 So I'm gonna call the meeting to order at 5 30 5 30 on the dock It's our annual reorganization meeting. So I'll call the meeting to order and any adjustments to the agenda Okay First order of business before I hand it off is to elect a chairperson. Do I have any nominations? I nominate any Any other nominations Hearing none Any discussion Amy you're good I'm good All those in favor Patrick Thank you, Amy. It's all yours. Thanks. Okay, great. Well, thank you very much everybody Look forward to Being chair again along with my valued team We are team. Yes value team Excellent, so we will move right along to the rest of these this board organization So I've looked for nominations to elect a vice chair I nominate a bill entered This second Is there any further nominations? Call the question. All right all those in favor of Bill for vice chair the same if I was saying aye. Hi Excellent All right clerk I nominate Patrick second second. Okay a third Excellent any other nominations Great all those What do I do any question any any discussion is that what you have to do call the question? Okay, all those in favor Pat for clerk the same five I say an aye. All right. Hi Okay Great, so now we go to appointments Which? Does not mean we need to vote on each Each one of these so we can't reach it, right? Okay, so we do need to appoint three members to the on the full SU board the White River Valley SU board I Will volunteer for one I point bill for two. I'll continue to do I'm Patrick for three Yeah, is everybody happy with those appointments? Okay, I move that we That we appoint the aforementioned sleet for the WR The SU full board Yeah, we don't if you have consensus on appointments. You don't actually have to even Great So one member for the executive board is is that usually the chair or can we have an alternate still? That it was new this year actually Yes, okay great who wants volunteer to be the alternate So barring one of us cannot go this would be a voting position if one of the three and if you want to some boards will actually a point More than one which you're allowed to within our bylaws So essentially if on the three Any of the three members are not able to anybody who was in this alternate slot would be able to take a voting position I kind of like that idea Robert you would volunteer We want to do you got both either both whatever you sure yeah, okay, I'll put Robert and Cynthia, okay Okay, so member of the SU executive board Now does this have to be the chair or doesn't have to be but it has been traditionally, okay, and You know frankly We haven't used I mean with that with the ability to have hybrid meetings now, right Our ability to get quorums has been strong And so this board this was originally created because we were struggling with quorums for the full board meetings Right, and so it's to allow business to continue. So We haven't discussed doing away with the executive board So, you know, we continue to a point, but we haven't called an executive board meeting in over a year Okay What was the usual reason for having an executive report versus it was what I just said It was we weren't leveraging hybrid and they were struggling to get full board attendance to have a quorum of nine So they created the executive board that they could then if if the executive board showed up They could still call the meeting to order and do business But it's really we haven't had to leverage that I suggest we do this last year of having the The member and the alternate be the chair and the vice chair You know that all right, so that would be myself as the member and bill as the Alternate but he disagrees. Please speak Um, all right record a recording secretary We'd had Parker as our recording secretary. He's done a great job. Is he still available and willing? Okay Okay great Okay a point one member for signing APN payroll. I have been doing it for a number of years I do enjoy doing it and it is convenient Now that I'm working more in Bethel I'm close to the office and and again, I actually really enjoy doing it. So All right, okay All right And we Assigned an alternate. Um, justine had done it in the past. I don't know if somebody else wants to jump up to volunteer or we Can volunteer her can't we? Don't come to a meeting you get appointed all kinds of physicians, right? Okay, well then I suggest we put justine in unless anybody else Um, has would prefer to or has a I always detested it. So I won't volunteer. You what I detested it You detested it. I I really enjoy it. I I do it Gets me a little bit more on the beat what's happening Um, okay a point a member on to the negotiation council on bill. Are you willing to do negotiation council again? We really appreciated you. Um Well, what I do, but I think you do a lot Great, um Well, we have any negotiations in this No, we don't have any other than Possibly we've talked about when the council together for planning purposes To get ahead of the game. So I think that it will start to meet but it'll be for print But we won't have any Negotiation sitting down negotiations come here, which is nice Great that that's encouraging Yeah, so nice thing about our superintendent. He's always thinking ahead And in this game You got to do it To be oh oops Excellent, um one member to the policy committee How patrick did was a member of the policy committee last year or are you still willing to take that position? Yeah, I can do that. Okay great All right point a truant officer Um, lindy was last year that kind of makes the most sense to me Okay, she's never shown me her badge All right designate uh newspaper and radio station for official notices This is what we need to do like warnings and stuff. Is that correct? Yeah, so uh Trying to think here this district It was uh the herald and the great eastern radio is what we did. I'm not sure which one time we did the mountain times as well I think the last year Yeah, the randolph herald. I'd suggest we do the randolph herald again And I'm sorry. I'm not really sure what the call numbers of the great eastern radio is. Is that wdev? It hits all the radio stations. Oh it is uh, okay It'll hit wdev froggy it like real. Okay, so it's a Yeah, okay. Well, I would recommend that we go ahead with those same outlets again Okay Okay, so uh set time date location of our regular board meetings. Uh, we currently are joint meetings in conjunction with um uh, granville and handcock, um on the same night to help alleviate uh extra meetings for superintendent and um staff I think they've been working out quite well Having them on at 5 30 I I would like to I think we should continue to do the First monday of the month at 5 30 and alternating campuses Sure any reason to switch it to tuesday? I mean we did it because because Handcock or granville had issues with their I think select board I think they'll continue to have those issues. So okay, so That sounds Okay Great. So we'll uh continue that regular course And so designated posting places. So this is where our uh Warnings are posted for our meetings. Uh, so currently we have The rochester post office and the rochester town office and the stockbridge post office and the stockbridge town office I believe is there and is there a difference and the schools? Yeah, and the both schools and that satisfies our posting requirements, right From locations and stock which has two Post offices, so it's both the gatesville. Okay Great. I think that that uh Gets uh gets it across there. So I think that we should continue with those Okay, great. Well, thank you everyone We shall move on to the consent agenda um Looking for a motion to approve the minutes from the monday may 1st regular meeting So Okay Is there any discussion? All those in favor Say aye Great and a motion to approve the minutes of tuesday may 2nd, which is with our annual meeting so All right any further discussion Great, um Approved by a student by by saying aye Aye Great, okay. So now I move on to public comment. Do you have any public? Okay Board comment them I'm just um, I want to take this opportunity to welcome our newest member of the gang My wife says don't use that word but I can't I'm not fond of going way back at you before your time. You were born but park and his gang and all this or something but anyway, sentia is um Welcome and I We look forward to working with you and we've really got a a sterling team and leadership and skill sets that I think complement each other. Yeah, and um, so I Thank you for Your interest in and being with us And I'm sorry, you can't leave now Oh, no, you're stuck. You need any introductions anyone? Pardon. Do you need introductions to anyone? No Thank you Great, um, and I just want to uh, thank Everybody bill for taking over last month when I was Deal with the family and emergency and just the entire administrative team and everybody Um, I heard great things about the annual meeting. It went very smoothly and was um Everybody felt well educated Um about the decision that they were making and I just wanted to say thank you. I really appreciate you guys stepping up I just had a question in the minutes of everything we recognize those people that spoke up in the minutes but did anybody have a head count what we had at the At the angle town meeting it'd be kind of because people say they're I thought it was a good turnout And I don't know how to define so to me it was 35 45 people Um And that speaks well of their interest in their schools Yeah, and their children. Yeah, that's great in our town. So I think it was pretty good. Um Anyway, excellent logic Yeah, no, I just wanted to um Say how awesome it was to attend The uh performance last week. Oh, yeah in rochester. This farm's got talent. It was Really well done. It was great to see it in the auditorium. I heard so many people um Comment on the fact that it was at the auditorium how How Nice the auditorium looked and they were surprised that it was in such good shape and You know, there were other people that thought we should do more of that. Um Myself included justine and I actually were just like so happy to see that And I hope we get to see more. I think it was it's such a great way to introduce so many parts of of the arts as far as theater and music and Uh, you know painting whatever, you know making all the the props and whatnot, but I just thought it was really great and I think there were multiple people as well as I that thought like it didn't it's seemed Like it was Don't help that You're frozen now all the students were really Interesting And And it didn't seem like they were forced to do it. It's just So natural Excellent. Well, thank you pat. You're you're kind of breaking up So, but I think we understand your sentiment and totally agree with it. That is wonderful. Thank you Excellent. Uh, is there any other comment? Yeah, I hope that we can Perhaps do more given Lyle's comment that he's going to find some circulators for us from the From the high school in in Burlington that they're demolishing He's going to find some circulators for us so we can replace our alternate Really in the In the high school so that would make our I mean right now we have a problem in You know, it's it's a little iffy on on planning because if one of our circulators goes down we have no backup But if you can see circulators for us, then The system will have back up again But I think we're we still have issues to go through on The Replacement tank We're working on getting that. Yeah, pretty optimistic that yeah, and I think I think there are two reverses We can find that From the digging up of the underground tank In the the dealing with that the replacement take we'll have to take care of but we had known that now for a few months Great, that's wonderful Okay, I have no further board comment move on to the uh reports from board superintendent's report to the board See on my reporting hand one thing I wanted to highlight is um business manager whether or not I are going to be going out um in the field with green mountain power tomorrow to Take a look at where it makes the most sense for us to possibly install level two uh charging stations to support the if you remember Way back in the fall we received uh A grant to purchase three electric buses for the supervisory union to replace older buses We asked for an extension on executing that because since then we've executed a contract with a new transportation provider The infrastructure we needed some additional support on making certain like what made the most sense at one point We were talking about having a more centralized charging system The more that we've done research it makes the most sense. I think to have um Charging systems that are installed right on the building To support the infrastructure, um Money that we were awarded so we got 60 000 to support the infrastructure charging stations and so One of the buildings That we're looking into and based on the route size It seems like stock bridge could actually be one of the places where it made a lot of sense to leverage An electric bus they already park in front of the school When you know they'll love that blocks our school, but that's where they park here right now And it the proximity would make sense possibly for the charging station So I just wanted to highlight that we will be visiting out here tomorrow with green mountain power to get a sense of whether or not There's capacity within our our electrical system that we have the infrastructure possibly to do so And then the full board will receive uh further updates and communication on this topic at the june meeting as well So I just wanted to highlight that otherwise You know the Just real quick legislative update a lot didn't happen Um that we had been discussing this house and senate really didn't get an alignment this year around house around bills education bills um and so you know the one that pcb pcb testing Did get um and that is not signed yet So this could be one that still could await a veto possibly But pcb testing was there was two years added to complete all the testing requirements Um with the idea being that they would work to get up to a hundred percent funding to deal with the um Any type of abatement that needed to happen around pcb's And that one I have not seen that is actually have been executed yet into law So we'll wait and see there And then the pre-k part there's a study committee On pre-k in general one of the things that it looks like and that we're still hopeful is that um Come 2026 that a pre-k student will actually count for a 1.0 FTE If they attend five a week full day pre-k, um, we were hoping to get that starting next year It looks like it'll phase in by 2026 But that is something that we know is coming down the pike. It's not still Great um, and I'll take any questions folks may have is PFAS on the horizon This PFAS it's about beyond pcb's Not that I've heard No radon is a testing requirement for us to complete by 2025 Okay We're still waiting for the rollout of what that all means and we're on the agency PFAS is a forever chemicals. Got it Any update on Agency of education's search for a new Is it director or secretary secretary? Um, I heard From some of those in the field that they are actually going to complete a search And so there was some talk about leaving Um the interim secretary in place Um And not going through a complete search because a governor. It's an a governor appointed position And there's a there was a some discussion about whether or not governor scott planned to run Um, and so did it make sense through going through a search when his term would be up and essentially a year after the appointment? Um, and so It does sound like though that they're going to complete a search process So the way that works is the state board actually starts the search process And that they nominate Um candidates, I believe up to three to the governor to interview and then the governor makes the appointment And is there a role For the Vermont school board association and the vermont superintendent's association the vermont principal association to To be part of that process or is it exclusive to the al e board? Well, it's the state board of education. And so certainly we could give comment But no, we don't have any way to weigh in past that It's just We need a good secretary. Yeah It's um it helps us Thank you All right. Is there any other questions for our superintendent regarding his report? All right, if there's none we'll move on to the principal's report So I have two reports for you tonight the first one's my normal my My actual principal's report. I think the only thing I would add And highlight is this weekend This past weekend we had 10 girls From between both campuses in grades three through six purchase meeting girls on the run Oh, okay And they actually you might have seen that end of their celebration as you pulled up Um So they had a great time with that It seems like we've done a lot more than what's in here But most of it's been around testing and finishing the seat testing as well as Pat mentioned our this farm's got talent You'll see kind of a highlight from that in a couple minutes But um that was a majority of the month of may it felt like and it just goes so fast This time of year um other things that I'll add to this is on june 16th at 5 30 is the sixth grade graduation for Stockbridge and june 19th at 5 30 is the sixth grade graduation for rochester And we'd love to have anybody 16th at five five 30 Are we invited of course we'd love to have you attend I think it's great because the kids do little speeches and And how many kids are going to be up there? There's six from stockbridge and then in rochester on the 19th at 5 30 They'll be seven so those are kind of upcoming things and then In building highlights, I would say that The trust that was in the back of the school at rochester has already been moved into the preschool area So that space is ready to be prepped for the cement for the wood pellet pallet That'll go in in the summer's work or silo and then the The the boy the old boiler in the elementary school has already started being taken apart. They started that work this weekend Right Yeah, that's great. That's exciting Very exciting Very exciting. So those are kind of the highlights of just the report itself Excellent. I was wondering I said on the 24th two representatives from the agency of education So what they did some observations. What what was the feedback or what was the purpose of of it? I just yeah So like the feedback slash purpose I would say that the purposes they were really just looking at schools who have made systemic Change around just like literacy instruction, but just as a whole to social emotional Changes and how that kind of pointed us in the direction of making this which we did to direct instruction for literacy for phonics and decoding Instruction and why mid-year? Yeah Okay, and then they actually wanted to see it. So they came here and they saw um Our second and third graders and then some fifth and sixth graders and they were able to talk to teachers as well um, and then we went to Rochester and they saw First and second grade and then they saw um fifth and sixth grade spelling. So they were I think fascinated with the approach in general because it's a big switch from um Fontes and Pinnell and whole language. So really asking a lot of questions around that and just wanting to know the why and Really understanding like how much time does it take? How do you determine which kids are in which groups? Things of that nature. That's great. It is cool. Yeah, that is pretty cool that they They kind of narrowed right down on us and like you guys have got something good going on there Show us it. Absolutely. So that's awesome. That's exciting. That is great. Congratulations to you and your team for doing this This takes leadership And I don't know if anybody's more important than our principles in our principle here. So Thank you It takes buy-in it takes You know confidence and trust and then taking the hard work and then taking it seriously All those things and it's new. It isn't like you're following Right. In some ways you're creating the new Emphasis going forward so I I'm very pleased Thank you, but it's the teachers because they definitely Have to put it in play. So they've done that. Excellent. Thank you. Yeah. Is there any other questions or comments on Lindy's principle report Okay, well then we will move on to the social emotional data report. Yeah, so To kind of walk you through this. So these are office discipline referrals Kind of broken into some different categories and what that really means is things that make their way to me behavior-wise And so you'll see Kind of some specifics These are the same data points that we look at at our universal team So everybody all together and then our targeted team, which is a small group of myself school counselor a specialist teacher And two classroom teachers one from each Campus and then our intensive team which includes a special educator A net roads joins us. So this is these are data points that we use To really kind of make some decisions a couple years ago It would have been around making sure we're all using the same language Around teaching expectations and what that means and now we've really evolved into honing into Who's in this group of kiddos? um, are they someone who Or is it a kiddo that we see frequently with the same types of behavior? What time of day do we see those things? Why what might happen and how do we go forward with there? And that's where our targeted team really steps in which is something that was new to us this year that we worked last summer at Best institute which is coming up here at the end of june to really develop the outline and What that looks like and how to put support plans or behavior plans or check-in check-out plans into place for students who struggle to meet learning expectations or safety expectations could be a wide variety of things and this is um Year-to-date, shall we say? Yes. This is as Fresh as less this is all the way through june 1st Or sorry, uh may 31st probably better answer So We're seeing some increases obviously 2021 and 2020 to 2021 is extremely lower In most areas than previous Then last year and this school year the Wallace days that wasn't there. Well, that was all you know We were in person, but I what I would say is we're all in um That was when everybody was their own little unit. So there wasn't a lot of interaction across grade levels or classrooms Uh, I think people were a lot of transition periods for students to go through Students didn't transition adults transitioned to students as part of those Return to school guidelines from COVID So um Now we're really looking at I would say a couple of things one would be there's a couple of cohorts of kids who definitely need some strengthening of Social skills and how to interact and impulse control is a big one Um, and that's a focal point that we're going to work on that when we go to best institute at the end of the month How to implement that so everybody's Teaching that to students at all times Yeah And also a little more understanding and some of our professional development will be on the difference between Uh, what kind of triggers a lot of things is the difference between compliance And like disrespect and what becomes an argument Regulently and then can result in more um So those are two focal points that we're really honing in on The next year but questions it's a lot of data in one I was fascinated by this The I'm looking at this office discipline referrals by grade. Yes the last one Because at first as my hair was on fire, but I look at this and I'm going preschool If you look at kindergarten First is off the charts, but after that second third fourth, we've upped a little bit, but fifth's pretty close and six were down so It's all over the place. It's hard to kind of look at this And then I was trying to figure out because I think there's a direct relationship between this and the educational outcomes And this is the same kids That 75 percent of them scored proficient or the above proficiency in math, right and we made major gains in English language arts were not there yet, but we math had we've had two years and This is going to be the end of our kind of full-time first year for in this thing. I'm sorry, so Am I over emphasizing that that The academic success has helped us in some of these grades um Because I like to think that that kids Act out because they feel either picked on or ignored or all that sort And so they kind of lash out or or act irresponsibly and I remember being kicked out of kindergarten and uh, I remember Robert Rossi and Robert Was really close with the teacher So Robert got in the cloak room and Billy Edgerton got out in the the hall and all the teachers walked by I said Billy how come you're kicked out of the classroom? So Times have changed and luckily that didn't influence me too much, but I Um, is there some connection you think plenty on how we're doing academically and this? Um, as well as your I think what this data helps inform us Of is more around areas that kids might be struggling academically that we don't pick up So the behavior comes to avoid Whatever academic piece Maybe happening is a typical trend that I would say if seen I think some of it Can be that that we're making more progress academically so they feel comfortable like if we compared um, what happens certain times of day like, um At one point it was like what happens at 10 15 on a Tuesday Like that's how pinpointed we can get because most of it. Well, it's a transition time It's a transition from snack and morning movement break back into learning. Well, would you really want to go? from playing foursquare back into right academics not always and those transition times we found were harder so talking about what those look like Uh, another common time is like one o'clock. It's like and that's after lunch and recess and we come back and I would say that's probably A popular time for that if I look at that fourth grade group, it's hard to transition back into academic So some of it is academics though, but I would say transitions are still our big focal Point one of the data points that we didn't put on here that Will make certainly put on before is the percentage of your population that have less than three office referrals Um, because our goal would be that that's 85 that would be our goal The 85 percent of our kids have less than three office referrals When I asked the students to be perfect, but if you start to go over three, then you might be the same What extra support might we need and so my sense is is that you're probably right around that number And what we will do is we'll follow back up with you and let you guys know what percentage you're at in regards to that Because I mean that will give you a better sense of like how are we meeting the the universal needs? And yes, we may have a subset of students that need more intensive supports But are in general we meeting most of our kids means universally and then we need to work on those Plans like lindy's talking about for the other 15 percent So I have lindy looked that up and we'll send it out to folks Sorry that yeah. Yeah, I didn't think of that until you said it out loud and they have a report in swiss. Yeah This is a hard one looking forward to Fisker year 20 24 and all on this Issue is this something that Still keeps you up at night. Or is this something that you feel You've got a handle on and over time. It's gonna Just there's some uncertainties and things you can't control But is this something that you think is going to move in the right direction? I think we're I mentioned it before our targeted team has really headed a lot of this off I wouldn't say it keeps me up and up at night. Are there There are times When It's the y stumps you a little bit and that just takes some more time to get to the bottom of because not every When I say we put together a behavior plan or a targeted support plan for student Not everything works for every kiddo. So it's really about pulling it back To figure it out to make sure each each individual kid is getting exactly what they need identifying that y Yeah, exactly. And sometimes that takes time. I think that's just remarkable that we We have them the tools and the team and the way to do that and I think we can really address Our kids very well in that aspect. So that's great Um, okay, so any further questions or comments about the social emotion of that report I'll just add to the board because I don't know if we emphasize this enough We've really been trying to strengthen our partnership with claire martin center And so we do have a school-based clinician that supports kids across both your buildings We have a bcba. Thank board certified behavioral analysts They can push in to help observe kids to write behavioral plans One of the things we're constantly monitoring is are those supports helping? And so uh a net roads our special services director and mckayla martin our intensive program coordinator meets with claire martin Whether our bcba every monday morning to progress monitor kids plans across the su but then also Is meeting with their school-based leader? out of five weekly basis So I just want the board to know we're partnering with claire martin And we're looking at how do we continue to strengthen it and make certain that that Our investment with them is returning the results we would want reading that folks are feeling better supported in our schools And The metrics about how do you how do you evaluate your successes? failures I think it's it's these data reports, right? So, you know, I think it's are we seeing decreases in discipline referrals Are we seeing increases in student achievement? And are we seeing increases in attendance? That's another data point that i'm really interested in continuing to monitor across the su Because I think when kids feel Good about school then they're more apt to come to school right and then when kids are not feeling good about school They're much more apt to avoid school And so that that's those to me are really the measures we're using to try to see is this working Great excellent. Well, thank you. You're welcome Okay, well we'll move on to the business managers report Good evening everyone Good evening You have my report it provides the updates of what's happening in the business office through the month of june fiscal audit for 23 we had our pre-audit meeting on thursday with our auditors That went really well. We're looking forward to working with our team And are ready to go and they've already selected the pre-audit samples That they're going to go through for payroll and it will let us know accounts payable audit samples Early next week most likely is the current plan And then what's going on in school food authority world during our monthly submissions? We've submitted our application For the summer food service program We issued johnson our child nutrition program coordinator for the supervisor union Worked with hayley and the one planet site leaders To get through that and determine our needs for that program. So that's been submitted And then lastly um as a discussion item, which is one of your action items later on in your meeting is the tax anticipation note for fiscal year 24 Great, man, do you have any questions? It's very questions for tara on her business managers report Make it sound so simple But we know it is not we know your hard to work up there Okay, well, there's no questions for tara. Thank you We'll move on to the policy committee and the board stability code of ethics reading Oh patrick wants patrick. Were you at the last policy committee meeting? I can't remember I I was not we just we just had our baby No, excuse Understood so the the board member civilities and code of ethics policy Was revised By the policy committee two months ago and then um, they voted it back out of committee this past month and so Really what changed um since the last time you saw this was one the code of ethics that we typically adopt is board Hasn't been embedded in this policy. Okay, so you'll see that it's it says WRVSU board members primary concerns must be the educational welfare of the students in the district An excellent return on the investment for taxpayers Board members shall and then it's essentially the code of ethics act within the scope of their official The other piece that happened within this presented policy is under complaints within the vsba essential man Bill what's it called her a me or rather the the essential guide to the You know i'm talking about yes, like the board essential that you should be getting since yes it from the vsba Um, it provides an outline around how a board could address concerns around a violation of the board Code of ethics and so the white river unified district board really wanted to emphasize that language Under the complaint section and so you'll find that language There as well and so those were the changes to this Um, you know, we're going to do readings this month We recess in july My goal would be to try to get this in front of the full board in august For possible approval and then local district boards would take this up throughout september Okay Great does anybody have any discussion or comments or questions or Changes they see fit for this policy I I'm very impressed. I mean we have as a board one of the first ones having a board protocols and so and um, we're trying to Be proactive and just sharing expectations on how we behave and and all that sort of stuff And I think there's a great comfort level though each year. We're going to review that to see if we got it Right, this puts a little bit more teeth into if somebody is doesn't See that quite right and acts In violation of this policy and the problem when somebody does that and it hurts Not only the person because they they're there But the ripples fall on the board it falls on the district it falls on the schools this falls on The staff and administration So those are kind of like unforced errors We just don't need because there's so many things that we're trying to do in the positive way. So this kind of lays it out and every Current member or new member will have this as guidance. And so I think it's absolutely the right way to go So if you have any feedback uh, Cynthia typically what uh, will sometimes happen members Will share it with their policy committee rep And I just ask I just ask if you see see any on it. I try to capture that And then share out our feedback at the next time the policy committee meets Excellent So we'll be looking for a possible approval of this on august Probably probably September that first monday in september Okay Okay, okay great policy doesn't run quick Okay, great. So the best part of the meeting the celebration of learning. Yeah, so pat mentioned it but uh Last wednesday with preschool through sixth grade from both campuses We had completed a month-long artist in residency with the white river valley players specifically Susan rule and dorthy robson who came in and worked with every grade level individually and then together and speaking parts And anybody in grade four through six Um could audition for a speaking part and if you auditioned you got a speaking part, which I think would be great because they all did it um and then So this kind of captures and then there was lots of singing and it'll stick in your head for a little bit singing some other night So this captures the opening number, which i'm not sure how well you're gonna be able to see this But this is all of us together on stage both um groups hopefully this Had to have someone else film it for me because it was a little busy, but People had to go to the bathroom. There are all sorts of emergencies that happen, but uh That's just a snapshot and then each group that animals had a little number So it's essentially a talent show for all the different parts of barn. There were jokes There were all sorts of things and today started the beginning of our farm tours that goes with this So both preschools went to liberty hill farm today and they got the live hands-on experience for watching two calves be birthed Wow As well as feed the goats and do some other things there some farm chores and then tomorrow um kindergarten through second grade and kindergarten through third grade depending on Um configurations will go to liberty hill farm in rochester um north hollow farm in rochester and then birdsong Or not hollow birds on farm in stock bridge. So we're really starting to learn about like what's in our community uh farming wise as kind of a collaboration Of this and then um fifth and sixth graders from rochester and stackers will be getting together the next wednesday and Thursday and we're going to it's right behind you the most costly journey out is a graphic novel Created about about migrant workers in the state of vermont. Okay So we're gonna have a unified book club around that and some teaching and then they will also get to go Do the farm tours to to the same farms to the same farms. Yes. Yes That's exciting. I um was present for the Show it was so cute it Was unbelievable that the amount of students that they could get on and off the stage in such a orderly fashion um It really went off so well It was the little especially right because that's always quick the shuffle. We're very impressive We only did two rehearsals all together. Yeah, um, and they really Other than being excited to sit in the auditorium chairs, which comes with a lot of flipping yourself like a sandwich In the life of chair They did a great job and they were so excited to be there and like didn't interrupt rehearsal because they loved To hear what the older kids were watching the performance. It was great, you know, I look at it. So Unfortunately, we didn't have a music teacher this year, but this was amazing and not something I'm sure we would have come up with had we had a music teacher So and I really love that it's um, it's more than just the performance is now part of the education of Farming of animals of what's in our valley of Opportunities that are out there that maybe you're not exposed to And it I think it was really exciting south I really like the book about migrant farm labor is having American history. It's it's it's not a positive story to be told and It's normally the chicanos the green carders coming in from Mexico and mistreated and The chemicals they put in the farms on the ground and they're Um barely paid and it's stoop labor and uh, california is just Um, there's some great not great stories just harrowing stories and We forget that it could be right here And it's not all negative but to be able to tell stories that have a message and we learn from How we need to be a little bit more compassionate and caring Is it's really important so to be able to do that at a younger age I think is is terrific excellent Well, thank you. Is there any other comments or questions on the celebration of learning? All right, we will move on to the annual retreat to date and topics for agenda Um, has there been a date proposed? I think it might the date might start with our superintendent and in the principle of what Might work for you because I think it's important To be there, and then we could possibly work around that So I don't know whether and you need some time off so What what what do you recommend? So I'm I'm gone the week of the fourth of july and I'm gone That not the following week the week after that those are my two weeks this year, of course they're centered around horse shows But those are the two weeks i'm gone so i'm not certain lindy what yours Off the top of my it's up in the air a little bit. It's up in the air Yeah, well, were we looking at july or i kind of had the impression that july we were just completely taking off Yeah, so in august We're around and so the whole admin team the expectation is we do our Rest and recovery in july and principles know that in central office in general we're back Full go august first nothing to support that you guys have the lie. I think it's worked fairly well. Yeah for folks Yeah, I think we've done september in the past right we have done some september at times. Yep, we've done Yeah I mean i'm i'm i would say availability for me from august on through August and september is Yeah, what are we talking about weekday? Do we talk about i think we did we've done both we've done a weekday um evening And then we've done a saturday I think threat fresher in the mornings frankly so For a retreat. I actually kind of liked doing it earlier. I don't know how other folks fell but right on a saturday morning Um when as school is ramping up to start again or it is the beginning weeks of school Is that a more difficult time to try to do a retreat blend easier for me? Superintendent it's it's funny like the first two weeks of school i can essentially it's Nothing's hit my Yeah, i think the fans haven't started yet the principles. I think yeah, okay I don't want to speak for you. I just um, i'm just i'm just trying to see new staff I have to you know thinking about august either the beginning of i mean if if that around school times starting is um You know i don't want to put more pressure on this is not about more pressure So like maybe we should think of the beginning of september beginning of august or moral towards the end of september Maybe those two would be more appropriate. I mean i'm looking for whatever makes the most sense from you though Uh, september is not the beginning. I hate to say this. I'm gonna jinx myself right beginning of september has Typically worked out okay for me as well um the night Is a saturday. Yeah Tonight is september and then it's not on a holiday weekend. Well, it's the I would be okay with the beginning of september september ninth if that is It's good for lindy again. I don't want to put put out of pressure. I I want you to urban school and feel good about it. No, we're kind of in a rhythm in our house anyways at that point so that's yeah, okay, well does um Does a saturday september ninth at this point look good to people that maybe we can intensively get that scheduled in and I I thought it worked out well last time we could do a bunch of work have lunch together, right? Yeah Did like nine? Yeah I think we did nine And then we went and got lunch and then have lunch together and then we were done, right? Yeah uh patrick, how does that sound to you september 9th for a retreat uh About nine in the morning till probably 12 12 30 Yeah Can I suggest that it be in stock bridge this year? Sure. We've got a lovely location Yeah, I'll turn it like we do it Great, so why don't we uh, let's get that on the calendar and if something does start to Prop up, um, please just now, you know, I'll make us aware and we can We can move accordingly. Okay Super, uh, then we're going to move on to the uh talk anticipation note Tara just before we oh, sorry Sorry, just one second here on Oh, we're super looking for topics on the agenda. I was thinking we've got a long ways away and my suggestion is that we Just send our email Amy our suggestions of what should be we should talk about the retreat. Yeah and coordinate it through you That's okay. I think that sounds great a week or so before you let us know Here's here's what we're going to talk about or thinking about talking about and um Because we could brainstorm tonight, but we can brainstorm separately and then you can I think that's appropriate. Okay with you definitely I've always enjoyed the retreats. It's a good time to Let our hair down and really You know discussion. Yeah, I really have some more in-depth discussions and stuff So, okay. I think that sounds great. So send topics for agenda to will forward to myself and we'll um, I'll work with jamie to uh To create that. Okay. So yes now, Tara. We'll move on. Sorry. That's fine. The tax anticipation now No worries ray. Can you put my note up on the screen? As you know the tax anticipation note we get each year and we use the tax anticipation note to cover payroll and accounts payable expenses while we're waiting for property tax and education fund payments to come in Community national bank is our lender for this Our only interest rate is three point nine seven percent and the investment rate is four point three two percent And this fiscal year for 24 The Rochester Stockbridge unified districts tax anticipation note is in the amount of $1,022,149 Okay Go ahead. Sorry. Um, no, I'm sorry if you have more to say go ahead. I I can ask my question when you're done I was just going to say the paragraph right above is the wording for the motion That I will need you all to make Okay So the um The Well, I'm looking at the tan borrowing and that would be the rate that when we've borrowed the money That's the interest that we are paying on the money. That's correct And then the earning is the money that wall if we're not borrowing it That money is earning that Yep, perfect. So every year on July 1st The money is withdrawn from the tax anticipation note and put into our arbitrage Account with community national bank and then that is where your treasurer will draw down from as she needs it So any money that she doesn't utilize in that arbitrage account That's where we're earning that 4.32 interest and then at the end of this year or when we make payments back We pay back for the 3.97 interest rate I think that looks great We earn more if it's there than we then we have to pay when we borrow it and that's just The rate of borrowing at this point. So um, I Would like to make a motion I would ask for the word or motion and approve the signing of the non Arbitrate Abitrage of the non arbitrage and use of All proceeds Certificate arbitrage certificate resolution and note So we may execute the appropriate documents and instruct the school treasurer of each district to sign the following representative amounts Rochester Stockbridge being one million twenty two thousand one hundred and forty nine dollars So Okay, motion has been made and seconded uh, is there any further discussion? All right, let's go for the discussion all in favor same time by saying I Patrick It's a really long form of form. So I will whatever easiest for you all I will need a majority of the board on a couple of the documents and then clerk of the board being Patrick We'll sign on one specific document and then the school district treasurer Also signed so I can bring all of the forms to christin's office and roberts chester If that's easier for all of you than coming to me first So I just need to know how you would like me to handle the loan documents and the signing of them Amy we can put yours. We can bring yours to you at befo mills I was just gonna say I could probably stop by or you could bring it in my Okay, um, yeah, then I think um would would that be um, is it easiest for you to Make it to the town clerk's office to sign on this. Um Sure. Yeah, okay, and then um What about what about stock bridge would it move to stock bridge then for for bill to And just in you just prove the road Okay, okay Okay, great. Yes. Um, that would be great if We can bring it. Um, I can sign it in Bethel and um, it can be brought to christin and rochester For the rest of the signatures and so when that happens Will an email go out to the board members to let them know that the documents are available for them to sign Yes, my goal will be Amy if I can't get to you tomorrow. Are you in on thursday? Yeah Because I have a meeting in several thursday morning I can stop by and have you sign when that's done and then Choose the documents right over to rochester and then I can shoot an email out to the remaining board members to let them know Okay, sounds wonderful All right. Thank you, Tara Sign it by Um, she's gonna send an email Hopefully on thursday that the documents will be available to sign And if we could try to get there probably before the weekend would be great thursday or friday Okay, if that works for everybody it's a faster way. We can get this turned around. So puts it to bed and Better Baring we have should you get an email from her? Um, okay Um, great. So that will move on to principal requests for rochester trustee funds Which I believe is principal request for rochester endowment fund, right? Sorry. It's It's I know because there's language. Uh, it's just different language. I'm still Learning with the language. Okay. So I wrote up a little something because I just wasn't sure Uh, do you mean I were talking about it? Um So what I was basing this off and Amy tell me if I'm even in the right spot is that funds for excellent Like when you shared out those funds in the list, yeah Okay, so I was basing this ask So I just mentioned all these agricultural field trips around what I didn't anticipate when I budgeted last year Was how much more transportation would be for field trips? Not that we can't make it work But what I was hoping to do was use some funds from what I get from the stock bridge trustees as well as potential the rochester endowment funds to kind of offset some of those transportation costs for um These field trips specifically for these fields before they For the kids to go to the school. Okay. So the plan is Right as a combination of of the stock bridge funds and the Rochester funds to be able to um, so I The fund for excellence is indeed a um, and the right fall back It's well. Yeah trying to figure out too. The fund for excellence and the is yeah Yeah, it is. Okay It definitely is um, I was just looking for that little thing that I wrote up um Yes, it's uh, it's directly benefits students for opportunities for learning And recreation. So it has both it could be one or the other components and it is administered by the principal of the principal's request so um I think you are looking for an amount of one thousand and fifty dollars excellent um, and I didn't bring our our book, but we definitely have um enough funds in that to um to contribute to this and I I think this is a worthy um Experience for the kids. Okay. Um, and I definitely Like to to get them out and about and then this is a great opportunity for education for them. So um I think it would be a great idea I can't remember because you did all the homework about all the Rochester trustee funds and some were controlled or overseen by the trustees of public funds in Rochester some by the school board Is is this ours? This is ours. So so we decide this is ours. We decide and actually this was money that was um Essentially given to the principal to administer. So um, we are just uh kind of a guiding force with with it But it is uh to her discretion of what she'd like to spend the money on Yeah, I think that's a that's really great. And yes, um, there's three funds Well, there's there is funds and this is one of them that is under our umbrella here And this is the right process This is the first time we have done it That's why I'm asking a lot of questions because it's a little different Exactly. Um, and I think you know, this is definitely a way that tarot was tarot was interested in us doing is that you bring a specific Request to the board. Um, I do I would I would like us to possibly set up a more Discussion on an annual basis that says We we we can allocate five thousand dollars out of x fund Let's see what if lindy has anything, you know, the so we kind of know ahead of time of the amounts I love that. Yeah to spend but I think that as a starting place this is a good a good place to start Yeah, I like what your sentiment is that we do the Fiscal planning yes, we have fiduciary responsibilities that this money doesn't go down to zero But the idea is that Primarily it's our our principal is going to decide and advise us where it's well spent and we're going to delegate that We're not going to micromanage it. So what I hear you're saying is we're going to kind of have a target amount That's what I would like to see and and and then she comes back to us and says here's Yeah, I think everyone makes the same. Okay, great. So we'll we'll work on our side to Figure out this process a little bit better. But in the meantime, um, I would I would like to make a motion to um approve this request of 1,850 dollars to be taken from the Rochester, uh Fund for excellence A second great motions been made in second. Is there any further discussion? All right, I think it's a wonderful thing to do though Farm serve Vermont heritage. Yeah, the kids should know About farming and that's where the head came from their families come from absolutely. Yeah Good very nice. Yes. Okay. Well then, um, if there's no further Comments all those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Aye. Aye All opposed Great So moved so passed Okay Well, then that moves us on to new hires and resonations, doesn't it? So we're in the process of hiring. There's some offers out there. Um, So I should have a full update soon. Okay There's some names and they'll go meet with Jamie So any reservations? Um, not like So not Resignations in terms of like not finishing the school year out But um, a couple folks that are not coming back next year because they're moving on to different positions all for um personal reasons um From here. Maureen row is uh leaving to move closer to Her partner and his family. Um, so that's our four five six math and science teacher um And our preschool teacher sarah newton is moving to just she moved Physically like she and her husband moved during the school year and she's commuting over an hour So she found something a little closer to home. Um, so and then in uh Rochester, um We're working to replace the teacher that I never replaced And we've had some success with that, but I don't that person still has to meet with Jamie. So I can't say it officially um and then, uh Lauren Hortunians I'm not sure which it depends which email. Um, but Lauren is not returning because she had twins and um burly Who has been her para educator and assistant will be taking over that program right he completed his Certification so that was very smooth. Um, hope sorenberger will not Uh be returning she's chosen to go teach high school. Oh um And there's an offer out there For someone and again, that's not finalized yet. It's well saved names. I feel like keeping top secret information here Then but I also don't want to jinx it till contracts are signed and then uh, shanlina hand will not be returning next year So Okay, so we definitely have some positions to be and so there's stuff we're In a good spot It's a I would say the process is kind of a trickle and past years you used to be like on this night We're going to interview for this many hours and we'd have this many applicants And now it's kind of like here comes an applicant. Okay. Let's interview. Let's check references Let's see. That's just kind of the shift in hiring. I would say that's taken place at this point in time Lenny, what's some house? Vermont or I guess northeast Market for for school teachers and elementary schools teachers in particular is there just a dearth and or is it picking up again is it How are we doing in the market? I guess my question is this Mission impossible or is we've got some real assets that can attract talented people to join us. Um, We seem to be attracting High-quality candidates. Like I mentioned, it's it's about how quickly you can move through the process right now Like checking references before you even interview someone So if that person is a good fit then you can turn around and offer Quickly, yeah, just because it's there's it's a jobseekers market right now. So But we seem to be attracting high quality folks. So Right how did in the right direction is there a music teacher? Uh, there is not there wasn't I have an interview tomorrow. So Crossed whichever. Yeah, exactly. That seems to be a harder position to fill Across the state. I don't think it's any. Yeah, I'm very happy. We were able to Look outside of the box for some other opportunities to do Music theater To tap into the resources that we have in our community. Yeah, it's been fun I know that you have done that with other artists and residents type stuff And I just think that's it's a great experience for kids to have as well because it's a completely different It is very different than music class. Yeah, you know, and maybe even more memorable memorable to them Right as an experience. So there's lots. I don't think you could tell but they all had bandanas on And their shirts. I think some folks haven't taken them And I like to To the horn for summer music for kids, which is a homegrown non profit That's um, to speak at the time of my teachers and this is going to We started last summer six Wednesdays and then We're so good that we went through the school year on the friday half days and We're going to do it again for seven weeks rather than six one half day And then hopefully go back and team up again with Wendy and her team Because there's a lot of talent out there and just music just Is so important. Yeah, I agree. That's great Okay, um, is there any public comment? I don't think there's any public on Okay Great. So our next meeting date. So we take july off So that is going to be um august 7th monday august 7th Yeah, I had one thing These seven seventh of august. Um 5 30 and they'll be in rochester Okay, and do we have any um future agenda items we'd like to bring up at this time Well, I was hoping that we're going to talk about chapter seven of the governor's core And I was looking around and so I'm trying to be very diplomatic here because uh, lindy's heard all the excuses about My dog ate my homework And I'm looking around here and the only one I think is prepared is patrick and myself and So I don't want to embarrass everything, but it's in a really chapter seven. It's talking about really the What we're all about Yeah, I'm a chapter behind I was reading so So, um, I just wanted to get you guys in the chair. I think it's late now and but if if we I think it would be nice to do it in august. It's absolutely And then on the retreat. I think we should one of the topics should be how are these Monthly readings kind of chapter is working and we want to continue that process with another book or something like that But then we can point that on but it's it's well worth. It's only like 15 pages But it really zeros in on the the key things school boards are supposed to be all about and I never failed to Look at that go. Oh, oh, yeah So anyway, no, I think I think it brings us any enlightenment at all. It's worth Reading. Um, so we are on chapter seven for the august seventh meeting so that'll be good to remember So I definitely move this to august um Yes, actually I was at a board chair Conference that you had that you have to go to and I pulled out my book and I got so many comments Oh, you're reading that and I said, yes, my my whole board is reading it as a book club And they thought it was the they said, oh, that's such a great book. Isn't that so wonderful? So um, it definitely is highly esteemed in the For sure. So, okay. Um So if there's no other future agenda items to add at this time if there are any more, um email me and uh, jamie and we'll uh them on and email me about um topics for the retreat Uh, all right. Well, if there's no further discussion items I'll uh entertain a motion to adjourn so move Second. All right. All in favor. Hi. Hi Great. Thank you everyone