 Welcome everybody. It's six o'clock. We're gonna call this community forums to order. Thank you for being here in this rainy day. Making the effort both remotely and in person to be here. I wanted to start today by welcoming our newest board member. Do you want to introduce yourself, Eric? Hi, my name is Eric Anderson. I'm from Eastmount, failure and very happy to join the board. I have a daughter in fifth grade at EMS. Thanks, Eric. So with that I'm just gonna do a few just shop things. If you can't hear, please put your captions on and your zoom screen. That might help you. Hopefully you can hear us now. So if you can give your thumbs up for those of you that are on the screen right now, it will be helpful to know that you can hear us. Okay, so hopefully the captions are working now. Okay, well, I'm gonna go through the same list. Please remember to be present, tame the technology, be kind. There's no wrong questions. We're gonna talk tonight about our capital plan. I'm super excited. The board has set this long-term goal. It started with the finance committee and then it was approved by the entire board and we thanks to some guidance from our superintendent too, we made this goal as specific. It's measurable. It's achievable. It's relevant. We know what the desired outcome is and we have proposed a goal. But so our goal is the school board complete, it will complete a five-year long-term capital plan in two phases. It meets by December and a plan by May 2022. We started with this really long list from budget assigned and then thanks to all the work from Susanne, Chris, Bill Ford, and Jeff. And I'm missing one more person. No, I think that's it. Yeah. And our consultant, we were able to have this plan here with you today. Why am I so excited about this plan is that mostly we always forget how the built environment affects our students, our staff, and everybody that comes to our school. So this really helps us not just make our facilities what they need to be for communities, but it helps us achieve a better outcomes for our kids. Having said that, I'm gonna let Susanne and Chris take over the presentation. Hey, I'm Suzanne Gann, the district business administrator. Chris O'Brien and I are very excited, like for to be here tonight, to walk you through the proposed capital improvement plan. That's our you. Is there an issue? Okay. Through the proposed capital improvement plan for Washington Central. Chris has taken some photos of and plans to describe some not all of the plant projects in the five year capital budget. At the end of the presentation, we're hoping to receive feedback and answer questions about the plan. This is our why the advantages of a capital improvement plan are centered around the desire to create a sense of safety and well being. Okay, I'm so sorry, if one minute, Mike, could you share the presentation, share the screen, so I'm sure if you're sharing the screen right now. Yeah, okay, thank you. No problem. Technical difficulties. We knew they would happen, right, Jen? We are flexible. Here we are. Great. Thanks, Mark. The advantages of a capital improvement plan are centered around the desire to create a sense of safety and well being pride in our students and improving educational outcomes. Long term capital planning will support the district in caring for our schools through the evaluation of buildings and grounds, development of processes and standards. Identification of mandated safety requirements, collection of information, prioritization of projects, coordination and collaboration between buildings, communication with stakeholders, stabilization in capital expenditures, planning for the use of reserves or debt issuance and strengthening our borrowing position. Okay, in this picture, you can see an aerial view of Berlin's playground. Hold on a second. That's all right. You got this, Mark. In this picture, you can see an aerial view of Berlin's playground on a proposed five-year capital budget has $100,000 and FY24 for upgrades to Berlin's playground. What the school currently has for playground equipment includes slides and climate equipment. Next slide, please. So the capital plan defines a capital improvement project as a tangible and complete asset that has a gross cost or fair market value of at least $5,000 and has a useful life of at least five years. Any project that requires bond financing is a capital project. Examples of capital improvement projects include building or land acquisition, major building or facility renovations and repairs, drainage infrastructure or field improvements. Too far. Okay, so here we have East Montpeliers wood chip boiler currently scheduled for replacement at FY24. The useful life of a wood chip boiler might be 30 to 50 years, depending on how well it has been maintained. East Montpeliers is well maintained, so we are currently exploring possible upgrade options. In choosing to upgrade instead of replace, the district must factor in the possible risk of failure to the system in the impact of the school. Next slide, please. When identifying the various stakeholders in the district, we also describe their role in the development of the capital improvement budget. In this section, we illustrate the flow of a capital improvement request through a collaborative process, which may begin with a parent or a member of the community, a student or a member of a student organization, department heads, maintenance leads, or building administrators. In any of these scenarios, a building administrator must complete a capital project request form with the director of facilities in order to move a project forward. This form is reviewed first by the business administrator and superintendent before it is received and reviewed by the leadership team, finance committee, and finally the school board before it is added to a five-year capital improvement budget. Okay, the current proposal for FY24 is to improve the ADA accessibility for the playground at Doty as well as incorporating a roof above the main access point. In this picture, you can see the Doty playground. Slide, please. The capital improvement plan, a five-year capital improvement budget, will be reviewed annually in May before the board approves and authorizes the scope and budget development for projects designated for completion in the following fiscal year. The plan is to present the plan, the capital improvement plan, and the capital improvement budget at a community forum every year to solicit feedback. The plan will be available to the public on the Washington Central website and will be advertised on social media, school newsletters, front porch forums, and through the Friends of Washington Central. Each year during the development of a general fund operating budget, the board will explain the process for developing the capital improvement plan and the five-year capital improvement budget to explain the importance of budgeting and annual transfer to the capital reserve fund. This is a view from the top of the U-32 high school roof, looking down on the middle school roof. The middle school roof will be replaced this summer. And he was very far back from the edge, even though it doesn't look that way. He promised me. Next slide, please. Possible funding sources identified in the capital improvement plan include the capital reserve fund, state and federal grants, and construction loan initiatives. The capital reserve fund was established through operating budget transfers approved by the voters and through reserve fund transfers authorized by the school board. Our asset funds are an example of a federal grant that may be used for capital improvement projects. Bond initiatives must be reviewed and approved by the board and must receive voter approval. This is a picture of the wood chip boiler at Calis Elementary, which happens to be one of the oldest wood chip boilers in the state of Vermont. The control panel that operates the boiler operation, including the auger feed and wood chip bin is extremely old technology in need of replacement. A new control panel with the latest technology would increase the efficiency of the entire system. Improvements to this system would alleviate the amount of monitoring required of the maintenance staff. The current plan is to replace the system in FY 2023-24, and similar to each law failure, the system has been well maintained, so we are currently exploring upgrade options as well as replacement. And choosing to upgrade instead of replace the district must factor with possible risk of failure of the system and impact on the school. I really liked that slide, by the way. I liked that picture. It was very high-opening, Kat. Next slide, please. In order to identify which capital projects should be included in the capital improvement budget, the plan describes a prioritization process which evaluates projects based on criteria that assesses the needs and readiness of projects compared to other projects before it is incorporated into the plan. The priorities assist with identifying which projects are selected to be completed before others. This is especially useful with multiple projects at multiple buildings. Okay. This summer, 88 accessible ramps after three exits, which lead to the Berlin Elementary playground, are scheduled to be installed. The picture here is one of those three exits. Next slide, please. The capital improvement plan has identified the need to develop a capital asset management process to help assess asset replacement needs and prioritization. In the next year, the district will identify a facilities management software and implement the use of the software for managing all requests for maintenance and repairs on assets. Maintenance and repair reports made through the software will be utilized to track data on the frequency of maintenance on assets, as well as the data of last service. Okay. This picture was intended to give you a sense of how small boiler room that calluses indicating how low physical space there is when planning upgrades or replacements to either the wood chip or oil boiler systems. These three oil boilers currently function as a backup system to the wood chip boiler. Next slide, please. In order to include a project in the five-year capital improvement budget, a preliminary revenue and expenditure estimate will be developed. Following the board's approval in May each year, a detailed scope and budget for each project in the next annual budget will be developed by professional architects or engineers and incorporated into the timetable for completion of the project. The scope of the project will include any necessary plans or diagrams, expenditure estimates, and projected offsetting available revenues. Okay. This is a Google map shot of U32. Planning has begun on repaving the parking lot in the summer of 2023. The current plan includes changes that will improve safety by implementing a one-way traffic flow, altering the student drop-off zone, and widening the entrance for wood chip deliveries and replacing failed walkways. We've looked at this picture a whole lot. Next slide, please. In addition to the annual review of the capital improvement plan and five-year capital improvement budget, projects over $40,000 will be awarded by the board through the bid process. The board will receive an accounting of the balance of the Capital Reserve Fund in April, July, and December with the official year-end accounting in December through the annual financial audit report. Prior to the start of school each year and again upon project completion, the leadership team, finance committee, and board will receive product supports for each open capital improvement project. Appendix B of the plan is an annual timeline for capital improvement projects for anticipated timing for financial updates and progress reports. This is one of the air handling units at U32 that is scheduled to be upgraded this summer. There is also a plan to upgrade the energy recovery units at U32 and FY25. Should the district choose to utilize RFS or funds to finance the BRU project, it would need to move off the year in schedule and would impact the timing of the plan projects for FY24. Taminas looks like the furnace and the water. I feel like Chris knows which one. You did your first one. Next slide. Two more projects slated for completion this summer include the replacement of U32 softball dugouts and the addition of an ABA accessible bathroom in the primary. Please consider giving us feedback on the capital improvement plan and five year capital improvement budget. We want this to be a collaborative process and feedback lets us know if we're headed in the right direction or if we need to consider something else. What do you like about the plan? What would you change about the plan? What needs more clarity? How do we engage the community in this planning process? And any other questions you have? Thank you, Chris and Suzanne. That was wonderful. So we're going to open it up for questions for people that are online if you want to raise your hand. Maybe let's stop to share just for a minute to see if I can see hands. The first question is right here next to me. Go ahead. Where did we see this plan? It was in your package last meeting. Is it on the website? No, yeah. It's in the packet from our previous meeting and it's also in the minutes, just the notes from the packet. But we can do a separate tab for, I'm saying we can do and I'm not the one doing it, but there's no reason we can add a tab to the capital plan. That would be good for people to be able to give us feedback. Yes. Follow-up question. Yes. Unrelated, we are we putting on, oh sorry, I'm pushing it. There we go. How much weight are we putting on energy efficiency and renewable resources? Yeah, so the priority list, the priority one is illegal contractual, physical access, health safety and security. Priority two is asset life, energy efficiency, quality improvement, random availability. And priority three is expanded service, food delivery and aesthetics. So, two on the list. So, Megan, I can add a little bit to that just because I have a lot of history and projects around the district. But all of our schools have gone through efficiency for a month and they have, we have done other light improvements in all of our buildings. And so energy efficiency and we know the kids, Chris and I had the opportunity to talk to one of the student leaders at U32. And we know that green energy is one of the most important things for them and it's also for us. So for example, and you can tell this number better than me, how much money did we save using wood chips this year? Just at U32, which is $85,000. So we could, we would like to have wood chips in every, but our schools have, like he was saying, some of the oldest wood chips in the district. And just in this past week, Chris and Bill Four spent some time talking to one community member that has been involved for years in wood chip. And we're trying to figure out, we can take advantage of some incentives to be able to use that. This year we don't know if we're going to be able to, but yeah, that's a top priority. I don't see anybody in, I'm really excited to see a lot of people in Zoom, but I don't see any hands up. Alice has her hands up. Oh, Alice. Oh my goodness. Welcome, Alice. Hi. I wanted to just make a couple of comments. I'm really impressed with the fact that you're doing this planning. How very important it is, it's hard to spend money this way, but the long term savings for our taxpayers is really significant. If we don't neglect the maintenance of our buildings. And I absolutely agree with your priorities, health and safety for our students and our faculty need to be on the first tier. And certainly we want our efficiency. And I heard you talk about using some federal money to move something ahead and I urge you to be sure you use all of that money that you have available to you. So, thank you. Oh, there we go. Yeah, my question was, and I apologize for those who don't have the plan in front of them, but I did open my notes from the previous meeting. My question was that, well, I wanted to just acknowledge that in the next five years, as it's currently laid out, it looks like in all, but I think one year the planned capital expenditures exceed the general fund reserve. And in some years pretty significantly and I wanted to just give you the opportunity to speak to that and describe whether you think long term that reserve needs to change or whether you think this is the short term sort of catch up period or what what's going on there. I think I think both in reviewing the budget. A lot depends on whether we decide to use the RBSR funds to do the ERU upgrades. So that would move that project up a year and move the boilers back a year because of capacity Chris and Bill and folks doing the projects don't have the capacity to do all that work in one year. So we did take the RBSR funds and use it that would reserve, reduce the amount that were in the negative. We also have some discussions that we need to have about general fund balance that we have. We have a really healthy general fund balance and can transfer funds that the board so chooses into the capital reserve fund. We could choose to defer some of the stuff and put it off into future years if we wanted to. There's options. We can also increase the amount in the general fund that we budget every year to put into it. So right now we're doing 880,000. I would think that we would want to increase that. That would be my recommendation. So yes, both. I think short-term and long-term. Thank you. Daniel, I can ask one thing to that. Part of the reason we hired a facilities director was to be have known for a while that this was an issue. But it's also a shared responsibility. So it's not just like you're highlighting right now. It's not just our business administrator and facilities director. The community at large needs to understand the shared value of all our buildings. So we need to... You see a big difference between our schools right now. How much money we have been putting in as a community. We came to our capital fund. So now that we're together, we need to do it together and really make that a priority. So we have the funds that we need to take care of our... That's a great question. I have a big concern. So we have one more question right next to me. So just to follow up on the previous question from Kailin. When you're looking at the priorities. So are you looking... Energy efficiency is priority number two on the list. But when you're looking at solutions for items that are under priority number one. Are you looking at environmental impact and energy efficiency. Even though that's not the top priority on the list. For Doty, for example, our water heater. I'm not really sure what it did. Kailin, do you mind coming up here? Oh, here. We just want to make sure everyone is here. I just wanted to address it because I think that's a really good question. And just two weeks ago, we have the perfect example. So the Doty water heater was on for 24. They decided it didn't want to live that long. And so in the process of looking at the replacement options that we had for it. We selected a hot water heater with the heat pump options with it. And so that's up in our boiler room, which is quite warm. So in that way, that's a really good example of how when things come up. Even though sort of for the plant things, health and safety, priority one, priority one. But when things come up, we're really looking for the energy efficient options. Eric, did that answer your question? It did. Any other questions? I didn't see anybody in the public with questions. We're going to post the plan online. And there's a feedback forum that we're also going to post for today. And the feedback is welcome, please. Feel free to send an email to Chris O'Brien, our facility director. We'll post that with the plan too. And thank you for joining us tonight for a community forum and helping us be proactive and not reactive in taking care of our assets. Thank you for being here. We have a small business meeting today. You're welcome to stay or have a good dinner too. Let's move right into three point one. Last day of school floor. This is Diane. I have a request. Is it possible to, I mean, we, I can hear you and I, but it's still a little distorted. So I don't know if it's possible to move one up like the one that's the computer that Suzanne was using. If that was placed next to you and Jen, I think we would hear very clearly. I would second. It's especially hard to hear floor. Okay. Can you hear us better now? You should see what this looks like. Should text your picture. Michelle, can you admit to that? All right. Now that you can hear us better, I'm going to see if you can hear Jen otherwise. I'll switch for this one. Okay. I'm going to start talking now. Do you want me to press this button too or not? Yes. All right. Hold on. This one may not be on. Okay. How is this? Is this working for you? Diane? Yes. Perfect. Okay. Do you want me to start? Yes. Go ahead. Okay. So for the last board meeting, I had made a recommendation regarding the last days of school for our students and for our staff. And the board did not approve that recommendation and asked me to come back with some other options. And the day that I heard it in reviewing the, you know, taking my notes and watching that whole portion of the meeting again, I thought that you were specifically asking me to come up with an option that identified the last day of school for our students as June 17th, Friday, June 17th. And a plan that honors the observance of June 10th on Monday, June 20th. We also talked at that time about the fact that we have a student service day for teachers so that they can do all of their end of year responsibilities including report cards. And that happens after the last student day. So I have those options in this memo for your consideration. You can see that if the last student day were Friday, June 17th across the board, that our elementary students will have been in school 177 days and our U-32 students would be in school 175 days. As a reminder, some students in two of our schools learned from home for some days in the very early fall before we had programs like Test to Stay for COVID-19 and before vaccinations were, those students were eligible for vaccines. I have applied for a waiver. We actually delayed putting this memo out by just a little bit in the hope that that would have been fully processed and we could say processed instead of pending. It's still pending. And again, as I informed you all last week, verbally I have assurance that those days will be granted. So then I just provided you with some information regarding the last days of school for our staff, what our agreements and contracts fall for and what the days would be. Again honoring Monday, June 20th as the holiday, June 10th. So you can see that if our elementary student teachers went for their last day on June 21st to complete in-servicing report cards, they would have served 187 official days and that for U32 to get to 187 days, they have two additional in-service days. You can see the difference there for our educational support staff, specifically our Sarah educators and what the proposal I think would be in terms of getting to 180 days for everybody and then finally you can see that our food service calls for 180 days and again in consulting the principals for sure we know that there's work to do to button up our kitchens in our building and so if we had a day for our elementary folks that would take them to 178 days and then provide time for U32 folks as well that follow and wait to button up. I put those notes there with the caveat that there is no currently because of the ways the days worked for our students a two-day difference and so I was working on trying to address that issue and still be responsive to the concerns that you all brought up last week. Thank you, Jen. Do we have questions from board members? If you're here please speak up or raise your hand otherwise. Jonas, go ahead. So if I'm reading this correctly staff will be working three days less than the contract calls for except in the case of the teachers who are working under 87 in the contract calls for up to 199. Will staff be paid for all of those days? They will be paid for the three days. I can say more about that. The contract right now says up to 190 days. It also mentions the annual compensation and so I guess it would be paid for those days. Jen, I'm hearing from folks online that they can hear any of the board members. No one heard Jonas's question. They can't hear any board member except for the two of you that are near the mic. Okay, so I will reiterate Jonas's question was so does that mean in this particular plan that staff members would be paid for those three days that they had not worked? Is that a good summary of that question? Okay, and I said yes, that's what this means. Thanks, Kat. Go ahead. This is more of a request for comment from the educators. Some of our schools, our students will be in school less than 175 days, which the state requires. We're going to get a waiver for that. What is the impact on student learning and wellness for not being in school for a required number of days? So I'm going to say, you were directing at this. I was directing at any of these folks. I spoke to that last week. I feel that I talked about the importance of students being in school and are my faith in our educators to meet their needs. I think if anyone, any principals or carer wants to speak to that, we'll just grab the microphone to make sure that you can be heard and probably seen. Kat and Spencer has a mic. Take a little microphone. So I'm really glad that you have that question. I have been concerned a lot about, especially elementary age students, families rely on our school system for so many things. Food, education, love and care. And the expectation that students are in the building for around 180 days a year and we make plans as parents. My kids are older, so I'm not there anymore. But I do know that our parents make plans for child care, which is not easy in Vermont. They make plans for camps, pushing a lot of work to put together and to make a change. This late in the season, I'm having the different and past practice. I do worry about that. And there are kids who are on the margins. I know it's not every kid in Canada so we're in every single town. But there are kids who are on the margins who live with a lot less and they get a lot of those needs met when they're in school. I'm sorry, that was a little impassioned, but I'm having the fields. Anyone want to answer that? Diane? So thank you, Jen, for reworking this. And I do, I want to go on record. I mean, I absolutely care about where kids are. My whole world has been about how do we support our families that are struggling with food insecurity, housing insecurities, addictions that are rampant and that we have a system where we can meet those needs and how they can meet those needs. And to me, I absolutely hear what you're saying. And I value the role that our public schools play in that. However, for me, that is not what I'm considering when I think about this too, because I've also heard from staff. I've also seen it in my work. The incredible burnout and exhaustion. And absolutely if kids were there, I know our staff would give them 100%. And it would be a quality experience. But I also know that I hear the system creaking under the stress and that we shouldn't balance it all on only our schools that we need to be working for a system that is going to shore them up, even if they're out of school two or three days early. Relation to the, the summer food program I had asked at our last meeting. If there was information on when the summer lunch program begins to help us appreciate what amount of time gap there would be between the end of the school year and summer lunch programs and information on sites. I think the sooner we can get that information to families through school newsletters that can, could be helpful in decision making. And I mean it in the best way. I don't have that information from me, but I also know that for kids to access that, you need to have transportation. You need to be able to get there. You need to have an adult that can take you when you need to go. So it's, it's not just having food accessible. So just to add to that, but Jonas, you have a comment too. Yeah, I just want to respond to a Diane. Diane, you said that you had no doubt that if we were in school those days that the teachers would give 100% and they would be meaningful learning days. I have to disagree with you. We heard quite clearly from the unions last week that they thought that if school was in session those days that student learning and wellness would be very negatively impacted along with the safety, the wellness of the staff. So I just have to say that it's in the record that a staff have told us that that's, they've given us a survey that says that's not the case. Thank you Jonas. I want to give the opportunity to everybody that wants to make a comment too. I also don't want to spend too much time on this. We spent quite a bit of time at the last, at the last meeting. This is definitely, it was hard. It was harder at the last meeting. It's hard today. I think Jen has done a great job bringing us a new recommendation under the parameters we've faced. We placed on her. I do feel strongly that this is not student center and it's not what is, it doesn't maximize learning for kids. But that is just a comment to finish. I think the board has to say this is a democracy so I might not agree with it. I brought my RBG earrings today to show me the send. But I will be with the board. So are we ready to vote? Oh, Daniel. I just wanted to acknowledge what you said, Jonas, and just maybe clarify for myself. I think there's two dynamics that are sort of being conflated. One is sort of general outcomes for students, which with a shorter year, yes, marginally they are going to be affected. And I'm not diminishing that effect by saying it's marginal, but we are talking about one week on top of a full year. I think also what I got in that letter from the union was not just that, what am I trying to say here? I think the last couple days of the year, no matter when those days fall, are kind of a mess, behaviorally and in a lot of other ways. A lot of things are trying to be wrapped up all at once. And so whenever those are going to fall, it's going to be a mess. And I think what they were trying to speak to was a feeling of sort of latent resentment throughout the school community that we are experiencing something different from the rest of the schools in the region, and it felt inequitable to them. And I think I don't want to respect that opinion of theirs and just clarify that. I also did have a quick question for Jen, which was just about those days in this proposal Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, the 21st through 23rd. I had a couple questions. One was what deadline are you dealing with in terms of getting report cards in subsequent to the end of school, and also the in-service, how is that structured, or is there a plan for how that will be structured at U32? Yeah, so I will say a few things. Typically, there's a time at the end of the year when our staff comes together to reflect and celebrate and get ready to wrap things up in preparation for the summer, and there's time to get report cards done. We need to ensure that the reports are fully generated and our principals typically take a little bit of time to review them as well before they go out. So that's why I've put that on the early side of the day for U32 to make sure that all of that can happen so that they're complete. In terms of the Wednesday and Thursday, I've had some conversation about some of the work that could be done. We have, as you know, a lot of work from our Humanity and Justice Coalition. We've got three major objectives of that work right now around policies and practices, some curriculum work, and diversifying the educator workforce. And the middle one is work that we've done at Curriculum Camp regarding the unit or project design that is incorporating the tenets of universal design for learning, trauma-informed practice, and culturally responsive teaching. And so my current thinking in consultation and not finalized yet is that teachers would be engaging in that work. That also furthers the levers of Act 173, the lever-related to coordinated curriculum because we would have that work and we would be able to post that and move the work forward in terms of coherence in the curriculum. That's my current thinking right now. Yep. Sorry, anything that any of you would add to that? Thanks, Dan. I just want to respond to a couple of things that you said. I understand the end of the year, right? It's always crazy to be involved in an elementary school. We know what those days are, but it's not like we're taking those days away, right? We're taking days away from the middle of the school year. The end of year stuff is always going to happen. It's not that we're taking those days away or adding that, right? It's that we're taking away learning. It's also my understanding that our school calendar is longer than the calendars of the districts around us and has been for a number of years, right? That may be something that we need to revisit. I also hear that you're saying, right, that the effect of losing these days on student learning and wellness is marginal. I'm not going to quote with that word, but what I've seen the board decide here is that balancing the risks right between the effect on student learning and wellness from missing those days is less than the risk to student learning and wellness from being in school those days because of what we have heard the impact will be. So I understand that risk balancing. I have a question back to you, Jonas, on the contracts, right? The contract is for up to 190 days. So even though we are longer, right, the expectation is that there will be something between that time, right? The amount of days that our staff works. Any other questions? Jonas sort of said what I was going to say, which is just that I... This just seems like something that might be an argument year after year potentially. These couple of years have been crazy because of COVID and everyone's burned out. I don't know that next year is going to be any better or any different. So it may take looking at our calendar and if those 180 days are important to us, which I think they are, but maybe they're not as a whole, then maybe we change our calendar in the long run because I just kind of... See this is something that might keep coming up and don't want to necessarily keep discussing it year after year. And acknowledging for parents who do work that it is difficult. We all plan looking at those contingency days and we say, well, I'm not going to sign my kid up for camp that week because they might still be in school that week. And so it is difficult on parents in May to try to find childcare for those days. So I want to respect the parents too. I also fully respect the teachers and staff who are burned out. I get it, you know, we're all really burned out. So thank you, Jen, for doing this. I think it's pretty fair and we've laid it out, but I think in the long run maybe it's something we all need to look at culturally. Are we ready to accept or to vote on the plan? Could I have a motion, please? Yes. Thank you, Daniel. Any more discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? No. Any abstain? I'm just going to vote no, sorry. Liz, I think you get that. No. Can you raise your hands? In the Zoom screen, could you please raise your hands or do your check? What are you asking to raise hands for? If you approve the motion as read. Sorry, Dennis. That's okay, thank you. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Seven, yes. Two, no. And one, two abstain. The motion carries. Thank you, everybody. I just want to make a comment that we do appreciate the staff and we want to thank them for all their work. It's been an incredible, hearty year. We appreciate all the administrators being here with us today too and thank you for all you do for our students. Let's move right along into meeting locations. So on May 18th, we want to do the meeting in person here. We would have, yeah, no, Dennis, I'm sorry. So there is a, through the work that we've been doing with the Justice Coalition, there is a training that day at five, not a training but a presentation. We're diversifying the editorial workforce and we thought that that would be a nice way for the board to join that work and that is from five to six. If you can make it, it's okay. So we could choose to just do that party person. It would be better in person than remote. And then at six o'clock, we would do our meeting. That's just for that day. And why it says here and beyond is to have the conversation to a little bit more clarity. We said we would revisit this again. So right now we had said we were going to meet on the first week for the Marine Forum in person and on the third week we're going to be remote. So we'll do that through June 30th. It's our plan. Yes. Sorry for that. Did I understand, are we meeting on the 18th in person or what? On the 18th we wanted to do an exception and meet in person because of the diversified editorial workforce opportunity for the board to do combined work. Who's doing the presentation? Alicia Chen. Yeah. But if someone wanted to. But if someone went just like today, there would be, we would have the ability to have the hybrid and whatever staff are Spencer is that we're going to have a new gadget that is going to make it even better. So stay tuned. So, what, sorry. Oh, Maggie. Just seeking to get an invitation, some kind of invite for that event. The five o'clock. Event so that it's on our agendas. Yeah, we'll do that. Thanks. We just want to run it by you first. So again, it's a proposal. You guys don't want to do that. It's, it's okay too. So I'm here to listen to what you want to do. Jordan. I think we're the minority, but I don't see the benefit of in-person meetings for meetings. I think we've done great work over the last two years. This is a community forum and there are no members of the community. Training with the, you know, the Justice Coalition. I'm not certain how that's going to be more effective or have a better outcome. In person, rather than remote, especially if we're all going to be in access. I don't get it. I don't get it. I don't get it. I don't get it. I don't get it. I don't get it. So this is a request from the coalition. So I just figure it was a good way to get people to know each other. Since we've been mostly like the kids barely getting. Used to like, do we shake hands? Do we, you know, so. Maggie. If we choose to attend in person for that, will there be an option of. Because of the travel time start of the meeting to participate from. Yeah. Yeah. If the meeting is, if the meeting is held remotely. Yeah. Will there be any accommodation if we choose to attend in person for the training. And the meeting then starts at six o'clock, correct? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, you would be here. Yeah. Yes. After my team, we just have two more meetings. We have the first meeting in June and the third meeting. The second meeting in June. So we would have a community forum to showcase our current improvements, continuous improvement plan. And on the third week of June, we would approve our current continuous improvement plan. And that's the end. That would be in person the first meeting. Hi. The first, the second. Correct. And then the month of July, the board is completely off. And then we'll regroup for our retreat. And start the third week of August, Wednesday of August, we'll have our first regular meeting. And I welcome Megan into that meeting. I'm going to just go on record to disagree with Jonas. That I think there's a lot of value in being in person. But with the operative option of doing it remotely, I think that's best to go for us. I am way more engaged in person. And when I know my daughters aren't like, claring at me from a company for the month of June. And Jonas, that doesn't mean that beyond, I agree with you, there's a lot of value. It's easier on the staff. It's easier on our administrators. And it's easier on ourselves. And if we want to have more people join our board, it's an equity issue, right? So if people don't have child care or able to, you know, be here in between their jobs, you know, having a third meeting, our second meeting remote, it does have value. If you come sit here, let's remote. Absolutely. I might be. Did you hear that? Where it's Steven's like. Outside the parking lot have Eric and Carrie. Oh, if Diane. I actually hear first. Well, this was, I don't know if this is what Maggie was asking, but then it started my thinking. So if we did the five to six in person with that remote option, but then if for those who wanted to go home to have the meeting remotely, would we be able to start the board portion at 630, which would allow people to speak, but you know, could maybe get home for that remote part. We're members here giving me the, I, so I'm not sure if that's a good idea or not. I think 630 is a little bit of a tight timeframe for some of us. I mean, we just may have to speed. I don't know, but I mean, our roads are muddy right now. And so depending on the weather, speeding may not be an option for half the drive. Yeah, I would have to agree with that. Just the time that it takes me to pack the bag out here. It's Eric. I jumped you. No, Kerry, go first. I just wanted to say the short term plan for May and June is good. It's flexible. It's got options, something for everyone. Other point I wanted to make is that I got to believe that the hybrid is here to stay. It just offers too many upsides. And as painful as this has been, we're going to get better at it. So just bear with it. And eventually I think it will be just becoming normal. Eric. So I just want to say, yes, I also agree with the hybrid option. It seems to be really great. It is good to actually see people in person sometimes. And another point that Jonas made about the public being here today, as somebody who up until two days ago was not part of the board. I think the communication to the public needs to be improved greatly. So we do have more public involvement because even as we drove up here, my wife was like, where was this public that there was meeting today? All. So that might help with getting the public involved with more communications to the public. You can join mine and Maggie's committee. Yeah. We haven't started yet. The public part. One of the reasons I ran for the board was because there was never any public. I was the public in these familiar ones. That was kind of a joke. But the other thing I would like more clarity on what this presentation is, so that I understand how, as a board, what the need is for us as a board. We can send you more information in it. In the big picture, why it's important for the board is something that the coalition and the community has identified as being important. Representation matters in our schools. So it really is understanding and just hearing a different perspective. But Lisa Chen has, I don't even know how many years of experience on this. So it was an opportunity to not have just the coalition listen to it, but the board listen to it at the same time. So we were not going to get the permission just filtered to us. So we had said that we wanted to be a little more involved in the Humanities and Justice Coalition. That was, it was not an easy, but yet kind of an easy way to be part of the work that our district is involved in. So I think the way that this is ending up is hybrid. If you want to accommodate a team and be in person by all means, be here. There will be reminders. You will get an invitation to the presentation, more information in the presentation, and then you can make an informed decision if you want to be here or want to be remote. Yes, looking at the, yeah. See some nodding heads since soon too. So let's move to personnel. 5.1. Maybe. I make a motion to accept recent resignations, I assume at the end of the year, of the following teachers. Tate Lynn Morgan, Danielle Jesma, David Talisman, Catherine Bailey, and Justin Leitching. Thank you, Lindy. Thank you, Jonas. Any discussion? Seeing none. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, the motion carries. Okay. I make a motion to accept the nomination for a long-term substitute at roughly, like, how do you mean? How do you mean Barrett for the 21-22 school year? Thank you, Ursula and Lacey. Any questions? Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor, please say. Wait, is it the 21-22 school year? I just want to clarify and make sure. It's for this year, not next year. It's for this year. I'm hearing during this spring. Yep. Okay. Thank you. All those in favor of the motion as read by Lindy, please say aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? Hearing none, the motion carries. Thank you. An update, Jen? Oh, yeah. Sorry. Yeah. So he, thank you. I have been sharing with you all along. There are no huge changes with the exception of a recent reduction, a resignation among our custodial and maintenance staff. Our custodian and maintenance staff has been working really, really hard all year to cover for each other, to ensure we've had some, you know, some medical needs and other needs that have arisen over the year and now we're short staffed again. So this is staff appreciation. We, please be sure to thank them as well. They're really, they're working so hard. So that's a major vacancy. We are in the, we're in the process of advertising all of the vacancies that we have for next year. And I reported to you last week that we are advertising in school spring, ed week, diversity educators and the national alliance of black educators. We are principals are working hard to put search committees together and conduct interviews. We have some positions that are moving forward just fine in terms of applicant pools and others that we have like no applicants. So right now, especially special education at U32 is a big area of concern for us. And we're starting to figure out some creative thinking to meet students needs next year. If we have a shortage of special educators. So that's the current state. I will keep you informed and hopefully on May 18th this packet will have lots more new hires in it. I have an interview tomorrow and that's it so far. So as we expected, it's a little concerning the shortage of educators and we're feeling it. Anything you guys could ask? People in Zoom couldn't see that but they were all crying. That's it. Thank you everybody for coming this rainy day. Any reflections from today? I know that was not in the packet, but I really appreciate you all. Thank you for being here. Yes, right after. Any other reflections? Okay. I just want to say again real quick, a huge thank you to Suzanne and Chris for putting this together. So thank you. And to the tech issues seem to be a lot better. We've been troubleshooting tonight and it will get better and better. So thanks for bearing with us as we try this out. And I think pointing out the future appreciation again. Just pointing out that this week is a week that schools across the district, across the location are celebrating teachers and appreciating. And I thought COVID was bad the first half year, then the second year. It just, it's really, and with our numbers up again, the morale, it is very hard every day. And I feel for the, what, I am one, but feel for the people who are working in the schools and how hard it is and what they're going through. So just a shout out for everybody. Oh, you're a teacher, whatever staff member you are supporting these kids and their families is a big deal. Thank you, everybody. So with that, do you want to make a motion to adjourn? Yeah. I make a motion to adjourn. Okay. Second by Joanne. Hi. Hi. Can dance your way out of the meeting. Bye, everybody. Bye, Dennis. Bye, Ursula. Bye, everybody. Bye, Maggie. Thank you for being here. Good night. Good night. Bye.