 Yes, we definitely have it. Let's come to order then at 601. Welcome everyone. Reminder housekeeping. If you're not talking, could you please mute your microphone, which if you're not familiar is based on my screen in the bottom left hand corner of the zoom window. And if you're on the tele... Star six will mute your telephone and star six will also unmute your telephone when you're ready to speak. And Keith, correct me if I'm wrong. Star nine, raise a hand. Yeah, great. Okay. Getting there. Thank you very much. So before we move into public comments, I think many of you know that we suffered a tremendous loss over this past weekend with the death of Nate Picard, our head custodian at Remning. We honor Nate's life and his great contributions to Remning School and to our communities. And we agree with his family, his friends, and his colleagues. When an event, a terrible event like this happens without warning at a sensitive time, it sends shock waves first and foremost to those who are closest to him. But ultimately, it affects all of us. So feeling unsettled or wrong, or if you need to talk about any of this, I urge you to talk with people you love, people you like, or maybe just people you work with. All we have in each other, but either a lot, be very helpful. So don't miss your Nate. Anyway, first round of public comments. Please, if a member of the public, you raise your hand. If you want to participate, I can also in the bottom row, your Zoom window, or if you're on the telephone, star nine will show you raised hand on the screen so that I can call on you. Scott, I don't see that, but I have a comment. Ellen, of course, and you're welcome to just speak. Okay, thank you. Please, we're right ahead. I'm not sure how the public comment section works anymore. I don't know if, I mean, I have some comments to make on a particular agenda item. Do I make them now, or do I make them during the discussion of that agenda item? Yeah, you should make now, with Zoom, we found it, who is it, it's completely uncontrollable to do as we were doing in our physical meetings. We were able to involve the public sort of at the time of the actual debate. But I should just mention, in addition to the first round of public comments now, there's a second round at the very end so that members of the public citizens may comment on what you've seen and heard and tell us if you think we went wrong, or went right, sometimes happens. So please feel free to speak your piece now. Okay, I'd like to make a comment or two about the VSBA dues that's coming up. I would strongly urge the board not to support the VSBA by paying them almost $8,000 for several reasons. I thought that the pros and con paper that the superintendent put together was really nice, was nice to see the pros and the cons. Actually, don't blame the superintendent for that, Ellen. Oh, I'm not blaming him. That was great. I think that ultimately where he says at the end that it was kind of no harm, no foul for not being a member of the VSBA for us. And unfortunately, the VSBA did not do anything to change their ways. One of the things that's concerning to me about the VSBA is that we had four out of five schools in our district who were engaged in the appeal of Act 46. And that was something that Scott O'Dell spoke to the legislature and said that people who were appealing this and were within their legal rights to appeal were committing, I can't remember what the word was. They were like... Sorry, if I might help, was it civil disobedience or something? Help me. Yeah, civil disobedience. And that's just not a really fair statement. But I sat at meetings in the legislature listening to Scott O'Dell. And I really wasn't clear as to why he was so pro-Act 46 and not looking out for not only the four of the five schools in our district, but the many schools who had joined that appeal under their legal right to do so. And I also sat and I felt like it was unfortunate that our regional rep was sitting with Nicolmes and Mr. O'Dell at those legislative hearings when four out of the five schools in our district had joined that appeal. Also, about a year ago, maybe in May or June of last year, this came up for a debate at one of the board meetings when we still had them in person. And at that meeting, Nicolmes was asked why she brought a suit, why the VSBA brought a suit against the teachers union when they were involved in the middle of the healthcare negotiations. And she said it wasn't the VSBA that did it, but then was shown the papers that had the VSBA on the papers that showed they were a part of it. And Mr. O'Dell or nor Nicolmes sought to rectify that. And I think it really showed, I mean, I'm going to use the word pervericate. I'm not going to say they were liars, but they were really, it was real slippery. And I don't know that this is the kind of organization that we want to be a part of. And maybe, maybe we just need to say no again. And maybe that will make them think twice. I think the fact that we have been able to come up with policies during the past year, and thank you to all the people who were on the policy committees, because that was one of the features that I had heard over and over again. We can't, we won't be able to create any policies unless we belong to the VSBA. Well, I guess we were able to do it on our own. So, you know, good for us. But I hesitate to give them almost $8,000. The other thing is, you know, I see on front porch forum, U32 is trying to raise money to buy milk crates for students. Why doesn't some of that, if we have $8,000, let you some of that to give $8,000 or some of that to students, for students to have a milk crate to sit on outside. I'm not, and I'm sure there's $500 somewhere to do that for them. But in any event, I think, if ultimately this board does decide to do it, which I would really hope they don't, don't decide to fund that this year again, that any school board member that represents us at those meetings in any capacity is someone who has no prior ties to the VSBA. I think that someone would need to have fresh eyes, a fresh attitude about the VSBA, someone who can look at it objectively and you know, come maybe to the VSBA with new ideas to help them improve. And I just, I feel like that is perhaps the way to go if this board is going to do it. And again, I really hope the board does not decide to fund it. I don't think we've been any worse for the where without joining them. So, thank you. Thanks very much, Ellen. We'll, we'll keep this fresh in our minds for the discussion to follow. Other public comments, please? Is there any? Okay. Yes, Corinne. Yeah, I tried there star nine and then I'm very sorry, my landline rang. Oh my gosh. Anyway, two items. I'm hoping that this year the board will continue to work on community engagement, although I think in my mind, a better word would be involvement, maybe community engagement and involvement. And the other item is the VSBA, which I think Ellen did a fine job. So I, I won't say much other than my opinion to not pay the VSBA dues has not changed since last year. To me, there really hasn't been anything that showed us that we can expect them to better represent us. And I don't think we've really had enough time to see a change. But I would certainly second plot Ellen said about not funding them this year, not going with them. And, and I agree. I think the policy work went rather well. Thank you so much. Thank you, Corinne. So community engagement and and with Ellen and praise for the policy committee, let that not go unnoticed. I believe that is all for pub comments. Some of those inspired at the last moment. In this case, let's move on to agenda revisions. Have we any, Brian? Are you aware of any? No, not this time. Great. Floors. Any agenda revisions? No, okay. No, okay. In that case, I'm in towns is able to towns. I don't see him. Um, am I am I correct in that? You're shaking your head during this. Is that right? You don't see who's not there? Okay. Um, good. And, well, not that good, actually, but he's says last week before he starts. So he's entitled on block three operations, 3.1 board retreat can on floor. Would you like to take the short? We have just some cleanup for getting ready for the for the board retreat. One is a reminder that Michelle sent an email to all of you to pick your your lunch and your appetizers of please that we just have seven replies so far. So please make sure to fill that. We need to submit that by September 8th. The second one is that we have come up with an agenda that we will share with you next Monday or Tuesday. So you have time to see it before the retreat. And our hope is that, you know, we took into consideration all of your input. And after brainstorming with Scott, Brian and Nick, I think that you're all going to be happy and it would be productive. We're looking forward. And the last day, a just check in is that it's so far. Most people have replied that they're coming in person. The only way to join and I have touch base with the couple with the poor can't join in person. And the only way that we be able to have remote is really by phone. We're trying to have most of the meeting outs that we'll be going in and out. And just for us to be able to communicate better, the only other way would be, it would be kind of a conference call. We are not able to do it as soon because we're not planning on any formal presentation. It's all conversation. So far, people can't seem to be okay with that. So I just wanted to make that clear. Our hope is that we're setting the meeting with so if you feel comfortable and if you don't have anybody sick in your family or by following all the precautions, if you are feeling comfortable that you would be there in person. And just, that is now, if you can't so far, people can't be there, are okay with just the phone. Any questions? That's it. So September 12th, 8.30. We'll see you there. Thank you, Floor. Brian, did you have anything that you wanted to add to that? Nope? Great. Oh, sorry. I didn't hear that. Sorry. I think Floor took care of it. So thank you. Excellent. Great. Okay. Any questions from board members about the retreat? Just a thank you for accommodating me remotely. I appreciate it. Thank you, Floor. You're welcome. Great. Other questions or observations? Okay. Terrific. Let's move on then to the issue that you've all been waiting for, I'm sure, the SBA dues. Those of you old timers, I guess, those of you who like me feel as though you've aged 12 years in the past 12 months will remember that this debate last year had a certain storm and stress aspect to it, which made it one of the more difficult discussions that we've had. But in a peculiar way, I think one of the more sort of admirable ones, in my view, anyway. However, for me and Ellen, I should point out that I was actually the one who wrote that one pager. And poor Neil Odell being called Scott probably has him turning pirouettes. In any event, after that last year, I was, I guess I must have expected there to be consequences proportional to the energy that went into that discussion. And in the end, as I think, I mean, you had noticed, Ellen, it was a little bit of an anti-climax from that point of view. Essentially, we had just a dynamic, powerful policy committee that did great work, even without that direct connection to VSBA. And VSBA, those who voted against paying the dues, were hoping that that gesture might lead to some changes in VSBA. And that doesn't really seem to have happened either, at least not noticeably. So I was hoping that this year, we would be able to maybe approach it a little bit differently. And I think anticipating what I expect our retreat will get into with an approach that's, and that Jonas is already familiar with from negotiations committed, focusing on interests and trying to just get clear on what our interests are with regard to VSBA, and make our decision on that basis. So instead of history is history matters, as does everything else, other good things that VSBA does. But I think if we focus on interests, I do try to orient our decision that way. It might just be a more productive experience, discussing it. I don't know, it's something like everything else. So with that, I'd like to throw it open to whoever would like to make the first point. Steven, look. I mean, I have thoughts on the decision. My first point would be, I think it's inappropriate to try to do interest-based, similar to negotiations that requires training. It requires buy-in. It requires process to happen prior to it being utilized. So I'm not saying be mindful of how we discuss things, but, and Jonas can weigh in, he could feel differently. We frequently take different spins on things, and that's great. But I'm not sure the interest-based bargaining approach can work for this issue. Thanks, Steven. As I often do, I may have explained myself poorly. I didn't mean to do an interest-based bargaining, only to orient ourselves to what our interests are in the discussion, rather than sort of fall back solely on history or solely on the bright side of things. That's all. Diane? What I'm wondering about is if it makes sense for this to become part of our retreat conversation. If we're talking about setting goals, we're talking about making a work plan, so to speak, of what we're doing. To me, part of that would be looking at what are the resources, what are the ways that we can achieve what our plans are. And then to me, that could address what are those resources and what is the work that the VSBA could help us achieve. So, I wonder if it makes sense to do that. Thank you very much, Diane. I think timing may be an issue. Yes, no? I just want to say that as we have been planning the retreat, I would just be familiar with what the conversation was last year, that I wouldn't want this to take over the retreat. I think the retreat should be very specific about how we're operating. And to add this to the retreat will take a lot of time out. We had already come up with a plan with Nick, the consultant that is helping us to bring this into it. I see this more of a decision that we can make based on the merits. I don't want to be the first one. I'm going to wait to speak, but I'm just talking specifically at the retreat part. So, then I guess as, I mean, I have a certain feeling just from my interactions with the VSBA in previous years. And so to better understand what it would bring to my work here on this board, I guess I need to know what it is specifically they're offering to us for this and how we would end. So that was the only part of it that to me would come into play as part of the retreat, not that we discuss and redebate how things were handled in the past. So, if we have a sense of what our dues beyond what, you know, what's kind of generically there, I guess that's what my question is. Thank you, Diane. If I might just summarize, and then Flora correct you or anyone else, I think there's generally agreement that the good stuff that does is worth it. The problem is not so much the VSBA's products as heard from Anna and Corinne, the nature of the representation and concern about the, I guess, you know, since I can't think of a better word off the top of my head, the fidelity of representation. Does that subtract enough to make it not worthwhile? Or can we do something in order to shore that part up? Jill, sorry. Go ahead, Jill. Thanks. Can you guys hear me? Oh, yeah, okay. So, you know, I wasn't here for last year's debate or for all of that, all of that came before and happened with Act 46. I will say I do have a bias toward associations because I do run one and I have for my entire, for much of my professional career, I've worked for trade associations. So I definitely am inclined toward them. I work in healthcare, so I have no real personal interaction with the VSBA. Scott, I found your summary really helpful in terms of understanding sort of both sides of the debate. And honestly, as I've learned more and heard more, I think it's very fair criticism, in my view as an association leader myself, that the VSBA did not do a good job managing a diverse number of opinions around a really hot topic. It's very hard to run an association and come up with a position when you have members with diverse positions. That's the worst moment for any association leader is when they realize that they can't make all members happy. We try to avoid issues like that to the greatest extent possible. And when they do come up, I think it does take a fair amount of effort to manage them well. And from all the evidence I've seen, I don't think they did do so. There's one really important thing though that's not on your summary, which is that their main staff has turned over. There's new leadership in their executive director. That's huge. It's huge because the people who are on their board will come and go. But it's really the staff who do the everyday work that are important. So I think that's a missing piece to your summary in terms of what's different. And then the last thing I would say is that I'm a big fan of... So I'm in favor of us rejoining the VSBA. But even if I wasn't, if I felt sort of on the other side, just purely thinking tactically, I'm a keep your enemies closer kind of person. So I don't think we can influence the VSBA by not giving them $8,000. I think our voice in terms of what they do will be far more effective if we're in than if we're out. That is a purely tactical, practical way that I view this. So I don't think not having a voice is really going to help. I just don't think it will change things. And the other thing is it means that when we need to look for outside resources and we want to see what are other schools doing, how are things working across Vermont, we'll be relying on the superintendent's association, principal's association, the NEA. Those are all really important groups. None of them represent school boards. So they will not be looking at those issues through our lens. And that will be our source of information. So I don't... I see little value and little impact of not joining. I see value in joining and I'm strongly in favor of joining. I also don't think we should have a huge to-do about this. So I'm not going to say anymore, but I wanted to sort of lay out my position and I'm glad to hear from others. Thank you, Jill. So keeping your enemies close, I hope that's not why you joined the board. Closer. You keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Okay. Okay. Thanks. Jonas, then Chris McVeigh, then Caroline. So I want to echo what Jill said about not making a big to-do about it. I want to thank Scott again for putting the points together, I thought it was even-handed and extremely fair. I think that did a service to this conversation. I also will second what's been said that on the surface, it did not feel last year that we missed a whole lot from VSBA. Having said that, I'm not sure what other districts got from them. So having not been a member, I'm not sure what we missed out on. And I will... The main point of what I want to say is distinct from the organizational benefits to this board. I missed last year and I miss now and have missed over the summer. Having an organization that I could speak to about my own particular concerns about being a school board member, to have someone to talk to, who represents school boards, who I could bounce ideas off of, both in terms of district operation and the sort of tactics of how these things go here. I missed having that resource. And I would... I'm gonna stand with Jill and strongly support rejoining the VSBA if for nothing else than to give me and the rest of us yet another resource to be able to speak to. I don't think... As I said last year, I see no benefit to our students. I don't think it advances the cause of education in our district to not be a member. Thank you, Janice. Chris, may I please? Hi, everyone. So I voted against renewing the VSBA dues last year. And what... I don't know when they're due this year. Looks like 60 days from the day to the invoice. So it's not something that needs to be rushed because it's a 60 days term, which means to me that we have 60 days to make this decision and pay the dues. And I certainly appreciate the comments, public comments on how well the policy committee did. And would love to say, yes, we created all of these original policies, but that just wouldn't be true because a lot of the policies that we worked with were ones that had been developed through the VSBA and were model policies that we had already had. Because as you recall, we kind of re-initiated, reviewed, tweaked some policies, created some new ones that were not part of the VSBA canon. But the VSBA... And again, this is not advocating for them, but just clarifying the facts of the policies that we did work with and allows them with VSBA model policies. So I just wanted to put that on the table in terms of a candor for facts. What I am still... And I don't know if anyone in this on the board can speak to this, but the letter from Neil Scott Hodel was that they had added a section to the strategic planning division informing a member engagement committee. I have no idea what that means. Is anybody here from the VSBA who can speak to that and what that means? Because it almost seems like this is a selling point that Neil has included into his letter in listening to our support and our membership again. The other thing that I would point out is that the VSBA will speak for school boards, but we don't necessarily want to have that singular voice, I don't think. My understanding is that board members for the VSBA are required to sign some type of pledge that they will not speak... I see people are shaking their head a little bit, but I think I read this in their materials and I certainly heard it from Dorothy Naver's daughter who is a member of the board, that they have to sign some type of pledge not to speak ill of the VSBA, which that's troublesome to me to say that he cannot as a board member can speak contrary to the interests of the organization. That doesn't sound like a very open and seeking to have robust discussion amongst board members if you're required not to speak against the interests of the organization. The other thing I would bring up is whether we can pay over time so that if we really haven't heard from the VSBA about mending ways, paying over time is a way to keep a fingers on the pulse of what we may or may want, what we want to hear from them. I'm happy to entertain questions. I may be wrong about anything I've said here as opposed to my opinions, but if there are any fact errors I'd be glad to have them pointed out to me. Thank you. Thanks Chris. Caroline. Perfect that I'm going after Chris just said if there's any fact errors. Nothing with what you said Chris, but when I read the report now the board packet having that piece for me as a new board member was my first time reading about this issue. It had come up back when I was on the board before but we hadn't, I had missed the last year of discussion. So that document was the first thing I saw. I felt it was pretty clear that the author was opposed to joining. So I have a little difference of opinion with people who felt it was helpful. I felt it was slightly biased for one saying that the decision is about payment. I see the decision being about membership. And I think that's an important distinction because if we were talking budget and paying, that to me has a different feel. And if we're talking about we value membership, we feel that we need membership. There was a piece in it that talked about the conflict of interest specifically sharing an office space with the Vermont superintendents association. That to me is pretty misleading. An office shared office space is what I currently have with my husband and we share an office and we share that space. They share an office building is my understanding. And there are six tenants in that building. The Vermont principal's association, the Vermont superintendents association and others. So it's not like they are overhearing people's discussion or influencing each other. I agree with Jill on the new executive director is a huge deal and so that would be one of my points. And then last one I'll make is just that I think that this issue right now is COVID. And and I believe being part of the VSBA is going to help guide us and what's needed both what we know of right now that we need what we're going to find out we need once students are back in the building and having any assistance or direction on that would be helpful. I know that through that since March the VSBA has given some non-member some direction. It doesn't mean that they always will continue to do that. And so for me COVID is the biggest issue right now and that's why I would be in support of remaining a member. Thank you. Thank you. Chris, I see your hand up. Is that from last time? Okay. I think it is but I'd like to speak again after everybody else has had time. Okay, we'll come back to you. I see Lindy is there. Lindy? I can never get unmuted on my iPad. Sorry about that. I really appreciate the view that Jill gave and as a person who feels like the VSBA did not penalize us in a way when we didn't pay last year because we did get some of their information and it was available and when COVID came I was one who was in favor of remaining and whether it's 60 days or 90 days or 30 days. I don't want this pushed off kind of like Jonas not making a big deal. Let's just make a decision and vote yay or nay and being a part of the organization is important to me as a board member. The training they did was excellent. I value their representation and I just I think that it's something that's important to be a part of and I would not like to make a big deal out of it as far as dragging it on and continuing. Thanks Lindy. Kari, did I briefly see your hand up? Yeah, thank you. So I'll just I'll try to be brief. Scott, you asked about interests. My primary interest is about development. I think advocacy is important but I really feel like the role of the board is so complex and very few of us are our experts at being school board directors. So we really have to be thinking about how we can get better individually and collectively if we're not doing that we're not doing our jobs in a sense and so while there are other resources out there for board development I feel like the SBA is one of our best and so for example the webinars that they do the conference the network really of it's our peers across the state. I think these are all really important and I also make a plug for their orientation the essential work of school boards. I found very important for getting started as a new school board director. So based on that interest that that's why I'm in support of renewing rejoining. Thank you very much Kari. Have we reached a natural pause in the oh Dorothy? I've been listening to all of this. One thing that Kari just said that caught my ear was he said this is one of our best board supports. I think it's the only one in Vermont. So I guess it's the best. I just have a real problem with I'm looking at it from the money standpoint. I know it's not a lot of money but I actually I have lost trust in the BSBA. I felt that I'm trying not to use a lot of comments that I could use. I just do not trust them and I find it very difficult to vote to spend my taxpayers money for something that play a place that I do not trust. I know there's new management and I understand what Jill had to say but I cannot support this when there is a motion to pay this bill. I would go along. I might go along with Chris's suggestion to pay it in quarters but I am not comfortable. Nothing big has happened. I don't think that I think they did understand that we didn't why we didn't pay or join the membership and pay the dues but I think it needs to go on a little while longer for them to know that yeah we really meant this. So that's where I am right now. Thank you. Thanks Dorothy and Chris. My apologies and then floor. I'm going to yield to floor first because I don't think she's spoken to this issue yet. No that's correct. Floor. Okay so I have obviously a couple of things to say but first that because there were some questions first from Diane and then from from from Brismite Bay. So so one I think that would be important for us to just remember is that the I'm going to just read the the mission because the vision is a little bit bigger of the of the BSBA. The BSBA exists to achieve Vermont's vision for public education by supporting all school boards to serve as effective trustees of education in behalf of their communities and by providing a strong collective voice towards and hates enhancing the cause of public education in Vermont. So to you know I don't see how we wouldn't want to be part of that conversation in in a broader you know support all of our other districts because at the end we're all together in Vermont with this and the other thing that I would say is that Vermont plays a big role at national level. Not a big role but in the past we've had tried to have a better a better voice so we're divided into regions too so the New England region is really important so we would be separating ourselves from being able to help our neighbors in other states and Vermont has a really good voice in public education and I feel like it's selfish from ourselves to remove ourselves from from that conversation. Then there is no pledge I there is no pledge that is signed we have never signed a pledge I was on the BSBA to be clear so that's what I was trying to be last in the conversation. So I was that person that Ellen was talking about that was sitting there as in any meeting that we all have if you have three people vote no but the yes have it the eyes have it as an organization you go with the majority of your board and that is your job as a board member so so it is it is hard the other thing that I would say is that we as a board do not appoint a member the regional are they are elected and the election for if we want to be part of the conversation the election for the member for Washington is central would be not it's just not us is Washington and orange and now is Washington and Elmoyle is it would be in October 1st so if we want to have a vote of who represents us it would be nice to be able to approve this so we have a voice and it's elected so when I was elected I was not elected just by you guys we were elected by by by the whole Washington and orange so includes Montpelier includes all of the orange schools so it's not like we appoint somebody and then the last thing that that I was so I said already there's no pledge and then the regarding the I have not been part of the conversation right now on on setting that that committee but to more specific on hold on a minute I did ask that that question on on the committee so the committee was created basically to try to get more people it try to have a better grip on how our members were feeling how they were getting engaged so it's just in this that so it's a member engagement committee was formed to work on member outreach and ways that we can improve our relationship with our members so that's what that was the answer that I got from from from them so I don't know if that helps with the decisions I would be obviously in favor mostly because I think we play an important role in in in the public education conversation in this state and we learn a lot from our neighbors Chris so certain two points one is that Sue Seglowski is now the executive director but she's not brand new she's been a member of the staff for years I believe so it's not a new executive director from outside the organization it's someone who's been in the organization for a number of years as far as I know the second is we don't have to be members to access the resources that the BSPA has my understanding is that there's you can purchase various resources from them on a standalone item on a standalone basis that you don't have to be a member in order to access any of the BSPA resources they they basically sell them so you know there's there's not a it's not an all-or-nothing proposition either a full member of the BSPA or you can't access the resources because it's so I think they sell them as standalone standalone items kind of like an a la carte as opposed to buying the entire feast so those are the final two points thank you thank you chris um if whether board members are interested in um the uh I just wanted to respond excuse me to chris in the sense of the a la carte idea I think we spend our thousand dollars pretty quickly with parting items from them if we feel their items are important to us we should be members and access them through that thank you lindy um lindy the last time since you're still open on your mic last time you spoke before this you meant it would be when to vote for um the uh paying dues would you mean to make a motion to that effect now make a motion that i'll vote for it or make a motion that we I make a motion that we vote on whether on becoming members of the vermont school board association is there a second scott can i jump in here for a minute and offer uh what might be a friendly amendment to lindy's sure see that the motion is that we join the vermont school board's association that's the motion elegant okay thank you um so jonis did i take that as a second do you second the friendly okay so we have a motion and a second now um if there's further discussion um what we could do because this is one of those issues that's um you know it's just what it is we could do a quick round um to explain how you what your vote means where we could just vote any jonis i suggest we just vote okay very good um any uh i see Dorothy's thumb um great okay uh so all in favor of joining the vsba as moved by lindy and seconded by jonis please click yes if you're opposed for whatever reason click no i see a majority of yes um let me count the nos one three four and yes is one two three four five six seven eight is that an accurate count all right very good thank you very much one so the motion carries um 3.3 ESP update uh yes i just have a quick update i know that uh i was asked at the last board meeting regarding the the agreement the as of friday august 28th 2020 the esp agreement has been signed and it's now in effect now we're doing the uh now what's happening is the human resources is updating all the esp staff data to the new pay grid schedule and that we're hoping to have that done by september 4th and start beginning processing and sending the esp staff their contracts final final was signed by september 11th uh we will have uh we'll have to change we're doing a lot of work in our payroll department to make this work for the september 18th 2020 payroll date and then the back pay from september from july 1st to september 4th will be recalculated and our hope is to have this all set and processed by october 2nd and so uh so ultimately we're hoping that next week uh from september 11th to september 16th that staff will have their contracts in their school mailboxes that's great um show anything to add good um board requests comments then we move well sorry let me let me just comment i'm just i'm very very glad we were able to get this done it was done under adverse circumstances i'm uh you know i don't see becky or um or anyone else from uh from that negotiating group on the call but you know for the record i want to thank them for working with us uh openly and in good faith and uh i think it bodes really well for the conversations we'll have later in the year and can i just also piggyback over jonasetta and also to go back and do all this work right at the start of the year i just want to give carla messier and virginia our payroll should give them a mad uh mad props as we say and so uh they definitely did uh they're definitely working very hard to make sure this payroll is all uh accurately counted wonderful very happy to hear it thanks to both of them um the others are made it possible including the negotiations committee um so uh point four schedule negotiation committee uh so i'll i'll speak i'll i'll i'll speak to this um uh steven and uh i think it's diane because lindy i don't think you wanted to touch that anymore um but i would love an opportunity to get together and talk with you guys and since we're a committee it has to be formal so i'd love to find a time to get together with brian um you know and anyone else uh you know from from brian's team that he thinks should be in that meeting uh talk about um you know how these how those agreements and how the conversations we had with them uh last year um you know impact this year uh and how we should approach the negotiations and approach our our work with our union colleagues so there's nothing pressing i just sort of like to get to the conversation sooner rather than later uh jonas i just want to make sure uh so i have steven diane you uh me my members of my team on it uh i just uh what is your expectation to have this meeting is it towards the later in the month of september is it where are you uh thinking i mean i think anytime after the retreat you know i think if we if we could find an hour you know sometime you know again i don't i don't think it's urgent but okay great thank you thanks and um this uh this discussion made me that we have a new board member caroline um that you have been a chance um i barely drink your water learn to get a committee amendment um this is just sort of a parenthesis if you're thinking about that committee appeals i think you would be welcome on any one of them not refused from any um if i'm not overstepping in saying so so um keep that in mind please great we'd be happy to have you watch out for negotiations yeah it's a good one okay so anything further on 3.4 scheduling negotiations committee no not at all i think we can take care of that by email i just wanted to have that just i just wanted to say that in an open session super great thanks jones brian so um let's move on to 4.4.1 one school opening update uh there's material on page five of the package brian you want to take uh yes i have a rather lengthy uh school reopening update today uh so i mean i i know we've had every week we're meeting but this is uh the big one before the uh opening of school uh just first of all just want to welcome caroline our newest school board member i'm looking forward to working with you caroline uh in the future uh the uh we began this week uh it was we've had a very uh it's hard to say very good um because of the circumstances that happened earlier in the week there was a lot of energy last week a lot of high energy we had a we drive into work on monday morning and it was a very difficult situation for a school community uh with what happened uh tonight and and the rumby uh school community in particular and i just wanted to uh really thank kelly bushey and jen miller arsono uh for their leadership and really uh just jumping into it right away and going to the school and working with casey provost the principal and i want to thank him for his leadership and i know it's a very difficult time for the teachers and school community over there but i i was just very thoroughly impressed with uh with them and how much our our staff care about each other and uh and i thought that was just something very very special and worth noticing and mentioning tonight at tonight's board meeting i also want to thank uh board chair scott thompson and vice chair florida smith uh for supporting me uh in my professional growth i uh want this school board has made an investment in me as your superintendent and uh i am a member of the vsa superintendent leadership academy and last monday i was uh one of my p professional development sessions uh was uh which was the vsa in conjunction with the vsba held a superintendent board relations uh professional development with myself and the board chair and vice chair and i just thank them for taking you up uh several hours out of their day or out of their evening to be with me to go through that journey together and those are just you know some things that i didn't have uh you know written in memos or anything but i just thought it was important to add that to the tonight's packet i have a lot of things to talk about tonight the first thing is i and i did receive the education legislative report i'm not sure if uh if you've heard about this before but uh the legislative session did uh return the general assembly returned on august 25th with the primary goal of completing the budget for fiscal year 2021 uh while lawmakers have returned to bills that have been under consideration uh they uh the both the leaders of the house and senate have stressed that as soon as the state budget is complete they will adjourn and the timeline for the session is anticipated to conclude by september 25th or sooner so one of the first things that they've tackled is education funding uh the committees on senate finance and senate education held a joint hearing on education funding on their first day back mark perot from joint fiscal office presented an update on the educational fund showing a decrease this is some good news a decrease in the anticipated ed fund shortfall to 66.4 million dollars so this number has been going down so that's a a good a good sign i keep reminding my wife my wife uh when we decide are we going to cook or eat eat out tonight we we've been opting to eat out so we can support the vermont economy uh when we go out and go to the restaurants uh locally um the vsba and vsa vsa also uh did present joint testimony on three legislative tasks and i thought these were worth mentioning because they could impact us or not we'll see uh but the first one was a reduction in required student days from 175 to 170 uh the second thing is protection of the general assembly stated plan for 100 million dollars which was fenced off for k-12 education and uh an amendment to 16 vsa 4010 to establish a one-year hold harmless protection against declines in equalized pupils in order to stabilize budget development for fiscal year 2022 um and then i at the vsba and the vsa also testified before the house education committee with the same joint testimony they presented earlier in the week to the senate finance and education committees uh the i'm trying to give you the highlights of everything that's been going on uh with the legislative report additional things uh that the agency of education expects to have more accurate reports on costs to the school districts in both fiscal year 20 and 21 within the next couple weeks with regards to the coronavirus and how that's been impacting school districts across the state of vermont so that'll be something to look uh look forward to uh in the weeks ahead uh they also again um uh the vsba vsa vpa vc s ea and vasbo have also been working together with the clock with the to uh provide testimony related to these these three things the three points i just provided earlier uh with regards to um reopening of schools the additional observations that were presented to the senate education committee included um the uh in three points in eligibility of federal COVID-19 relief funding of three technical center school districts uh anticipated revenue shortfalls in districts accustomed to receiving tuition revenues and in choice districts in vermont and and here's the one that i thought was interesting because we've been talking a lot about it here in our district insufficient funding support for the program created to address ventilation and air filtration systems which has generated a great deal of interest and participation by school districts seeking to improve their systems in support of safer school environment committee could discuss you included an update on the hvac program being managed through efficiency vermont the total amount needed to hvac to address the hvac in public schools as a mitigation measure for COVID-19 is it is it estimated to be in a range of between 12 to 18 million dollars across the state of vermont and the current uh allocation for this work is 6.5 million dollars uh so that's something just we're definitely watching the according to the house committee on ways and means uh and on august 28th they they they let the general assembly and went public and said that it's the intent of the general assembly to address deficits that vermont faces through several strategies the first being the using federal funds to the greatest extent possible um they also reported that the number of students applying for homeschooling across the state of vermont has increased from 932 in 2019 2020 to 1634 as of july 2020 this causes concern for education funding due to vermont's unique funding structure which is affected by student counts done during the census period in the fall there is a major discussion and debate going on in the general assembly regarding this matter and i think the sentence sums it up while some members of the committee's expressed the need to provide school districts with adm stability as school leaders approach budget development season others prefer to take no action until the next biennium in january so that's definitely going to have a major impact on i think budget budgeting and hopefully we'll have some information about whether how they'll take up these recommendations from our associations and hopefully from our legislative folks that represent our school districts and communities outside of this organized this group there are some again the secretary french also met with the senate education on uh august 27th and he proposed four proposals as well some of them are aligned with the other other proposals the first one was reducing the number of student days from 175 to 170 and increased the number of teacher in service days from five to ten i'm very proud of the work that our school district has done with front loading 10 days right in the beginning of the year in this contract i'm in in this calendar year and i'm also very pleased with the work that gen miller arsono has done with regards to helping work with our teachers and and principals in planning this professional development of 30s last as of friday there'll be 10 days secretary french is also asking for statutory language modification for the 2020-21 school year to require the secretary to determine adm for each school district at a count no lesser than the district's 2019 2020 adm number three enact a waiver amending the duties and powers of the standards board for professional educators so that during the 21 2022 school year no teacher would be required to hold an endorsement for online teaching in order to teach online or implement remote learning uh so right now that's a big one for us we currently have six teachers uh plus our special special ed teachers of seven teachers uh who have been identified for remote learning and part of the thing is we have to as if the current rules if this does not change we would have to make sure that these folks get their online teaching endorsement so this would be a waiver of that so that would be very helpful and then of course this one is the last one that from secretary french provide a statutory language modification to require all school district meetings held during the 2020-21 school year to be conducted through the use of australian ballot and that uh and of course uh and i think those were most of the uh there were some other updates there's always updates from the legislative one other thing just worth mentioning broadband connectivity uh the department of public service reported on data collected from school districts regarding student residences and access to broadband internet uh one round of grant work has been done and the department is prepared for a second round um throughout the state of vermont with regards to broadband connectivity and those were that is the education legislative report so there's a lot of things happening that will i think shape our school year moving forward uh and the future uh and it's all going to play up between now and september 25th it looks like wow that's a lot indeed thank you brian thank you um questions board members or brian i'm going to go through no i just thank you i guess not Jonas are these questions just about the legislative report then no okay chris um brian you mentioned about the the it seems like there's a shortfall between um the anticipated money needed for the ventilation across the state which they estimate between 12 and 18 million and what has currently been allocated at 6.5 million um and we have committed ourselves to already doing that upgrade on work so does that raise a potential shortfall for us as a that is a great question i have i can i can i'm gonna ask lori to chime in here on this but what i can tell you is we've submitted our application to efficiency vermont we're waiting i mean that's why you know you get an email saying yes we think you can do it and now we're just waiting so uh lord do you have any other additional information i i think chris asked a great question we just barely received word tonight um to resubmit our budget for the grand total of 492 thousand which is what we were hoping for um so the only project that didn't qualify at this time is the central office because this this particular funding source is purely for air quality so the good news is everything that we just approved has been submitted and as far as i can tell unless they run out of money um we are eligible for everything if they run out of money today i just submitted again to a different grant um the full amount as a precaution uh i don't want to call it double dipping but it's an opportunity that if one funding source doesn't have enough money the other one does okay thank you um any other for any other questions for segment of brian's report before we off forget what it is that he said okay um brian do you want to continue then uh yes i do uh the other the next that uh thing is for full transparency uh it's been a hot topic amongst me and my members of uh the leadership team is the elementary remote teaching update um so i know uh we have we have uh i want to just give a shout out to uh gillian fuqua who is uh going to help be the remote learning principal helping out uh and she's been working uh with the students and she's been tracking the numbers and i know uh you know gill i've had really good conversations with a lot of different members of the leadership team about the numbers of students who are um signed who have signed up for the remote learning and as we get closer to september eighth those numbers are fluctuating and so there are some so the big thing was when we first began this um journey into remote learning at the elementary school offering this robust new new system uh the old one of the ideas was that be cost neutral right we want to make sure we can use existing staff the best way possible uh one thing that has come up uh is there are some great configurations where we're having a lot a really high number of students uh as of uh august about a week ago we had 78 students now we've had some families changed our mind they have 84 students um i think as of today i think that number is even up to 88 students so the number has been creeping up um there's a the numbers as the numbers are getting higher in certain grade configurations um the the big conversations that you just want you to be completely aware and again being transparent there are higher numbers in some of these configurations in what uh our teachers are normally accustomed to right so uh one class may have may have 27 28 even 29 students in it virtually if you uh you can definitely see the kids in front of you on the small screens in the remote but it is a lot more children than what folks are accustomed to i did do some homework uh and i did reach out throughout the state of remont and try to look into what other districts are doing across the state with regards to the class size of um of our of school of of remote learning so the information i have currently is uh many districts are not capping the remote size classes there are also many districts are attempting to mirror what is possible in their in-person classes however these districts that responded to my inquiry were mainly offering hybrid so the idea if you have 15 kids in your class on monday and tuesday and then you have a day off on wednesday to do cleaning and then thursday and friday remote you have the same 15 kids so it's easy for them to there's a mirroring of that uh there was one district that did get back to me that is uh that has has a similar model that we have uh and they said that a district that is similar to the options we are providing stated they're offering a cap of 30 for remote classes and we're considering getting additional teacher support or power support or uh if and if that 30 number is achieved now i do know that we have i think one of the configurations that has 29 uh and that could change tomorrow we could have more um but what complicates this the situation is in my conversations with secretary french um vermont he has i've learned that vermont is seriously considering moving towards step three as long as the numbers look good uh with the metrics that they're looking at uh which make prompt discussions across the state of vermont for not having remote offerings at all in the state and this could happen a few weeks from now a few months from now or maybe never it doesn't happen this year um there is also no class size statue in the state of vermont uh so this is uh i think a um something that i members of my leadership team and i have this had discussions folks have said are are definitely thinking that we need to get new more teachers we need to think about hiring new teachers that's one that's one camp of thought uh my thought my thinking of it is that may be something we may have to do but i would really like some time to look at class sizes in our district across the board and also uh make a more informed decision about these some of these classes when we actually know what happens when school reopens um you know it's kind of like that it it's a it's a it's a challenge right do you do you assume that you're going to get more numbers and the numbers are going to keep going up or and do you really want or do you want to wait a few weeks and see how this plays out and so i think uh i think right now this is something that we're monitoring um and we may have to see what what we have to do as we get a little further into the school year thanks Brian um Dorothy yes i just wanted to ask um and remote can they also do what a lot of schools have been doing in school in the past um and have mixed grades in other words that that bunch of kids could be shuffled around amongst two other teachers and that's yeah fine yeah so so thank you Dorothy yeah so we're looking uh uh our team has looked at the grade configurations uh we have uh right now that the two grade configurations that actually have the we are doing the multi-grade so we do have grades three and four there they have a higher high number and grades five and six has a high number uh as of right now and that could of course at what point does it get to a point where like well so right now I'm hearing Brian our teachers aren't used to having that many kids in a class and I and I understand that uh and I'm trying to be uh sensitive to that uh and then at the same time I know they're not you know you don't have to worry about bathroom breaks you don't have to worry about I mean you see everyone on the screen it's a little different but there is still a lot of work to be done with in remote in a remote setting for the teacher so I don't want to denigrate their work or say but I it's it's it's just one of those tough you know head scratching things what do you do um and you know trying to be respectful to the teachers and the families uh but I mean obviously we don't want to get you know so many kids in there that you know you have little you can't even see the faces on the screen you know I have right now I have I can see everyone right now I have 25 here uh faces on my screen on zoom zoom but I guess it would get a lot smaller if I added it up to uh its full capacity of 49 that would be uh very different but of course it comes down to you know dollars and cents and you know where do we you know are we going to spend this money I know that uh we've been I know Lori and I I've been looking at different opportunities to see if we need to fund or if we can use some interesting ways of funding additional teaching staff but I don't want to commit to anything right now uh until we have a better idea of how this plays out thanks Ryan Steven look I'll speak for myself as a board member I think Brian's proposal that we wait a couple weeks into the school year to see how everything pans out and class size pans out as prudent as good suggestion and I'm very comfortable with that thank you Steven thank you Chris McVeigh and then Jonas um I I think we should grapple with the um question of whether um if we're offering remote um to families that we offer it for the entire year and not have it withdrawn um by a move to phase three um and I think that's something we should grapple with and and come to a decision on as a board um because I think oh and based on the numbers going from 78 um I think Brian said up to potentially 88 today um shows a concern among some of our families about going back into the classroom and um I suspect that that concern is not removed simply because the governor says we can go to phase three and if we start with that and we've configured a what sounds like wants to be renamed separate school um as the remote campus maybe it's the mars school um but we um we should honor that I think if we start out we start out with it we should honor it for the the course of this school year and I think we should come to that conclusion or decision as a board so that so that our families can can depend on um and then second point um for for Brian is Brian in terms of if the remote classes get large enough um is there a way of using teachers that we already have on staff to teach the um the flow the overflow that way rather than hire hire a new remote teacher thanks yeah so uh that that's the question that I'm grappling with Chris uh and I think that's why I'm asking uh I'm trying to uh have everyone to say let's put a pause and let's see how this plays out in the next few weeks I do also I also am aware of uh that the policy committee and the board passed a class size policy uh last year and this could be a perfect time to provide that information to the board in a future meeting about the class sizes in our schools and also to look at look at that because that could be something Chris but uh I don't want to jump make that because uh in my conversations with my initial review of the initial 78 children uh they were kind of evenly distributed uh it was very interesting across the so you don't really I I haven't seen a class that's down to like two kids and a full-time teacher in the inset I haven't seen that obviously that would be something to to look at uh but right now um I haven't seen it but that could change again it's you know we gained 10 kids in the last just a few days and we still have a few days to go I do think that uh after school starts we shouldn't let kids we should probably stop that from going in uh but however the other piece of the other piece that is is to support our teachers uh I had and I made this publicly known so uh if you have a child who refuses to wear a mask and doesn't and doesn't want to comply obviously we're just just progressive ways to go about and try to find out why is the child not wearing the mask what's going on but at some point I have to be prepared a superintendent to let the family know that their child's going to be going to remote learning which could also increase the size that's uh the class sizes of these uh so this is kind of a very dynamic complicated um matter but it's a great that's that's exactly what I've been I've been definitely grappling with that thanks thank you Brian Jonas thanks Scott um I have a just a couple of comments to make I want to mention uh a story in vt digger from a few days ago the quoted teacher from our district uh saying how unfortunate it was uh that we couldn't come up with a statewide plan for reopening schools um I have to sort of second that uh that sentiment um the article was about the difficulty teachers are going to have um and the state setting up childcare hubs uh one thing that I thought was um uh a little disappointing was the article did not mention the extraordinary uh uh efforts and plans that uh that we have made to you know to offer enrollment to the children of our teachers to provide the places in schools or you know we were way out ahead on the hubs um I voted against those uh those decisions um I'm still you know really uncomfortable with that but um I do think the credit needs to be given to the board in the district for uh for having that in mind and coming up with what I hope will be really good plans um about the remote uh about the remote uh cohort um Brian just a point of clarification did I hear you say that at some point um we're not going to allow uh families to move from in person to remote or from remote to in person uh yes you did I can clarify that um the uh the idea is at some point we are going to have to have some sort of cap or some sort of uh yeah the what the some of the folks in our leadership team and I have discussed is if we have uh if we can if we have provided opportunities for families to switch into remote or not that may have to happen at the quarters or semester mark so we give people an opportunity but at some point we do have to set a uh you know a time to say we given I mean we already kind of set a deadline already but we've been allowing folks to as we get closer to the school year uh because they're they're they're getting what they had more information they if I think about about two weeks ago we can half ago we set a deadline saying this is when the deadline is however we've allowed up to at least 10 parents families already to come in because you know it's probably the right thing to do at this point but I do know that I did talk to some other districts even close close to us that says at some point you have to stop it because you're gonna you have plans in place and it's going to be almost virtually impossible if you just have folks coming in and out of these classes I I hear that um you know the the one thing that sort of gives me pause about that um is um you know that there there may begin exogenous event coming right which is and you know a new wave of infections and at that point if people are afraid you know and you know who knows what that threshold is going to be um you know I would certainly you know I would hope that as a district we are you know we're acting with as much compassion and understanding as we can for our families who you know may be very worried about their health health of their children uh you know and the health you know public health in general and trying to minimize the risk of of additional spread at all um I also you know just one more thing before I stop monopolizing time um you know you said that the number of uh of kids who will be going remote has has been ticking up um you know that may go the other way at some point right and you know are you at all concerned that um you know families you know at some point who decide to send their kids back to in person that that may create you know unsafe numbers of kids in rooms in schools no no as a as a currently no but that we we definitely monitor it I do know that uh we have had some families move in to our school district uh within the last week I'm not I don't know if it's a population boom at this point but I do know that we can say safely socially socially distant uh currently on if the kids do because it's been evenly distributed across the uh across the uh district currently again I still don't I can't um you know I don't know what that'll look like in a week from now right now but as of right now that's how I understand it okay uh sorry Scott can I ask one more question and then I will promise to stop talking go right ahead Janice please um thank you um so you know these are really tough decisions and um you know you know a lot of this seems to be really on a nice edge right which is totally understandable I don't think there's any way around that um you know I've been you know as a as a consumer of news um you know I've been really concerned about what I've been seeing in New York you know and in you know I think it was in Andover Massachusetts where you know uh you know labor actions are either you know happening or or being taken um and you know as you know as decisions get made about how the schools operate and we are you know you know how you know the responsibilities are divided up between classrooms and you know who's working remote who's working in person who's working where um you know I you know I guess you know I guess this isn't a question um but you know I um you know I would just urge you know everyone involved to be you know as collaborative and and you know keeping the teachers in mind as as much as possible you know the teachers are going to make this happen um and we're at you know we have you know since March we have just asked so much of the educators in in the district um you know and from you know from this isn't this is not a complaint you know from from what I've seen and what we've heard in in the meetings um you know it you know it sounds like you know the the teachers are a real partner in this and in all the planning and the conversations um you know I think that's I think that's appropriate and I um look forward to seeing that continue so I guess it wasn't a question just more of a statement um and more of an expression of support for the teachers and administrators who I can't understand I can't imagine uh the pressure they're under yeah thank you Jonas um Brian I don't know if you wanted to say anything to that Brian well I mean I think uh you know Jonas uh hits I think he hits a nail on the head there uh I mean the you know the teachers and it's been it's been a a major project with the you know the teachers on the task force and and I think the you know my central office team and I really think the principals uh the principals in our in our district are doing such heroic work right now they are doing something that's never been done before uh at least in a hundred years um the they've uh they're doing something that schools weren't really built to do right I mean so this is just a you know a historic moment and yeah and in many ways I have the the principals and the teachers here are my heroes in many ways and I have to uh just echo what you said Jonas thank you Brian um any any more questions for Brian on this part uh do you have do you have any anything further to yes I do I do this is a big one uh it fell in our laps uh yesterday and we've been dealing with it today so just full disclosure uh this was kind of like one of those like oh you know wow uh this is a big one uh so um and I said we're sending a letter out this letter is going out to our families as well and I shared this with our principals uh and I've asked them each to come up with their own uh ways of reaching out to their families to find out exactly um how we can start determining how we're going to order get orders of food from from our families uh so let me give you an idea of what happened so on August 31st the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced an extension of the summer meals program under which all children in the United States are now eligible for free meals so uh so I see I see uh we're never got it I put his thumbs up so uh and uh the extension will run through December 31st 2020 or until funds allocated in this program have been depleted so that's kind of like a when is that depleted um so that means that all families and with children attending school in our district what are they doing in person or remotely may take advantage of this program so uh this is a big shift to be learning about three days before school opens um between trying to figure out our food service delivery models to um I mean we're it's been a struggle just figuring out how to get the food from the cafeteria to the classroom to feed to clean to and so now uh the next thing is making sure that if everyone is going to be getting free meals does that change our numbers of how many families are going to get free meals or are going to want free meals and I think the numbers are going to go up um I I know growing up uh uh my parents uh would tell me in the house that I was raised in I know my dad would say mom mom and you mom and I don't have to make you feel food for lunch you're going to eat and you're getting free lunch you're going you know and so I just imagine that the numbers are going to go up so um so that presents a lot of challenges for our food services and so what we're trying to figure out right now is um how many families uh communicate with our families at each school how are we going to place orders for meals uh and so uh we're going to be asking there's going to be a lot of work between just now and Friday just to get this get this done and I I don't I don't know if we'll get get it perfect perfectly for the opening of school but uh we'll have a communication out to families uh probably definitely tomorrow uh what we're going to ask the parents to complete continue to uh be aware that this program exists and they that they can still bring lunch from home if they wish but we're going to have to figure out how we do the ordering for it so this is just a very new great opportunity don't get me wrong but it's but the other problem is as of December 31st do we go back to the old model on January 1st because it's the year ends or when the money when the money runs out so we don't know when that happens another big thing that is uh superintendent's across the state of Vermont are grappling with is if everyone gets free free lunch sounds great does that mean it's going to be is it going to be more difficult to get families to fill out the free and reduced lunch applications anyway is if they're getting free lunch do you get are you going to be and you were getting free lunch do you need to fill the application out anymore and the problem with and challenge that is associated with this is uh we get title one funds based on our free and reduced lunch applications so it's a very it's a very tricky situation that we're trying to deal with and uh I think we'll be managing this the rest of the week and I think our principals uh and food service folks will be will be addressing this at least for the first two weeks of school to try to get this right thank you brian that is a big one um and many cited um any questions for brian on this piece jonathan yeah brian i i just had uh just one question concerning whether the the new usda guidance speaks at all to those impacts potentially the title one that you mentioned I know not not that great question jonathan I have not received any any information all we got was this letter from uh based from our um from the uh from the FDA but the I think the big thing is uh we're expecting more information from the alwe in the maybe even as always is tomorrow I know that in my weekly meeting tomorrow with secretary french people will be asking um a lot of supergents will be asking questions around just that thank you and I know I know I know I have steven here I I see steven I don't know if uh steven do you have anything else to add I know we talked about this today I know this is a biggie so I'm just here to answer questions okay um first chris and then Dorothy um so brian do did they give any definition on um what depletion means whether whether depletion can be calculated no they have not is it allocation per state or is it just I think the whole I think the whole I think a lot of folks in the country just got this sent to them um very quickly okay thank you yep thanks Dorothy I'm sure you've considered this I can't believe you haven't but does that mean we're going to be running buses to deliver the food to the remote learners no no I'll let steven talk more about that uh but no no so you 32 is going to support uh remote learners uh meal service because we have uh we'll have two grade levels out on any given week um but we're the only what we're looking at right now is doing delivery to the um the elementary schools for pickup for people who need those meals um we might be able to get it to once we can figure this out because it just changed on us um we might just have a couple of pickups a week so that people can pick up multiple meals um at one time and I think just uh to reinforce one of the things that brian said this is breakfast and lunch okay um and so it's uh it's uh free breakfast and lunch so we we expect at least double our breakfasts and who knows where lunches are going to end up teenagers tend to be able to eat a lot and this and I thank you steven and I think that uh not knowing how many people are going to take advantage of this it's very we're again we're chasing another moving target at the start of the year uh uh there are some districts when I go from 50 percent to 100 percent or 90 percent you typically have to hire more people to to do food service and we don't know if that's the case or not uh I'm not committing to that but you know this that's some of the so there's always a trade-off right thank you Dan you know I definitely appreciate the amount of work that it is but I think it reflects the amount of need that we have in our communities and that certainly even with schools opening up um we still have families that are struggling for that food security so um I just I'm I'm glad that that uh decision has been put out there and certainly appreciate that but also please turn to the community for what we can do to help as well thanks Diane yeah and leave it to government to do a great thing and at the same time create the maximum of uproar to get it done um so other other questions for brian on this one do you have more brian uh yes I do how about it okay so I was asked to provide an update we'll have more well final numbers at the september 16th meeting uh but the uh early retirement update numbers so currently uh the early retirement option was sent out to 55 people 23 people have responded so far 11 have taken it I think the board has approved a few some of that 11 uh at several meetings still have a few more that can't are coming in so we'll uh you know process them as well the deadline is uh Tuesday september 15th and so we projected 22 people would take it so again right now as of right now at this moment it's 11 but we will know the final number at the september 16th board meeting september 16th thank you very much brian it'd be a very interesting question questions on this Diane I know part of what we were talking about in doing this was basically looking at how um how it might potentially help us as we uh struggle with our balance our budgets what I think because all transparency out there my husband is one of the ones taking an early retirement um and so but I what I'm realizing as I was looking at that list is that they are positions that are going to be tricky to fill and so um that was one of those consequences I didn't think about at all and um so it will be interesting as we navigate through whether it was a cost saving or just an adventure in as you were saying some challenging waters ahead comments brian no I mean I I can't say that that was great so great um any other any other questions on the early returns if not brian anything else no no more okay um thank you so much um that was very rich um so uh let me can I just do a quick um pulse check do you do you want to take a break or do you want to just power through this power through because then looks like we have a lot left okay power through all right you saw a sign that said power through stop okay um if anybody needs to take a break however they're they're of course excused for um whatever it takes um Scott I'm gonna take I'm gonna take you up on that I'll be back in five okay see you jenice we won't do anything big while you're gone um finance committee sorry yeah it's talking about anything big but so the finance committee met today at 5 30 we had just one item in our agenda we approved our minutes from July and the second the discussion item was the call as road sign uh request so after discussing it at length with the members of the committee we unanimously agree that we wouldn't we wouldn't support this at this moment and that we would look at a policy and we'll we'll consider developing a policy related to so that we don't set precedent so a policy will be considered and developed at the policy committee but we would not take this as a recommendation of course we can we can talk about it but that was the four of us all felt like this was not a for us right now and then the last thing that we discussed in the in the finance meeting was looking ahead of future items in our agenda so this is a session for for Laurie and Carrie had asked an important question uh almost like a month ago about doing some research in the property tax collection and since Brian shared you know that the ad fund is looking better I think it was worth sharing that we do not it looks like it hasn't been a the cash flow at this time is it's okay it looks like if anything there might be something that is coming a little late but after doing research we would be we're not in any uh adverse situation to not having the funding from from our from our towns um other than that I don't know if you have how do you want to do the sign uh Scott um I think uh if you want to just table it by consensus until the policy committee or bucket to the policy committee yeah but but I think that callus is looking for an answer so I think we as a as a board either we put this motion on the table and say that we support the recommendation from the board so that call us have some some guidance to go by well yeah but at least knows that they should go ahead and buy the sign by themselves not with our funding Steven um I would recommend we make a motion and we can debate the motion and vote on it so I would I would make a motion that we fund the callus request um the callus uh sign request if that's an adequate motion and then if someone's if no one seconds it our work is done if someone seconds it we have discussion and vote on it and may have their answer tonight so Steven has moved do we have a second Dorothy seconds very good so we have um open for discussion Steven look Steven um I didn't hear you I think you're muted Steven sorry my first question is this legal can a school district jointly own property with a town I I think Lori had if Lori is um is actually listening to this she had um a valuable take on this situation but but Brian I'm sorry I'm I'm sidestepping protocol I should go to you and you go to Lori um however you're muted too yeah thank you Scott I and I would I would like Lori talk about that one we we just and we're just in that meeting but Lauria you there I am but I did take a break so I'm not quite sure what the question is is the callus road sign request legal I didn't speak to the legality of it what I spoke to um was is it in compliance with an educational expense under title 16 so I was trying to give the example that we share resources with towns with generators because those are an eligible expense if the school needed a generator but this sign which would be portable throughout the town doesn't necessarily come to be to me the way I understand it to be an educational expense because it would be traveling throughout the town so I had recommended that the policy committee if they were going to take this up check title 16 and and confirm whether or not it would fall under an educational expense for students did I miss something floor based on what you were looking for it no it was it was Stephen that asked the the question and but but yeah clarifying clarifying that that is not that you will have to disclose it and could you talk a little bit more about what that would mean for tax yes once a year we are asked to share with the state expenses that are payments to the towns and this would have to show up on that report it is coming here and what they do is they're looking for items that aren't necessarily educational expenses throughout the state not just for us to confirm our should they have gone through a municipal tax or an education tax so um Stephen it's not it's not a direct answer to your question about the reality but it is the relationship to the law I'm satisfied with the answer okay thank you and Chris McVeigh so when we consider this I would urge that we take into account the sharing of resources when we can with pounds because we are certainly parts you know boarding on our pounds and there's there's great benefit for us as well as the town to share one of the examples that comes to mind very clearly right now is that in middle sex we requested permission from the town to use a part of the town property for sending up outdoor classrooms now this this came up last night and I wasn't at the meeting and I'm assuming town said yes and they put on certain conditions so you know having that flexibility on this sharing resources when we can we can be mutually beneficial when it is mutually beneficial and so we should we should I don't think we should dismiss it out of hand when we take up a policy on it but for now I think we do need the policy so we should we shouldn't support this motion at this time thank you Chris Lindy I agree about the land and sharing those kinds of resources this to me doesn't fall in that same category as far as as personally living in other places when kids had to cross the street then I can see the safety type issues of the road and crossing guards and things like that because it supports the school you want the safety of the kids because they have to cross the street but I think if we were to support this then we need to put flashing speed signs at all the schools in the district that Berlin's the first one that comes to mind that might not need it because they're off of the main road but I think of out in front of East Montpelier where it's paved it's straight and it's a little racetrack so I just I think that's more of a town's responsibility for the safety of their roads versus what Laurie was saying it's not an education expense in that sense the sharing of resources like the town forests or the land and things like that I'm all for and hope we have a mutually just like our rec fields and things they're owned by the towns but schools use them I just don't think the sense falls in the same category I'm not even sure why it would need a policy because it's a piece of equipment for the town that doesn't seem to have an educational purpose so Lindy the only reason we we suggested a policy was to not set precedent so that if this type of issues may might not be a road sign but it might be something else that comes to the board we have a way to address it so that it's equitable to all the towns so not necessarily to to just the road sign yeah right so that it will be looking as a whole so that like next time we don't have to revisit the entire conversation of how we address requests to the school for for money so that's the idea part of the idea of the and looking at what Laurie shared with us at how you know we can't really share expenses and then I just want to say that we the other thing that we discussed is like we we are all for safety we all agree on that we're all for safety we're all that is not a it's not a big expense but it's it's how do we draw the line right in what we would be required you know what's next so it's it's important to have a good partnership with the town but it's also important to have and and everybody agreed on that to have defined lines so what are our responsibilities and at this time we have so much in our plate that doesn't make sense for us to take one more thing on two thank you for others if not I might recognize myself and from my perspective what this is really about is that that other third rail issue we have which is redistribution of debt service and I think that's that's what needs ultimately to be settled in some way and I think there are there are ways to settle and I can think of at least one um so that should be um that should be the direction for essentially for callus at least and um and avoiding any further sort of repeats of this type of approach and Jonas please I fail to see how this is about the redistribution of tax burden at all it's are are you suggesting that this is somehow the result of callus's grievance against the merger process I I don't think it's unrelated if I can put it that way I think um you remember last year there was also the um the elections issue the elections exactly um but this is I know there's a there's sort of a um every nobody wants to deal with this issue but I think it has to be dealt with in order to to finally um you know bury some of these let these ghosts rest finally um um if I may I thought that the vote we took earlier this evening was about putting that to rest um the debt issue should have nothing to do with with this and I find it disappointing that this has been injected into this conversation if callus feels that it has a legitimate you know safety issue then we should discuss that um I would be interested you know I would argue that we should that we should not approve this tonight as a way of deferring the decision until the policy committee you know as a number of people have said can get together look at the legality of this look at the appropriateness of this and figure out where we can draw the line but I think to draw to bring in the the the merger uproar um is is is distracting and has zero to do with this I would however having said that I'd be interested to hear what your thought is about how to resolve this because it is not in our hands we have no recourse to do that it is in the hands of the legislature um and we are not the legislature I believe it's a future agenda item on the finance committee um Steven look and then um floor and then christmas day so I'm not going to refute that it's not wise to schedule time to talk about this that has nothing to do with my motion my motion is are we going to support this payment or not or you know if there's some other action we're going to take I fully support having a discussion that has been alluded to here but I'm adamant that this is not the time to have that discussion let's make a decision on this motion and then move on please agreed um thank you uh floor and then chris I was just going to say what Steven said which is the same stink that I said our finance meeting that I'm glad to put this as a future item in our agenda the question is do are we willing to pay for design at this moment are we capable to take in that action today yes or no so that's it okay thank you chris um it's kind of just doing isometric exercises that's why my hand was up turn your video off when you do that please thank you chris I just um I've lost track of the motion on the table um I I personally don't feel like I can support voting on this tonight but I'm comfortable with the policy committee considering it but I think our motion is more specific than that or sort of more specifically action oriented so I've just lost track um the motion was and correct me if I'm wrong Steven to approve the the callous request for contribution to this sign so are we ready for a vote then yeah all right so as um as always if you're in favor of contributing to the purchase of this traveling um speed sign please click yes and if you're opposed click no okay um one yes and all the rest no and if I may explain my vote it's because I think it's about something else not about this really so um let's move on to the consent agenda approve minutes of august 19 um they're on page 17 does anyone want to move them diane I move we approve the minutes whatever the date august of august 19 of august 19 very good um anyone else to second join us seconds very good uh any any changes how do they look look okay great so um all in favor of approving the minutes of august 19 please click yes opposed click no floor there's a no next to your name is that okay okay all in unanimous okay very good thanks everyone so um for approving the board orders does anyone have them open and easily accessible Jonas please uh I move to approve the board orders in the amount of six hundred sixty seven thousand seven hundred eighty five dollars and fifty nine cents thank you Lisa and two hundred fifty six thousand eight hundred sixty eight dollars and ninety eight cents thank you Lisa great thanks very much is there a second please floor seconds um any questions everybody okay with voting all in favor please click yes and oppose click no of course and it's unanimous in favor thank you very much all right moving on we have personnel on page 24 of the packet um see would anyone care to make the first motion at least as though there are no new teacher nominations but there are a number of retirements effective at the end of this school year um would anyone like to I have it open scott if you want me to please do indeed thank you um I make a motion that we accept the retirements effective June 30 2021 of the following staff members uh Katherine Christie Elizabeth Worth James Nichols Fleming Patricia Fair Lauren Van Deeren and Mary Ellen hey Mary Ellen Hill thank you Lindy is there a second floor seconds any discussion floor yes yeah well I I don't know all of them personally but I I want to say that Kathy Christie has left the market not just at East Montpelier but our district in in general on her contributions and she's going to be missed terribly in helping you know coaching our teachers and what she's done for all our kids in all of our communities especially at East Montpelier and also with thanks to Elizabeth Worth who has been the nurse for as far as I can remember East Montpelier and she is going to be dearly missed and I let others that know better I can say more about you 322 but I let others say at least something for all these wonderful people that have been with us for so many years yeah we extend our gratitude to all of them I think Diane could say something about one of them yeah but I'm not sure we want that in print you know okay very good great all right um so uh if we go to a vote all in favor of approving these retirements effective June 30th 2021 please click yes opposed click no and um I'm seeing all the yeses the motion passes unanimously now um there's also a change in FTE do you want me to read that one too thank you lindy um I make a motion that we accept the change in FTE for Karen Lieberman to be increased from 0.7 to 1.0 FTE as a science teacher at U32 and Heather Clark Warner the EMS pre-k teacher increased from 0.4 to 0.8 FTE very good is there a second floor seconds p2 at chris um any any further discussion if not all in favor please click yes opposed click no and once again I'm seeing all the yeses thank you very much everyone all right um returning to the top so um round two of public comments um in which the public gets to express its approbation or disappointment or whatever it might have do we have any public comments remember uh if you raise your hand if you're in zoom or star nine if you're on the phone otherwise it appears not so we need to go into executive session for a variety of purposes several of them under the first section of the the um section 313 of title one and then as well as the student matter so um would anyone care to make oh whoa um sorry uh I'm backing up because I see Jill Drury has um raised her hand sorry Jill no problem thank you um I guess my question was for Brian um going back to the cutoff for allowing students to do remote learning um you know we received the survey you know probably what was it back in August beginning of August to have us to make a decision whether or not we wanted our kids to do remote or in person and we didn't have much clarification what either would look like at the time and so still to this day as a parent you don't you don't really know how your child's gonna feel once they get into the school there could be a lot of difficulties around wearing masks um there could be difficulties with them learning based on um outdoor learning um because to be honest teachers are trying to do more outdoor learning and that doesn't work for every child um I just my question is is how can we put a cap on something when you feel that your child's not feeling safe in a school or as a parent you don't feel that your child is getting the appropriate education because we don't know what we're signing up for um either way and I think that's a really difficult situation for a parent going into this blind just like a teacher trying to figure this out as well um I just think that we can't I understand like capping it because you know next week you could have 20 kids decide to go remote um but we don't know how these kids are going to feel until they're there right yeah and and joe and I agree with you that's why I've been um having conversations with members of my leadership team and other folks to say let's see how things play out in the next few weeks I do think maybe the word cap is it the right word um after what I'm hearing you're saying that uh uh because what I'm hearing you're saying is is there's a lot of uncertainty and there's a lot of you know folks are you know still think thinking this through and but I do think at some time though we do probably I don't know how to say a cap but we do have to say you know here's the date we've given folks a lot of time we give them a lot of time to process it so uh I would think August early August yes some plans were still being finished and developed we did put a deadline out there we did we do have some folks changing your mind right before school starts and I know that's why I'm very interested in seeing what happens in the first two weeks of school okay my next question is so say your child does you know the first week of school maybe even two weeks and as a family you come to conclusion it doesn't work for your children or for you for them to be either remote or you know in person vice versa what are the steps that they need to do to do this because that wasn't even like kind of you know that was never part of like a sign up or aspect of it we're saying oh never mind I changed my mind well right right now I know we have an option we give our parents the option of doing one or the other so it's either you say your children to school or we provide the remote option and that's what we have right now I don't is that that's kind of like where we're at I don't know well my question I guess is so like say if we go through the first week first two weeks and it's not working for your child do we reach out to the principal or do we reach out to yeah I would first reach out with the principal and talk to them about what's happening or how you feel uh Jill I mean I think that's the first part and then we can go from there but I do know that at some point yeah if we're gonna you know we're talking about um you know again this is one of the moving targets right like uh you know that we're chasing right now with the uncertainties of what's gonna happen next week when we reopen you know we maybe the only certain the certainty that we have there's certainties that we have that we put into place precautions and things like that but of course things could change right and we also don't know if and when the uh state will say we have to go to state phase three and I think uh uh board member McVeigh also brought it up today that that's something that we're gonna have to really think about um you know because some school I don't think you know in my opinion uh do we do we really want to shut down the remote option completely if that happens so I mean I think that's something that we have to really think about and grapple with over these next few weeks and so you know if your question is what happens if two weeks go by and I change my mind I think the longer it goes into the school year I think it's gonna get harder to change your mind until um you have your child um until the quarter ends you know when a great end a great remarking period ends I think that's where we're thinking about it educationally I don't know if that makes you feel any better but you know I know that yeah at some point we do have to say here's the date here's what this is it we can't really do this anymore because um it just becomes so disruptive to just everyone else uh in the district as well uh it interrupts the other children uh I mean if that becomes the case and yeah and I agree with you know you know a month from now having a child switching or even two months that can cause havoc but I think giving these children you know our students ability after two weeks of realizing that they can't be sitting in a class or outside wearing a mask and that it's just it's not comfortable for them that we need to be able to allow them to change their mind and I and I know uh and from what I understand Jill is in my opinion uh it takes 18 days to start a habit or break a habit right so I mean it's it's gonna take some time for everyone to get used to what what we're doing in school um I mean I think um having teachers back the last two weeks has been greatly helpful uh has it reduced some anxiety I think it has uh it's gonna get better as time goes on I think it will um provided that you know the numbers and metrics and things like that continue to happen uh but I think you bring up I think you bring up some good points I do I just think that you know that's what I'm grappling with too is you know where is that deadline you know we want to be respectful of of what parents want uh and be respectful and I guess I think the ultimate thing is trying to be flexible as much as possible at the same time there has to be a practical piece where we say okay well at this point we can't keep doing allowing folks to just go back and forth and jump in so um you know I definitely will consider you know what you're saying about the first two weeks I do think that the numbers may fluctuate but but I'm hoping that at some point they'll be steady okay yeah that's all I just wanted to see if there was a great spirit thank you thank you great thanks very much all right so um back to the executive session do we have a motion to go into executive session I'll move to go into executive session second thank you Jonas um was that your second inflow Chris oh Chris I'm sorry I'm sorry we're often mistaken our voices you have to be deaf like me um so funny um okay um Jonas and Chris so um all in favor please click yes oppose click no and we're in executive session with Brian yeah yeah and I just want to let Keith know to bring Kelly Bushy into executive session with us um okay great very good thank you all right was the purpose um for discussing legal matters or legal and legal matters and students okay thank you you're welcome and Keith will you be going into that meeting to uh show us share some documents or no no okay no I don't have I don't have okay okay that's fine okay thank you yep