But this is only for that purpose. Just to have Australian ballot in the event. That you need to hold your meeting before June 30th. And we're not released to have public meetings yet. So otherwise, if you don't do about June 30th, you get 87% of your last approved budget until you have an actual approved budget by doing this motion. And by getting this in the works in the event that you decide to have your meeting. Between now and June 30th, it allows you to do it by Australian ballot. I see. So it doesn't lock us into the May fest. We still have a meeting later, but it just gives us the opportunity to do a by Australian ballot. Right. The part that I wasn't clear about is I was, and I was hoping that I would have gotten some answers from Degan. But, you know, again, whether it's, whether it's the option, it was fine. I think it's keeping, you know, expanding our options and keeping all options open is a good idea. I mean, I think, you know, I think the question is, is this a waiver mean? You know, it says maybe voted on without a second vote of the electorate. So I believe it means we can do a temper. We can, we can, we can do it and not have to automatically go to Australian ballot. Right. This is only a one time thing, given the emergency situation. Right. But it doesn't, if we pass this motion tonight, we are not required. We are not formally changing to Australian ballot. No. Okay. So I think we're going to get to the end of June. That was my understanding from Dina. Let me see if I can get her to answer me. Okay. Cause yeah, she was also going to talk about the notice in the warning timelines. Well, I've not heard back from her on that. I don't know if anyone else has. What I think this letter does, Carl, is it preserves that option? I don't think it locks you into that option. Okay. So the language that Dina is asking for is. Someone needs to move to authorize the board chair to request a waiver from the secretary of state. Such that annual meeting matters may be voted on by a failing ballot without a separate vote of the electorate. Do I hear a motion? I'm. Most of us so moved. I'll second it. Motion has been made and seconded to authorize the board chair and request a waiver from the secretary of state. Such that annual meeting matters may be voted on by may be voted on by Australian ballot without a separate vote of the electorate. Is there any other discussion? I'm going to go down the roll and everyone's going to answer. Megan. Hi. Amy. Hi. Hi. Ethan. Hi. Jenny. Hi. Jenny. Hi. And is that wording in the email from Dina? If so, I'll copy it from for my notes. Yes. It's in, it's a, in her a one PM Wednesday, April 1st email. Okay. I'll use that. Okay. Hearing five eyes and no nays. I'll go to the chat. Hi. I'll go to the chat. Okay. Okay, Carrie. And Bruce has just joined us. Hello, Bruce. How you doing? Can somebody forward? I'm sorry. What? Can somebody forward that to me? I don't see it in my inbox. I will forward you the email, but I also just put them language in the comments of the chat. Carl so I didn't go to you never mind okay I assume that was an entire board email I didn't study it um well okay that's why I was just a little like my what is this is first time part of it so that's fine reds don if I don't need it I don't need it because it talks with it you know it's fairly it's a fairly she said she was gonna copy it and put it in the minutes yeah she copied those she copied the motion into the chat Bruce the memo from Dina is it's we passed the motion with the understanding that that it is a optional thing we are not locking ourselves into moving to Australian ballot but by by sending the waiver to the Secretary of State we we are we are we are allowed to have an Australian ballot this year only without having to talk the electorate first mm-hmm yep okay it's a one-time deal I think yeah that's good though the one-time deal part was clear in Dina's message what wasn't exactly clear was whether passing this motion meant we had to now do Australian ballot this one time or it just gave us the option to if we if we felt that was the more food adoption towards the end of the year yeah I think it is giving you the option all right so we were hearing from you Tara is there anything else we need to report I do not have anything else that I can think of at this moment okay feel free to chime in if something occurs to you later so Bruce brings us the superintendents report yeah I guess I would I would say that you've got the language today from me about the April vacation and serving meals the US Department of Agriculture okay that and I did hear from one of the people Bill Bunsen your who's been working with a lot of the cafeterias serving and in the whole that's you that he wrote to me today and said the you know the staff pretty tired and some of them would like to bow out of the April vacation and I said look we're gonna have to pay them that week and they'll be making an extra week's worth of pay in order to work because otherwise they wouldn't have been so this will be the topic for the principles tomorrow as we meet to try to figure out how we're gonna do that and how our numbers look for that April week break but I'm pretty proud proud that everybody's kind of stood in there and we've pumped out an awful lot of food for families and for kids over the time we've been doing this there's a Secretary of Education conference on Thursday that I'll be involved in and I should and you know we have a full board briefing that night at six o'clock on Thursday we today I know Carl you saw this because you were copied on the email but we're going to try to start negotiations via video conference again the union has sent out a COVID virus they want to open up negotiations to be able to put some safety language around the COVID problem in the teacher's contract and you know we've already passed usually after the second meeting we've passed the deadline for bringing new proposals but they're asking us to put it to open it now beyond that point in order to be able to put that language in so you know basically we have Dina and Bob Raskin that's in myself and the union president have a meeting scheduled for two o'clock on Monday and we're going to see how we go forward with negotiations we I will tell you honestly anybody that has attended them we're not we're not moving very fast and we're kind of stuck would you say that Carl at this point your mic's off it's been there's not been a lot of movement on on on their side of the table um there has uh you know it's to be to be honest if we had probably had another meeting or two we would have we've been going to impact at least that's my my sense but are you are you agree with me Bruce yeah I absolutely would agree with you and I think that was the feeling of the rest of the negotiating team to not just just not just us I think it was everybody on that team they're pretty frustrated didn't Kathy and Carl didn't you talk about having scheduling one more meeting and again and then getting to that point where the would go there I thought that was it like one of the last full board meetings yeah that was that exactly exactly but we haven't been able to you know everything's kind of until the the open meeting law um got changed to allow you know a meeting to happen without there being a physical place and a physical presence I think most of the subcommittee work went to the sidelines so that we didn't have to put someone at the sq building or at a school building at unnecessary risk I think now that we can we can have a meeting I think you know without having to have a physical presence you know we can we can move forward on that and I think you know I think we should and as Bruce points out you know there's a it's negotiations are kind of a very kind of sort of complicated labor kabuki dance and so the first thing that happens you set up what the ground rules are and whether meetings are open to the public or whether whether there can be public comment comment about what happens in the meetings um uh you know whether they're under kind of a media blackout um and then very early the idea is get get the new language or the changes everyone wants on the table on the table um and then kind of move from there move you know try try to move move closer so they're trying number one the movement at least so far has been really more on our side um and then you know to to try to say okay well we want to reopen the negotiations because we want to add additional additional issues um around uh around safety or whatnot um you know I I think I I as I understand it uh the meeting with Bruce and and uh Bob and Dina is without board members um it's just for Bruce to kind of hear what they're having to say and um for them informally to be able to say what their safety concerns are and as I understand it once once Bruce and Dina have heard all that that you know they'll bring that back to the committee and we'll decide if you know this you know how we want to proceed and and how to go um you know uh how to go forward um yeah I basically it's a it's a prep meeting to figure out how we're going to structure moving forward and it does include both topics one is moving them and doing video conference and how unwieldy that might be um and also um the covid thing and the safety concerns that they want us to open the contract put back in um so I've been on the phone today with Dina trying to get this arranged and we thought it would be best to have a small meeting first and then um if everybody's agreeable scheduling something so we can deal with this um as a group uh and that's where we are the only other thing I'll tell you right now is that Jamie and I have been meeting and we're trying to kind of take apart uh piece by piece all different kinds of things having to do with the SU and each district we met for about an hour and a half on Monday we've got another appointment on next Monday and we have um kind of a document that we're working from so we can be very comprehensive about the way we approach this and we don't keep going over the same things and we kind of move into areas that we need to talk about and there's all kinds of different things so um I think that's been a good thing for him and it's been a good thing for me uh we already had a relationship before he was hired so I've known him for a while and uh and uh so it's a pretty pretty good uh collaboration I think and I want him to do well I really do so and have Devin and Dawn been having similar meetings? I know that Devin and Don have known each other for years and uh from back in the early days you know uh I don't know whether whether what Deb has you know how much interaction Deb has had but I'll mention it to her um this is certainly a lot new or higher so uh anyway great I just want to point out we're at 7.22 now yep does anyone have any other questions for Bruce? I just added Dino's response to comments in case you're not all looking at your comments yes Dino says that it is it just preserves that as an option for us so moving forward uh online learning I think Mary Ellen's on this um she's been the one that's kind of done a lot of the work bringing the teachers along on on our new plan so I asked her to be on here because she can speak to it much better than I can so for online learning we've been meeting with every teacher in grade alike meetings across the SU and we're finding that in every grade there's a couple of students that can't access online but a majority of them can I would say so we're providing online resources and um we've been working with the tech department with Ray to vet the the programs to make sure that they are meeting the requirements that we set for the SU and um we're working also on activities for those students who do not have internet access so that's as far as the connectivity on that I think the other question that Bruce might be referring to is our continuity of learning plan yeah that's one of the things that I was trying to get to I thought maybe that's where Carl and the board wanted to go next so our continuity of learning plan is a state requirement that we fill out what is our plan for the whole SU going forward how are we going to um support the students in their learning so we have a multiple page document explaining everything from the communications we're going to have with families how do we support struggling students um I can't even think of this there's 11 different areas that Carl sent us that's the template of it yes oh and then we filled it out specifically for our SU and we're right now in the process of getting feedback from faculty and staff and then it'll go to the state hopefully tomorrow so that's where we are with that right um the the the the continuity continuity of learning plan has to address four out four main areas which are communication structures for student success instruction feedback and ensuring uh accessibility we we kind of talked about communication and ensuring accessibility in terms of uh of the technology um you know and I the thing I wanted to make sure the board had had a chance to weigh in with was to touch base with the administration and make sure that uh you know that the plan that the SU is putting forward supports what we need to do in our two schools and if there's areas that uh you think that need to be strengthened or or uh a discussed further um you know the the the document that that I read from the from the AOE the one that I circulated the reference guide you know it I'm really comfortable that if we have a good plan that our administration supports and our SU supports it really does seem to to to give a good a good path forward I just wanted to make sure that our administrators felt that uh it supported their efforts so Carl both Bonnie and I were on the K6 committee with Mary Ellen to help draft this so I feel really confident I haven't read it word for word like she took a lot of data and a lot of information from us already and she's definitely fine tuned it I haven't read it word for word but in what I've reviewed so far it's what we're doing and what we know that is working for our families and our kids and our teachers most importantly they've got to be able to figure out how to do it too so and a big part of the plan is what do we do if one of our teachers gets sick or has an extended absence because they have a family member that gets sick so we wanted to set into motion a plan that is consistent across the SU so we can share resources so if there is a first grade teacher in Rochester for example that gets sick we can take the plan that we have in place for all first grade across the SU and put it right into place the next day and so they won't be missing a beat it's all tied into the proficiencies that we've been working on for the last four years with learning scale supporting that work that is available for families to keep the learning going and it you know it works with or without the teacher really I mean ideally we want the teacher there but in the worst case scenario we're covered excellent thank you Mary Ellen um the biggest part for me the biggest question is the is the number five uh under um student success which is the making sure we have a plan to collect feedback and understand and monitor the effectiveness of the plan because what in my experience with with with projects like this it's always the you know getting the feedback modifying tweaking the continuous improvement sort of cycle that I guess when I was more in the corporate world they were they were they were banging into my head so I think as long as the in my mind as long as the plan has good ways for us to to gather feedback respond and react to that feedback and make you know make our plan continuously more effective and make our making our access to the kids continually more supportive you know that that's me's most important part. Yeah one of the big indicators we look for there Carl Wendy and I have talked about this is the level of engagement if we've got you know a high level of engagement from our youngsters then we're going to make the assumption that our plan is working and and and working well um and to this point we are pleasantly surprised to be frank of how much engagement we do have now there's engagement and then the quality of work that's being done so right now I'm just speaking to the engagement level but that certainly is going to be a significant indicator for us if we had large numbers of youngsters who weren't checking in who weren't taking advantage of what we're offering then I would be worried about our plan a little bit of a worry for me so far they they've held up and and they're doing the job okay but one of the things that we were going to replace next year were the uh computers for teachers at Rochester uh Lindy replaced hers I think last year and we were going to replace Rochester's this year but some of our teachers are working with 10 12 year old computers and fortunately they're holding up to what they need to be able to do but that is a concern what do I want to say the robustness of these of these machines certainly is is not up to snuff but our student computers weren't weren't pretty weren't very good shape with those okay um and you know obviously you know we would rather I think keep things on the the standard replacement cycle but these are different times so do you need us to make some sort of motion or authorize you do some some kind of uh uh early ad hoc uh a system replacement or do you think we're good I I think at this point we're good if if we start having difficulty with them we'll have to move pretty quickly to get them replaced so just knowing I don't think I need a motion from the board I think what Lindy and I need is just knowing that the board supports us getting teachers the tools they need to do this online learning and body I would imagine that you'd have to plan that in advance I would think that both the delivery and the acquisition of technology these days is going to be difficult to get that is that's correct all right does anyone else have any other questions on online learning um nine meals I'm sorry Carl what was that I didn't get what you said oh I said that it's I asked if anyone had anything else to say about online learning and then hearing no one okay I was moving to 9.2 which is meals and I think we've pretty well covered that unless there's something else that needs to be dropped into that conversation no I don't think so we're speaking to people our staff is getting uh is getting stressed but they're getting the job done um yes we talked about doing bulk food and we're doing food over break so I think that is anyone else have any questions about meals they were saying for 9.2 okay uh 9.3 budget review so I think like Tara said we got her email about the Woodstock tuition that wasn't paid that will have to come out of the surplus right so um we all feel the same way uh so I might be able to explain a little bit more in executive session but we're starting to slowly work our way through that things obviously have been more focused on making sure staff and kids are up and running and again you know as far as as far as our budget and and and when we're having our meeting we haven't gotten uh guidance from Dina about whether the 30-day warning window has been uh a suspended change um this I kind of agree with the stuff I've seen from the the Montaliga cities and towns from the BSPA that's saying in these uncertain times you know um kicking a can down the road is not such a bad idea for a little bit um so we know what kind of what what kind of situation we're putting forward I think the same thing is true with the building committee sort of work um so I think let's stay tuned on uh let's stay tuned on the budget uh until we get some more guidance about what's going on Sarah Sarah what do you expect to are you there let's be unmuted I am sorry I got food in my mouth okay sorry um do you I'm hoping that we're going to have the audited members in the budget next time we see it um Rose went through and made all of her notes I have to finish up my notes and then we have to send them all back to the auditors for corrections okay so is that so we probably are not going to see those audited numbers in our in our next budget you're thinking I would hope so okay well yay and your other email that you asked me about Amy yes that is one of the things that we're trying to iron out with the auditors they are not reflecting the student activity accounts the same way we are okay I mean oh I'm sorry we'll go ahead Leslie I do have a couple questions on the expenditure that um uh report that you sent out but I'm just gonna um try to talk to you though uh personally on those I don't need to take up everybody's time are we I know who she mentioned in the beginning are we saving any money on the schools are not open or is it just you know six or one half a dozen of another okay salaries I mean but other than that there's no field trips going on there's no uh there's a lot of things that you know we're not spending money on equipment uh per se uh the buildings have been pretty much uh the heat's been lowered and they've been they're working on cleaning them um so yeah I think we're gonna save some money but I can't tell you how big a sum that is I think you're gonna have maybe a surplus next year but um I hope you do anyway I think uh we can't possibly it can't possibly be like it usually is because of this um and certainly there's been uh just just equipment and and um there's other things that we usually do that we haven't had to do we're still paying salaries uh transportation and tuition so you're not gonna save any money on those yep so if I go down to the very end of that expenditure sheet that you gave me that ends uh March 31st it does the way I read it it shows that we have basically 12 percent of our budget left are we we've more than 12 percent of the year left sorry I was talking my mic was off you should also remember Amy that there's been things encumbered on that too like salaries like things that are known so while it says that 12 percent of our budget is left some of that includes the encumbered piece too it should yeah it should I would assume it would be as it's encumbered as well well okay regardless of what the numbers are what percentage of the year is left do we know I think it's like 10 weeks but don't quote me I'm not 26 first March 31st March 31st thank you does anyone have any 177 days and dividing it by 131 days which is how many days we have had through March 31st got it okay 131 do we have an official last day of school no not yet but I expect we'll have one in the next week or so now I believe it was somewhere around the 15th or 16th of uh June um but I I have to ask for a waiver for the three days we got out before everybody else did we got out on the 13th and most of the others didn't get out until three days later and we did kind of a preemptive thing it's just kind of a formality but uh I'm going to ask I'm going to write that tomorrow asking for permission to do a waiver on the three days we got out early um so now you know uh but before you got on the call Bruce Bonnie and Lindy were pretty confident that uh we were gonna have no problem getting a 51% of our kiddos to touch base with uh their teachers or or or or counselors in some some form every day so they indicated that they weren't worried that we were going to lose to quote virtual snow days when when you know kids don't show up barring EC5 or a fair point not just not just I'm equally as confident Carl I don't believe that there's going to be any problems with that everybody has been so flexible the rules are just kind of out the window I mean I don't want to say they don't matter but I want to say that this is such a different kind of venue circumstance than than we've ever had before okay and I don't think anybody's really stuck on some of those things that's why I say if we ask for a waiver for those three days I've been told that nobody's going to bat an eye it'll be fine okay so we're gonna we're we can all kind of assume that our last day of schools would be what our last day of school was because we'll get all I mean I haven't heard the official call on that I think there's hope being held out there's there's a May date made that people have been pointing to I don't know what that really means I think people are maybe thoughtful and hopeful that they might be able to restart schools in May I don't know I mean they keep bringing that May 8th date is another kind of benchmark so I don't know but nobody's really made that call I think they're including where we are right now in the 175 days that we have to go and they're clicking down you know so all right well let us know if you get any any more formal formal word on that but we might get it as soon as Thursday when we get on with the Secretary of Education I don't know so does anyone have any more comments on the the budget review for Tara or for Bruce or for the administration okay let's move on to 9.4 the school report so um basically obviously as this has started I have not done any work or further work on the report but I do remember in our that special meeting that Friday meeting we had we did talk about how it could be very useful to have this report go out still even without a scheduled date for the actual meeting you know maybe without a warning inside of it but I just need some I just need some instruction as to whether I should be spending time on this or whether it should just wait until we know when we're doing something I would lean towards I mean collecting some of the stuff that you know is fixed if you've got I mean you know you you you now have kids at home you now have a whole different situation so I don't you know saying yes just get this done Ethan because you can get it done you know if you've got some capacity and some bandwidth to to to work on some of the things that are more fixed like student pictures and things like that the SU reports but otherwise I think it's you know it's it's it's not the highest of priorities yeah what I guess that's it I mean it obviously we have the template that Jenny created we have not put I did discover that it's much better for graphics to import an entire Excel file as opposed to taking the PDF and trying to put that in the annual report so there are more things from Terra that I could get and obviously we're waiting on you know then we're just waiting for super superintendents reports and principals reports and things like that but I can I can spend some more time on explaining I know Amy we were talking to you about the yeah yeah that one there I think what I what I can get to is I can what I don't know I can get questions out to people and maybe you can take a moment to get back to me so I will keep working on it but we won't work on it with a sense of priority we'll just work on in a sense of let's get it done because it is going to be a hopefully our template from now on right working on a template for all our annual meetings from now on the other thing the other thing Ethan I would say is at whatever point we decide to send it out we both the board and the administration should at that point probably write a letter sharing as much as we know at that point it would seem to me odd given the circumstances we're in to send out a school report that makes no mention of how we've done the last six weeks or eight weeks or whenever this report goes out so I think in some ways you know we can turn those letters around pretty quickly but once we decide when the report's going out I think our letters should reflect what we're doing how we're doing and where we believe we're headed right and we don't even have a budget really we have a work deal on the budget so it's not like something we could get out in the next week or two anyway right but so I slowly trudging forward sounds like a good plan okay keep it I'll keep it in keep it moving all right does anyone have any other comments about the school report nope okay then we can we can move on to uh we have an executive session so um hold on we have there's there's the things that got added which is what we talked about the the the the thing I added in in the online learning at 9.1.1 or whatever when we talked about the continued learning plan we had an executive session and what was there was one more thing there's three more things you I believe somebody added on sixth grade finding middle school oh that's right I can't believe I completely forgot the yes and and then the announcement in the paper um and then I had put on the 2021 school calendar I didn't know I didn't know if we needed to discuss it um so the the the concern you know we we have uh how many sixth graders between the two campuses uh Rochester has eight I believe we have five in Stockbridge so we have a 13 kids we have to we have to uh you know normally we'd be having a uh a middle school fair right around now um and that ain't gonna happen um so I think our school counselors have been reaching out to families and are starting that process in a new way with the sixth grade families to try and walk them through what questions do they have what information do they have do they need and how can we get that out to them to help them support the decision right the group of Rochester Carl for a variety of reasons most of them made uh made the decision early on many of the parent I'd say most of the parents are are settled on where the youngsters are going to go okay pretty similar in Stockbridge with the exception of maybe two kiddos who it depends if you talk to the kid or the parent yeah we have one of those depending on who you talk to okay because you know I was wondering do we want to like get to get families mailing addresses and send them to all the school you know the the schools we send kids to would have them send packets um you know I I what I don't what I you know I I think the counselors are is a good is the counselors are a good approach um you know I just don't want I'd like us not to put it on your guys plates to be you know tracking this down as well um I don't want kids to to to necessarily fall through the cracks because they didn't get they didn't get get reached out to or didn't really understand the choices I think the Stockbridge families are pretty savvy they've been doing this for years and years and years but the Rochester families you know really understanding what their choices are and you know where they where they can go let's like I said I thought maybe maybe sending you know Woodstock and Randolph and TSA and and and White River and you know Rutland and Middlebury or wherever we send the kids Harwell you know send send those people and say here's our sixth grade families send them what you want to send send them packets if you want just I was trying to what I was my biggest concern was having you guys you know having to to manually sit with each family and say Woodstock is like this if you want your kid to play hockey or football that's a place you might want to have them go right you say is like this you know Randolph has that right you know I I I think putting the burden on the scum the receiving schools rather than necessarily on you guys trying to make a virtual the virtual online town hall or something uh was was was my my interest in this I think for both buildings and talking with Bonnie is these parents seem to be a little more aware that they needed to start the process as early as possible I don't think our kiddos will get to do school visits I think that's the one thing you know that I know some kids had planned for after spring break that's going to go by the wayside but I think these parents have been asking at least in Stockbridge a lot of the parents have been asking questions as early as October um just about transportation logistical things and who to contact okay I think one of the dynamics to that change is year to year is how many are oldest children in the family versus middle or youngest right there's there's a number of Rochester sixth graders that have siblings that are already well established at schools and that's just the parents decision that we're going to stay at one school and you know my brother went there and that's where I'm going okay um all right uh so 2021 calendar yeah can we put it up here somehow Ray or Mary Ellen or somebody so my question was um and I had asked Lindy about this as well but um this current year we we went to school return to go to school on town meeting day because we felt that it was we're going to have more quality education in March than we were in June and I was wondering if we wanted to do that again I mean it makes sense but it's I put it in your guys's hands it's you're the educators um the way we left it Amy and to everyone is that we would still use those days and just get approval as needed I guess to try and stay as aligned as possible right now but we can I mean if you guys have a different direction that you want us to advertise it well I'm just referring that we're you know we are trying to be as unified as possible with the SU and and so um you know we tried to realign these calendars for last year but but then you know Sharon had like a whole different April break than we had and I was like well and they had a lot of stuff that was not aligned with us not last not last year but they haven't passed but last year we were pretty unified they did ask for a waiver they didn't get it you know the rule is that we have to have the same calendar for the SU and we have to follow Randolph's calendar so I mean those are the those are the rules and we've had a couple little exception like Humber chair for the ex-club schools and things like that but um you know I'm not going to be here for any of this calendar we would but we spent two months probably working on it and it's been it hasn't been a labor of love it never is but you know I think what you're seeing is what we came up with collaboratively and in a unified way so and you do feel that this all school with the exception of that tumbridge um fair dead are going to follow this same calendar there's no other yes yes they have to they have to I mean and and when I was new there was a lot of exceptions and things that you know people had done traditions and whatever but in the last couple years uh we've come closer and closer to being unified every year okay does our individual board need to approve this whoa you're presenting oh there we go it just took me a while to find where it was but there's a calendar I know you presented this at the SU board and I just didn't know if there's something at a local level we need to do at this calendar no thank you calendar can I don't think you have to approve it necessarily if you want to you can but we have to because I wanted to see it before we do that all right whatever you there's a lot of a lot of that guys do yourself with r6 please as far as the budget I can't I can't Megan do we know what's happening when um whoever the whoever I'm just seeing an entire screen somebody's screen of their computer with all the tabs and everything so we're still working on that I didn't know what we were doing yeah we we were wrapping it up we just had uh we just needed to get uh we had a big feedback loop we had to get dealt with so um I was saying the uh the the the school calendars are part of are part of the SU's purview not part of of ours so all we could do is request a waiver if we wanted to change we don't we don't have the the power to approve or deny we just take the schedule the SU approves so I guess our power is in our SU vote so that's where that's where that stands do you have anything else about the calendar people any other questions about that before we move into executive session um because of the way recordings work um we need to um Carl you can't pause and re-record Carl there was uh I believe Ethan had added to the agenda about the uh announcement that had been written if we had an announcement from our board that we wanted to present to the public about the delay in our annual meeting and and and etc I'll go ahead Ethan um well yeah I just was curious if we still want to put something in the herald um it for various reasons it didn't get in back when we posted it on the facebook pages and stuff like and front porch forum um it's there they're willing to present it as long as I reword it I didn't know this before but they can't take something from us that's in the first person um it has to be an as an article so um I could rewrite it like that and send it out if we still think it's valid it's a little old now a couple weeks I don't know if there's anything else we want to put out but I can also just let it hang until we feel like we do have some something interesting to put out there the information certainly gotten out there right um Bonnie Lindy do you have an opinions is there is there some statement you'd want to make to a wider forum on the herald you you saw what I wrote right Bonnie Lindy uh yes sorry took me a second to get unmuted you would yeah um I really liked what you guys put out there because they felt like it was very straightforward and explained everything um I don't know that much has changed unless you want something in there about continuing education but I worry that that might confuse kind of a couple things at once and what you're really trying to point out is that we're working on a budget it's all coming but we're trying to be mindful of the pandemic we're in and follow all those guidelines okay well it can't hurt to have more information out there so I will rewrite it and get it to Martha and it'll be on the paper next week you can just one of the things I would say one of the things we're hearing back from parents um and I think I think you did do a fine job when you wrote that one of the things that we're hearing back from parents is there's almost too much information so when you read it to write it in a in a in a different person if there's anything that you would think would be extraneous that could come out while still having the essence of the facts there that would be the only thing I would say it certainly appears like sure and to the point is what parents are able to to to deal with at this point Jenny when we first put it out two weeks ago Jenny added some really great um sort of a claim for all that was happening with the food service and the teachers and everything like that and I feel like that we've moved on a little bit that might be one area Jenny if you don't mind I might edit that down just to get us to a shorter shorter piece how do you feel about that Jenny are you here yeah that works yeah that works like I just had to unmute okay I think that by putting it in the paper we will reach a possibly a generation that doesn't have kids in school but is very concerned about our budget and definitely our paper readers and not Facebook all right now is that the last additional thing that I've been trying to skip over Amy thank you for keeping me on task I'm kind of glad I'm not your kid this is this is why I miss our open meetings is because you can never hear people laugh because you have to like unmute to laugh and it's like no no no no indeed um okay so to from what I understand we really can't pause and unpause the recording if we stop recording we need to make a second recording so we are going to go into executive session to discuss a personnel matter our next meeting is also via a google hangout it will be Tuesday May 5th at 6 30 again we'll all be meeting here in cyberspace and we will be publicizing the the hangout numbers and pin information with the agenda will we meet earlier if we actually if we have a budget has been absolutely absolutely if if if situations warrant we will certainly call special meetings and and and all that and to be actually to be fair we probably I can't imagine us going a month of just like okay that we can you know not have to worry about anything till May so there may well be a special meeting somewhere in there all right um I would entertain a uh motion to adjourn the public session and go into executive session I'm making do you want me to stay for the executive session do you want me to stay for the executive session I don't even know I'm still at the office I gotta drive a half an hour no I can catch you up I think I've already told you this anyways so okay you guys have a great night thank you to Tara thank you