 So first off today, we've got a period of public comment. Seeing as there are a number of visitors, we'd love to hear what you have to say. We do ask that people limit themselves to about three minutes, just so we have enough time for plenty of speakers. So if you do want to speak, just introduce yourself, please. So we all know who is speaking. And then go ahead and say your piece. Hi. If you're not speaking, turn off your microphones. Oops. Sorry about that. I'm Dana. I would like to speak. I will have to say that I'm asking for about six minutes from the board, if that's okay. Go ahead. And I just try my hardest to go as fast, but I would like to read a letter to the board, if possible, but I'll just go ahead and start. This is the letter that we have all received. I think so. I'm pretty sure that, yeah. So hi. Hi, my name is Dana Decker. I'm a special educator and a co-teacher of racial justice at Randolph Union High School. I'm also a parent of two elementary school children that attend RES. So I'm pretty invested in our school system in Randolph's public education. My co-teacher Emily Therrien wrote a powerful letter to the community explaining what is needed for Randolph Union High School to be equitable so that every student feels safe when walking into our building. We have made this public statement over the weekend introducing the letter to some Randolph community members. We have fellow colleagues, alumni, current students and parents, community members who believe in this letter and its statements. We're asking for the board to listen and to commit to supporting our students so everyone has an equal and positive education. And this should be an ongoing dialogue between all of us. And I was just wondering if I could take a couple of minutes to read the letter. It should take like three minutes, I think. Dear Orange Southwest School District community, the last nine minutes of George Floyd's life, like the untimely deaths of countless other people of color serve as a stark reminder that this country has been shaped by four centuries of racial terror and injustice. It is with these adherent facts in mind that we publicly and irrefutably state that we commit to dismantling systematic racism in all of its forms. Because we believe in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s words, quote, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. And because we know that racism and white supremacy are intricately connected to other forms of oppression, we are all committed to dismantling oppression based on social class, gender identity, sexual orientation, mental or physical ability, family ancestry, or in any other form in which it manifests. To our families and students of color, we see you and we are listening. We are filled with rage and grief at all of the ways that our society tells you that your lives matter less. We are committing to making school a place where you know how much you matter. We commit to providing you with the highest quality affirming curricula and teaching practices. We commit to ensuring you feel safe in our buildings and to fighting for your right to feel safe in our community and our country. We commit to challenging and educating ourselves to understand our own role in perpetuating systematic racism and to be allies and accomplices in the struggle to challenge and change these systems. We commit to making sure you have a seat at the decision making table to listen when you talk and to have your back when you need us. To our white families and students, we see you as well and we need you. We commit to also providing your children with the highest quality affirming curricula and teaching practices. And we know that in order to do that, we need to give them the skills and knowledge necessary to help build a different community. One in which every family has access to decent food, housing, healthcare, where every child feels safe at school and where every individual can live a life of dignity. We know that many of you suffer from injustices as well. Hunger, poverty, addiction, lack of healthcare, domestic violence, and sexism. And we commit to fighting against these inequities in your children's lives. To the OSSD board, we invite you to join us in condemning all forms of racism and injustice and to commit to dismantling inequalities within our community in order to achieve this goal. We urge you to adopt the following measures. One, support for ongoing mandatory equity and anti-bias focus professional development for all OSSD and school employees, including board members, coaches, substitutes, and new hires. Two, support for ongoing equity and anti-bias curriculum development training for all educators. Three, pledge to keep the Black Lives Matter flag flying at the high school until our students and young people no longer suffer from institutionalized racism in this country. Four, support for legislative initiatives at state and local levels that advance educational equity. And last, support recruitment and retention efforts for leaders, teachers, and staff of color. Sorry, that wasn't the last, I have two more and then I'll be done. Commit to outreach and support efforts for family of color, families living in poverty, and families suffering from any form of structural or individual bias. And now last, and this I think is a very important one that I'd like you to consider along with the others, that we established by August 1st, a representative equity action committee composed of teachers, administrators, community members, parents, and students to oversee the above efforts. I'd like to share this letter with you. I could put it in the Google chat right now for you. We'd like to hear back from you within the next week or so after reading the letter and taking it into consideration. And we're asking the board to write resolutions and commit to hiring an equity action committee. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Anyone else like to speak to the board right now? Can I just get the names of the phone numbers that don't come up with names on them? Because I don't know who's attending. There's three phone numbers that have no names. Right. Would those people please give their names so we know who's in attendance? How do we know which ones don't have names? You don't have a name. Okay. Cynthia Jackson. Thank you. So anyone with a phone who's calling in by phone won't have a name pop up on our screens. There's one ended in 18, one ended in 21 and one ended in 98. Well, you won't be on the minutes if I don't have who you are. Yeah. We do ask that people identify themselves just so we know who's present during an open meeting like this. They may not know how to unmute themselves. That could be. Okay. Is there any other public comment at this time? Hello. Yes. I'm a number that ends in 18. And my name is Nancy Rice calling by phone. Thanks so much. You're welcome. Thank you. What do I do to unmute? You were, now you're unmuted. I'm not exactly sure how you mute yourself again. Well, I'll try to be quiet then. Unless I want to say something. It's the same icon again. The little microphone. So here's Richard Doolin. Hi. Hi. So my, I have a question. Are you going to cover what school? This new school year is going to look like. Come September. Do you have an action plan? Are you planning to share it with the community? And et cetera. I know it's really, it's all new to everybody. And what are your, what are your ideas that you're going to share that tonight? We are not. We are not going to share it with the community. We are not going to share it with the community. It actually really, as you say, is way too new. And it really is not a board role. The board does not set an action policy in that way. Basically the board. Our board is responsible to oversee the administration. We are laying Millington, the superintendent's boss. And the board is responsible to oversee the administration. And the board of trustees for governance are available on our website if you're interested. So we are responsible for financial oversight and really for overseeing lane to make sure that he is adhering with the goals that we have set, which we call ends. And so our ends are educational ends. And so we, you know, we keep our eyes to see whether he is actually managing to do that. And so that's where we set him. And the district. Now policy for next year, for instance, is going to be set by the state, by the governor and the department of health and the department of education, the same way that we just responded to the directives from the state in March when they, you know, decided first to make school out of session and then canceled it entirely. So those directives did come down from the state and then individual districts decided in this case, collaboratively in the first couple of days of in service, which was March 18th and 19th, I believe, sort of how they were going to react to those directives and set up committees for dealing with food delivery to kids and connectivity and, and, you know, making continual learning plans and things like that. Coming down, we understand that hopefully by the end of June, the governor and those two committees, departments, the health and education will have some preliminary guidelines for what they expect the fall to look like. Those directives will both similarly handed to the district, districts, state of Vermont. And then right now, the last few days of school will be spent. Maybe if these directives do come down in time as, as staff and administration get together to hammer out what school might look like. We really are as a board, we oversee again the process, but we, we don't delve into those processes at all. So right now we'll wait and see when, you know, when it becomes a little bit clearer from the state, what the parameters for reopening or running school will look like. Okay. Thank you. That actually, what you told me is probably, well, is helpful to me and probably all the other teachers and etc. That might be watching and listening right now. Thank you. Are there any other questions or comments? Yes, I'd like to make one. This is Nora Skolnick, teacher at Randolph elementary school and brain tree resident. Also the co-president of the teachers association. I'd like to ask the board to reconsider their position on opening negotiations for some side agreements on the working conditions for all the employees in the district, but just like to formally put that out there again. Hi, Nora. As you know, we've discussed this twice quite at length. We had one special meeting and one regular meeting and we did discuss this at length. We have decided that since really we are in negotiations currently for the next two years and this school year ends on June 30th. So being as this has been such a tumultuous time for everyone in the community, no less for teachers, I understand that, but that we are as we are in current negotiations for next year, we don't want to revisit this current school year at this time. So I would like to just respond to that. The negotiations that we are in is for a new CBA. What we're talking about is dealing with some issues on current working conditions, even though I realize that the school year is almost over, but it will continue over the summer months for maintenance workers and some other possibly special education teachers and other support staff. And there are some issues that still can be resolved over things that happened this school year. And the CBA language does not deal with some of the things that have been coming up as issues with remote learning. So it would take a separate set of negotiations for that. We're not asking to change the CBA. We know that those proposals have been put out and are being dealt with with the negotiations team. This would be talking about doing some side agreements to deal with some of those issues. I think, I mean, I think we, we are pretty firm that we don't want to reopen negotiations, Nora, but we can discuss it in executive session tonight again and revisit it as a board. Can, can I just ask a question? So are there some new issues that have come up or is it the same issues that we already talked about previously? Um, well, it's always so hard to predict as to what everybody knows. And as Laura has pointed out that, you know, things are changing all the time and, and directives are coming out. So, so we're trying to, you know, predicts what some of those things would look like. Um, there are. Possibly some issues. And I mean, it's really just to, to look at the safety and equity issues that, that we have discussed, um, for, for things that are in the building that would affect possibly students as well as staff members that are working there. Um, procedures for disinfection, disinfecting rooms, um, cleaning, those sorts of things are, are coming up right now. And, um, it would be good to discuss them. And, and make sure that, that we're all on, on working, you know, I think we are, all working towards the same goals, but making sure that we're all on the same page about that. And have agreements in place. I think it protects both the, the students. It protects the staff. And it protects the board to have those in, in place. Do any other board members have other questions of Nora. Around this issue. And your, your, you felt like, like your question was answered as fully as you wanted. Yeah. It sounds like there's maybe some other issues that they're, that they've thought of that might be an issue. Over the summer, perhaps. Um, When does this, the current CBA ends as of July, uh, June 30th. June 30th of this year. Um, and then until, until, uh, successor agreement is reached, we're under the same language agreement. With the CBA that we have currently. Okay. Are there any other comments or questions from any one, any other comment? Um, Richard Dulan. So I, I, I don't know everything that Nora was talking about, but I do know a couple of items that, that she's, she's been working on. And, um, she's, she's pretty firm about the different things, especially with kids returning in September. Um, you know, and so on negotiation aspect, which I was a part of, um, I support Nora and what she was saying and what she wants to accomplish. Could I just add this is Tev Kalman, um, R UHS teacher, um, and OSEA vice president, um, that I think if, if, for us, it's, it's not a matter of whether the negotiation happens through a sidebar process over an entire year. Um, it's a matter of really wanting to make sure that our voices are being heard as we move into this unknown new phase of what public education looks like, where I think that, um, Every day or every week, we're discovering new things that we couldn't have talked about before. And so I think that, you know, you know, I think we're definitely willing to work with a process that, that makes sense for everybody. Um, I think, and we understand also that in many ways, um, your hands are tied, you know, when it comes to directives, you know, you know, we also believe pretty strongly that in the principle that the people who are going to implement whatever school looks like in the fall need to be at the table. And I think that, um, It was, it was hard in having our request to bargain, repeat it, but I think it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's hard in having our request to bargain repeatedly redacted to feel confident that that, um, was happening. So that's, I feel like that's, that's the message that I came here to, to make sure you understand. Like we, we appreciate you all, we appreciate the work you do. We appreciate the strain you're under. Um, we don't do this to be combative, but we are genuinely concerned about, um, a wait and see approach or a business as usual approach at a time where clearly that is not, um, we're not in business as usual. And we want to make sure that those of us who I think have an understanding of the day-to-day logistics of what will and will not work in terms of what in person socially distance learning and or long-term, um, you know, technological distance learning, you know, what it needs to look like in order to be safe in order to be sustainable and already be equitable. Um, and so that's, that's just the message that I would like to convey to the board. Thank you for listening. I think to have, and you know, really this is a public comment, not a discussion period of time here in our meeting. So, um, probably all the board members are going to fire me. But anyway, I think really we feel, um, that those issues that you're bringing up are issues that the administration, as you as teachers, professionals, staff, you know, whether it's food, you know, whoever's involved with those discussions really, um, that's in that venue. It's not really a negotiations venue. This is a venue. If you want to impact the way education is being delivered and kids are being kept safe or, you know, and to, you know, whether it's remote learning or onsite learning, that those are things that are going to happen. You know, as staff members, as administrators, as you grapple with, you know, the, the directives and whatever the health situation looks like in, uh, August, September, October. You know, I, we as a board really, that's not our role. I mean, we, we, our policies actually say we do not interact with staff, right? We're not teaching. We're not professional education professionals in any sense of the word, right? We're community members who are doing this job, you know, so it's, um, this is not our strong point here. Or really our role, you know. I have, can I just respond briefly? I appreciate that. I think that we, we're appealing to you because you are sort of the highest power that we have access to at this point in terms of the things that I think we consistently hear from our administrators and other leaders, kind of more at the ground level or be, or beyond their control. Right. I think that we are, because we know that, that there's at least some, um, you know, discussion between say this, the, uh, OSSD school board and the Vermont school boards association, which certainly does have in these things. And so we're just trying to communicate, I guess through to you and perhaps through you. May I appreciate that there are probably things that you are not able to do in this venue. If I could add just one, one more piece to that. What we're looking for is, is district wide policy of setting up a task force that is district wide. Yes, individual schools and administrators might be doing that. As a matter of fact, the elementary school, um, principles have set that up for that level. But if we're looking for systemic policy, um, that needs to be district wide, not building by building. Um, and the other piece I just wanted to, to very quickly add is that, um, while the board has policy governance, it is with the board that we negotiate these agreements with, um, and therefore it is the legal responsibility of the board to enter. And if there is going to be those side agreements to enter into those side agreements, that's not something that we do with, um, administrators. That's something that we do with, with the school board. Thank you. Um, this is Ashley and I just have one quick clarifying question and it's for Nora or Tevia. Um, the, the request that you're speaking about the additional, this, um, this committee, has that been documented in detail and distributed? And perhaps something that I just missed as to what you're looking for, because, um, I feel like this is a relatively vague discussion on, on what is being asked for. So has that actually been detailed in a way that, if it is in our purview, the way you suggest that we could actually be reviewing to understand fully what's being asked of us. Sure. I, I, I want to make sure that I'm understanding your question. Um, that are you talking about having, setting up a district wide task force? Oh, so I keep on muting and. I'm sorry. Um, so I, I guess I want to make sure that I'm clear. So that's great, Nora. I'm maybe you and I both are speaking. So, um, you know, over the weekend, I started to receive, um, quite a few emails, um, requesting action from the school board. And again, um, it was a bit vague in nature on what was being asked. And again, I feel like this discussion right now is a bit vague. Sure. What is being asked? Sure. Talk about being like, um, you know, concerns, uh, for our maintenance staff over the summer, being in the schools. I don't really know what that means. Sure. Thank you. I can be very clear and very succinct. We have, we have two main asks. Um, and one is, I, I will grant you as an, as a new one. Um, that is having the district wide task force set up. Um, so, so the two asks that we have of the board is one to set up a district wide task force that has representation from all employees and community members. As well. So that would include, um, school nurses, um, guidance counselor representation, um, teacher representation, maintenance worker representation. Um, food services as well as community member representation, um, parents. Um, so that, that is one ask. And that isn't as a new ask because, um, this is for looking at the reopening of schools and how that's going to be, um, done so that it isn't a safe and equitable way for our students and all of our staff members. Um, the second ask that we have is to open up negotiations for side agreements. And that would be two separate side agreements. One would be for professional staff and one would be for support staff. Um, side agreements. And that deals with the current working conditions and possible future working conditions. Um, and how we're depending on how things are in the fall. That, that ask has been ongoing all along. So I hope that clarifies things. And, and when you, you're asking about the, the specifics, I think that's what we're saying that we really need a task force to, um, look at what those specifics are. That's not something that I'm prepared to speak to and go through a list on, tonight. I have a question also. So again, there seem to be two different issues. I want to focus on the, on the input from, from, so are you concerned about this? Because of the way things were implemented. When this all first came to light. Was it the way the management. Made those decisions or what. I mean, where is this coming from? It, because you must have had like a negative experience to say, whoa, when we start up in the fall. We, we need to have. This group. Or is this just sort of, you know, this is the way that we see it from our professional perspective. That the school should be doing this, which again, is all management oriented, which is not the purview of our board. But I'm just curious, is that what this is about? I think that administrators have done the best that they possibly can do under the circumstances that were given to them. And I, and I want to give them credit for that. I think they have tried super hard to, to do that. However, I think there are things that they have missed, because they are not kind of, you know, on the ground doing the actual teaching. And by not having that task force, I think that there were things that were not, that were not, and by not having that task force, I think that there were things that were missed and, and should have been put in place and hopefully can be put in place for the future. Could I just add to that? This is Tab again. Yeah, I would, I would agree. I don't want to point fingers or fault. I mean, I think that everyone did the best they could. I want to say, you know, to your question, I think a little bit of where this is coming from for me is like having been a public school teacher for more than a decade and seeing the way that these decisions get made and, and seeing how initiatives and plans that are very detailed come from outside of the school building. And whether that's about changes to grading or classroom practice or, and many of them very worthy and well intention, but what very rarely happens is are we asked at the beginning in shaping how these changes to our school, these well intentioned and in many cases, very necessary changes to the school are going to go. We get told how it's going to go and then we figure out how to adapt to it. I mean, please, if there's someone on this call who teaches in a public school who disagrees with that characterization, please speak up. But I think that that has been our experience and we understand that what happened this spring was an emergency and unprecedented pandemic that I don't think that we fairly could ask anyone to have seen coming for and planned. But I think it's a real mistake for us to think that going back to school in the fall is the same situation. I think it is a clearly there's a lot of uncertainty, but I think that we can begin the process now of asking the people who know best what will work, right? And I think that includes asking students, sorry, I'm going to repeat things that I already said. I don't want to take people's time, but I hope that answers your question, right? So it wasn't necessarily like a specific failing that we felt like needed to be called out. It's more that we know the way that these decisions get made and the stakes are too high in this situation for us to just wait and see, you know, and wait to find out what our role is in our purview is. When we feel like we have information and expertise about what is and isn't going to work, that we would like to be on the same page helping to shape that vision from the very beginning. Are you suggesting this is Laura again? Are you suggesting that people are going to be paid to be on this task force? Or is this going to be a volunteer sort of operation, gathering, meeting? I hadn't gotten that far, had you, Nora? No, I don't envision it being paid. I think some of that depends on how it's structured. I'm just wondering if this is going to cost the district. I mean, that sounds like a lot of people for, you know, if that's days worth, that's an expense that we need to take into consideration. Fair enough. Again, correct me, Nora, if you disagree, I don't think that the union would in any way want to be insisting that people paid in a way that undermined the ability of the task force to happen. So I can't answer that question, but I think what we want is for there to be a team of stakeholders helping to shape this decision. I don't think that we're going to put up procedural road blocks to that. If that's something that you're all amenable to. Okay. So I think, Ted is trying to say, you know, the boots on the ground, having that, those folks, the primary part of the task force, like myself being maintenance, Ted being a teacher, Nora being a teacher, some para educators, some cooks, and the people that are in the battleground itself on this task force. I think that's what he's trying to say. That's all I need to say. This is a Brian, I'd like to make one comment about, you know, this is really from, from that, the numerous emails we've gotten this week, this is the first that we've heard about this task force. So saying that the board has, you know, continually denied this task force has been, it's not really what's happened. The first time we've heard of it is from those emails this week. And you had requested to renegotiate for compensation on working conditions, but there was not anything made about the task force until this week when that landslide of emails came through. So, so the task force is something that has been brought up at different levels before reaching the board and has been asked. And the part that has been asked of the board repeatedly has been to have those negotiations and for those side agreements. And that is something that we have been repeatedly turned down about. And I also would like to point out that most of the items that we're talking about in terms of the side agreement for the, for the working conditions are not things that cost money. They're things like not evaluating teachers at this point in time over remote learning when we all don't have, you know, this is the first we've ever experienced teaching in this manner. Things like ensuring that if my spouse over here is a conversation that I'm having with students that I'm not held liable for that, that that confidentiality is, is not going to come into play and come back and have been something come against me for, for that. There were a few items that we wanted to discuss. I understand that did cost money, but also again talking about equity. We have staff members who have no internet access at home, high speed internet access and yet are being asked to teach remotely and then they have to go sit in front of, you know, the library or school building so that they can work with their students or turn in plans. And that's a working condition that they're still struggling with right now. And if we have to go back to remote learning, they would be struggling with that again. So those are the sorts of issues that we are trying to deal with. How to have support staff make sure that for the maintenance workers that they, that they have the protections that they need in order to be cleaning the buildings and making sure that the buildings are safe for us to be in and for our students to be in. Making sure again that they have the supplies and the things that they need in order to do their jobs well. So those are the sorts of issues that are not going to go away in the fall. I think given the uncertainties of how long we're going to be able to be in school on with our classes and even with those uncertainties, how many students can be in a room or the nitty gritty details of how do we have lunch and make sure that teachers have the prep time and their lunch break so they can have 10 minutes or it's supposed to be 20 minutes to snark down their lunch but are to have some planning time that they're going to be needing. And when we're probably going to be having to be with our students during those lunch periods as they're eating in the classroom or how else to organize the eating in the classroom. So there are working conditions there that I think we need to discuss. And I know we've taken up a lot of time on this issue. I think it is however critical for our students that this be dealt with. And I also want to point out that it's the law. Legally, this is part of the job of the union to be looking at these working conditions and when there's a change in working conditions to be negotiating these side agreements so that we have everybody protected. Okay. Is there anyone else would like to comment? Hello. Hi. I would like to first ask if I do have floor to speak here. My name is Brittany Malick. I'm an RUHS alum. And I would just like to ask a clarifying question about what we're talking about here as well as just a follow-up request of what has been requested already. My first question is the equity committee team we're talking about right now is something that was also brought up by Dana Decker. Is that correct? Is that the same team we're talking about or no? Okay. Perfect. This is about the work and supporting of teachers, staff members in the schools during our pandemic time right now. Perfect. I wanted to confirm that. And then I just wanted to bring it back to the, I didn't speak in time when it was brought up by Dana Decker about the letter that was brought up by Dana Decker. I just wanted to make sure that we can speak and support and request that we reconsider looking at this. If I have the grounds to do that. I believe in terms of what is being asked and some of these remarks in this letter, I feel like some of these can be potentially looked at at least or taken on in the same realm. As. Asking for help from our highest. I am not familiar. I will be honest with the deep inner workings of how school boards work and all of that. I will be completely honest. But from what I could gather. At least graduation requirements are an important part of what you oversee in that regard. And I understand from what you described that it is something that you get from the state. And that potentially you have to wait for the state to give you these procedures before you can implement or implement those procedures. And in that regard, I would just ask and bring up just some of the points that were in the letter, including the looking at educational equity in general in the schools, as well as. Recruitment efforts and retention efforts for teachers, teachers, staff of color in our community. Thanks, Brittany. Is there anyone else who would like to speak? I just have a. This is Cynthia Jackson. Okay, go ahead Cynthia. Just. I'm feeling that we do learn from experience. And I'm just wondering what good could come. Of all concerned. Hearing. What has been learned by those on the ground. During this past school year. Why can't that happen? What, whether. Why is it constantly denied? It's really a matter of sharing what people, some people know and other people can't possibly know. Until they're told. I guess I'm not sure exactly what you're saying is being denied. I mean, I don't know. I don't know. A hearing. Sitting down. Sitting down. And listening to. People who have had the experience. How they have viewed it. What they see would be an improvement in this school. In these schools that we are all. So. I think if we get into it, we can get into it. So I think that's the purpose of experience. What, what bad about that? Nothing at all. We're not opposed to that. That. The board meeting really is not that forum, however. We. No, that's just not the work we do. But all I'm saying is that. That sort of forum is absolutely valuable. But it's just not my purview. is a very valuable discussion as a school or as a district to be doing that. I have, I don't disagree with you. Is that something that you could implement from your position? I can speak. It might be a little bit easier on the idea of kind of the district level committee to kind of look at the reopening. The reality is, is that that was always on the plan at least at the school level. There is a group of people that is district representative for all the elementary folks that started out as kind of made a request about a week or so ago, which was a good request. They wanted to go out and they wanted to examine what the other countries were doing that had opened up their schools and just see what they could learn from that in anticipation of when the state gave us the directives on how things would reopen. And that committee is evolving into kind of a bigger committee that will be handed that template to work on their schools. And that includes everybody across the board. The high school level is going to have to put some folks together as well. It doesn't mean that they can't meet as a K to 12 team. But in terms of requests for this district-wide team, I have received no email on it. And the first that I heard about it, the district-wide team, was actually today in a conversation with the union. We did meet on Friday and they did mention, hey, you know, it would be good if we had, you know, some input. And at that point in time, you know, I mentioned to them and said, hey, you know, we're still waiting on what comes down from the state and the agency of education, recognize that most of what they give us will be directives. There will be some small things based on those directives that people will have to decide that are really content specific to the schools, but certainly. But this is a bigger question. I think it's already evolving. It's already happening. And there's no problems with it. People just have to ask and ask clearly is all I can say. So I appreciate it. And I appreciate the push for it because it's a good idea. Who is just speaking? Sorry about that. I forgot you're not on camera. Lane Millington, superintendent. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Are there any comments from anyone else who has not yet spoken? Yes. This is Nancy Rice. I'm still confused on why there isn't a way for the teachers to share their experience that they've had these last few months and be heard about it. Lane, do you want to take that on? I don't know of any reason that they haven't or couldn't have. I'm not sure if you're referring to their request to open negotiations or if you're referring to a group on the reopening of school. I'm referring to them sharing their experience from this past several months so everyone can benefit from it. There's absolutely no reason why. They're requesting to come together to help shape the reopening effort. But again, we don't know what that reopening effort and what the directives are from the state yet. They plan on having that template and that guidance out, I believe, in about a week and a half. And so until that comes out, that is the piece that will shape that discussion and what people have to look at and come up with ideas around. So right now we're just kind of waiting a little bit. As I said earlier, there is a group from the elementary level from probably a week or two ago that had asked to just take a look at what other schools were doing on the health care side of things. Yep, with the nurses. So that piece was that information was already being exchanged. So I guess I'm not sure if I'm answering your question, I apologize. So I just want to speak up for a second. So one of our roles as a board is advocacy. So, and Tav, you had mentioned, you know, you're so used to getting these directives coming in to telling you what to do. If you have some ideas of things that you want us as a board to send out to the legislators and to send out to the school board association, let us know. Let us know before we get these directives that are telling you to do things that you think are not in the best interests of teachers and students and how we're going to function in these uncertain times. That is a role that we can take. And as a board, we have a certain amount of, well, maybe a certain amount of power. But that's something that we really, that's one of our roles as board members is to advocate for our district, for our students, for our staff at the state level. So if there are things that you want us to speak up about, please let us know before we get these directives and you're like, oh, no, here we go again. I appreciate that, Ann. Yeah, I mean, I think we will definitely take that into consideration and try to turn something around that is useful because that is definitely one of the things that we're hoping to get out of this meeting. And I would say, I think that the big principle is to advocate for a task force like this in every school district in the state, because, again, certain number of things make sense to make that decision on a centralized level, but I think the vast majority of really important granular details have to be decided on a local basis. So can I just say one more thing just in response to some of this confusion between the MOU and the request for this task force? Absolutely acknowledge that the request for the task force is a new request. I would like to point out, though, that I think that many of the issues that would no doubt come up if such a task force were assembled, I think are pretty specifically covered in an MOU. I think some of the major concerns, speaking as a classroom teacher, have to do with having the time and resources that I need to actually meet kids needs while also raising a child and about to be two children of my own. And I think that the message, the implicit message that we were hearing from the board by the refusal to negotiate was essentially a refusal to recognize the change in our working conditions. And so I think at that point, and I also want to point out that some of the other things in the MOU that it talks about just have to do with ensuring that we have the physical safety and material resources, not mostly about pay, more about a reasonable number of kids, a reasonable number of responsibilities, a recognition that before the pandemic and all of the things that it brings out are plates were pretty full and that if new things are going to be added on without adding resources or without radically rethinking how we use the resources we have, it's going to mean less for each kid. And that's what we're trying to avoid. So I just wanted to, again, make the point that it is not an act of bad faith or deceit that we started by asking for an MOU and that has grown into a request for this task force. They, as far as I'm concerned, they're two parts of the same whole. So I just wanted to like clarify that intent. I think direct and honest messaging is your best resource and rather than making this an us versus them sort of dynamic. But let's move on. If there's anyone else who would like to say something who has not already yet spoken, that would be great. And then we really do need to move on. Hi. My name is Sultana Khan. And I used to be a paraprofessional at the elementary school. I haven't lived in Vermont for some time, but I have recently moved home. And I just wanted to ask kind of a process question because I have yet to attend a board meeting before and wanted to also thank Brittany for speaking up earlier. And I just want to say that I'm really appreciating the diversity of thought that is happening on this call and how you are intentionally trying to address each issue. So I'm hoping that my process question will lead to the same result, which is that now that you have this statement that has been signed by what seems like at least 100 community members on racial injustice, what does the process for the board look like moving forward on how to address the requests that are admitted in that statement? Well, that's a good question. I think it's a complicated issue. It's also a very timely issue. And so I think it's something that we need to discuss sooner rather than later. I think we'll have to decide like how do we grapple with such a large ask, not by the letter, but just by the intent of how... I mean, these are deep-seated issues that are not easy to fix. And so therefore, we need to go... I can't remember. Dana maybe had seven sort of parts of that, but we need to sort of go one by one say, okay, so how does this... Is this a board role? What is our role in addressing or passing this off to another entity or another part of the school district? Or is this something we want to ask the staff and teachers and students to grapple with? For instance, the one that popped into my mind was the Black Lives Matter flag, which was the focus of really a very focused, many month-long dialogue between many community members, student-led, teacher-facilitated. It was really an excellent example of community communication and discussion. And what came out of that was honoring to the students who put many hours of work into that. That is not an issue that I would take up. Students and teachers, the kids who invested their time and effort into managing and facilitating those discussions, that's something I would push back to them in the fall and say, okay, guys, how do you see this going forward? And where do we want to take that? So for that flag, flying the flag year round, that would be their issue. Some of the others as far as equity and hiring and treating kids and things like that, those definitely have to be part of our thinking as a school district. And how are we going to address those issues? As far as professional development, I just started a few down, so I can't answer all seven, but professional development, that too is something that is in our CBA, how many professional development days do we have? And how do we want to allocate those? That's an administrative decision. Do we want to say several of those days or one of those days is going to go to addressing this issue of racial equity? And how do we do that? How do we manage that? So I think, I hope I'm answering your question, Sultana, but I think we're going to have to think through the breadth of that letter and all that was laid out in it. And I will just say it was interesting to hear Ann mention that you are part of your mission as advocacy, given the nature of this request. I certainly recognize that this meeting has already gone on for an hour and I'm not trying to harp on things that have no clear path moving forward, but I am wondering how aside from potentially like virtual meetings, this could be a transparent process within the community that utilizes collective leadership moving forward. So, you know, I was asking kind of like for a specific process, which it sounds like the process is discussion amongst board members per action item. And I am wondering kind of given that this, you know, the totality of what the asks are requires community endorsement and input. How that process will continue to be transparent to community members and teachers and students? Quite honestly, this was not an agenda item. And usually we don't discuss things that are not on our agenda. We're now an hour in and most of this has not been on our, none of it's been on our agenda. So, when things pop up like this, you know, we're sort of thinking on our feet. And this is something we're going to have to put on an agenda and have, you know, interested community members, staff, etc., come and present, you know, how they feel like they should move forward. Perhaps this is a place where we should have a community forum, maybe not led by the school board, maybe led by the OSSD district as a whole to discuss these issues. That's really helpful. Thank you, because I am literally only asking process questions right now. I'm not trying to get you to respond to any of the agenda, any of the items in the letter at this moment. I am really just asking what it looks like moving forward so that there is accountability about how these items are met. Thanks. I mean, that's, it's a really good question. Okay, do we have anyone else hearing none? I have a question. My name is Jonathan Harrison. I was until recently an employee of the school district working as a custodian and one of my concerns for when school reopens and, you know, safety of the people being there is that as far as I'm aware, there hasn't been enough staff as far as custodians go to really do their job effectively. And I'm concerned if there's going to be more stringent cleaning procedures, how that's going to be performed unless new staff is hired. That would be a question for the administration, specifically Lane. And, you know, right now we've, as schools have been closed for so long, you know, I'm sure that we're going to need more, more custodial staff likely anyway. And so, but that's a question for administration and not for us at this point. All right, I want to present. Sorry about that. You, did you want to answer to that question or you don't have another question, Jonathan? I just wanted to present that as an issue that, you know, needs resolving just, because of the safety of teachers and other staff that we return to the school, if there's not enough custodians to do their job, then surfaces won't get cleaned and more possibility of contamination and a potential hazard. Yeah, so if depending upon what's happening with the coronavirus, we do have enough staff. And I'll talk a little bit about the current situation. Part of one of the things in terms of compassion that the district has done and all districts across the state has done is that folks that fit into these categories that made it unsafe for them to be at work either because of age or infirmity or who they were taking care of at home have been allowed to stay home with pay. The problem is, is that in our district of the 70 support staff that we have, of which the custodians are part, 68% of them are out on that leave. So right now, because of that, you know, we are short-handed. They have positions, those positions are guaranteed. But while we are paying them, while they are out, and again, something that we want to do, we cannot hire in their place to have folks come in because our budget is limited, you know, we get one lump sum of money at the beginning of the year, and that's all we have to run the entire year on. So it's a complicated issue. One of the reasons that we've been restrictive about, you know, staff in the buildings, only being in there on certain days, is to take into account the fact that, you know, where the support staff, what their levels are, making sure that they can go in and follow all Vermont Health and CDC guidelines in terms of the cleaning, which has been done, right? If we had all the staff in every day, you're right, it would not be possible with the staffing levels that we have right now. But that's one of the reasons that we've kind of restricted those days to right now, just Thursday and Friday. So good question, and I appreciate it. All right. Thank you. I'm just going to say one more thing. As far as the, there not being enough staff, that's been something that Notice has gone on, even before the school closed down. So potentially an issue anyways. Thank you. Okay. Let's move on to the first part of our regular meeting. We need to review the draft of the annual OSSD Board agenda, which is included in our agenda packet. We did sort of a look over of this last month. Does anyone from the board have any comment of anything that we need to add? Okay. I didn't hear anyone. So I'm assuming that everyone was okay with everything that's on our annual agenda. Or if you haven't looked at it, we can always change it as things need to be added, whether it's a committee or things like that. But I would like to approve them that draft annual agenda. Do I have a motion to approve it? This is Ashley and I move that we approve the 2021 draft agenda for the OSSD Board. This is Brian. I second it. All those in favor, please wave, I guess. All right. Looks like we have any opposed? All right. Good. That is approved. So we'll have that to work with going forward. Next we have to discuss negotiations with unions. Lane or any of the negotiating teams, do you want to talk about that? Yeah, I can pipe up and then if I'm missing something, I think the team can pipe up as well. In terms of the support staff, the support staff in the district have reached a tentative one-year agreement that's going to be presented to the board once the final language is worked out. It's a little hard to get the language back and forth over remote sessions and remote meetings. But the basic gist of it is that the support staff is its 3% raise. One to three vacation days for school year employees depending upon years of service. And those will not be taken on days with students present. And then making sure that their contracts are in hand by May 1st. As things stand, currently by May 1st, they have to be notified of who is going to be offered a contract. They asked just to have the contracts on May 1st. So I don't know if there's questions or if there's anything important that I missed in the overall summary. These are too quiet. Yeah, I've got a comment. I believe, and Nora, please correct me if I'm wrong. On the vacation time that's added for the paraeducators, there's only one day that can't be used during school. Am I wrong on that? Yeah, it depends on your years of service. The days that you had there already can be used anytime with administrator approval. But all of the new days that have been added can only be used on days that students are not in session. Yeah, in terms of teacher negotiations, there were a lot of positive changes. I think on both sides when it came to issues of language, one of the big ones that I think both sides seemed to be happy with was the teachers are looking at getting their sick bank and they did give up some of their their sick time to do that. Sticking point is salary. So we are on our way to mediation. Actually, we got some union members here. So you might be able to clarify this for me when I was looking over stuff today. At the beginning, the teachers asked for 17% over two years. They did come down a bit. They offered a package deal of 10.8% over two years. But they had some language in that package that this was only if the other language were included. So I don't know if that means that right now we're at 10.8% or if we're back to the 17. No, I believe and I'm not on that team. But I believe that the current request is 4.9% new money the first year and 5.9% new money the second year. That's the 10.8% over two years. Yeah. And so that's where I think things were left off. Okay, good. Yeah, because like I said, there was some wording in the the package that that was included it that said, you know, union had the right to rescind if the package wasn't accepted in full. The in terms of the district itself, it offered 3.2% over the next two years. And I think both sides agreed that, you know, it would be good to have, you know, another set of eyes on this. I don't recall the 3.2% new money over two years. So 1.6% first year 1.6%. Okay, thank you. Sorry about that. I don't think of it in that way. So it's hard. I was trying to adjust. And so I think we had I don't I haven't heard anything yet. I know that the district's council and the union are working to set up the mediation set session. I don't know how delayed or problematic that will be, you know, with everything happening remotely. But I expect hopefully we'll see we'll hear on a meeting who we can get the the next parts of this kind of banged out and in on the path. So questions thought, excuse me, thoughts. Thank you. I just add the you didn't add it. I don't believe the grievance language to all that. Yeah, there was a lot. Like I said, there was a lot of really good positive changes on both sides in terms of in terms of language, which was good. And so what Nora's talking about was one of the requests for the last couple of years from the district was just trying to balance out the days and the grievance process so that we both had equal time to respond. So that that was a good, a good piece that came up. Okay. If there's nothing else about the union negotiations, both staff and professional, then we'll we need to a point an auditor for the finances for next year. In our packet, we saw that Robin Penbroke had recommended that we engage Father Gale, Segal and Valley. Again, for another year, they were the ones who presented the audit last month. Is there any discussion about that? Or do I have a motion to approve Father Gale Segal and Valley as our next year's auditor? This is Brian. I moved to have the same auditors as last year. Is there a second? Gotcha. I second. Okay. All those in favor, please wave. Any opposed? Seeing none. Father Gale will be our auditor again. Okay. Next, we have a second reading of the EL report 2.7, which is also included in our agenda. Lane presented it to us last month. Lane, do you want to say anything else? This has to do with compensation and benefits. So, yeah, this, I got my mic on. So this is EL 2.7. The provisions, Senator Geertra, is making sure that the superintendent does not put the district at financial risk, especially when entering into contracts with professionals whose roles exist outside of the bargaining units. So not in the bargaining units, not in the teachers agreement or the support staff agreement, but professionals that we may hire from the outside. It's also about making sure that when I'm signing them up, I'm not signing them into lifetime contracts, that I'm not overcompensating them relative to the market or changing my own compensation package in any way. I report compliance on all provisions and therefore the policy as a whole. The business manager has added her letter stating the same as evidence that's included with that packet. Does the board have any questions for Lane on this report? Okay. Can I have a motion to approve EL 2.7 then? This is Paul. I make a move to accept it. This is Ashley. I second. All those in favor of accepting this report as written. Thank you. Any opposed? All right. Great. So that policy is accepted. All right. Let's see what's next here. Flipping back on my agenda page. Okay. So next is the quarterly facilities monitoring report. Lane, you want to speak to that? Yeah. So the monitoring report is there. I've actually highlighted one portion of it in orange. We'll talk about that in a minute because we're going to be asking for you to approve some money that's related to that. But there are some absolutely major projects that are going on right now, some of which are complete. They have completed a lot of the work out back doing all the repaving around the side and behind the building by RTCC. They have replaced the crumbling loading dock that is out there as well. That is going to take a little while to cure so folks will have to stay off it for probably another week or so. They are in the midst of completing the roof, the brand new roof on RES. They were in the process of swapping out the mechanicals that were up there and so that should be complete within the next week, week and a half as well. The work is going really, really, really good. They've gone out and Braintree was the first. They've repaired the damage to the siding around the building and they have repainted the entire building at Braintree as well as the small buildings that are on the property, the shed that houses the well, the storage shed. They're not going to do the dugouts out there but our own internal folks are going to work on that this summer. They are moving now up to Brookfield and they'll do the same work up there. They'll go around, they'll repair any of the damage that has happened at the base of those buildings on the siding and then it will get a brand new coat of paint on itself and all the buildings in surround. They also have the process out on the generator. We have signed to a contract after the bidding process to get the generator put in up at Brookfield. It's just a matter of waiting for them with all the delays with COVID for the actual piece of machinery to show up so that they can put that into place. So to jump back up to the very top portion, the one that's highlighted in orange up there, this was a mandate that came from the state a few years ago where they were requiring all schools to be E911 compliant. What that means is that whatever phone someone calls from, the location information is transmitted so that the emergency crews that are receiving it if they get a 911 call know exactly where in the building the call is coming from. It's really important if you're in a big building like RUEHS or RTCC or Randolph Elementary, important but not quite as much so in the two smaller elementary schools. Again this was a mandate. It was kind of an unfunded mandate and you can see the cost of it about $272,000 to do this work. Wes and Bob, the co-facility directors reached out to a grant that was available and they received $102,000 in a grant towards this project. So what we'll be asking for, you'll see that request a little bit later, is for $170,349 from the reserve fund to be able to put together with what we got from the grant and just get all the work done at once. Because the work was so expensive and because we wanted to wait to see if we got the grant, the state has been wonderful. They've given us waivers to not have the work complete by the original deadline. But now if you guys approve that funding we'll be able to get that work wrapped up. Everybody will be safe, happy and will be in compliance. So unless there's other questions on facilities or concerns and I've signed off on there, I do go out and do the direct inspections. Usually when the work is complete or when things are done, so the LWMs on there, those are my initials. That means I have physically gone out and inspected. Does anyone from the board have a question for Lane about this facilities report? Okay. Hearing none, next is a report on the legislative advocacy and work that they are doing. Yeah, I can talk a little bit. There really isn't, there's a lot of work going on, a lot of things they're attempting to figure out, but not a lot of what I'll say results. So the Vermont Superintendent's Association, the Vermont Principal's Association put together a three-page document and basically it was requesting the information that we all need to begin planning for the fall. And that was delivered to their hands, both the state as well as the agency of education. And the only movement we've seen since that got into their hands two or three weeks ago is the update that we are going to be finally receiving a planning template with their directives and guidance for the reopening of school. And again that is expected in about a week and a half, they said mid-June. So we'll keep our fingers crossed and when that comes out that's when we pull everybody together to work out the details on that. We still haven't heard much on budgets. I do know that there were plans in place. The Senate was trying to get a bill on the record about the CARES grant that's out there to pay for some of the school's COVID costs. That has stalled not because the spirit isn't there, they're trying to get that money for the schools to help us pay for some of the COVID costs. But they need to see clarification on what they're allowed to use it for. And in some cases it sounds like they're also trying to get some of the language changed so that it's a little bit more flexible so that they can support the schools a little bit more. So we have not heard on the progress on those ends at this point in time. So those are the biggies here and hopefully we'll be seeing some movement. We'll be getting some information that we need to do the planning to try to get things off the ground for the fall. Because we really only have eight weeks really between when stuff shuts down and when stuff starts to pick up again. And so the longer that this waits, the more we're all flying around by the seat of our pants trying to get stuff done, which isn't good. So I don't know if there's questions or thoughts. I actually do have a question for you, Lane. Is Robin tracking all of the COVID costs? Okay, so then when the build comes where you can actually acknowledge and hopefully request support, all of that, I'm thinking the direct cost but also some of those indirect salaries costs, has that been all tracked? Yes. They actually, the state gave us a code to use to track it under and our budgeting process is the expenses came. I mean they had heard early on that, you know, we should be getting some money from the federal government. We don't know where, when, or what form, middle shape, but track this stuff just in case that we have been doing that. Okay. The other thing that it complicated was they made statements early on and remember the guidance, everything, especially the first month, every six to 12 hours it was changing. So early on they had stated that they were going to be coming out with additional, you know, salaries for essential workers that were at school. That has not materialized, but we have provided bonuses to all workers. They got a first round about halfway between March 17th when everything started in the end of the year, June 17th, and they'll get another round on June 17th. And this was something that the administrative team pulled together, you know, in the hopes we get reimbursed for it. But we did, you know, check the budget and whatnot to make sure that we had it available to do this for folks. So that was done. That is there. Any other questions for Lane? Okay. Next we have the consent agenda, which I'd like to approve as a slate. So we've got... I need you to update that a little bit. I've been scrambling around on the continuous improvement plan. I've been trying to get that done. It will be done by June 30th. It will be available for us to do our strategic planning on July 13th, I believe it is, when we get together. It's about a two-day project for me. I haven't had two straight days to do the work with everything that's been going on. It doesn't affect anything right now because the state federal government have said no. You can put in your investments to get your title funding without it. So it does need to be done, but it is not a priority. There have been other things that have been a bigger priority since March 17th, as you can imagine. In the 6.5-day weeks I've been putting in, I haven't been doing much for my health. I need to take a little bit of time and then I need about two days just to focus, get it done. All the information is there. I know it needs to be said. It just needs to be typed up, put in their format, and then we'll be good to go. So I apologize for that. So that should be removed from the consent agenda. Okay. So we would expect to see that sometime at the end of the month in a special email if we have you? Okay. All right, good. So we've got the minutes from our last meeting, May 12th. We've got to approve two new professional contracts which are listed. They are a preschool teacher and an art teacher. I think it was. There's a leap form also in our packet. There's arbitrage form and letter. Do you want to explain both leap and arbitrage just a little bit, Lane? So just like title fund, the funds for the special education department pulls in through various sources. There are assurances that we have to commit to to receive those funds and that's what that's about. It's just we're committing to doing the things that we're supposed to do that those receiving those grants requires. Like in our case for title funds, you know, one of the things is that we have to include the money that we're receiving in title funds when we report out the regular budget to the community so they can see the totality of what the district is spending. So it's just the assurance and peace. Arbitrage for the new board members, some of you may know this or may not. The way things are set up in Vermont is a little bit odd sometimes. Our financial new financial year starts on July 1st. So we begin incurring expenses on July 1st for the new year, but we don't actually get the first tax payment until probably mid to late October. So what we have to do with all schools and districts across the state have to do is because they need money and they don't not getting it from the the the tax base until later. We need it in July. We don't get it until later. We go out every year and we take a loan to cover what we need until those tax funds start to roll in and that's what the arbitrage is. And so Robin goes out each year. It does go out to bed. There are a lot of people that actually won't do this anymore. So she's chosen a bank that with very very good rates that are preferable for us as well as somebody that we've worked with for quite a while. I believe it's kind of interesting we are actually allowed to invest this in low risk investments. You know, they charge us 1.7. We can typically make about 2.6 percent, you know, you know, while we're waiting to spend it while it's sitting in the bank. So that's what the arbitrage is about. All right. So I would like to do those four pieces and then we'll approve or vote on anyway the facilities funds request as a separate vote. So first of all, Linda, I wanted to thank you for the extensive notes you prepared from our last meeting. The minutes were quite helpful. So we have to approve the minutes. And then we have the other approvals that I just mentioned, which were contracts for a special ed teacher and a preschool teacher for the LEAP local education agency plan funds and then for the arbitrage. Do I have a motion to approve those four things? This is Hannah. I moved to approve the slate of four contracts, minutes, LEAP and arbitrage. Is there a second? This is Paul. I second. All those in favor, please signify aye. Aye. Thank you. Anyone opposed? All right. Lastly, we've got this request for funds to cover the facilities. I guess it's the E911. So it's $170,349. Lane just spoke to this in our last facilities report. Are there any other questions or concerns or that you want to address today? All right. Do I have a motion to approve this money then from the facilities reserve fund? This is Brian and I moved to reserve funds use. This is Ashley. I second. All those in favor, please say aye or waive. Aye. All right. Any opposed? All right. Thanks. Next, we have your report, your superintendent's report. Is there anything you wanted to highlight or add to or explain? There might be questions too, but is there anything you want to add? Yeah, no. I think it kind of outlined a little bit of the N's work that's going on. And I give my highest commendation to the teachers. They're going to be rolling up their sleeves. They're going to be working on science curriculum. A couple of the harder questions that they have out there, like, you know, if the majority of our kids are leading us to go to the tech center in 11th grade and the, sorry about that, and the Vermont science assessment is in 11th grade. And these students are losing out a year in their science. You know, how do we, you know, mediate that? Again, they're revamping the curriculum. Math is doing the same thing. There is a goal in place to bring in some Orton Gillingham training for the special educators. So all that work when we talked about, you know, kind of building the structures and making sure that we've got this K to 12 professional development plan, even in the midst of the COVID-19, people are stepping up to the plate and seeing that work done. And most of that work, the foundational portions of it will be done before the teachers leave in June. Some of it, they'll be coming back for a couple of days during the summer, which they'll get paid for. And then the follow up will be happening in the fall. The second piece that's on there, you know, sat down, talked with the cabinet a little bit, and we hammered out the protocol that was asked for about the hardship requests. And that is in there. It's basically just codifying in words what we've been doing all along, so that it's there for everyone to see. So those are the two biggies. Does anyone have any questions or clarifications that they want to address to Lane? Lane, the hardship requests, just what are those in regard to? So at the last board meeting, the board had asked for a report and to have a discussion about elementary students and families that lived in one district and potentially and again, we don't really have a policy. No one is really kind of interested in having a wide policy, but there are some times where it is as impregious and appropriate for a student or a family to be able to make those changes based on a hardship. And so this is our process for kind of evaluating those and making those determinations. Couldn't find a better name for calling it. So hardship requests seem to be the most appropriate. Any other questions for Lane around his report? Okay, so we're also in our packet reports from the other high school principals and elementary school principals. And then there was a financial report. Lane, do you want to speak to that? How are our districts doing? The financials, you know, is talking with Rob and I look him over. If I have any questions, I ask her. I also tell her, ask her and say, hey, anything that you're concerned about, she is not. The one thing that may jump out at folks is on the expense tab, excuse me, is that the technology line is over by a pretty good amount. We're not in violation of executive limitations or anything like that. And there's a reason for it. What this is is we are in at the end of the three year lease on the Chromebooks, the student Chromebooks that we have. The cost is a bit more than was predicted. Matter of fact, all computer hardware and parts and pieces right now due to coronavirus, the costs are high. But in addition to that, because we don't know if we're going to be in remote session in the fall, we also made sure that we had enough Chromebooks to cover every single kid in the district from pre-K all the way through 12. So there were additional Chromebooks that we purchased. What we did and beg the teacher's indulgence for this, to try to balance out that cost a little bit, was this is the year that usually the teacher's laptops would all be updated as well. Their laptops are pretty much two years old. They're plenty powerful enough for any of the work that they would need to do even remotely. And so we're not replacing those this year. The teachers will be dropping them off for a few days. The tech folks will take a look at them. They will update them. They will do any repairs if any repairs are necessary and get them right back into the teacher's hands. And so that was to try to balance out the additional cost to try to support the students with what we could do. So that's the only thing that might look a little out of whack, but that's why. But we are still well in the black for the year. Is there anything else you want to add? Not unless there's questions. Not hearing any questions. I want to just talk a little bit about our next training day, which is we decided, because most of you, everyone said that they could attend, that we'd hold it in lieu of our next board meeting. So that's what we usually don't actually hold a July board meeting. So the next board meeting the second Monday of July is July 13th. We will be doing our ongoing board training with a VSBA hired facilitator. We are going to do strategic planning. And it's not something I knew much about. I know that I asked you guys to maybe look on the OSSD website at the current strategic plan, which is quite lengthy and obviously require quite an investment of time and effort to create. It's, you know, so I'm a little cowed by sort of taking this on. That strategic plan was due to expire in 2020, so it is time to do this work. It does seem like a lot. But so anyway, that's what's on the docket for July 13th. It would be great if everyone could, you know, do a little research having read the current strategic plan and thought about what we'd like to include or not include next time and what other help we need to do this work. Basically, Sue Holsum, who is the person who will be facilitating this, suggested that the board will convene a design team of ourselves and then pair with, do outreach to different parts of the community or staff or students to fill in the gaps for different aspects of the strategic planning. So for instance, we'd partner somehow with businesses and community organizations to do some aspects of our strategic plan. Other parts we would hand off to the administration for sort of goals or places that they'd like, they envision the kids to students to be reaching at different points of their academic career. So that's what's on the agenda for that night. If everyone would please look at the current one and come prepared, having thought through really how we envision being able to accomplish this sort of before the end of 2020. I would love to hand off to someone or several of you sort of planning for that night. Where should we hold it? It is going to be in person. Ashley offered the use of a Gifford conference room, which would be large enough if we wanted to go that route. A second thing I thought of was perhaps the rotary picnic pavilion, which is sort of towards the bottom of Hebert Hill, right before you get to the church there in the corner. That's a possibility. It depends on weather and temperature and things like that. And I don't know whether it's lit. I'm sort of thinking it's not lit, which would be maybe a challenge. But if I could have a couple of volunteers that would want to work on sort of figuring out, do we want to have food? Are we going to order in? Are we going to forget food? Just sort of the logistics for 5.30 to 9.00 that night, that would be great. Is anyone willing to volunteer to do that? I see Kaccha and Ann. Can I sign the two of you up to work on that together? Okay, excellent. So the two of you can communicate with us. I will send you, so it's Lane and the eight of us and Suho, some so it will be 10 total. We do have funds for training since training is required. And I'm not sure exactly how much that would be. We'll pay for Susan's services and then just whatever it costs to host us that night. So that would be great. Thank you very much. Everyone put that on your calendar. All right. It will be really so nice for me to be able to sit around the table and talk with everyone and not have to try to manage this, which I don't do very well. And I apologize. All right. So next is this board evaluation. Ann, that's you. So I don't have it right up. I didn't print it off because I didn't know I was going to be doing it. But if I remember correctly, part of what we're looking at is did we follow our policies and how we did with timing. And we knew going into this meeting that we were going to have a lot of public comment and a lot of, and I thought we actually did a good job of listening to folks, making sure people were heard, making sure we understood as a board where people were coming from. So I thought we did that fairly well, even though that was not five minutes and it turned into an hour. But that's, you know, part of being a board and making sure that we're responsive to our community. So and I believe we pretty much heard from most everyone. We were respectful. We were respectful to our community people. So I feel like we managed ourselves quite well, given that there was an issue that folks were very concerned about. All right. Thank you. Thank you very much. I don't know whether we need to write, you need to write that up, probably not. Usually it is stored with a meeting through Linda in the office. We next have an executive session, which will require us to move to another link. And after that, we will have a board development exercise. So probably we will be moving back to this link, but it's really just part of our ongoing training. So that's what will be happening here. Thank you everyone for coming and listening and reaching out to us. Hi, this is Zoe. Could I make the request that whoever takes minutes for the executive session, send them to me or just let me know that you did that? Just so I can know if any action was taken. Sure. Zoe, it's Ashley and it's me. And I'll certainly touch base with you in the morning. Okay. Great. Thank you so much, Ashley. Thank you all. All right. Thank you everyone. And Ashley, remember me too. Okay. All right. So we should find a separate link for executive session in the same folder where you found this one. So we'll meet in the executive session in a minute.