 So we can get a count of how many people can be lost. Secretary, this is your pretendent. Thank you very much. So I'm sure that people will continue to trim it, but we'll go ahead and call the meeting order at 532. And we'll begin with receiving guests. Welcome. Those of you who have joined us. Hello? Hello. I guess it's our policy to kind of ask up front to the particular issue on the agenda that's supposed to come out tonight to either hear about or speak to. So let's do that for a quick second. Is there anything particular on the agenda that you wanted to focus on here about speed two this evening, or just here for a bit again? And I'm Kyle Landis-Ferniello from the Middlesex. I'm here to hear more about some items that were added to the agendas for that 7 p.m. meetings that are happening tonight. There was a letter written by a local at 30th. Yeah. I didn't want to ask you to speak now. I just wanted to say on what the topic was that I had to take an item and set up. What we can do is sometimes we'll elevate something that's on the agenda. People are here so that they can depart afterwards. So we can try to move that up. I'm not sure if that would be the part of the agenda. It's not on the agenda. That's not on the agenda. So the board can decide who wants to add something to the agenda and set aside some time. Hearing nothing else from our visitors, welcome. I appreciate you being here. Agenda revisions and board comments. So I guess the first question is that we want to add to the agenda to discuss the issue that Kyle has raised. Item that's on the district board agenda for later regarding a resolution I think that's proposed by... It comes from the default articles that are required by June 30th that resolution be done by the local board. I see. And so that was prepared because this is the last schedule. Meeting of the local board? Or the local board to take that up? All right. So let's add that as 3.1 resolution. We'll move everything else down. So that we can provide a little bit of opportunity to the part that they don't understand the rest of the agenda. We do actually have some board comments this evening. Quite a few of them I think. And I will... The executive committee basically wanted to spend a little of the time talking about and recognizing and appreciating the contributions of Bill Kimball as the superintendent of Washington Central over the last seven years. So I'll kick that off with a couple of brief remarks. And I know there are other people here that want to say a few things as well. I used to think that I am a person who does not like receiving compliments and being the center of the attention. That may be hard for some people, but that is true. But having met Bill and gotten to know him a lot better over the last year and a half, I know that he outclasses me. That department, Bill really doesn't like receiving compliments and really doesn't like being the center of attention. So Bill, you're going to raise yourself a little bit. I am, I'm sorry. Kind of figured this might happen. Yeah, so I think everyone's been wearing the bill that served now for seven years as the chief executive and the principal leader of the Washington Central Supervisory Committee and its constituent schools. He's also been, if it's not too precious to say, a my teacher, in fact. And some of the things that I've learned from Bill talking with him and serving with him are, first of all, how to be almost unflammable, pretty close to unflammable through incredibly difficult circumstances. Also, I think, you know, one of the things that's really impressive about Bill is that I've learned from him is how to take time to step away once in a while and draw hope and energy from the students in the school system. If any of you have ever had the opportunity to run into Bill on the all too rare occasions that he has an opportunity to stop into a classroom or interact with kids and students on top of them about what they're doing and even work with them as an educator, you know what I'm talking about. He keeps Bill going not just day to day, but you also learned from Bill how to strengthen the whole vision, I think. Also, probably more important, how to persevere in the face of the person being in service to them. And also, I guess, how to be a servant leader I think that's how Bill describes himself. So those are a few of the things from my perspective that I greatly appreciate about working with Bill. I know that there are other folks that want to say some things too, so I'll pass it down. That's the one on the spot. I think we're going to, you're next. All right. I got one. I'll see you later. Yeah, why not? Yeah, Bill, this is our chance for revenge. Yeah, I know, Scott. I don't know. Some of you, Susanna especially, will remember that one of the first times that we met Bill was a memorial service for our close friend and fellow board member in Calis, John Connell, who died suddenly and tragically right after we were hired. That was a devastating event for all of us. And I just was reminded of it on Friday John's daughter, Georgia, who had been severely disabled in the same car accident that had killed her mother in John's life at the time. Georgia graduated, received her diploma here at U32, and I had the great privilege of being able to give a presentation on thanks very much for that. What this showed me is that the superintendent is not just the man behind the curtain pulling the levers and turning the cracks and making all of this stuff shine and look great. He's also very much woven into the life and the fabric of our community the losses and tragedies that we experience. And thankfully also the joys and the triumphs. And through all of this, through this entire arc, I think Georgia is such a great example of the contribution that you've brought. A child who had just lost her only surviving parents severely damaged in her own right but who has been sustained and brought into the life of our community in a great way, embraced, loved, and cherished by all. This is an achievement that I think many people are responsible for but it shows what a superintendent actually means to us. And I would just like to express my own gratitude for the part that you've played not only in Georgia's development and in her finding a new life without her father in this community of ours but also for so many other children who have their own stories and who have been able to find their lives among us too. So thank you. Yeah, so I'll go next. I started the year after Bill so I feel like I've had a pretty good vantage point. Six years of board meetings and committees and evaluations and graduation and it was a good energy to watch Bill do his work. And I really appreciate how well you've capitalized on some of the strengths that we have including our willingness to invest in people and facilities but also your ability to navigate the challenges not the least of which has been serving seven different volunteer boards through this historic time and a lot of publication. And for me what kind of shines through all of that clearly is Bill, your unwavering focus on students and that's both their well-being and course of learning. And that ranged from supporting the boards in our work on student planning outcomes but also strategic planning, prioritizing professional development and then back to the board sometimes generally reminding us of what the purpose of what we're doing here is and somewhat more forcefully but always focusing on what is impacting kids and how they work. So I just want to say thank you so much. We really wish you the best personally and professionally and we hope that you remember your time at the board. First of all I'm going to apologize for being late. Bill in my mind is the shining example of what a student intended should be. He is reflective. He is courageous. He is not afraid to take a stand when in his professional estimation and believe that a difficult or courageous or politically inconvenient stand needs to be taken. I think all of those things are the credible razor's edge that a superintendent's position in the audience how to navigate all of those things, how to navigate all of the different bodies, how to navigate all of the different stakeholders, how to do all of those things in a kind, respectful, engaging way. How to bring all of these boards together to break down silos and communication. I mean, George earlier in his tenure, Bill sort of co-proud all of the board chairs in the SU to get together on another basis and talk about all of the things that we wanted to do as boards so that there was sort of this centralization of information sharing that could happen between the boards that had never happened before. And at the end of the day, it all comes down to kids. I don't know how many times I've heard Bill say, those are the ones. When you know for me, it always comes down to the kids. And what's going to be educationally correct and contagious best for them. And you're quite vulnerable. You're endlessly curious. You are engaged in the world around you. You are following the very behavior that as an educational community, we all aspire to for our kids. So thank you for all of those things and all of your time and all of your effort. And we wish you all the best and you will definitely be the best. So I'm going to speak next. And then we're not going to have a free-for-all right now, although I did orchestrate this so that I would get to say some words. But I encourage others, I'm sure there are others who have appreciations to offer Bill. And I really encourage you to find him and share those words with him. I've had the privilege to work closely with Bill over the last seven years and especially through several contract negotiation processes which have been really amazing opportunities to get to know Bill as well as everyone involved in the process. And especially Bill, I think your greatest skills and strengths of character which I've really shown through. And I really would echo what others have said. The words that come to mind for me when I think of your vision, integrity, intellect, work ethic, empathy. And I don't think I make this word up, but it seems perfect for you. Possibilitarianism. It has the word Bill in the middle of it. I think it is great for you. So I just want to say a few things about some of these and haven't been talked about much. Intellect, not to be understated. My experience of working with you is that you have an encyclopedic knowledge and what I'd like to call a Google-esque capacity to catalog and recall important and relevant information at the right time including super complex technical stuff. And you're basically a mathematician. You and Lori together are just a force to behold. And it's been such an incredible effort. And being an educator is your calling in life. You have brought so much patience and skill in sharing this information with others and people like me. You don't recall anything ever and sharing it over and over and over again really kindly and patiently and skillfully so that we can actually learn and understand it and make good decisions based on a strong understanding of the issue. I want to talk about your integrity and your empathy and your capacity to see situations from all sides and anticipate and honor the concerns that others are going to be bringing to the table. You are able to help with each other's perspectives and I think it's important to say in the space that people have not always agreed and sometimes you disagree pretty deeply about things that were pretty important to us. But you've always been respectful and you've always been kind and you've always been interested in keeping the conversation and that has allowed for learning on all sides. And so finally I want to talk about this possibility of terrorism. This is, the superintendent's job is pretty punishing. It's pretty punishing. There are a lot of late nights at early mornings and work and work and work and work and work and work and work and work and more work on behalf of all of us in this room but really on behalf of all of our kids all of our kids and what I have seen from you again and again and it's amazed me is you, you're like the buoy and it's pushed down underwater and always keeps floating back up when I do expect it and so what I see is just more hinting again and again and again towards what's possible and just having the will and the determination not to be crushed by what might not be possible at any given moment. But seeing the focus on what may be possible right now and that has really, that ability that you have to reset and calibrate every morning for a relationship that's authentic and kind and ethical and collaboration that's constructive and positivity and possibilities has been amazing and for me that's one of the most important parts of your legacy and something that I hope we will all carry on after you go and so if you'll bear with me, is it okay if I recall I'm just going to do it for a moment this is a poem by Victoria Safford that for me expresses what has been perhaps one of the most precious things he brought to this community our mission is to plant ourselves at the gates of hope not the prudent gates of optimism which are somewhat narrower not the stalwart, boring gates of common sense nor the strident gates of self-righteousness which creak on shrill and angry hinges people cannot hear us there cannot pass through nor the tearful, flimsy garden gate of everything's going to be alright but a different, sometimes lonely place a place of truth telling about your own soul, first of all and its condition a place of resistance and defiance a piece of brand from which you see the world both as it is and as it could be as it will be a place from which you can live a struggle for the joy of the struggle and we stand there, beckoning and calling, telling people what we are seeing, asking people what they see Susanna had the vision and the execution to bring about this amazing gift which I think walking the trail is one of the basic state oriented to our home and so this is this bench is an invitation coming back here and walk the trails and enjoy the beauty and the content of it and for all of us to do the same thing and I want to thank you and around the world it's a special appreciation for building and ways of accomplishing and for the service I would encourage everyone to stop and take a look at the eventually again, Susanna was so kind of me okay, let's step into the more mundane so the next thing on our agenda is public comments we've already walked with our guests and one of them is who likes to speak to so we can move on to our consent to the general is there anyone who would like to move to approve the minutes of March 27th forward? Is there a second? I see so let's deal with these one time so if anybody has any comments or suggestion for edits for the draft minutes of the 27th again on the page 2 we have many comments on those some of you may have seen that I sent a hundred emails this afternoon and I apologize for this latest 11th hour with some suggested edits to draft minutes for 8.9 and of course it was in my asserted errors each of the minutes by putting the wrong date and the wrong location in the minutes that I sent them and if folks haven't had a chance to see that email and as I described them briefly but essentially I wanted to so Katie chapter Shabob Shabob, thank you kindly volunteer to take minutes at our 8.9 meeting when we didn't have a recorder present it should be a job but there were some things that we typically do in the minutes that weren't done so I wanted to address that so I basically direct sort of wanted to indicate which of our SE4 members were there and which voting members were there and which non-voting members were there as well as which people that were there and then I just sort of edited some of the language a little bit that's basically what I did so if you look at it in word it changes track it looks like there's a lot but it's really just comments people are given the approving minutes of those changes as amended so if there's no further discussion all those in favor of approving the minutes of March 27 as drafted May 29 as amended please say aye those sections so the first item on our agenda added now 3.1 District Board of Generals related to resolution back and though I've asked you that if you speak to this we can take 10 minutes for this I think and they'll can address it and then the board wants to discuss and we can provide an opportunity for the members of the public to go and stand over here so in your packets for tonight or the local board this is called one of the fault articles of agreement is that there's a resolution by the local board before June 30 I believe it's an article 6 maybe an article 5 sorry we asked Scott Cameron the District Attorney put together resolutions for the transfer of property and so that's one that makes this called for the fault articles of agreement being that this is the last worn meat meat on the calendar for the local boards we present that with you tonight Scott gave a letter of the work he did in his work I really didn't do much of it at all except for ask Scott to put something together based off of some resolutions that have been done with Memorial South and their transfer of property that they did to complete scope by the local boards and then that was put together and which they want to take I couldn't get into Scott and I talked about and I think he may have mentioned his letter or not what are the issues if it's not done we don't know and I've asked the AOE they don't know as well so I haven't got anything back to say whether it's not done more than penalties the best Scott Cameron and I think of together in discussions was that there will be more work on the other side and the penalties needed to take care of the penalties if the merger occurs so that's all I can really tell you again, tell you some more just kind of follow the call there thanks Bill so we didn't have this on our agenda for discussion here at this board because this board has no action to take on this and an agenda will be a subject of spirit and discussion at each local board district board meetings at this evening but Scott if there's something that you wanted to say just to say Hey, I'm Kyle and this is Branella from Middlesex I guess this just caught a lot of people by surprise including the attorneys who are representing 4 out of 5 towns in litigation these types of resolutions I could have a significantly negative impact on that litigation at a critical critical moment when people are waiting to find out if this merger actually is constitutional and whether the merger is legal I'm looking at that article for many called articles so agreement one talks about a shell a shell transfer to debt and funds and the other says shell debate the property and buildings everyone I've spoken to everything the board or the default articles has been viewing that as happening as a matter of law it does not have the word resolution and spirit is not specifically calling local boards to do that and so I think that these resolutions are not needed and I think they have the potential to do significant damage and my understanding is David Kelly who is representing 4 out of 5 towns has specifically recommended adopting these resolutions and I agree with his recommendations I think this board should have a discussion about removing those from agenda items tonight so again we did not have this on the agenda this board does not have the power to remove items or items that are on this board again there is something that somebody wants to say personally we got a word packet so we were really alarmed like that I would personally not support that I would know about the other board that seems like it compromises to no gain you know the great debate that's going on right now I'm definitely wrong to do that so I'm speaking for myself as a board member I'd actually be interested to know about if you were felt in this issue but I think it's a huge mistake for us to sign off on a basic basis it basically shows support for that while we're in the midst of a lot of court phase opposing this very thing Chris I also I think this resolution personally I do think it has an impact on whether we are still not voluntarily we're at a point where it's not voluntarily agreed to murder the primary issue in the article is the forming districts I said that's a voluntary thing forming together together to create this ministry I think that the board has the authority to dissolve our districts our individual districts they're doing for this course murder then they have the authority to create a property as well without our apprehensions in that action so I oppose this resolution and I hope to do Matthew, another question you said at the beginning of this discussion I think there is no action for this particular meeting to take there is no action on our agenda as I understand it so my question is who goes to the Washington Central Supervisor and who built it who built it it's you there too yeah the Supervisor Union is not allowed to own any property so my question was going to be we have to be made out of that property but Bill says that I could be 32 I do agree with Chris that there's no need for individual districts to decide a resolution conveying something that appears to be going to happen because the property seems unnecessary and that's great I think those points have been firm today I just had a question I don't know if David Kelly for being there my question is just like it's that letter that we were going to assign that we will respond to in the 26th as the new board what are the implications of insurance coverage or if all of these are dissolved does the articles of agreement does the quality of the agreement by default make insurance and financing of the funds and all of that or is this part of that step that would be my only worry what was the size from him she was asking about David Kelly that's a question to ask him it's not fair to be why another lawyer was brought in on this issue when there are lawyers representing these towns in this matter and this is an issue that's right in front of the courts and going this side of the Vermont Supreme Court and one of the things that Scott Carpenter's analysis didn't touch upon at all was that there are such great provisions that do not appear to be over in my act but say all of the voters can actually convey property and debt and so I think that and I always speak purely my personal capacity but I am an attorney by training and this resolution seems to be asking local board members to do something that is contrary to such provisions so I don't want to start full discussion but at the same time I know I'm going to be discussing this issue quite a bit this evening already sometimes we do in this body discuss things as a group there are relevance to every constituent district board unless there is an objection I suppose there will be a move on folks can take this up so we'll go to what was on the original event as the report the celebration of Washington Central and supervising the meeting thank you Matthew we've got the walking in scene the audience has grown some if you will eat everyone in this room the executive committee and I worked on a process last week for celebrating a great work over the years of Washington Central so we're going to ask everyone to participate I actually said to folks that are here from the media that we'd like them to as well and so I know we're all part of that there's some layout we have some more packets around here of orange and blue there's a bunch of sharpies on the front table there we're going to ask you to try to use those I know we're going to be close there's like 40 of them there and what we'd like to do is to do this somewhat quietly for a little bit this activity that powers in the silence I was thinking of you Johnny some of the things we've done together for processes that silence is important at certain times the first 10 to 15 minutes will be quiet and I'll let everyone know here's what we're asking you to do we have some chart paper that's over here and these windows remain these windows for one piece and those windows over there let's say open dreams for another and we're going to ask you on the orange while you've been part of Washington Central to write three celebrations how have you been here for example for me the creation of the student learning outcomes or the renovations of three buildings successfully done and the support from the communities things like that and then we're going to ask you to use the blue so these right here the blue ones for our hopes and dreams that you have for the merge for the new Washington Central Unified Union School District and we're going to pass these on and that's something that the executive community and I put together and I said we'd like to orchestrate it so if you don't have any more we have more at the farm here I know there's more back at the back table but we're going to ask everyone to do that we'll pass them around some more and to put them up and what we're going to do is put them up and then read and why and then I'll give a time to actually form a circle in here and read these all together and if you wish not to take part we would really ask you to join us and be part of it we think it's really powerful for everyone in the room to do it we're all going to read and we'll pass the light and we're going to read first we're going to ask you to take two celebrations that aren't your own so the two I just said are ones I won't read don't read your own or read somebody else's one hope and dream that's not your own it's really important that you're taking someone else's not yours because we're trying to give voice to others and we're trying to honor that voice of others so it's really powerful what questions might you have about the process that I just laid out that we talked about there I see one per stick because if we stick these left up on the windows that's not bad we'll figure out a way to get them way around so the orange is for the celebrations and the blues are for the hopes and dreams and please write so you need three celebrations two hopes and dreams please write big enough the reason we're trying to use the markers is so you don't have to be right on top of them to read them because we're going to ask you to have time to roam around and read this activity probably takes about 45 to 15 minutes this is the majority of the meetings from the way the executive can be designed for the classroom are there questions? alright thank you so if I can invite those to start to make a circle stand where you like and we'll kind of form this up by INSA on this side of the tables we really don't have a question between us everyone set? alright so we're going to form this circle and for people like me to have personal spaces used it's a little good but we're not doing that we're actually going to walk into her shoulder like David and I are so we're walking into her and we're going to make a nice thing so that way we're going to leave one space for Paul and Nicole so I normally I would ask people like to go first but since I have a mic I'm just going to start it and I'm going to pass it to my circle there are going to be two rounds of celebrations first so the hope is at the end any questions about the process? it's really important just to read them so a celebration single SUI labor contracts with professional staff teachers, staff, admin that focus and care of our students common goal what is best for kids? we always find a way to come together and make the best any situation a lot of community members who also care deeply for their community the opportunity to realize that the differences between our schools is dwarfed by the sum of what we share together shift to interspace bargaining a developed focus on student learning outcomes at the elementary level successful audits students' leadership around diversity institutions commitment to the lifelong learning the ongoing professional development interspace bargaining progress our teams have made in understanding and moving forward best of trauma in the form of classroom practices adoption of student learning outcomes for all students transferable skills emphasis on meeting students where they are celebrate change change good for everyone agreeing on our purpose as an SUI of student learning outcomes working together respectfully to solve our differences value of mentoring in building school skills and independent learning student needs to gain permission to do that supporting the leadership team collaborating with teachers community members and all boards to have one mission stay high shared mission stay high inspiring all students in national creativity and power to contribute to the local and local community prioritizing identified differences in the curriculum can ensure students bring simpler skills and abilities to U32 and have lives matter continuation and growth of branching out and pilot restorative process training for all teachers we get through 12 in-service opportunities for critical alignment including curriculum camp higher grade educational leaders clear establishment of student learning outcomes across the district protection of LGBTQ rights every time we listen to each other to hear and understand with open hearts resolution regarding bullying events that bring our communities together all of the wonderful families of our children that we have broken down silos and have begun to have shared vision of education exchange students will learn at U32 and U32 abroad new playground around native of all student design a clear comprehensive hopefully effective strategic plan we call it implementation hiring and SUI for a dual coordinate renovation of three school buildings dedication of all staff before our numbers consistently being student centered oh student oriented when my daughter or her friend principally used restorative process to help her step into a accountability focus on trauma informed practice creation of opportunities to collaborate and think bigger and either collectively process in schools building us the self-refront on its without findings the initiation of an engaged electorate creation of student learning outcomes of all six schools the ability to reach out and be inclusive both within and outside our walls community of multiple towns individuals that came together to debate and defend the democratic the democratic process initial opening setting the tradition of major student involvement homelessness and dedication of volunteers in all departments successful renovation of the Brooklyn Memorial School the pride of our towns and all the board members and other citizens celebration of new programs and the Washington Central Supervisory community and a lot of special and well-founded places for learning success in negotiations multi-year contracts adoption of student learning outcomes for all students pre-paid for graduation today we had also a campus alternative learning environment keeping our kids here rather than spending time creation of strong play-based pre-kindergarten programs all about our elementary school agreement on student learning outcomes centralized P.S.Y. you picked it because you picked it because partition of the Washington County Malibu School-based service of recruitment, bonding and convergence of a truly crackerjack leadership team focusing on trauma developing strong multi-year support multi-year support interventions and P.E.S. reflected in our students trauma-informed practices inviting the robotics club to present to the board was always full of surprises raising the Black Lives Matter flag dedication of teachers and staff and faculty seem to see our teacher together as a team to support kids they are willing to learn and grow and become a better together so now we are on to the focus and dreams I hope we see more collaboration between our elementary schools but that they each need their own culture too I picked this one because it was super concrete and also I used to be a super phone so somebody said I'd like to market that in places if we think of the children first that's what it's all about more choices for students strengthening the education authentic connections and relationships throughout the board and faculty students and community we have significant and sustained improvement in student learning creating or revisiting a shared vision concentrate energy on progress breakfast and lunch may be available to all students at no cost to them or their parents increased focus on students and their needs expanding opportunities for alternative programming in WSUUSP school board that remains student centered in another one remember we are here for the kids and demonstrate commitment to equity and excellence for all students that would be able to find better ways to compensate our staff creating a collaborative culture in our new beginning as a unified district independent town board control that we can put the politics of act point six behind us move forward with a focus on the learning and well-being of all students in the learning community building the school community partnerships for education strong communication and civil tone equity in our community for all students across all five elements teachers and staff to support and protect them that all voices are heard and valued every student has access to every possible positive outcome development and implementation of a diversity curriculum across all schools that recognizes and reflects the multiple contributions of people of color in the United States continued involvement by a wide range of community members in school affairs being open and trusting that our governments will work continue interest-based programming and academics at U-32 may be imbued with the same exuberance and drive for excellence of sports, theater, jazz band, and arts audacious, bold, big vision for the world we want in Florida students continue to be the focus that's why we're here treating about all students contributing to their community during and after their time in school I hope our five families will listen in the open to each other's ideas needs and strengths that we educate the next generation well enough to fix our mistakes hope that we continue to keep students at the center of all our decisions continue to focus on student needs taking this first thank you all I think that at least for me that was really what we could hear and there's some great hopes and dreams and some excellent help to make sure that they get up on the wall or they stay on the table so that hopefully that they will get rid of not what I was actually asked what Scott and I were talking about this that would be executive that would be great to have for future work let's try to redeem the expertise thank you to the rest of our agendas thank you everyone for participating so the next item on our agenda is an update on the superintendent transition plan so a couple of things we wanted to do here but the first thing I think I'd give you an update of the transition plan is that Debra Taylor and I have met I've seen this in a couple of places so I want to make sure I know you haven't heard it Debra Taylor and I met today she met with the central office leadership team we met one other day in previous last week and we had several phone calls back and forth just kind of an operational issues of what's been happening I know she's been receiving many the board packets as well she has an email here in Washington Central and she'll be here on July 15 and my responsibilities go to Jim already so we're still trying to figure out the intermediate there and I need to work with Scott on that but at this point most of that transition has occurred and one of the things that Washington Central Executive Committee and I talked about last week when we were in our meeting was that we thought there were some folks that this was an idea that came from the board member who may not be anonymous but I think it was a great idea of recognizing there are certain people that are doing heavy lifting right now for both the superintendent and the transition and the x-46 transition I'd like to ask Kelly, Cushy, Krista, Monteverre and Lord DeVote joining me up front please and I have this really fancy bag too as you can all see it just goes with my personality that's right yes so these four have done amazing work in the past month and a half two months and they have more to go there may be I can't even say they're halfway through but they've been willing to take on a lot of extra leadership a lot of extra time and a lot of extra efforts in supporting the transitions they're having for Washington Central and the Executive Committee and I talked last week and we thought it was appropriate to recognize the four of them for many hours and I can't say the number of hours I know of the four of them are putting in to help with all these transitions and I think this is at least a round of applause Matthew and I have had some cards and some certificates that just say we're going above and beyond through the district murdering superintendent transition process awarded this day 17th of June 2019 thank you again for your efforts for the children of Washington Central but all the communities of Washington what numbers on the superintendent transition is it all? just one thing I was interested in is ensuring the continuities or the archival continuities so that there's no like some of your most important directives and messages don't kind of fall into the void is there a plan for sort of maintaining your official correspondence and your directives of that? so that has to be kept I would have to go back in statutory for how long that is usually do everything like a fault for 7 years but I'd have to check with all that be back up all the mail all my files are back up all the time thanks Bill thanks to the team this is the Washington Central UUSD update what's your vote to you? yes well there's a lot happening and an object of soonness and immediately prepared myself for this moment the major thing is that there is a vote warrant for June 25th or both the budget of the new unified union school district and for the amendments to articles of agreement I think our chief concern now is to inform the public and educate voters as to what this vote is all about what's at stake what these various articles that they'll be voting on especially the amendments to the articles of agreement what they mean and what their implications are and we really only just begun to do that tomorrow there is a budget forum here at U32 I think over in the U32 room 128 by 31 so we'll be there and I hope that we can get some interest some actual presence of voters to be with us and ask questions so that we also know it's on people's minds when we communicate when we broadcast the front of the forum and other media thank you for our time for tomorrow at 6.30 6.30 to 7.30 is the plan there will also be probably not backed by popular demand but by our own sense of obligation another budget forum the evening before the vote on Monday the 24th again U32 boardroom 128 131 and again at 6.30 so two opportunities for person to person contact on this meanwhile there's so much else that I could probably just put everybody to sleep so I would hate to do that it would be very much out of character with my usual voice so should we call it there? we should also answer any questions yes please some people in Calis and they don't have a clue what's going on with all of this can I just ask you how do you feel at Calis they don't have a clue they seem to post things on front porch they really don't have a clue how important this is and my question is that it doesn't pass that happens just hold down the mute button if the budget fails there is a well even if it doesn't fail there's a meeting of the merged board that's scheduled for the day after the budget vote on Wednesday June 26 again in June 6 that will be our standard start time for the signs as we're meeting and the likelihood is that we'll just mourn it again perhaps there will be changes but I foresee it just coming back this is affecting when tax bills get sent out in every single town there will be a selection of taxes and they'll be taken into account to take out a loan in anticipation of taxes and who would take out that loan and who's going to pay that interest yeah it's not it's a very messy situation to any such point out is the select board chair of Calis so she knows things about these things there's guidance from the agency that there's broad enough for me there's guidance from the agency of education as to what happens in the event of a budget failure so maybe the best thing I could do is just send you a copy and send a copy to actually I think I did send a copy to Judy and Sandra we should all of us those of us who are on the new board should make sure that our town clerks and treasurers have a copy of this guidance and the select board yes very good David can you just identify yourself just a quick question if only the people in this room go vote and we all vote for it it passes right there's no forum so I'm not suggesting we shouldn't get out of the vote but also absent a major campaign against it I think it's I think there's a non-zero risk of it just follow David's question and is anyone aware of an organized effort to defeat it I am not aware of an organized effort to defeat it I know I am aware that there are people who know about it whether at what point that attains the status without an organization I have not seen any evidence of such a thing but it's possible I might not is anyone else aware of anything I'll just say it right here I'm voting no and I know a lot of people that are voting no it's not because of any discredit it's not even the budgets that were put together and there's an inequity when you have wealthier towns that are seeing significant tax advantage and that being passed on to poor towns I'm sorry that's a non-starter that's a non-server a lot of people in my circle I mean whether that will be enough to say no I don't know but I could never support this money because of that inequity I'll just sort of reiterate what Scott said which is that there is a hearing public a hearing scheduled for the budget tomorrow I'm here just talking in more detail about that especially about I just wanted to just point out a couple of points so that more people that maybe are not necessarily going to ask for this email from the AOE you know that one of the one of the very important things that this is that we have no authority to borrow money up to 87% I know that a lot of people including myself have been thinking that that was something that we could do because our union has no past history so we have not we don't have a recent approved budget so have that in mind when you go out and tell other people about it it's really important for our students yeah and just so that you have some sense of the topsy turvy world in which we're trying to make good things happen that clause that floor read that we do not have a recently approved school budget because there's no prior year budget for the morning we actually do have a prior year budget but that is we have a budget with which to compare our percentage increase so it's all kind of who knows we're just trying to you know get to where we want to go so if you're we're going to probably close this off shortly because we are past our time just to clarify if we cannot borrow does that mean school does not open you know I'm speaking for myself but I don't think any of the board members would disagree with me in saying that as far as we're concerned school is going to open as usual we will figure it out we'll do something we're resourceful so the information's gone I don't hear I hope so we move at you so the next item is the general and capital fund yes I know that we've been talking about this for probably 6-8 months about transferring to the capital front so if you turn to page 22 of your packet you'll start to see individual fund balances for each school then you will see the overall Laura and I this is really hot off the presses I think Laura you finished this Wednesday or Thursday we're trying to take into account every penny that could be transferred over and also start to recognize some of the places for risk not only for the unified union district budget but also as you all know the general fund balance is about risk tolerance what are the biggest risks what are the biggest fiduciary risks that you may have and so one of the things that's happening is changing a special education funding for it will no longer be a reimbursement system it's a year off a year by this year's legislature but we'll be looking at a block grant so if a student comes in that we didn't anticipate and the budget didn't anticipate which happens almost every year at least a couple do and we have a student that's in an out of district placement that we have to take that's $100,000 so $150,000 liability that the board will have to take into account the board and I really looked at this we think that 2% across the board left in the general fund balance is not only for that but also for bills to clear as you know, checking accounts take 90 days so we need to leave some of that there so you will see on each of your individual schools starting with the Berlin on page 23 and I know you all look at your own schools but now just look at 23 so I can tell you the padding we're looking at you know Laura she does things in a nice pattern the way she creates the reports and then Laura I'm going to ask what that gets you can add in but you'll see down at the bottom of trying to get to a 2% target for Berlin you would see that 70,218 and the amount over the 2% that we're recommending to you to consider the transfers of the capital fund would be 90,565 dollars remembering that the capital funds as per the default article's agreement must be spent with their intended purposes that they're coming into the merger as true for scholarship funds or other funds that are out there in schools so they must stay with that intended purpose so you'll see that for every school Laura what did I forget what we were projecting is based on the information we know and obviously if the 2% target is the percentage that we're maintaining the board's motion would be to transfer fund balance in excess of 2% of budget to the capital fund for your respective school and then that leads it open so that we can close the books and come up with the exact number these are projections based on our current payroll and spending we obviously had the month of June still in motion at the time that all this was calculated so it could swing 5 or 10,000 dollars I'll look into the memos we've outlined why we need a fund balance the best example I have is today I received a note from the state saying that they owe us 1.2 million dollars but I might only get between 400 and 800,000 of that so I have to flow $400,000 until I collect from the state part of it is waiting for the governor to sign a bill with what was mentioned in the memo if I don't get the whole 1.2 million dollars I'm going to need this $800,000 reserve to help pay bills or I would have to go checks not to threaten the situation but that's exactly how it would work and having said that I think if you look at the capital fund you'll see that we tried to map out what we know might be coming in the future for each of your schools and 8332 there's a large track project so at the bottom of that page you can kind of see what we're anticipating if these numbers play out for a projected ending fund balance for each of the capital funds for next year if that was it anyone have questions yes I will you had motion language proposed of a transfer of funds thank you you had motion language proposed of transfer of funds in excess of 2% is that as of today or last time? June 30 2% of budget that's the calculation we came up with is sufficient this door leaves at 4% so whether they do it from the state will be recognized by you at the rate? I will not know until Friday so you know that this Friday this Friday I'm supposed to know out of that $1.2 million how much she's retracted to send from the agency for special aid any other questions? any other questions? any other questions? I don't know if the merger was through July 1 then say in September or October there were a decision from the Vermont Supreme Court saying the merger was illegal will there be a way at that point to unwind the financial stop so each district has its own funds? yes part of the software conversion that we've been working on is to separate things by building so I would have all these transactions so when they come into the university it will have a very detailed breakdown and I repeat that with our auditor to make sure that I understand what I'm doing because this isn't even one for me so Lori, I'm sorry I'm having trouble wondering if standing out, how this is working and what we're doing and I'm defaulting to looking at Worcester's situation because it's uncredible again I can understand that if I look correctly on the Worcester specific information on page 31 it's suggested that we only dedicate to Worcester's assets a total of $97,321 is that correct? $7,200 I don't quite get that point $7,000 let me continue before I was going to ask we've gotten in our capital fund alone $222,000 $389,000 so in other words the 222 is already considered reserve for capital expenses for Worcester without our having to make a resolution or make a transfer of any sort? No, if you turn the page 32 currently at $125,000 $68 I was looking at page 22 right? it shows in our capital fund $222,000 $289,000 the note at the top says it includes the 2% cap and the additional transfers so that's the scenario you could see if you vote to reserve the 2% Worcester is on page 32 for you? Right. So that's where we are currently if you do not make I'm sorry I'm not following this but I want to hold things up but it's the first time I'm looking at it thought it's going to explain it to me so I'll be fine there are no other questions on that thank you very much we will go to what was the big one in 3.5 blanket authorization which had orders from the board Yes, so I'm going to ask Laurie to jump in on this one pretty quickly because it's something she's been talking about for process of operations for the local boards because of and to explain how this works with the ending of operation authority by the local boards on June 30 so So on July 1 we will have issued checks that might not have cleared the bank and sometimes those checks come up that we need to void them and reissue them by signing up on this blanket order it gives us the permission to do that without having to have a board meeting so the only checks that would be outstanding on the boards but just as a precaution I've had employees tell me this before where they might have misplaced the check that we issued and we have to void or reissue it this authorizes the existing treasurers to sign those checks it may not happen but one time but as a precaution I said to Bill I would put it on the agenda then to have somebody get their reimbursements what is the motion or the presentation I believe it's in the packets it's the same language that we do every year at this time for the blanket orders I guess the part that I'm not quite grasping is that the motion is for blanket authorization for check orders for the local boards I'm not sure if I understand what that means So first I'll apologize it's not in your packets as individual boards it's a it's a huge old blanket resolution that we've all seen for many years that we do Are you asking each district board Each district board needs to do it There's no action here back in March as this board So that'll come up in each district board Yeah We're just trying to cover all the bases as Laura said It may not be on the agenda for the local board meetings but just for all of us to pay attention to that and add it to the agenda I wonder if we might need some help with the wording so that we then we are Okay, are there any questions about the reports to the board administration report Laura did we get a presentation on the financial report or are we just for any additional questions on the financial report taken hearing none we have another agenda for board comments but they're not done they're not done all right Matthew I understand that you're not a big one for the spot isn't this true this is very true oh good so Matthew when you took over from our beloved chair emeritus Stephen Locke the thought that most occupied my mind was I'm so glad it's not me I had occasion to have that thought more than once in fact quite often during the course of the time we've been doing this work and now I'm paying for it however I would just use myself as an example of everybody else who might be thinking I'm so glad I'm not him watch what you think but mostly when I've been impressed by in addition to the evolution of your beard over the course of this time is the goodness grace and intelligence humanity and dignity with which you've conducted this work it's certainly been an example to me which I am already failing to rise to and I'm sure that as much as I shall try I shall never quite attain to that je ne sais quoi of mastery of the situation but nonetheless I have a great pleasure to be a part of this enterprise with you working along with some of our other in fact many of our other members not so extremely difficult extremely tense at times but rewarding at times and then having the boom back on us at times situations the sense of camaraderie the sense of appreciation and friendship though is what has emerged and what will endure so this is my revenge for Fidel on you thank you Matthew very much for both your service and your servitude and who knows we may get to continue always have that to perhaps look forward to it yeah yeah we shocked it what happens I just want to say for my part recognizing that this could possibly be the last meeting of this school board that it has been an honor to work with Jen everyone over the last 11 years for me some shorter some longer the thing about it is that the face has changed the nature of democracy and public service which is to provide the best possible educational opportunities for the kids that are our towns and it really is a great honor to take up for a time each and every one I know has had that heart and brought the best to it and even when we have disagreed it has happened many many times you know it's never once doubted that he was operating from that perspective trying to find the best way forward for schools I want to thank you I want to thank all the people that have sat in these chairs before us I want to thank all the people who are going to sit in the chairs after us and Scott for your position leadership and facilitation of the new board you have all my sympathy and support with that if there is no other business Chris I see that Dave Kelly joined us and not to put him on the spot but if he wants to share something that affects at least four of the boards because I didn't ask that he give me the opportunity to do so because we are all together now it would be an easier way of doing it if you have something to share Sure David over time please fill us in on whatever you need to try to be brief I'll be very very brief and I think I can say this in 60 seconds and I'm not sure I need one of these things you know the issues before us are extraordinarily important some of the wealthiest communities in Vermont are guaranteed hundreds of thousands of dollars every year the poorest communities in Vermont are at risk every year one of those communities simply because they took in a special need student with no money had their small schools grant taken away from them the issues that are before the court are incredibly important we have some of the best lawyers in the state working very hard many of us working pro bono because we care so much about our small rural elementary schools and so I just want to say that we're here, we're working I know this is difficult and complicated but please bear with us and I'm here to answer questions not to talk about the case if people want to talk to me feel free to come up and ask questions thank you now if there is no other business to handle the award we will adjourn by census at 7.5