 Congratulations everyone. I'm gonna call this meeting to order at 610. We do indeed have a quorum I believe the only person we're missing is Sarah Yeah Let's see meeting purpose. We're gonna have I what I hope is a good productive Subcommittee discussion the purposes of such and some particulars and also Principles presentation Plan on okay, I'm gonna move right into public comment The board welcomes comments But is not able to take any action on them other than to direct the public to the appropriate staff member or to the complaint procedure Comments are limited to three minutes per speaker time may not be ceded to another speaker Comments must be addressed to me the board chair or the board as a whole not to any individual on the board on the staff Or in the public, please raise your hand and wait to speak until you are called upon Please identify yourself with your first and last name and your town of residence Please refrain from restating comments that have already been shared you can express agreements with those comments Order into quorum shall be observed by everyone shouting and profanity are prohibited As the board chair, I will maintain the order and the quorum of the meeting With that I open the floor for public comment I'm gonna give it a silent count of five I have silently reached five All right seeing none I am gonna go ahead and move on Some housekeeping things here the date of the June board meeting It conflicts with senior night. Is that right on the calendar? So I Don't know if we want to move to a different day that week or a different week But keep the you know the the Wednesday at six Rhythm Phones I feel like I should do the same so It's June 12th correct is when we had it scheduled Correct. I was gonna miss I was gonna have to miss that meeting. So if we did it later That worked for me. How do people feel about the following Wednesday the 19th? Sounds good That is Juneteenth. Yes, it is. Thank you Are there is that an objection or just a note? Thank you All right Going once going twice Motion so moved seconded Thank you moved by Katya seconded by Ryan This is Moving our June board meeting date to the 19th Wednesday at 6 p.m. Further discussion All those in favor Opposed Stentions I would need the annual Wait, where's me Oh It's a quarterly yeah in June Next week is the high school with the RTCC meeting so next week next month June is brain tree. Thank you. All right So this next one Requires an admission from me that in my draft folder of emails There sits an email to all of you asking you to watch a webinar training that we were going to discuss It still sits in my draft box. You have not received it So unfortunately, I need to move that to the next time But the one that because I kind of feel like it's a good idea in this In these couple of months to kind of go back to basics. So the webinar having to do with open meeting laws Um What we can and can't do when we can and can't meet why we can and can't go into executive session all that fun stuff So You know the discussion doesn't necessarily have to be a long and involved one But if we could all plan to watch that training before or that webinar before the next meeting and I will send a link Okay, subcommittee discussion. So First and foremost, I want to point out that on our annual agenda. This is the month in which we would be discussing in evaluation subcommittee The superintendent valuation that's a process that you know a new process we formally started this That we're ending now that we voted we wanted to continue And we need a subcommittee of I'd like to say three but you know, we didn't say there needed to be a requirement of people who want to be Working with the VSBA Through that process this past year. It was Chelsea And Sarah But I will continue just for continuity sake, right appreciate that Are there others that are interested in serving on that subcommittee and do you want to talk a little bit about what the time commitment was? well It really wasn't that That much because we contracted with the VSBA to do to send out a Survey And they just did it they just did it all so we just Checked in with the gal that was doing that but we didn't have to I mean and that was we did it over We did it remotely So it was not a huge time commitment and then It was like 15 14 or 1500 Yeah, what's the value of it what would we get from that? It's a formal evaluation process so they help us put together what Information we thought we needed to gather the groups of people we wanted to gather it from Right right Which is also Right right and And these sort of they already had the survey it's all who's all Done, so we just reviewed it and said Yeah, that looks good. Well, they consolidate it. They kind of put it into Yeah, yeah, yeah, she collated all the results and Yeah But and The way we did it this year. We didn't really we we were just sort of doing a test run of it It wasn't Lane's real evaluation, right? This time around right we had decided as a board that this is how we wanted to Remember Miss VK the past let me know But that this was the process that we wanted to continue in formally. I think we're watering it down a lot It's not just sending out a survey and then tabulating the results because I know At least when I What I've heard from Chelsea is that there was a lot of there were quite a few meetings and and Well Lane helped me out how how frequently we we met well We took because basically what we did was we then took an evaluation Went and Chelsea did this so the committee didn't do it. Chelsea did it Chelsea took In evaluation template that we used with administrators and she Could it she put the information from the survey into that So and that template is done Although it's done with the Lane's information, but we could we can I mean that will be The task The big part of it was that there was a specific focus on certain of the ends In the discussions it also changed kind of the interpretation of like the fine arts the social studies and life skills And that that's reflected in the updated ends report So to carry over so yeah But the real job that the board This committee is gonna have to do is we didn't do the other part which is basically if we're gonna use policy governance the way you evaluate your superintendent is you use your ends report and your monitoring reports and so Right now and that was part of the reason why Lane said I'm not I'll help you with this process I'll go through this process with you and I'll Kind of do it with you, but I'm changing stuff mid-stream Right, right, but but I want to be careful here because I think that what we had been discussing at the time Is that that wasn't enough for us and that's part of the reason we wanted to to right? Find someone to kind of foster a different way of evaluation and in the contract this When the process I just went through the line says you know evaluated annually and I think again The policy governance does have very strict rules, but it also is not one size fits all and if we feel Part of the reason I thought that we wanted to go through this evaluation process is because we wanted feedback not just from What we're getting what we're getting in those reports, but also from those survey results as well To have more information Yeah To be less constrained than I think the process has been Do we find as a board we find Information gleaned from that survey helpful that's one question and then a follow-up to that is Did lane find it helpful as far as professional development and do his job better Because if he didn't find it helpful and we didn't find it particularly helpful, why are we doing it? But if we did find it helpful, then let's let's like continue with it and see if we can Make it more of what we need so but we I think that one value that it brings to us as it gives us another another lens of perspective on What we think The ends and what the priorities Are for for improvement. I I do see Wayne's point about like a chain it's If if the superintendent is being evaluated on the ends, I guess the value to me in the In hiring the consultant is that it can help inform What we create for the next year and what the priorities are one of the one of the ways to do that is it's not just the ends It's also the evaluations on the executive limitation reports So one of the possibilities is that if you're finding that there are specific bits and pieces of information that you want more of that's where you go in on those executive limitations reports and make the Standards in there the provisions a little bit more explicit about what you're looking for How the process works and that might be helpful the evaluation itself What the BSBA uses it basically mirrors? Policies are a lot of them with the exception there were a few things That we don't really do because of the way that we govern our district versus other ones Where it there wasn't a real connection to our policies and and During his policy governance training one of the things because some other boards had had tried using that that process is Sometimes you know you're you're relying on on cabinet staff to evaluate The superintendent, but sometimes they don't know exactly They don't know necessarily what? What do you? Everything that he's doing Right we were surveyed right and probably I mean if you remember from the survey results the folks who Sort of were the Ratings it was all board board All the results coming from board members and and from the from cabinet Because it was basically the cabinet Was surveyed the board was surveyed Blended a self-report all director reports right and so And then a self evaluation So and really I mean, I know I know there's some disagreement about whether or not our policies Give give us enough feedback on the performance of the superintendent But if we're feeling like our policies aren't giving us enough feedback then we need to Then narrow our policies to give us the feedback that we're looking for sounds like you're arguing against doing I Think we either need to change our policy or we need to use our policies and Adapt our policies if we're not getting Information or the assurance that we need and I think some of the other I would say maybe issues that folks might have had had more to do with communication and maybe communication style and that means that we as a board need to do a better job of providing that feedback in the moment or after a meeting or Asking a question rather than Wondering or or if people hear things that they're not Going through the channels or communicating to find out information before So anyway, but so I I hear the same thing that you don't think this is the process to use I propose that we still do need some direction or assistance or Consulting on how to do what you're saying we need to do and especially with a new superintendent coming in we need to be prepared to Figure out which questions we want to ask to make sure we're getting the information We want to get and know the information that we want to get and that's work that we need to do and I have a speaking Susmission we need help With that or we would have figured it out already. Yeah, well, I I am I would propose we have a new superintendent coming in He is familiar with policy governance, but he has had no training the VSBA now offers mentors so one of the gals that's doing the current policy governance training mentor new superintendents who are Using policy governance because it does take a little bit to get used to it and to understand what you're doing and So I I think we're gonna have to we do need to sit down and and have a have a discussion with the superintendent and and sort of One he's got to understand what the expectations are because it is stated clearly in our policies, but In our policies, it's it because our policies are what he has to do But and what I'm saying is we don't know what our expectations are because if we did we would have been completely Satisfied with the evaluation that we've been doing, but we brought in this consultant So I think that perhaps what this is leading me to believe that the July meeting is usually meant to be a Retreat of some sort and it seems to me that might be an opportunity for this group to sit down without the superintendent and say hey what Do we feel like we weren't getting? How can we change either our policies or the executive limitations? What are questions we can ask of the report when they come and Maybe even be our own consultants if we don't want to invest that money because that particular process wasn't great And I think a mentor for him is great, but I'm more concerned about Us doing our job and getting what we need, right? And that means we need to understand how to work with our policies or as I've said to the group several times Come up with another governance system if you feel like this system doesn't work or let's spend the time and energy To learn how to use the governance system that we have in place Because that's been part of what has been the difficulty is It does take a little bit of time to understand How to make those expectations clear how to Work with the ends how to look at a monitoring report and we have gotten stymied in and not really doing that that process and and we there You know if we don't want to do it Then you know we should throw these out and let's go through the process of Adopting adopting a new set of policies to go on the board in the district but we Part of I think what makes the evaluation process work is if we understand how the system and and So anyway, I I think I think we're agreeing with each other. Yes, and I think that the subcommittee That I brought up at the beginning of this particular agenda item is eight people strong And I think the first subcommittee meeting of those eight people should be at that July retreat and I think it should be Is this the way we want to govern and if it is How is it going to lead us to a superintendent evaluation because this is a big year right? This is the first year with Michael We want to be we were very clear and I brought to you guys that the contract when you know The particular term about we wanted him to go through an entire evaluation process We need to be really clear with him, but before we're clear with him. We need to be clear with ourselves What we're gonna base that on right where we're gonna get that evaluation and then everyone's gonna feel Thank you We are the sub Well, we I thought we were gonna talk about other we are we are I meant on the evaluation In terms of other subcommittees, so I did and it kind of this is a good segue because I want to talk about maybe Nudging one of our policies around which has to do with subcommittees and their purpose That they're used What is that four point? I think it's four point five or four point six sparingly, which I think is a tricky word Because there are subcommittees right now that exist the ends subcommittee, right? the the negotiations standing Ownership linkage definitely facilities we put on hold Yeah, and because we wanted to talk about what the real Purpose and function of it was. Yeah So policy committee There's not a policy committee at this time. There's not a budget committee at this time for instance Sorry, I I didn't mean to correct you. I was just in my head. It just came out. I apologize I know I know So I think You know the negotiation committees are standing it doesn't mean they always have the same members We re-elect every year or we volunteer every year But if it's a good negotiations here, we have to have those committees. They're somewhat standing Both the ownership linkage and the ends committee. I'm just gonna start battling until someone interrupts me But I'm gonna do a stream of consciousness here it seems to me Those should be always their committees ready to Meet if there's something to task them with like when we put out those letters to the community Because we knew who the ownership linkage committee members were That's who contacted I can't think of his name right now. I'm very sorry in that Ben Merrill. Thank you And started that process of getting it together the ends committee Ties into what we're talking about in terms of policies. I think that also needs to be The end's committee. I think needs to be the entire board. I mean and we have Again, I would say the board is sort of we kind of we started a reevaluation of our ends and We that moved on to the fall and then it's just sort of again Our our job is looking at the outcomes of the district and where we're going and how we're evaluating them and are they the right ends and We tend to get mired in other business and Which the graduate was kind of also to help us. Yes Exactly, right, and I think that's not a minute sort of sat there for a year We're coming around to the year that I mean we produced it the end of June of last year and so it was the charge of that committee Well, we were gonna we were gonna look at the portrait of a graduate and then try and Make the ends more specific because We had lame Saying he didn't he wasn't clear on what the ends were and so he needed more definition more specific You know, so if that committee had a charge, which just sounds like it did did that committee just kind of Not me, okay. Yeah, it did well wait a minute Yeah, no, it was a separate committee. I was on it Rachel's on it Megan was on it We did meet a few times. Oh the ends committee the ends committee. Okay. Yeah, and you were there Yeah, and I think um, I think we need to persist with that Right, and I think part of the reason it's a subcommittee is because it is very time-consuming and in order to not make these meetings marathon There is work that needs to be done in a group Open meeting as well, but in addition this isn't just fluff right like this is all work We need to be doing in addition to looking at our ends and making sure they're what we want them to be I do think that subcommittee should remain a subcommittee to bring to the larger group once It's out of the weeds It's in the weeds now, and I don't think this room with the full group once a month with all of this other stuff that is just as important as well is The place to be in the subcommittee was not to set the ends. It was no Right, so there were decisions for the board to make. Yeah, the subcommittee was not making any decisions right was trying to Take that portrait of a graduate I mean it sounds like there just either needs to be a recommitment to some of these subcommittees and the individuals who are on them are Recognizing that you know there is there is time Commitment an additional time commitment and really like committing to that work So I think that's that's the like more general question. We have to ask like what what's the Capacity are people willing to do that With people, you know and then really recognizing like maybe setting a schedule just like we had when we had our Superintendent search by this month. We're gonna bring this by this month. It's this, you know, so you have actually a Real set idea of your path forward with this committee rather than like oh, I guess we'll meet and I think we're working on this But it was kind of quiet about this last month. So let's skip it like nope. You gotta meet who's currently on the ends committee Rachel myself and am thank you and Heather Yeah, and I'm wondering if if what might help as if we got a consultant to help us With that Consultants and consultants and we had We had Winston and we've had portrait of the graduate and we now have the data we need and we need to Work with the data. We need to do it. Yeah. Yeah, and the last meeting we had which admittedly was You know a while ago. Mm-hmm, but was very Meeting I use that word a lot, but fruitful So I think you're right, I think it's about recommitment I think it's about being very clear what the what the task is what the goal is and What the timeline is So what is the goal is that anyone want to join that committee? the goal is to bring a draft ends policy for the board to review and Adjust to adopt yes review adjust And get to a point where we can adopt new ends policy that is more specific than the one we have Yeah, and I mean honestly, I think if we're looking to be More fruitful with our subcommittees that there would be a monthly report out from our subcommittees letting the wider group know what You know, even if it's just like a two-minute like we've been on this day and we did You know, this was the work that we got done and we're at this step now Like just that I think that kind of helps with that accountability piece of like well I have to report back to board so we should meet and make this, you know, keep moving our steps forward So those three members of the ends committee are you Interested in remaining I am as well so Anyone else want to join So, yeah, I think it's up to me for learning. Great. Thank you. That's a committee now has four members And We will meet before the main meeting and then report out Great ownership linkage subcommittee, which again, I think is one that is a standing committee in that it's always hovering around So that we know who to go to Beginning of year letter to the community being one of them. We have talked about it's on our annual agenda Yeah Yeah Involvement in the strategic plan We need to create a five-year strategic plan No, that's the portrait of graduate with the next step No, but they should at least be members of the board on the it'll be a big community outreach To get all of this information like to collaborate on this. This is not like a top-down thing. It's a community Conversation, so I really do think members of the board need to be involved in that So I just said it's like an upcoming project that we will be asking members of the board to be present and invested in And our ends should be Yeah in time because the ends are what drives That's what I'm getting nervous about So that if he has to make budgetary decisions starting in October Exactly, so that's where our ends committee needs to be motoring along if we are going to make some changes to the ends so that If this new new superintendent needs to make a Strategic plan for reaching the ends. He's got to know what he's yep What is right, but that's separate from the ownership linkage That's about community Communication mm-hmm that committee currently So we I think it should be at least three people Because I'm on the ends committee and I'm spent then right now. I would like to step away I hope you don't So those those are two seats on that committee that I Who wants to join me would love to fill Sam wonderful We can put that up to Sarah as well. Let's remember that's another person to lasso in And Ryan, thank you very much new ownership linkage subcommittee So if you guys could plan to meet relatively soon I was If you could plan to meet relatively soon so that one of you could reach out to Ben If you want to go that route To help with the letter although we kind of had it last time we did write it last time ourselves So take a stab at it. We can do it, but because we want it for the end of the year Who's going to get a draft in front of us? He helps us we are If there was a draft you wanted to share That would be amazing Draft letter for May draft letter for the main meeting for us to look at because we'd want a chance to Yeah, we want it and we want it for June 1st that committee. I'm suggesting it as a goal Can I just ask one more clarifying question, please? Can you confirm that that thing that we did with Winston was the last strategic plan. Yes, I yes But it wasn't that wasn't the strategic plan that we use the he used parts of it Right. We adopted it a lot of it was already completed. What was in the plan? By the time when it came out No, we use the continuous improvement plan usually for our strategic work. I Forsee you getting many questions like Katia's From community members because I think there will be yeah, I feel like we just confused Winston I don't I wasn't here when Winston worked with you. So what year was that? That was No, not before because I joined So 2020 Yeah, I don't remember this work. I'll look back in my I have files if you hit me up tomorrow I mean, I worked on the continuous improvement plan that year But nobody called it a strategic plan that they're different things which I will talk about when we Send to continue to improve plan tonight Yeah, and those meetings do need to be warned someone doesn't need to make to take minutes they can be simple And and sent to Kyle so figure out a date. Please make sure Kyle knows that and I Would recommend that they it's easy to have them in the conference room there And then there's a laptop there for you to use for people to join in if they want to makes it easy other Subcommittees, I just subcommittees as a whole We're good for now. Are we good? This is enough work good And we're gonna move on great 2021 Do you maybe want to forward Heather some stuff from then at some point I'd love to second but Just so she knows what we're referring to Brookfield principle Got it. Thank you very much for the update And I will be in touch with you and Kyle and Kara and we'll figure out the best Great Voting machine research update lane Little bit of a write-up in the Superintendent's report that was emailed out a day or so ago also included the brochure for what was recommended by the the Secretary of State's office of the elections Division in terms of you know what most of the towns are using It's the Dominion precinct to model that they recommend The cost is about 5,800 To have that it's a one-time cost There is about a five to six hundred dollar cost a year to update the software to match You know what the ballots are and then there was a cost to have the ballots created each year Those two costs the costs for the programming and the cost for the ballots are already in our budget We have to pay for them to use the machine that we have now So they're not really anything in addition There's plenty of money in the year-end surplus as well as the operational reserve fund If this is something that the board wants the vote to do This was also vetted by our technology team as their Happened we have to get that added to next month's agenda for appropriation or can we just pay for it out of reserves? I would I would my recommendation is vote for out of surplus and if it for whatever reason surplus isn't a Available allow us to do it on operational reserve, and that's the 58 whatever it is Okay, I move that we purchase the Dominion model that the Secretary of State's voting department suggested we buy Do I have a second? So second Do we have to say where how we're going to pay for it or we can just say I Think it's understood you usually you would say which account it comes from I would say sir I would say sir plus amended out of surplus funding now I Seconded again with the amendment further discussion all those in favor please say aye Great Extensions passes unanimously Self-evaluation policy 4.1. I know I sent the part very late today But policies are always available now I would like to propose that we actually kind of sort of started this conversation Earlier today and will continue it at our July retreat when that is scheduled So I don't mean to shut down conversation, but this policy is about how we govern And how we're doing at it And if the previous discussion By read the room correctly, we don't get an A-plus We're trying we have plans In looking at the policy does anyone have Something they specifically want to I already said I already said Maybe that's why it was top of mind when I was because I did this just before I arrived here exactly exactly I think maybe I mean this like you said this might be good thing this might be good homework for us for our July meeting yes come like With this really Flushed out as far as what we're how we're feeling about it and Agree and to bring kind of just Yeah Bring this to that retreat. This would be our homework there. There will probably be more but you know keeping in mind that it's Personally this chart is really helpful just because it parses things out for me and it helps me organize it Don't feel like you have to do the always most of the time some of the time never sometimes It doesn't fit in there. It can be narrative. It can be you know phrases or words that that come to mind But this is good homework for the retreat this is exactly what We need to figure out. Oh first review of N's report emailed separately It's right here I thought it was going to be for Wednesday, but it was easy enough to put in the data that I had So I can probably give a brief overview especially for the new board members Yeah, and then the recommendation is I would read the clean copy that was emailed Whatever reason the printer was printing the lines on stuff today But the N's report this is these are the goals That the board has kind of developed it's kind of like the mission What we're supposed to be achieving on behalf of the Community on behalf of the students and on behalf of the parents You know they have things in there like you know all students will you know have acquire foundational knowledge in mathematics So that's a pretty broad statement about what that means And so it's the job of the superintendent and that's an important point because when like it's here He may decide to change those interpretations In my case, you know, I interpreted it to mean that we're in compliance with giving foundational knowledge to students As long as we're within you know three percentage points of the state performance And there's rationale and things that are in here that explain why that that was chosen based upon You know education research and things like that So this is really the reporting out this is how we're interpreting what it means to be successful on these ends And here is the data showing where we actually stand at this point in time and Reports always look at the year behind Same thing with executive limitations reports. So they are not looking at 23-24 they're looking at 22-23 and we have most of the data right now There's still one or two pieces that we can't get from the state most notably the graduation department graduation Rates I have not seen yet 23 they still yeah, they're still two years behind They were actually doing I think they have the data ready They were revamping their website where you can get the data from for a couple of months And it literally just came online You could actually start to get the data again in the last week And so Crystal's working on that we should have that information in there You do have the new information from the revised interpretation that came out of the Evaluation subcommittee on fine arts that's in there You'll get similar information about that hopefully for life skills in social studies It's taken a little bit of time to set that up for the first piece The life skills remember that is a new course this year So if you get data on it, it may just be semester one Right again, and we're not looking at the year behind But that's okay at least we still have some data to see to see what that looks like And then unless there's there's questions on it The other piece to remember is again same thing with executive limitations Is the superintendent gets to take a look at what the board policies are? It's to interpret what they need has to provide you with a rationale for why they interpreted it that way And then you get to decide if that rationale is reasonable that it's reasonable that you know That's that's what stands and so he may decide to come in and change what's there, and that's that's perfectly within his purview Have those discussions but But the good data that's on there. You got the math the ELA you got the science. You've got the fact that the Overall population of our special education students has been declining for the last six to seven years We were one of the highest in the state we did get Last year we received one of the newsweek's best schools awards this year we received two So there's been a significant amount of improvement over over over time in for credit to the the staff and the teachers All the rest of the state and the nation was actually in decline, but this is a good there's a second reading I'm gonna update the remainder of the data that's available. I'll get back to you probably about two weeks before The board meeting and that way if there's questions I'm happy to do a final kind of PowerPoint presentation on it They usually take a long time to folks feel it's necessary We did a mini one at the beginning of this year with with the data that we had and in that report Where our students are stacking up against the state's So you got the state average and so actually if you flip over let's actually Take a look at It'll be one of the earlier graphs. Let's take a look at the the ELA and So what you're seeing is you're seeing The overall state score that's in the orange. So what this is telling you is like in 2022 43% of all the students in the state achieved proficiency in ELA in the case of the orange Southwest school district is a whole a little over 50% achieved proficiency. So we're beating the state Where the blue line you can see that There's a separation happening between Between the state and the OSSD it means we're actually pulling ahead of the state as time goes along So this was also the first year as far as the data went back 2021 in terms of ELA. I believe that we beat the state We have a sense of how this compares nationally because I mean 50% of efficiency. I mean, yeah, just that strikes me as Unsatisfactory for anybody So That here's here's the reality and again these numbers started out low like math started out 11% You know five or six years ago overall proficiency. So they're up at like 38 or 39 percent now Compared to the state. We're doing pretty darn well and compared also I did the comparison to our surrounding districts. We are but Vermont is in a different category Then like Massachusetts When I was in Massachusetts after 10 years of the MCAS, you know, it was not unusual, you know, the schools I was at in Science on average the kids were 90% of the kids were at proficiency in science 95% of the kids were proficiency in math and 98% were proficiency in ELA The difference being is that in Massachusetts, it's a high-stakes test. There's something to lose You don't graduate if you aren't successful on those those tests They also are some carrots there for them, too Whereas if you perform admirably across Admirably, excuse me across the three tests you get what's called the salmon Abigail Adams Scholarship where they will give you free tuition to the state schools And so there's there's a lot of pieces in Vermont if the kid, you know doesn't ace the test or do well on the test There is absolutely no consequence. And so one of the things that we've had to fight especially in this district in the early years Was the the idea that was cultural that it just doesn't matter so I waste the time So it took three or four years to get the teachers the parents and Students on board with the site of it No, we need you to take it seriously because it's providing us feedback with how you're doing Which is based upon how we're delivering instruction to you And can give us information on what we need to adjust to make So we're not quite there there's not a hundred percent buy-in that it's important to take it But it's a heck of a lot better than it was a few years ago So I would argue that our scores are probably if everybody took it seriously You're probably a bit higher than what we're actually seeing The only other quirk to point out is our science scores We are comparing our science scores to the state That's a little complicated And has to be looked at under a certain lens Science is the only test that the final test is an 11th grade those five eight eleven Those are the three years they test science 60% of our students go off to the tech center as juniors Which means that 60% of our students that have to take the science test do not have a science class their Junior right and regardless of that. We're still pretty close to the state But that is a hindrance again if that weren't the case because most of the state's kids do not attend a technical center Our scores are probably actually a little higher if you took that into account You probably can't can you manipulate the results Do you have access to them to say take out all of the students who are at the tech center? And just look at the high schools Yeah, we just have to ask this. Well, I don't know. I don't know how complicated it would be You're reducing the overall Population so there's still enough there that it's probably the trend lines over time are meaningful But in terms of absolute meaning for a specific year because the population is so low, right? It wouldn't have a lot of Validity, I guess it probably the best way Yeah, I think my only concern is that the public sees that proficiency is Hovering around 50% then they'd be less generous with the budget, but and I think that would be the only incentive to You know, we talk about incentives not being there, but it's up to this It's it's it's a benefit to the teacher. It's one of the discussions that we've had in the past The highest paying districts in the country are the highest performance because when Students are performing at a high level folks that are invested in education move to those districts and It sets up this feedback cycle of okay. We're invested in education. You're doing a good job We're willing to pay more so you're able to build stronger and better and more advanced programs because they're willing to pay more which improves the View of the schools and so more people move in and so you get this this really positive feedback loop so, you know Belmont that I was at in 1992 And so this will put a number on it for you They were rated as number 75th in the entire country of the 26,000 high schools that are out there They are salaries in that age in 1992 topped out over For now Thank you Continuous improvement plan great everyone I've distributed From on continuous improvement plan template it's a four page document And I've also provided you with a 50 page document which are our school improvement plans I'd like to present to you that these are not a strategic plan The continuous improvement plan is a required Document to receive federal funding through the title funds so title one two and four Which we call consolidated federal programs. We're compelled to have a safe and healthy schools goal We're compelled to have an academic achievement goal and we're compelled to have equity measures However, this is not meant to be a full and robust strategic plan. It's meant to indicate How we will spend the money awarded to us Whereas this strategic plan would include a vision statement a mission statement Values it would validate things. We're going to continue doing that. We're already doing it would talk about Paths for equity for every student it would talk about pre-k all the way through Senior project and that will not be covered in this as we're saying We have identified needs in ELA and mathematics and we're going to hire interventionists, right? We have identified That we need a new emergency plan. We're going to create it because that's specifically how we are going to target these funds So this document Only four pages, right? It's nowhere near a full strategic plan, but I did also the It's linked in here these 50 pages and so what you have here is like page one through 12 is brain tree And then the next 13 pages are Brookfield and the next 14 pages are Randolph elementary And the next 11 pages are the high school the tech center is not covered in this document The tech center will be in what's called the CLNA which the comprehensive local needs assessment Which is a whole nother assessment of like what do we need to do To bring our numbers up. So you'll see referenced in the larger document Multiple times one for each school that our mathematics scores as Lane said before are in the range of 28 percent to 59 percent Right and our ELA are 41 to 75 depending on great BAM So we're setting a goal to say we want to see all our students at 70 percent right But honestly we could do even better than that, but we want to get at least there, right? So that's the goal and so we're saying we give us this federal money We'll make sure the intervention is happening like tiered systems of support. That's the really the purpose of this document And so we have our safe and healthy healthy healthy schools goal Which is to create these flexible and equitable learning environments? So we'll continue with mtss, which is our multiple tiered systems of support And uh, we will continue with our pre-k measurements We'll develop and train educators in restorative practices We'll continue to grow our teacher mentorship program We'll continue to grow our advisory program Which is scl write social emotional learning support and we will develop our emergency operations plans And so then you can see also we've indicated how we will measure these including understanding of our emergency operations plans Our youth risk behavior data Right when we're looking at safe and healthy schools. That's data. We're using to say we need To be focused on social and emotional wellness Our climate surveys and then we report on how we will fund it and so we say title one, which is for academics Title two, which is for professional development and title four, which is for well rounded schools So that includes your stem programming and your wellness Programming as well as the local budget and we repeat a similar narrative for academic achievement Where I've said our goal is 70 percent of students will be proficient or above in reading and mathematics by the end of grade Three and then remain proficient Through the rest of their programming that's a lofty goal and I do believe we can achieve it or above What's that efficient or above or above? Yeah, and we currently yeah currently The range if you look on pages three and four Of each of the elementary schools So if you go to any of the ones where it says like page three of 13 Page three and four it shows these the scope of our of our outcome data for elay and mathematics on page 34 Some of the elementary schools have already been over the 70 percent. Yes in elay in elay in math if you look back two three years Um, so this is not aggregated by school. This is district wide. They all shared the same data And so um, and then we're talking about um, you know using those funds to um train elementary teachers and provide professional development and um continue to employ Interventionist, which is how we have been using that money for several years Um, and that we are compelled to have equity supports and so Our prioritized school goal is for students who are identified as living in poverty to achieve as well as students who are not experiencing poverty Um, which again is is quite a goal because if we aggregate the data by students who get free and reduced lunch And those who do not you see that um, although we're doing a good job There's still room for improvement there that those they have equity of access to Improved outcomes and so that's where we're talking about the intervention and our STEM programming, which is an allowable expense for title and um Again, I've linked here at the end the the school improvement plans and But again, I want to uh Compel you to not consider these our strategic plan If you have some time look at some strategic plans from around the state or even the nation They're very attractive documents. They're based on values Like from the portrait of a graduate and each one is broken apart like how might we get there? What do we need to keep doing? What do we need to add and they're they're really presented to the community very much like the annual report in a in a Attractive Presentation that says, you know, this is our this is how we envision our greatness And this is what we will do to get there and so that to create that project We need to we need to have things that are much more accessible to the average reader Then a compelled grant document, which is what this is these documents are compelled to get federal funding. They're dry They're great for educators, but they're not great for students Parents and the community to say I know where we're going So you need these in order to get the title What is it does the state follow up for the federal government to make sure you're doing those things How is how is it? How do they? Check up on this because you can say all this. Yep, but then who checks up on it Is it the state the department of ed through the state or is it the federal? Yes, the state employs a grant manager for each of the titles right and they um compel us to create reports and to uh meet with them on you know regular basis to Say how we're doing on what we said we would do Um and do grant reporting So the federal government gives portions to the state and then each state gives out portions to each district And the state is compelled to document compliance and report back to the federal government Good question My pleasure and I need to compel you to please uh approve This um or ask me for revisions, which i'm happy to do as I would like to have be able to submit this to the state As soon as they open the portal, which has not yet been opened for applying for this It is a part of our it's about $500,000. It's money. We we rely on My only thing is I just and this may be accurate, but on page 13 of the Randolph elementary school one Yes Linda Lugold is still listed as the individual to contact for if a language translation or other combination needs to be made Please contact linda and kyle's listed on all the other elementary school ones. Thank you Good job. Gotcha When by when do we need to approve this? It's part of our consent agenda Oh, great. Yeah, it's the last time to actually read through it Or do we just approve without reading? Generally with this um, so the only part that will be that well, this is the only this these four pages are the only Pieces that will be shared with the state. Oh that either just brought us through those This packet these are internal documents. Okay But uh, honestly, they should be right because they could be They could be requested by anyone and we wouldn't consider them private You know our our thinking on where are we academically and where are we with uh equity? We would share these so I really appreciate the typos and all of that But this smaller document is what I need to submit to the state. Okay Um, did you find it? Would did you work on the type of she said page 13 A lot of times There it is So if you have concerns about it or questions about it from her presentation just now now is I got it. All right Thank you Okay policy decisions unlawful harassment or harassment however you prefer to pronounce it the second read again, there's no This was an update from uh, the sba vermont school board Association, um, they typically contract out to pho and heather lin who are our attorneys anyway To do this for the state. There are no substantive changes to the policy. It's mostly wording changes And so what this does is it actually it's helpful because the wording changes make the process to be followed a little clearer than in the previous version of the I'm in the middle of going through and In checking these this year. I'm looking forward to april vacation because that's when I'll do a lot of the Got the free time to actually sit and just look at this for a couple hours and just get it wrapped up That does sound vacation. Yeah. Yeah. No, actually, it's nice when I was teaching. That's what I do vacations are great You get caught up on everything. So this is a state of required, right? This is a required policy And our second reading does um Anyone have concerns questions need clarification Hearing none. I will entertain a motion So moved All second Moved by katia seconded by ann further discussion All those in favor, please raise your hand and say aye Aye opposed Abstentions passes unanimously Thank you Legislative update The superintendent's report as well was the s204 There's been a focus on Literacy instruction like like we were talking about a little bit earlier when he ends, you know compared to other states, you know vermont performs down here Um Literacy they're starting to realize is becoming a fairly significant problem because if you cannot read and write well You do not have access to all the other disciplines that are taught within the school system And so they're having a really strong focus right now on grades k through three and Trying to ensure that districts are basically screening kids in each of those grades to see if there's any deficiencies Putting in the mona plan to address those deficiencies if they're discovered, you know reporting to the parents if they're discovered Making sure that that information is publicly reported every year For accountability purposes And then they are tasked with the aoe is tasked with putting together a full professional development program Which will be quite extensive to train all current teachers In you know proper literacy instruction Um, because it really does kind of run the gamut and so they may either develop it themselves Or they have been authorized also to go out and find a vendor to supply it Um, and so those are things that are coming and that one I put in there That's that's been the biggest topic of discussion lately and that's the one that may have the most impact on At this point in time Our district has been doing the more up to date The phonics based Yep literacy, which is I don't know. Well, I got it. Yep. I know it Catherine has been out of style and then it's back and it's been exceptional In terms of being ahead of the curve on this Going all the way back to the work that she was doing with the stern center and brought in If you look at our testing data and maybe I'll put this in there for The next round of the ends report in may If you take a look at the early grades I've got little charts that show how they're comparing at each grade level relative to the state What you will see is grades three and four Our way up here compared to the state and then the other grades are ahead of the state But not quite as much not not quite as dramatically and that most likely is due to the The full day preschool to pick with them for four or five years All right, and so you're seeing those students getting a really strong foundation So they're better able to access The the curriculum and grades, you know One two three four all in the way up And so you will expect to see those rises each year as the kids are ticking up through the ranks Well, how can you hear that since my little girl was scrunchy about these things Yes, you having a good time Yeah, that's been been awesome Yeah, sarah's wonderful So that that's the big update for legislation right now. We won't even talk about the secretary of education All right, don't have to we can't Do you want to say no, I just I was just connecting with you on concerns Yeah, don't I don't want to prejudge but there there seems to be an agenda there and I'll leave it at that People can read it for themselves. I sent the article around but You know Take out of it. Let you up Consent agenda a couple of things Katya has a note on the minutes The administrative contracts. I know you emailed we don't have those tonight, right? So we'll take that out of the consent agenda, please for Next So let's start with the minutes katya. You have some A note The only thing I think I noted was On the executive session notes The motion we had we did make a motion Um And I think that was I know I made the motion and I think that was seconded I think it was seconded by sarah. I think it just belongs up. Yeah, it just belongs up there. Which is fine Because then we went out and then we went back in Yeah Oh, this was the first one. So yes, so this is yeah, so this is good It just looks it just we just need to yeah the names that are in the lines that are the ones that made the motion And a second of the emotion second of the emotion not to adjourn the motion not to adjourn. Yeah Not to adjourn, but for the motion that was made there We're good. We're good. We've figured it out Good everyone's ignoring us anyway. So we're all good. Okay, just like usual Well, what was tricky about it so ryan when a motion is made in that section Yeah Is where who moved and who seconded goes And and the motion and the motion all goes kind of freestyle written As a narrative in the ones that have Spaces to insert a name Those are the motion to adjourn and second to adjourn So up here would have been katya moved that this motion sarah consented and seconded that motion and it was And the vote like input was a unanimous And it unanimously passed And then down here is just the adjourn, but what was confusing about this one is we actually didn't adjourn at that Yeah, that was a tough one because we went back We did a doubleheader. So an understandable. It's a man's back coaching. Yeah, get a new mental Yeah, good, okay, I'll say I'm just one one more reason why The professional contracts are all right here They're signed But let's pretend they're not signed until you all approve them. We all approve them They're signed The auditor Anything to say there Stay with the same we just need one. Yeah, it's it's the only one we have We're trying to get them in to do the report in may April was we actually had a couple years. We did it in april, but it's difficult because it's also tax Yes Facility reserve funds requests is bob still on no, he was for a bit. I wondered if that's what he was waiting for Yeah, I don't think I don't think we need him back, you know, we can just let him know If or when it passes Um, but do you want to talk about sure? I've actually got him here because he had they had quite a few So there are two rather large ones one for 125,000 and another for 190,000 Um One chunk of that money is for the installation of the new playground at res The other chunk is actually to purchase the playground structures So that's why there's two of them Go down the list here There's the door locks can always jump in as well because I know the door locks the stay buckets and the floating door Yeah, so the 63,000 those are the lockdown security locks. Those are the where they actually put the slot in the floor They have a little key they drop on the slot It's literally at the bottom of the door so that they can't force the door open And so that's part of the work that they've been doing in terms of emergency preparedness They also had the The Buckets I think you got buckets. Yeah And those are the what they call the go buckets They're usually preserved in the classroom. Um, they have all sorts of little pieces in there To help out. What's that? Yeah, you told us about this the last meeting. Yeah Yeah, I don't know I don't know why they're ordering as many as they are because it's usually one per classroom and one for office But they're my guess is they're probably right, but they're saying 275 Um, do we have a sense of how long those buckets will last? They usually the ones I'm familiar with um, at least usually 10 years And then there's only certain parts of it, you know, the food food items you might need to be replaced if you have food items Yeah But a lot of it lasts a really long time like a stop the bleed kit or turn a kit Yeah, sure So first aid are they ordering enough for each classroom? Are they ordering enough to have like The goal is every classroom has one left. So we have 250 Classrooms. Yeah, that's that's one that I would I would double check to be honest with you Now that I'm looking at it And that seems like a lot to me unless you're trying to have some extras for each Other's base where people may be and the way you explain this was These are for students to lock down with their supplies to lock down with they can go to the bathroom With some equipment in these buckets Presumably there's food each pocket cost was $225 So there's there's a lot of stuff in there. Yeah Let's make them come in and do a presentation and show us what they look like I think that's a great idea because There's I feel like we've got questions about I have questions about these Especially around precedent of using them. Do we have successful success stories there with their common in in those schools? Yeah, but we we can talk about that. Yeah, I think that's a good idea because I would like to hear about potentially maybe a situation where they were utilized well, you know In a school that experienced an emergency Sorry I'm just I don't know if this is necessary It's a it's a pretty significant expense We don't know one day expire We don't know if they've been used successfully in the past Before we spend $70,000 on this. I want to make sure that This is a useful thing That's not a He didn't answer. Um, I'd like to speak to it. Um We've been engaged all year in alice professional development. That's a an emergency response protocol alice We meet every two weeks to discuss ongoing professional development ongoing ways that we might Mitigate risk Reduce student trauma in the case of an emergency and be the most prepared And support options based. Yep and conduct option based drills, which means we don't tell you what to do. We don't say Evacuate no We say something along the lines of there's an unknown intruder by the preschool classroom Respond And so people down there might lock down and people here might escape That's an option based drill in these conversations. Um, it has become clear That many of our faculty members are very concerned About how they might care For a cohort of students in a real emergency that are they are locked down with What would you really do with nine preschool students for three hours? Right if you didn't have an en suite toilet Right, what would you do? Garbage can Right, what would you do and you start to think about these things? What would you do if you had a student that you needed a tourniquet? I don't know a belt. It gets really scary really fast So while I understand your concern that this may and you do deserve a presentation from Um, you know our facilities Person on exactly what's in there because I don't know I asked him to pull it together And I don't think there I don't see an itemized list here Um, but I would I do believe that these are an important measure both for the wellness Of our staff to feel like okay, we could do this right right, but also, um For the the well-being of our children if they were in this situation for an extended period of time So that's my that's my Position on that. Thank you my pleasure So Heather, can I ask a question? Of course. Um, so part of The thinking behind these kits is really around trauma mitigation that if there were a an event A catastrophic event with young children involved or high school students involved that You're able to create An area of safety where they're a child able to regulate Utilize the bathroom and have some sort of homeostasis and manage better Through that horrific event with kind of the goal of being sort of better long-term outcomes from the trauma Like that. Is that am I right on that correctly? No, you know, there would be tools to be able to smash the glass And clear it so that the ragged pieces aren't there So if they have the the overall the the primary goal is is to get the heck out of the building You get get away as far as possible right if you can and it's safe to do so And to be able to you know have the tools to be able to do those things quickly and effectively So that would be some of the things that are in there as well You know, there might be straps to be able to tie things down to help them if they try to barricade a door To hold the pieces in place things like that But I think it would actually be kind of cool for them to come in and just show us what yeah I think Again, I just have a few questions about that. Is there a successful precedent for this? Give us an example of these being used Well, when do they expire? How often are we going to have to spend $70,000 on this? And again, why why $275,000? Is that how many classrooms we have? And then finally Is there some kind of required training and the costs associated with the required training for the teachers to Utilize them how many How many professional development hours or whatever this would be for them? To learn how to use a a bug in bucket. Yeah. Well, so like to stop the bleed kits Which are really important You know that there is training that should go along with it They should also be aware that when you get those kits that you need to open them up and take them all out of the wrappers Because if somebody is bleeding out in front of you and it takes you five minutes to get the pieces out of the kit to stop The bleeding is probably already too late And so that is important training that has to go along with it. Are these being assembled in-house? Yes, we looked at some prepackaged ones And um, we determined that that they were very expensive the prepackaged ones Or they were very cheap. There was like two options one that just do it And we know that if it's on the second floor, we need to include a rollout ladder and if it's in a room that has Windows that don't open we need to include these strike things and so Bob and Wes determined it was best to Build the kit based on the room and the age of the children in the room So we are building them in house based on needs of each room and classroom So that's an average cost per yep Sounds like it's been well thought out Well, they're both they're both uh high-end trainers for Alice and the emergency preparedness programming I mean, honestly, we hope we never need them. Mm-hmm. So it sounds like um On the travel communication, I think it's cheap money. I'd be game to send it through Yeah, and I mean if I can speak freely I had a Family member that was at Dartmouth when there was a shooting in the ICU and there were People in closets for eight hours and those are adults who have medical training and You know our children children are not born with skills to manage a crisis like that They look to us adults For that so I think it sounds like it's been really well thought out I am curious about what's in them But I I'm with sam. I think 70 thousand dollars or you're talking millions of dollars of health care Money over the course of the lifetime for children To to manage a traumatic event like that. So Yeah, you know, there may be epi pens in there. My guess is there's probably gel in there in case you have a diabetic Yeah So what now that's a good that brings up interesting Someone who has to get them a lot not for myself who's going to monitor they expire Yeah, these bins and they're for racy But that they might and they might not so again We may have questions on the content of them but if they belong if I think What we need to decide now is if this is something we do not feel comfortable Approving the cost for because we don't know what the contents are or we're curious about the content But Understand, you know, except that this is the expense. I think that's what we and remember that we have We have given this administration The executive limitation to keep our children safe in our staff safe They're they're judging that We have And we have policies that say tell us how you're spending the money don't Have a rationale for why you're spending it. So getting into the weeds of What's in the if you're curious? That's great, but You can go down and ask us to look at it, but I don't think that that's not the level that the board is Looking at the board is looking at do you have a protocol? Are you keeping our children safe? Do you have a procedure? Do you have ways of making sure that you're training your staff because remember part of Our treatment of staff is your staff are trained you have these buckets If you so in that treatment of staff policy, we should see in that Report the monitoring report our staff have training on how to use the buckets That's what we need. I do appreciate the question. I appreciate the yes I think it's important what's in there that expires and how often is this does this need to be like reviewed No, right pointing out things that aren't our responsibility, but very you know, make sure that the team is thinking about these things Because that's what we're approving. That's part of the funds. We're approving right is The labor that went into making them making them That's part of what we're Approving or Not approving so I am going to leave it in there This is the consent agenda is generally when we try to do as a as a kick and caboodle The continuous improvement the plan is in there as well Um, we are please remember we are taking out the administrative contracts. We'll see we'll see them on a different consent agenda Um, so I will entertain a motion at this time To approve the consent agenda items one two four five and six I move that we Accept the consent or approve the consent agenda one two three four One two one two Four five and six all second Moved by and seconded by a meal further discussion. I do have one thing great. Sorry Um, this is more of a direct question for lane with our so our facilities reserve amount or the current amount is Approximately 1.4 million This vote tonight It says 1.4 on our It does. Yeah 1.442919 is what it says here Um, I was looking at I'm losing looking at last month. So that's fine Um, so this would leave us with a little Like 900,000 roughly. Do we anticipate any other? Major requests in the next, you know is like a new roof coming or something like that that we do like No, so yeah, that's actually a really good question So what we try to do Is keep enough in there for a roof replacement? The replacement of the res roof was about 800,000 and that included all the mechanicals that were up there as well Um, the high school roof was replaced in 2017 2018 RES is a couple of years old and then the two little schools had metal roofs, so they're good for 50 years Um, the RES and RUHS roofs are good for 20 years. So you got got quite one there Yeah, I was just curious I mean if we're proving close to half a million dollars tonight of reserve fund I just wanted to make sure that we didn't have anything looming on the horizon It's a really good question. There's also, um, it's things that we've talked about over the course of the last couple years As the tax rates go up and the legislator kind of fights about Legislature fights about the best ways to, you know, provide for education funding There's always the concern that they might Come after or do something in terms of reserve funds that districts have I mean, we're sitting on about six million in reserve funds and, um, for different Things and so it would not be great to have that there if the state came in one day as we were taking it I don't think they they can it would take a legislative action Thank you So we've actually tried to spend some of them down a little bit because of that Um, so I do have a motion on the table and a second Little discussion there any further discussion Okay, all those in favor, please raise your hand and say I I opposed Abstentions Consent agenda passes unanimously Does anyone have questions for lane on his superintendent's report or lane? Do you have Anything yes A little bit of time just a lot of it was to clear my own thoughts to talk about the potential in terms of education over the next 10 years Um, especially after the impact of act 127 which we structured the head funding formula this year There are really only two kind of high leverage pieces Levers that the state can actually pull One of them is consolidation of facilities and services, right? You know as we were looking at you know on average, there's about seven different buildings For every district in the state of vermont There would be significant savings if those buildings were all consolidated into one building That's a central campus or two if you know you're in a place. It's very geographically Separated And I have a feeling it would not be unexpected that the state starts to move down that line It seemed to me when I came in in 2017 and they were doing the forest mergers between the district That that was the first step and the second step was after they got them together It was to get them to cut the small schools and start to consolidate buildings for the savings that would come from that So I have a feeling that after this year with all the budgets that failed that those discussions may come up again The other piece that may come up again and and might actually be a legislative mandate in the future Is student staff ratios and I used our student staff ratio at ruhs as an example at 7.3 So if you walk down the hallways in the high school What you're going to see in most classes again, that's the average not all You're going to see between seven and nine kids for class And so that's about half of what the the national ratio is The vermont ratio on average is about 12 Right right now as it currently stands. So you might see some movement To either put pressure on districts to increase the ratio to something that's a little a little bit more Manageable and realistic or you might see a mandate to do it It would be difficult if they put it on the backs of the superintendents and the districts to make those determinations Because it will be a huge fight with the unions understandably So if they were going to do it, you know, the preference would be then you need as the legislatures You need to just mandate it tell us what we need to do and we'll do it That way they're not coming after The administration for you know trying to right size things Again, maybe wrong, but given kind of what we've been through in the last year in terms of budgets across the state How things have been expanding I have a feeling that those are going to be things that sometime over the course of the next 10 years They're probably be on the table for discussion So just trying to look ahead a little bit Is the term community schools floating around superintendents? Yeah, I haven't heard the term, but I've got my next superintendents meeting I know coming up in about a week. I mean, I've heard the term before but I haven't heard it Lately lately what makes you bring it up, Sam? No, just just dinner No, that's like jason gibbs is big thing and he's I mean research shows they they do improve student outcomes But it's a model that could be reproduced in a much higher enrollment than we have Like the term community schools is A model for excellence, but it can be applied to A much higher population school if you if you take a look at like a possible central campus You know you have a central circular tower that's in the middle that houses the things that the students can use in common Like the cafeterias and the libraries and the gym facilities, right? Those can be shared and you might have a wing that goes off in this direction That's your elementary level a wing that's the middle school level and a wing that's the high school level so that those Students are kind of physically separated for for most of the time and they can Adopt the models that are best You know to serve those those students at those ages, especially the middle school model That's one that's missing in vermont the way that things are structured. There's a lot of I mean those kids are going through so many changes between puberty and in terms of the level of learning that they're expected to do There's so many additional supports that those kids need to make to go make the transition from being Very supported by the elementary teachers in elementary school To being you know, they're getting support, but they're pretty much on their own and making their own decisions at the high school Um, and that's where in the state of vermont, you see the biggest difference in grades In that middle school range because we don't have it for middle school models in most places So yeah, it's just kind of interesting No, it's good. It's I like it. It helps me think Do do do financials anyone They're in good shape It's not official. Um robin is working on what the surplus is this year It won't be as big as previous years. I think she's estimating about 800,000 maybe up to nine The previous years it was you know I expect that that will change um with uh This is the last year of the the esser fundings Prior to all the grant grant funding this district usually had a surplus in the $300,000 range. Yeah, it's still good Okay Staff appreciation update mr. Hooper I'm on it. Um, so sarah and I talked sorry she can't be here. Um We have Currently wet and grit on board We bird on board Uh short notice on board like I'm forgetting somebody Talking to chefs tomorrow talking to village tomorrow Uh, we have third branch on board Although that's a higher price point third branch Pottery. Oh, have you tried uh, what about we store? We bird Oh brainstorm. That's a good idea brainstorm arts. Wendy Lane. Yeah, what Wendy Lane is on the list to talk to this week Um, but anyways, I guess one thing that would be helpful for us is We're trying to like share the love but also You know figure out what's manageable in terms of how many sets of gift cards and what's going to be the most appreciated by the teachers so staff Yeah, and just putting on my other hat for a moment to keep in mind that four small businesses gift cards While often the biggest Return on them is like word of mouth and marketing and things like that Um Financially is is is is a tricky thing so just to to If you do spread it out more and each one is responsible for less that's Appreciate it as well. So I appreciate the long list. Although I understand that The need to reel it in I get it and different price points. It's a tricky thing Are we going to consider any different price points? That's what we're doing. Well, no, I think I think you guys think we have to keep the price points consistent But the use application changes, you know, if you can go Into wet and grit and get ten dollars off your meal versus you go into um third band's pottery and Yeah Yeah, you may need a new mug at this price point or you may want to buy something a higher value item and get 10 bucks up and so but It's my understanding that the staff Trains and you know, they all figure out kind of What's the best for them? Anyways, so And to reiterate from pastors as well. There can be no language about expiration Or usage correct. Yeah, because it's Current it's a form of currency. Yeah so and the The challenge for a business are they got to carry it on the bow on their general ledger But if it never gets renewed then I don't know. We love those people buy gift cards at Christmas for folks and then they get lost No, that's not income. I know that's in limbo. We do not like those people No Those people Please do well, maybe there's a way to just when when we give them that we sort of encourage people to use them And if not freedom Something else and yeah, we encourage you to use it or you're not if you don't if you don't know pass it along to someone who Yeah, and hey, here's a reminder if you haven't used yours from last year, please use it combine them now you have more You've got people like hard of them for years waiting waiting now just being selfish Thank you for doing that. Yeah, thank you for putting the time So anyways, I just need some direction on what needs to happen next here. Do we need to put this on the agenda to Fun to get the funding or are we pulling this out of school board reserve budget? Isn't there a budget? It's in the budget somewhere. Yeah, so you just need to know how much money you have to use In the budget line Yeah, that would that was sent Just to you guys I guess it didn't have it has the total from last year and then last year how did We do like invoice was last year we got Like the businesses gave us the cards If they had them some businesses don't didn't have like a little Help me out like credit card the plastic. Yeah cards. Yeah And then because I was still where I was I was able to get The little Printouts made like a we had a we had the printouts already from the year before Like in a pdf file. Yeah, and we use those just to change who was involved But I don't have access to those files anymore Okay, so I just but then to actually get the businesses paid We invoice we just they the invoice and it goes to the district Got it. Okay. Um, so like when I went to go pick up the cards I just said please have an invoice ready for me that I can bring to the central office for payment. Perfect. Yeah, and then My deadline to get the cards to Central office, I guess it goes central office and then you guys would distribute them to building Second week of day, I think yeah may 8th to 12th it says on here, okay, and then you'll you'll hand them out to Each building and they'll distribute them from there. So when would you like them by? To require to be possible. Yep So may Keith to 12th is a Wednesday to a Sunday. Yeah, so that was last year's. So is it the 6th to the 10th? I'm guessing or is it the 13th? I don't know somebody There's also a question just Kyle you had sent out some numbers 2024 currently our staff totals three three 45 Yeah, thanks to the subs and coaches So without them will be 284 Yes, so just the there's you need to know how many gift certificates Last year 207 although then there was a follow-up Total of cards 265 So it must not have included right faculty and staff at each school I mean that Right Yeah, 284. So that's my number 284 285. Yeah And then my budget number is in the budget Would be 2840 dollars. Is that still the same? Do we know that that's still But still is there she sent this Kyle sent this on rgt. Oh, yeah Got it. We can do this. I can do this from here I got this Great. Thank you. Uh action item Recap so I'm going to send a link for the open meeting laws webinar. Please watch it and Think about it By next meeting Subcommittees ends an ownership linkage. Please meet before the next meeting and be prepared to report out. It can be a quick report out Those are open meetings. Please warn them Let's see. I will Coordinate with heather kyle and kara to reschedule her presentation Beady did he that's it for for action items We do have a need for an executive session. So I will With no other business that I'm aware of entertain a motion to enter executive session Are we oh bringing? Yes, all present Yes, okay Yes And it's personal and it's my little cheat sheet of what Which one that is Oh So I'll move to enter executive session at 759 Inviting in lane millington heather lawlor For which one is it? This one No Yeah, it's Oh this one but yeah, uh vsa 313 a3 Um vsa 313 a3 Thank you for the motion. Do I have a second? A meal seconds Uh All those in favor Please say aye. Aye. Aye Opposed And I'm gonna stay in on ann's behalf because she's run to the powder room So it does pass by majority We will enter executive session at eight o'clock Public session We so we exited at 8 33 And with no action to take I will entertain a motion to adjourn so moved. Thank you. Cut to a second All those in favor