 So let's call the meeting to order at 6.04. Okay. Is there any adjustments to the agenda? Just we would move eight up Under after seven point two. Okay Great. We are going to move Yeah, to seven point two or when ever our Jamie has to leave The sale of the Rochester High School update that seven point five. Yeah I just table that until I can come back to report out. Okay on that. Okay, great We'll do that when I come back from Granville, Hancock. Perfect. Okay. Thank you for letting us know that Okay, so the consent agenda I'm looking to approve the minutes of Monday, January 8th So move. All second all in favor. I I Patrick that's okay But like I said just because we have so few numbers we have to make sure we get everybody's voice in there Okay, so we're looking for a motion to approve the minutes from Saturday, January 20th our special board retreat Second Amy move Bill moved Amy second in all in favor say aye That's great. I love it. Okay, great. Um Moving on to public comment then do we have any public comment? looks like Keith is the only public on I don't know if you have a comment at this time. You wanted to bring forth Okay, wonderful. Thank you very much Okay, so let's Move on to board comment. All right hearing none. We'll move on to reports to the board Superintendent legislative update So it you know the this session continues to be a whirlwind in regards to act 127 I Fully expect that they're the legislature is actually going to Act And revise act 127 to send a new version of it to the governor For signatures sometime in the next two weeks is what we're hearing And so what does that mean? What like this is all based on information. I'm gathering from testimony occurring at the House Ways and Means Committee, right? And the House in Senate Ways and Commence Committee chairs, okay? There's not been a Approved revision to 127 yet that's actually gone And been taken action on to then you know go over a crossover to then have another You know the house take action and then send it to Senate. I expect all that to happen I think we're going to see language coming out possibly tomorrow. That's what we were told on Thursday At the Vermont superintendents Association meeting And then I was able to catch Some of the conversation that was happening in ways and means on Thursday and Friday So, you know what at this point in time I have for information is what I sent to the full board For updates and so what they're discussing is is Repealing the provision of Act 127 that provided a 5% tax cap on the equalized tax rate for districts If you stayed under that 10% ceiling so everything we've been talking about in regards to that Would be repealed off 127 and then There was some talk at the committee level about providing some tax relief for districts that lost Essentially capacity due to 127 In the sense of tax breaks much think of a little bit more like what those merger Tax incentives look like like eight cents off six cents off and they talked about That those would be phased in at different levels based on each district and how much tax capacity they may have lost due to Act 127 You know in the initial projections of 127 This was a district that was supposed to gain some capacity with added pupils. So I don't think we're going to see anything in that regards What I do Suspect we'll see that if the if a new version of 127 comes out That we would see the yield rebound a little bit mean increase from what they were discussing in January and You know the hope would be that it would lease increase back to the December 1 tax letter at that 9400 and change Which is about four cents difference Between the December 1 tax letter in the January figure that they provided us out of house ways I mean What you have tonight in your Tax sheet that we provided you is still that 9100 and change number. Okay, because we haven't been provided a different number yet And then as far as The other provisions of 127 which wouldn't affect us per se as much unless this thing continues to move Like it has been the last month Is the ability for boards to delay their annual meetings? Okay, and frankly we will have at least one district in the supervisory union where we're going to need to do that because What you know what they were operating under was the law that we currently have And they were a district that lost tax capacity. So they were operating under the ten percent per pupil ceiling and five percent cap You know what you'll see tonight when we come to your budget is that you know, we have two tax sheets here for you tonight one That shows you what your tax rate would be One if 127 remain the same which we don't expect it to right with the five percent cap and No revenue added as far as your surplus funds and then another version that shows you if you were to utilize all your surplus funds To buy down the tax rate You know when we get into that budget process one of the things that I would that I think the board might want to consider is How do we come create a budget with while utilizing some source plus money to? Buy down the tax rate some to get to an equalized tax rate of zero And Then that the only change for your tax rate here locally would be due to the significant Decrease in the common level of appraisal that we've seen Which is out of our control so I think we'll talk about that further when we get to the budget But just wanted to let you know it's Yeah, it's it's it's I I would not it's good thing I'm not a betting man because I would not have bet Even two months ago that the legislature would take action on 127 for this year Yeah, I mean all of our districts our budgets are worn and they've gone to print right so everything that I have out there for four of our districts Won't be accurate based on if they change the law Wow so Just know that's what's certainly taking up my and Tara's time right now is trying to navigate Yeah, absolutely I and that we're lucky that we sit in a position that we vote later Yeah, so hopefully we can dial this in I think you know tonight We're gonna look for the board to give us some more direction You know my senses will come to you with a final draft in March And then we'll need a special meeting in March to actually take action on your budget I don't think I don't want to bite that off the next meeting Absolutely, you feel that within the next two weeks. We should get some time. Yeah, I mean we're gonna have to right because They weren't looking at By law right now having to bring budgets forth to voters Okay old informational meetings with information that I have which is current law So if they're gonna change 127 for this year, they need to get to work on this ASAP and get the Governor signature on it because it just the impact of other you know 90% of districts in the state are voting Right at town meeting right before Wow, right? Okay, we'll go to reload forward to hearing that Yeah question Two questions. Is there anybody that? is advocating a keeping act 127 as it is and what? What what constituency or constituencies do they represent the second question is you have any idea where Governor Scott may be relative to signing The revisions to act 127 are vetoing So one yeah, I think there's multiple superintendents and board members during testimony When they took testimony from school boards and superintendents Spoke to changing the law now for this current fiscal year would create a Lot of havoc on school district budgets, but they weren't against changing it It was a question of having I think we've recognized that it needed to be changed In order for for the Ed fund to you know generate enough revenue and for it to make sense, right? So it's a tiny the timing was really concerning to folks I fully expect that the governor would sign a piece of legislation is my sense You know he he has been saying since December that he thinks school district budgets are too high and Certainly, I think there's a sentiment in my pillar that some school district budgets That they were not that cuts were not looked at as deep as they could have been Due to this provision of a 5% cap and 10% ceiling right and so if the sentiment is that it's too high I think any piece of legislation that would then require districts to relook at spending is something that he'd support it Thank you for being out there in the arena making a difference along with the superintendents I like to think the Vermont school board association leadership as well The only other thing real quick, and I know I'm running way over on time is There is a bill right now that's been introduced. I don't necessarily think it's gonna go anywhere but that would require school districts to essentially provide a pathway of education that Resulted in students not having any exposure to technology in school So they students parents could opt out of students accessing any type of Google classroom Projects projected like presentations things of that nature Yeah Well, I mean it's been introduced it's it's got a few sponsors, you know, I would say It's to provide there's a concern about that. There's too much use of technology educationally in schools And I think that that you know could be a relevant concern. I Would say the idea that schools are going to be able to create a whole pathway that Results in students not having any access to technology within the classroom setting would mean that we're providing a whole nother instructional Pathway within our school system, which I would just say would cost money Right and so, you know that that bill there when we're talking about ed spending being too high and and that we need to Tighten up on it That bill would run contrary to that So I just mentioned it just so you can say oh Jamie had this Jamie didn't mention I'm mentioning it So you hear about it. It's not something that I think has picked up any steam at this point But just want you to know what's out there appreciate that Okay, is there anything else on for the superintendent? Update Okay, we'll move on to the business manager. Thank you Jamie. Yep So you all have my report it outlines what's happening in the business office during the month of February outside of We doing budgets and preparing for annual meetings and getting the mailers out So I can answer any questions if there are any otherwise the budget and the audit are later on in your agenda Okay, is there any questions for Tara in regards to her report? Okay, great. Well, let's move on to the policy committee update Patrick it is easier for you if I do that Patrick was there but If you don't mind no, that's fine. Yeah, you're good So the policy committee is currently reviewing two policies and we had our legal counsel join us at our last meeting one is our policy specific to employee harassment And drafting a policy around that and then the other Paul we have a policy but revising that policy and then also We're looking at revisions to the oh Yeah, there you go to the alcohol in and substance Abuse policy in regards to employees at work And so what we're looking at that is is that that may actually be crafted in a fitness for duty policy That encompasses Substances, you know illegal substances Alcohol but also in the event that we had an employee who was actually prescribed Substances that also could be impeding their ability to perform at work That would develop policy around how we would handle that and so that's a policy that's currently being worked on by legal counsel to So there'll be some pretty Significant revisions to actually to both of those policies So you'll see it for a reading and we won't take action on those two until a second round Let's move on to the FY 25 budget draft five Yeah, sure. So What you see in your expenditure portion of the budget we did Add back in two major things when we put in funds for some sort of residency with world language So you will see that You should see that on Well that part got messed. Sorry about that plan was to add that the plan was for it to be added So that will get added and then we also added funds back in To fuel the high school building for next year, which will make more sense to get the high school sale update Okay, yeah, oh, that's what we did Right, thank you. I forgot about that Talked about where to put it It's under office of the principal and it's under It's gonna be on page six And That number was based off of us looking at what if we've spent across other districts for some artists and residents Yeah, and so the high school feel is what we're essentially what we're currently carrying pretty much right now which is part of the funding to you know heat the high school and You know when we talk later about the sale of a high school I'm gonna propose to the board the Well one give an update in regards to where we are about a vote this spring for the town of Rochester to acquire it, but then also Proposed that we move forward with a purchase and sale with the town in regards to doing that being that if it's a firm vote That the purchase and sale has already been worked out So that the voters know what they're actually voting on in regards to that purchase and sale and one of the things that The select board had requested is is that they the purchase and sale would result in when there's a positive vote this spring They acquire the building officially July 1 2025 Okay, and so we'll talk about that more under that item, but currently right now There's that placeholder for partial coverage of heating the high school. Okay So, you know at at the end of the day what I would say to the board is you know our expenditure budgets at 4% and You know, I got to give kudos to Lindy in regards to working on this budget that you know This is I don't have any other expenditure budgets at that point And so in regards to the expenditure level to the board as we start to talk about your tax rate I would say to you know, you know things that you could You know consider at that point of what would you be removing in regards to getting your tax rate down the expenditure side You're going to affect programming. Yeah, and I think as a board We have decided that we do do not want to remove Programming because we're our school is going in such a great direction our kids are learning our kids are improving I would need to be able to fund that One of the good as we turn to your revenue section. We're not Yet for this thing that I'm actually incredibly excited about in regards to when we think about increased revenue and our work to attract more students is that We have for the past year had a partnership with VTV LC To offer our high school as a designated school for school choice districts That if they want their child to pursue their entire Educational pathway at the high school level via virtual learning through VTV LC that our high school Then is the the district that the student is actually registered with okay? And so those school choice districts pay tuition to us just like any other student We monitor the student With you know as a supportive figure for VTV LC But VTV LC has their own full fully staff teaching staff for this type of programming their own principles Actually like their own head of school that operates kind of wow superintendent now And we are there essentially to say to those families Do you want to participate in extracurricular activities right like hey? We're offering this great thing on you know on a Saturday in regards to you know Like national honor society at our high school just put on a really nice event where we had a meal and family skating and things So those families are invited to that most of them are too far away to actually join when you think about how many schools up How many districts in the state actually are full are our choice? It starts to dwindle more and more as you get down to the elementary level but they've approached us about Being a host supervisory union K through 12 on this and so Due to the fact that Pittsfield Granville and Hancock Board of your district are in our complete choice I think it makes a ton of sense for Rochester Stockbridge to be the district designated for the elementary nice And they're they're saying to us right now that they suspect that there'll be seven students Who would enroll at our sud yeah? And Lindy and the school counselor will work with VTV LC to just support those families We do act as the LEA In regards to like joining meetings if there was a support team meeting or something of that nature But we could be looking at another additional seven students into that tuition Okay, okay, so I'm mentioning that to say we're budging right now at 19 students at your Announce rate for next year. It's very likely that will increase by another seven Which is a good chunk of change because I think you said you're You're announced tuition at 17,000 and change so So that would be good so there's could be some increased revenue there the next time you see this draft Great, that's why you know know where that would be coming from and that's that's one of the areas that would be coming That's sounds like a really a neat program and it's nice that we could offer some extra support for that Any questions about those two things before we go to the tax sheets Any questions Before you the tax sheet the revenue is with the expenditure I guess the revenue seems it from our last budget this one Projected revenue for fiscal year 25 seem to go down Is that the total revenue you mean? Yeah, the total revenue that I'm seeing it always has to go down It has to match The local revenue or your overall revenue. I just have it on the tax sheet as I'm setting revenue. Oh Yeah, you're less you're on setting revenue. So we didn't touch that at all You know no no no We were carrying Now we were carrying in your last draft bill A $50,000 placeholder right for local revenue And then this up at the top And so that's why you're seeing it down in this you have two tax sheets though In your packet one's going to show you Not using any of your surplus for local revenue And one's going to show you one of and then one's going to show you if you use it all So if you were to use any local revenues at the top of the page bill It'll say that number will change based on what you decide to use the balance of carryover from prior years So your last draft had a $50,000 placeholder We removed it in this section. Are you following? I'm saying yes, I am. Yep. Yeah And so what changes is this the? Um Education spending revenue does that change the act 68? When you reduce your local spending it increases your act 68 education spending total Got it. Yep. Thank you Okay Tara, do you want to walk them through the tax sheet? So the first tax sheet is like jamie just said we the changes that were made on the expenditure budget removing the $50,000 from the balance carryover prior year use the yield of 9171 and then Provided what it would look like at both Current and then using the 5 cap So I will just I haven't wasted your time looking at the cap figures now right because I don't expect them to be in place Right So if you were not to use any surplus and move forward with the expenditure budget as is You would be looking at an equalized residential tax rate of 1.4043 Which is an increase of 8.68 cents over your fiscal year 24 equalized tax rate of 1.3175 Or 6.59 percent Okay So the second tax sheet that I provided is if you were to use 375,000 of your unassigned fund balance from your audit As an offsetting revenue And what that would look like if you put all of that money towards it now remind you We don't recommend that because it sets you up for a revenue shortfall in the next fiscal year If you don't carry those types of surpluses But wanting to see what it would look like it would drop your equalized tax rate down to 1.2809 Or a reduction of 3.67 cents Right So a range determining, you know, what you all want to do and what happens like the range of using no surplus Versus using all of your surplus so that would be You know the next question of where we would need to go So I do I like the idea of using Some of our surplus to the taxpayers have already paid it And I think that you know, we were able to find efficiencies in our budget last year and I think we should Return some of that to the taxpayers basically. I do think we need to It is important to fund our Our tuition Fund because we we if we get a student a tuition student We don't have The funds for it. We we are we're budgeting for exactly the number of students we have so somebody moves in Who's a high school or you know, we need to pay for that tuition um So I kind of I feel like we should do both. I I do like the idea of um Putting as much of our fund balance back into the budget To make our budget a net zero that there's no increase that we are not increasing the the Budget at all. We're flattening flatlining it. I'm not sure what the equalized tax rate level equalized tax rate I'm not sure what the proper lingo for that is And then unfortunately, you know, the cla is just Out of our control on there's nothing we can do about it, but um This way we do get funds into a reserve fund But we do also give money back to the um taxpayers Um, and hopefully the yield will change and that would can only help us Yes, um, but at this point we don't know, um Tara do you want to stay here and I'll go to jihad or you want to go to jihad? You just let me know what you want. Okay, that works. Okay, and I'll join you shortly Great Um, well, let's what what is on the other board members? thoughts on What I just proposed Bill Yeah, I like your approach um That we share some of it for the taxpayers absolutely for the same time we need to um Prudently boost up our capital reserve fund We've got two beautiful schools and we've got like 181 thousand dollars in reserve. I mean that's That gives us very little Opportunity to do what we need to do that costs any sort of money So to the extent that we can use some of that surplus monies to reduce the impact also The rest of it go to that capital fund and boost that up Um the end result I like That I think depending on the yield number um We could be in a position to to help the taxpayer boost up our capital fund and basically hold our uh, equalized education tax before the CLA to a zero increased are very very close to that. Um That would be remarkable and it would also help us um explain to the taxpayers that we've done everything we can and responsibly and um the LA is something that uh, it's going to have to be Done by powers beyond our Control so I like that. I don't think we need to take any action tonight I agree. I think with the swing and everything we shouldn't but um if all the board members can give jamie the the direction that we um Want to go and I think it'd be good. I as I said earlier, um I don't want to cut any more out of our expenditure budget I don't want to cut any programming in our schools. Um, so I would like to try to make it work in a different way. Um JC or patrick, do you have any comments on uh, what this this idea? I agree with both of you. I think that's a logical path forward Great. Thank you too. I especially agree with not cutting any programming Excellent Okay, great Good, does that give you uh the direction you're looking for? Okay, wonderful Yeah, so what you'll see is is um, we'll adjust how much we're using of carryover revenue Based off of Two factors really remaining for us one Are we able to secure some added tuition students because if that increases that's less you're going to have to use And then two if the yield jumps back up four cents Meaning back to that 9,500 figure, you know, that's less that we'll have to use too Great. Uh, and remember a penny for you is 30 000. So four cents You know, that's 120 000 of surplus funds. You wouldn't have to use use if they up the yield That's huge. Yeah, which is huge. So but I will that so that's the budget will bring to you Am I making sense? Absolutely. We're at that equalized tax rate of zero. Absolutely. Thank you Okay, um, are you gonna hop over to uh, yeah, and maybe what we do is, um Just also table the audit Thank you, but there was no findings, which is really good Okay, great Okay, great. Well, then we'll get to the good part of the meeting which is the celebration of learning Well, sorry Thank you very much For even being interested in wanting to know what's going on. So I'm honored of course to be here and I've shared a Little bit of a presentation here. So people who are virtual can see and then you guys can see too and uh, so I've based my outdoor education program on A book the book is called coyotes guide to connecting with nature And it's by john young ellen haws and evin mcgown And it's based on john newers outdoor education attitude, which is that nature is what's What's teaching us nature gives us the opportunities. So of course it builds resilience Which is something we all really need right now It just seems like we've been at this pace of high energy trying to Survive the pandemic and now we're in an endemic but the resilience piece is so important and and being outdoors No matter the temperature no matter the weather Really does give kids that opportunity We start out every class with three deep breaths And so I based that on the research that proves that it regulates the body Even just putting your feet on the ground or sitting on the ground and breathing three times deep in and out And practice breathing like that and kids have told me that sometimes they do that when they're in school when they're frustrated Or annoyed or feeling stressed and they realize just breathing three times is really good And so the philosophy is that outdoor education provides opportunities to develop positive relationships with the environment Others in ourselves through international interaction with the natural world These relationships are essential for the well-being and sustainability of individuals Society and our world and as I mentioned earlier nature is the true teacher So I just sort of guide But what I've noticed in my being outside I could be outside for four different classes and every single time the experience is different Due to the ages of the kids, but also due to the weather. I mean the changes in vermont very quickly So it's teaching us constantly And so I listed here just the materials that I'm using to teach them the mindfulness The harvested herbs which I've started at tea garden I have a little bit here in Rochester a little bit in Stockbridge a lot of things that I have in my own house And the tea is made from the herbs that I'm harvesting I in fact put an ad out on our front push forum to ask for some tea this fall So I didn't have to buy a lot from amazon. I didn't really want to do that And my mudroom every day I'd come home and there'd be bags and bags of things that people had just delivered So the tea is made from things that are local The thermos the cups the kids the teacher the fresh air and then the coyotes got to learning Which is really the focus of this presentation tonight And so what I have here is the concepts are listed there on the right beginning with common sense Basically, let's make choices that are safe based on what environment we're in Dressing properly for the weather takes common sense I'm still working on that with a couple of fourth fifths sixth graders who think Today that it's okay to have your legs exposed while the wind is whipping down the valley But they're not allowed to complain because you're the one that came up dressed like that So that's how they're learning common sense to dress properly Some sufficiency, you know getting our things ready and working together to make sure that we have what we need for class aliveness and agility on reverence inquisitive focus caring and tending service to the community and quiet mind And last year I did quiet mind in june, but this year I felt like we needed to start it now And I had a student walk up to me today and say that was my favorite part of class I needed that and it's basically three minutes of just Nothing no one no one speaks no one moves. They settle in around the truss Some kids are lying on the snow some are sitting on a log some kids sit in a chair But today we got to face the sun and so got the vitamin D and it just really feels good. It regulates the body so And I prepared a little video here, so I'll just get quiet while the video does the the rest of the speaking Any questions very nice. Thank you Questions about any of the things you've seen anyone online too Here and ready Yes, bill. Yeah, I think you're uh It's not only inspirational, but it's also When we dig deep into about How we learn and what we love And what we hold passionate um, and what we see um Your curriculum and the connection with nature Is just You wonder why that isn't a core curriculum for for all certainly elementary schools, but I must say it's what you're dealing with and you're Sharing is valuable to I don't for all kids no matter what their age is Um, so we're really blessed here in Rochester Stockbridge to have you in this curriculum I I would love to see that spread Or strengthen to other educational communities across Vermont or this country That could absolutely use that the whole concept of quote doing nothing you're doing So much by not doing nothing and to be able to Feel free to quote do nothing is is a Is an art that we all need to learn we're so busy worrying planning regretting Um, what's the next thing that we're not right now? Taking in what's going on. So I just uh come in what you're doing. I really enjoy it. Um, and john mirror is certainly Um Along with teddy rosevelt The reason we still have nature those guys, right? Yes. Well, thank you bill I uh today with the kids discussed the quiet mind as a snow globe where You know when you're in class, you know math is coming at you and then literacy is coming at you and then you have Other things lunchtime and all these and so your thoughts are just sort of going all over the place And so the quiet mind pieces set the snow globe down and let it Settle because the thoughts have to settle And we also talked about how you learn how to ride the bike or you learn how to swim When you're sleeping at night after you've taken the lesson So I think that that time of just doing nothing is So valuable for the learning that's happening in the building as well So that they have a chance to Assimilate it into their brains. So yeah, well, thank you. Absolutely wonderful. Yeah, I'm psyched. I'm honored I love it. I would love to spread it to as many people as I could The other piece that I think um in this building that's happened lately is the kids are Using the tea corner. So as you walked past to come to the library, there's tea over there and the kids are helping themselves to tea And you know, they're reading a book and drinking a cup of tea, which it's herbal tea. None of it has caffeine It's not bad for them. It's actually really good for them And as long as they stay safe, which is one of our outdoor rules is to stay safe You know when pouring the tea, it's it's a very good thing. I think just for their bodies So that's me I wanted to talk a little bit about um, it's so interesting to see the key concepts of the curriculum that's going on Out in outdoor ed because a lot of them I can see Being ease so easily applied to, you know, the academic setting I think it's really interesting. Um, some of the skills, you know, learned outside can kind of help Integrate a certain type of focus and relaxation and problem solving skills in Inside as well So I think it's really cool. I didn't know the specifics of the curriculum And secondly, Amy, I don't know if you want to talk a little bit about your assessment Of outdoor ed because yours is a little bit different than the report card for regular ed It is I I developed it based on the coyotes guide. So I am actually grading these concepts. So So far this year, it's been common sense self-sufficiency aliveness and agility and now we're in quiet mind and So, um, one of the things I'm doing is each class has a satchel and they Have earned different colored rocks that go with each concept. So for example, um today somebody left their hat after class After a teacher had said grab everything, you know, they left the hat on the ground And so then I went back into the classroom and I brought the hat and I said, I think I found a hat Now what do you owe me? And so they had to give me back the self-sufficiency rock And then they have to go three days in a row of remembering everything to earn it back So it's kind of like a tangible way to keep track of these concepts Absolutely So it's just a I don't know. I sort of think these kids are really into harry potter and Magic schools and things like that. So if I can use those ideas of here's this rock, I spray painted it I mean, it's just a spray painted rock A green rock stands for common sense and they know that and they also know that if somebody says it's cold I take the rock back. You can't complain. You got to come out here dressed And if you don't come out here dressed, you don't have common sense You need to be dressed properly for the weather. So that's one of the ways I'm doing it in a tangible sort of a way Thank you. Sure. It's really neat. Yeah, I love it. Like I said, I'm honored I would love to spread the word with as many people I think the kids need to tune into the natural world. They just need to and and I think Um, it'll make a difference in the future whether they care about the environment or not or understand the environment or not Is if they've actually Connected with it Yeah, there's no way to teach that inside of building just found a way to be comfortable with it So thank you for the support. Yes. Oh mighty board for allowing it Absolutely. I have another question for you. Sure. Is there anything you feel like you need or you would like to work toward Or you need our support for anything in what you're doing? That's a great question. I I think I've figured out how to move things around in snow That was a big challenge. I mean this morning I out the south door I pushed the sled and it's been pretty easy And then today I wasn't really thinking and using my common sense But it went really fast and then tipped over So I had to make more tea But then I shared the story with the kids and I said, why do you but you know that sort of thing? So, um, I was thinking I needed a different way of moving things, but I think now I've figured it out I've also figured out how to get kids to help me bring things back to the building which is helpful If I run into a low amount of tea, I will reach out to lindy and just let her know Because those bags of mint that all the neighbors have donated is starting to wear thin Today I made ginger and lemon and I just bought the lemons and ginger myself So I'm happy to you know to make these things for these kids. They they definitely need it. So I will reach out. Thank you. Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you so much for all the work that you've done. This is incredible. I love it. Yeah, thanks Now back to business But again, thank you for caring because this is why we're here. It's for the kids, right? We're here for the kids and for the families and that's why so. Thank you. Absolutely Absolutely, and you guys keep up the good work too. Hey, thank you It is Okay, so we um are going to table um The audit, um Probably the preparation for the annual meeting and mailer as well or do you have It depends if I mean, it doesn't really need to be tabled that we can't do without them Sure. Okay. So let's go on to 7.3 preparation for annual meeting and mailer So I guess the first question around that is are you looking to use the same format? We've been using the past couple of year like Obviously, we're not at the point of creating it all just yet and some of it we reuse because it's factual Yeah, the definitions don't change things don't change. We don't have a warning yet. So we can't create those things but what Things if any I think that's kind of the lens we need to start with right like what things if anything Are we looking to update or change to it? Because that's more of a time Formatting seems to take so much time. Right. Okay. Um Now I actually have not seen other school districts Mailers to know if we are if there's a we're all in line or so that would be a terra question We're the only one that does our own. I think terra has a pretty blanket one that she uses formatting wise I don't think there's quite as much information In others. Um, we can get her to confirm that but okay Yeah, and by reducing some of our information we could probably reduce some pages and some costs then right So I think it's more looking at that lens Okay, because we will have to start to put it together by the end of March To get right to the printer um Our vote I gotta look at it Into March we have we have two months Uh, yeah, usually what's happened is we have like this in service. They were teachers have done parent teacher conferences So that's kind of how we spend like the 29th is usually when we send it to the printer by March 29th. Yeah to make sure that we have time to get a proof back. Yeah Um, which should be plenty of time because the first Tuesday and May is not till the 7th. It's like we have that extra Half a week that we didn't have last year And it's just something you're the team leader for or is it also with central office and things like that? How does it work? Uh, the past couple years have been myself and Erica Whereas I think other districts utilize terra. So I think it's a difference in formatting right at this point right and Erica's got the format but Right. Well, I know um, I know why we went that way because uh, we It got to a point where our The office was not doing it. I think there was maybe I just missed communication or there was just change over in the office So um, it ended up very late us trying to scramble one together is what happened. I remember that too. Um, and then also Uh, we really there was a lot of information that we wanted to get out to our um voters that other districts didn't necessarily put in right um, and I think that like you're saying is something we probably Should take a look at and see do we need that much extra work? Uh extra reporting out. Um, also Um, how much work does it burden you and your staff by us having you do? Create I'm sure it's quite a Amount of time it the more that's in there is the more More of it more time So I think it's the lens of like is everything in that mailer that we sent out last year I think there's great things in there and then the question is Are there things that now we've put out there enough that maybe we don't wait that we can pull back right pull back a little bit Um, I also think it's probably good to look at other districts. I would like to look at other and we can I think they're digitally on the website under each school board. Yeah I Guess I'll I'll ask um Jamie if I could have a copy from because I know that in central office. They keep some copies because I'm a paper person I get it It's just easier to read. Mm-hmm. Um, I think the other thing about this You know things that seem helpful is the spending chart, right that shows like how much of its tuition And which is salaries a pot. I think it's I think that this poppy I think student population data is something that um, it's helpful. It's helpful that they they want And then there's certain things up by law that have to be in here, right? The warning the minutes from last year's annual meeting that has to be there that sheet that you're looking at Yeah, the three-year comparison and an estimated tax rate. Yeah, here's our budget at a glance um I think our tax payers Really like seeing us. There was a lot of good compliments last year when this book came out Everybody really I got very positive feedback on it Yeah, I think every year we clean it clean it up a little bit more because it is Less than it was the year before. Yes. It is um So those that's kind of the lens that we need to start looking for and if we have that feedback For march then that gives us time. That would be great if we could all take a look at um, this our last year's budget book and maybe You know if you have an opportunity to look at other districts Books just to um, yeah, be able to give lindy some guidance here if uh, It's something we can pass off to the su office I don't know if we can with with our formatting and just say, you know, follow along with the right. I can ask That's formatting Erica is my tech. Yes. Okay. I'm not gonna lie and pretend to speak because it's not by any stretch of the imagination um, she puts her her Copy editor stuff to good work when she does that so okay. Yeah. Yes. So you want feedback I think you just have to review to lindy or to lindy cc about our suggestions about adding a subtraction by Our meeting in march or yeah, I think we can just bring it bring that to the meeting Just bring it to bring it to me and then it'll allow us to make a decision Yes, where it goes from there two things that strike me one was last year. We took a lot of flak because of the confusion of having the The election of board members by australian ballot, right And the budget vote in person at our annual school meeting And uh, there's a lot of heartburn on that. So and I think we as a board decided that without a town voter All this sort of something it wasn't up to us to change that. Well, what we can change I think and we should and must is A front and center and I possibly think on the front page of this thing about So it is there is on the front page here I mean so maybe but it doesn't say it says australian ballot article 11 only but doesn't really tell you what article 11 is So maybe we need to say australian ballot to vote Um for your board members, you know, yeah, yeah, I think it'd be clear You know for of nothing else from my generation to To understand that because it was too bad because they came some lay in they're frustrated and um, we don't need that Yeah, so we need to communicate that out very Of many times in many ways as we can in many ways the other one is that if we look at The school board meeting Whether this can get us thinking about What sort of Visual yes a charge and graphs that we might find and uh And I know that They're granted. It's probably all going to change for these other districts. Yeah, and the next That we don't have that. So I know that terra has a revised working template For the tax rates for things like that that to put up because we have like a format The one you worked off last year. There's a format to that. Well, I definitely and I definitely want to To report out our celebrations and you know in and I believe I'm I'm I'm unfortunately I wasn't at the meeting last year, but I think I heard somebody say um Oh, I didn't know that that was happening. Right, you know, they Um, and I think that's important to Agreed Absolutely Yeah, and an effective way to do it. The other thing is that our academic Accomplishments not kind of about celebration and learning. Absolutely. We did a little of that last and My wife reported sitting behind this couple and they were just gasping. They just couldn't believe How well the kids were learning and progressing? Um, and that we were not falling behind or below we were, uh, one of the with the leading elementary school campuses leading the charge on that so I To me That's a big offset or people going grumbling about and I totally sympathize with them the percentage increase of their on the tax bill and quite honestly the um The uh system for income sensitivity, they've changed that so that's going to take a spike But so they you got to say, okay, what are you getting for your dollar? Absolutely What are our kids getting? What are our communities getting? Um And so we really need to Think about that and not only for the the media, but also the possibility for the annual report And I uh, I'll give it some thought but there's a lot there to celebrate. We just got to hone it down So it's understandable right in the front of my letter. It's usually the first two pairs after all the celebrations Plus on the slideshow. So yeah, I definitely think at the at the media. I want to try or so just to show And uh, there was one in there last not in there, but it was at the yeah, so we're on the same wavelength. Yeah, it's all there already Patrick You know just thinking about some of this stuff. Um, how How would you guys feel about having like I just feel like, you know, the celebration of learning that we're getting here Say like what just what Amy just provided us Um, like why couldn't we have you know some sort of video showing on a tv or something? Um, as people walk in for our budget meetings so they can kind of see what what the kid that's a cool idea Do we have a tv or a computer screen that? Right. It could kind of just be a running slideshow or running. Um, Yeah, yeah, um audio maybe a couple quick clips in there. That's a pretty cool idea Yeah, I love that idea And then our actual annual meeting will be in stock bridge. Yes, so it'll be in the uh, multi-purpose room Okay, about seven o'clock on The first tuesday in may so that's may seven. Okay. Yeah may seven May seven I was thinking that, um We have time, uh But we should it seems to me the letters to the editor not everybody and we've got social media, which I know nothing about But if we could utilize both And it seems to me it's logical. We get letter to the editor from the su and jamie. We get a letter the editor from Our board. Mm-hmm We get a letter of support. I'd love to see from Teachers or the educational community here in our sud if that's possible And a pto and they all could talk about different features about why it's just so valuable to support what's going on and that What's happening is not only working But you've got a commitment to Be prudent at the same time. I never forget the outcome For the what's in the best interest for our kids and we have something to point with pride on Um And so it's just some of that's your thing and some of this is us with And then with jamie, but I think And then if there's some way we can get that on social media, which is beyond me But if we could just hitchhike some of those letters or so statements or those quotes or whatever you want to call it In hitchhike that front port Front ports for them. Whatever. So we're also right along with what you're saying the end of jamie's report He says he's currently working with the um super the su Admin team to create multiple opportunities for community engagements around our fy 25 Yep, and uh slide presentation slideshows to assess during annual meetings and informational meetings. So My heat we will also have that excuse me All right, sorry about that Okay, great So we'll come back Next up meeting with clear direction to lindy about what we'd like to see for mailer. Yep Um, see if we could maybe slim it down a little bit or or if we want the su to uh Prepare it Okay, uh, let's move on to the board mission statement possible actions Um, we have in our packet the three Um mission statements that we made during our um Retreat, um, and then we have a Generated one that uh, which is all three statements were put into a ai chat chat gpt to see what type of statement It was able to come up with Um And then bill has also provided. Uh, I don't not sure if you guys received it or not. Um a Should have gone out. I'm not sure everybody had a chance to look at it came out late. Yeah late today um has What are your some of your thoughts on uh On this mission statements Is getting closer to read it? Um, I thought the chat gbt one did a good job Of um pulling a lot of our stuff together. There was some wording that I would I crossed out that I didn't think um really represented us um Do you want to read the one that you presented film? Well, sure Yeah, I just um kept reading the three that were generated at our retreat in the two by ai and I started to paste and glue and I came up with four different versions and then I finally Just uh, try to Will it down and plagiarize as much as I could so I Uh, what I'm going to read to you 90 percent is you and uh, the other 10 percent is is 8 percent is ai and 2 percent is bill edgerton But anyway, I've got this as a mission statement for draft trying to combine Everything that we considered mission statement We are a vibrant educational community Powered by a talented committed an accountable team We ignite a passion for learning through a rigorous individualized academic education the arts outdoor exploration and diverse and unique experiential cultural learning opportunities Our commitment Is to empower every student with the skills and values needed to thrive in a rapidly changing world Anyway, that's so Very nice um Very good job I know it's kind of tough to discuss over zoom You know, it was nice being in our retreat and being able to to collaborate together, but please comment and No, I I I like what bill put together um I feel like it it It kind of took the best of all and put it put it together and um, I think it's Short precise and that's that's what we need You don't want to forget what the beginning said by the time you get to the end Right and also, you know, one of the things from our retreat is that we need it to be, um, you know Readable that A parent can read this and and it makes sense and know know what that means when we're saying some of these words and Jay jc. Do you have any comments? on this statement or uh I I like bill synthesis I question the rigorous I don't know like rigorous individualized academic education like what that means like I just I I can pick it apart and and go back and forth, um On a few different things i'm just not sure I haven't had enough time with with that one to to really give feedback But I think it's mostly in the direction that we all were headed At our retreat Um, is it long? Is it long? I mean it kind of feel like it might be a little long It's 58 men 58 words So my goal was 50 and I didn't quite make it Um, we had some that were shorter and some were Longer than that. Um The what I just wonder what other people think like Like when you listen to it or you like, you know, no, but um I think you know, I if I go back to To some of the other ones. Um, what I feel is missing is that we foster, um, respect responsibility and empathy Um, I I've I feel strongly about um that is a One of our mission our Missions to to teach these cats Yeah, already like the motto kind of you know at the school. It's on the wall of the school and like those words. I think Those should be in there and I liked using the word empathy as well Yeah, I think that's yeah I do really like the end talking about On the skills and values needed it for this rapidly changing world You know, I think that is a really good statement Well, um, maybe Maybe we all could um Think about it, um and provide some sort of feedback individually in some way or or With the next meeting Or we just adopt it, you know, I don't know how to move forward other than Having some more time to do on this mission statement Yeah, I I agree. I think I think that we're not quite ready to adopt anything tonight And I think there's some great stuff out here. Uh, we just want to tweak it around a little bit to make it fit us perfectly um Can I suggest that we don't have to do it tonight? My goal was to that That we all stand behind this mission and believe in it and one of the points in the book There were chapter three was that Some boards start every meeting with reading the mission statement So, uh, I don't say we have to do that, but this is this is an important step It would be my recommendation and wish is that we can do that In time to include the mission statement in our annual report Okay, and have it as a slide at at the annual meeting. So we've got some time my my suggestion is, um Uh, you you've got my shot at this send these suggestions additions deletion whatever it is to Amy and what do you take us? Okay, um You've you've got my shot and see uh, and lindy you're all of this too the same thing and we come back with a revised draft Uh, it could be every single sentence So I'm not taking any pride of authorship I'm gonna actually see if I can tap jc because uh, I She was my partner working on this and she had very good wording. Um JC are you willing to head up like, uh taking a look at, um Getting some feedback from people and and coming up with another, um draft Sure. Yeah, I think that's that was my idea to get the feedback anyway So I think it would be good. I can I can work on that and then come back with another version that influenced by The alphabet And thank you bill for getting this to us, um I had a I always have a very busy day right before My board meeting so I don't have time to review any new stuff that's come out that day. Um, so if we could get it a Little earlier that would just help it Let you sit on it for a little bit, but we're also going to be sending suggestions Yes, first. Yes, we're going to send suggestions to jc. I meant one after she after we've sent her suggestions and she's created another Um draft if she's able to send it out earlier that would just be helpful for me That'd be cool. Awesome. Thank you jc Okay, so we can um, why don't we We're going to table the sale of the um, rochelle's high school for the update from jamie. So Do I guess we'll go right down to the um, did you want to do your book study book study? Yep, sure the Essentials school board book better governance in the age of accountability nancy walzer And we're going to be diving into chapter three And uh We did last chapter two last time Chapter three No, because because I totally understand that because Uh, given your workload and everything else you weren't able to read Chapter two and now you've done it. So you're now prepared. Okay. Now I'm gonna I thought I missed chapter one because I thought we did this. Okay um Wow, sorry guys really And this one is um I don't think is as interesting possibly as The prior chapters of the chapters to come but it's It's reassuring because it's the chapters about staying focused on achievement Meetings setting goals and using data And I think we spent a great deal of time on each one of those topics So I'd be surprised that any of us read stuff here that was totally foreign To what we're all about We can still pretty in line to me. I was like, oh well. Yep. Yep It's pretty cool to read these books because it makes me feel like we're doing really great I agree it it um Because you do kind of wonder are we on the right path? Are we doing what boards are supposed to be doing and It's reinforcing that we are It's reassuring for sure um I always ask if there's anything that You recall from this chapter that you found intriguing important or something that we need to reinforce or to to improve on and So I just toss that out that question out um To get any of your comments at all on chapter three I was surprised that it seemed like their board meetings are really long Like extra long Not that I I don't want them any longer. So I'm like, you know I was just like wow, that's Like a lot of time Well, the it's interesting because there's a section on the they call that the engaged chair Right here and they had Various bullets. Here we go um The importance of the board chairs communication vital for the effectiveness of the superintendent and the board they were talking about The board chair is being kind of like a coach that feeling that You listen and then you guide us to be better than we possibly thought before we walked into the room so They talked about the chair's role as a coach And then the agenda is carefully crafted by the chair and superintendent And they suggest in a six months intervals kind of that you kind of plan out your six months rough Agendas and then you hammer it. We've got that teamwork. It's working This one Meetings are kept to two hours or less in length And uh, if any one thing that amy has been walking on water on as far as I'm concerned is keeping that Down we that's controlling the agenda that's closed Controlling and somebody that's talking too much Or and getting things done Yeah, because once you get past that two hour mark you start to get unable to Effectively do business. Yep. Yep. And the last one was board packets are sent out At the latest by the friday before the meeting now We happen to be the earliest ones in the week, but religiously we get that information. So we have at least the weekend To look at it and come prepared and we all know that if we're not prepared then we're kind of passive and our job is to be activated by our homework so that we can contribute to And I think and I believe that's one of our board goals actually is no surprises That's great, which is by preparing ahead of time and getting letting people have time to know what's going to be in the meeting Yeah, great. Yeah I'm not going to go in great detail, but there's a A type of board governance is came from the private sector Uh, john carver was the author and he's made millions in the consulting business. It's called policy Governance. I just want to let you know that um, there are several school board district boards supervising boards in vermont that followed that Procedure and in chapter three The author kind of outlined. So I'm not suggesting at all that we changed to that I have questions about that and I think what we're doing here is It's pretty darn robust and Responsive so but I just wanted to point that out that there's another kind of model for Board governance The other thing was I love the term about data and they said don't be a drip And I just kind of like that. Well, what does drip mean? data rich information poor And I've done I've seen financial statements, which they'll give you 50 pages and numbers But what's the bottom line? Where are we going? What's that compared to? Uh, what do we need to do so? And we're going to be in a few minutes talking about academic achievement again, and I think one thing Our team has done very well as you team is to take that information and to make it Understandable for us And then one thing I've learned And reading this chapter again is important that it also not has to be understandable but useful And what's the term? Timely for the teachers So that they can take learn from it and take action on each individual student That's what we're talking about individualized learning. We've got a Track my progress. We've got a test But it also provides that individualized feedback for the teacher for johnny and martha and billy where they're they're Falling short and what specifically can be done about that and in his honors or lindy's report You'll see where the emphasis that you identified in the fall The percentage changes Were very high we're dramatic and part of that is the ability that we can measure and give feedback Not only for us generally, but for the teachers to to be better teachers at it. So Um, I think I've talked enough on this anything else Next chapter, um, it's chapter four March 4th March 4th chapter avoiding pitfalls, okay four Read the right chapter this time. That's embarrassing Thank you bill. All right, let's move on to the principal's uh winter academic data report. Yeah First you'll see my Principles report just an update. Um, a couple of things that I wanted to add slash highlight Is uh this month. We're gonna have a combined pto meeting Both rochester and stockbridge as they're planning a combined video event for the spring um I also wanted to invite everybody on february 16th in both buildings and as well as we give their stakeholders Pat and just to be notified that we're doing books and labels for our three months So you can you can see anything to your master's or you can have wild firm labels to stockbridge Families and community members you can come join reading the students and have a little breakfast. What time? 8 a.m We're right in early You're more than welcome to join anything that works for you. Um, and then thinking about Next And then We're That's great So those things are coming around and the other thing that I'll highlight is Thursday of this week, uh, weber valley middle school is hosting a meet and greet Question and answer night for fiftieth grade Families prior to the last Smart schools are choosing To have open houses like gone in the day what i call college fair style where everybody lines up the table I think people Have relaxed to do like an open house type model where they invite families to come So other schools have helped in open houses Wait for that it's off to come here Very so So it's all the questions on the principal report and then we can do that There's a very question for lily and her Principal part sounds like there's some great things happening. Yes. It's busy. Yeah Three pages of busy and it's one Yeah, that's wonderful Okay, so questions we'll move on to the um Back down report um, so Just to kind of Want to like the overview is important for another a little different than the way you do too. Um, So just kind of explain as a reminder like percentile scores well below expected means of student scores And that first of 30 90 percentile below expected is 40 To 59 percentile as a reminder the national average meaning of standard or the expectation is the 50th percentile above We set our higher because that has a better correlation of what we're in anticipate um In due to the results in our statewide testing which is now called the cap Um, and so that expected is the 60th 99 percentile and above expected is the 80th of the 99 percentile and it does kind of Give you an overview of like proficiency bands or where they are based on the scale score So few reminders Um, you did break this down a little bit by our goals. So if you voted h2 you will notice our Goal one in the su is the average scale score exceeds proficiency benchmark in English language arts in each grade by 2025 Um, you will see we are already hitting the mark there in English language arts uh with First grade and third grade where we're really close to second grade. Um, and then some of our upgrades Which we'll talk about a little bit Insight on that We get going And goal two similar grade or similar goal, excuse me for mathematics That average scale score meets proficiency benchmark in mathematics Uh in each grade by 2025 and we'll see that it's happening K through three During this testing window, which is a huge celebration and we are one point off So we are very very close to meeting that expectation Uh, and then the one that I think is very Impressive is the percentage of students scoring level one That first third or ninth percentile The one that we're reducing that by half in elmf by 2025 and so um K26 in the fall of 2022 so the first time you use this test tool 36 percent of our students We're testing in red or first of third or ninth percentile This test was known to be January 22 percent of our students are so we're dropping and then um in the fall from at this 16 percent And now we're at 11 percent So you said fall, but it says winter here's we're sorry we're comparing Right you're comparing fall to you're comparing their growth Over So Thank you Fall 2022 I had christy put this out for me friday Let's take that portion Understand that So that was cool three and then we break this down winter to winter right so looking at page three of this report Um, this is the rate of students annual progress compared to the expectation for each step Assessable work meaning is the same group of students whether they're first or last year or now Okay, we're following them as they go We aim for at least an expected rate of progress at the point seven and higher And Right now you're hitting that mark in ELA for every grade level And sometimes expanding and then in math Um, you will see everything six graders Um, didn't make as much progress as you would like but we're doing at page four, but there's still making progress They are still making progress and I will say when I looked back You're they didn't make large games fall to winter but made big games fall to spring So it doesn't seem to be a little All right Talk to her right Yes, I heard that I made those bigger games make bigger games Um, that's But uh, so we turned to page four Uh And in the fall we were at 38 percent Okay Okay, so we're making great Our focal areas in the fall because we can break this down by skill set We're foundational skills and vocabulary In use or use excuse me and so in the fall 16 percent of our students were meaning that 58 And I think this is the reading yeah, and then for vocabulary acquisition means 41 percent of our students were meaning or receiving it Exceeding that student in the fall and 74 percent are meaning or receiving it now Excitingly we had 17 students who were supported by an academic targeted plan and reading in a meeting Uh after winter we now support 14 students and That doesn't seem like a big drama, but some kids who have been receiving meetings of course Right So that's exciting Are we're currently in the middle of our 15s dating into this a little bit more? So it's supposed to be a focal point of In june or So now we're chunked out a little bit, but our focal points now based on the data around knowledge language And then you need information on tax for grammar scanning. Okay, um I will say a couple things. This is an interesting cohort. You look at them academically or when we get their, um proficiency levels uh When you look at that, there's more complex text for the first time in the assessment And the comprehensive specific to the racial text and the literature of the students that percent is that 47 percent that are any yellow Half of them are meaning the national average, so they're in that 15 Right Not to the 60th, so they're not to our standard Like So there's some range to work with that. Um, we're also this Friday working on Another treating with dibbles for some of our smaller tools to work on Which can help overall with using direct instruction tools to monitor So it's time to You For Um, you look at the top of the page and you look at the amount of red And um, it's getting smaller, but it's to me it shows that we're It's working with the kids And then they have the benefit of Being proficient as they go to the next grade The kids themselves struggling the most are Older students that might not have had The curriculum teaching the professional development They haven't had any assistant implementation There are forwarded that did not exist for So Not all this is impressive, but the Trinoline is as the kids are proficient as they get older They'll keep that proficiently and hopefully even become more proficient. So, um, I found that very heartening It's a very good point to Bring up bill. It's a very good point to think about and probably the largest Celebration is our students who are serviced who receive supports from an IEP an individualized education plan their average rate of progress is exceeding the average for the whole school and exceeding the Point seven in English language arts. They're at 1.41 That's great. Yeah, and then in math. They are At 1.81. So they've made the largest cadence. That's which is great news um So in math We now have 62 of our students meeting or exceeding the standards in math. That's exciting. Oh, yeah exciting In the fall we focused on operations and algebraic thinking We're going to continue to build on that but also now focus on operations and base 10 and a lot of that comes into automaticity or fluency understanding When a problem says difference that you need to subtract as well as Not always starting at one to do five plus eight right like starting at five counting on Those things and so our adjustments right now is Instructionally is actually building in some of that When you're in transition. So a great example is here in raw chapter our second and third grade teacher As kids finish washing their hands and are lining up for lunch for recess Every day that i'm here. I hear her say and we're going to start at 68 and then she'll look at the first kiddo in line and she'll say and one number How much are we going to count by and they'll pick anything from One is not a choice so two to You know five and she'll talk about will it be even or odd? And then she'll go down the line of 20 students and they all count on and that's how they go to lunch Nice looking at ways to build that in yes where it's not with a manipulative. It's not on our fingers Absolutely school day. It's very cool. Yeah, I think it's neat. Yeah, so uh any other questions? Lots of celebrations Oh, absolutely First page about an economy far right minimum growth from all the winter expected Is that from track my progress expectations or somehow there's That they've talked about common core state standards Here yeah, and so Because in some ways you I read that and then I looked at the results and they weren't is glowing As when we looked at the rest so So your question is Track my progress Minimum growth from fall to winter is the minimum increase in a scale score that students in each grade level need to achieve To maintain Expectations in their grade level so if they were already at this number They would only need to make a scaled score gain of 41 points To stay with it Yep And this comes from track my progress I believe so yes How the teacher's doing what's their mood on all this they've got the test results and I'm sure they're Just bouncing around with some of the successes and at the same time Maybe frustrated that not every kid and all the work is not yet paying off Let's give us a little sense of of Mood and whether or not They they the core to me is that they believe in the curriculum The guidance the feedback the the assistance so that they can succeed and the kids can see right Um, I would say they are perfectionists Which I appreciate especially in this particular area No one's willing to waiver with what we're doing curriculum wise, which is great Um, but they also know that there's kiddos in here Who could do better than what they showed us on that test so figuring out how to leverage that with those kiddos Is is a big conversation I think wow, I heard here. It wasn't here say but somebody was talking about a a kid that was Way behind and for the first time and I think in her Elementary school life. She's now proficient or beyond proficient or something like that and there was just off the wall And I'm thinking about if I was her or I was thinking her parents Or even her friends being proud of her that just talk about a gift like that that Keep could keep on going internally transform her life, right? Oh, absolutely Absolutely Thank you Very nice. Thank you Patrick or jc. Do you have any questions on the? academic report Excellent All right. Thank you Okay, we have uh Jamie back we had gotten to 9.1 Shall we circle back to do we have Don't have terror back yet 7.5. Yeah So the So the reports to the board in regards to the sale of the high school is That the select board indicated this town of Rochester select board Indicated at their last meeting that they were going to be moving forward To hold a special vote in Rochester for the citizens to vote on Um, whether or not they you know supported the notion of the town of Rochester Purchasing the high school building. I would say that there there's the Rochester repurposing committee that was formed by the town Um, that group of folks have now moved forward in regards to being a non-profit Which is one of the things that the Rochester select board had Inquired about them pursuing And that's pretty much all wrapped up in regards to their their ability to move to you know move forward with supporting The town of Rochester If there's a successful Vote this spring and that the buildings acquired by the town of Rochester this group would then help essentially move forward in the next steps of renovating the building and working to move forward in regards to Leasing spaces and oversee all that work, which I think is really excited that wouldn't just just fall on the town select board to manage In addition to that Bernie Sanders Out of Senate appropriations there is Just over two million dollars that's been appropriated federally for the town of Rochester to To be able to tend to some of that deferred maintenance of that building And that's one of the reasons the stipulations around those federal funds Is that we need to have a clean Brownfield assessment for the state and so we received a letter which I had forward to the board that said that that was completed Like anything right now. I feel like in state government That goal post has moved a little bit in regards to arsenic levels And so we're going to need to do some more sampling Two rivers will On some ground soil because our arsenic level was fine at the current threshold But they're going to Change the threshold So we can't get that signed off clean brownfield. We just found this out actually on thursday Until that's done. They're moving forward on doing that sampling asap And they expect that within 30 days after the sampling that we'll get assigned off Finalized brownfield what you saw in the letter We already have the letter but it pens for 30 days in case Changes occur changes occurred to what they're those arsenic level requirements are going to be We're feeling good still In regards to having that finalized clearance in regards to brownfield Um, which is Often a requirement in order to um access a lot of this federal funding In different grants. They're also that group's working on Some additional funds to help With the rochester high school that they're feeling really optimistic about in regards to funding And you may say well, what's with the sanders money? It is actually already out of appropriations. So it's really about Whether or not Our government in dc takes up an actual new budget The feeling is that if a new budget is a reconciled between the house And the senate that indeed that funding that funding like I said is is part of the budget that's come out of appropriations in the senate So, um, you know, whether the house looks into that and says all that two point So million in rochester is not okay. I mean that I don't believe that's typically how they go about those budget reconciliation between the two branches of government looking at it like that, but So I feel pretty good about it that that money will come through Um, the other thing I wanted to talk about with the sale of the rochester high school. It's my recommendation um and our attorneys and when I met with um viking kathryn as the spokespeople um for the repurposing committee that we move for with um finalizing a bill of sale with the town of rochester a purchase and sale agreement um That would indicate that all the provisions meaning provision of They would take on full ownership july 1 2025, which is what I just mentioned prior to you upon a successful Vote of the town And our legal feels very confident that that would be a fine thing to put together And then bring to the select board and I actually think it will really help The residents of rochester clearly understand what this, you know Agreement is in regards to the town taking on ownership of the building that it's all specified and laid out So unless there's an objection by the board, I wanted to Move forward with getting that taken care of here in the next month to then be able to Join the select board Here within the next month or so to provide them that draft of a purchase and sale agreement I like the idea. I think that would be very helpful for all parties to just kind of clearly lay out What the expectations are for each of the of the parties? And it does it gives clear dates in it Um My question is with this additional testing that needs to be done. Have they moved the Date of the potential vote not yet. There's still a sense that we may actually be able to get that taken care of Prior to that 30th. So there's not been a time there has not been a discussion of moving the Okay Comments from the other board members about uh us Pursuing um creating a purchase and sales agreement For the town of rochester Look at the purchase and like will we get to see it? Yeah, I'm just curious especially because people will be asked what we would do is I'd ask uh based on the conversation We just had um that david ru would put that together and then we'll share it with the board Okay Great I like it sounds sounds good. Okay Um, do we have taro we can circle back to 7.2 our audit So I sent you all your fiscal year 23 audit and included in that Um my overview memo of the high points of the audit most important being that there were no findings job Absolutely good team So if there's any specific questions we can go over them or if anyone wants to sit down and go through the audit in detail I'm happy to do that. I have to say I love the new format of the audit. I found them Much easier to read in comparison to our prior audits With the pertinent information being in the front of the audit versus very you know in the last pages of it So I definitely like the new format In comparison to what we've had prior to this So it was definitely and the entire overall audit experience has been much different In this course, so it's been great. Yeah, I say it every year, but I'll say it again that in my experience over I won't reveal how many years are dealing with auditors in in in local government and and inevitably they'd come back with Questions and issues and they'd get more nitpicking as we went on and My hair got more and more great of silver to whatever the case is so for us to kind of go nice going when That's not necessarily the norm and my sense is I've never been an auditor, but I think they're trained to find something and so And for another clean audit Is real at an accomplishment And it's not something to be a we we expect it But you can't always just assume it's going to happen And so again Tara to you and your team congratulations Thank you And if there isn't any questions the action item would be for you to just accept your fiscal year 23 audit I make a motion to accept our fiscal year 23 audit as presented I second that All in favor. Bye. Bye Excellent. Thank you, Tara Thank you very much Okay, um, I think we've Finalized everything in seven We've done eight. Uh, so nine point two the endowment committee. Uh, the endowment committee has been Meeting about once a month And we're making some good headway, which is it's really nice. Um so the um there's a Fund called the Cowdery fund that currently resides in a Very low earning cd Um And the Cowdery fund is not accessible to us yet because it needs to reach a level of maturity before we Can provide scholarships out of it But the endowment committee would like to recommend to the board that we move this Cowdery cd from its low bearing cd At mass coma to north field savings bank to a cd That has terms no greater than 18 months and with the highest available Interest rate Yes, if somebody would like to move it, that would be great That is the endowment's recommendation to the board and we would need the board to make a formal, uh vote on on such a I uh So I moved. All right, bill has moved Do I have a second? Second Great. Is there any discussion? Great. All in favor say aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Great. Thank you Okay, the other thing that um We have dove into is that One of our endowments it is a scholarship fund that was um Given to the uh Rochester high school scholarship fund given in memory of um Uh Lena ellis wing by her daughter uh barrel wing um so she uh Or I guess barrel of Lena ellis wing graduated the class of 1899 So that was kind that's pretty cool. Um, so it's a trust for scholarships And the wording is to members of the graduating class of rochester high school This specific language prohibits the trust from being used now As we know why But we feel the intention of barrel wing was to provide scholarships to our local students And to do that we need to petition the court to modify the language um, and we would like to use our su lawyer um barrah smith of schnitzel page in Fletcher I'm so impressed. Um To to take this um To to take this to uh probate court to try to modify the language Um, and again that is a motion that we need to ask the board If they if they would like to move that so I was looking for the board to make a motion to Move forward with bringing a petition to probate court to modify the wing scholarship language. I shall move Moved Do it Does it really need to be changed? Yes, it does. We've we've uh contacted Our lawyer and we've actually I think had a couple of lawyers read through this the the language of the will specifically states um Safely invested in income only expended annually for scholarships to members of the graduating class of rochester high school Recipients to be chosen by faculty of said high school Students high school students, right? So because we do not have broad chest graduates of rochester high school yeah, so um So we need to have the language modified to be able to have this scholarship money accessible and Again, the endowment committee feels that it was the intention of the of barrel wing who created this That she wanted to support the education of the kids in the valley The the local students um so we Have a motion to move forward with bringing this petition to probate court. Do I have a second? Excellent any further discussion? All right, all in favor say aye. Aye Aye Excellent. Thank you. So um the The court will decide So the judge will will look at it and and um Look at the wording and try to discern what the initial intention of this Will was and to be able to modify the language in a way that the the court feels follows that intention the endowment committee has thought of what we would like to recommend as changing of wording um And I don't know if we're going to be able if that is going to be able to come to fruition or not But I would like to pass that in front of the board as well so that we can um advise our attorney that that um these are uh Our intention for how we would like to see the language changed and So what we would like to have it changed to is that um Instead of the graduating Uh the graduating class of rochester high school, we would like to change it to um graduating seniors from the rochester stock bridge unified district Because as we know when the high school was Here we had students from stock bridge that would come And graduate from rochester high school. And so that would the intention would be that essentially Any any senior that our district that we're paying for their tuition in our budget For their senior year this scholarship. They could apply for two and it would be available to them um and the other part of it is to be chosen by The faculty of the said high school and we'd like to change it to chosen by the rochester stock bridge unified district scholarship committee Which is established and if this comes to fruition Um, well actually either way we're going to look at the makeup of that scholarship committee. Um So We're kind of in the early stages maybe with with the actual language and it does need to go to court but I wanted to put that in front of you guys on to get your thoughts and see if you wanted to To make a motion that you would would recommend that to our lawyer I'll move that we recommend as amy indicated those two guiding principles to our attorney to utilize and promote in probate process Drive a second a second Excellent, uh Any further discussion All in favor. Hi Hi, great. Thank you. Thank you guys It's exciting work to that. We're like moving forward in this this endowment committee. So nice going. Okay All right Last but not least the capital reserve fund request Um, so we are wrapping up the final invoicing for ee i And so I come to you this evening for a request for the remaining balance that was going to be used utilizing your reserve funds Which remains at 179,257 dollars and 75 cents So we can do this in a couple of ways Um in your rochester capital improvement fund There is a balance of 13,883 07 In your stock bridge capital capital improvement and maintenance of facilities fund you have 64,101 53 And in your rochester stock bridge capital improvements and maintenance of facility funds. There's 168,650 In case anybody wants to write those numbers down. I'm giving you a second. Otherwise My recommendation would be you could utilize your balances remaining in your rochester and stock bridge funds And then what's left comes out of the combined fund and then you're funding the combined fund moving forward Thoughts comments Um, do we need to how soon do we need to do this? Tara If not tonight, I would need it by the next Board meeting because ee i obviously wants their funds Which is when you made the agreement with ee i, this is the figure they provided us Right, this is this is not a new figure. This is this is what part of that project was it's just figuring out how you want to Pay for it And the amount again is tar 179,257 dollars and 75 cents I love the 75 cents, right I mean, my my my recommendation is to consider um Going ahead and closing out those two funds because we talked about not continuing to fund those that you would fund a joint fund And so I think, you know, whether the board takes action tonight or next month to strongly consider the idea of doing that because um You know, we've got this your surplus funds and stuff would continue to go to that one capital facilities fund moving forward and it would Keep a balance if we would continue to have a balance in that um the rochester stock bridge capital fund if we did it in this way Yeah, it gives us more flexibility to I'll make a motion that we use um the individual the rochester uh capital reserve fund and the stock bridge capital reserve fund to end the Rest to be taken out of the unified districts capital reserve fund to pay ee i for our building improvements I second that Okay, we've got a motion it's made and seconded. Is there a comment or further discussion? You are muted patrick Thank you Approximately how much would be left in the joint fund after? About 64 000 maybe right Maybe a little less Oh, okay Very close Amy. Nice to see you And then what we had we put in for another 60 000 in our budget this year That's correct. That's including the 65 that's in your f y 24 budget. So what's in your f y 25 budget for reserve would help build that back up Okay, and and we have a serve and then we have a surplus now that we have to decide what to do with Yeah, it's 65 just so you know patrick 65 000. Oh, thank you. Thank you Yeah, I mean I I think I would definitely like to see With the surplus You know that that we at least get it to where where we were at least the joint the joint account I don't really you know, there's a there's a lot that needs to be done. So Okay, uh, there's motion on the floor. There's no further comment Call the vote. All right all in favor same five is saying aye Aye Excellent. Thank you guys Thank you Okay, do we have any new hires or resignations? Great Do we have any public comment? Hi, it's Keith. I Hi, it's Keith. I have a couple questions Okay, go ahead Okay, first I'd like to acknowledge all of the hard work and effort both the teachers administration and the board puts towards the school district much appreciated um My first question is with respect to the taxes And to the sustainability and how the board views increases discounting act 127 and the 5 cap Of increases of just under 9 to just under 27 percent At the high end And it's not just the question for our district, but it's small districts throughout rural vermont um I just don't see the sustainability Um in having taxpayers bear such a burden Are there any thoughts for how the district looks at this? And the board looks at this Go ahead. I mean Keith one thing that the board Directed the administration to do tonight is to actually come back with a 0% increase on the equalized tax rate Which means that the rest of the contributing factors to increase taxes Is the drop in common level of appraisal um, the actual So whether you operated a school or not Those tax increases would be occurring And I appreciate that that comment. However, it still puts a burden on the residents of these two small towns um, and I think it's difficult for Many individuals to bear that burden Um, and I appreciate the fact that you know, everybody looks to the cla and says It's due to the cla As a major factor in that increase But the reality is the taxpayers still bear the brunt of that And I think it's a very difficult situation. I mean Sustainability of moving that forward if every year we're faced with the same thing as taxpayers At what point is it bankrupt? Um, I have a question Uh about this too, um If there was no school The the children in the in the district would still be going somewhere Right, so yes, we're still responsible for educating the students paying for their education whether it's um any A location that we have housed or if it's sending them to another building I guess my question for keith was What are you what are you proposing to avoid that? Well, I guess I guess, you know My thought would be that if you Have more children And it's under a single umbrella The costs are definitely Spread out over a greater number Just as you try to or just as we try to Increase the number of students that come into our district to help defer costs The same would be true if we were part of a larger district. Am I incorrect in that concept? I'm sorry, I didn't hear that I I think what he's saying is if we were to merge with multiple townships Just as white river valley high school did Am I correct keith? Well, that's the concept because again, you'd have More students and more tax payers Sharing in the pie and splitting the pie up So and I'm not pointing a finger at rsud. I'm just talking speaking in general to the Um entire rural districts within the state of vermont It's becoming an issue that I think Needs to be addressed. I mean You have to look to the future. You can't just say we're doing this today, but what about Five years from now if we have to put up with increases of Six seven eight nine ten percent Run the numbers. It's very difficult for small districts to continue to do that I hear what you're saying at at this time Both of our communities value having a school in their In their town and until the point that The community really speaks differently to that effect on We are going to continue with with this model But I definitely I hear and understand what you're saying on the cost of education The cost of everything just continues to rise And it really it really has to do with what the community values for their students and the education of them Thank you for your question. I have two follow-up questions One is the cost of education when you look at these budgets far exceeds the current rate of inflation I think that no one would disagree with that statement um My second point would be in an effort to be very transparent to the constituent of our community Would it make sense for the board when they publish their Vote for this budget that they would say we're increasing your tax rate from x In the prior year to x plus this percentage in this current year So it was transparent enough for people to see that we're going to increase your tax rate Anywhere from 8 percent to 25 percent I think that that's right the constituents would view it very differently Would the board consider something that along those lines so it would be more transparent to the average voter Well our when we do publish our book we do publish the tax rates from the previous year to the current year And as we discussed tonight we are Coming back with a budget that we are not increasing the tax rate at all The equalized tax rate Okay, so you're saying to me that you would say that my tax rate if last year it was a dollar That this year is still going to be a dollar the equalized tax rate So I no, no, no, but you're not but you're not being transparent. I hear I think that So so Keith and i'm happy to schedule a time with you, but our tax sheets very clearly say What the homestead tax rate changes so in rochester We will will be able to put a percentage on what the tax rate increased changes and one of the budget drafts We looked at tonight that difference was 14.61 percent And that it clearly says that on the tax rate and in stock bridge It's 8.86 percent and that is absolutely what we will be publishing and communicating during our presentations Okay, so you'll make those numbers Very clear and transparent. You're going to say your tax rate is going to go up 14.61 percent In rochester and 8.86 percent in stock bridge Well when they are finalized, we are definitely going to to um be transparent and um educate and and uh Put out all these Numbers so that people can understand just what they are looking at and what they are voting for letting them know what the increase is from last year and why and uh, it would be in the in the Book that gets sent out. We usually send out a clear Dialogue there as well, but yes When we have the final numbers what we are talking about tonight. We have not voted on this budget yet But we so we are still working through it But those numbers will definitely be um clearly represented Okay, because you know I speak to a lot of people in my neighborhood and and it seems that You know, a lot of people have mortgages that they don't really realize the increase until they get it because they're s growing their taxes And you know, I see my tax bill come in and i'm like really And this is you know, it's quite a shock To see these types of numbers being presented You know, and as I said, I I don't I don't discount all of the hard work and effort that The people within this district and the individuals who run the school put forth I'm just looking at the bigger picture And I look at the rural districts within vermont and how this is sustainable and that's really my point Thank you Thank you Okay, I no more There's no other public comment So our next meeting is going to be monday march 4th and that's going to be at the stock bridge campus Is there any future agenda items that we need to write down now? You can always email me and jamie as we're going I just had the annual mailer Oh, yes the homework for the annual mailer to look at it and to be able to come back and give lindy Some clear direction on maybe and then mission statement and our and the mission statement. We're going to um provide jc with some of our recommendations and um, she'll Come together with um Something for next meeting And Yep Oh, okay Oh, that's true. Yeah, you're gonna have your budget to don't forget as a future agenda item Yep, and then monday march 4th. It's not a good night um In the sense of yeah, we'll be at three other district meetings, but the The prior week's actually quite tight. I would prefer not to go that prior week Um, jihad did warn theirs for that prior monday. So if a monday works, i'm fine with doubling up because we're going to be out anyways Seems like you're going to have a lot that you're ready getting prepared for though If you haven't yeah, why don't we look at after that's why? Yeah, um, is there i do you have a certain day that is better? Uh that following week should be Uh monday should be open. I think mondays are better for you guys. Is monday the 11th um A time that's available for you patrick and ujc Okay Yeah, i'm flexible. Okay, great. Well, we'll move that to March 11th, then at six o'clock at the stock bridge campus. Yep excellent Sorry, it's eight 19, but we really had a pretty full agenda tonight. So My track record of two hours is out the window, but it's only by 19 minutes And like i said, we had a lot of real important things to to to discuss and go over and and lesson to so um If there's no further business i'll take a motion to adjourn so move all in favor I thank you I am I